Introducing....

I have a little confession to make...I have a hard time finishing projects. You see, by the time I get 75-90% of the way done with something I can see the final results in my head. Since I can already "see" how it looks, I decide that it is time to move on to something else. As I was writing down all of my "almost finished projects" I was kind of disgusted and disappointed in myself that I had that many! How many would that be, you ask? ELEVEN!  That is only counting things that I have actually started, and not anything that has been on my to-do list for quite some time. That may not seem like a lot to you, but for me it is! So, in an effort to finish things up I'm dedicating the month of March as the...

MARCH MOP-UP!  

*Mop-up: Perform the minor tasks that conclude a project or activity (definition courtesy of answers.com)

My goal is to finish at least three projects each week and post my results on Fridays. I would love for you all to join me, so I'll be adding a MckLinky each week for you to show off what you've accomplished. I can't wait to see your results! The first MckLinky will go up on Friday morning, so get crackin'!


EDITED TO ADD:
I got the March Mop-Up button up & working and I would love for you to put one on your blog! You can copy the code below, or from the top right of my blog. And I've already finished three of my projects today! Hooray!

<div align="center"> <a href="http://ashleyscrafts.blogspot.com/search/label/March%20Mop-Up" target="_blank"><img border="0" alt=" MopUp " src="http://i765.photobucket.com/albums/xx291/bowutifulbows/marchmopup-1.jpg"/></a><br /> </div>

Denim Shorts Turned Bubble Skirt

I basically combined this tutorial with this tutorial and came up with this!

I know it's not a great picture (don't you love the ragamuffin hair?! I'll try to get a better one) and apparently I need to attach some bloomers underneath because she kept pulling the skirt up. WAY UP! Like to her armpits...yeah, not so attractive.

TMOC Part 2: Knotty Scarf

This scarf was my inspiration:

and this is my end result:

Sorry, the picture is kind of blurry. Here is an up close so you can see the detail better

It looks much better on than just sitting on the floor. I'm fairly pleased with it, but I don't super love it (and I have a hard time giving gifts that I don't super love). I might try this again using a different material. If I do, I'll post pics and you all can help me decided whether or not to re-do this one.

Boy's T-shirt into Girl's T-shirt

I wanted to make a cute shirt to match this skirt that I made for the little one. Well...I waited too long to get the clearance shirt I wanted from Target! I was totally bummed, but then I saw this shirt in the little boy's section.

It was boring (this is after I had taken the front pocket off) and looked like a shirt for a boy, but for $1.25 I was willing to try my hand at making it look like it was meant for a girl.
Here is what I came  up with:

Not too shabby! Here it is with the skirt:

And a little modeling session, for you:

I do actually do her hair *most days* but this was first thing this morning and I was too excited to see how it looked on her to waist time with pony tails.

Linked to:
Whatever Goes Wednesday
Blue Cricket Design

Photo Rubik's Cube

For my sister's birthday I made her a photo Rubik's cube with pictures from her wedding. I'm sure you've probably seen this on another blog before, since they are all over the place, but I wanted to share mine. I was super pleased with how it turned out and she thought it was awesome. And although she actually knows how to solve a Rubik's cube, she won't attempt this one. I can't say that I blame her though!

One cheap Rubik's cube (I found mine at Michaels for $1) + 6 photos cut to fit the cube and then cut into 9 equal squares + Mod Podge = awesome birthday present.

Another T-shirt Refashion

I actually used two shirts of mine for this one. I followed the same basic instructions that I used for this skirt, just using more layers! I super love the buttons...I wish I had had more!

The tutorial says to sew the ruffles onto the lining while it is still a flat rectangle, but I didn't really like the way the seams of the ruffles looked on the gray skirt so for this one I tried something different. I stitched the lining together to form a tube and did the same with the ruffles before sewing them to the lining. It was a little more difficult to attach the ruffles (just making sure I didn't accidentally sew over a ruffle that was already attached) but not too hard and I am much more pleased with the results.
I hope that made sense...clearly you can see that I'm so up to date with my sewing terminology *not*!

Let me tell you now that there will be plenty more t-shirts turned ruffle skirts in the future! Especially with Spring drawing near.

Burlap + Blue...where are you?

Does anyone else out there read Burlap + Blue? I did...until I couldn't find it any more. It shows up in my google reader but when I try to go to her actual blog it says it's not there any more. Am I missing something?

Post It Note Holder

I made this for my little sister for her birthday (since she has an obsession with Post-It notes). It is just like the ones that have been popping up all over blog-land...acrylic frame, paper, some embellishments and TADAA! Super fasy, super easy and super affordable! And if you look closely you can see that I wrote her initials on the post-its with a watermark pen.

Four Leaf Clover

Remember in this post when I said that I had a project using the glass that was taken out of the frame? Well, here it is!

