Two Texans & A Little Russky: she's crafty

items i've "pinned" and actually created...

1. t-shirt turned necklace... i'm actually wearing it in my profile picture. i chose an old light gray/white t-shirt and love the way it turned out. i have an identical yellow/white shirt that i'm gonna use as well. here's the link to the tutorial: http://www.wholeliving.com/133536/recycled-craft-t-shirt-necklace

2. fall mantle...

~ upcycled book pumpkins: i used one small paperback to create two small pumpkins, and used 3 larger books to create 2 1/2 larger ones. these are kinda time consuming...and very messy as you'll see in the pictures below...kinda drove me nuts to have all the paper everywhere & nicky definitely was not a fan, so he helped me pick some up!

i won't mention the fact that my exacto cutting skills leave much to be desired. so - i ended up doing some pages with plain ol' scissors and the others i just plain ripped off using the already cut pages as my guide - i like the look of the rough pages. note to self: the more worn the book, the easier it will be to tear the pages and for the pumpkin to sit up easier. also, she used a tea bag to die the pages, and i used ranger ink distress {walnut stain} ink pad...partly because i didn't have any tea bags...mostly because i'm lazy and didn't want to brew the bag, then get my hands dirty dying them!

i was also too lazy to go out and purchase new ribbon, so i used fabric strips i had already cut for a christmas tree garland project i'm working on. i think they all turned out pretty darn cute if i do say so myself!