Everything I know about drugs I learned from movies…

(To my children in the near future: Please don’t do drugs. Please don’t do drugs…) The relevant snippet to this title is further down in the post, in case you were wondering

I finally finished my wholesale order, so now I’m freeeeeee! (Except I still have laundry to fold. Have I mentioned that I hate doing laundry? There are weeks where we just live off the floor, clothing-wise…) Anyway, I’ve been working on this order for a month and can finally check it off my list!

Today’s post is a tablescrap creation (a term I use to describe stuff created from the really tiny scraps I like to hoard… you know, the scraps of scraps… things that we normally would throw away. A challenge to “think outside the [trash] bin” )

You know the line, “watching tv and eating bonbons all day”, often used (more in the past than now) to stereotype the wife who stays at home. Well, to THAT I say, “Don’t EAT the bonbons! MAKE the bonbons!” Out of scraps. And with rainforest-fresh baking soda to make it more than just eye candy . Make multiple candy bonbons and place in a glass jar, or make half a dozen of the truffle bonbons and place in an empty candy box to make a cute little gift set. Either way, here’s another crafty idea to help maximize your fabric usage!

Candy Bonbons

1. Grab a rectangular piece of scrap (approximately 2″ wide by 3″ long).
2. Fold it in half, RS together, and stitch down the length.
3. Pin a safety pin through one layer…
4. and thread it through to turn your tube right side out.
5. Center the seam.
6. With embroidery floss (or thread if you don’t have any), tie a tight knot at one end.
7. Drop in either a round magnet or vase pebble (um, the magnet for if you want to stick your final product to the fridge. I used the pebble.)
8. Now this is where the post title comes in… It seems popular to use small pieces of paper as sniffing devices and to transport tiny amounts of stuff to tiny bags. It makes sense seeing how it would look pretty ridiculous to shove a kitchen funnel in your nose unless you have huge nostrils, most people dump a little of whatever-white-powder-stuff onto a small piece of paper
9. and then bend the sides to funnel the stuff into whatever orifice, bag, or in our case, fabric candy wrapper-tube. (Note. I am in no way promoting or instructing drug use. I’m simple stating how I’ve seen it in movies.)
10. Use floss or thread to tie off the other (open) end and trim the sides to the desired length.

Truffle Bonbons

1. Cut two circles of equal size (mine measured about 2.5″ in diameter).
2. Set your sewing machine tension and stitch length to the max and sew around the perimeter of the candy circle (mine is white chocolate!)
3. Use the paper technique again…
4. and funnel in the baking soda, enough to round out your truffle.
5. hand stitch the opening shut (pull on the upper thread to gather the open edge close).
6. Repeat step 2 for the wrapper piece.
7. Turn your filled truffle upside down into the wrapper.
8. Hand stitch secure the truffle and wrapper, then pull out the thread from step 6.
9. Use a fabric marker (or any marker) and draw a chocolate swirly.

Tags: Crafts, Recycle, tablescrap creations, Upcycle
Posted in Crafts for Big People, Sew Happy | 2 Comments »

Let the Festivities Begin!

A couple weeks ago, we took the kids to Disney World. For someone who’s never lived more than 30 miles south of the Mason Dixon line, it was insanely hot. But it was fun. The kids enjoyed it. And we’ve concluded that they are roller coaster junkies like me (they loved Big Thunder Mountain Railroad and Test Track).

Can you believe this handful of flimsy cards is worth more than 3 iPads?

We cheaped out the first day and went with shoulder riding as the kids’ mode of transportation. The kids were fine. The same could not be said about the human transporters. But we were all still very happy!

Isn’t that photo great?! We were lucky enough to have Uncle Tim come along and take awesome photos for us:

The kids were surprisingly patient waiting forever to get 5 minutes of thrill:

And were thoroughly intrigued by the massive aquarium that was part of the Finding Nemo exhibit:

Now that we know they like roller coasters, I think we’ll start taking them to less expensive amusement parks that are nearby and return to the happiest place on Earth when they are a bit older.

In keeping with the “festive” spirit of things, Calvin and I worked on some mini free-floating pennant flags to hang in their playroom:

A fairly simple way of using up those tiny scraps that your husband can’t understand why you don’t just throw away:

You will need lots of tiny triangles (mine measured an inch at the base). It took me 30 minutes to cut roughly 120 of them. Then I just straight-stitched parallel to the base, letting the needle stitch “blanks” (no fabric underneath… I’m sure there’s a formal term for this) a few and then placing/feeding the next triangle under the presser foot. Calvin helped by picking out the order of the triangles. If I really wanted to make it an educational experience, I could have set a pattern for him to figure out… and even let him cut out the triangles… but I didn’t. So anyway

Hope this helps put a dent in your scrap bin!

Tags: disney, Family, tablescrap creations
Posted in Crafts for Big People, Crafts for Little People, Life | No Comments »

Tablescrap Creations: Citrus Slice Stamps

So I have this “collection” of recycled/upcycled/re-purposed crafts that’s been sitting in my blog queue for a while now and decided to start sharing them with you, along with my usual updates on our family life, which is more for my own sake than anybody else’s

I’m not sure why, but ever since I started sewing nine months ago, I began collecting empty/used thread spools in hopes that someday, I would find a new use for them. And I finally have! I give you, the citrus slice stamp! I’m sure others have probably already thought of this, but no matter, here is my mini tutorial on how to make… er… use them.

1. Gather your items: an ink pad, a brown paper bag (or blank card, paper, fabric etc.), and an empty spool.
2. Stamp one end of it.
3. To get the “citrus” slice marks, you will need to press in on the other side (the slice marks are slightly recessed).
4. Stamp, color, and tada! You have a fresh slice of lemon, lime, or orange!
5. Stamp on the blank side of an old business card, cut it in half, color, make a slit in the middle, and freshen up some drink glasses for a summer party.
6. A random shot of… stuff

Enjoy!

Tags: Crafts, Recycle, tablescrap creations, Upcycle
Posted in Crafts for Big People, Crafts for Little People | No Comments »