Stuff Holder :)

Many of my projects are inspired by things I see on pinterest. This is definitely the case for this one. Someone had pinned a pattern for this project. I am not sure how it would work because I am assuming that people have different sized coffee cans which you need one for this but who knows. I was cheap and did not buy the pattern.

I am not an expert seamstress but my grandmother gave me her old machine and I really wanted to sew something. I had some problems with the machine but it took me like two afternoons to finish this and I now want to make a dozen of them.

Roughly my directions are as follows:

1) Get supplies. Pick two complementary colors of fabric, Scissors, something to measure fabric with, a flimsy tape measure to measure can, find a coffee can (or other similar size), add felt or batting of some kind if you are really trying to be pro.

2) Measure the height and circumference of your can.

3) With fabric A make two rectanges with your can measurements (allow for seams). Make sure one of them is actually a bit taller than the can. (I also made one in felt to "line" my can so it wouldn't be as noisy).

4) With fabric A you also need a circle just barely bigger than your can's lid.

5) With fabric B you need a big ole piece. Mind was roughly twice the height of can and double the circumference.

6) Start pinning and sewing. The hardest part is the pockets and the rest is just simple sewing. I used a lot of pins and had to redo one seam it was so bad. Depend of the length of your B fabric and size of your can determines how many pocked you get in the end. I sewed lines going up and down between where the pockets met leaving fabric poofing up. Then tacked it down along the bottom only you get that pocket dimension.

7) B needs to be sewn into a log and pressed. Then folded in half (hot dog style?) and pressed. Then pin the number of double pockets that make sense for your can and fabric length.

8) Keep seams allowances I had a very tight seam getting it all to acutally fit on my can I would not recommend this. Your stuff will eventually hold everything in place you don't need it to be super tight on the can.

9) Finish the can by sewing cord or heavy thread to gather and "close" on the bottom.

Sorry I didn't take more pictures or be more helpful but hey you can always buy the pattern online;)

Notes: My pictures aren't awesome but you get the gist. You can kinda see that you end up with double pockets.If I was going to do this again I would line the inside of the can better. It makes a sort of plink when you put stuff in otherwise you might not know it was originally a coffee can:)

Christmas Wreath on the Cheap

Yep, it's that time of year again and I felt like getting a little festive. After being a bit bummed last year with the tree in  the apartment I decided this year I was going to go cheap. I made two of these wreaths.

First, I thought I remembered this from middle school garden club craft day but I had to find out if it was still true. What is this you ask? I found that yes it is totally true I politely asked the Christmas tree lot guys if even though I wasn't currently buying a tree if they would be so kind as to give me cuttings. They weren't entirely sure but I left with a giant stack for FREE!

When I got home I realized that I didn't have a good base. So I took 4 wire coat hangers (mine were left over from a visit to the dry cleaners but I am sure any would do). The firse two I left the hook up top and just roughly shaped into a circle. I completely unwound the other two. I took the "extra" ones and twisted them around the "real" leaving space between twists. I later used this space to jam cuttings in.

I used pliers that had a place to cut wire to cut my branches. I think it worked better than the kitchen scissors I was thinking of using would have worked.

Luckily I had some left over florist wire in green I had gotten from the dollar store for another project. It is really easy to bend and cut so I used it to secure branch pieces onto the wreath. I probably could have made the branches look tighter in a cirlce but it doesn't bother me how they are a little outside the lines. Next I decorated.

They may not be perfect but they do smell nice and make me happy. The hook of the coat hanger gets hidden by the branches but it makes it extra easy to hang when your ready!

I had way too many branches and my hubby suggested I should have kept more and just put them places because they do smell oh so nice :) Maybe I'll go visit those Christmas tree guys again...

Total cost was free for me because I had everything I needed on hand. I would love to see yours if you try it too!

Note: Not all clippings come from the same tree I tried to get the same type together for each but it may be important to note when you are at the christmas tree lot.

Silver plated dish

Okay, so for those of you following, which is yeah no one, I am still working on my world map:( But I have been working on various other projects too so I figured that I should update you a bit.

A while back well maybe a month ago or so now I went to Good Will. I was half heartedly looking for a spice rack because my cabinet was over whelming. I actually found a decent one for like 7 or 8 bucks it was more than I wanted but I figure wth? Along with it I impulse bought the most tarnished yet fablous bowl ever.

A while back I spent hours of elbow grease trying to clean up two dishes I got from my grandmother's move to a retirement home. It didn't work. I tried some internet thing about foil in the sink. It didn't work. I was thinking about chucking them and what did I find at Target? Polish. Why this works I have no idea but it works!

 The confidence I had from these two led me to think I could purchase this bowl it was after all only $5. I have been on an tight budget so it wasn't like I should have been "shopping" but I felt like the results justified the spending :P

Pictures

Beautiful bowl before- see how dark it is?

I applied the polish like this and then rubbed it around in sections.

 

 

 

See how beautiful the right side is starting to look?

It was hard to get a good picture of the outside for reference so here is the inside. Isn't is shiny amazing?

Oh and I used whatever brand was cheapest at Target at the time in case you were wondering!