Stash Busting: Crinkle Toy and Toaster Cozy

I've been a busy bee around here. During naptimes, I've managed to sew a few more things, using only fabric and ribbons already in the stash.

Problem: Ugly-as-sin Toaster Oven


Problem Solved: a slipcover!


I also followed Joy's tutorial to make some baby crinkle toys. My little one hasn't woken up yet so I've yet to find out if he likes them.


This red and white polka dot fabric began life as a skirt. I thrifted it awhile back for the fabric. Aren't red and white polka dots the best?


I'm such a packrat. I keep ribbons off of gifts, and even though they have text on them, I incorporated them into this project. Waste not, want not, right?!

Sewing up a Storm as it storms

Rain, rain, go away. Come back another day.

I can't stain the deck because it keeps raining. At least that's my story and I'm sticking to it...

I stayed in today and sewed, sewed, sewed. T-3 came over, and we disassembled our bridesmaid dresses (T-2 got married, congrats!!) and turned them into, drumroll please....

Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr....

Tree skirts :)

We tried to follow this tutorial, however it just didn't turn out large enough, so we started to improvise. T-3 recommended that I use the shawl, cut it in half, and create a ruffle out of it. Superb idea, T-3 :) And then I decided to make a bias tape and use it to cover the unhemmed edge of the center circle. Here's how it turned out:


After T-3 went home, I worked on a few other things. Here's a long sleeve shirt of Joel's that I turned into a short sleeve shirt for summer:


Last but not least I started making a chef hat and apron for my little one. I realize he's not even four months old yet, but I like to plan ahead ;) One day all too soon I'll have a little tyke helping me in the kitchen as I bake homemade brownies, fish sticks, and macaroni and cheese. Yum. Except for the fish stick part.

Kathy, the author of the tutorials, did an A. W. E. S. O. M. E. job. They are so easy to follow. I actually followed a tutorial correctly for once. I shouldn't say that quite yet since I'm not finished. There's still plenty of time to do something wrong, er I mean different.

Here's the hat


And here's the first step of the apron

Notice the red fabric- it's the lining to the bridesmaid dress. I'm getting a lot of mileage out of that fifty dollar dress! I also cut out all the tulle fabric and kept it for some future project, kept the zipper, and am giving all the boning to T-3 because she wants to make a corset. The truck fabric were curtains thrifted a couple months ago. There's tons of it left.

Here's the apron almost complete. I'm on the final couple steps. I don't have any D rings, and so I had to stop for the night. All I have to do is attach the short strap to the upper left, and attach the front of the apron to the red backing.


I'd love to stay and chat but I have a breast pump that is calling my name ...

Projects One, Two, Three

Here's what I was up to yesterday and the day before, in case y'all are interested!

Feed the baby. Burp the baby. Change the baby. Pump breastmilk. Repeat. Repeat.
Put baby down for a nap. Get some me time. Yay!

Work on the kid stove:


Feed the baby. Burp the baby. Change the baby. Pump breastmilk. Repeat. Go to CVS and Walgreens and get some amazing deals like free-after-catalinas Colgate toothpaste (savings of $4.50). Hit a couple thrift stores looking for Hawaiian shirts for a themed wedding this weekend. (Found one for hubby and a dress for me though I spent ten bucks... a little more than I like to spend at a thrift store)

Baby fell asleep in the car so I get some more me time. Make a kid tool belt (Why am I having such a hard time finding a toy hammer? I saw one the other day at a thrift store but it was too babyish and didn't fit in with the other tools I had already thrifted). I altered the instructions... more on that at a later date.

Not quite finished- still have to attach the strap to wrap it around the waist. Aren't all the thrifted tools cool? Each one was about 50c.

Baby wakes up hungry. Feed, burp, diaper, pump. Put dinner on. Watch Life After People with hubby. (That show is fascinating). Hubby watches the rugrat while I have some more me time.

Do a wardrobe refashion. Take a beach coverup that doesn't fit, cut out the middle, and sew the hip part back on underneath the bust to make a tank top for this still-fat-after-pregnancy belly.

I know it's hard to tell, but this is not quite knee length.

The finished product! It hides the chubby belly pretty good. Good as can be expected, anyway.

