CoopCrafts

If you’re crafty and frequently have snips of fabric and little pieces of thread left over after a project, find a jar, pretty bowl or even a bag you can hide away and save up those scraps.

Cut up the larger pieces as you go so you have a collection of skinny bits.  Once you have enough, stuff them into a clean suet bird feeder.  Early next spring, hang it in a bird friendly spot.  (Don’t quit saving up your scraps, make another for a friend!)

Hopefully your friendly neighborhood birdies will come upon this jackpot of nest building materials and fill your trees with the most colorful nests you’ve ever seen!

This would be a good lesson for a young child.  While cleaning up after a project, you can talk about how it’s good for the earth (and our personal economies) to get as much use as we possibly can out of everything.  You can also teach them about bird families, and how much Mommy and Daddy birds love their babies and prepare for them just like people do.  This just reinforces what kids already know – they are indeed the center of the universe.

When it gets cold again, your suet feeder can be used to feed the birdie families you helped in spring.  Which puts us right back to the recycling bit again … :)

When we first moved into our house, a couple things about it irked me.  One was the white tile kitchen countertops with a stripe of smaller dark jade and taupe tiles around the backsplash.  Jade and taupe just weren’t working for me.  My other pet peeve was the plastic switchplates and outlet covers.  Plastic light switch covers scream “bargain bin” to me and I’ve swapped them out in every house I’ve had.

But after moving and having to buy furnishings for a larger house, I just couldn’t justify spending money on new counters or even outlet covers.  Besides, this house has square outlets, round outlets, rockers, dimmers, quads and plain Jane switches – how would I ever find ones I liked that came in all those styles?

I decided the best option was just to work with what I already had.  (Isn’t that almost always the best solution?)  Since switchplates and tiles have a slick surface, I bought Glossies paint, meant for glass.  (Found at DickBlick.com for $3.45!)  I used metallic gold on the taupe tiles and metallic copper on the dark jade.  The tiles took two coats each.

The outlet and switch covers were all done in a mix of the gold and copper, just smooshed on together any which way, then sealed with a coat of shiny varnish for better protection.  If you do this, don’t forget to paint the tops of the screws, too.  If you push the screws into a piece of styrofoam first, it will hold the them while you paint and let them dry safely.

After nearly six years, my less than $10 worth of crafting has held up very well.  I’m still loving the light switches, but hopeful that someday I’ll have pretty new countertops!  (And yes, I have a bumpy purple wall in my house.)

My older daughter, now 16, was nearly five when she drew this family portrait.  Her little sister was about month old at the time, and apparently the baby was a huge presence in the household.  (See the big green one with three toes on each foot?  That’s the baby.  A child psychologist could have a field day with this set!)  She drew herself as the small one to the lower right, looking like she’s about to make a break for it.  I guess there’s always an adjustment period when someone joins the family.  I wish I’d had her draw a new family portrait each month to see how things changed.  Oh, the things we think of years later!

I wanted to preserve the drawing in some way that also kept it in plain sight and decided to try making some fridge magnets.  I cut out the pictures, sandwiched them between two pieces of clear Contact paper and attached an adhesive magnet to the back.  I used the type that comes in a roll, but there are nifty sheets of adhesive magnets that would probably work better.

I also had her draw pictures of her grandparents, aunts and uncles, made them into magnets and gave them to each as gifts.  She was so proud to visit and see her drawings on everyone’s refrigerators!  Many are still in use more than a decade later, and the hairstyles STILL make me laugh!

These sweet little Scottie dog stuffies were made with a free pattern from the fabulous Allsorts blog.  (Her pattern is free but not for commercial use.)  It’s a simple pattern and allows for a lot of creative additions.  You can see many different variations in the Flickr group Scottie Stuffies.   Since these puppies were going off to live with very young children, they were crafted without buttons or bead embellishments that might be choking hazards.

When I was little, I had one toy I was allowed to take to church.  It was made of felt and yarn, nothing hard that might bang against the pew or make distracting noises if I dropped it.  I called these Church Doggies because they reminded me of that “quiet church toy.”

I mailed this happy little dog off with the suggestion that he loves flowers and should be allowed to sniff them every chance he got.

Doggies love to sniff stuff.  Even stuffie doggies.

If you decide to make one, link me up with a picture!  I’d love to see it!

Last Christmas I went a little overboard with fabric gift bags.  I cut a simple stencil out of card stock, traced it lightly with pencil directly onto canvas bags and painted with gold fabric paint.  To leave the possibility of regifting the bags to others, I made tags with a similar sparkly bronze paint rather than painting names directly on the bags.  I appreciated the little bit of extra shimmer under my tree before they went on to their new homes.

I made personalized gift bags for my youngest nieces and nephew keeping in mind that kids are naturals at creative play and that the bags could be a big part of the gift, too.  I’d made them play food, so “Cooper’s Store” might have started as a grocery store, then gone on to be a book store, sporting goods store or pet store.  Who knows what kinds of stores those kids have owned since then!

The green branch at the bottom was the Cooper’s Store logo.  They’re a very environmentally friendly store you see, what with the reusable canvas bags and all.

The bags were a great way to transport gifts and we had almost no trash from our gift giving.  Do I dare try a new design this year?  (If I do, I’ll be sure to let you know!)