Kanzashi Flowers

I've been seeing these things all over the crafty forums I follow, and they are surprisingly easy to make. Once upon a time, I worked as a supervisor at a Pier 1, and I bought some fabric napkins there on clearance. I have been saving them for a few years now, trying to think of the perfect project on which to use them. I went with the kanzashi flowers. These are going to be in the Etsy shop on hair pins/clips, and I am going to use a couple of them in a swap I'm doing for some fabric. But I think they're really cute, and my Mom keeps coming up with ideas to use them. Brooches, bracelets, necklaces, on a skirt or pants, pillows, bags, etc. So all in all, a cute and cheap way to add a little something extra.

I definitely think the hairpins and a necklace would be so cute! I'm going to do another several hundred thousand, knowing me. I'm also thinking that I might do some for hairpins for my sis-in-law's upcoming wedding (I'm a co-matron of honor, and am thrilled to be a part of her special day!).

Cost breakdown of these: $0.78 cents for the fabric
Buttons were free (in stash)
Total cost, per flower: $0.06

Crocheted Mary Jane Slippers

I have been wanting to knit socks for a LONG time now. However, I am an impatient crafter. I want results now, not later. I did some researching, and got a pattern, a tutorial, some yarn, and the needles to knit socks. And I started to knit socks. They are going to take me a very long time. In the meantime, I found a great tutorial on Craftster about how to crochet slippers. I decided to try it out. It didn't take me any amount of time at all, I literally finished them in about half of 'Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince' (movie, not book). Here they are, in all their glory:

I'm not a giant fan of the colors, but it was a practice run. They were easy and really fun.

Cost breakdown of slippers: Yarn, free (purloined from my Mom's unused yarn kitty)
Buttons, free (donated to my button stash by my cousin, Joey)

So yeah. Free craft projects will abound while I stash-bust. These were fun. More to come.