T.P. rolls + Christmas = ?

Have you seen all the awesome things being done with toilet paper rolls around blogland?

Check out these awesome party favors from Crissy's Crafts.

And the teacher gifts she made too!

Awesome, right? It made me hesitate before throwing out those used TP rolls, so I've accumulated about 30 just waiting to be inspired. Yes, my husband thinks I'm insane for saving them. 

Today, inspiration hit! I'm going to use them to make an amazing, hand made, up-cycled, advent calendar! That has got to be the most unique idea ever, right?!

Right?

Not so much. 

These next three were all made by Maya* Made

         

and this beautiful set below was made by Brown Paper Packages

Love! 

Ok, so my brilliant idea was thought up by many others first, but I still think it's quite brilliant never-the-less. 

Are you inspired yet?  

T-shirt Up-cycle

We've got stacks of old, stained, holey t-shirts around here that I can't bring myself to throw away. A couple have been cut up into cleaning rags, but come on, how many cleaning rags do you need?

My solution...

I cut those puppies into long strips and turned them into "yarn," then taught myself how to crochet a rag rug. Seriously.

It's not even close to being perfect, but I made it myself, and I love it! It fits great in front of the sink or stove in the kitchen. 

I've been wanting to make a rag rug for awhile now, but the idea of sewing coils and coils of braided fabric together makes me want to scream. Plus, I prefer rectangular rugs, so I learned to crochet instead!

I used YouTube to learn a simple single crochet stitch, and went to town with it. Each color is a whole t-shirt (between 2x and 4x sizes) cut into strips, so my pile is 7 shirts shorter!

 I was inspired by this rug made by Cassandra from Flight of the Pook out of bed sheets:

source

and this awesome denim rug from Alison King made from 100 lbs. of up-cycled jeans. Holy moly. I Love it!

source

Maybe I'll use denim for the next rug. For now, keep your eye out for more t-shirt up-cycle projects to come!

More Quiet Book Pages!

Round 2 of quiet book pages!

Boys need to know how to braid too, right? My husband said no, but I assured him that if  trapped on a deserted island, he would need to know how to braid rope. Besides, teal hair makes it less feminine, right?

The apples snap on and off and store in the pocket. What do all trees need? An owl hole of course.

Visit: tatertotsandjello.com for the weekend wrap up party!"

Stenciled Shirt

I wanted to make a cute custom shirt for my hubby for Father's Day, but one that he would actually wear. Enter the wonderful art of freezer paper stenciling!

I think I did pretty good for my first attempt. I didn't realize until this morning that "Daddy" is crooked. Woops! Well, perfection is in the imperfections, right?

Linked up to:
Father's Day Show & Tell @