A New Freezer!

OK it has nothing to do with crafting but it is a big step towards eating better and saving money. I've been following the program at SparkPeople.com and have already lost 20 pounds. My problem is that even the so called diet foods are still loaded with a lot of sodium and other yucky stuff.

So I decided to cook from scratch in large batches to save time and energy. I very quickly filled up the freezer on the top of my fridge. I went shopping for a freezer that would be big enough for my needs but use the least amount of energy and not cost too much.

I'm planning my first "oven full" of cooking. It's going to depend on available items and what's on sale. I'm also planning to use up the extra room in the oven while the turkey is cooking to make some things to also freeze.

Cleaning Out the Craft Room

I wish I had taken before pictures but I'm not even done and it still looks pretty bad. LOL I spent all of Tuesday sorting out all the stuff I had. I found a ton of things I was going to make pillow covers out of and I guess I need to start cutting them out and sewing them together for my Deb Upcycles shop. I also found a lot of fabric and lace that I'm already listing on Deb's Crafts.

I have three bags of fabric scraps and other items to go to The Upcycle Exchange here in St Louis and another couple bags that need to go to Leftovers, which is a 30 minute drive but I try to get there on a regular basis. As well as all that, I have a bagful of stuff to go to the thrift shop across the street. I don't like to see anything go to waste.

I still have an outrageous amount of patterns that I need to list on Deb's Patterns but I am slowly whittling away the pile.

Busy, busy week.

Patterns, Patterns Everywhere

I made the plunge and decided to open up a new Etsy shop just for patterns. I had so many on the Debs Crafts site that they overwhelmed everything else and I wasn't able to sort them into sections. My new shop is called Debs Patterns (what else?) and I'm in the long slow process of transferring all the patterns from one shop to the other. On top of that I have bags full of patterns waiting to be listed!

I already have about 200 patterns there and have many, many more to list. I've enlisted the aid of my college kid to type up the descriptions. This really saves time as I'm a rather slow typist, at least compared to him. Kids these days grew up with computers and his fingers just fly across the keyboard.  (yes, he has cut his hair since that pic was taken)

On top of all that I need to start working on my Deb Upcycles shop, too. I have stuff to list and half made items. I'm hoping for some great sales for the gift bags but I need to get them finished and listed. Got to start getting ready for Christmas shopping.

Hawaiian Shirt Bonanza!

Sometimes I just get lucky. At the thrift shops around here Hawaiian shirts are usually few and far between. I don't know if it's because so few donate them or if they sell before I get to them. This is the midwest after all. The thrift shop across the street from me (my favorite because I can walk there) was having a sale on mens short sleeve shirts because the season is over. Not only that but someone apparently just donated a bunch of Hawaiian shirts because I was able to buy ten of them.

I love the patterns and I love how they look as pillow covers. I've made a few out of the shirts I was able to find before, like this one

The one I really loved though was this one:

So, the next week or so I'll be making these shirts into pillow covers, if one of the patterns catches your eye let me know. I'll be glad to reserve it for you when it's finished.

A Pillow for Kaitlin

My neighbor's daughter just left for a college over 1000 miles away. I wanted to give her something that would remind her of home. Her grandfather passed away last year so I thought it might be a good idea to make her a pillow out of one of her grandfathers shirts. I talked it over with her mom and we chose this shirt for the pillow. The picture is rather dark, you can see the colors of the shirt better in the last picture.

 I took it home and measured it and decided what size to make it. A lot of times I can't save the pockets,  but with a little fudging I was able to save the pockets on this one. I think they look great with the pockets and give you a place to tuck away little things. After all Kaitlin will be in a dorm room with two other girls.

Here's the finished pillow, Kaitlin loved it and recognized the fabric as her grandpa's shirt. It made me feel good that I could give her this little memory to take with her.

I normally just sell the covers, but this is a gift so I had to include the pillow form. Since this is the one I use to model my pillow covers, I may not be posting any 16" pillow covers until I can replace it!

I've made quite a few pillow covers out of shirts and other clothing and other things. Check them out in my Etsy store Deb Upcycles.

A Winner and introducing Horatio!

I only got 6 entries to the contest but that wasn't entirely unexpected. I only recently started posting again and it takes time to build readership up. I've seen a couple contests where they let a small child or animal select the winner so I thought I'd give my new kitty a chance to play. I wrote everyone's name on a slip of paper and spread them out on the floor.

 This is Horatio, the people at the Humane society shelter claimed his name was Whiskers but that was just too ordinary for such an extraordinary feline. Horatio came into our lives after I had to have my 13 year old cat put down because he had a brain tumor. He looks rather confused here,doesn't he? All he has to do is play with one of the pieces of paper.

 But no go, he wouldn't even walk over them to give me a clue as to the winner. I had to think of something else. It just wouldn't be cute after all.

 So I folded them all up and looked around the house to see if I had a hat to put them in. But, I couldn't find any so I couldn't draw a name out of the hat. What to do, what to do? Maybe a measuring cup? I never heard of drawing a name out of a measuring cup, have you?

Well, I guess there has to be a first time for everything. I took a deep breath, plunged my hand into the measuring cup and drew out a piece of paper. It says Desi, so Desi is our winner. Congratulate Desi and say goodbye to Horatio, it's time for his nap.

It's My Birthday! and a Contest

Today is my birthday and just remember that once a woman reaches a "certain age" it's very impolite to ask her how old she is.

I've decided to have a quick contest, today only to celebrate. If your wondering why I have pictures of my gift bags up, well that's what I'm giving away so it makes sense, right? And this is a Birthday celebration so it's entirely appropriate! Except maybe the Christmas one.

So the prize is four gift bags from my stash, not necessarily these because these are actually for sale in my Deb Upcycles Etsy shop. You can give me an idea of what you want, boy, girl, adult, Christmas but I will choose them.

All you have to do is leave a comment. It would be nice if you could like, favorite or follow something (pretty please?) of mine but you can only have one entry for this contest from the comment. I will find some semi-scientific way to choose the winner (Maybe ask my cat?) and announce it tomorrow. Contest ends at midnight tonight August 20, 2011. Oh, and by the way, make sure there's some way to reach you in your comment. A link to your Etsy shop works for me if you have one.

From Pajamas to Pillows and More

I have a day off today with nothing to do except go out to dinner with some friends for my birthday tonight. That doesn't happen often, the nothing to do that is. The birthday happens only once a year.

We just had a Goodwill outlet open near us. If you didn't know, this is the place they sell all the stuff they don't think is good enough to sell at the regular thrift stores. I love the place but have to drag the college boy (24 year old son) with me because the walk from the nearest bus stop to it, isn't in the nicest neighborhood.

I found a pair of Christmas pajamas there the last time I went. Really nice fabric and just knew I could do something with them. After stretching them out on the bed and studying them I decided the top would make a great pillow and I could make gift bags out of the arms and legs. I've already sold the bags but will be posting more soon. The pillow is available in my Deb Upcycles Etsy shop.

Taking the Bus and Train

I finally did it. Actually had it done for me. I'm taking the bus and train, called the Metro Link here in St Louis, these days and no longer have a car. I've been living in St Louis since February and in April was in an accident that totaled my car. I just never got another one. I'm within walking distance to work and everywhere else I go I take the bus. It feels great, I'm getting exercise and have shrunk my carbon foot print.

I've opened a new Etsy shop called Deb Upcycles and where I've been selling things I make out of thrift shop finds. I still have the one I sell second chance craft supplies called Deb's Crafts, too.  I think I'm going to make this my official blog for both Etsy shops because it fits right in. There's a lot of work to be done here. I've apparently lost my background I had and I want it to look nice.