Dung Bunnies. (Bunnies made of Dung). And a Kid Stove.

Yes, you read that right. I just had to share this with you. I've been surfing the web since Joel fell asleep, and I ran across this website that sells rabbits molded out of horse manure. Apparently, you put them in your garden and over the course of the year, it disintegrates and fertilizes your plants. I know that manure makes a great fertilizer; this takes it to a whole new level.

In other news, I'm in the process of crafting something! I haven't done anything crafty lately, and I was feeling the itch. I was in a felt-food-making-frenzy this past winter, and I knew that I wanted to make a little kitchen to go with it. I found this today, and it serves as the inspiration for what I'm currently making. Basically you take a plastic container and add the red coils for the burners, and voila, you have yourself a kid stove. Mine's a little different than hers. She used paper to create the stovetop, however since the plastic container I'm using doesn't have a clear bottom, that would not have worked for me. I am using the blue plastic container that the wet swiffer refills come in. I know, those things aren't very eco-friendly, however back when Licorice the Rabbit (not to be confused with a dung bunny) was alive, they were what did the best job at cleaning up after him.

First I spraypainted the swiffer container's lid black. Next I tried red pipe cleaners to make the coils, however that didn't work out too well. I switched tactics and instead grabbed a small round butter lid and spraypainted it red. I'm still waiting for it to dry, but once it's dry, I'll glue it down to the black surface with some craft adhesive. I also will need a second one, but that will have to wait until I finish up the next tub of butter. I also used a cap from a 2 liter of pop, spray painted black, as the knob to "turn on" the burners. I am planning on gluing it down, however then it will not turn. If you have any ideas as to how to make it turn, please let me know!

Here's some half-way done pics:

What to do with those Envelopes

You know, those envelopes that come with each and every bill... and since I've given up on paying the bills, those envelopes are really starting to stack up.

JUST KIDDING! I pay my bills, I promise. I just pay them all online so I don't have to use the evelopes. Also don't have to spend $$$ on stamps. Cha-ching!

Every week I grab a few of those freebie envelopes and use the blank white side to write down my grocery list. (I use one envelope per store). Then you can slip the coupons into the correct envelope, and voila, you're organized! (And if you have some double-secret-probation* coupons that you don't want other nearby shoppers to see, you can use those security envelopes with the blue or black lining!)

Now if I could just stick to my lists and to my budget...

*Sorry for the Animal House reference. I have it on the brain right now because we were talking it about it yesterday at my friend's graduation party. Toga! Toga! Toga!

If Only I Could Knit...

then I would totally make my brother this hat for his birthday:

Thank you Extreme Craft for bringing this awesome hat to our attention. I don't know how I've been on this planet for 3 decades without ever having seen or heard of a beer hat. I now feel complete.

I think I would have picked yarn to match the can. Don't you think it would look just smashing with red and blue yarn?

And then of course there's always the crocheted beer clothing at stitchymcyarnpants.com.


Too bad my brother's girlfriend just had her birthday. I think they'd love to go clubbing together decked out in this apparel, don't you?

Wearing o' the Green, Scarlet, and Gray

Happy St. Patty's Day (there's ten minutes left until March 18... I barely got this post in on time!)

So did you wear your green today? Here's my fam toting our glorious green garments:


I should have sewed something green today, but I ran across an OSU towel at a thrift store for 59c, and you guessed it, it's becoming a toddler bib. I'm on a roll with these towel bibs. They're so quick and easy to make. I'm a lazy sewer. I like short projects that I can get done in under an hour. It's something about the instant gratification...

Below is the bib all finished minus the trim. The gray fabric was a polo shirt of my hubby's that made it to my fabric pile. Thank goodness for pit stains! I get lots of shirts that way :) The fabric on the back was a thrifted skirt awhile back. I love polka dots. They make me happy.





And once again, I can't decide which trim to use so I'll put it to a vote. My husband voted for the white rick rack, but I don't think I like that one. I think I like the red polka dot ribbon the best.

All the trims... aren't they purdy? I like the packaging for the black rick-rack-esque stuff. Below are the four options. Leave me a comment and let me know which one looks the best.

Something smells fishy

After a thorough search, I think I’ve found where that fish smell is emanating from. I found some leftover fish scraps in the dining room.

