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a million little pieces

Ok. That’s a little bit of an exaggeration. I’m talking about all of the Christmas toys that come with too many pieces and nothing in which to store them. I have to give a thumbs up to the folks who designed M’s drum. They put a handle on it, so you can turn it upside down and store the drumsticks and other instruments inside. Brilliant!

Her awesome eco-friendly tea set could have used an awesome eco-friendly tote or basket, though. And it would have been great if her cute wooden “paper” doll set came with a cute wooden lid. Plus, there is the growing collection of matchbox cars and Thomas trains. I needed to get control over all these bits and pieces, so I sewed up a bunch of drawstring bags last weekend.

These were super easy and economical. I bought the set of fat quarters from Michael’s with my 50% off coupon, the ribbon came from a thrift store and the muslin lining came from one of my amazing garage sale fabric scores last summer. Total for all of the bags: about $4. I love these so much, I’m thinking of making some for my knitting projects. M thinks they’re pretty cool, too.

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crafty storage tutorial on whipup.net

During the month of November, whipup.net is featuring tutorials, ideas and stories for refashioning, re-using, up-cycling and recycling items made of paper, cloth, yarn or plastic. I submitted a tutorial for turning prescription bottles into useful storage containers and it was posted today! Go check it out!

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trick or treat bags featured on mighty junior!

Have you heard of this site before? It’s cool! Mighty Junior is a kid-centric shopping and design blog, and a sister site to Mighty Goods. I received a note from them the other day that they had featured my trick or treat bags on their site.

Kind of makes me wish I had made more! Today I sold one of my Halloween cards and in the comments, she mentioned that she found me on Mighty Junior. Sweet!

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i made it myself: upcycled straw coasters with wool felt

I found these little straw coasters and they were just begging for a makeover. I used wool from the sleeves of my felted sweater stash. I can’t decide which set I like more: the lights or the brights. I hope they find a happy home through my etsy shop. I had lots of fun making them.

Did you make something yourself? Post it here!

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only 47 more days until halloween

Around here on the blog, though, you’d think it was already October! I’ve been busy sewing up some orange and black goodness that I wanted to share with you. It all started with a doodle.

Then, M and I were sorting through (playing with) fabric, and I got inspired to make her a trick or treat bag.* It turned out so cute, I made a bunch more.

Then I sewed up a stack of Halloween cards. I’ve been trying to do more things with my left over stash from paper trade shows. I made these cards out of Fox River Confetti paper. (Love, love, LOVE this paper!)

There’s more coming. Remember how I said I was becoming slightly addicted to amigurumi? I’ve got two little pumpkins on my windowsill looking for a new home. I hope to get a picture posted soon. I also may have possibly bought some glow in the dark yarn for a little amigurumi ghost. Oh, and I was thinking a little black cat might be cute to make, too.

All in good time, my little pretties.

*No, I’m not taking her around this year to collect a bunch of sugar. She’s still too young. She’ll probably just stash her keys, phone and baby Elmo in her bag. What? Like you don’t have a baby Elmo in your bag.

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i made it myself: felt board

I saw this tutorial for a felt board and knew instantly I wanted to make one for M. I used my Michael’s coupon for the canvas and my Joann’s coupon for the felt. Usually handmade doesn’t mean inexpensive, especially when it comes to knitting, but this project was easy on the budget and easy to make.

felt board

The best payoff is that M totally loves it. I think the first time I gave it to her she played with it for over an hour. That’s like an eternity in toddler time! In fact, while I was writing this, she saw her picture and then went to the closet and pulled it out!

Did you make something yourself this week? Post it here!

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cute as a button notecards

notecards

Have you ever had an idea in your head that won’t go away? These notecards have been buzzing around in my brain for months. I got the idea one day while sitting at my desk staring at a big bag of buttons. They were designed in my head for a few weeks when I finally needed to just sit down and get them out. I waited until M was taking a nap, did the layout, went to print them out and kablamo. Our printer jammed. Not just a little paper jam, but the ink carriage jammed. So then I had to wait for T fix the printer, which consisted of taking it apart, troubleshooting the RIP software and finally replacing a bad ink cartridge. Phew! I can’t believe how long it took me to finally get these cards out of my head and finished! Now they’re up in my shop. Price: $12.