I love how it turned out! I just took my glass and Mod Podged a piece of paper to the back (make sure you clean your glass first). You have to work fast on this so that the Mod Podge doesn't dry up on you. Once that was good and dry I just hot glued gem stones (like you can find at the dollar store for vase filler) into the shape of a clover and then one in each corner. I did cheat on this a little by printing out a clover image and placing it under my glass as a guide. I also hot glued ribbon to the back to hang it from.

Think of all the possibilities! You could do just about any shape for any holiday. I'll definitely be making more of these in the future!

Diaper Basket

It's like a diaper cake...only it looks like a basket instead! I made this for my friend's diaper shower last weekend. It was so fast to put together...I did it in less than an hour! For the basket part, I used the same method as making one tier of a diaper cake and then for the handle, I shaped a hanger into a U shape and wrapped diapers around it.

It looked empty, so I added a little teddy bear with matching bow tie.

And here it is all wrapped up and ready for delivery!

Let's get to know each other

It is crazy to me to think that there are 35 people out there who follow my blog! CRAZY!!! And I know that there are at least a few others who have links to my blog on theirs. You all make me feel so special and give me the desire to continue to blog (because I would continue to craft regardless). Since I only know 4 of you personally, I would love to get to know the other 30+ followers who make my day by visiting and leaving comments.

I don't really have any specific questions, so if you'd like to just leave me a comment with something about yourself. I can't wait to hear what you all have to say about yourselves! :)

And to be fair, if there is anything you'd like to know about me please feel free to ask.

Happy crafting!

T-shirt Refashion

This is my first refashion ever and I love how it turned out! So much, in fact that I've already started a second one.
I followed this tutorial that I found on Epicurean Style. I took an old shirt of mine that had holes in the bottom of it and cut it apart and in one hour I had created this beauty! Seriously it only took me an hour (not counting cutting because I had done that the night before but that part only took maybe ten minutes) and I not much of a seamstress.

Here is a close up of the clips I made using leftovers from the shirt:

She thought it was the perfect skirt for dancing in.

Hopefully, I'll get the second one finished up soon and then I can show you all what I did differently on it. 

Butterfly Mod Podge Shelf

After losing her bag of hair ties, I decided that the new ones needed a new home. They used to just get thrown on top of her changing table...but she can reach things on there now (hence the losing of the bag) so I got some baby food jars and put the hair ties in there (sorted by color, of course). But I didn't want the jars sitting on top of the table, so I took a shelf we got from Ikea and painted it to match her bedroom. Then I cut out butterflies using left over paper from this project and Mod Podged them on. Love it!

This is the top view of the shelf. It kind of reminds me of a scrabble tile holder.

Rack for Pots & Pans

Not my pots & pans...the little one's. To go along with her play kitchen that I made her for Christmas, she got a set of play cookware. To go with all of that she is getting a huge lot of toy food for her birthday. While adding the drawer to the oven was a good idea, in hindsight I should have added two! So to help keep things under control I made a little rack for her pots & pans to hang from. 

A little cardboard, some paint, paper, peel & stick hooks (which I got from the dollar store) and a couple of binder clips and of course Mod Podge and voila! A place for her cookware.

Now if only I can get her to keep them up there for more than two minutes...

Soda Can Clock

1 empty soda can + $2 clock from Goodwill = awesomeness

One lucky member of my family is going to be getting this for his/her birthday. hehehe

I took pictures along that way, so let me know if you're interested in a tutorial and I'll put one together.

Oh, and I hope you all like the soda can projects because there are going to be several throughout the year...and even if you don't, I'm still going to do them. :D

Initial Bow Holder

How stinkin' cute is this initial bow holder? I made if for my niece for her upcoming birthday. Although I need to add another loop of ribbon above the tail of the J (does that make sense?) so that it hangs straight. It's pink, has jewels & the paper is sparkley...she's going to LOVE it!

And you can purchase one of your own from my shop: here.

Coat/Swimsuit Rack

I was tired of the pile of coats that sat on top of the changing table/dresser in the little one's room, so I made decorated a little coat rack (in the summertime I plan to hang her swimsuits there). The wood was already cut and sanded in the garage, from a project of my dad's. Thanks dad for letting me steal some wood.

I'm thinking about redoing the bow on it, but I haven't decided what I would do. And it is kind of hard to tell unless you click on the picture to make it bigger but there are screw hooks in the center of each butterfly.
I thought I had a picture of it with coats on it, but apparently I don't.

Mod Podge Rocks Project of the Week

That's right! One of my creations is the Project of the Week over at Mod Podge Rocks!!! I still can't even believe it. And Amy is such a sweet girl...in all of my emails with her she says the nicest things. I want to be like her even more now!
What of mine did she feature? The cardboard box oven:

You can check it out here. :)