The Trashy Side

Auburn University Machine embroidery Design

2010-11-14T17:48:00.000-08:00

Auburn University digitized logo for machine embroidery machines.
This design is to be used on an embroidery machine. You must have an embroidery machine and the ability to transfer files to your machine to use this design. It is NOT a patch.

*Auburn University logo design measures 3 3/4" x 3 3/4"

Available in the following formats:

PES
JEF
DST
EXP
XXX
HUS
VIP

If you need another format, please let me know. Files emailed shortly after payment is received, if you do not see it within a couple of hours please check your spam box.

Free Halloween Machine Embroidery

2010-09-29T15:42:00.000-07:00

During the month of October if you leave me a convo with your e-mail address over @ HotDoggies I will send you this free machine embroidery design of oh so cute Hallowen candy corn- Be sure to tell me in your message what format you would like. Be sure to take advantage of my Buy 2 get 1 free sale while you are there. Click on the candy corn to head on over.I promise not to use your e-mail address for anything else, I hate spam too but I LOVE free embroidery designs!!

Free Machine Embroidery Design -Anime Tiger

2010-09-29T15:15:00.000-07:00

Although I am really known for my college and football machine embroidery designs occasionally I like to play around with digitizing something just becase it's pretty darn cute! Here's a free machine embroidery design for y'all- an aime tiger. You can find the rest of the anime machine embroidery over @ HotDoggies for a really affordable price! The anime lion is so cute on baby bibs and onesies.

Download animetiger.pes from FileFactory.com

Free Machine Embroidery Design

2010-09-27T08:35:00.000-07:00

Urban Threads has put up their new freebie for the month! I love their designs, they tend to be a little on the dark gothic side but skulls and tattoo designs are hugely popular right now. This months free design is a bit steampunk-I Read Banned Books. I know once you see the quality of their stitch out you'll be back for more, I know I'm addicted to them and not just their free machine embroidery designs that change monthly BTW. Find Urban Threads free machine embroidery designs here.

Auburn Tigers Machine Embroidery Design

2010-09-26T16:32:00.000-07:00

Auburn University must be a really popular college. The Auburn machine embroidery designs I digitized for my Etsy store have been my most popular item lately outselling everything else in the store. I am also running a Buy 2 get One Free Machine Embroidery Design sale so now is a great time to pick up all 3 Auburn Tigers embroidery designs for a great price. Here's some pics of all three designs, click on any of the Auburn designs and it will take you to mjy store. The Auburn machine embroidery designs start at only $1.99!

What can you make with Upholstery Remnants?

2010-09-13T17:13:00.000-07:00

A couple of friends of mine called the other day to tell me they had some fabric to give me. Woo Hoo! I love free fabric. However when they showed up they were carrying in bags of upholstery samples. I was kinda disappointed since I'd had visions of brightly colored cottons in my head but I didn't tell them that since I want them to call anytime they have free fabric-you never know.

Anyhoo here I am with all of these squares of mostly brown textured fabrics not even as big as a quilter's fat quarter so I started googling what to do with upholstery fabric remnants. Not much, your usual purses, wallets eyeglass cases interesting but not creative enough.

I turned to my beloved Etsy in search of some inspiration and found some really lovely fabric journal covers-I had my idea! Off to Wally World where I knew they still had school supplies on sale and scooped up a whole pile of composition books at a mere quarter a piece. The fabric makes the covers super durable and the neutral colors lend themselves well to endless ideas for journal covers. The neatest thing about these fabric journal covers is that when you finish writing on all the pages you simply insert a new composition book into your fabric journal cover.

Here is a couple of the fabric journal covers I made and another pic of the owl journal I listed @ HotDoggies. You can order a custom cover while you are there too. They make great gifts and you can have them monogrammed, instead of notes how about a journal cover with Sisters or Friends?

