Tuesday, September 25, 2012

Totally unnecessary changes

I don't know if you're like me in this, but I just can't stand reusing the tubs for margarine, sour cream, etc. And it's not that I have anything against them, I just don't want to open five containers to find the one that really has the sour cream in it.

Well, there is an answer to the problem!! It is totally unnecessary but if you prefer to recycle AND save money it's a wonderful solution.

The printing on these containers can be removed.


For real!!

Here are my supplies.....


A bottle of acetone (nail polish remover), a bowl (I used glass), a clean white rag, and the container you want to de-print.

Soak the rag with the acetone and wrap it around your plastic tub making sure the rag touches it all the way around. Then put it in the glass bowl. I put mine into the glass bowl upside down and then poured a little more acetone on it just to make sure there was enough.

Then, I wrapped it all in a plastic grocery bag to contain the smell and to keep it from drying out while it sets.


I let it sit like this for about 15-20 minutes.

Note: If you use a grocery bag like this, be careful not to get the acetone on the bag. It will remove the print from it too. Maybe onto your counter. Not that I would know from experience or anything.....it's just a theory.

Once it's set for awhile, unwrap it and use the acetone soaked rag to wipe the tub clean.


I've been doing it to all kinds of containers: whipped topping, grated cheese, yogurt, etc. I might not have to buy plastic storage containers again. woohooo!!

Wednesday, September 19, 2012

Spider Challenge

This is my first month participating in a craft challenge. This month's theme was spiders.

Of course, my brain froze with the idea of having to come up with something.

I decided on a felt black widow spider.


My original intention was to make a pin with it. Then Kirsten told me that she wanted my to put it on a hair clip.

Both seem to be reasonable ideas, right? But my little spider didn't turn out so little. If I put it on a hair clip it would take up the whole side of Kirsten's head. LOL

So for now, this little lady just sits on the island in the kitchen waiting for Halloween.

Tuesday, September 18, 2012

Hoping for cooler weather

I saw a recipe forever ago on how to make your own lip gloss. I bought everything I needed and never got it done.

Then, as I often do, I put the stuff away and couldn't find it again to save my life. I was recently complaining about it and Abigail thought she remembered seeing the little containers, and went to find them. She found them in the basket with all the cookie cutters. Why on earth I put them there I'll never no.

So, this time I got it made before I lost the supplies again.


All you need are petroleum jelly and flavoring. The original recipe used Kool-Aid but I wanted something that would have a sweet taste, not a lot of color, but no sugar. So instead I used the generic version of Crystal Light.

I just put some of the petroleum jelly in a microwave safe dish and melted it using 30 second intervals. When it was all melted, I stirred in a package of the drink mix. Then poured it into my clean containers and let it cool and set up again. And that's it!!!

I got these containers at Target. They were in the section with the travel size stuff and were in packages of two for $1. Can't beat that deal!!!

I like the fact that it goes on smooth, only takes a little, and is lightly flavored. Hopefully there will be no chap lips when the weather changes.

Wednesday, September 12, 2012

Playing with paper

I tried my hand at something new over the weekend.


I've never done any kind of origami at all. But I saw this video tutorial for paper dresses and I couldn't resist.


Here are some of my finished dresses....



I used pages from one (of the million) old books i have in boxes in the garage. I also used thin pink ribbon at the waist.

Once you get the hang of it, they really are fun to make.

I think they would be great for scrap booking or as a garland. There are tons of possibilities!!

Wednesday, September 5, 2012

Time for lunch

Well, I finally got lunch bags made for all of the girls.



I used different fabric inside of Kirsten's....


The outside of it is the same as Abigail's. I also used a snap to close hers (since I finally bought a snap tool for myself.)

Addison's is the one with the apples on the outside, so i thought some more apples on the inside would be perfect.


But, I still need to get bags made for Abigail and Addison. I haven't been too concerned with it since they both bought bags to start the school year off with. That gives me a little more time to procrastinate. LOL

BUT, it's national sewing month so I have to get something accomplished this month, right?