Christmas Tree Bag

This project? It was the death of me. I wanted a break from sewing, but hubby came up with an “easy” idea, so I thought I’d do it. By the end, I wanted to punch him in the face. By the time he got home I cooled off, so no violence occurred. But it was contemplated. So the idea started one way, but that’s not how it ended up. He had a different idea in mind, but I couldn’t do that with the supplies I had on hand, so I guess I can’t blame him. Anyway, it started like this:

Some cardboard and a 6’x9’ canvas drop cloth. With some marking of where the corners should be…

And a line drawn, perpendicular to the finished edge

And some pinning down said line

And then sewing down pinned line

I made a triangle at each corner. I flipped over to the outside, and sewed along the sewn edge again for stability

This made a box shaped. The end. Okay not really. Then I got some scrap fabric and a zipper I happened to have and sewed a top. Really this isn’t a tutorial. Just my piece of crap bag that I ended up hating. But kinda liking. I guess. Do you watch Friends? You remember when Phoebe gets married and changes her name to Princess Consuela Bananahammock? And her friends call her Valerie?

Do you remember what Mike changed his name too? First name. Crap. Last name. Bag. Crap Bag. That’s how I felt. Anyway, I threw on a zipper.

The zipper comes apart too.

Then, I decided I should make it easier to carry. So I got some webbing out of my stash (AKA 3 belts that didn’t have the hardware when I received them)

And sewed them on.

At this point, I’ve spent at least 3 extra hours then I thought I would on this Crap Bag. So I used duct tape on the inside. Cardboard for stability.

I should’ve put some cardboard at the end where the tree stand was. I didn’t, it ripped through the bag, and I really do have a Crap Bag.

Then you add the huge tree that you inherited this year. It’s gorgeous, but kind of a pain in the hind end to store.

Zip it up and admire your coffin you just sewed.

Sarcophagus?

Crap Bag.

Coat Tree

How was your Thanksgiving? I really could have used a longer break, personally….Oh well. We got back late on Saturday, and before we started decorating for Christmas, I took a few quick pictures of our Thanksgiving décor. It was basically the fall décor with a few additions.

Yeah, there’s a Christmas tree already up…Oh well. Don’t you love the candy corn starburst?

Another angle.

This is straight on, but it’s blurry because I was not looking pretty so I was trying to hide from the mirror

Wanna know what makes me happy? Fast, basically free, and big impact projects.

Meet our mudroom.

Okay we don’t have one. This is the total amount of area I have to work with when you first walk into our basement apartment. So I asked my mother if she was using the coat tree from our youth, and luckily she wasn’t.

It worked, but I decided to give it a little makeover to up the usefulness factor. I took off all the hooks and painted the whole thing black. Then, I bought 2 new hooks for the top, and used the ones that were there down lower, at toddler level. I also added 2 knobs below that for backpacks and dance bags.

Shoes go in the basket, and are periodically cleaned and redirected to the owners room.

Then, I added some vinyl letters just for fun, so everyone has a hook.

Voila! It’s been working great thus far in our small entry

Containing my Crap

Happy Labor Day!! Have fun doing whatever you're doing! Here's a really quick, easy organization that I did for my patterns...Right now, I'm working on my craft/sewing table. Woohoo!! Post coming soon! You know all those paper patterns when you’re walking around your favorite craft/fabric store that you can rip off one and have it free? And you know how those patterns then get lost in the abyss that is your purse/craft room/sewing area (if it makes it that far?) Well, I decided to do something with those recently.

This is my pattern box. It’s overflowing. Something needs to be done, I realize it. This is just step 1. I grabbed out all of those free paper patterns first.

I got a binder from the DI.

Hey big spender…It was a planner, so it’s not a full binder size. It already had a bunch of lined paper and a few dividers in it, so I used the dividers as a guide to 3 hole punch my patterns, since they’re not typical size. I cut out some more dividers out of cardstock. Orange is what I had the most of. Whatever.

I decorated the binder with washi tape. Because I can.

Then, labeled those dividers, and stuck in my patterns.