No, not that kind of fish scraps! Leftover scraps of fabric from a little fish bib I sewed today!

Does anyone have any ideas what I can do with these fishy scraps? I thought I could sew them together into a small (teeny, tiny) pillow although I really don't need any more softies in this house. Joel's room already looks like a stuffed animal factory vomited all over the place.

Here's the finished bib. It started out as a thrifted towel. I was able to make both the front and back sides from the towel; no additional fabric was necessary. The end product is kind of wonky because of the particular stitch that I used when topstitching. Live and learn, I guess! At least I got to experiment with a new stitch on my sewing machine :)

Eight Tee-Shirt Pants, Coming Right Up

Today I heard the most beautiful eleven words to ever come out of my husband's mouth. No, not "honey, I think you're the most beautiful woman on the planet." Although that would have been nice too. But not as nice as, "I want to go to a thrift store with you sometime." Yes that's right ladies, he said that; he's taken so you better keep your grubby little hands off! (Of course, after he said those magic 11 words, he also said that his buddy found a computer at a thrift store for ten bucks, and that's really all he wants to find, but alas, baby steps, baby steps).

Speaking of thrift stores....

Earlier this year I was inspired by Queen of Fifty Cents to keep a log of all my thrifty finds and their prices. My husband helped me set up an excel spreadsheet with the following headers: crafting, work, kitchen/homegoods, Joel, Gifts, Decor, and Apparel. Before today's jaunt I had spent just under a hundred dollars so far this year. Eek. I hadn't realized I spent that much. But on the flip side, I would have spent hundreds upon hundreds of dollars if I had purchased all this stuff first-hand. Also on the positive, half of that cost was stuff for Joel. So really it's like I only spent about fifty bucks. The stuff for Joel doesn't count, right?

Since I've become a part of blogland, I've been good at avoiding the purchases of vintage home decor types of objects. My house is cluttered the way it is, and now with an infant, I need to pare down what I already have. But oh how I long to add more plates, teacups, and platters to my stash, find some more vintage linens, and bring home old chippy chairs. Tole trays call my name, as do anything painted with pretty florals. Enamelware, crocks, rolling pins, collanders, Wagner ware... I want, I want, I want!

Today I could not help myself.

I was reading blogs about vintage finds, especially this one, and I got the itch again. It had been months since I last purchased something vintage (well, with the exception of the vintage red thermos I bought a few weeks ago). Lately, almost all my thrifty finds were either crafty or for my son. And many of my finds were new items rather than vintage.

So there I was, on the internet, drooling over Freshvintage's finds. I told myself that I would allow myself to bring home a vintage find or two. And boy am I glad I did.

(Rolls up sleeves) Ok, are you ready?
(cue the auctioneer so he can read through this stuff in a jiffy)

Eight mens' t-shirts to cut up and make pants for Joel ($3.50), a fish towel to make a bib out of (59c), a bag of vintage sewing notions (woohoo! $1), two new Valentines Napkins out of which I will probably make these pants (59c), two brand new blue and brown 11x17 mats for framing some photos of our newly created family ($1), a children's book about sneezing (25c), a pillow cover for our Boppy ($1), a new Valentines Placemat for Joel who will be a messy eater when he turns one year old ($1), a wooden shield that goes with the Renaissance fabric I got a few weeks ago (I forget how much it was- under a buck though); baby bottle nipples, new in the package obviously (69c), another Tonka Truck plastic plate to match the ones I picked up last week (50c), bedskirt that will match Joel's cowboy themed room ($1), the following clothes for Joel: a light toddler jacket (50c), white dress shirt and vest (50c), maroon Gap pants (50c), Oshkosh toddler pants (50c), an orange onesie (20c), striped PJs (40c), two pairs striped pants (65c), blue patchwork bibs (50c), white dress shirt (35c); St. Patty's Day t-shirt for moi (50c), and drumroll please....

a red handled rolling pin for $2 and a red tablecloth with beautiful roses on it for $3. Yay :)

I won't inundate you with photos today (there's eighteen waiting in the wings). I'll just show you a few and save some for the days to come. Up first: tee-shirts destined to become pants using this tutorial.

