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Have you emailed me and not got a response? I ALWAYS respond to emails sent to me. Please check your spam folder and make sure your inboxes are not full.

Jeanie, I have tried to respond to your email, but it kept coming back undelivered. Can you email me from another email account?

So sorry i've been MIA...

... we've been busy doing a lot of this...


and a little of this....


and some of this...


and even just some of this....


Hopefully you all are too! :) Happy Summer!

Want some free stuff?

I do! I am currently trying to get this cool glass water bottle on Amazon...

... but I don't have enough gift cards yet. What does all this have to do with you? If you sign up to earn Swagbucks through me (scroll down & click on the swagbucks button on my sidebar), I will earn Swagbucks when you do (and people can sign up under you too!)! What is Swagbucks? It's just a search engine, like Google. When you surf the web through them, they randomly award you points that you can redeem for prizes & gift cards. The best to me, is the $5 Amazon gift cards. In the past couple of months I have earned $65 in gift cards just for surfing the web! In the beginning I would get a gift card every week or 2, but now that I have some referrals, I get enough points for a gift card every couple of days! It's easy, and it's free. Sorry if I sound like a commercial, but I just love free stuff!

Off Topic Thursday - Bored kids can play with garbage!

Looking for some extra fun this summer? Go look in your recycling bin!

I don't know what the weather is like around where you are, but animals are about to start walking 2 by 2 around here! We were having yet another rainy afternoon, and Jack said he wanted to play bowling with me. I asked him how we were going to do that, and he raced away. I followed him to the recycling bin, where he was digging around, and he triumphantly held up 3 empty water bottles. He set them up in the hallway & got some balls, and we had a grand time playing bowling!

We also have a local spray park that we frequent a lot, and the kids love to play with water toys while they are there. I love to share the toys, but when it's time to go, gathering up the toys can be a heart wrenching (have you ever tried to explain to a one year old that they have to give the toy back?). We now take empty yogurt contains (buckets), and any other plastic containers we have lying around in the recycling bin. Now we can share, and if someone is still playing with one, we leave it behind. Luckily, our parks now have recycling bins, so they will end up where they should be, after the fun is over.

Tutorial Tuesday - Re-bags!

This is actually more of just a concept than a tutorial, since i'm sure you guys could figure out how to do this from looking at it ;) I have been loving all the heavy duty canvas shopping bag/ totes i've been running across at garage sales. I use them for everything... craft projects, swim stuff, shopping, sand toys, etc., and especially love the ones with a pocket on the outside for my water bottle. What I don't like is all the ugly logos that most of them have on them. Now I am just covering the logos up with recycled wool patches, and turning them into Re-bags! I used my sewing machine to sew the recycling symbol onto the patch, then hand stitched the patch onto the pocket of the bag. If you like the idea, but don't want to make the patches, Victoria Velting sells cute recycled wool patches in her Etsy shop.

Here's the bag I started with. I am not even sure what that was from, a gym maybe? Anywho... it needed some recycled wool!


Here's the patch I made, in progress...


...and here it is sewed on the pocket.



Much better, eh?

Tutorial Tuesday - yoga/jogging/athletic shorts

I was in need of some new shorts for walking/jogging, and knew that merino wool would be the perfect material for that... wicks away moisture, soft, breathable, lightweight. Wool does what athletic clothing manufacturers have been trying to duplicate with synthetics, but still is not as good. Merino wool clothing can be extremely expensive... unless you buy recycled wool garments or do it yourself! Ready for the tutorial?

You will need a pair of comfy shorts out of your wardrobe, and a lightly felted (not felted stiff, still stretchy, but won't unravel when you cut) merino sweater.

Fold them in half and use them to make a pattern. Remember to make a seam allowance. This is a good time to customize the length to your liking. When you are done with the one side, fold it the other way, and make another pattern. One will be your front pattern, and the other will be your back.


Now cut out 2 pieces from each pattern, 2 fronts & 2 backs. If you have a big enough sweater (I didn't), you can position each piece, so the ribbing is at the bottom of the leg for a more finished look.



Next sew the crotch seams... the 2 fronts together, and the 2 backs together.


Now you can sew the rest together (remembering right sides in & wrong sides out).


For the waistband measure what would be comfortable for you, and cut a piece of the ribbing to size. Next time, I think I will make a bigger fold over waistband for more support & coverage.

Sew your waistband on. It should be a little smaller than your opening, so you will stretch it lightly & evenly as you go.


Flip them right side out, and you have shorts!


I'll be making another pair soon... i'll blog it then. Enjoy!