Swiffer Cover

I found a tutorial to make a swiffer cover on Berlin's Whimsy and really wanted to make one. Using a reusable cover is much better for the earth (no more throwing away a swiffer pad after each time) and much cheaper. I bought the towel for about $2 at a thrift store and only used half of the towel to make it.

I don't have a swiffer so I offered to make one for my sister. I offered to make it a long long time ago and just now got around to doing so since I'm going to see her this weekend. I haven't added the velcro yet (in the tutorial I linked she used buttons but I decided velcro would be much easier) and am going to add it once the cover it on the swiffer so I make sure to put it in the right place.

Since I don't have a swiffer I just used my imagination and pretended it looked really nice on a swiffer. :-)

I'm going to give it to my sister this weekend and add the velcro. I'll be sure to post pictures!

Craft: Cards

I started making some cards to go in my magazine envelopes that I just made (see previous post). I'm hoping to get some time to make more this weekend though that might not happen. Whenever I get time I'll be sure to post picture.

Supplies: card stock, stamps, magazines, shape templates

I had card stock that was 8 1/2'' x 11''. I cut each piece in half (8 1/2'' by 5' 1/2'') and then folded that paper in 1/2. It fit perfect in the envelopes that I made. I used a bone folder to score and fold the card stock.

I printed out various shapes on card stock and cut them out. I'm trying to think of more shapes - any suggestions? I'm going to try to find a simple tree and bird silhouette.

Then I traced the shapes onto magazine pages and cut them out. I just used double sided tape to tape the shape to the card. I already had alphabet stamps so I used those to stamp words on the insides. I need to get better at stamping the words but I'm happy with how they turned out.

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This is my favourite one.

Green Craft: Envelopes made with magazines

I have a stack of old magazines and was trying to think of ways to use them. I'm making a list of magazine crafts - my list so far: envelopes (check), cards (in progress) and gift bows. Do you have any other ideas? Links to tutorials?

Making the envelopes was super easy to do and I've already started making cards to go in them. :-)


Supplies: Envelope template, magazine, scissors, scorer (to score the folds)

I made a template for an envelopes that will fit 1/4 piece of paper - so the cards I will make will be half a sheet of paper folded in half. You can download my template here. I printed it onto card stock and cut it out.

 

Then I went through my magazines and pulled out pages that I liked.

  

I put the template on the back of the page and traced it - I did not trace on the side I wanted out the outside of the envelope.

 

 I had a stack of magazine pages ready to be folded into envelopes.

 

I used a straight edge and a scorer to score the four fold lines (you can see the fold lines in the template).

 

First I folded up the two side flaps.Then the top and bottom flap

 

I put double-sided tape on both of the side flaps and then folded the bottom flap up - making sure that the paper was smooth once it was taped together.

 

Next you just need to fold the top flap down and you have an envelope. Once you are ready to mail the envelope you can either use double-sided tape or a nice sticker to seal it shut.

 

When I mail the envelopes I plan on writing or printing the address on a white mailing label and sticking it to the front of the envelope.

Here is the stack of envelopes I made...

 

and here are some of my favourites.

   

 I have a coffee problem. Mmm coffee.

Envelope Template





http://secretpieshoppe.blogspot.com/search?updated-max=2010-02-10T21%3A31%3A00-06%3A00&max-results=8

Green Craft: Cloth Snack Bag

In the past we've bought small bags of crackers or pretzels at Costco to bring for lunch. The little bags end up in the trash and ends up producing a lot of garbage. So, in my quest to be more environmentally friendly, I've put a stop to that. We are going to buy big bags/boxes of crackers/pretzels and put them in reusable bags.

Last night I made a reusable cloth bag. I'm going to make more in various sizes so we have plenty of snack bags to use and won't need to buy individual snack bags.

I had a pillow case that we were going to get rid of - someone a pen exploded on it and it had a big blue spot on one end. Ruined pillow case = cloth snack bag. :-) I used a hair binder and a button that I already had. I did not have to buy anything for this project - I love crafts like that.

Cloth snack bag tutorial.

