The Lost Art of the Repurpose

Last weekend we were doing our normal errands and my husband begged me to break down and buy us new bedding. I begrudgingly complied and bought a set on clearance. He's been complaining for awhile now because we have a super awesome down comforter I bought as a splurge to keep me warm while he was in Afghanistan. Unfortunately, he's a space heater shaped like a man and it's been an unseasonably warm winter up here in Maine and is basically sweating out bullets every night. Fine, husband, I suppose I can spend a few dollars to make you happy.

Anyway, that caused a huge reorganization of the space under the bed where I hide our other sheets in a space bag (so classy) and I found that I had kept the sheet that was on our mattress in the moving truck which got all sorts of dirty spots on it. I tried washing it but it isn't salvageable. Oh well, I though, it pains me to throw out this beautiful Martha Stewart fitted sheet, but it lasted us two years. Then, LIGHT BULB, didn't I just see something on Craftsy about making a crocheted rag rug out of an old sheet? You mean, I don't have to throw out this nasty stained sheet but can instead repurpose it into something else I can love? SIGN ME UP!

Sunday morning was spent hunched over on our tiny floor cutting back and forth along the sheet, turning it into  strips I could roll into a ball and use as "yarn". That's the only difficult part, and by difficult, I mean a little bit repetitive and knee crushing. Then I had this GIANT ten pound ball of old sheet. So I made a simple crochet ring, and double crochet increased each row so that I now have this awesome (but small) circle rug!

So I've decided, who needs the flat sheet that matches it anyway? I'll cut that up too to make a larger rug. Then I thought about all the fabric scraps in my stash...I could make one out of those too! The options are endless! You could use old t-shirts, or jeans, as long as all the fabric weights you use in your rug remain similar. 

To think I would have thrown this sheet out to take up space in a landfill somewhere, but instead I have turned it into a handcrafted decoration for our future home with just a little work. What can you find around your house that is headed for the dump that you can turn around and reuse? Next time I'll show you my new use for beer bottle caps!

Until next time,

xoxo Stacie

A little early V-Day Love

Okay, I'm going to fess up...I love Valentine's Day. Not the whole commercial, Hallmark deal but the fun red and pink hearts and giving presents part. I am a sucker for any reason to give a gift. This year, being extremely tight on finances I thought I'd just give my husband some cookies and a kiss on Valentine's BUT while trolling the web I stumbled upon this art gallery who sells prints by our favorite artist, Kurt Halsey. I figured for 8$ plus 3$ shipping, I could afford to give my husband an awesome one of a kind gift. Now, to find a frame was the difficult part. The nice ones are really expensive and the cheap ones are, well, pretty cheap looking. I figured I'd bide my time and save a little and get him a nice frame. Lo and Behold! My mom cleaned out her closet and found a really cute frame that she gave me. Unfortunately, it was a little too big, but I figured I could make it work. So I brainstormed a bit and decided to glue muslin in the frame to place the print on top of so the background would work with the vintage paper look of the print. I think it came out FABULOUS and now I can't wait for Valentine's Day to hand it over to my husband and see him smile!

Wanna see? Here it is, in all it's splendor.

Another example that you can give great, thoughtful gifts on a budget with just a little imagination!

Until next time,

xoxo Stacie

Time to Relax!

I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday spent with family and friends and filled with laughter and joy! We had a great time with all of our family (although it was a lot of driving and a lot of visiting) and a great new years playing board games. All of the homemade gifts were a success and I hope to continue this frugal and heartfelt tradition for many years to come. Now that the holiday dust has settled, we can really focus our efforts on our money saving goals and continue to pare down.

I've joined the '23 Day Frugal Living Challenge' (which I've mentioned before) over at Frugally Sustainable and I hope you'll join in the frugal fun! I've just put up a button on my blog as well, so just click that to be brought through to the challenge. I'll also be posting my daily frugal challenge updates on the blog, so keep an eye out for those.

With 2012 upon us I've also been thinking of other ways to bring in income. I was thinking of perhaps starting an Etsy store with some of my crocheted goodies. To any of my readers out there who use Etsy, I'd love to hear your input and advice!