I thought this t-shirt was neat since it's a map of where we live. Every baby needs a pair of map pants, right? I believe in teaching geography at a young age.

What could be more cute than a kid who wants to kick your @ss?

This one has a hint of "beer advertisement" to it, however it clearly states it is a carbonated beverage.

How could I pass up a tee of my husband's favorite restaurant?

I like the vintage look of this one. I had to look up what Proverbs 22:6 is. Now the shirt makes sense: "Train a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not turn from it." I am clearly going to train my child in the ways of green, thrify living. And when he's a little bigger, he'll have a constant reminder of this philosophy across his butt whenever he wears these cute little pants.

Greeting Card Mathematics

Well I haven't been thrifting for several days since my mom has been here. I'm starting to get the itch. We did, however, go to the mall yesterday, discovered and was saddened that my coveted Chick-fil-A went out of business, figured out how to use the stroller, and scored some awesome greeting cards for 90% off from a soon-to-be-out-of-business Carlton Cards. I got over thirty dollars worth of cards for a mere $3-something! I got a rabbit thank you card for my mom for all the help that she's been this past week, birthday cards for tons of family members... the list goes on and on! I now have two years worth of birthday cards for my parents, husband, brother, sister-in-law, nephew, and husband's cousin's daughter, and am covered for 2009 for just about everyone else. Does anyone else do that? I like to buy up cards when they're really cheap and save them in a little drawer so I don't have to run out and spend full price when the time comes. If you do the math, the amount I'm saving is quite staggering. Now if I could just get my husband to think ahead and buy my cards cheaply. Or maybe I should just start buying my own cards to give to him to give to me...

My husband comes from a big family. There's two parents, a sister, brother-in-law, two nephews, a grandma, two aunts, two uncles, three cousins, a cousin's spouse, and a cousin's child, plus my husband and our son. And that's just his mom's side of the family. We're not very close to his dad's side, so we don't send cards or gifts to them.

Then for my side of the family, I send cards to my parents, brother, aunt, and grandma. That's 23 birthdays I have to buy for. That's not to mention the three friends I send birthday cards too, so now we're up to 26. There's also graduations, weddings, showers, get-well-soons, thank-yous, sympathies, etc. for which I keep cards on hand, but since the number of those fluctuate each year, I will leave them out of my count. Plus there's mother's day and father's day, for a grand total of at least 31 cards I buy each year. If you figure that most cards cost somewhere between 2.99 and 3.99, we'll take the average and multiply times 31, and we get $77.50. In actuality, however, I usually spend 50c on greeting cards (and my haul at Carlton Cards yielded cards for even less than that!). If you multiply 31 by 50 cents, we see that I'm spending only about $15.50 on cards per year. Yay :)

My favorite place to get greeting cards is The Book Loft in German Village. For those of you who live in Columbus, you should totally check it out. It's 32 rooms of book-buying wonderment. Down in the basement of one of the wings is the 50c card room. They have greeting cards throughout the store in many of the 32 rooms, but when they get new inventory and have to pull older cards off the shelves, they get priced with a dot-sticker and then go to the basement. I can spend F.O.R.E.V.E.R in that little room, looking at each card, filling up my basket with cards for cheap. I feel sad for these cards that have been banished to the basement... a greeting card graveyard of sorts. But it makes me happy that I am able to purchase them and give them a good home!

Now I know that dollar stores sell cards two for a dollar, so why is buying from The Book Loft better? Well first of all because it's not a chain. The Book Loft is an independent book store, owned and operated here in Columbus. Second, the cards at the Book Loft are not the same kind of cards you would get at the Dollar Store. They're not Hallmark or American Greetings either... they're unique and unusual! No offense if you buy Dollar Store cards... truth be told, we do sometimes too!

Speaking of greeting cards, does anyone else recycle them to extend their life? I have a large basket full of cards that sits upon my Hoosier Cabinet. I am getting into scrapbooking, so I have been dismantling my old cards to use in a scrapbook for my son. I also cut up Christmas cards and make tags for Christmas gifts with them. I have a stamp somewhere that says "to" and "from" which I will place on the back of these little recycled goodies. I'll leave you with some pics.

Netflix Oragami.... Who'd a-thunk it?

Ok, so hubby finally came around on the whole let's-make-our-valentines-day-gifts-so-we-can-save-money conversation. I think he read my blog post the other day and had a change of heart.

So now that it's a green light, I've been online looking for little free ideas for Valentines Day. I found Netflix Oragami. Yes, folks, make oragami from your discarded netflix envelopes. Perfect for V-day because of their red color!



I'm glad hubby finally agreed to do a free Valentines Day, because I would have felt like a total cheap-skate having this conversation with him on Saturday:

Hubby: Happy Valentines Day, sweetheart. Because I love you so much, I got you this beautiful diamond tennis bracelet.

Me: Oh, it's beautiful! Gee, you shouldn't have.... here's your present. I dug out the old netflix envelopes from the recycle bin and made you some paper hearts. It was either the heart or this runt pony [What the hell is a runt pony?] I actually thought about making you this crab too but then I figured you didn't really want to get crabs for Valentines Day.

Um, yeah.

Cookie Monster Extravaganza

Tonight was a fun filled evening with friends! We ate out at a Mexican restaurant, and had these little lovelies for dessert:



They were actually pretty easy to make. They're Pina Colada flavored... Mmmmm! That's the closest thing this pregnant lady has come to an alcoholic beverage in eons! It's simply a yellow cake mix, about half a 20 oz. can of pineapple with juice, a splash of rum, and two eggs. Mix and bake for just shy of 20 minutes at 375. I then used food coloring to dye the coconut blue. I iced the cupcakes and rolled the tops in the blue coconut. I then piped white icing for the eyes, placed an upside-down chocolate chip in each eyeball, and then a cookie in the mouth. Yum!

Here's T-3 opening her crafted gift from me. Too bad I didn't get a shot of the other Cookie Monster items. The wrapping paper was a Sesame Street design, and I also bought her a little notepad on Etsy that featured cookie monster on the front. I did get her a couple non-Cookie Monster themed items too. I bought her a dress pattern that was a remake of a 1949 dress. She's into costumes so I thought she'd enjoy it. And lastly, I sewed up one of these babies:


It's filled with corn and is a microwavable heating pad. I upcycled an OSU bandana for the front, and some linen pants that I had thrifted awhile ago for the back.

Happy Birthday T-3!

Finally got out of the House

Phew. The main roads were cleared enough that I ventured out this afternoon. The side roads were still terrible, but I can handle that. I just HAD to leave the house. I've been cooped up for three days.

We're celebrating my friend's birthday this weekend, and I needed to go out and pick her up a few more things. I ordered one thing on etsy already, and it arrived yesterday. I apparently was her first sale, and she sent me two of what I ordered as a special thank you. Wasn't that nice?!

I visited three thrift stores to try to find what I was looking for. Did I find it? No of course not; thrifting doesn't work that way. I should know that by now. I still can go out Saturday morning; maybe I'll find it then! I can't say what it is yet because she might read this.

I was really excited that one of the stores was having a 50% off sale on EVERYTHING today. Woohoo! I spent a whopping three or four dollars at that shop. So here's a quick list of what I did purchase today: three children's books for 50-60 cents apiece (two are about conductors and music, and the third is a firetrucks book); a bag of vintage buttons for 50c, a bunny picture frame for under a dollar, a photo album for $2, a "baby's first year" picture frame with slots for one picture per month- $2, a car roller shade still in the original packaging for a dollar; a dress pattern for 30 cents, a bag of Sesame street toys for 75c (one of which was crafted into something for my friend and the rest of which will be for Joel), a painted canvas to go with the Sesame street toy for $1.50.


This was a really quick craft. I simply used LocTite to adhere the foam puzzle pieces onto the canvas, and voila! Instant art work. I liked this so much that if I had more canvases, I would have liked to make several to use as wall art in the nursery. Oh well, Joel's room is done in rabbits anyway, not Sesame street characters.

