Needle Holder

Do you inherit things from people? I do. I seem to have built up a reputation for the go-to place when you don’t want throw something away. It’s OK – I love all the flotsam and jetsam that comes my way. And, every once in a while, a really good idea is born. This is a needle holder/case that came my way – this original one was made by Boy Scouts back in the 50’s.

This is my version -

Here is how it is done – cut a strip roughly 5 inches long by 2 inches wide. I cut mine out of chipboard. Then score up 1/2 inch from the bottom and at 2.75 inches from the bottom. Cover with whatever you like – fabric, paper. Decorate it however you like. Then staple a piece of felt in as shown – it folds like a match book. Easy peasy!

Condiment Tray

I purchased this tray at the dollar store.  I thought I’d taken a before picture but I guess I didn’t. Grrrrr. We needed it because we are a condiment kind of a family – the tray holds cinnamon, salt, pepper, a pepper grinder, garlic salt, sugar, toothpicks, and napkins. It makes it much easier to wipe the table when everything is on a tray! And prevents me from having to hop up and down at mealtimes to get whatever it was we forgot! Anyways, it was stained (badly) a reddish brown and had a chicken/rooster on the bottom. I thought I could do better. ha ha! So I painted it and applied scrapbooking paper to the bottom with modge-podge. I love how it turned out! And don’t you just love the retro salt and pepper shakers I got at a thrift store?!

Oh – I also added a bead of wood glue to all the seams before I painted. It really made it much sturdier! The wrinkles you see in the top picture are defects in the tray. No biggie. And, if you decide to do this project I would recommend using a light-weight paper for the base – the scrapbooking paper I chose was double sided and really thick. Also in the top picture do you see the flower pot on the lazy susan? I painted it the same color – and by painting it on the lazy susan I could turn it any which way to paint. Cool!

Also – to family and friends – if you see cool vintage sheets at garage sales or the thrift store please pick them up for me – I’ve got a plan! (I’ll pay you back of course)

Cup Hooks

Have I ever told you how much I love cup hooks? I really, really love cup hooks. I’ve put them everywhere! Here are some examples:

Under the kitchen sink – my pot scrubber brush, latex cleaning gloves, and toothbrushes used for cleaning -

Other side of the kitchen cabinet – metal skewers, big and small strainers.

Inside little cabinet: spaghetti strainer.

Inside little cabinet by the stove: round cake pans, and inside the cabinet the splatter guard.

 

Inside the ring-a-round: bread pans.

These are all the items that are often a jumble in the cabinets. Just use care when installing the cup-hooks! Don’t drill through the door! (Learned from experience!)

Chipboard Basket

Did you notice this little basket sitting on the dresser in the post I did about the hat rack? Well, I saw this tutorial via Craft Gossip (thank you!)and thought it was a great idea! As my husband would say – I’d put everything into a container or a keeper and cover whatever is left in this world with fabric – I love containers. (and fabric, and paper, and . . .) Anyways, this one is made with two cereal boxes. It is sturdy! I’ll have to admit they are a bit time consuming – but you aren’t sitting there forever working on this – it’s more a matter of you do a bit, let the glue dry, do a little more, let the glue dry – like that. The pinecones inside are for a future project – so many projects – so little time!! Happy Crafting!!

Hat Rack

OK – here is tomorrow’s blog post today! Aren’t you lucky!! ha ha. Are you a hat-wearing family? We are. We have hats all over the place. And I mean all over the place! I always have a hard time finding my hat when I want to wear it. I’m always putting it in a “safe place” so it won’t get stepped on or dirty. And we know about my “safe places” AKA the BLACK HOLE! So I made this hat rack to sit on a dresser in the front entry. It isn’t big enough for all the hats – but it’s a start. To make this I simply predrilled some holes in a scrap piece of plywood – stapled fabric over the whole thing – poked out the holes with the pointy end of my scissors – attached the drawer pulls – leaned it against the wall – hung my hat - and DONE!!! Easy peasy. Gotta make a lot more. My husband needs an entire wall like this – ha ha!

Junk Mail Notebook

OK last post about the junk mail notebook. But I was so excited!!! I found the little hinged key rings! At the craft store! I think they are used for knitting or something but they come in pretty colors and everything. Yippee!

