Recycled Aspirin Bottle Knitting Spool

aspirin bottle to knitting spool

On my tenth birthday, I received a knitting spool as one of my birthday presents. I loved that thing. I played with my knitting spool all summer long, making bracelets, necklaces, headbands and fancy dresses for my dolls.

Recently, my interest in this craft has revived and I’ve been curious to see what an adult could do with such a simple tool. However, as I currently live in the Middle East, knitting spools aren’t exactly easy to locate

The solution?

I created my own knitting spool from an empty asprin bottle. Not only did I have an evening of nostalgic pleasure rediscovering an old love, I also saved a plastic container from the city dump.

Here’s what I did:

First, I removed all labels and identifying information off the bottle. I will probably hand the knitting spool off to one of my nieces eventually, and I don’t want them equating medicine bottles with toys. Plus, the knitting spool looks much nicer without a label on it.

Next, I removed the bottom of the bottle using a small but extremely sharp scissors.

Finally, using the same scissors, I cut four evenly spaced tabs into the walls of the bottle. I removed all the plastic between the tabs.

That’s all.

The resulting spool is surprising strong and flexible and the entire process took less than an hour.

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Free Holiday Gift Shopping Lists

Make Holiday Gift Shopping more fun with festive gift lists. Here are two holiday gift lists to print out and enjoy. See below for directions.

gift list or shopping list 5

gift list or shopping list 7

Directions: Right-click on one of the Free Holiday Gift Shopping Lists. Copy and paste special to Wordpad. Print in color. Cut around the edges of the Free Holiday Gift Shopping List using a sharp scissors.

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Turn Photos Into Embroidery Patterns

There are several tutorials on the internet showing how to turn photos into embroidery patterns, but most use Photoshop or some other commercial software.

Since these programs can be both expensive and hard to use, I’ve developed a similar method, using Fotoflexer.

Fotoflexer is a free, online program. It’s also extremely easy to use, which is just as important.

Step 1

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Go the Fotoflexer Homepage and click Upload Your Photo. You will be taken to another screen and then allowed to transfer a photo from your computer to the online program.

I chose a public domain photo of a serene landscape.

Step 2

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After uploading your photo, you will be transferred to a menu of options.

Click on the tab labeled Effects. This will open up a sub-menu. Click MORE on the sub-menu several times, till the option Sketch comes up.

Click the Sketch option and this will give you a black and white drawing of your photo.

Step 3

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Click on the tab labeled Basic, and you will be transferred to a new menu of options. Go to the sub-menu titled Contrast.

Increase the Brightness on your photo till your remove a lot of the unwanted detail.

Step 4

At this point, there might be additional detail you wish to remove or detail you want to add.

To do this, click on the tab labeled Decorate. You will be taken to a sub-menu with a variety of drawing options.

Use the Erase tool to remove additional detail and the Draw tool to add the detail.

Step 5

When finished, click Done and then Save. This will bring up the save screen, and computer will prompt you through several steps for saving your project.

Be sure you have correctly saved your work before leaving the program.

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Completed Cross-Stitch Alphabet

Finished at last! Here is the Completed version of my Free Cross-Stitch Alphabet.

I’m making this alphabet available for (almost) unlimited use. Use it as is, or make changes. If you sell commercial products, feel free to use the alphabet without acknowledgment. If you have a website or blog, you may re-post the alphabet, but with a link back.

bunting a-b

bunting c-d

free cross stitch alphabet g-i

free cross stitch alphabet i-j

bunting k-l 3

cross stich alphabet m-n

cross stitch alphabet 0-P

cross stitch alphabet Q-R

cross stitch alphabet s-t

cross stitch alphabet u-v

cross stitch alphabet w-x

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More Free Printable Bookmarks

Here are four more free and original printable bookmarks for yourself or gift giving.

Feel free to create multiple copies of the printable bookmarks as quick and frugal stocking stuffers for the holidays or slip into holiday greeting cards as an added little gift.

Directions: Right-click on one of the two sets of bookmarks. Copy and paste special to Wordpad. Print out each set of two bookmarks on one page of heavy cardstock. Cut around the edges of each bookmark using a sharp scissors.

bookmark 175b

bookmark 187a

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How To Design Cross-Stitch Pillows

cross stitch pillow

I adore commercially manufactured cross-stitch pillow kits. The designs are beautiful, the instructions are clear, the threads are all assembled and most even come with an extra needle.

The problem is, commercial kits are generic. They often clash with my fabrics patterns and color schemes. As a result, though the kits are fun to make up, I usually give away the finished projects.

To solve this dilemma, I’ve started designing my own cross-stitch pillows.

Here’s how….

Guidelines For Choosing A Pattern

I like to create patterns appropriate for three colors.

I find cross-stitch stripes look nice with fabrics with small patterns and geometrics. Fabrics with larger patterns look good with checks or some other small, plain, overall decoration. In general, I believe the smaller and simpler the design, the better it blends in with existing home decor fabrics.

After I decide on the basic style, I always make a mock-up on graph paper or the computer before spending the time and money to stitch the project.

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(click here for full-size pattern)

cross stitch pillow 2

( click here for full size pattern)

How To Choose A Color Scheme

When I’m satisfied with the mock-up, I begin to work on the color scheme. Usually, I use the background color of my fabric as the background color of my pattern. Then I use two of the accent colors in the fabric as the accents in my color scheme.

Example

example

Remember, these guidelines are only suggestions. What really matters is that you make a pillow that you absolutely love. If you need to break every single suggestion in order to do that, go right ahead!

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