Vase Makeover

Today's post I am sharing with you is an old vase that has been in the family for many years, I think it is even older than me! My grandmother gave it to me as she no longer had any need for it.  It is a good sturdy vase but the design was very dated!  So I decided to have a go with the spray paint.

The photo below is what the vase originally looked like.

I used a can of spray paint that I had in the house. I originally bought this to give my daughter's bike a makeover but decided against it once she had outgrown it!

I took the vase outside and placed it onto some old newspaper and sprayed away. It took about 3 coats and I had to leave a 4 hour gap between respraying. I managed to have it completed by the evening!

Below is a nice before and after photo collage. I now have this vase in my living room.  I managed to buy some really cheap imitation flowers to put in the vase which made it blend in nicely with the room.

This post is actually my 101st post since I started blogging this year, Yeah!

This week you might find me linking this post with some or all of the following link parties / blog hops:

  

I have received the Versatile Blogger Award

Yeah I have recently been given 'The Versatile Blogger Award'  by two of my lovely followers. The first was from Patricia over at lemondropsdreamtoo and then again from Nishana from princessliya I  have had a few awards lately so I am happy that I am being noticed out there in blogworld!

The rules for receiving this award are:

• Thank and link back to the person who sent you the award
• Share 7 things about yourself
• Spread the love and honor, award a few amazing bloggers
• Contact these bloggers and tell them about the award.

My Seven Things are:
1) I used to bite my nails (arghh!)
2) I love to walk about the house in bare feet - which really annoys my husband!
3) My favourite ice-cream is simple Vanilla.
4) I don't have a blackberry (so many have one these days!)
5) I am currently on a diet/exercise regime.
6) I am a Tea Drinker (maybe one coffee a week if that!)
7) I crave to drink a nice cold 'Diet Coke' but I suffer from IBS which flares up if I drink any fizzy pop!

I am going to forward this award onto the following bloggers:
http://www.domesblissity.blogspot.com/
http://www.izdiher.blogspot.com/
http://www.coloursdekor.blogspot.com/
http://thecolorofourskin-ourjourney.blogspot.com/
http://www.knutselen-met-sofieke.blogspot.com/
http://www.samtheknitter.blogspot.com/
http://terriekwong.blogspot.com/
http://www.alianswers.blogspot.com/

I hope these bloggers enjoy their awards and hopefully pass it onto some other bloggers.

PS: I have received this award previously and have posted a different list of 7 things about me, if you are interested in seeing what they are, here is the link: versatile-blogger-award - June 2011

Pajama Pants Mini Tutorial

Making your own pajama pants is really easy.

All you need is:

• Spare fabric (I used an old duvet cover.)
• Paper to draw the pattern onto
• Elastic + safety pin

 Here is a tip for the part-time sewers, you don’t need to buy expensive paper for the pattern, you can use ordinary unwanted wallpaper, or I actually use the large roll of craft paper for kids, that I purchase from Asda (Walmart for the US), this roll is great for the kids and me! I used a sewing machine for this project. I will not go into all the steps here because you can follow the link (shown at the bottom of this post) and I don’t have all the photos. I have attached a couple of photos that I took afterwards. (I really should have ironed the pants before taking the photo shown above!)

Basic Steps:

• Place a pair of pants that already fit or a pair of pants that are too small (like my son’s shown in the photo), onto the paper. Fold the pants in half so that you only see one leg. Then draw around the whole piece of the leg.( If you require pajama pants to be the same size, then just add enough extra around your drawn pattern so that you have room for a hem and an elastic waist casing. The general consensus is about an extra half inch for the hems and an extra one and a half for the waist. If you need the pajama pants to be longer, then measure the waist and leg length of the person who will be wearing these trousers and add accordingly. Once you know what length of leg you need, just make sure that your pattern matches that amount not forgetting to add extra for the hem and waist.)
• Once you have a one leg pattern on a piece of paper, this can be used for the whole of the pajama pants.
• Place the pattern onto your fabric and cut out two pieces.
• Then flip the pattern over and cut out two more pieces.(You now have four pieces of cut out fabric.)
• Then using the steps from either the tutorial I gave you , or find another tutorial, there are plenty out there on the internet, start sewing the pieces together.(Basically just follow the way that your original pants are sewn together.)
• Once the pieces are sewn together you can then start making the waist casing. Leave a space so that you can insert the elastic, use a safety pin to thread the elastic into the space.
• Then sew the pajama pants hems at the bottom.

Voila, there you have a new pair of pajama pants.

I have actually made a pair for myself (following similar instructions) a while back. This is because I can never find pajama pants long enough for myself, because I have long legs. Whenever I shop for clothes, I have to buy long length pants when there is the option, but it is extremely rare to find pajama pants in a choice of long length!  This overall project only took me about an hour! No complicated buttons or extras, just simple straight forward sewing. It is easier than you think, so why not give it a try. A good way to upcycle those duvet covers like I did too! If the link below is no longer working just google search for another tutorial there are plenty out there. Good Luck.

I have seen many tutorials about doing this from other websites and they made it look so easy! Here is a link to the website I recently found:

http://www.instructables.com/id/How-to-Sew-Your-Own-Pajama-Pants/

This week I am linking this post with the following link parties / blog hops: