Egg Carton Scriptures

I opened my carton of Aldi eggs and found this:

Do you find this odd, or is it just me? I've been getting Aldi eggs for awhile now (68c per dozen, woot, woot!) but never noticed that they put a bible verse on the carton. I had another carton sitting around (craft project... more on that in a little bit), so I checked it, and sure enough, the same passage was on that one too, however it was smaller and located in a different spot. I feel like I'd opened a fortune cookie or something. How did my egg carton know that I had a crappy day at work? That I had my last day at work. That I cried and cried as I hugged everyone good-bye?

My egg carton reminded me to rejoice and to be glad. I know that when God closes a door, he opens a window. I just needed my egg carton to remind me, that's all. Thank you, egg carton, for putting things into perspective.

So how exactly does one properly thank an egg carton? By stuffing it full of dryer lint and hot wax and setting it on fire, of course!

Yes, that's right folks. After I came home from sob-fest, I got busy making some firestarters. No work = no income = how are we going to pay the expensive gas bills this winter? Really we won't be scraping it that close since hubby is still working, however I figured we could utilize the fireplace a little more this coming winter. We didn't use it a single time last winter.

Yes, I realize it's technically not even summer yet, however don't you remember the story about the bugs? You know the one. Bug #1 works all summer long gathering food and storing it away while Bug #2 screws around the whole time and then finds himself up a creek without a paddle when winter comes. You better believe that I am Bug #1, baby.

Here's some photos of my not-very-glamorous-yet-oh-so-practical frugal friday project.

Everything you need for this project. Paper towel tubes, TP tubes, and/or paper egg cartons, candle wax, and dryer lint.

"I'm Melting! I'm M. E. L. T. I. N. G. !"

How pretty do these toilet paper tubes look, all cozy in a basket?

The finished product. Three dozen firestarters. That's enough to last me over one month!

Repurposing Stuff from School

My personal items from my classroom are now completely boxed up and sitting here at home. I had accumulated a lot of stuff in the eight years I taught there. I brought home over ten boxes of stuff. I realized there are several things I can reuse or repurpose, such as

• index cards: use for my brother's birthday next month. I bought him different brands of bbq sauce (when it was on clearance), and to each bottle I am going to attach a recipe which uses bbq sauce. I think this will be a nice frugal gift because my brother and his girlfriend will be moving in together soon. Hopefully she'll cook and be able to use the bbq sauce.
  
• four different fabrics (three of them very large pieces that covered eight feet tall bulletin boards, and one was window treatments). Perhaps I'll make this tension rod puppet theatre
  
• dowel rod previously used to hang the window treatments- surely can be used for something
  
• small stickers- can be used on a chart to reward Joel for doing chores, etc. when he gets older. Originally I used these small stickers to mark flute keys so the students could remember where their fingers are supposed to go. I thrifted these years ago; I think these originally were a dime per package of 440 stickers. I bought twenty packs. You do the math. I have enough stickers to reward an entire daycare center.
  
• a small garage-sale four-drawer cabinet that I previously decoupaged with pieces of sheet music. I can sand the cabinet down to eliminate the sheet music, and then it will match the other cabinet that I kept at home and painted white. I can repaint the two matching cabinets and have my dad turn one into a kid stove and the other into a kid sink.
  
• wallpaper that I used to line a bulletin board- can be used for some craft project down the road
  
• Happy Birthday wrapping paper, laminated, used to line a birthday bulletin board. Since it's laminated, it can be taped together with clear tape and placed on the floor under Joel to keep the floor safe from pieces of falling smashed birthday cake. After his first birthday, it can be cut to fit the table and turned into a festive birthday tablecloth.
  
• Lots and lots of children's books that will now be Joel's.
  
• Wallpaper samples for crafting: first craft I'd like to do is cover large formula cans and turn them into pretty storage
  
• Various holiday wall-hangings. When I was little, I loved hanging up Halloween and Easter decorations in the windows and doors of our house. I have lots of stuff that I used in my classroom on bulletin boards that we can now use at home instead.
  
• an el cheapo $3 garage sale office chair. I found a tute that shows us how to recover a boring black office chair to add some pizzaz. Joel can use this chair when he's older.
  
• A thrifted Little Tikes basketball hoop used to play "band basketball" with my students. Now it will bring endless hours of entertainment to my own offspring.
  
• Broken up Crayons. I've been dying to make this project for the past week or two. There's now lots of people out there who have made these darling Crayon initial shadowboxes. I even thrifted a shadow box on Wed. for 90c just so I could make this project. It just needs a coat of paint and a back for the frame.
  
• Probably lots more that I can't think of right now!
  

The gray and blue fabrics would make nice skirts. The brown fabric has already been cut up and is being used in the growth chart.

Well what do you know...

I just found this stuffed animal bowling set like I'm working on. They're only asking forty five bucks. That's $7.50 per bowling pin. It takes me well over an hour to do each one, when you figure in hunting for just the right fabric, tracing and cutting paper templates, pinning, cutting, sewing, taking forever to get those ears turned right side out, stuffing, dropping rice everywhere, stopping to clean up spilled rice, and sewing the hole closed by hand. Let's say about an hour and a half. Here's the math.

