Blog Carnival

Check it out! My reusable food bags are featured on today's Craft Critique Blog Carnival! There are also some way fun ideas for recycling, reducing, and reusing through crafting. I'm looking forward to trying a few of them myself. I knew there was a reason I was saving every cereal box and plastic container that comes through our front door!

Wine Bottle Dribble Catchers

I saw this idea while thumbing through a knitting pattern book at one of the craft stores where I spend too much of my time. I honestly cannot remember what the book was called or even what the cover looked like but I'll try to find it again so I can give credit where credit is due. Anyway, I took note of the approximate measurements and decided I could probably improvise the pattern and even change it up a little (after all, it's basically a three inch tube with a ruffle created by two rows of increases). Below is the result. The green and brown striped one looks like the one I saw in the book. The purple and grey one is my own variation. I'm hoping I can come up with some more original patterns for these so that I can put a few up for sale in my etsy store.

Ditch the Plastic

Although the idea is borrowed, this particular pattern is my own. This is a fairly simple design based on the sizes of resealable sandwich and snack baggies. They are constructed of cotton fabric lined with a water resistant nylon material so they can be machine washed and dried. They are great for carrying anything from pretzels to apple slices. As soon as I do a little more "field testing" and perfecting of the design, I plan on putting some of these in my etsy shop so keep an eye out for them.

Puppy Love

I made this from a pattern I found on clearance at Walmart. There were some challenging curves to negotiate and I had to fudge a little to get the pieces to line up but overall I'm happy with the final result. As soon as I finished shoving the stuffing in through the very awkwardly placed hole in the dog's rear end, I knew I had done something right when Sofie recognized it as a dog and dropped everything to give her new stuffed friend a hug. She formed some sort of special bond with it and wanted to take it everywhere with us for the next week or so. Since Pup-puh, as she refers to him, is just about as big as she is, I was relieved when the instant infatuation wore off just enough to allow for getting out of the house without a meltdown over my unwillingness to lug around a giant stuffed fabric dog. I guess it just goes to show, sometimes the simplest toys are the most special.