Dog Placemats

2010-08-03T08:32:00.000-07:00

One of the items I want to offer in my Etsy store is dog placemats. I know my dog gets her food EVERYWHERE when she is picking out the tiny bits she DOES want to eat. I did some searching on Google to see what was available. This is the version of the dog placemat that I am currently offering at HotDoggies

I make these from a large stash of tapestry weight fabric I found on one of my thrift store trips. I love the fabric because it has a sheen to it that you can just wipe off small spills. You can get almost any kind of dog breed, just let me know. The black paisley print on this dog placemat is gorgeous. But in my quest to make an even cuter dog placemat I found this one that I really like the looks of:

The problem with this dog placemat is that it is made from laminated paper and I really like the idea of being to throw them in the wash when they get really messy so today's project is going to be trying to replicate this placemat in fabric, Stay tuned...

Etsy Shop Banner

2010-08-01T20:08:00.000-07:00

As I mentioned before I recently opened a new Etsy shop- Hot Doggies. For those of you that don't know Etsy is all about handmade things both buying and selling. I think it's a million times better than Ebay because it is targeting an audience specifically shopping for handmade items. It's a lot of work, I love the crafting part, no problem there but one thing I found out is I am horrible at making an Etsy Banner. Here's what mine looked like after a whole day's work:

It's an Etsy Banner all right, right size , cute baby, name of shop but it looks like my three year old drew it. I needed some help with a professional looking Etsy banner so I turned to this really cool section of Etsy called Alchemy. Alchemy is a part of Etsy where anyone can put in a request for an item they want made and recieve bids on it. So in the interest of having an Etsy banner that people weren't going to laugh at, that's what I did and I immediately started recieving bids and samples from some really talented artists. It was hard to choose but I went with a lady from a business called Kaiyo Design. She did a wonderful job, even with my picky revisions. Kaiyo Designs worked with me until I had exactly what I wanted. Here is my new Etsy Banner for my new shop:

I love it! To see more of Kaiyo Design and get your own Etsy Banner go here, you won't be disappointed.

Upcycled T-Shirt- The Great Caper

2010-07-29T08:55:00.000-07:00

Ordinarily I would head to my local Goodwill outlet store where you can buy clothes by the pound, ugly ones but hey, isnt that the point of upcycling but money has been pretty tight this week o.k. non-existent so I have to resort to

stealing T-shirts from sleeping or working family members. This is DD Lyndsey who already knows I'm searching for T-shirts to cut up and upcycle into cute hats. Silly Lyndsey did you not think I would resort to getting up @ 3 a.m. to search your closet? Here is a pic of my plunder, Hopefully DH doesn't read my blog cause I am starting with one of his t-shirts. It's not like Aeropostle is never going to make another t-shirt right?

After reading the tutorial on up cycled t-shirt hats from Second Street again. I put together the tools for my crime.These are pretty technical especially the bowl and the paper measuring strip I cut from a roll of contact paper but you can pretty much buy anything on ebay these days.

Attempt #1= FAIL!! I did a couple of things differently than the tutorial, wasn't a fan of the exposed seams so I made my

t-shirt hat in two sections and used one for lining. I also wanted a stiffer bill so I slipped a piece of plastic canvas between the two interfacing pieces, this worked fantastic! OOps DH came home to get something he forgot had to take a break and hide the evidence since I was using his shirt first- He is very understanding about stepping on pins and trailing bits of thread everywhere he goes but cutting up his clothes is probably a deal breaker. And yes I know he's hot but unless you live in Charleston he will not be coming to fix your air conditioning.

I used this New York T-shirt for attempt #1-

I made the dumb mistake of forgetting to leave an opening to turn it so rrrripppp a couple of seams. A couple of things I also learned were to make sure your strips are long enough or the top of the hat puckers like a prarie bonnet. Second thing was don't let the bill stick out too far or..

Your hat ends up looking like this and unless the Yankees are thinking of changing their name to the New York Ducks, this is not going to work so back to the sewing machine..

