The Dabbling Crafter

Saturday, September 21, 2013

DIY Sunday: Baseball Bat Display

Hello Everyone!

This weeks project is a easy and unique way to display a baseball bat. I picked up a vintage bat from a sale at Once Was. I knew I wanted to use it as decoration in my sons room (it may find a second life as a coat rack in a few years)

I didn't want a typical bat display box. I was wandering around Lowes one day (I'm pretty sure it's my favorite place to shop) and saw this rope for sale. I didn't realize that rope is only a couple cents (okay 68 cents) per foot. I decided that I wanted to do something with the rope. That's when I remembered the bat that has been sitting on a dresser for a few weeks.

I bought 3 feet of rope and got to work. I cut the rope in half so each piece was one and a half feet. I made a circle and secured the rope with hot glue.

Then I wrapped the connection point with yarn and hot glued it. While wrapping I left a little loop loose to hang each rope loop.

I hung each rope with the infomercial fantastic gorilla hooks. (Which really do work a number in dry wall)

I'm pretty happy with the way it turned out and it matches my sons vintage nursery quite well. It's not hunting themed like other items but its still fun.

-Krista

Thirty-One Tips & Tricks: Clothesline Helper

Hello There!

I have another fun tip for using your Thirty-One. I found this one out of necessity after putting some clothes out on the line. I couldn't resist line drying when it's 100 degrees outside! Faster than the dryer at that tempature.

So, I use the Large Utility Tote for laundry. I put all my wet laundry in the LUT and added a Pocket-a-Tote (can you tell I'm in love with this little 10$ product?) and put all my clothes pin in it. I then put the LUT over my shoulder and I could go down the line grabbing an item of clothing and clothes pins without having to bend over every 5 seconds. Then when it came time to take down the clothes and put new ones up, I just grabbed two totes and put one on each shoulder and walked down the line, taking down try clothes and putting wet ones up. It worked great! Plus, you can just hang the Pocket-a-Tote right on the line if you want!

Laundry and my clothes all ready to go!

Hands free hanging.

One on each shoulder makes changing clothes on the line easy!

Pocket-a-tote hanging right on the line!

DIY Sunday: Dance on the Cheap!

Hello All!

It’s about that time that schools are back in session and dance classes are going to start! My little one is starting her first year of dance. As I’ve said before, my husband is finishing up his last year of school, so I’m the only one bringing home the bacon. :) So finding ways to save money allows us as a family to do more things together. When we went to sign up for dance classes, I was a bit worried about finding dance supplies. The dance supplies can start to add up when you have two pairs of dance shoes, leotards, tutu’s and tights.

The first place we hit up was Duck Worth Wearing in Ames, Iowa. This is a fantastic used clothing store. They had an entire rack of dance items. The tap shoes we got were missing the ribbon/lace in the top, but that’s no big deal to replace! In fact, we got some sparkle added to our step.

They only had one leotard and two dance skirts that were close to my daughter’s size, and they were actually too big. I was going to pass on them, but I decided that I could use some easy hand sewing to make each item work. Plus, I can let out the stitches next year and still use them! I used to laugh at my mom doing the same thing with my pants as a kid, but now I know how valuable those little stitches can be.


Our leotard too big. I had fixed the top straps as this point but still hadn't fixed the side straps.

All fixed! A little baggy but looks much better!!

Bringing in our skirt as well.

So, if we would have bought our dance supplies new, we would have spent around $70.00. Instead, I spent about $30.00, plus the items should last into next year (hopefully!).