How To: Up-cycle Shoes, Part 2

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So once upon a summer in 2011, I wrote this post about up-cycling heels.  TODAY, I found all these awesome photos of when I made another pair, to show you a step by step tutorial.  Who cares that I also took them once upon a summer in 2011.  I'm showing you them today, dammit.  :)

Side note, I was so in love this with paisley print fabric that I not only up-cycled the shoes in them, but also made a pair of earrings, too.  I'm trying to keep it alive forever.  Or until the mod podge gives out....

Ingredient list
Shoes you're sick of (backless heels are WAY EASIER than pumps....)
Fabric--around a fat quarter worth (busy patterns are best!)
Pod Podge
Foam Paint Brush
Scissors
Exacto Knife
Ribbon--optional

1.  You'll need about double the size of fabric for each shoe.
2.  Start painting with your mod podge, girl!
3.  Place fabric over the shoe and smooth out.  There's no wrong way to do this--you know I don't believe in that!  The easiest way is to place the "point" of your fabric just in front of the point of your shoe.  Press and smooth out, then cut away excess fabric.  Add another layer of mod podge.
4.  Cover shoe completely and allow to dry until hard.  I waited overnight.  Probably because I was tired, NOT because I'm patient.  Clearly.
5.  That would be the hardened shoe.
6.  Using scissors, cut into the fabric and fold into the shoe.  Mod Podge the fabric down.  Only the top of your foot will see this, so it's ok if it's messy.  Unless, of course, you're totally trying to impress your foot....
7.  Using your exact knife, cut away any extra fabric on the shoe.
8.  This step is optional....I used a slip on heel--mule?--for this up-cycle.  Why?  Cause I'm a little lazy and botched up the back of shoes before.  This type of shoe was WAY easier.  BUT, I hate the way they flip flop when I walk, so I added the ribbon to the bottom to make a ribbon-tie ankle.

Finished, girl!

Rockin it!

Annnnnd, that's it!  This is a cheap and relatively easy project that makes a HUGE impact, cause girl, NOBODY has shoes like this!  Now go rock it, girl!

Big (Paisley Print) Smile,

How to: Make a Fabric Scrap Holiday Tree

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Hi Dolls!

I hope you're all having a fan-tabulous Thursday!  :)  So I thought I'd show you a little something I made last week, which btdub, I was sure J Chen would hate but made anyway.  Cause I'm sweet like that!  ;-)

Now, I would agree that this isn't my "usual style".  It's a little more shabby chic/country than my typical contemporary creations.  BUT, I do what I want.  So there you go.

Oh, did I mention this is the easiest creation ever? :-)  

So I bought these floral tower thingies back in October for my craft shows (to hang my hairbands on).  Well, as the season progressed, I found better ways to display them and no longer had a need for these dudes but I couldn't just have them sitting around....J Chen gets a little fussy about that.... ;-)


Chenyways, less talk.  More tutorial Action.

So, ingredient list then?  
Weird Iron Floral Towers--I got mine at Hobbit Lobbit over by all the millions of artificial flowers.
Christmas Lights
Scrap Fabric, cut or ripped to approx. 7"x2" inch strips

Step One:  Wrap your lights around the tower.
Step Two:  Tie your scraps on the tower.

Step Three:  Plug that sucker in and ROCK IT GIRL!

We keep one the kitchen counter....

and one on the cool desk that we use
purely for decor :)

Oh, and guess what?  J Chen actually liked them!  Well, when they're lit anyway.  :)

 Big (wasn't that soooo easy?!?) Smile,

Custom Cushions--my first real sewing project.

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Warning--this is NOT a tutorial.  Please, I barely got through this myself!  It's very doubtful I could teach it....

So here's the thing about me--I'm not great at saying no.  Especially to friends.  Especially to friends that help me out all the time.  So when Amanda asked me if I could make some cushions for the salon's two pedicure chairs, I immediately said yes, sure, of course. Of course I can make custom cushions that require a real sewing machine, the basic knowhow to operate said real sewing machine, multiple trips to the fabric store, self confidence, and well, hours of my time doing something I know nothing about.  WAAHHHH!!!! 

But whatevs, Imma survivor, I'm not gon give up!

So, I went to the fabric store and searched for the prefect fabric to match her super awesome pedicure bowls:

Amanda picked my favorite fabric of the 4 (we're so in sync!), the bottom left one.

Now, here is where I MUST give the sweet lady at Field's Fabric a little shout out:  Sweet Lady, thank you for saving my ASS!  I took in the foam cushions and told her about my project.  She straight up took out a piece of paper and made cuts to show me how to work the corners.  Seriously, without her, I would have wrapped these Bs like a present!  I used that 3 inch diagram like my life was dependent on it the entire time.

Bacon loved the fabric too!  He's such a helper :)

GO MICHIGAN STATE!