Finally, I bought a "Guess How Much I Love You" poster for $3. It didn't have a frame, so I still need to search for one. That poster is absolutely perfect! I had found some "Guess How much I love you" wallpaper border for the nursery, however when push came to shove, I didn't feel like stripping the border that's in there now, paying for new border, and then going through the process of putting the new border up. Hell, we have border in the basement that we started to put up on our SECOND DATE, and we just finished it a month or two ago ("What? You put up wallpaper border on your second date?" Yes, my husband is a saint and agreed to help me hang wallpaper border as part of our second date)! So anyway, I never bought the "Guess How Much I Love You" border. But now Joel has the poster, and it was much cheaper than buying the border... not to mention easier to hang!

I also got some sewing done this evening. I finally finished the capes I was making for Joel and his cousin Brent. I upcycled an old orange sheet (free from an ex's uncle who wasn't using it anymore after he got sent to prison...) for the cape itself, and some scrap fabric for the appliqued lightening bolt and initial. I also used some orange bias tape that I thrifted a few weeks ago. Unfortunately, I don't have a little tike to model the cape.



Joel and Brent, future fighters in crime


A closeup of Joel's cape

The other project I finished was the blue baby blanket binding. Say that five times fast. Actually, say "I butchered the blue baby blanket binding" five times fast. Yes, that's right. BUTCHERED. It took me forever, and I am not pleased with the results. I had some white satin that was purchased eight years ago on clearance when I was a Joann Fabrics employee (loved that discount...). I used some of it at our wedding, but I still had a lot left. So I carefully cut strips of the satin, sewed them together, and ironed them into a bias-tape-kind-of thing (except I didn't cut it on the bias, so it's really not bias tape at all...). Then I pinned it around the perimeter of the blanket, and tried to sew it on. Here's where things started to suck. Oh well, I don't think Joel will notice the chop-job that I did.



Lastly, here's the felt applique that I've decided to go with for the little sweater Nan made eons ago. I think it will spruce it up nicely. The only problem is attaching it. I tried yesterday with a scottie dog applique, however it wasn't looking right. I am decent at the basic whip stitch, but what I really want to use is a blanket stitch. I suck at it, quite frankly. I'm going to need to practice some before I actually get this sweet little applique onto the sweater.

Pregnancy, Nesting, and Sewing

I'm almost 36 weeks! Hooray for making it to the under-a-month mark until my due date! I was reading an old post from Sep. where I had measured myself and posted it. I measured myself a couple weeks ago, and at that point I was 41-43-45. I measured myself again yesterday, and I was 42-47-46. How depressing is that? Last week I tipped the scales at 204 pounds. Eek.

Anyway, I've been busy at work sewing this past week. I made some beanbags and heating pads from scrap fabric and leftover feed corn that I had in the garage. I am going to make a tic-tac-toe mat for Joel to play with the beanbags. I'm simply sewing large nine patches together, separated with strips of black fabric in between to make the tic tac toe lines. I wasn't sure how the heating pad would work, but I microwaved it for two minutes, and it stayed hot for quite a while. It's coming in handy with all the aches and pains this pregnant body has been having! Just remember when making it to use 100% cotton. I was able to repurpose an old green shirt of mine that no longer fits to make a heating pad for the neck, and some thrifted curtains to make a rectangular one for my knees, back, etc. I also will be making my friend one whose birthday is coming up this week. I'll probably work on that tomorrow since I just found out we're having a snow day, so no work for me!



Corn for the stuffing


The finished product

Over the weekend I also created a memory game for Joel using iron-on transfer paper, white cotton from the above repurposed curtains, and some scrap blue and white fabric for the backing. I'm not totally happy with how this turned out, however Joel will be young and won't notice the imperfections! This task was a pain in the butt, by the way. If I had known how much of a pain it was, I wouldn't have made so many pieces. Jason's family is huge, and I made one (well two actually) for each person in his family and mine until I ran out of iron-on transfer paper. I still have three more people to go, so six more tiles to create. When completed, there will 38 tiles. We'll have to pull out only a few family members at a time because Joel would never be able to handle 38 tiles as a little tot. I should have just done Mommy, Daddy, the four grandparents, and the two great-grandmas. That would have been 16 tiles and would have been much more doable! I'm also not thrilled with how the colors came out. Maybe it's my printer, but most of them turned out very bland :(


The great-grandmas


Jason, his sister, and parents


My parents and me


Five of the nine pieces for the tic tac toe mat.


I love me a good Spam Fabric! If this doesn't say "class," I don't know what does!