Cable knit sweater pillow and Christmas Gifts & Ornaments for $10 or less! Blog Hop #1

I have teamed up with Mandy over at The Project Queen for a Christmas ornament & gift for $10 or less blog hop!
If you haven't found Mandy yet, her blog is darling!! She is such a talented writer, very creative and a consistent blog poster (something I am striving for!)

So for my Christmas gift of $10 or less I decided to make a pillow.
I know there have been tons of tutorials out there in blog-land for these, but I never had enough guts to try it myself!

But it's a very inexpensive way to make a gift, it is recycling something, and it is personally made. Win win, right? First I bought an old pillow from Goodwill and took out the stuffing. it was $.75!

Then I headed over to the sweater section. I found a ton of Cable knit sweaters, and some where really fun, bright shades. I am going to do something different with those. But for this project I bought a couple off white and 2 reds. One of the reds has a big snowflake in the middle, so that will be going in with my Christmas decor. This sweater was just $3.

After I washed the sweater, I turned it inside out, so you can see the rows better for where to cut.

I first cut the sleeves off, I plan on making a vase cover with these. I did not use the old pillow as a pattern, as I just wanted to make it a tad longer than the height. Now I am NO expert or an even experienced sewer. I had not sewn since 8th grade up until last month!! So this is B.A.S.I.C sewing. Straight lines. I went back later and cut my ends closer to the seams, but it was easier to sew with alot of edge, as some times you do need a good grip on the sweater to steer it straight.

I left a little opening, large enough for my hand to go thru and stuffed it with the old pillow stuffing. I wanted it pretty full, so just make sure you start forming the bottom first and get it in the corners and then the center a little fuller.

I love the cable knit look!! I want to make everyone one of these for the Holidays! They really are sew easy! (get it, sew easy?)

And there you have it. One down, 40 more to make! If you want to see what I did with the sleeves, go here.

Be sure to link up to our Christmas gift and ornaments for under $10 blog hop. We will each be choosing a favorite of the week!

linking this project to:

 


Now for Mandy of The Project Queen:

One of my MOST favorite traditions during the holiday season is baking yummy cookies and whipping up a batch of my special toffee, wrapping it in something festive and giving it to friends and neighbors. This year, I've decided that I'm going to honor my friends who are trying to live a more healthy lifestyle. For them, I'm making a gift that is CALORIE FREE. Not too exciting you say? Well, wait until you see this.Here is the equation:

EPOXY + CHRYSTAL + SUCCULENT + DIRT + PLANTING POT = ?

COST = $3.50

Can you guess?

Any ideas?

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Pretty darn cute huh?

Most plants will need some sort of drainage. The good thing about succulents is they don’t need a whole lot of water and they don’t need a whole lot of drainage – so no worries about holes in the bottom of the pot. Another good thing about succulents? It's hard to kill them!Tutorial:1. Attach your candle stick holder to the pot with a high strength 5 minute (or quick dry) Epoxy. I purchased mine at Michael's.2. Plant your succulent.That’s it folks!!! An easy and healthy Christmas gift for under $10.How cute would this be sitting in a kitchen window?

Ok, on to the party!

So here are the linking rules:

This party will run from November 10-December 10. A new party will begin every Wednesday and will end the following Monday. Bonnie and I will choose our favorite project for that week and all 3 of the projects will be highlighted on all 3 of the blogs on Tuesday. 

Here are the rules:
1. No Etsy shops or business giveaways.
2. Please only link up handmade ORNAMENTS or a handmade GIFT you would give someone for Christmas that would cost $10 or less.
3. Please visit two others who have linked up.
4. Please, please cut and paste the button for this party somewhere IN YOUR POST.