Here is my finished upcycled t-shirt modeled by the beautiful Lyndsey who is totally unaware that she is wearing one of her favorite pink T-shirts on her cute wittle head!

You can find this and other upcycled T-shirt hats here.

This was so much fun, Thanks again for the great tutorial Second Street! Stay tuned for what's next!

Repentant Blogger

2010-07-29T04:57:00.000-07:00

Oh my Goodness, I cannot believe a year and a half has gone by since I've seen this blog, much less posted on it. Like many other things you tell yourself you are going to stay dedicated, work on it every week (excercise comes to mind) then it just kind of goes to the wayside as other things in your life intrude and kind of push it out of the way. Well I'm back- I'm at a great place in my life now I'm only working a few days a week leaving me plenty of time to get crafty. I've opened up an etsy store that will soon be filled with great stuff both upcycled and new. Upcycling is my new passion. Daughter Lyndsey hides her clothes so they don't get made into baby shoes but really How cute are these baby booties made from a vintage cutter quilt? I love them and they are so warm and cozy! Today's upcycling project, after coffee of course is this really cool hat project made from upcycling t-shirts. After all that worrying about me cutting up her clothes DD Lyndsey actually sent me the link to this incredibly crafty lady over at Second Street who shares a great tutorial for making these upcycled hats. Family- hide your favorite t-shirts Momma's crafting!! I'll post some pics of the finished goodies later on.

Trash to Treasure of the Month

2009-01-17T19:48:00.000-08:00

Each month I am going to try to feature a unique, functional item that fits the Trash to Treasure theme. January we are going to learn how to make a beautiful footstool out of an old dresser drawer. Dresser drawers are a common find along the side of the road or in thrift store and yard sales. More often than not they are discarded because one of the drawers is damaged but the added bonus to the thrifty recycler is that you now have two or even three drawers to make this fabulous footstool with. One to keep and some to give away or sell! Follow this link for step-by step instructions for making your own trash to treasure Dresser drawer footstool with storage.

Make A Denim Rag Quilt From Old Jeans

2009-01-12T18:18:00.001-08:00

Jeans are a hard thing to throw away. No matter how stained and holey they are they are like old friends, you just can't bear to throw them away. But sadly there comes a day when they become unwearable. With just basic sewing skill you can turn those beloved old jeans into a treasured quilt either for yourself or a favorite teenager in your life-Read More:

Scrapbooking is Made For Trash Pickers

2009-01-12T08:09:00.000-08:00

Scrapbooking is a hobby that is perfect for dumpster divers, pack rats, trash pickers hoarders. Call us what you want we don't care. Scrapbooking allows you to use all those old buttons, zippers, paper clips, shells and doo-dads you were saving to create something fabulous. You can even make your own paper by recycling newspaper! One thing you come across a lot while Dumpster Diving is old hardback books, since the internet became so big apparently people don't find the need to read books as much. Sad, but true. One way to combine scrapbooking, recycling and thrift shopping is to make an Altered Book.
"To make an altered book is to transform a hardback book into a work of art. Once altered, it is no longer the expression of the original author, it becomes the expression of the altered book artist. This altered book tells the story of my grandmother. It is a little different from other altered books, but the techniques can be used when making your own altered book - regardless of the theme." Author Bobbi Holmes teaches you How To Make an Altered Book.
Her pictures and instructions are absolutely fabulous I'm going to get started on my own today. I'd love to see what ideas y'all come up with for your own altered books. Now I know what to do with that old dusty set of encyclopedias!

Crafty Recycler Article

2009-01-11T13:51:00.000-08:00

One of the terrific writers over at E-How, Bossypants has written a wonderful article after my own heart-How To Think Like a Crafty Recycler. Not only does she give you lots of terrific ideas to start generating your own craft projects from discarded objects. Bossypants also has generously included a treasure trove of links from other E-How writers who also have great recycled craft ideas. Visit her page to find a new use for almost everything!

