Hi! I’m Heather from Dollar Store Crafts, a daily blog devoted to making cool crafts with dollar store stuff. I’m so excited to be swapping holiday posts with Dot!

Do you love felted sweaters as much as I do? Felted (or technically, “fulled”) sweaters are made from animal hair-based yarn (like wool, alpaca or cashmere), and washed in hot water and dried in the dryer until they shrink up and the fibers are fused together (kind of like dreadlocks on a micro scale). Once a wool sweater is felted, the fabric can be cut and it won’t fray. It’s an amazing…

Dot’s behind on everything this week, so today you’re treated to a re-run of a recent project you might have missed. If you didn’t miss it, just revel in the cuteness again!

I hope everyone had a lovely weekend. Here is a fun and creative project to do, either for your kids or with your kids… Silly monster puppets made out of old sweaters. Alternate option, you can stuff and sew up the bottom of these for fun monster pillows!

This tutorial is less ’step by step’ than my usual ones, since…

My friend Holly and I had craft night the other night, and this time the assignment was puppets! I brought a stash of sweaters and other goodies I had over, and we set to creating. No pattern, no plans, these are a great way to have fun and get creative. And when we were done, the boys had some fun monster puppets to play with.

This would be a great project to do with friends for your own craft night, or to make with kids.

This tutorial is less ’step by step’ than…

Here is a fun and quick project, suitable for valentines or spring. Wouldn’t this be cute for a little girl to make for valentines for her friends? Or stack bolder flowers without the heart and make a fun funky adult brooch. The technique is quite simple, and it’s a great thing to do with felted sweater scraps (though of course you could use store bought felt if you wish). I had planned to do an appliqued shirt (like the elephant onesie), but decided a pin was more fun, versatile, and won’t be grown out of!.

1. Felted Sweaters, cut into fun…

My friend Holly and I had a little crafting party the other night while our husbands were out getting into trouble. We decided to make some cute little picture frame ornaments, using felted sweater scraps, scrap plastic, and pictures (small school pics work well for these)! These would make great little gifts for teachers, grandparents, aunts, or whoever loves your little one. Older kids can make these themselves too!

We documented the process, so here it is. You’ll see both of the prototype ornaments we made in the steps. Tutorial below pictures.

(PS: We have some great guest blogger how-to’s coming over…

The very talented Colleen of Some Art Fabric Talk has done an adorable version of a sweater snake inspired by mine (posted previously here).
Oh, and check out her blog, she has great stuff all the time. (I love these ornaments!)

Related: All Recycled Sweater projects

In other news:
If you missed it, Friday’s Holiday Inspiration Links

.. and
A few quick fun & silly Xmas links for you today:
-Chrismukkah Decoration Set at Superpunch
-Most unusual Christmas Trees at Neatorama
-Light up the Christmas Tree Puzzle
-Santa Don’t Miss or Else Game

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Super Sweater Snake! – More DIY How To Projects

I made this — one of my first recycled sweater projects — for The Boy last year. I can attest that he totally loves it still. All the details are at the Instructable embedded above, or click here.

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Dot had a great time at a mystery party last night, so today you are treated to a re-run of one of Dabbled’s popular projects!

How to make a cute little elephant purse by recycling old sweaters.. I did this as a Christmas gift last year. It’s simple to make, cheap, and was much loved by the recipients. This is my own design, and I encourage you to try it yourself and add your own spin!

Related posts:
Another version of the Ele-purse. (This one is sturdier and more colorful).
See all recycled sweater projects here.
A reader does her own take on the elepurse…

While Dot is off remembering why she thinks ‘roughing it’ is a hotel without room service, you get a repeat of a project you might have missed!

Henri is a fun little puppet made out of recycled sweater sleeves – more on Henri here.. If you liked the hand drawn tutorial for the Monster Wreath, you might like this too!

Click through to see/download the full size instructions.

Materials needed:
Two coordinating sweaters, felted. 1 sleeve from each.
Felt for eyes
Buttons (if you’re up for the fun of sewing on all those suckers!)
Embroidery thread
I sewed everything but the embellishments on the machine.

Prototype Henri:

This can be…

While we are sweating over whether a cousin having our 3 year old for a ringbearer at her wedding today might be a really bad idea, you are treated to an older project that you might have missed! Enjoy!

Cozy Wine Bag:

This was a ultra quick project that I did because I wanted to bring a bottle of wine to a party, and wanted to include a cute wine bag. I’m sure someone has thought of this before, but I noticed my pile of sweaters sitting around from my sweater recycling projects (the elepurse, the snake, the future stuffed robot that…