Repurpose into Christmas...

 I really like to "make do" with what I have when it comes to crafting and sewing things.  I think if we "shopped" in our own homes, we would find that we have plenty of stuff to repurpose into new things.  Bits and pieces can easily be turned into Pretty Things with a little imagination.  I had decided that I would keep my very delicate spruce Christmas tree simple with white lights and icicles, but I thought it lacked a little homeliness and color, so I decided to make a garland from twine and Hubs' old plaid shirt that was in the "cut up pile."  I simply cut the shirt into strips with my pinking shears and then cut lengths of about 5-6" and tied them onto the twine, leaving a little space between each one.  That's it.  Later I was thinking that I could have tied little spruce cones into the garland too.  Here's the tree now with her bits of red plaid and her homemade star.

 Hazel Peach spent the day with us yesterday and she loved the jingle bell wreath on our front door so I had an idea to make jingle bells to play with and shake while I taught her the age-old favorite carol, Jingle Bells.  All I did here was to string some small jingle bells that I had on hand onto a piece of red yarn, and then I tied bits of red ribbon in between the bells.  I realize this is not a fancy-shmancy craft, but we both had fun singing and jingling together.  Now I'm thinking about making a felt wrist band with jingle bells attached.  Does anyone remember when baby shoes had jingle bells on the laces?

Now I'm off to create a super-hero cape out of a scrap of red fabric for my 3 year-old nephew's Christmas gift.  Happy re-purposing!