Make an I Spy Bag

Kids love these I Spy bags…they are great in the car or at home to keep kids occupied and distracted.  Truthfully, the first time I saw one of these was in the hospital.  I am a nurse as some of you may know and for five years I worked on the IV team and I worked a lot on pediatrics.  There were all kinds of distraction techniques that the nurses and child life therapists used to take the kids’ minds off the painful stick.

I saw one that was tiny, made of a felt that couldn’t be washed, but was really cute.  I decided to make one and had a lot of fun collecting little tiny things to go inside it.

This is the back…I just used scraps of fabric. one square that was about 8 inches and then a contrasting piece across the middle for fun.  I think the bag was about 7 inches square finished.

To make the front, I cut four squares 6 inches each.  I folded each square in half diagonally and pressed them, then laid them out as shown above.  Then I laid them out on a square of heavy clear plastic (the kind you buy at a fabric store).  I stitched along each triangle edge and around the outside edge as well.

Trim away the extra plastic. 

And now you have this…

Remember no pressing from this point out as the plastic will not like it.  I tried that once and had to start all over!

Now lay it right sides together with the back of the bag.  I never worry too much about it all being perfect, when it is stuffed it’s hard to tell if the seams are perfectly straight.

Now sew the edges using about a 1/2 inch seam.  Leave a small area, about 2-3 inches for turning it right side out and stuffing.

Now you have it finished except for the stuffing.  Turn it right side out and smooth the seams with your fingers. 

Fold under the open edges so they can be seamed up after you get it stuffed.

Find all sorts of little things that will appeal to your recipient.  I collect little character erasers, little animals, some craft pom poms, all sorts of things that are NOT SHARP! 

You want to avoid things that are sharp like this little dino with the pointy tail.  I was afraid he would puncture the plastic and cause a leak.

I use Poly Pellets for the stuffing.  They are semi transparent round pieces of plastic.  You want to avoid overfilling with these pellets so the little animals etc. will still be visible.

I toss my critters, trucks and erasers and pom poms in the bag and follow with the pellets.

Those little animal sets in the $1 section at Target are perfect size and price!

Pin up the open edge and sew it up quick before the pellets run out.

And now you can admire your handiwork!

I love the elephants and the polka dots on the back.

There’s an eraser giraffe…

and a sparkly pom pom…

And a little car…

Christmas Chaos

I meant to get a picture of Brady opening the I Spy bag, but it was such bedlam that I missed it.  Plus he had so many fun things to look at he was going ten different directions at once!

But I am pretty sure he liked it!  I can tell by the look on his face…

I will be linking to these great parties!

Recycling and Reusing Containers

My niece saved a bunch of these baby food containers.  The lids fit tight and they are great for storing a variety of things.  I use them a lot to store my jewelry making supplies.

They come in two sizes and stack nicely.

These yogurt containers are great for pouring paint into for smaller projects, or Mod Podge when you don’t want to dip your dirty brush into the Mod Podge container (think glitter projects).  You get the idea…

I make a lot of pincushions and buy the nice pearl head pins in the little containers (I always buy them when Jo-Ann Fabrics has their 50% off notions sales). 

Anyway, they are also great for storing all sorts of jewelry findings and the lids stay on tightly as well.

The Mentos cylinder containers are perfect for storing various supplies like beads, buttons, hair elastics.  I keep them tucked in the top drawer of my sewing desk.

and in my jewelry supplies tote.

They are great for on-the-go projects.

Mandarin orange cups are the perfect size for paint or glue too.  I keep a few of them in the car and put my pug’s ice cream cone in them (he just gets a tiny cone!).

I found these vintage thumb tack containers at a garage sale and they are a great size for organizing all sorts of craft supplies. 

And of course there’s always the old school glass baby food jar!  We all know what to do with those!

I might be linking to these great parties…

Crochet Fabric Doily

I am thinking about making one of these or this one…so decided to do some experimenting with different yarns and fabrics and textures and hook sizes.  I used this pattern which was reworked from a pattern created/used in the 1890s.  

I used a size L crochet hook and 1/2 inch wide cuts of fabric. It was the perfect thickness and openness.  I think I may try making a rug out of an old white bed sheet cut into 3/4 inch wide strips.  It would be much cheaper than the cotton cording or three strands of yarn.

Anyhow, love how this little doily turned out! 

this one is a gift for someone…but I can’t say who…

I might be linking to some of these great parties!

40 BAGS 40 DAYS Week Two Progress

You can read about my first week’s progress here. I have been continuing to work on cleaning out drawers and that sort of thing, but haven’t actually gotten rid of anything else.  Unless you count the indoor garage sale that I took those 26 bags/boxes to yesterday!  I made over $100 after expenses and got rid of all that stuff! And it happened in the midst of 10 inches of unplowed snow!  So I had to go to the storage building and wade through snow to the unit, find that the lock was frozen over and trudge back to the car, drive to the truck stop (we’re talking big time desire to get rid of this stuff!), get some lock de-icer, and trudge back through the snow to work on the lock for ten more minutes. 

Here’s the day before…my car got plowed in so I had to trudge (really getting a lot of use out of that word!) down the street to a local hotel because the university’s snow plows had plowed me in on three sides and it was still snowing.  The street I work on looked like a parking lot, so I was afraid I couldn’t get out anyway. 

So anyway, I digress, I finally got the lock unfrozen and starting the trek back to the car dozens of time.  I may or may not have made several inadvertent snow angels with my butt either to or from the car!  I fell several times, but hey, that much snow is soft!  I got most of it in my car (my help cancelled on me at the last minute so I had to leave some of it behind in the storage building) and a very nice man carried it in for me at the garage sale.  So, anyway, most of it is officially gone.  At least it’s not coming back into my house!

Go here to see everyone’s progress!