Supplies: fabric, button, hair binder, thread

Cost: $0 (I already had everything)

 I cut two pieces of material 20'' by 6.5'' and pinned them together - right sides facing each other.

I sewed around the edges (1/4'' seam allowance) and made sure to leave a hole to turn it right-side out.

When I finished sewing I trimmed the corners.

Then I flipped the bag right-side out using the hole that I left open.

I used my handy chopstick to make sure the corners were pushed out all of the way.

I closed the open part up with a slip stitch. I used this video to learn how to do the slip stitch.

All sewn up.

Next I took one end and pushed it through to the other end...explaining things like this is not my forte so bear with me. :-\ Lay the piece flat. Take the top edge. Pull the two pieces of material away from each other on the body of the bag and push the top edge down so that it goes into the bag and meets up with the bottom edge. Basically I made it so that I had a pocket with a lining - the lining and outside were both the right sides of the fabric and it looked like this. Does that make sense..?

To keep the two layers together (and because I like how it looked) I sewed around the three edges (but not the opening at the top).

It looked like this.

Next I took my button and hair binder and figured out where I wanted to put them.

I rolled down the top edge as far as I wanted it to go and then pinned on the hair binder. I pinned the button in place so that it would match up with the hair binder.

Then, I sewed the hair binder in place.

I tried a few stitches - I did a regular stitch and a zig-zag stitch. I didn't care how it looked, I just wanted the hair binder to stay.

To hide the ugly stitching I cut another piece of fabric, just big enough to cover the bottom half of the hair binder. I folded the edges over 1/4'' and ironed them down. Then I pinned it in place and sewed it on.

I sewed a zig-zag stitch around the edges.

Next I sewed on the button.

All done!

 I filled it up with wheat thins to bring to lunch.

It turned out great and I've been using it for lunch. I plan on making a few more in various sizes for different snacks.

PDF Tutorial

Green: Laundry

Here are some simple steps that I take to green my laundry. I'd love to hear your tips - please share them in the comments section!

1. Vinegar!

I use vinegar as a fabric softener. You can either put it in a downy ball (fill to the line) or you can pour it into the spot for fabric softener in your washer. I put in about 1/2 a cup of vinegar into each load. Don't worry about trying this - my clothes do not smell like vinegar! :-) I buy big containers (for cheap!) at Costco and pour it into a smaller container that I keep in my laundry room - it's much easier to pour from the smaller container.

2. Hang Dry Clothes
Right now I don't hang dry everything but I'm going to make an effort to do so. I currently hang dry almost all of my clothes but machine dry my pajamas, t-shirts and all of N's clothes. I bought this rack at Target to hang dry my clothes. I've had it for over 5 years now and have never stopped using it.

Just this week I made a clothesline to hang dry smaller things like socks. I attached a rope to one wall of my laundry room and then hammered a nail into a wooden beam on the opposite wall.

I stretched the rope across the room and made a loop at the end. This way I can take down the rope when I'm not using it. I used this for the first time last night and it worked great. I had some clothes pins for undershirts and I just hung the socks over the rope. Last night was the first laundry load (first of many!) that I did without using the dryer at all. We can use this clothesline for napkins, dishtowels and rags as well.

As a reminder to hang dry clothes I taped this picture on my dryer.

3. Green detergent
I make sure to buy green laundry detergent - without all of the chemicals in regular detergent. I look for detergent that is phosphate free - this is better for me and for the environment. I am currently using a detergent that I bought from Trader Joe's.

4. Wash in cold water
The only loads I ever wash in hot water are towels, cloth napkins, sheets and rags. I wash everything else in cold. This means that less energy (and money) is spent heating water.

5. Wash on "quick load"
With my washer I can do either a quick load or a regular load. Unless I'm washing a really dirty load, I wash my clothes on "quick load". This has less rinse cycles so it uses less water.

6. No dryer sheets
Dryer sheets are loaded with chemicals that are bad for both you and the environment. Another option is to use dryer balls - you can buy them at most stores (Target, Bed Bath and Beyond, etc.). There is debate as to the use of the plastics in dryer balls (see here) so another option is wool dryer balls. There are many people that sell these on etsy.com.