Until next time,

xoxo Stacie

Week 3 & Week 4

Sorry about missing last week, with the holiday it was a little crazy around here! Week 3 was a total bust. I spent $69.35 at the commissary and $3.75 at the farmer's market (I had to have my eggs). Thankfully this week (week 4) I fared much better by spending $19.25 at the farmer's market and $36.03 at the commissary. It's still a bit over budget but this week I had to buy dog food, so that pushed us over. Basically, I'm crap at this! Only one week out of four has gone well. I'm still sticking to it though. I haven't made this weeks whole meal plan yet because I wanted to see what was good at the farmer's market first. I do know that tonight I'm making caramelized onion and blue cheese pizza which sounds absolutely fantastic!

Other than trying to save money and cooking we've been on a big time "get in shape" kick in our house. I picked up Jillian Michaels' 30 Day Shred. I've only done 2 days so far and I can feel a difference already. It's pretty fantastic. We've also been trying to go for a few runs here and there and bring the dog for more walks (Sookie approves). It makes us both feel better to be more active.

I've also got an ever-growing pile of granny squares getting ready to be made into an afghan. I picked up 8 skeins in blues and greys of Debbie Stoller's Bamboo Ewe yarn at Michael's for $1.99 each and I figured the best thing to do was to make something like a blanket with it. It's coming along nicely. We just recently got streaming Netflix for Mr. Marine's Xbox and while I'm watching random and weird indie flicks I've been knocking them out like crazy. I like having something to do with my hands while I'm sitting still.

How about you? Any projects you're making headway in? How is your budgeting going?

Until next time,

xoxo Stacie

Today I Love,,,,

These amazing necklaces (but especially this one) made by Truche on Etsy. The problem I'm having is that I love too many states! I'd need more of a charm bracelet of state love.

How about you guys, do you have any faves on Etsy? Do you sell there? I just love anything and everything handmade.

Until next time,
xoxo Stacie

Strawberry jam and other projects

I am a terrible, awful, no good, very bad blogger. Oftentimes I find little things getting in the way of sitting down and writing here. I'm trying to make myself take some time to write here, mostly because I feel I do have some good things to say (here and there, anyway).

Last weekend my friend Nicole and I went down to the Farmer's Market (ah, I love Saturdays!) and I bought a whole load of strawberries to make jam. We toiled the afternoon away washing, cutting, cooking, boiling, etc and now I have these beauties on my canning shelf ;

Sorry about the picture quality, my camera battery is dead and gosh darn it I was posting something today! So lo' and behold; a crappy cellphone picture! I am a big ol' sucker for those gingham caps and the dark red yumminess inside the jars as well. Last year my strawberry jam didn't set and I had to reprocess everything. Thankfully this year it turned out perfect! I even had some left over after eight jars that I put in the fridge and have since been smearing on my morning toast. Delicious!

I've also finished two crochet projects, which I'm proud of. I'm getting much better at reading and figuring out patterns. Ever since my mom came down and we crocheted socks I've gotten way more comfortable with a hook. Trying something really difficult when you're still a beginner makes you feel that you can tackle almost anything!

Here is my first project, a beer cap hot pad ;

It was pretty easy and I just sat in front of the TV watching Buffy knocking each one out. The only part that was tedious was sewing them all together. The reason I wanted to do this pattern is that it was very reminiscent of a hot pad my grandmother had that was made of beer caps and shaped like a bunch of grapes.

Next I made a cute little shell stitch baby hat for my friend who is expecting ;

I really like crocheting baby sized things because they come together really quickly. I still have over half a skein left of this yarn so I'm looking for a baby bootie pattern to use the rest up.

Now I'm working on Lion Brand's Acorn Shrug which, although a larger project, uses just one stitch and is simply folded and sewn to make arm holes when finished. I'm hoping to wear it to my husband's homecoming to wear over a small strapped sundress. Well, now that I have "official" homecoming dates I need something to keep me from jumping up and down with glee.

I've also had a lot of success with my container gardening! I can't wait for the lettuces to get big enough to pick and eat and for the other plants to start bearing fruit.

