Crayon Roll Up

Natalie loves to color, but she's always breaking, losing, or umm...melting... her crayons! She would rather have markers, but since crayons make less mess (unless they are left in the car in the middle of summer...) she usually gets crayons to color with. I saw a tutorial online for this item and modified it a bit to make it suit my needs. And we have a crayon roll up!

Purses, purses galore!

I found this totally amazing cream (even though it looks yellow in the picture because of my crappy photo skills...) and red toile the other day at Hobby Lobby. Sooo pretty! So I bought a yard of it and was able to make not one, but two! purses out of it. If I hadn't screwed up one of them, I probably could have squeezed three out of it... But, this is going to be the Christmas present for my mommy. I also made one almost identical (shorter handles, thinner tie) for my mother in law. The inside is just plain broadcloth, nothing special. But I love the red and cream combo!

Another Journal Cover

This journal cover is for my sister in law, Ashley. So far, it is my favorite! I love stripes and the pink/brown combo, so it is just up my alley. I hope she likes it as well. It has an inner pocket for a couple pens and a tie closure.

Teddy Bear

As I mentioned before, I am trying to do handmade gifts for as many people as possible this year.

My first (and so far, only) niece turns a year old in about a week and eats everything in sight. Her mommy says she's part goat. :)

So, instead of buying her a stuffed toy with eyes that could be eaten, I made her a cute little teddy bear. Of course, I made Natalie one too because I had to do a trial run first.

New Year's Resolutions Revisited

In 2008, I started this little blog. I admit I have neglected it sorely. But, the premise for my blog was pretty simple. I wanted to evolve. My initial goals were:

1. Love every day. There's always something there that is good.
2. Take time to mediate everyday - even if it is just a few minutes before falling asleep.
3. Eat better. Make more meals with organic, local, in-season products.... and actually make them at home.
4. Learn to cook without a recipe.
5. Be creative with food and do not fear it.
6. Read more than just fiction.
7. Store food. Can food. Preserve it.
8. Be frugal. Make the money stretch. Eat leftovers. :-)
9. Exercise. (This is going to be a hard one for me!)
10. Go natural and earth friendly.

I think I am doing ok with most of those goals, but I am far from where I want to be. We still eat out a lot more than I would like to admit and I have yet to preserve any food! I am still reading a lot of fiction, but I do read the news every day now. That's an improvement, right? I have been working on making more frugal meals and planning out a little further. I am doing pretty well at cooking without a recipe too! The exercise... well... let's give it another go this year, shall we?

Teacher Gifts

This Christmas, I am hoping to make use of my sewing skills and give predominately handmade gifts. Hopefully they will be appreciated and not thought of as a cheapskate way of saving money! (Because as often as I screw them up or have to do a practice one first, it probably would save me money to go to Wal-Mart or Target!)

First, for Natalie's teachers, I made journal covers. Now, these are not as fancy as some of the other ones you may find online, but I prefer to work without a pattern and just freestyle it, if you will. This first one is the one I made for Natalie's kindergarten teacher.




This next one is the one for the teacher's assistant. I gave it a little attempt at embroidery on the inside... hopefully it will stay put!



Each one is lined with batting, semi-quilted I suppose, and has an inner pocket for a pen or pencil. They fit the standard ugly black and white composition books that you can get in the school supply sections. Now, I am off to finish working on the project for my niece!

Cheers,
Melissa