Hi There!
Not sure if this belongs here, but feel free to move if you have too.

I needed something to hold all my knitting and crochet needles and accessories to keep them organized and handy to use at the same time. Some of them are quite long and did not fit into any box or anything that I had.
And since I am pretty much a cheap skate, I decided to make something.

This is a picture of what I came up with:



It is made out of an old duvet cover and scrap fabric and a regular plastic hanger. This way I can hang it up in my bedroom closet and just grab what I need and put it away just as easily.

It has 2 sides of little pockets to put needles in. There are also "ties" to tie on circular needles.

Here is a close up...sorry for the picture quality. It is dark blue fabric.



And here is a picture of it hanging in my dark scary messy closet!



What do you guys think? Comments welcome:)

Hi there.
I wanted to make a new storage box for my living room. I have a pile of extension cords, some heating pads, and different things that need a place out of the way. So, I wanted a storage box but didn't want to spend any money to buy one.
So I took what I had around the house.

I started with an old carboard box I found down in my basement. Some Mod Podge I had from a project a long time ago. And some various sheets of scrapbook paper I had given to me. I didn't have the same pattern, but the colors matched pretty close.




I cut the sheets of paper in strips about 3 inches wide and used Mod Podge to attach to the sides of the box. Then coated the top with Mod Podge.

The finished product with stuff in it:


This is a picture of the storage box in place and looking much more organized!


What do you think? Please comment:)

Hi There. I posted a home made pillow a few weeks back. It was inspired by Van Gogh's Sunflowers made out of old t-shirts.
Recently, I finished 2 more. They are inspired by Starry Night, and Irises.
Sorry if the pictures are blurry
This is the Iris Pillow:


And this is the Starry Night Pillow:

Again, I used fabric from old t-shirts. Hope you like.
Thanks

Hi. I wanted to share what I have been doing to combat some winter boredom.
It is a sunflower pillow.....

I was shooting for Van Gogh's Sunflowers but this is how it turned out. Some of it was machine sewn and some hand sewn applique.
I pretty much recyled an old pillow that was falling apart by taking it apart and using the stuffing. I made the "pillow" part from some fabric from an old duvet cover that we dont use anymore. The flower part is actually a pillow cover so I can take it off and wash it.
T-shirt knit fabric is great. It doesn't unravel and it is really easy to work with. It was also free as I have a ton of old t-shirts to use. I am in the process of another pillow and will keep you posted.
Hope you all like it.
Thanks

Hi. I wanted to show you what I did in my backyard. I love to garden and produce as much food as possible, however, we have a very small yard as you will see.
I planned to make my small garden bed bigger and reorganize in the process. The following pictures are before:



The messy area on the right are apple trees. and blueberry bushes that I had to get rid of as they don't grow well here...oh well, live and learn.

The area on the left is a bed in the process of being enlarged. I started to replant some bulbs and made a pathway which is an idea I eventually scrapped.


The size of the backyard is pretty much what you see in the pictures--very small.

The following pictures are after:




Garden stones are placed in curving lines and bed has been extended. I did not realize what I was creating until I was finished, but the curving lines sort of make a womb shape  So in honor of that I planted some red blooms in that area  
Self watering planters on far end of yard. Other than flowers, I planted tomatoes, onions, herbs, carrots, peppers, and peas.
We planted grass over the far area which had woodchips on it.
As you can see, we planted grass which now needs to be cut
Also, the apple trees have branched out nicely and are full of little green apples:


The blue and purple plastic cartons are home-made self watering planters with peas growing in them. I actually got the info on how to make them from here on craftster and they really work !!!!!!

So, that's that. Next is the front yard whew!

Hi. I wanted to show you what I did in my backyard. I love to garden and produce as much food as possible, however, we have a very small yard as you will see.
I planned to make my small garden bed bigger and reorganize in the process. The following pictures are before:



The messy area on the right are apple trees. and blueberry bushes that I had to get rid of as they don't grow well here...oh well, live and learn.

The area on the left is a bed in the process of being enlarged. I started to replant some bulbs and made a pathway which is an idea I eventually scrapped.


The size of the backyard is pretty much what you see in the pictures--very small.

