Recycled Desk Organizers

I'm baaaaack.  I took a couple of weeks off without even realizing it.  Time flies at the end of the school year, I guess.

I thought I would share my end of year gift for the Princess's teachers.  Super easy, made of recycled materials, and super handy.

First, collect Tetra Paks.  It seems like everything here comes in these containers.  Milk, juice, soy milk, tomato sauce...  I hate throwing them away, so I came up with a neat organizer.  I've been using mine for paint brushes, colored pencils, tools, markers, etc, etc.  I even made a smaller one out of little juice boxes to organize my make up and vast collection of lip gloss.

We're thirsty around here...

Cut the boxes in half.  It doesn't have to be exact.

Find some scrap cardboard.

Line up your boxes.

Trim the cardboard to fit.

Cut a handle.

Bust out the hot glue gun and glue the boxes to both sides of the cardboard and to each other.

Paint a base coat of white.  You really only have to do this if the paper you are using in the next step is see-through.  If you're using magazines or thicker paper, you can skip this step.

Glue and paper to decorate.  On these I used tissue paper in purple hues, but I've also done magazine collages and just painted designs.  GET CREATIVE!

Finished product.  The teacher can store all of her pencils, pens, scissors, etc, etc.

Here are some of the magazine collage organizers I made a while back too.

All green.

Red.

Yellow in action.

Thanks for stopping by!  I hope you make some nifty organizers soon!

Batik Dress to Flowy Tunic Shirt

People are probably getting tired of me saving things from "the bag that grandma left."  But here's another one.  This time a seemingly worn out batik dress.

The stitching around the neck and hem were becoming unraveled, but otherwise no major malfunctions.

I didn't take any pictures of what I did, but here's my lame attempt at a diagram:

Basically, I cut a square/rectangle, cut a neckline, and sewed up the edges and shoulders, leaving about 9 inches un-sewn on both sides for arm holes.  I finished the hems on the bottom, arms and neckline.  Now I had a shapeless box shirt.  Flattering.

I found a nifty tutorial on how to make simple thread belt loops using your sewing machine, here.  SO easy!  I made a nice belt/sash out of the scraps from squaring up the fabric, and added some side slits at the hips, and...

 A nice, light weight shirt for summer!  I'm pretty proud of this one, and I think I'll make more.  Thanks for stopping by!

Mama Mu-Mu, Get Ready For A Romp(er)

Yet another contribution from Grandma's donation bag.  Man, that lady left some good stuff.  This dress started out as an ok light, baby blue color.  I, of course, didn't get a "before" shot of the dress before I dumped it in the pink dye bath.  But the new purple color is nice.

Cotton jersey Mu-mu.

Inside out, ready for chopping.  You can see the light blue stitching that was the original color.

Cut off the sleeves, and chopped straight across the neckline.

I chopped it through the former waistline, and got rid of the front pockets.

I separated the top into 2 pieces, and sewed down the top about an inch on both pieces.

I used an old pair of shorts as a pattern.  Note to self, make 2 cuts next time.  The back pieces need to be a little bigger to accommodate your bootie without being too snug.

Nifty "new" shorts.

Then I apparently got tired of documenting my progress, because I don't have any pictures of my next steps.  Basically I added elastic to the top, front and back portions, and sewed the sides together.  Then I sewed the top onto the bottom portion, and added more elastic to the waistband area.  I made some nifty shoulder ties from the pocket scraps, and...

Strike a pose.

A cute and comfy little romper for my favorite princess.  Thanks for stopping by!

Scrap Bustin' Cat Toys

What do you get when you combine boob pads from swimsuits, seam scraps and catnip?  Mice!

I've been holding on the the boob pads from my swimsuits for awhile, for some unknown reason.  I remove them as soon as I get a new suit.  Who wants soggy boobs at the beach?  Not me.

Soggy offenders.

I saw a tutorial awhile back for making mice out of shoulder pads, and thought, "finally, those boob pads can have a second life making cats crazy."

Scraps from cutting seams out of other projects, now known as, "mouse tails".

 I pinned up the sides of a boob pad, stuffed a tail inside and sewed around the edges, leaving an opening to turn the mouse right side out and stuff catnip inside.

Little mouse with a hole in front

Fresh catnip.

 After stuffing the little mouse full of catnip, I did a zig zag stitch around the edge and gave him an eyeball.

One down, fifty to go.  We don't have cats, as I'm allergic (much to the princess's dismay), so the local Humane Society will be getting a donation of MICE!  Gotta keep those shelter kitties crazy!

Save a Skirt By Killing a Tank Top

Today I did a super fast and easy transformation for the princess.  She has a cute ruffle skirt in a really fun bright turquoise knit.  The problem?  Too much 7 year old bootie hanging out.  When I told her I could see her underwear, she begged me not to get rid of it.  Sigh, another "favorite" destined for the garage sale bag.  I told her to go change, and she comes out wearing the skirt as a top.  That's my girl.  Refashion that skirt.  It was a little big on top for her, so instead of adding elastic, I made some straps out of a too small tank top.

The bootie showin' skirt.

The sacrificial tank top.

 I braided 3 of the strips together for each strap, and sewed them in place.  And...

Future supermodel working the camera.

 Pretty cute!  Now I can hold off fighting her about getting rid of it.  Until her belly starts to show, at least.