From the top down I have a patio tomato planted with Purple Ruffles basil, mesclun mix, bush beans, Black Krim tomatoes, basil, garlic chives, marjoram, and bush cucumbers. Not pictured is my sweet pepper mix which just wouldn't fit. Oh, and that's Sookie the infamous weenie dog looking upon her jungle with that, "I want a bite", look in her eye. As you can see things are coming along nicely in the gardening department.

Anywho, I hope you guys enjoyed seeing some of the reasons I've been lost to the blog-o-sphere lately. Plus I think these are some of the first (albeit crappy) pictures I've put on here! Woo-hoo!

I hope you all have a fantastic weekend!

Until next time,

xoxo Stacie

Pickle, pickle, who's got the pickle?

This summer while my husband was in Afghanistan I went a little canning crazy. Bread and butter pickles, pickled beets, jams, and fruit butters now fill my cabinets. The problem is I didn't realize my husbands insane and illogical pickle obsession and after making two batches of bread and butter pickles (roughly 14-16 jars) I only have two jars left! I am also a pickle fiend and the thought of my husband polishing off the last of the pickles with cucumber season so far from sight makes me a little depressed. So, I thought to myself, maybe he'll like my Asian quick pickles and leave the others alone. I think I got this recipe from an old issue of Energy Times, but I'm not sure.

Asian Quick Pickles
1-2 cucumbers, peeled and sliced into 1/4 inch rounds
(if you're using English cukes, feel free to just give 'em a scrub and use them peel and all)
fresh ginger, a piece about the size of your thumb, peeled and roughly chopped
2 garlic cloves, roughly chopped
1/2 tsp. crushed red pepper flakes
1/2 cup rice wine vinegar
a pinch of salt and pepper

Find yourself an old pickle jar and wash it thoroughly. Throw in all your ingredients and let sit in the fridge 4-6 hours. Technically, you can eat them immediately but the longer you let them sit the more the flavors mate together. I usually give the jar a shake every time I open the fridge just to keep everything mixed. All of the ingredients are a rough estimate and can be changed to your taste.

If you've never tried rice wine vinegar before you're missing out! It has a subtle sweetness that works great in marinades and salad dressings. I found my husband eating them out of the jar as a midnight snack so thankfully the last of my precious bread and butter pickles and safe and sound. You may find yourself addicted to these as well!

Until next time,
xoxo Stacie

New Year...New Goals.

Hello and a (belated) Happy New Year to all! I find myself, despite my hatred of them, always making some new year's resolutions or "goals".

This year I've crossed off the typical goal of losing weight. I'm not going to get into it now, but my weight and I have always been in a death match battle that is detrimental for both my physical and mental health. We'll call it an unhealthy obsession and perhaps someday I'll talk about it here, but right now is neither the time nor the place.

Without further ado the goals I go have go as follows;

1.) Write on this blog more!
I'm afraid I've been ignoring this cute little page for nobler efforts (ie; reading insane amounts of YA novels...no, seriously, I cannot stop) and that's something I'd like to stop doing in 2011 (not the reading, of course, but the ignoring).

2.) Get hookin'.
My mom taught me the basics of crochet when I was still living with her. Unfortunately, for one reason or another, I left my yarn and hooks by the wayside and have neglected to touch them since I've lived in NC. Well, until now. I picked them up just before the New Year and have hardly been able to put them down since. So, I would like to continue to crochet in 2011 as well as learn more stitches and conquer more difficult patterns.

3.) Find some class.
Craft class, that is. I'm vowing to take find some classes to take this year. I've found a place in Richlands that does spinning classes and I'd love to try that. The community college also offers a basic quilting class that I'd love to try. Just honing my crafty skills is something I'm looking forward to this year.

4.) Sell out!
I also want to find some way to get my crafts (or baked goods, or jams and preserves) "out there" in the world. Whether is be at a craft fair, the farmer's market, or Etsy, if I want to make some sort of living doing what I enjoy I've gotta bite the bullet and take some sort of calculated risk.

It seems I have quite a few craft related goals this year. If you do what love, it isn't considered work, right?! A girl can hope. Well, I'm off to make some tea for the hubby and I and get down to business crocheting some "wristers" for my best friend's mom. To all those in the Jacksonville area, I hope you're having a wonderful snow day and keeping warm and dry!


xoxo Stacie