Dog Food Bag Purse

My friend Kristin over at Pawsitive U asked me if I would make a few things for her Chihuahua rescue group this year and this is one of the projects. Its made from a "repurposed"paper dog food bag, some fringe and aquarium tubing that I got at Petsmart. I guess it could be used to carry a Chihuahua in too.

The Repurposed Chip Bag Shopping Tote

I run a club at my school called the Ecomaniacs--we just started this year and so far its been a lot of fun. The purpose of our club is to make fashion and crafts from materials that might otherwise be thrown away (for instance, the ridiculous amounts of chip bags that get thrown in the school cafeteria trashcans.) To demonstrate what "could" be done with the bags I made this bag. Its just a prototype. Future models would need some vinyl sewn onto the top to make it sturdier and more durable, but this is the start of something fun! I took this pic from my cell phone so its not the best one but its what I had at the time.

Bulletin Board Makeover

So, my new classroom has ZERO bulletin boards. Not one! All of this gorgeous square footage, tons of wall space, and not a single flippin' bulletin board. And you know me, not one for putting up with that! I headed to the local CCA Thrift Store here in The Colony, TX to see what fun I could have and I came across two yucky, old bulletin boards that belonged to a girl's nursery previously (from what I could tell.) Here's the transformation! I just took some leftover fabric that I had (the black was from Jesse's pirate costume years ago and the calico's were from a camera case I made before I went to Canada for my bestie's wedding.) The bulletin boards cost me a total of $5.00 plus tax and the fabric and bias tape were mine already! What a cute use of an old disaster, right?

Recycled T-Shirt Zipper Bag Project

I made my friend Kristin (Lily's former dog trainer) a zippered bag made from an old t-shirt and some cute fabric. Lily was adopted from the Plano Animal Shelter and we are big fans of pet adoption, and since Kristin works with animals I thought she'd like it. (She did! She emailed me after she got it in the mail!)

This was the first project I've used a zipper in since college so I was a little rusty but I think it turned out okay!

Scarf Made From School Spirit Shirts

I've been teaching my classes how to make new things from old things (known most commonly as "re-purposing" or "recycling"). One of my recent projects was a scarf that I made from an excess of school spirit shirts (when you've worked at the same school for nearly 5 years you end up with LOTS of them.) So here is my scarf project!

The Thread Organization Project

My grandma loved to sew, and when she passed away she left many spools of thread, yards of fabric and various notions to me to use. For the longest time I couldn't even open the box of thread and bobbins---it made me sad because I'd catch a waft of her perfume everytime so I'd close the box, push it under the table and decide to come back to it later.

I had some time off (about a week) while Lucas was home sick with RSV so I decided that I needed to do some organizing in my crap...er...craft room. I bought pegboard about 2 months ago so that I could organize the thread but hadn't gotten around to it yet. As I was free to work on it, I dug out the box, opened the lid, smelled my grandma's perfume again and decided to buck up and get on with it.

Many of the spools of thread were very old--so old that they are on wooden spools. I cherish that kind of thing so I took all of those and put them in a mason jar and tied a ribbon on them. They are much more special to me as decoration than sewn into any piece of fabric. The rest got divided up by hue and hung on wooden pegs on the wall. Here is my finished project. I'm proud of myself for finally finishing it, though I cannot say that I didn't cry a few time while I was at it. I love you and miss you, Grandma and I hope my work has made you proud.

My New Blog

Why the Teacup and Saucer? Why not? Tea is special to me for a variety of reasons--it tastes good, there are so many varieties, it can be a shared moment with friends (or those treasured but far less often times spent with my Mom). It can be warm or cold, plain or sugared, and with or without cream. You can be caffed or decaffed, green or black, fruity or spicy. Life is this way for the most part, and the beautiful thing about it is that you can change your preference whenever you feel like it so that it suits your mood. Ask me to pick a favorite tea and I don't know if I could. How do you pick a favorite out of so many lovely flavors?

Since becoming a Mom I spend a lot of time awake in the middle of the night while feeding my son. My teacup is so full right now that it runs over all the time! I mean this in several regards--mostly that my heart is so crammed full of love for my sweet little Lucas that it runs and spills over. However, my life has gotten slightly busier than it was before, leaving me less time to do projects and crafts that I'd like to do.

I decided that I wanted to create a blog where I could post pics and information about stuff that I'm doing, or working on, sewing, crafting or generally just trying to complete. It is not something that will be updated quite as often I'm sure, since my first and most important job is to be a good wife and mommy. Its a place to share interests, get tips, and highlight things that I find interesting. Its my variety blog, I guess. My teacup and saucer.