Nifty Thrifty Girl » handmade

pretty, pretty, pretty

niftythriftygirl — Sun, 17 Apr 2011 17:33:43 +0000

Because I desperately wanted this but could not see myself spending that kind of money on a light fixture, I decided to do a bit of searching and was lucky enough to find these clever crafters who where generous enough to share their ideas here and here. And…several days later…I now have 2 lovely faux capiz shell chandeliers.

I installed one in my bedroom and will use the other on the patio (that is, if the weather ever cooperates). Even though they are a bit time consuming to make, I love the look of them so much I may even make another for my hallway!

gearing up for farmers market

niftythriftygirl — Wed, 09 Mar 2011 01:42:14 +0000

I’m slowly gearing up for this year’s Farmers Market. It doesn’t start until the end of May but since I’m going it alone in my booth this year I need to have extra stock. I whipped up a few zippered pouches today…each has a coordinating lining…and some have a little extra crocheted flair.

I also made a few small fleece pet beds. Each has a removable insert so you can throw the cover right into the wash!

I’d love to make these for my pups but I’m afraid it would take an awful lot of fabric and stuffing to fill a bed for a 50 lb. and 100 lb. dog!

sweaters, sweaters…everywhere…

niftythriftygirl — Thu, 10 Feb 2011 14:07:52 +0000

…and not just because it is frigid outside, but because I am obsessed with recycling old sweaters! I just made another trip to my local thrift store and loaded up with another batch of wool sweaters (and a few cotton ones, too). I have great plans for all these lovely sweaters…

Oh, so many things to be made…purses, pillows, coffee cozies and needle caddies. First, a few pillows:

I’d better get off the computer and back to work. Needle caddies coming up next! Stay tuned for updates. Many of these pieces can be purchased from my etsy shop…but some will not be listed as I have to work on my stock for this year’s Farmer’s Market booth.

Stay warm!

new scarf

niftythriftygirl — Sat, 13 Nov 2010 16:53:30 +0000

Last year when I opened the Garnet Hill catalog I immediately fell in love with the Haverhill scarf.

Garnet Hill Haverhill Scarf

The $90 price tag, on the other hand, was something I didn’t love. I knew I could make my own ‘granny square’ scarf so….a year later (yep, it took me THAT long to crochet all the pieces) here is my version…

It’s not as intricate as the original but, unfortunately, I don’t have hours upon hours of extra time and had to choose a granny square pattern that was reasonably simple or it would have taken me years to make this scarf!

A Handmade Christmas

niftythriftygirl — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 14:40:49 +0000

For as long as I can remember holiday time meant homemade Christmas decorations. From salt dough ornaments to macaroni snowflakes to hand-painted wooden ornaments…my parents’ Christmas tree has always been adorned with the ornaments me and my siblings made. I still remember the smell of salt clay and the taste- because come on, what kid can resist taking a bite of clay?

Although the days of sticky dough and messy glue are gone (well, maybe a bit of messy glue is still necessary!), I still enjoy making my own Christmas ornaments and decorations.

I usually try to use whatever I have on hand – pipe cleaners, felt, glue, spray paint, glitter, or paper. From paper snowflakes to sewn felt ornaments – I think homemade is the best!

This year I had a bunch of left over craft felt so I got busy cutting, sewing and stuffing and came up with these…

…super cute, and super easy. All you need is felt, rick-rack, ribbon, a sewing machine and a bit of stuffing to give the ornament dimension.

Another favorite, and super simple ornament – pipe cleaner snowflakes:

You simply cut lengths of pipe cleaner (use old scissors or wire cutters) and twist them together to form snowflakes.

This year I snagged a ton of glass ornaments on clearance and decided to decorate them with glue and glitter:

These are a bit messy and time consuming but they are really cute. Since I had the glitter out and had a bunch of dried beechnuts, I decided to glitter them as well…

I tied ribbon to them and hung them on my branch display. I love these, and so does the cat! We find them on the floor almost every morning. I knew I wanted to decorate with white branches this Christmas so in the fall I collected and spray- painted branches white and then used them for display…

And also made them into a wreath that I then wrapped with a garland I purchased at Ikea.

So…go root through your drawers and see what great things you can find to make your own homemade ornaments. Have a safe and happy holiday!