Junk Mail Notebook Update

Here is an updated photo of my junk mail notebook. I've added tabs. By tabbing one notebook I can have every list all in one place and be able to find the correct list easier. I tried using ball chain to "hinge" the notebook and that didn't work very well. One side snapped. I guess I'll lace it again. I am going to look for large key chain rings - the ones with a hinge - our local hardware store doesn't stock them and I think they would work really well. Otherwise I cleaned my craft room a bit last night and am looking forward to some sewing again. Happy crafting!!

Junk Mail Notebook

Do you find yourself writing lists on the back of envelopes or junk mail? Well, this is the craft for you. I don't know who to give the credit to for this idea. I know I've seen a version of it some where but I just can't remember where. Anyways, this is how I did it. First I decided on what size I wanted it to be - I thought a forth of a regular sheet of paper made sense. Then I found some pretty paper and covered all sides of the cardboard. Then I started to think of ways to bind it all together. There are several options - you could fasten eyelets like I did for the blue one. Then you have to punch holes in all your scrap paper and "sew" it all together. (Which is no big deal - it took minutes) Or you could use bolts, washers, and wing nuts. Again, you're punching holes - but not sewing (or lacing) anything together. Or, you could use the big clip fasteners you find at an office supply store. No hole punching - easy peasy lemon squeezy. I like all the ways. If you click on the first picture it will get MUCH LARGER and you will see what I mean. Just make sure you use a good dryish stick glue. The glue in the picture (the UHU glue) is wonderful and only .99 a stick last time I checked. It's a good idea to really press the paper down so your glue gets good contact with both the paper and the cardboard. I used a tiny brayer - or I've been known to pull the cuff of my shirt down over my hand and rub that way. ha ha. I've been using the blue notebook and it works great. Here is what it looks like when it is open using the eyelet/lacing method -

I like that the cover opens all the way. I had to hinge the other covers by scoring the cardboard on the inside of the cover so it would fold up. If you're confused I could send you a picture. This is a great way to use all that junk mail - and halved business-size envelopes. The bonus with the envelopes is you then also have a pocket for your coupons.

Oh - I know my crafting area is a disaster - I thought about hiding the mess - but then I'd just have to get it all out again to make more. This is real life baby! This is how crafting happens when you don't have a plan and just wing it. Oh - and SLW your comment on the last posting was funny - what do you mean you don't have that gene? I've seen some pretty amazing scrapbook pages you made! It's all there - you just have to use it!

Branding sleeping bag bags

So we needed bags for our sleeping bags. They get thrown into the trunks of cars or the back of trucks all the time. I really get tired of washing them all the time and think that by washing them all the time they wear out faster. It is much easier to just air them out. My grandma gifted me with a bunch of fabric and this one piece had sat in the sun at one time - so it was streaky. Perfect for this job. I cut my "stamp" out of craft foam and glued it onto a scrap piece of wood. Then put fabric paint on a foam plate - spread it out thinly - and stamped the fabric. I like how it turned out - voila! Sleeping bag bags. If you click on the picture it gets bigger - a lot bigger - any one know how to keep it from getting too big?

PS - Mom can you see the new green walls in my kitchen?

Fabric Basket

I used to have a really nice jar that I kept my Qtips in. Guess what happened. Yup, it fell out of the medicine cabinet onto the sink and shattered. That is why I thought this was such a great idea! It can't shatter. I liked how this turned out so much I've made a bunch of them. I'd much rather look at the cute little fabric basket than the clutter they hold!

I'll try to find the tutorial and post it next time. Also - it you have time go check out my friends cool new Etsy store! It's called JoolsJewels and it is AWESOME!!!

Organizing

I wondered if you wanted more examples of what I was talking about yesterday? Looking around the house for organizational tools? Well, here is an example:

I used packing tape to tape the edges down - cut the ovalish shape in the middle - and stuffed around 50 grocery bags in this box. I like that the boxes can be stacked.

Here is another example. Here is the before picture of my junk drawer.

Here is the after picture.

Each prescription bottle is holding something small like: tiny screws, cup hooks, leash clips, eyelets, etc. . . I labeled them with little round stickers. I've asked my dear family and friends to start saving their prescription bottles for me - and now they know why. And, I'm holding you to your promises to keep sending them my way - you can do this yourself in a couple months! ha ha! I just couldn't stand throwing them away. I even brought one back to the pharmacy and asked them if they recycled them. The pharmacy people looked at me like I was crazy! So, I've been keeping them for quite a while now and wondering if they could be used for another purpose. If everyone used stuff like this around their homes. . instead of throwing it away. . . just think of how many of these little brown bottles are in the landfills. . . drives me nuts. I could organize my entire house! Also, yup - I'm a little bit of a "tree hugger" but the biggest part of me is practical. Why purchase something special to organize with when you already have what you need? Is it pretty? Well, no. Does it work? YES!! If you want it to be pretty start wrapping the bottles with paper and fancy labels.

