Recycled Store Hanger

You know those hangers you get when you buy pants or lingerie?  (undies to the rest of us)
They have two clips at the end, short hanger, plastic, presumably useless after you take off the underpants and toss the hanger in the garbage or you tell the cashier to keep 'em!

STOP!  This lowly little hanger can do so much more. #1...If you take pliers and pry off the two ends where the clips are...you have two strong clips that can be used for chips, bags, etc. Smoosh, break, file or whatever it takes to give you a smooth edge.

#2~Then...the little wimpy hanger that is left can be turned into an infant clothes hanger! Brilliant!!!

Today's project:
recycled hanger

What you need is:

store hanger

pliers

batting

fabric

ribbon

 First go out and get some new undies. You know you need them. Splurge! or buy some new pants, winter is on its way. (OR just go into the store and ask for those hangers.)

 

Keep ALL the hangers they come on. Take pliers and bend, bend, re-bend in the opposite direction til the ends come off. Stash those for future use with loads of things you need a good, strong clip for. (That pile of bills? maybe, perhaps you have a big pile of cash you need to clip? Wouldn't that be nice?!)

 

Cut the batting, I used 2 pieces of 4" X 8"  that would fit the length of one side of the hanger. I also cut 2 pieces of fabric about 12" long, and about 3" wide.

I wrapped the batting around the hanger. It stuck pretty good on it's own, no need to sew, but if you like you can handstitch it to itself. Then I sewed the long fabric piece, back stitching only ONE end. So that I can pull the free end threads and shirr the fabric.

Pull the bobbin thread GENTLY on both sides of the fabric until it reaches the length of the hanger. Turn right side out and snuggle this fabric onto the batting covered hanger edge.

Then hand stitch the two edges of the fabric together. Last touch is to add a ribbon over the stitching and tie in a cute bow at the top. So now you have a cute hanger using a recycled item. Yay!

 

tip of the day:

I don't remember if I used this tip before...but if I did - it's worth repeating. Save the pickle juice you get in your nice big jar of dill pickles. You can make easy pickled asparagus or beans with this. Blanche the asparagus or string beans in boiling water for 2 min.  Then plunge into cold water to stop cooking. Take the veggies and put into the jar with pickle juice. Let it sit in this for about 2 weeks (or longer). I use these pickled veggies to garnish my tray of deviled eggs, or eat for an antipasto.

 

That's all for now!

:D

 

 

 

 

 

 

Words, words, words

   What a crazy time of year. School is back in session, which means, yes...Christmas is right around the corner. I know, you are thinking, is Dee crazy??? But you just wait, you'll see. Time will fly by and soon we will be talking about Christmas gift giving.
     With me, it's when craft fair season really starts revving up. Why? Well, because people are starting to think about...yes, Christmas! And that's a good thing for me, because I like making gifts for people.
   This project was squeezed in between filling up my stock for the fairs. I was visiting my daughter, Dana. And she has a kitchen table which was in pretty rough shape on it's top. So on the spur of the moment I got inspired to decoupage it. I had a bunch of old dictionary pages with me that I thought she could use in her paintings, and they were perfect to use on the table.

Today's project is:

decoupaged table top

You will need:

papers to decoupage, (these can be anything from magazine clippings, to newspapers, to gift wrap)
Spray Mount (spray adhesive)
Mod Podge decoupage glue
sponge brush

First clean the surface you will be decoupaging on. This can be anything: chairs, tables, trunks. I have even used glass plates (see previous post for that one)

Then arrange the pieces you want to use. In my case, I laid out the dictionary pages and decided which way they would go. Some of the more yellowed ones were scattered around to give it depth and interest. And I tried to make the ones on the edges (where people would be sitting) easy to read. Something fun to do while eating, learn a new word!!!

Then I took the pieces outside, and over some old newspapers, I sprayed the adhesive on the back of the page. This is messy, because the spray will get on everything, so spray down close to the newspaper. You can skip the spraying part, and spread Mod Podge on the table and smooth the paper down on that also.  But I did not have enough Mod Podge to cover the table twice.

Then lay the pieces down, smooth out any air bubbles. If you have a brayer this work well, a dowel, or a rolling pin might work too.  After these have dried, take a sponge brush and apply the Mod Podge to an area, covering completely.

This may wrinkle or bubble up a bit as it dries, but don't panic. It will flatten out again when the decoupage glue has dried.
* One word of warning: Do NOT put anything hot on this surface you it has dried. I accidently put my tea cup down on it, and it started to bubble up.  IF that happens, take some steel wool, smooth down, and apply more Mod Podge. 

If you want to make it more durable, cover the top with a varnish or an acrylic sealer.

If you have some old chairs, like the ones I found at a garage sale, that were in bad shape as far as the paint was chipping off. You can see in the picture at the top, Dana and I sanded them and then she painted them with fun stripes on one and polka dots on the other, and put new fabric on the seats. And voila, you can make some fun chairs to go with your fun new table!  Paint words on the chairs to match the dictionary pages, if you use dictionary pages.

tip of the day:
My friend came up with some great uses for coffee filters. She uses them to hold small snacks like popcorn or goldfish.  You can fold up a couple, stash in your purse for the next time you take a little one to the movies. You buy a popcorn for yourself and pour some out for their own little bowl. Then you just toss them when finished.
 And she also puts them over bowls when microwaving to prevent splattering. Clever girl.

That's it for now...
:D