Tuesday, March 22, 2011

Adventures in Reusable Sandwich/Snack Pouches

My sister gave me the cutest gnome sandwich keeper, so I wanted to try making some from scratch. There's a lot of debate about lining them with various sketchy plastics, such as PUL, vinyl, etc., so I just lined mine with more cotton fabric. Who cares if the inside gets a little mustard-stained, am I right? And it's not like you'd pack super drippy sandwiches into these anyway, since they'd be soggy by the time lunch rolled around.

The fabric I used were scraps from other projects & stuff I'd gotten from thrift stores. This tutorial was, by far, the simplest & most straightforward that I found. The fruit one is the first one I made, & is lined with that never-ending pink gingham. Thanks for holding it open for me, Mr. Fuzzy Owl!


The blue flowery one is lined with some pink rose fabric, plus it has a heart applique on the front. :)


Below is the cute, yet somewhat deformed, heart. The applique tutorial here is awesome. I used a plain stitch around the outside, rather than the fancy one shown, but I'm sure it'll stay put with the help of the fusible interfacing.


My sewing machine is my late Gran's Singer 404, so I don't have that neat-o zigzagging ability that most people use for appliques. I guess they made an attachment for this machine, but I haven't found one in Gran's stuff. Last night, I was looking for a zipper in the various tins & drawers which housed her sewing loot, when I realized that she was such a meticulous lady---she kept little dated notes with everything & marked future projects in pamphlets & magazines. So cute. Anything I sew that turns out half decent is dedicated to this fierce HBIC! :) I love you, Gran!


Sunday, March 20, 2011

Crafting It Up!

It's Spring Break, all my friends have real jobs, & Ethan's visiting his parents, so to stave off loneliness, I've been super crafty. Because I wanted to challenge myself, I decided to make my second ~*real*~ sewing project, which is a ginormous grocery bag. It's sewn so sloppily (think *seam of allowance of anywhere from 1/8" to 1/2"*, seriously), but I love it. :) It's so goddamn huge, ha ha. Ethan promised to go to the Farmer's Market with me next weekend, so we'll put her to the test & see how much kale she can hold!


It's lined with the same pink gingham fabric that I used on my owl apron.


This space puzzle of Ethan's has been hogging the "craft table" for several months, so I decided to finish it & reclaim my rightful surface. He did about 85% of it, then petered out when there were tons of black pieces left over. It was fun to listen to Car Talk & wrap this up. Then I Mod Podged it, so Eth can hang it in his room. It glows in the dark!


We had this rickety, nondescript shelf lying around, so I tipped it over, pounded about 10 nails into it, then decided it needed to have a more glamorous look. I used this awesome Etsy creation by pixlpshr as inspiration, but changed it up a bit.


I think it's much cuter & works perfectly for my old NES & N64 games.



Lastly, my obsession with kitchen towels led me to start this cute towel, but I botched the pattern I was working on, so I'm just making a mutation of several towel patterns together...

Sunday, March 6, 2011

I did it!

Today I graduated the Couch to 5K program, after running my third 5K for the week! I'm so happy & can't wait to work on my speed. Here I am after the first 5K, last Tuesday. So glam.


After my owl post last night I found the coolest site for "owlovers", My Owl Barn. I am trying with all my might to resist ordering these boots. Gah! So tempted...


I've had my eye on these earrings too, but I'm graduating soon-ish, & need to be frugal. So pretty, & they're silver too!

Saturday, March 5, 2011

Owls, Owls Everywhere...

I wanted to share some of my owls that I've collected over the years. Most of them are from thrift stores, but some are gifts from friends & family. I'm not crazy about buying EVERY SINGLE owl thing I find, because our apartment is small & I don't like clutter. But I'm tempted sometimes!

This is my newest find. It was only $1.99 at Goodwill & it's a vase! Can't wait for Spring, so I can fill it with flowers!


This enamel number is a gift from Mom. It's really beautiful when the sun shines on it. Sparkly!


I get made fun of for this quirky wood-cut, but whatevs. It has the cutest, fluffiest little baby owl blob on it!


Here's another one from Mom. It's so cute & I love it's little, flowery eyes. :)


Japan makes the cutest owl stuff. These are two mugs from Goodwill.


This one is very delicate, so I have to be careful not to break it.


The left one is an essential oil diffuser, that I always fill with pine tree oil. The second is a cool metal planter that we put a cactus in.


Up close planter...


This is a beautiful owl ornament from my baker friend, Laura. It's hanging on my grapefruit tree!


This trio is composed of two owls from Laura (left & right), & a blue one that's buds with my garden gnomes outside.


This one on the left is a planter that I found at Goodwill. I love the cute little faces on the owls. They're so round! The one on the right is a fierce owl that I put in my mystery plant.


The last owl is a watchful bird that spies on me when I'm in my room. Whooo...