The following pictures are after:





Garden stones are placed in curving lines and bed has been extended. I did not realize what I was creating until I was finished, but the curving lines sort of make a womb shape So in honor of that I planted some red blooms in that area
Self watering planters on far end of yard. Other than flowers, I planted tomatoes, onions, herbs, carrots, peppers, and peas.
We planted grass over the far area which had woodchips on it.
As you can see, we planted grass which now needs to be cut
Also, the apple trees have branched out nicely and are full of little green apples:



The blue and purple plastic cartons are home-made self watering planters with peas growing in them. I actually got the info on how to make them from here on craftster and they really work

So, that's that. Next is the front yard whew!

Hi. I wanted to show all of you what I started for my garden this year. As I am frugal, I have been cutting corners as much as I can, but still grow a garden.
So here is what I tried this year:
*Used old plasic containers that flowers come in to start my seeds.

*Made some containers out of newspaper to start seeds.

*Harvested seeds from last years yield.



These are some of my tomatoes: a hybrid kind I can't remember the name of, and Brandywine. I am also trying Bananna Peppers, Zinnias and Marigolds. The Marigolds aren't doing so well. Out of the many I started, only 3 have sprouted up

To make the newspaper cups, I just took some newspaper, folded it into double thickness, and wrapped and taped it around a glass. For the bottom, I cut slashes in the newspaper and folded and taped it over the bottom of the glass and Voila' slip out the glass and I have a planter
Thanks for looking.

Hi. I wanted to show all of you a project I made a few weekends ago: it is a jewelry holder attached to the back of my closet door. I wanted a way to store my stuff so I can look at it all at once and see what I have and decide what I want to wear. It is hard to do that when it was all tangled up in a drawer.



This just 2 basic fabric rectangles (I used an old sheet), lined with fusable interfacing. I hemmed the rectangles and then sewed them together with little horizontal pockets left open to slide the 4 pieces of wood through to support it. Before I slid the wood into the pockets, I decided where I needed to hang necklaces and earrings etc. I sewed flaps open in the bottom (like upsidedown pockets) to hang earrings and pins. The posts can be pushed through the fabric. I then sewed strips of fabric to tie necklaces and bracelets to the hanger so they don't whip around when I open and close my door.


Picture of upsidedown pocket. I used fabric that would not fray--an old t-shirt


Picture of fabric tie holding necklace. Used t-shirt fabric.

Next, I slid the pieces of wood into the pockets so the fabric was centered. Then I attached picture hangers and little hooks through the fabric and into the wood to hang stuff on.
I screwed the wood ends into my closet door.

So, whaddya think???

Hi. I wanted to share an easy no-fail biscuit recipe and what I make with it a post a few pix for you.

So, we are trying to cut costs and save $ by trying to make stuff from scratch as much as possible. We like biscuits and pizza, however, they can be pretty expensive for us to buy them as the store. So I make a basic biscuit mix that can be made into a lot of things like pizza crust, and strawberry shortcake for instance.

This is what I do:
I mix up the following dry ingredients and put them into an airtight container in my pantry. I double the recipe as I use the mix a lot.
* 3 cups of flour
* 1 Tablespoon of baking powder
* 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
* 1 teaspoon salt
Sift all these dry ingredients if you have a sifter. If you are like me, and don't, just stir it around in a bowl for a bit so it is all mixed well.
Store in an airtight container.

To make pizza crust, biscuits, and cinnamon rolls:

*2 cups of dry mix      *1 egg     *1/4 cup of milk
* 3/4 cup of margarine   *Extra flour
In large mixing bowl, add dry mix.
Fork in margarine to make a crumbly mix.
In small bowl beat egg and milk.
Make a well in flour margarine mix, and add egg and milk.
Fold mix around egg and milk to make a crumbly dough.
Knead in bowl, and add flour for sticking.

**For Pizza: Grease and Push dough into pizza pan. I can make a large 14 inch pizza with this.
Add topping, and I bake at 350 for about 35-40 min.

**For biscuits I have make drop biscuits and rolled them out cut them with a cookie cutter. I bake at 350 for about 15 min. They don't get real brown, just light gold.
**cinnamon rolls are done similar to the biscuits.

Hi. this is  finished project. Not sure how this posting will turn out, but here goes...