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Do you happen to have an extra old sheet or two lying around the house you haven't used in forever? If so, I've got the perfect DIY for you to put those sheets to good use!

So I was at Wal Mart the other day, and I came across these super duper cheap twin sheet sets and thought to myself, "surely there is something I can make with those!" Which is kind of weird, because who sees sheets and thinks they can make something with them? Anyways, I talked myself out of buying them that day, because I couldn't quite think of something I could make with them, and I probably shouldn't just buy random sheets like a crazy person.

Later, I come across this image of a super cute little crochet rug, and I thought DING DING DING. The cheapo Wal Mart sheets must be mine! I could cut them up and create an awesome rug. So my next trip to the store, I grabbed the last two sheets on the clearance shelf and set off to cut those suckers.

As I was chopping away, I thought it'd be a good idea to show you how I went about cutting the sheet for my rug. So I snapped some photos along the way, and prepared a little how-to for making your own "sheet yarn"!

I will say that with the sheet material I used, it will create a "rag" effect, meaning it's not a super clean-cut yarn. The edges fray and its a little imperfect. Which I'm totally okay with. But if that's not your thing you could have a go at the jersey knit sheets. I actually would like to experiment with those in the future.

Here's how to cut your sheet yarn:

What you'll need:
sheets of choice (I used two cheap twin sheet sets-- you'll need quite a bit of material to make a big project like a rug)
pair of sharp scissors
yard stick or ruler (optional)

Instructions:

First I worked with my flat sheet (not the fitted). I laid it flat, and cut the seam off all the way around the sheet.

Next you'll start on your first strip of your yarn. I cut down the long side of the sheet (this means you'll turn the corner less than on the short side). I made my yarn two inches in width. If I told you that I exactly measured out two inches every time I cut, I'd be lying. I simply just eyeballed it and that worked out for me. But if that's not your cup of tea and you're not lazy like me then you could use your measuring stick and make marks on your sheet with a pen or marker.

Cut all the way down the long side until you reach about an inch from the end, then STOP cutting. This is where you will turn. Think of the design that you'll be cutting as a snake that just slithers back and forth with out stopping (that's actually gross to think about, snakes are sick). Then, going in the opposite direction and two inches from the cut you just finished, you'll cut down to the other side.

Now, you can do this as you go or wait until you've cut the whole sheet, but you'll need to round off the corners of the ends where you started going in the other direction. This is important because when crocheting the corners will stick out of your project, and its not pretty.

You'll continue cutting back and forth until you reach the other side of the sheet (you can see my work in progress above). I will say that it takes some time to cut all the sheet, but in my opinion it's totally worth it. Think of all the awesome things you can make with sheet yarn, hello?!

After everything is cut, wind your yarn into a giant ball. Then you can marvel at the massive glob of potential!

As far as the fitted sheet goes, all you have to do is cut out the elastic part of the sheet. Mine was all along the shorter side of the sheet, so I just cut along the elastic and around the seam, and then just cut it like the flat sheet. If the elastic is in the corners only you may have to do some additional cutting to make it to where the yarn can be cut continuously.

And there you have it! A super easy and upcycled project. Be sure to keep an eye out for my sheet rug pattern to be released in the near future!

Have a beautiful day, and happy sheet yarn making!!
-Meg

Hey all! I'm taking a little break from the crochet world to bring you this cool little DIY. While perusing the shoes at Walmart recently I came across these cute little plain jane sneakers that looked similar to Keds.

My psycho creative brain went into overdrive as I wondered what I could possibly do to make those things look cute and personalize them. I thought if I could take these $6 (!!) shoes and make them fab, I could have a cool new pair of kicks for the summer. And they'd be made by me! Which, makes them about 100% cooler.

So I grabbed them, and headed home to find some inspiration. I had plenty of images of floral designs I had in mind, so I decided painting these shoes was the way to go. Plus it'd be a fun adventure.

So I grabbed my paints, and practiced a bit on paper, what the design would look like. I started out thinking I wanted a white background, but then experimented with the cream color you see on them now and decided I had to paint them that color!

For the shoes I used various paints. I had a paint sample I bought from Lowes some time back, and that's what I used for the background. For the flowers I just used good ol' cheap acrylic paints you can get from the craft store. Basically just stuff I had lying around.

The paint colors were:
Valspar Color Sample in "Bread Basket"
Rustoleum Color Sample in "Blossom White"
Apple Barrel in "Black' and "Cloudless"
Americana in "Black Forest Green" and "Coral Blush"

For brushes, I made sure to use a stiff-bristled brush when painting the background color, it also had a straight edge so I could get up against the soles nicely. I also used two different sizes of fine-tipped brushes for the flowers and leaves. Just cheap ones from Hobby Lobby.

If you don't live near a WalMart there are also some cheap ones over on Amazon you can find here.

So like I said, I first went after it with the cream color and my coarse bristle brush, making sure to get a good coat on there and cover all the white fabric. Also if you get paint on the sole, no biggie, just swipe it off with your nail-- that's what I did!

Then after letting those dry for maybe an hour or so, I got my stuff ready for the flowers. I used a folded up piece of paper for a palette, but you could use anything.

I put about a quarter-size glob of the coral and white paint on my palette and then started in on the flowers.

I went in first with the white with my brush and kinda loosely formed the shape of the flower. I left the paint thicker in some places, so it added some texture.

Next (while the white paint was still wet--this is key) I went in, just using the same brush, and added in some of the coral. I just added some here and there, kind of swirling it in making sure not to mix it too much or you'll get a muddled mess. I wanted there to be distinct details of both the white and the coral while also having the "mixed color" of the two in there also. I think it's important to note that I am definitely not neat about how I do the flowers, it's kinda just swirl it around until it looks good. If it got too muddled, then I'd grab a glob of white or coral and go at it again.

Then I just painted a smaller flower about a half an inch away from the first, using the same technique. I'd do a couple of flowers at a time, all varying in size, so I could work with wet paint.

I made sure to put some "half flowers" on the edges to make it look more natural.

Then I just continued around both the shoes with the flowers. Ain't they pretty??

Next up was the leaves. Again, I put some little globs of the black, green, and light blue color on my palette and got my finer tipped brush.

For the flowers I did kind of the same technique for the flowers: I formed the shape of the leaves I wanted with my black paint first.

Then I took the dark green color and added just a tad to the black. Almost layering it on top of the black some.

Then came the light blue color. I blended in the blue on top and at the end of the leaves. Which by the way I was using the same brush. Not caring too much about the colors mixing. Just like the flowers, if the color got too muddled, I would grab a glob of whatever color was lacking and go back in with it, trying not to mix too much.

Then I just continued the same process around the shoe, putting a couple leaves around each flower. Some of the smaller flowers I would put one leaf. I didn't want it to be too crowded.

Do that with both your sneaks, and you've got the most precious floral design (made by you!!).

As far as sealing them goes, I just chose not to seal them at all. If you wanted to you could spray some Scotch Guard or even Mod Podge outdoor grade. I just didn't find it necessary, just cause!