LYAGY- Clothes Pin Holder

Well this week I whipped up something I've been needing for a while, a clothes pin holder. We live in an apartment but we have a nice little balcony and I bought a small clothing rack at Ikea. Anyway, since we cloth diaper our son and since this is after all the desert, I love to take advantage of the heat and sun to dry the diapers and even our clothes. It seriously dries so quickly! The only problem I've run into is that taking the pins off the line or moving them while I'm hanging seems to add time. So I whipped a little bag up this week to help me out.

I started by tracing a small salad plate to make the bottom onto some freezer paper. I cut out the circle, folded it in half and cut.

Next I cut the bottom out of the fabric.

Then for the sides of the bag I cut a piece for around the curve (13.5" long x 7" tall) and another for across the backside (about 9" long x 7" tall).

Then I sewed them together in side out. I folded down the top edge a little to hem that and then turned it right side out.

Next I constructed the straps by cutting out two strips about 6 inches long by 1 inch wide. I sewed them into a tube leaving one end open,

turned them inside out...

and gave them a final hem.

I sewed them onto the bag and attached some velcro to the straps.

Finally I put it to work as soon as it's done and it works perfectly!

Let Your Art Guide You - Pavlova

So this week my post is a little late in the day because I made a really yummy dessert for a Church activity (basically a buffet of world foods, yum). I got the recipe for Pavlova from my friend from New Zealand (thanks Hannah!). She made this for me and my host family when we were both exchange students in Belgium. I've had it once since then, but not a very big piece so I've been some what craving it for a while and this Church function was the best excuse to get me to make it. I thought I remember it being hard to make but it wasn't that bad. So here are the ingredients:

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3 egg whites (4 if small eggs)

1 pinch salt

3/4 cup berry sugar (superfine sugar...i'll explain later in step 2a)

1/4 cup ordinary sugar

1 tablespoon cornstarch

1 teaspoon lemon juice or vinegar

Step 1: Beat egg whites and salt until stiff peaks form. Like a meringue, nice and frothy.

Step 2a: Berry Sugar, or ultrafine sugar is different from cane sugar. I couldn't find anything at my store by that name so I just put my regular cane sugar in the blender for a minute or two and it worked just fine. I made sure to carefully tip the blender side to side so all the sugar would get ground up. Its really cool when you open the lid after this - its like dry ice smoke coming out :D

Step 2b: Add the berry sugar *gradually*, beating all the time.It's most important that their be no undissolved sugar. By this stage you should have a reasonably thick white (almost shiny) gloop.

Step 3: Mix the sugar and cornstarch together and gently fold into the mix with the vinegar.

Step 4: Scoop mixture onto a baking tray (try to keep it reasonably circular and don't let it spread out too much), and bake for 30-40 mins at 250-275 F. Let cool in the oven (Hannah's mom generally make them in the evening and let them sit overnight). Kiwifuit and/or strawberries are of course the traditional toppings (in addition to large amounts of whipped cream...)

Be sure to do something so it doesn't stick to the pan, tin foil worked great for me! I messed my first one up because it stuck to the pan and wouldn't transfer to my serving dish. So I made a second, but hey I'm not complaining I've got a whole one waiting to be eaten by my husband and I.

Here is the finished product. I had to run so quickly to the activity after the second one finished cooking (oops, didn't let it cool in the oven so it cracked) that I forgot to take a picture. So this one is from a camera phone.

There was nothing left of it after the activity so I would say they liked it.

Stuffed Animal Rug Tutorial

This is a project I did a while ago and posted on my family blog, but I loved this one soo much I'm sharing it again here. I originally found the idea on the Dollar Store Craft site submitted by The Best of DIY. I just loved the panther she had done and found a great lion to do for my little cub. 

Step 1: Unstuff and wash. I ripped open the seam at his bottom and unstuffed the poor lion completely. I then put him in a pillow case closed it with a rubber band and then washed him with a little detergent. Next he took a spin in the dryer on fluff until he was dry. This worked wonders on his musty smell from the thrift store and made him super soft (he was $3! btw). I then re-stuffed his head and paws.

Step 2: Mutilate the poor guy (FYI-this is actually really messing since he had such long fur it was like I gave someone a haircut in my living room). I detached his tail and cut him off at the legs. Why cut him to bits? I knew he was too short to be a cool rug and the fabric wouldn't lay flat since he was made to be fat and to sit upright. so...