The cushions needed to be 28x18 and 4 inches high.  The closest I could come was 22x22 at 4 inches high.  So meant cutting and pasting these guys:

picked up at hobbit lobbit

Next I just cut, placed and measured the best I could.  Again--NOT a tutorial!

Man, I love this fabric!

Well, my easy bake oven sewing machine broke in the middle of my nervous breakdown the project so I borrowed my friend Lila's.  All I can say is WOW, it's all about the machine!  Once I had a "good" machine, I literally flew through the last cushion (then went back and fixed the first one).  It just goes to show you that an extra $20 on a machine goes a LONG WAY.  I bought my own big girl Brother machine the other day and it's been such a great experience!

Without further ramblings ado, here are the new cushions!

the other one looks exactly the same--that's why you're only getting this one photo.

I guess that the other moral of the story would be that I'm glad that I took on the project--it always good to push yourself!  I'm no longer afraid to try sewing now--cause technically, I already did!  :)

Big (OMG, I did it!) Smile,

6 New Fall Wreaths!

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Girls, it's FRIDAY!!!!  OMG, yay.  YAY!  And it's perfect fall weather too boot :)

So yeah, let's talk about it.  Let's talk about some pretty fall wreaths I whipped up to take to Amanda McGrail Salon :)  I told you the other day about how she's giving me a space there ( FOR FREE!!!) and we decided to incorporate wreaths and some sunburst mirrors :)

So I made some wreaths--6 to be exact--and guess what?  Didn't use ANY yarn.  Nope, not even a little.  No yarn wreaths here.  Ok, I'm sure they'll be back......You know how much I love my yarn wreaths :)

What's you opinion on burlap?  Cause I flipping love it!  Like, hard.  Real hard.  (that's what she said!)  Chenyways, I had some scraps from a thrift store find and used all the red in the bag to make this one:

Welcome, Fall!

Then I ran out to the hobbit hobbit and picked up a couple yards of tan burlap and worked on these guys:

look at this cutie!  It's like a little 6inch donut that I want to gobble up!
What up FAT KID!?!

Added a little romantic flower to tone down the harsh burlap.

This baby got a lot of felt flower love!  

Did I mention that I love fall colors?!?

Now this one.  LOVE it.  It's simple.  Yet kinda rustic with a splash chic.

yeah....she's a pretty girl!

I did make a couple others as well.  This one I went with the traditional grapevine--not my usual style--but I like it!!!  Probably the closet to country you'll ever see this girl create ;-)

I don't know, it's a cute country wreath.  Please don't count
all the rosettes--I don't even want to know!

Now this last one I ended up keeping for myself.  Mostly cause I didn't know if anyone else would see the charm in it, or if they would think it was ugly unusual.  Let's be clear, I DO NOT create ugly.  I'm just saying...and maybe I'm over thinking it?  I think it looks great!

See, it's not ugly!  I used a damask fabric in orange and brown to wrap the wreath.

Then I added these 2 cuties--what's not to love?!?!

Alright, that's it for now my friends.  Hope I inspired you a little--if not, well, hey thanks for sticking around to read this last paragraph!  :)

Big (It's FALL!) Smile,

Mini Diaper Cakes and a Wipes Clutch.

So Leah's baby shower has come and gone, so now it's finally time to share all fun stuff I made for her big day.

And PS, this was a gender neutral shower.  With an Owl theme.

First up, Mini Diaper Cakes.

I really like diaper cakes.  I've always found them to be pretty fascinating and the people who make them, well, brilliant.  I, on the other hand, took the easy way out :)  I kept trying to figure out what I wanted the centerpieces to be.  I'm all about form meets function.  I mean, flowers are super pretty, but they die.  And then you throw them out.  Or, if you're me, you leave them in the vase for 3 weeks and let mold form around the stems.  Remember, this is a judge-free zone. :)  Chenyways, I decided I should do diaper cakes. Mini Diaper Cakes--for 6 tables--this way Leah could actually use her centerpieces. For the baby's butt.

Right or wrong, this is how I did it.

Ingredient List:

• A pack of diapers--I did newborn, about 50 or so... 
• Rubberbands.  Skinny ones for the diapers.  Fat ones to hold them together.
• A center structure.  I used these bamboo pencil cups from the $ Tree--but you could easily use a tin can.  *also--you could just use like 3 or 4 more diapers instead of a structure.  I had just already purchased these pencil cups for another idea I had that fell flat and I didn't want to waste them.
• Jute.  This is optional--you could use ribbon, or whatever you think of to hide the outer rubber band.
• Paper fillers.  Again, optional.  This is used to cover the top of the cake--you could do some fabric rosettes!

