Sarchix Finds

I’m sure that everyone has seen the home made coffee cozies all over the place.  I’ve seen them knitted, sewn and crocheted.  Felt, cloth, quilted, wool.  They are everywhere!  Having your own coffee (or tea or coco – don’t want to discriminate) cozy is a great thing because it does keep the waste down but still protects your fingers.  Its a hard habit to break but it really is worth it.

I have my own issues with the commercialization of the holidays but, I really do feel if you craft it, there is more thought and meaning to the gift or the personal accessory.  So it’s okay in my book.

Lavender and Limes has a great little tutorial to make your own coffee cozy that is super easy to make.  She adds a few hand sews a few hearts on it and voila, and seasonal cozy.  Can you see where I’m going with this?  Shamrocks at St Patrick’s Day, eggs and bunnies (ooh, peeps) for Easter, flags for Memorial Day and the 4th of July, Flip Flops for summer… I could keep going on with these.

Lavender and Limes – Coffee Cozy

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As I was surfing around today, I found this adorable tutorial by Geta at Geta’s Quilting Studio. She gives us easy directions on how to assemble this super cute notebook and pencil travel bag.  With all the amazing fabrics out there, the possibilites are endless on how you can make this.  Change the heart for a star and it could easily be made for a boy as well.  The handle construction is really well done as well.

I really need to dust off my sewing machine and try this one out!

Geta’s Quilting Studio - Quilted Notebook and Pencil Travel Bag

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Ok, I’ve been on a kid toy kick lately but how can I help it when these are so dang cute!

My four year old loves spelling things out, especially his name.  (Don’t know where the heck he got that from.  Not from me in the least.)

Happy Together has the directions to make these fabric letters in both capital and lower case.  Make them into a banner or let the kids spell all kinds of things (or both).    The possibility are endless!

In the directions, she shows batting (like for quilts) as the middle of the fabric “sandwich” but later she uses felt.  I love felt and have tons of it on hand.

Happy Together gives you the steps and the templates to make this easy project that is sure to be a hit with the young ones!

Happy Together – Rag Quilt Letters

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I love bean bags, especally those that are hand made.  (OK and they are a great reason to buy fabric even if its in smaller portions!)

Chez Beeper Bebe has a easy and adorable tutorial on how to make these bean bags complete with templates for both the squares and numbers.  The steps are easy to follow and could be done either by hand or by a beginner on a sewing machine.

I plan on raiding my stash of fabric, hitting up the local Jo-Ann’s and get a quarter yard of anything cute (and on the sale rack) and some of the flour sack fabric I got from family, this will make a great gift to all the little kiddies in my family.  Educational and history, who can ask for more!

Chez Beeper Bebe – Counting Bean Bags

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Ok, from today on, I am going to search for a pair of Wellies just to have this! 

Wellies are those cute rain boots that everyone in England seems to have and now I want a pair…. badly.  And in my defense, Hubby says I need a pair of boots that keep my feet dry.

Stephanie Sabbe has created this (easy) adorable tutorial to make what she calls “Welly Warmers”

The only question is, what color Wellies do I get and how many pairs of warmers can I make?

Sabbespot – Welly Warmers

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With Earth Day coming up, the recent topics have been geared towards just that.  Yesterday was the knitted tote and today is the reusable produce bag!

I try not to use the plastic bags that you can get at the grocery store when I pick up produce but sometimes its impossible.  I don’t want the kiwis or the limes rolling around in the cart or loose in the bag so I am stuck using these thin and quite annoying bags.  I don’t know how many times I’ve had one sliced open by a sweet potato and had them roll around inside the bag or try to wrangle them in the kitchen.

I’ve seen adorable bags for sale and thought about either purchasing them or trying to make my own but then my Mom made a comment.  “How much to they weigh?” was all she said.  I don’t want to pay a few more cents for the bag that I’ve brought from home, that’s for sure.  Then I found Linda Permann’s post over at CraftStylish on how to make your own bags from mesh fabric.  She can make 3-4 out of half a yard of mesh fabric that ran her $.75 ($1.50 a yard before coupon).

This is such a simple but fantastic idea that I kick myself for not thinking of it first.

CraftStylish – Produce Bags

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Why does it seem like like if one friend is pregnant, there are three more as well?  One of my best friends, my cousin and two other friends are all pregnant and due around the same time (this fall).  I’m happy with my three kiddos but enjoy it when others have kids because it lets me get my baby fix without the late nights and diper changes.

The best thing about friends having babies, is getting to give them gifts!  Even the older babies are still so much fun to either buy for or craft for.

With Earth Day coming up next week, I found this post for a “crinkely” baby toy that reuses the plastic wrapper from wipes.  I would have never thought to use this for a toy but it is BRILLIANT!  My kids, plus the dog as well, always loved the noisy, crinkley toys when they were little.

Susan Beal over at Craft Stylish has given us guidance on how to create this toy for your favorite kiddo*.

The best thing is, you don’t have to make an owl if you don’t want to.  I see me sneaking noisy wrappers into all kinds of shapes of stuffed toys for kiddies over the years.  I could even ask my youngest kid’s pre-school teacher to keep the wrappers for me since she goes through so much with the young ones who go there and the many uses for them.

With recycled, or reused, fabric this could be a fun and green craft to do.

Craft Stylish – Baby Toy

*Let the record state, that me giving a child a gift of this sort does not desinate them as my favorite nor do I love one of my own children more then the others.

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For those who know me, they know of my addiction to office supplies.  I love going to the huge office supply stores and looking at the binders, paper and the pens – oh the pens and ink.  The sale rack is like searching for treasure.  I don’t know why I love office supplies so much but I have for as long as I can remember.  Even back in the day, I would pour over  catalogues that would come to the house (where my Dad had a home office) like my daughter pours over the American Girl Doll catalogues.

Finding this sewing project was so exciting!  My sewing skills are not the most talented, unlike my super sewing co-worker, but I’ll get better with time.  This craft uses cloth place mats and a bit of wide trim and turns them into an expanding file folder!

All the detailed direction to make this fantastic file folder are on Spool’s website with tons of pictures to help you along as you make it.  If you can sew a straight line with a sewing machine you too can make this!  I LOVE IT!!  With the seasons changing, the stores are clearing out their stock to make way for the spring and summer designs so you should get a great deal on four place mats, either identical or of coordinating fabrics or what ever you should find for a great deal.  New seasonal ones would also be so nice as we enter the warmer weather.  I think I saw the summer stuff already out at Wegmans… hmmmmmmm, decisions decisions, decisions.

I wonder if this would work with more than just the four place mats?  I’ll let you know if Spool gets back to me on this.

Spool – Place mat Expanding File Folder

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With all these great finds it is so hard to keep up.  Kellie over at Don’t Look Now has a great pattern for a rocket ship pillow.  My own rocket boys would both love it and it is just so cute.  The direction are nice and there are many photos to help you along.  The best thing is, you can choose your own fabrics and customize it for your own rocket boy or girl.

Don’t Look Now  – Rocket ship Pillow Tutorial

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