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reuse: oatmeal containers for storing artwork

oatmeal container storage

I’ve been saving our empty oatmeal containers on the top shelf of the pantry for awhile. My plan is to use them for storing my daughter’s artwork. Right now, most of what we want to keep is stored flat in my office closet, which is pretty packed. I’d like to sort and move them to the top shelf of her closet, which is pretty empty.

oatmeal container storage

Of course, she has other ideas. After taking the photo for the blog, she informed me that, “No artwork should be stored in Puppy Dog’s rocket!” As you can see, she’s also in charge of decorating the containers.

reuse: How do you reuse oatmeal containers? I think they would be great for packaging holiday cookies.

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my creative space

my creative space

My last flurry of crochet activity left me with very little black and white yarn in my stash. It also left me with tired wrists. I confess that I haven’t stitched a thing since last Saturday. I’m sure you know the feeling: one more stitch and you’ll be out of commission for way too long. Although, four days is an awfully long time for me. I think Sunday’s long stint in the kitchen chopping, peeling, stirring and dish washing didn’t help. Neither did all of that laundry folding. See where housework gets you?

Back to the yarn. I gave away most of my “amigurumi stash” of acrylic awhile ago because I wasn’t using it. I saved a few balls of neutral colors, but the Halloween critters used up most of that. I just happened to stumble across a black and white cotton/acrylic blend sweater at the thrift store yesterday. Crafty kismet! It was super easy to unravel and now I’m sitting her looking at my hook and trying to decide if I’m ready to start up again. Maybe I’ll just go to bed early tonight and start fresh tomorrow.

What’s in your creative space today? Check out the much more productive players over at Kirsty’s blog.

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putting a dent in that big spool of wool

more crochet vases

Believe it or not, I’m still crocheting little vases. In fact, I just received a wholesale order for three sets. I’ve finally worked through most of my tan and navy wool and can’t wait to start using some new color combinations.

Thank goodness it’s football season. If you need me, I’ll be on the couch surrounded by yarn.

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more glue stick collages

cutting and sorting photos for collages

Wow. This time last year I was doing the same exact thing: cutting out pictures for my daughter to paste on paper. It must be the official start of the holiday direct mail season.

Last year we put all of the shapes together in a single envelope, which created a lot of mess. She’d dump all of them out just to find one or two that she wanted. This year we are sorting them by category to make it a little easier.

Now that she’s using scissors, this is even more fun for her. Of course, we’ve created a whole different mess of scraps on the floor, but who cares. It keeps her busy and she enjoys it. I just need to remind her that we only cut paper and not hair!

envelopes: My daughter loves writing little notes and was cruising through my stash of envelopes. I started saving the ones that come with all of our junk mail. She’s got a nice supply now and that’s what we used to sort her cutouts.

catalogs: Did you know you can cut down the amount of paper that gets delivered to your mailbox? I’ve had good luck with Catalog Choice. Only problem is when you order something new, you get put on the mailing list again. At least we’re putting the catalogs to good use!

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holiday gift idea: sweater sleeve socks

sweater sleeve socks

Ever since I started knitting socks, I’ve wanted to knit a pair for everyone in my family. There’s something about giving a gift of warmth, especially when it’s handmade, that I really like. I just don’t have time to make it happen, so I started to think of alternatives.

One day I was looking through Linen, Wool, Cotton and saw a pattern for socks using angora wool and I got an idea. I’ve got plenty of wool sweaters in my stash. Why not make a pair of socks out of that?

These are basically a tube with one rounded end. I didn’t felt the wool, but used my serger to enclose the raw edges. The cuff has a casing for elastic to help them stay up. The button is just for decoration.

I see more of these in my future. I’ll be looking for superwash or wool blend sweaters so they can be machine washed. I’m also thinking about stripes, fair isle and cables. The possibilities are endless!

alternatives: If you don’t have a serger, you could felt the sweaters first so the edges don’t unravel or try the zig zag stitch on your machine. Felted socks may be too thick to wear with shoes, but would make great slipper socks for lounging around.

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personalized denim tote bags

small denim gift bag

Thanks to Sister Diane, I spent more time cleaning than crafting this weekend. She wrote a post about how we crafters just don’t seem to put things away and I looked around my room and thought, “Yep, that’s me!” I figured if I wasn’t brave enough to take a picture of my to-do piles then they needed to go.

I did get a little bit of sewing done, though. I was inspired by a denim tote my daughter received as a gift and decided to make a few for upcoming birthdays. I found this denim in my stash and it was already hemmed at the top (yes!) so all I had to do was serge the sides and make some handles. I used Heat n Bond Ultra Hold for the initials. I made a total of three small and one big, which I think is destined to become a project tote for myself.

font: I used the House Industries Haulnhouse font for the initial caps. You can find a similar, free download of the “Austin Powers” font from about.com. By the way, House Industries occasionally gives away free fonts. You should check them out because they are all pretty awesome.

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my creative space

cotton crochet bottle

The day before our vacation the little crochet bottles sold. When I got back home, I started to miss having them around. So I’ve decided to make a few more—some for the shop, some for gifts and some just for me. I’m also experimenting with different sizes, shapes and types of yarn. I love how a little re-purposing can transform a castaway into something beautiful.

Speaking of beautiful, don’t miss the lovely spaces over at Kirsty’s blog.

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can’t wait to unravel this sweater

cotton sweater for unraveling

I think my exact quote for the morning was, “You are not allowed to buy any more sewing machines and I am not allowed to buy anymore sweaters for unraveling.” But when my friend and I got separated at a street filled with garage sales, I had no one to help me with my will power. This sweater is so soft. The colors will look great in my house. I’m thinking join-as-you-go granny square lap blanket.

recycle: “…to take an unloved garment, destined for the landfill, salvage the wool, and give it a brand-new start as a beautiful knit gift; it’s sure to be appreciated by any recipient who loves the planet.” Lee Meredith

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my creative space

In my creative space today, I spent the last day of my vacation crocheting squares at the beach. I’m cruising along on these, although it took way too long for me to memorize the pattern. Of course, now that I’m all relaxed and on a roll, it’s time to go home.

Make sure you pop on over to Kirsty’s blog for more creative spaces.

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thrifty thursday: metallic flats

zipper fabric bible cover

I’ve been watching a lot of What Not to Wear lately. Stacey and Clinton have got me thinking about my refashioning. I need to start picking items that are both easy to alter and will look good on my body shape.

One thing they recommend for my shape is a pointy toe shoe, which lengthens the leg line. They’ve also declared metallic shoes the new neutral and ok for daytime.

So of course when I saw these puppies in my size I had to get them. They look fabulous with my dark denim jeans.

thrifting: Church rummage sale.