So far, I’ve got things like pillows, Halloween, Christmas, kid crafts, décor tips, house things, crochet/knit, and apparel. With lots of space for more.

Speaking of washi tape, I’m developing quite the collection

(do you like my sewing machine cover? Love it!) Here it is by my box of patterns, on top of the patterns I got from my Grandma. See the 1/2” worth of lined paper in the pattern book? I’m thinking I’ll keep notes on patterns, alterations, etc., so I don’t have tons of paper floating all over. Nice.

One step closer to maintaining my hoard.

Hooray for Everything!

Have you entered the giveaway yet?
Okay this is a Pinterest-inspired project. I pinned this a few weeks ago

(source)
And let it stew in my brains for awhile. Then, I got to thinking about a favorite project of mine that I don’t even have in my own home! *Gasp* It was a gift that you may remember if you’ve been around awhile here.

I wax poetic in my own head about Amy Butler. I pretty much adore her patterns and fabrics. So I decided to use a favorite pattern for the Gum Drop Pillow and make my own storage.

It looks like she has even more pillow patterns you could use for this too. (like this one, or this one) All of our stuffed animals were in a nice, big wicker basket, but it was messy looking, and overflowing. So I made the gum drop pillow, and just made one little change.

I added a zipper. One of these days I’ll show you my hoard of zippers. It’s almost embarrassing. So I just did that on the final seam, and then turned it inside out. (if you’re really observant, you recognize the fabric from these pillow beds, another Pinterest project)

Then, we stuffed it full of the little critters

Zipped it up, and voila!

Seating for the munchkins, if they so desire it! And the basket? It now holds excess shoes by the door, instead of being all over the floor. Hooray!

This little piggy…helped with chores?

Psst...Did you hear we're finally on Facebook? Come join the fun over there!
Maybe having a toddler ask for EVERYTHING at the store, or not wanting to pick up toys, or throwing fits when asked for 300+ time to do something sounds familiar? Well, I was getting tired of it, so I combined a bunch of ideas from Pinterest and came up with a solution, that so far (knock on wood) is working. First off, we had a family meeting to decide on family rules. The kidlets helped come up with them. I printed them up and put them in a thrifted frame.

Then, I came up with chores/jobs that I expect them to do every day, and some extra jobs they can do at their age.

I printed it up, and put it in a matching thrifted frame, and used washi tape to add a little bit of interest to it. Nothing too special, just simple for us. These frames came from the DI with Velcro on the back, so I used these Velcro strips from 3M. So far, I like them.

And hung them where all the family could see them, but it’s not the first thing other people see.

Next, I got a bunch of glass jars (does anyone else save them? No? Well here’s proof to my honey it's not just another hoard) I let the girls pick their colors from my acrylic paints (purple and pink, is anyone really surprised?) and made a few different jars. The first has a chalkboard label and a slit in the top (made a little safer with washi tape) for them to put their tithing in.

The next was just too freakin cute. I saw the idea on Pinterest and just changed it a bit. I cut out vinyl for their first letter of their name, and added cereal box ears, wooden bead legs, pipe cleaner tails, and washi tape snouts.

How adorable are those?!? They don’t have a slit in the top, so they just unscrew the snout to put their money in to save.

Now, all of my hubby’s and mine loose change goes in this jar. I used vinyl and a Cricut to cut out a mustache (from my mom’s cartridge she designed. She’s pretty awesome. It’s called Paper Doll Dress Up), and added the words “my stache” Hee hee, makes me smile whenever I see it

Finally, I got some empty Crystal Light containers, cut slits in the top, and added vinyl with their initial and the words “chore $”. Whenever they do things from the list, they get so much for doing the everyday jobs, and a little bit more for doing the extra jobs. I give them their change as soon as they do the job (from my mustache jar), and then they get to put it in their chore jar. If I have to ask them multiple times to do something, and/or end up doing it myself, they have to pay me the same amount. At the end of the week, we count their money and put some in tithing and the rest in the piggy bank. So far, my oldest has appreciated having a way to get money, and I’m sure once she’s able to buy her first thing, it will come together even more!