October 2012 | the ReFab Diaries





I should be sharing Ms Ro's costume with you today... but she's sick. And doing the kind of fitting and fiddling and futzing necessary to make her costume happen... well, it's not very fair to her.

So instead I'm sharing just a few of the wonderful DIY kid's costumes you'll find over at Oh Happy Day. Just in case, like me, you still don't have anything prepared. I love the Frida Kahlo idea. But the snail might be my favorite! 






Why brown bag it when you can make this reusable snack sack from your old jeans? Another simple, classy project from Between the Lines.








A couple of years ago Natalie Portman carried a Lolita book clutch to the Black Swan premiere and made Olympia Le-Tan and her amazing creations very cool. You can own one for the small, small price of $1500 - $1900!! Or, you can make a knock off for next nothing.


I love it when my creative friends provide me with instant blog posts. Thank you Terri for sharing your gloriously colorful pumpkin beauties!  If you want to make these yourself, here's a link to a dripped wax tutorial. You can decorate with buttons using either glue or pins.




Lots happening over at It's Always Autumn. This little web is my favorite of her recent projects ... 

Quick weekend project to share with you! I've often thought "I bet it would be easy to turn pant legs into sleeves." But since I've never actually sewn sleeves into anything, I've never tried. Then I saw these pants on Ms K's "donate" pile ... because they're too short for Ms Ro. Not to mention too "light" considering the season. "But they're pretty" whined my inner refabber. "And they match that t-shirt you're holding onto!!!"  So... ok. This weekend I took both pieces and tried it. And it was fiddly, but really easy. Here's how it went:


Book decor seems to be the theme of the week. Because I happily stumbled upon awesome things this week and I love it when that happens. If you've ever visited this blog to look for book-folding tutorials/patterns, then you've seen the work of Heather Eddy, otherwise known as Rhymes with Magic. A few months ago, she literally pinned her passion to her walls ... covering areas of her home in book covers. Go take a look! 

Today I am in awe of this. It's wonderful. It's doable. I want it. Full tutorial at Design Every Day.

A little Harvest, a little Halloween... A little seasonal book refabbing? Yes! 

1) A ghost of centerpieces past
2) Paperback Jack-Kerouack-O-Lanterns
3) A Book Pumpkin  (Bumpkin?)




A while back a put together a roundup of 20+ ideas for refabbing drinking straws. Since then, I've been on the lookout for the perfect straws ... because I wanted to make these earrings. But the straws had to, er, you know, "speak to me". Last week I spotted exactly the right thing, in my colleague's cubicle. Lucky for me, Cindy understands my slightly odd ways and was willing to hand over a couple of straws (with only the slightest eye roll). So here's a quick guide to making these super-simple earrings.  

I grew up surrounded by women who knew how to wield pastel, plastic knitting needles, cold metal crochet hooks and thousands of pins. From around the age of 5, I was dragged, kicking and screaming, into this fold. I resisted mightily!! And I was bad at all of it. I have very clear memories of my grandmother undoing an entire teddy bear I knit (a 3rd grade "needlework" assignment) and re-knitting it, the night before I had to hand it to my teacher. Because Granny had some sense of my little-girl pride, she never told anyone. I had a pretty amazing grandmother.

Anyway, I loathed "home economics" and pretty much all the domestic "arts" at which both my parents excel. But it seems I picked up on some basics and now I'm very grateful for them. I can't say that I love to knit or crochet and my sewing is mostly garment hacking for refab purposes. But hey, I know how! And yes, it's hard to do any of these things well. So I now have a ton of respect for the needle-wielding talents of the world. And when you can no longer use the needles ... or they're so "vintage" they're warping ... I have some ideas for how you can refab them!  


Liana Kabel's Knitwit jewelry is a phenomenon. Seeing her work inspired this post. For tutorials on how to make your own beautiful things with old needles and pins, read on ...


Everything Alisa Burke touches turns to beautiful. Click through to see other views of this garland and be inspired.





Last week I posted a tutorial that involved a simple upcycle of a bottle. Today's tutorial involves a little more work. But really very little. Please note: I created this "paper bottle" for my own use and I'm sharing the steps I took. Complete instructions after the jump.






Back in January I compiled a post on book folding and mentioned that my own attempts (pictured below) had been inspired by a long-ago issue of Budget Living Magazine. In June I was asked to please share the instructions from Budget Living. I couldn't find them. Of course. And then, the other day, there they were!  Folded (!) at the bottom of a box of old catalogs and things I've been storing. So I've done my best to share them ... and make them usable:




The Garfield Park Conservatory is a Chicago treasure. In my not-so-humble opinion. Recently ravaged by hail, they are managing to rebuild while hosting at least two different exhibits and managing a completely fantastical outdoor playspace for kids (think "Where the Wild Things Are" - the recent movie - meets urban/container gardening.) 

This post is dedicated to Chicago's Twelve. "Through interaction with environmental issues, the re-purposing of found objects, and utilization of non-traditional material, these twelve artists call into question not only our present relationship with our world, but also the possibility of its sustainable future." The exhibit is open until December 9, 2012. I wasn't able to photograph every piece so please click through and take a look at the video and catalog!




Hello lovely reader folk. You all know I love creating with old book pages etc. Inspired by some things I've seen recently, I wanted to take a stab at creating a simple, cheap-n-cheerful "paper bottle". Today I'm showing you the steps for my first attempt. There's another, slightly more complex version, on the way (see the pic below). Read on for the tutorial ...


As always, I used random.org to pick the winner and it chose entry #641 - Katy at The Country Blossom!  Katy, Lisa will be contacting you soon to get a shipping address  :)

SPECIAL OFFER: As a thank you to all of you who entered, Lisa's offering free shipping (including international shipping) on all items in her Etsy store from now through Oct 15. Enter the code REFAB. And be sure to "like" PoldaPop Designs on Facebook so you don't miss out on future offers etc.
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