Repurposed Cards

After I lost my Grandma a few years ago, one of the strangest finds in her boxes was an envelope with all of my Valentine's cards from my class at school from probably first or second grade.  I must have taken them to her house to show her, and they somehow stayed there.  :)

It was fun to go through the cards and see the "signatures" of my former classmates, but admittedly I don't hold onto things unless they have a special meaning to me.  I decided to reuse the few that I really liked and were still in good shape.  Using some holiday patterned paper I already had on hand, along with my stash of cardstock, this is the outcome.

Fun, retro cards!!  I also think this could be a cute idea for using any leftover cards your kids have from their classroom parties.

Sauerkraut Success!

My first batch of kraut took seven days to complete.  Considering how hot it got outside all of a sudden, which means the temp in my house got warmer, I kept watching it like a hawk to see if it would finish sooner.  Nope...on Day 7, the brine dropped as the recipe said it would.  

I have to say I love the taste...I'm not sure if it's because the cabbage was cut into larger chunks than what you buy in the store or what else it may be, but I like it.  I'm not too ashamed to admit that while I was cooking dinner tonight (and really wanted a little snack) that I enjoyed nibbling on sauerkraut to get my tangy, salty fix.

I prepped my second batch tonight after dinner.  :)

Fermentation?

For several weeks, I've been toying with the idea of trying my hand at making sauerkraut.  Fermented foods are supposed to be excellent for the old GI tract...and well, my gut needs all the help it can get to feel better.

I had a head of cabbage from my produce co-op pick-up that I needed to use, and after some more searching, I found a couple of recipes for making a small batch.  Between this site and this recipe from the More With Less Cookbook, I gave it a go.

From the different things I've read regarding making a small batch, the fermentation process will take 3-10 days.  This is Day One:

Do You Have a Plan? (Pinterest-Inspired)

I love to organize and be organized!  Since school started again this week, we're working on getting back into a routine.  One of the things I swore I was going to do was to have some type of board that would allow me to write the schedule for the week in order to help keep the kids in the loop (and avoid the constant questions of what we are doing when).

I found this great idea for a dry erase frame on Pinterest and knew I could create something similar to make me happy.  Since the kids are in school all day, I don't need a lot of space just to fill in what days we have volleyball, cross-country, etc.

Using some great patterned paper that I had on hand that would work with the Haitian color scheme in my kitchen, I put this together.  I didn't quite get it hung on the wall, since I didn't realize that I needed a level for this frame (and everyone's already in bed).  That will be my task for tomorrow...

US of A Wreath (Pinterest-Inspired)

Another Pinterest-inspired creation to build my holiday decorations.  I got the idea here and tweaked it.  I liked the heart-shape wreath and went from there.  :)

(Sorry for the less-than-desirable picture quality.)

Pinterest-Inspired Upcycling Project

(Apparently I haven't been very chatty lately, since my last post was three months ago!  Ooops!)

After going through some closets at the beginning of the season change, I decided that I wanted to convert some old t-shirts into reusable shopping bags.  I used t-shirts that had logos/events on them or were stained beyond repair.  (Personally, if a shirt can be passed along to someone else to use, I'd rather share the love that way, but once something is stained, that option is out.)

Since I grocery shop for a month at a time at places like Aldi, I need my cloth bags.  However, for multiple reasons, I have been switching over to regular canvas totes or other washable bags instead of the bags that are available from the grocers.  (Who wants to cross-contaminate by putting their produce in a bag that once held meat?  Or who wants to have to get additional plastic bags when purchasing meat?  Or who wants lead or other dangerous by-products to come in contact with the food their family eats??  (I am a huge anti-lead advocate.))

I had made bags in the past, but I learned a couple of things when doing so.

• Size matters.  The smaller the size t-shirt, the better the bag.  After I had lost 35 pounds, I made some bags out of my old XL and XXL shirts.  However, those are too big and awkward for grocery bags.  Larger youth sizes and smaller adult sizes are best.
• Finished edges make me happy.  I did not like cutting the handles and leaving the edges as is.

Because of the desire for finished edges, I started searching for ideas on Pinterest and came up with a few to try.  (NOTE:  I am NOT a seamstress!!  These were bags that were done quickly and are no where close to perfect!!)

The first could have been a no-sew bag had I not decided to finish the neckline.  Instructions here.  (I grabbed some embroidery floss to match the logo to finish the edges.)

The next ones are similar to what I had made in the past, but I added a gusset to the bottom corners and zig-zag stitching to the handles.  Instructions here.  (This website gives several variation ideas and is extremely helpful!)

My favorite St. Louis Cardinals shirt, converted after I stained it.

This was a shirt important to me that a local school organization sold to help with our emergency feeding program in the aftermath of the earthquake in Haiti in 2010.  This was a great way for me to hold onto that memory.

The last version is a cute idea I found for making produce bags for those times when you don't want to use a lot of plastic bags or you're headed to the farmer's market.  My version, however, needs some work!!  You get the idea, though.  This pic shows the pre-washed version.  Next time, I will make the bags a little shorter and change up how I cut the slits.  A rotary cutter would be much easier than using scissors!  Instructions here.

I used two of my bags for the first time at Whole Foods today, and I'm definitely happy with their sturdiness and with the ability to throw them in the wash as needed.  Even better...this is a project that has been sitting on my desk for a month or so, and I finished it!!  :)

Until next time...

Spring is in the Air

I've been in a bit of a mood to decorate more for the seasons and holidays.  However, since I have very few decorations, besides my Christmas decor, I'm basically starting over.  Since that is not always conducive to saving money, I'm striving to use things I have and be creative.

Thanks to this idea I found on Pinterest to use foam tubing as a wreath base, I decided to to make a wreath for Easter/Spring.

My purchases included foam tubing ($1.77 for 6 feet, which will make 2 wreaths this size), some rattan flowers and a bunny pick (both from Hobby Lobby at 30% off).  I had the yarn, duct tape, and ribbon in my supplies already.

 Following the instructions from the aforementioned blog, I created the shape of the wreath and used duct tape to hold it together.  In hindsight, I either should have used less tape to hold it together, or I should have shaped it differently before taping it.  See how it's flatter on the side where the tape is?  It wasn't able to be corrected once I started decorating.

Wrapping the wreath base with yarn was a bit more tedious than I expected, but there it is.  :)  This does take some patience.  I had to tie it to start and then wrap away.  However, the yarn needs to continuously be scrunched together to keep the look consistent.  I think I spent about 4 nights (in short time increments) working on this part because I disliked the process so much.

And the finished project...

After experimenting with wrapping different yarns around, I was happy to find just enough ribbon to make it around this wreath.  I preferred this look much better.  Then I used hot glue to attach the flowers and bunny and added a loop on the back with ribbon for hanging.  I'll admit that the end result isn't my favorite, but it works for now.  :)