Belt Makeover and Flower Tutorial...

Being frugal with 2 girls in college is a way of life right now. Doing simple projects to spice things up is easy.

Here's a new look for an old belt...add a matching flower and we're good to go!!

Sew Darn Crafty Party...Week 40

It's that time again ladies!! A new week to see what you've been busy with in the Sew Darn Crafty Linking party. It's also theme week and with Thanksgiving just around the corner here in the states, the theme is...PIE RECIPES!! Pies are my absolute favorite dessert...pumpkin to be exact, but can't leave out banana cream!

Link up any project and/or a pie recipe !!

If you've been busy and don't have a new recipe post ready, you can link up an older one.

Here are the weeks and the theme for the weeks to come...so start putting all your great posts together!

November 13th...Pie Recipes (ALL THIS WEEK)
December 4th...Christmas/Holiday Decor
December 11th...Cookie Recipes
December 18th...Last Minute gift ideas

If you want to add the button to your blog...Click HERE for a tutorial for adding a button


If you're NEW to Sew Darn Crafty, then grab a cup of something tasty, sit back and join in on the fun (starts Sunday and lasts all week long at Sew Many Ways).

WHAT IS SEW DARN CRAFTY...

• "Sew" for anything to do with sewing,
• "Darn" for anything to do with knitting. I always think of darning to do with knitting, but in my case "darn" usually is similar to the word I say when I mess up crafting!!
• Let's not forget the word "crafty"...that can mean just about anything we do to create.

WHAT IS A LINKING PARTY...

So now we all know what Sew Darn Crafty means, let's explain a linking party again. I subscribe to a linking service, which provides the ability to link thumbnail pictures on my blog. The picture is a link that other bloggers provide to share their projects.

Two things can happen at a linking party...looking and/or linking

• you can be greatly inspired by wonderful projects, ideas or vacation pictures (looking) and/or
• you can share what you've been up to (linking)

If you want to be inspired by all the great ideas...just click on a picture and it will take you to that post from a wonderful blogger willing to share her thoughts and ideas.


HOW AND WHAT TO LINK TO THE PARTY...

Sew Darn Crafty is all about YOU!! Show off your projects, share a tutorial, show us your vacation pictures, share a family favorite recipe...share anything. Not only does linking inspire us all, it also brings lots of new people to your blog for a visit. Click here for past parties and lots of inspiration

Easy steps to join in on the fun...

• link up to the specific project post, not your whole blog. Makes it easier to link right to that post and not  search through all your entire blog. To find the http address to a specific post, just click on the Title of your post.
• link as many projects as you'd like...old or new
• anything goes...cooking, sewing, knitting, crafts, organizing, remodeling projects, vacations, parties etc...
• visit other links to share some blogging love! You know we all love comments!
• grab a Sew Darn Crafty button for your blog (on my right side bar) or just link to the party in your post.
• the more we share, the more people will join and then there's more inspiration to look at!
• linking is open til Saturday night, so plenty of time to join in
• just click the "click here to enter" button and follow the easy steps

Have fun linking up! Don't forget to come back and take a look at all the great projects during the week,

~Karen~

Give Away Linking Party #2...

You know I love doing linking parties to share inspiration from around the world...like Sew Darn Crafty on Sundays

Well, I was thinking, how about a linking party to share all the give aways that bloggers are having. Like Give Away Central!! So this is week #2. Click the link in the upper right side bar to see last week's give aways

Bloggers who are having give aways will stop by here each week and link up their give away they are sharing on their blog.

Why a give away linking party?

• brings new friends to your blog who might not ever stop by
• more entries to your give away
• for the people who want to enter give aways...it helps to search through the ones that are right for them...all in one place!

Here's how it works...

• bloggers who are having a give away will click the link below to enter their give away post. Follow the steps to add your link and photo.
• to find the url or http of that particular give away post, just click the TITLE of the give away.
• make sure give aways are in keeping with a "Blog Friendly" atmosphere.
• Sew Many Ways has no connection or responsibility to any of the give aways that are linked...I'm just the middle man! Lol !!
• when your give away is over, it's a good tip to go back into the edit section of that post and type GIVE AWAY HAS ENDED at the top of the post. Helps to prevent people stopping by and joining the give away when it's already over.
• I will have this each week, so if your give away is longer than a week come back and link up again!