1.  The ingredient list at large.  Well ok, it's missing the paper fillers.  We could have real problems.

2.  So take your diapers and roll them up tight--secure with skinny rubber bands.  I needed like 7 or 8 for my mini cakes, but it will all depend on your center structure and how fat or skinny it is.  You'll know the right amount when you can lift it up by the center and everything comes up with you.  

3.  Wrap your Jute--or whatever rubber band hider you've come up with--around the center of the cake as many times as necessary to achieve the look you want.  

4.  You know, like that picture.  

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And finally....this is where you add your embellishments if you will (and I think you will).  I used the paper fillers to cover up the top of the center structure and then added this little felt owl to the front.  Ya know, cause it was an owl theme shower!  I used the jute on the wings to tie it all together.  

And, what goes better with diapers than wipes?!?!  I would think vodka, but that just shows how much I know.....

I made this pretty thang using a tutorial from Homemade by Jill.  My wipes case was a little bigger than the template, so I just cut out the fabric a little bigger.

I ended up adding a snap to this--which it doesn't call for--cause I'm pretty sure that I melted the case's snap with my glue gun.  Listen, it's not my fault that J Chen couldn't man up and finish his strawberry daiquiri--what was I supposed to do, not drink it?!?! PLEASE.  So yeah, that was likely a intoxicated human error.  :)  But isn't pretty?!?!??!  

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I made it especially in that fabric to match the KATE SPADE bag I got her!  Listen, there is no way my girl is gonna be running around MP with a freaking Winne the Pooh diaper bag, ok?  Ok.  And no, it's not a knock off, and yes, Leah I will be expecting one in return.  ;-)

l think the two will be very happy with one another!  The baby and Leah of course! Not the Kate/Clutch combo ;-)

Oh, and because I didn't know where else to put this, I wanted to show you these little hats I made her.

Clearly the rosette is detachable!  No wishful thinking over here.  NEVER.  

I made these using a knitting loom.  You know, for kids.  J/K, lots of adult wannabe knitters use them. Wanna give it a whirl?  Check out how sweet, fast and EASY these little hats are with this tutorial!

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Big (who needs a REAL diaper bag) Smile,
B.Chen

linking to these parties!

http://craftomaniac.blogspot.com/

http://todayscreativeblog.net/

How To: Up-cycle Shoes!

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So I was cruising along Pinterest (follow me!), you know, my crazy-kid obsession, and came across an image of these super cute, one-of-a-kind shoes.  As I looked closer, I noticed that the shoe was actually up-cycled with fabric and mod podge.  And, being the compulsive crafter that I am, I ran upstairs looking for my own cast-offs to revamp.  I found a pair of mauve--yes, MAUVE--pumps in the donation pile and I knew would be perfect.  I mean, why the hell did I even have MAUVE pumps to begin with?  They fit perfectly so it was clear that I was just over the country-pink color.

Henyways, the example that I was going by were of flats, so I WINGED followed the directions the best that I could using this tutorial from Makeit-Loveit.  I didn't know how to wrap the heels, so I picked a fabric with MAUVE in it so that I could keep the heels as is.  You may recognize the fabric from this article.  Maybe not.  :)

Total Cost for Me?  Oh, how bout $0.

Here are the sexy MAUVE pumps that I bought back in 2005 or so....

Here's my fabric that I choose to cover with:






And now.....the BIG TAH DAH!!!

It's a little rough....I couldn't find my exacto knife, and I'm not exacto patient, so I used scissors to cut the edges. I also added the felt flower to cover my botch job heel backs.  I do what I want.  ;)  Either way, I'm BEYOND pumped to rock my MAUVE pumps!

Thanks for stopping!

Please visit my Facebook Page.

Big (up-cycle) Smile,

B.Chen

Linked up to:  http://craftomaniac.blogspot.com/

FEATURED HERE!  :)

Pimp my Cubicle!

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Did you know that the average american spends over 22% percent of their lifetime at work?  True story.  I read it on the internet and everything.  That's a LONG TIME to spend in some ugly-ass grey box they like like call a cubicle.  Or in my building, your "office."  PLEASE.

I've been meaning--for the past 4 years--to fix up my cube.  I mean, here I am, blogging away, creating away and not one real B.Cheniful item has managed to make it's way into Building 985.  And then one day, that all changed.

It took me FOREVER, but I found 3 fabric patterns that I wanted to use in my cube.  I decided that I would add fabric circles, a yarn wreath, and a tiny pillow to my even tinier space.

yarn wreath pretty.

making that cube grey really pop!

desk "return" area.

my bitty pillow.

Lastly, I've been working on a fabric scrap clipboard (find the tutorial, here).  It's a tad matchy-matchy, but I love it!

my matchy-match clipboard.

I found a place for it!

While this won't make up for the 22% of your life you're stuck here, it sure does make it a little more enjoyable!  

Big (fabric) Smile,

B.Chen