Drawstring pouch

I've been making up a bunch of these drawstring pouches. They are just so handy!! It is a good way to keep all the darn cords everything needs corralled in one place. There is a tutorial here. I thought the directions were very easy to follow. phew!

Little Black Book

I don't like boxes of bulk food. Like oatmeal, rice, dry milk. . . you get the idea. I like to put the food in jars. I usually use pickle jars - washed really well. Surprisingly nothing has had a "pickle" taste to it, even though the jars retain their pickle smell for a long time. The problem with putting the food in jars is that I forget how to prepare it. I can make oatmeal for the kids every weekday (and usually do) and on the weekend we'll have cereal then Monday - I can't remember how to make the oatmeal! Crazy I know. So, I had the wrappers the rice or oatmeal or whatever taped to the insides of my cabinets. This worked pretty well - but that is valuable real estate in there. There's lots of other things I'd rather tape in there - like schedules, favorite recipes - you get the idea. So I came up with the idea of a little black book. To start with I scanned all the wrappers and sized them down on the computer. But you don't have to do that. In the picture you'll see one that is scanned and one that is simply cut from the box. I used packing tape to tape card stock on the side so I could punch the holes. (Cardboard was really thick) I've even added the little booklet I got with wild rice using the same tape method. Then I can still unfold it and use the recipes. This little black book sits very nicely in my spice cabinet, always handy. It isn't very pretty - but it's behind a cabinet door so I don't care. Happy crafting!!

Tin Can Cover

To follow up on the picture that I posted on Friday -I saw this tutorial on can covers and was intrigued. I have a lot of cans around. Don't you LOVE turning something ugly into something pretty?! Well, as much as I liked it, I realized that if it was going to live on my counter it was going to get dirty. Messes happen. How does that "not me" manage to be in every area of the house??? Ha. So I came up with my own design. It is sew easy!! It can be put together in minutes. Just sew and put it into the can inside out and "cuff" the fabric over the edge to the bottom of the outside. I did take it a step further and embroidered the word "Utensils". To do that I printed out the word in a font that I liked on regular paper. Then transferred it to the fabric by laying the paper under the fabric and tracing onto the fabric with a pen (before sewing anything). I used a light box - but you could use a sunny window instead. The embroidery was quick too. One evening cuddling up with the handsome hubby and watching TV and it was done. Crafting doesn't have to take up a lot of time. If you have time to watch your favorite shows you have time to craft! hee hee. If you click on the picture you will see a larger image that is much easier to read. Happy crafting!!!

Note: don't fret and try to get EXACT measurements - it it is a little longer than 2x the container that is OK - the extra just tucks into the can on the bottom. Also, you could "box" the corners but you don't have to - I didn't.

Well, this is my first tutorial - if you have any questions please post it in the comment section at the end of this post - Thanks!!

Wall pocket

Do your kids leave little bits and pieces of their life all over the house like mine do? Well, I needed a way to corral the bits. In the past we've tried baskets on the steps - didn't work. Someone ALWAYS stepped on a basket and the contents would spill down the steps. When confronted - it was always that darn "not me" who did it too! I would try to have the kids bring their stuff to their rooms as I found it. That wasn't too practical - they were be running up and down the steps all day!

I came across this tutorial and thought this could be the answer. It will hang on the wall on the way upstairs. I have since made the first of what will be MANY wall pockets. They are awesome! This one is for my daughter. It is now holding her collection of bangle bracelets, a necklace, and any other things I've found around the kitchen. When the pocket gets too heavy I'll ask her to put the stuff away. Think it will work?

I did do things a bit differently from the tutorial. I didn't add the gussets. I figured we didn't need them. I added a dowel on the top and on the bottom in a casing so the wall pocket wouldn't bow out when full. Next time I think I'll add another in the middle.

I want to make them for each kid. . . and several for me!! Don't you just love getting things up off the floor? Do we ever have enough counter space? This would work for curling irons, brushes, school papers, anything! I think this project won't be hard to do over and over.

PS: Are we ever going to get some sun? I'll take another picture when we do!!