2009-01-11T09:15:00.000-08:00

Following the interests of another blog of mine Sack It To Me.I am reposting this great idea that I found on Martha Stewart. She suggests using oilcloth but I think that the reusing an old vinyl tablecloth would work equally well. You could also repurpose raincoats picked up on a thrift store foray. If you have access to an embroidery machine they could be personalized easily.You can find the instructions and free pattern for making these reusable lunch bags here

Keep Your Old Cell Phones out of the Landfill and Make Some Money

2009-01-10T17:50:00.001-08:00

We've all seen the ads on television about getting cash for your old gold jewelry, I even sent a broken gold chain in and got $40 for it in about five days! Did you know that those outdated cell phones taking up space in your junk drawer are actually worth something?I still can't figure out why we don't throw away things like that even though we are never going to use them again but the fact is most of us have at least one cell phone hanging around(I have several that made a trip through the washing machine-they didn't make it)and working or not here is what you can do with them both to keep them out of the ever-growing landfill and to put a little extra money in your pocket. Click on the cell phones for a link to my article with step by step instructions to Get Money for Your Old Cell Phone.

Free Pattern Crochet Crayon Tote from Milkjug

2009-01-09T11:02:00.000-08:00

How many milk jugs a year end up in the landfill?Americans throw away millions of plastic bottles every year. We use 2.5 million plastic bottles per day–most of them are milk jugs and water bottles. According to the EPA, milk jugs that aren’t recycled will never degrade. Well being the hostess of the contest I had to come up with my own idea. This is a free crochet pattern for a drawstring crayon tote using an empty milk jug for the base.It did not photograph well but it is really cute.This pattern is my own design that I worked really hard on so please do not copy it to your site and take credit. I would welcome a link. Don't forget to enter the free monthly contest by leaving a comment with your best idea for recycling a milk jug. I'll award the prize on February 1 2009 as well as posting next months trash object.

The Motherload of Free Coupons

2009-01-08T21:23:00.000-08:00

You don't need to wait for the great coupons in the Sunday paper anymore. You can find printable coupons in dozens of categories at Cool Savings.com Every week the coupons change so be sure to check back before heading off to the grocery store. Some of the categories they offer coupons for are groceries, health and beauty, babies and kids, pets, restaraunts,travel and home and garden. They also offer some great money saving tips and links to some of the best free samples on the internet. You could save $50-100 a month by using their coupons. Great Site! Make sure to click on the free samples tab and check that out too.This is a no-cost sign-up.

Monthly Contest- Free Prize

2009-01-08T19:55:00.000-08:00

Everyone loves a contest and it's even more fun with a great prize. this month's Trashy side contest is to come up with the best use for an empty plastic gallon milk jug. In my family there is an abundance of them since we drink a gallon every day. We really need our own cow. The neighbors have some but they are those mean ones with horns and they don't really appreciate you trying to milk them. Anyway I have a great prize (very green of course) made by a very special artisan in the lovely state of Connecticut. So put on your thinking caps and no, that doesn't count as a use for a milk jug and send me your best ideas, I'll post them throughout the month along with a free pattern for my recycled milk jug.Don't forget pics if you have them.

Dirty Little Secret

2009-01-08T19:25:00.000-08:00

I have a dirty little secret to confess- I am a middle-class mom to 5 children, 4 who are under 7...You wouldn't know it to look at me, I LOOK pretty normal.But here it is- I am A dumpster Diving, thrift store shopping fanatic. I've even been known to shell out a few bucks to neighbor kid's to go down the road and schlepp back a piece of discarded ratty furniture so no one sees me do it. Oh and god help the car following me too closely when I spot one of those shining flourescent beacons beckoning me to a yard sale. Hop in the car with me and join me on the journey to make old things new again-Hideous clothes, you may wonder "What were they thinking?" I'm trying to judge whether that sleeve will fit over my daughters head when it becomes a new hat. Rickety chair left forgotten on the side of the road while life whizzes by-Screech! in the back of the truck you go... Hurry up and get in the flea market opens at Sunrise