Old Wool Sweaters = New Purse

A dear friend (Gail, you know who you are!) makes the best wool purses...so she encouraged me to give it a try. First, I went to garage sales and thrift stores and looked for sweaters that were made of at least 90% wool.  I didn't pay over $1 for each of them. I also picked up purse handles, but you don't have to have them, you could just use the sweater material. I washed them in hot water, then dried in the dryer. This shrunk them and 'felted' them. They were ready for cutting.

Today, I took these supplies above, along with fun material for the lining and turned it into this (below).

And the inside looks like this below.

I just made it up as I went along, so I decided that a tutorial would not be good since I really didn't know what the outcome would be. The leopard print fabric are side pockets (on each side, inside) to hold my cell phone, keys, etc. The three sweaters that I used cost $2. The handles were 50¢, and the rest, lining scrap fabric and buttons I already had on hand. So the total cost was...$2.50! Plus my time of one hour. And I have enough left over to make another purse! Pretty good, don't you think? You can enlarge each picture by clicking on it, then click again for larger detail. You can then use your 'back' button to return to my blog. Terry
I'm linking up to these parties:
Sassy's Trash to Treasure
Linda's Nifty Thrifty Tuesday 
Kim's Boring to Better Party Wednesday 
Kelli's ReStored It Wednesday 
Gina's Transformation Thursday
Becky's Under $100 Party Thrusday
Wendy's Frugal Friday 
Funky Junk Interiors Sat. Nite Special
Meg's Everything but the Kitchen Sink Friday 
Cindy's Show and Tell Friday
Courtney's Feathered Nest Friday
Debra's Vintage Inspiration Friday
Jane's Frugalicious Friday
Kate's Flaunt It Friday 
Stephanie Lynn's Sunday Showcase Party 

Winter Whites 2011

                                                  My home is aglow with Winter Whites...
(Note: click on picture twice to enlarge. Use your back button to return to blog)

Vintage Child's Snow Shovel purchased for $1 at garage sale.

Oil painting $3, tiny white houses $3, Silver candle sticks, $2, all garage sales.

Snowman plates on mirror $3 thrift store finds.

Snowman, 25¢ thrift store find

Vintage snowman print from Germany in old frame from antique store, $30.

Collection of pitchers from auctions, garage sales, antique stores and ebay.

Plates from garage sales 50¢ each.

Garage sale bubble snowman nite light, $1.

Garage sale $1 skates.

Stay warm. Terry
Linking up to these parties:
Sassy's Trash to Treasure
Linda's Nifty Thrifty Tuesday 
Kim's B & A Party Wednesday 
Kathleen's White Wednesday 
Gina's Transformation Thursday
Meg's Everything but the Kitchen Sink Friday 
Cindy's Show and Tell Friday
Courtney's Feathered Nest Friday
Debra's Vintage Inspiration Friday
Jane's Frugalicious Friday
Kate's Flaunt It Friday 
Funky Junk Interiors Sat. Nite Special 

Living Room Tour...In Pictures

Five and a half foot wreath I painted on the ceiling.

Looking in from the foyer to the west. This room has 10 foot ceilings.

New entertainment center all decked out.

Desk rescued from neighbors trash. On desk is a clay model of our home.

The ceiling used to have a ceiling fan. I tied a string on to it and drew a circle to paint the leaves of the wreath. It is not a perfect circle because what wreath is? Then we installed a medallion and an antique chandelier.

Hubby framed an antique ceiling tin. Ice skates decorate the area for winter.

My collection of ironstone pitchers dressed with the snowflakes I made.

Tassels that I made. I will blog that another time.

Decorated for winter. Under the mantle is 5 foot high, so this is a very large fireplace.

Looking in from the dining room to the east.

Huge crown molding existed by builder. I painted the green 6 inch border on the ceiling to show up the crown better. Another corbel in our collection.

We took out the carpet and installed new walnut hardwood flooring.

We collect antique corbels. You will see them all over our home.

A pillow I made.

This wall is how it is usually decorated when ice skates are not in use for decor.

Both windows have window seats. I made the cushions. They are the same on both sides but I have one flipped over to show contrast. I made some of the pillows too.

Garage sale columns were sanded and stripped by me and hubby made the bases to stand on. Garden angel on top of each one.

Base of drapes I made.

I made the drapes and cut the wooden rods down since the windows have pull down shades and we didn't need the drapes to move.

(Note: click on picture twice to enlarge. Use your back button to return to blog)
I hope that you enjoyed the tour...Terry
Linking up to these parties:
Susan's Met. Monday
Carrie's Amaze Me Monday 
Cielo's Show Off Your Cottage
Kim's B & A Party Wednesday 
Gina's Transformation Thursday 
Wendy's Frugal Friday 
Meg's Everything but the Kitchen Sink Friday 
Cindy's Show and Tell Friday
Courtney's Feathered Nest Friday
Debra's Vintage Inspiration Friday
Jane's Frugalicious Friday
Kate's Flaunt It Friday 
Funky Junk Interiors Sat. Nite Special

Coffee Table Challenge

Hubby and I found this coffee table at a garage sale for $5. We knew that we could restore it into something a bit less shabby. I know, I know, some of you like this much distressing, but this was a bit much for me. So while hubby fixed the top, I sanded down the legs then the top. I painted it in tones of brown and black and added a checkerboard in the center. Yes, we actually play checkers on it! Here is the final look as it sits in our basement media room.

(Note: click on picture twice to enlarge. Use your back button to return to blog)

I actually found the perfect complement to this table...red and black wooden checkers for a $1 at an antique mall in Wichita, Kansas while visiting relatives. So total tally is $6 for the whole project. Terry
I'm linking up to these parties:
Susan's Met. Monday
Carrie's Amaze Me Monday
Cielo's Show Off Your Cottage
Sassy's Trash to Treasure
Linda's Nifty Thrifty Tuesday 
Kaysi's Motivate Me Monday 
Cassie's Piece of Work Wednesday 
Kim's B & A Party Wednesday  
Maryann's Power Of Paint 
Kelli's ReStored It Wednesday 
Gina's Transformation Thursday 
Becky's Under $100 Party Thrusday
Miss Mustard Seed's Furniture Feature Friday 
Wendy's Frugal Friday  
Meg's Everything but the Kitchen Sink Friday 
Cindy's Show and Tell Friday
Courtney's Feathered Nest Friday
Debra's Vintage Inspiration Friday
Jane's Frugalicious Friday
Funky Junk Interiors Sat. Nite Special
Kate's Flaunt It Friday