Apparently, I'm going to spend about nine hours on this project. Probably more actually, but let's go with nine. When teaching private music lessons, I make twelve dollars a half hour (and for around here, that's cheap). If I were to charge twenty four dollars an hour to make these rabbit bowling pins, I would have to charge $216 for a set of six. And that doesn't even take into consideration the cost of the fabric and stuffing! Any takers? I didn't think so.

But it does make me feel good to know that I'm saving $45 since I do not need to buy the ready-made version. Hey, a penny saved is a penny earned!

The Spice Girls

If you could be a Spice Girl, what would your name be? I think I would be Baby Spice. Or maybe Crafting-for-Baby Spice. Breastfeeding Spice has a nice ring to it too, don't you think? Diaper-Changing Spice and Baby-Always-Spits-Up-on-Me-But-Never-on-Daddy Spice are also contenders.

Speaking of spices...


I've had this thrifted spice rack* and some milk glass spice jars that I've collected on various thrift outings. I recently washed them, removed their old labels, and began the hunt for new labels. I was thinking I'd buy some sticker labels at Office Max, until Tiffany over at songbirdtiff said some regular paper and mod podge works just dandy.

Paper? Check. Mod Podge? Check. Sweet, a no-cost project!

Our good buddy Stock-Trading-Scandal Spice** (aliases include Jailbird Spice or Kmart Spice) has a pdf file of some awesome blue and cream spice labels. She even leaves some blank so you can add your own spices; the only problem is that I could not figure out how to add text to the pdf file. Instead, I created a jpeg file which I will gladly share with y'all because I'm nice like that. (A small version is below; click on it to make it large).

Here you can see the font I've chosen.


Here I've squeezed more on one page in case you have way more spice jars than me. Don't want to waste paper, you know!


If you want to do this project like I did, you'll want to use Microsoft Picture it9 aka Digital Image Pro. Open up the file, click on the little "A" button (that's the font button), and a text box will appear. You can move, shrink, or enlarge the text box so that it's directly over the spice label. Add your text in any size and font that your little heart desires.

* I thought about naming this post, "I've Got a Great Rack" (a spice rack that is), however I thought that might be a little too risque for this blog. It would go along nice with Breastfeeding Spice though.

** Just kidding, Martha. You know you're my homegirl.

WIP Wascally Wabbits on Wednesday

These Bunny Bowling Pins are the bane of my existence. They are so adorable, and I just had to make them, however as it turns out, sewing them is a major pain in the you-know-what. I hate stuffing softies and sewing the last hole shut. My contempt for these little buggers is multiplied because you have to fill them with rice. More rice landed on the counter and floor than in the rabbit.

The ears also were a source of contention. I did the ears of each rabbit a little differently, trying to find just the right stuff. I don't have any fusible interfacing so I tried various things like silk organza, stiff tulle, and used dryer sheets. A double layer of stiff tulle (from the bridesmaid dress) was the winner. Speaking of the bridesmaid dress, the red bunny is made from its fabric.





Another WIP is this here zippered pouch. "Wasn't this selvedge project supposed to be a water bottle sling?" you ask. Yep, I changed my mind. I thrifted a whole bag of vintage zippers and thought I'd actually use one instead of just looking at them with fear. Zippers are quite scary. I have no idea how to sew them, as evidenced by the chop job I did on this little pouch. I'm too embarrassed to show you what it looks like underneath the lace. Let's just say the stitching looks straight. If you cross your eyes and have a hangover. BTW, the lining is... you guessed it, bridesmaid dress! It's the dress that keeps going and going and going...



Lastly, here's a little growth chart I'm making. I only have one measuring tape, so this project is on hold until I can get another one. I'd like to find a vintage one at a thrift store however I won't hold my breath. This project also requires me to applique. *Gulp* Wish me luck.

Stuff That Makes Me Drool

I've been surfing the web tonight since Joel fell asleep, and I found some more stuff that I totally have to make.

• Bunny Bowling
  
  
• A Growth Chart
  
  
• Office Chair, recovered
  
  
• Fabric Piggy Bank

I wish there were more hours in the day!

Menu Planning Monday: Mexican Week

Phew. This is my third meme today. Check out my Make Something Monday Meme and my Made Do Monday Meme and show me some bloggy love :)

Back to the Menu Planning.

Introducing...... (cue the trumpets, stage left)

Mexican Week! (We're going to be so sick of Mexican food by the end of the week...).

I can never exactly say when the leftovers will run out, so I'm not going to commit myself to making certain dishes on certain days of the week. Instead, here's some things I'll make this week, whenever I feel like it.

• Nacho Rollups made with salsa rather than taco sauce, as long as I can get to the store and buy some eggs.
  
• Mexican Shepherd's Pie (because we have some mashed potatoes leftover from yesterday's steak dinner... yum!). It's easy to make. Make like you would a normal shepherd's pie, but I add in corn and taco seasonings to the meat.
  
• Ham and Salsa Muffins, complete with homemade English muffins to use up some yeast that's probably already gone bad
  
• Texas style lasagna (note to self, pick up cottage cheese when you go buy eggs)