Photo book converted into Jewelry organizer

Do you also have those days when you are in hurry and you can't  find  that necklace that goes well with your dress? Your jewels are all over the place, some are in a bathroom, some in a wardrobe, some in a bag. You end up running from one room to another and at the end you decide to wear no accessory at all, because nothing is as good as that damn  necklace that you bought just last week. Where did I put it???

So, as I like recycling I decided to to convert an older photo book into jewelry organizer. I like its cover so much that I thought it would be nice to look at it more often. The cover is a beautiful Japanese style silk fabric in light purple color with golden embroidery.   

I pierced pages with a  needle. Then I pull through a little black hair clips that I used as a jewelry holders. 

All my necklaces, earrings, bracelets are now  at one place

And it's easy to store

Now I can enjoy and actually see all my jewels and of course  save a lot of time in the morning too! 

DIY - Hand painted wood necklace

This necklace is so easy to make,  all you need is:

- piece of wood (ideally flat, polished &  pre-drilled) I used my old earring so that was easy  

- tape (either masking tape or just an office tape)

- nail varnishes of your choice

And then just simply use a tape to create straight line and to cover the parts that you don't want to paint. Wait until first coat dry up, remove tape and then apply new tape in different angle. Apply second nail varnish and then third and so on.. You can create amazing geometric shapes just under 5 minutes.  Go ahead, show me yours! 

Blouse alteration

I've been watching The Great British Sewing Bee  lately, which I endlessly love and everytime I watch it  I want to dust off my sewing machine and do something amazing. So last time I watched one of the episodes when I decided to do some garment alteration. I have many items piled up in my wardrobe which I don't wear but can't bin as they mean something to me or reminds me some special occasion or I have some items that I haven't even worn as they were given to me as a gift and aren't 'my cup of tea' if you know what I mean... So I've told myself why don't you change these slightly and make them either wearable or alter them to something completely different. Here is the first alteration and I hope you like it! 

I had this blouse only for couple months, but I didn't wear it as I didn't like the collar and wide sleeves, therefore these were first 2 things I removed from the blouse immediately. 

I used existing collar and sleeves as a pattern so I didn't have to measure the blouse again or create new pattern. As material I used black leatherette (faux leather) that you can buy in any shop with fabrics. You can buy various type of faux leather from heavy duty to very thin letherette. In my opinion medium  leatherette is the best as it still look like leather and it's easier to sew and shape. 

Once I cut the shape of sleeves and collar I pinned and sew onto the blouse and cut it to the wanted length/shape.

I've also added a piece of leatherette onto button's line matching the width of the line and sew on new black buttons on top of it. 

And that's it! The new blouse has been born :) I think it will be my favorite this summer :)