Upcycled Mailing Envelope Tutorial

So, this isn’t much of a tutorial but… it is an insanely easy and free way to make a mailing envelope!

Since I have so many of my baby bibs to mail out to friends and our future contest winner, I needed something to mail them in…. and looking at my recycling containers, I had lots of flat boxes!  You know the type – cereal or cracker boxes.

So, take an empty box and open up both ends.

Flatten the box.

Tuck in the end flaps on one side into the box.

Then use clear packing tape to tape the other side over the end.

Now, put your fairly flat item (like 2 baby bibs!) inside.  Repeat the above procedure for the open end.

 

Add mailing labels and take it to the post office!   Hopefully, the lucky recipient will recycle the box after they get whatever goody you sent them!

Pillowcase Clothespin Apron Tutorial

I’m SO EXCITED to share with you my latest creation!!!!

This is a clothespin apron made out of a PILLOWCASE!  No, really!

Do you love it?  Because, you’re in luck!  You can make your own!  I’m giving away this tutorial for FREE!

The beauty of this pattern is, the only thing you need (besides the normal sewing machine stuff) is a pillowcase and some thread.  That’s it!  The pattern makes use of the entire case, there are only a few tiny scraps left when you are done making the apron!

And, the apron is double thick – so it’s nice and sturdy.  It is great for clothespins but also for picking beans, gathering eggs, collecting nuts, craft projects – lots of stuff!

Apron specifics:
- should hold about 150 clothespins
- about 15 inches wide
- about 14 inches tall
- straps are about 32 inches long each

What, you don’t sew?  Well, you’re in luck, later this week, this apron, the pink and yellow floral one, will be offered up for FREE in a fabulous GIVEAWAY!  But, you’ll have to come back later to enter…

Interested in buying one pre-made?  I have the top two aprons for sale over on my Etsy shop!

So, before offering this tutorial up for you guys… I had a couple of sewing friends give the tutorial a run through.  My friend Edna, a sewing NOVICE, made this pretty apron!

And my new friend Inder, of the fabulous blog Inder Loves Folk Art, made this over the weekend too!

My HUGE thanks to Edna and Inder for helping me get the kinks of the pattern.

So, speaking of that pattern…

First, please respect all of my hard work on coming up with the pattern and then putting it all together.  I hope that you make a ton of them, give them as gifts, sell them at local craft fairs and farmers markets… But please, do NOT sell these on line.

As a stay at home momma, I’m trying to make a few extra dollars while here at home and selling stuff on Etsy is how I’m doing it right now.  I know that many of you are in the same boat!  The original reason for this blog was to promote my Etsy shop (though it has turned into it’s own creature recently) with the hopes of making a few sales.

Thanks for understanding.

On to the tutorial… it’s a PDF file and you can download it here:

pillowcase clothespin apron tutorial final

If you make up an apron, pretty please with sugar and chocolate kisses on top, send me a picture?  I’d love to feature it on the blog!

Have fun and happy clotheslines!

 

 

Vintage Spring Rocking Chair

My good friend, Edna, and her daughter, Ava, were down a few weeks ago to visit.  Edna and I escaped the house without the girls and went to a few yard sales.  The first sale I hit gold!  The girls posed for us – they loved the chair from the beginning too!  Rosie is on the left, Ava on the right.

For $20 I bought this very cool platform spring rocking chair.  By that I mean that the feet never leave the floor and the seat part rocks on the feet by springs under the seat.

The cushions look new, and the colors are along the same lines as the rest of living room, so I have no intention of changing that, at least for now.

But the wood?  I REALLY don’t like dark wood … so knew that it had to be changed.   Because of all of the groovies and cranies, I opted to use spray paint instead of a brush… and ended up with Krylon Burgundy Gloss.  I had to take the fabric bit off of the chair underneath the cushion because we couldn’t figure out how to spray paint it and not get it on the fabric.  So, with 1 million brads and staples, that took some time.   While working on that, we discovered that one of the wire springs supporting the cushions was broken – so Russ had to do a hill billy fix to it… it works but I’m sure that anyone who upolsters is having a fainting spell right now.

Still, I think that it turned out really pretty!  It’s not perfect by any shot, but for $40 including the paint and the chair, I think that it is a GREAT addition to my living room.