Step 3: To lengthen him I cut out his belly and attached it to his back to make him longer.

Step 4: Sow feet back on and attach tail.

Step 5: I lined his belly with some felt and linen that I had. I think it looks more like he has a lighter colored belly than a liner.

Step 6: Test it out on the baby...

He likes it!

Super Easy Sewing Machine Cover

I saw this idea on Martha's website for a sewing machine cover from a dish towel. I didn't have any dish towels on hand, but I had some left over fabric from when I recovered my dining room chairs (making this project completely free). That made it really easy because the fabric was from a flat sheet and two edges were already hemmed! 

So just some simple hemming and attaching some ribbon and I had a fun sewing machine cover.

After I finished and showed it to my husband, he asked, "So, since the fabric matches the chairs does that mean that its a permanent fixture on the table?" hehe. No... :D

I'm linking up to...

 

Picture Frame Re-purposed

So here's a project some of you may have already seen from my other blog, but I'm bringing it here to share with everyone again. Just like with my last project, I love to reuse items around the house. I took a frame that we've had and gave it new life and a new purpose. 

Before...

I gave this sucker a few coats of black glossy spray paint and added some of these little hook/screws.

Then with a few dowels the right size I hung my spools of ribbon.

I haven't gotten them hung yet, but I'm going to use some shelf brackets to mount it near my craft table (also known as the kitchen table - I've taken it over :D ).

Easy Craft Tool Kit Tutorial

I love making things out of stuff someone might throw away normally, like all those plastic containers or jars we accumulate. Or this...

I don't know what they're technically called, but those things that carry 6 bottles of soda.I thought it would be handy to turn this into an organizer for my all my scissors, rulers, etc. This is what I used for mine...

-the soda holder thing

-glue

-Mod Podge

-wrapping paper

-scissors

-another box (optional)

First thing I did was use the other box to make the bottom of the holder more sturdy. Plus there were some holes in the bottom I wanted to cover so my scissors wouldn't poke holes through the paper.

Then I started wrapping the thing in wrapping paper using the Mod Podge to get a smooth finish. I started with the bottom and worked my way up.

Next the sides and folding the excess down into the holder to hide it. Continue to wrap and Mod Podge until the whole thing is covered.

To finish it off I added some embellishments; some ribbon around the handle and some buttons.

Tie Onesie & Name Banner

This week for my cousin's challenge I had a fun time. My husband had Monday off so it really helped me get my project done and quickly.

We recently visited my husband's family. My mother in law is an amazing quilter and she made a beautiful quilt for Andrew when he was born. While we were visiting I asked if I could have the left over fabric from the quilt. I used some to make another tie shirt for the cub (he out grew the first one).

I was also able to do another project I've been wanting to do. I found the idea at Happy Together for rag quilted letters. I decided to take the idea and instead of doing the whole alphabet I just did Andrew's name to make a banner for his room.

To hang the letters, I took some of the extra binding my mother in law had made and sewed it into the cord. Then to hang it on the wall I drilled a hole through one side of a wooden clothes pin and put a nail through it to nail it to the wall. I need to get better at taking step by step tutorial like pictures, but here is the end product. 

Since the rest of my projects are on my family blog, I'll re-post them here over time. Thanks for coming by my blog, feel free to tell me what you think!

A Little Intro

Welcome to the Jungle! 

Who: I'm Alex. I'm a stay at home mom of a beautiful little 8 month old boy named Andrew, he's our little tiger. When I'm not watching him closely making sure he doesn't fall (he's in that stage where he pulls up to a stand on everything, but doesn't know how to get back to the ground softly) I like to sew, cook, craft and find inspiration for new projects from other people's blogs.

What: A craft blog to share creative ideas and learn from each other.

Where:  Here @ Crafting with My Cub

Why:To record my dabblings in crafting. I'm not the most creative or talented person out there, but I'm proud of the things I'm learning to do and most of what I've done so far. I want to continue to challenge myself and hopefully inspire someone else.

Each Thursday I have been participating in a challenge made by my cousin to create something new. I've been keeping up and posting on my family blog, but I'll now be doing the crafts over here. If you're interested in participating check out Art-n-Sewl or click here to check out the original challenge.