Pitcher Vase and placemat

As You Wish has struck again in my home, this time with a new vase for my kitchen table. I can't stay away from that place. LOL It took about 3 visits to the store for me to hand paint this, but I love it!

I made this to rest my new vase on, just a simple little crocheted mat made out of scrap yarn.

Life Saver Cake

Made this for my manager at work, Renee, to go along with a theme for "saving" customers who would otherwise discontinue our services. We've got paper life savers all of the wall for each customer we get to stay with us. Couldn't think of anything more fitting for Renee's birthday since she is so dedicated to this project.

Another Magnet

I plan to have cutesy magnets all over my fridge that I've made from As You Wish. Here's one I recently made:

Recycle a t-shirt into a tank top

So I was bored, and wanted a new shirt...and have been wanting to do an upcycle project for a while. So I dug around the closets and found this over sized t-shirt and went to work.

Here's the before and after products:

Before-

After-

Here are the instructions in case you would like to try it out yourself:

Step 1: Pick a t-shirt you don't mind experimenting with.

Step 2: Cut off sleeves and shoulders just under the neck line (save the sleeves for later):

Step 3: Trim the sides at an angle starting from bottom and cutting upwards to the corner to the shoulder. Repeat to the other side. This will create a slight flare with the bottom of the shirt being a little larger than the top of the shirt:

Step 4: With right sides facing each other, sew a seam along each side using the zigzag stitch on your sewing machine due to this is stretchy material:

Step 5: With right sides still facing each other, iron down flaps on both sides to prevent rolling:

Step 6: With shirt still inside out, fold flap on top of shirt down about an inch and sew using zigzag stitch. Be sure to leave enough room to run elastic through the inside. Sew all the way around except for about the last inch which will be used to insert the elastic:

Step 7: Measure the distance in inches around your chest above the breast. Reduce this number by about 2 inches and cut the length in elastic. Attach a safety pin to one end of the elastic. Slide the safety pin through the path created in step 6 until all the way through but be sure to hold onto both ends on each side:

Step 8: Hand sew the each end of the elastic to each other to form a complete circle and then sew the gap in the seam of the shirt.

Step 9: Using one of the sleeves of the shirt cut off the seam:

Step 10: Cut along the bottom seam to open up and cut along each side to make a straight edge:

Step 11: Cut 3 strips long ways about an inch thick from sleeve. Place each upon each other and sew along short end (regular stitching is fine):

Step 12: Stretch each strand, allowing to roll on ends and then braid to opposite end. Sew end of strands to secure. Repeat with other sleeve. These will be the straps for the shirt. Attach to shirt and sew on.

I love my new shirt, I hope you have success with your own projects! Let me know how it goes. :)