If you are searching for giving aways to enter, just click the picture and you will be linked to that blogger's blog post!!

If you know of any friends who are having give aways, pass this on so we can have lots of friends stopping by.

Happy Give Away,
~Karen~

Dresser Before and After...

A low profile, Danish dresser that has seen better days is transformed into this...with a little paint and round bun feet from another project.

The top of our staircase is an odd shaped area. I thought a little bench would come in handy. The dresser drawers are still used for storage. They hold all our beach towels when not is season.

The dresser originally had a platform base that was removed a long time ago due to water damage from a flood in the basement.

See the water damage...

pretty much every where.

These are the bun feet I unscrewed from a side table that I used to make my sewing desk. Click here for that tutorial.

You can also buy these bun feet at your local hardware store too!

I removed all the drawers, so I could get to the inside from the bottom.

I turned the dresser on it's back. This is the bottom. I marked where I wanted the feet to go.

Then used my favorite tool, besides my sewing machine!! Use the correct size drill bit so the screw from the feet will fit.

Just screw in the feet and you're all set.

Now on to painting. If you've read my blog before, you know I am a big fan of what painting can do, but NOT a fan of the painting itself.

I try to do as little prep as possible. For this project, I just used 2 coats of Benjamin Moore HC-79 Greenbrier Beige. No primer for me. I'm so lazy, I didn't even take the beach towels out the drawers to paint!! Lol

Testing out a little Christmas decorating. I have a huge Christmas party in early December, so I try to sneak in a few inconspicuous areas of decorating that people wouldn't see until then. Not too many people who stop by for a visit go upstairs, so a few holiday things out right now upstairs won't make me look to crazy!!

Saves me time after Thanksgiving when I have to decorate the whole house.

Add a little wreath where you'd least expect it.

See the feet? Don't look too bad.

Added my favorite holiday book for the Christmas theme.

My tradition is to read this every year...and every year I cry.

It is a MUST read. "A Cup of Christmas Tea" by Tom Hegg.

Hope you enjoyed the makeover...get out some paint and give it a try. Turn your trash into a treasure.
~Karen~

Thoughts on Thursday...

I had mentioned this about couple of years ago, but it bears repeating. It comforts me to know there are other people out there who do similar...let's say...crazy things!! Lol
What things do I do that are crazy, odd, etc? Well, here are 2 with food that I had mentioned in the past.

1. When I go into a loaf of bread, I go beyond the first outer crust piece "and" the next slice of bread to get to a squishier piece of bread. Why not just take that first slice?
2. When I spread peanut butter on crackers, I spread it on the back, flat, wrong side of the cracker. Why?...I don't know

Obviously, with admitting these 2, there must be more, but I shall keep those for another time. Don't want to scare too many people away...Lol !!

I know I'm not alone on this...what do you have ladies, I know there must be something...it doesn't have to be about food either.

Happy Thoughts,
~Karen~

Tool Time Tuesday...Brick Hangers

Happy Tool Time!! You'll be off to the hardware store after today's post, but there's no work involved in this project. This week's post is about brick hangers. They grab onto the brick with tension. No drilling at all.

These are great for wreaths, pictures, Christmas stocking, and quilts too! If you change your quilts often (when you're not using the fireplace), these hooks can be moved around easily with the size of your quilt.

You get 2 hooks per package for $5.99. I found these at our local Ace Hardware store.

***Measure your brick before you buy them. They come in 2 sizes. Measure the brick that you are hanging it from, because our fireplace was made from reclaimed brick and each one is a slightly different size.***

The sizes are 2 1/8" - 2 1/4" in one package and the package below which is 2 1/2 - 2 3/4".

The brick clip on the left is the way it faces you once on the fireplace. 2 hooks to hang something on at different levels.

The clip on the right is how it grabs onto the brick.

Here is how it works from the back of the package.

Here it is on one of our bricks.



Have a great Tuesday and as always...have fun in the hardware store, they're often better than craft stores!!

Don't forget to check into this week's Sew Darn Crafty linking party...so many wonderful ideas. Click here to visit.

Click here to visit another new feature on Sew Many Ways. It's a give away linking party. If your having a give away or want to enter one...go take a peek. It's Give Away Central!!

~Karen~