I love wooden chairs, love they are so much cleaner (and I’m NOT a clean freak), how the cushions can easily be changed out as needed/wanted… how they’re super durable.  This one in particular, it’s my favorite chair now.  Just enough rock to keep the biggest figitter happy and make little girls smile.

Happy Sunday!!!

Salt Spout

OK, so when I saw this I immediately thought – well, duh.  How clever is this?  This is a super easy way to make a pour spout lid for canning jars – for free.  Perfect for sugar for your cereal, the office coffee room, baking soda for cleaning… lots of options!  And, I am betting that it wouldn’t be too hard to take some scrapbooking paper or a bit of wrapping paper and pretty up the top a bit, too.  Or even get creative with some markers… so many ideas!

Many thanks to My New Old School for letting me share this with you!  Her blog is full of fun old timy things – kind of like this blog!

Ice Cube Trays

Well, today is a bit of a blast from the past.   When I was a kid, my paternal grandparents had these cool old fashioned ice cube trays – the metal ones with the handle that you had to pull up to break the ice apart.  Remember?  They tended to break the ice into smaller bits, but as a kid – I liked the little ice (as does my daughter).

Recently, my good friend, Edna, found a set of these at a yard sale for less than $1.  Score!  I am now using them as my only source of ice – and I’ve found that they’re easier to get the cubes out of than the plastic trays.

Wish that you had some of your own?  The only place that I’ve found them is at the Vermont Country Store.  They’re about $20 for 2 trays, which is a bit pricey, but would be a lovely gift for someone!   I’d love to try the new ones out if someone were so inclined… wink wink.

Just thought that I’d share my love of my ice cube trays…  after all, it’s only supposed to hit 105 here today and I was needing to think cooling thoughts!

TV on the Cheap

Any idea what this might be?  It’s an HDTV antenna!  No, really.  My husband MADE this out of scrap 2 x 4 and old wire hangers and guess what – it works BETTER than the antenna’s you can buy anywhere.  Cost us $5!!!!  This is an easy-ish DIY project, but it is not our own idea – we found it  at http://www.tvantennaplans.com/

Too ugly for your tastes?  No worries – it’s hidden up in our attic!  We live about 45 miles from Austin, so we’re close enough – even with all of the pine trees.

But, why ditch our satelite TV that we’d had for years to go old school even with a fancy antenna?  Because at $85/month, it just wasn’t making sense to pay for it anymore… with the antenna, we get all of the networks for FREE (except for Fox), which includes PBS for the invaluable Sesame Street!

But, fear not, we still have a huge selection… because we also bought a Roku box.  A Roku box is a little black box that hooks up to the internet and streams TV through that to your TV set.  We get Netflix and Hulu plus for less than $20 a month and have more and better viewing options than we ever did with the blood suckers.   And, it also has lots of free “channels” – like Winamp and Pandora… so we also listen to the radio via the internet on the TV.  :)

It does require that you have high speed internet – we have DSL and had to upgrade to the 3 meg “high speed” version… but even still, it only added $5/month to our costs as we already had the DSL at our house.

Hulu plus has the entire season of Lost on it (the first show we watched!), and Netflix now has Sesame Street!  This is especially wonderful as Rosie is currently sick with a fever… and we’re watching lots and lots and lots of Street.

As we continue to try to cut the budget, we’re also trying not to totally deprive ourselves… this is a great option for this situation.  In fact, we realize that we like the Roku MORE than the satellite and have no intentions of ever going back.

By the way, I only link to these products because we really like them – and think that you might, too.  Not because we get any type of monetary compensation from it.  Just so you know!

Blue Jean Potholder Tutorial

Mother’s Day is coming up soon… are you like me and totally lacking in creative new ideas of what to send both of the moms in your life from your kidlet?  I had the same problem and then…

My soon to be 3 year old daughter had a couple of pairs of blue jeans that either had holes or near holes in the knees and as it is summer (at least here in central Texas) … it was time to cut them off into summer jean shorts.  Toddlers look so cute in jean shorts!

I very nearly threw away the bottoms of the legs… too narrow, not enough fabric… trying not to keep all of this STUFF that I don’t need and won’t use.   Then, it occurred to me … the bottoms were about the size of my potholders!

So, that’s how this idea came about… my need for a few new potholders for myself, a need for grandmother Mother’s Day gifts and a desire to upcycle something that would otherwise go into the landfill.

Materials:

bleach pen

pair of blue jean leg bottoms

cotton batting or flannel (from an old shirt would be great)

sewing machine

toddler hands

scrap paper

Directions:

Cut off your jean legs as close to the holes in the knee as possible…  My potholder that I had made before was about 6 x 6 1/2 inches square – so I used that as a starting point for my jean potholder size.

Then, line up the hemmed bottom of the jean and measure up 8 inches on each side.  Draw a line across (I used a black sharpee).  My jean leg was about 6 inches wide at the bottom… I would go a smidge smaller than that or an inch or so bigger, but usually that dimension is pretty good for potholder usage.

Now, measure your jean bottoms to make sure what their measurements are… mine were 6 x 8 inches.  I allowed for a 1/2 inch seam allowance at the top and then sewing the legs shut “in the ditch” above the bottom seam… and then taking a smidge off for volume.

Cut your flannel or cotton batting (only use cotton as it is safer with heat than the polyester is) – my final size was 5 3/4 x 6 3/4.  CUT 2 per leg.

Turn the legs inside out and position the two side seams to where they are both on the same side (the back and front of the legs are different widths) so that there are no seams showing on one side.  Sew a 1/2 inch seam across the top.  Clip the corners.

Turn right side out and iron flat, making sure that the corners are out.

Take the cotton or flannel and fit it up inside of the jean leg.  You will want it all the way to the top of the seam and laying flat… the goal is to not have any showing along the hem line.  BUT, I did… and plan to trim it out with little scissors later on.

Currently, my potholders live in a drawer next to my stove, but I used to always hang them on hooks on my fridge… If you do too, this would be the time to use some bias tape or something to make a loop and position it in the corner.

Now, sew the leg shut just above the hemline.  Sew again 1/2 inch from all edges and the row of stitching above the hemline… this is to lock down the batting/flannel so that it doesn’t shift inside of the jeans (a bit like quilting).

The next part is a bit tricky – getting your toddler to cooperate long enough to trace around their hands on some scrap paper.  I ended up having to trace her hands several times as once she figured out what I was doing, she wanted her own to color.  This also makes a great part of the gift!

Take your sharpee and trace aroud your hand prints and then use another piece of paper to copy the lines onto.   I used notebook paper and it worked just fine.   You will want to keep the original to use again as we all know how much toddlers like to cooperate.

Cut out your second set of hands and place on the backside (seamless side) of the jeans inside of the sewing lines.   (As you can see in the right potholder, I forgot to do that on one of mine!)

Now you should do what I say and not as I did… do a bleach test!  Take your bleach pen and a bit of the scrap jeans that are not potholders and draw a line on it.  Repeat every 5 minutes and wait 5 minutes after the last line is drawn.  I would suggest starting at a 30 minute interval… so 6 lines at 5minutes apart.  Then, rinse the bleach off of the jeans and see what the lines look like.   Bleach pens normally work pretty quickly, but as I discovered, it’s hard to tell how bleached it is while the bleach gel is on it and… I waited 12 minutes and I have since decided that I should have left it on for longer for a more distinct outline.  Learn from my mistakes!  

(My only other bleach pen project was a Valentine’s shirt for Rosie – I used this tutorial.  Please refer to it for better instructions!)

Using the bleach pen, trace around the outline of your paper hands and then let it sit for as long as your previous bleach pen test determined.   Make sure that the edges of the bleach are as you want them as that is what the edges of the white will look like after it’s all washed out!

Carefully remove the paper from the jeans and throw it away (I used a plastic fork to lift it off) and then rinse the bleach gel off.  I had to use a kitchen brush to get it off – be careful that doing that doesn’t smudge your lines!  Now, wash your potholders with a load of towels or sheets or something …

Grandmas will LOVE  having their little hands help them with all of their meals and it’s a nice USEFUL gift that doesn’t cost much in money or time.  You could also stencil other things onto the jeans (I was thinking of  a simple flower outline or a very small doily like in the bleach pen tutorial…) or you can leave the potholders plain.

Have fun – and if you happen to make a pair of these up – I’d love to see pictures of your fnished products!