Swiffer pad up-cycle 2!

So yesterday I posted the first tutorial for these. Well this morning I got to work and made the second one. Its edges are "finished" and looks nicer then my "quick and dirty" one from yesterday. I'm not picky myself but I know some people are :-)

This time I used the blue washcloth as it was larger and since I am turning it inside out I wanted to have enough fabric for this purpose.

Make sure to read the first tutorial as I skip a few sets in this one, cause why be redundant??

1.) Trim off the surged edge of the washcloth. Because we will be turning it, this will cut some of the bulk off the edge and it will be easier to get under your presser foot.

2.) Fold in half and cut along fold (you need to do it for this one.)

3.) Cut batting slightly smaller then the size of your washcloth. This will also reduce bulkiness when you turn it right side out.

4.) Measure and cut your elastic (same way as in the tutorial I Previously posted.)

5.) Layer your pad in this order:

Washcloth 

washcloth

Batting

Fold back the top two layers and line up your elastic and then pin in place.

6.) Off to the sewing machine! Sew around three of the edges. leaving one of the short sides open so you can turn this right side out!

7.) Reach your hand in, grasp the other edge and turn that bad boy right sides out!

8.) So you still have that open edge? Yup! Fold IN the edge and pin in place. (this is the ugly part of this pad.) you can go two ways at this point. You can hand stitch it using that really great invisible closing stitch (this will get rid of the "ugliness" factor) or use your machine. I went ahead and just top stitched it with my sewing machine.

9.) Trim any loose pieces of thread and TADA!! all done! The difference between this one and the one I posted yesterday is that it has finished edges. The one from yesterday has raw edges. So have fun making these! I love things that are functional, useful and can save me money. No more having to spend $10 a box on swiffer pads! When I mop I go through at least 2-3 pads each time, and there only one sided! Now I have two double sided pads! SAWEET!

Swiffer wet-pad upcycle!

We have one of those Swiffer wet jets to mop the floor of our house. I only mop once or twice a week, but I vacuum everyday. (we finally got rid of our carpeting last summer! and personally my husband did a great job of laying the new floor.) anyways, I ran out of the Swiffer pads a week or so ago, so I haven't been able to mop all that well. I just threw a towel down on the floor, plopped the Swiffer on it and went to town. Worked pretty good too, except the towel would slip or get wadded under the mop as I cleaned. So I got on Pinterest and looked up a wet pad tutorial and I found one, actually, several. Its not hard, but I didn't want to have to go by everything needed for it. (Honestly I had all but the terrycloth/fleece to make it work.) So I went rummaging around and I came up with a way to up-cycle an old washcloth for this! Its rough looking but it WORKS!! And does it really need to be pristine looking for mopping your own floors? No, I didn't think so. I will make a second one that will look more polished, but this one is for me to use at home! Quick and simple. And I like that!

Supplies:
Old washcloth (or new)
Scissors
Pins
100% cotton batting
Elastic
Sewing machine with thread






1) Turn your swiffer upside down and check your washcloth to make sure its gonna fit your swiffer! I did this by laying it over the pad area wile it was folded in half. not all washcloths are created equal as you can see in the third picture below.

 See the white washcloth in the two pictures just above? It's the same washcloth just folded differently. Turns out the Pink one was perfect for this job!

2.) Cut the washcloth down the fold. (for this tutorial I didn't actually need to)

3.) lay out your 100% cotton batting and place half the washcloth on it. Use your scissors and cut the batting around the washcloth.

Now you have two halves of a washcloth and one of cotton batting. Why add the batting you ask? Well you don't have to. But I wanted the extra padding so that the Swiffer didn't scrape through the washcloth and scratch my floor. 

4.) Now layer them up!

5.) Put your swiffer on your pad and slide your elastic under and wrap over the pad area. Cut your elastic with a bit of overlap.

6.) Take your now trimmed elastic piece and fold in half.

7.) Cut the elastic in half.

8.) Put your swiffer back on your pad and line up your elastic. You do not want the elastic to cover the spray nozzle area. 

9.) When you have the elastic lined up, take the Swiffer off, slide the elastic down and pin in place.

10.) off to the sewing machine!! Do a straight stitch all the way around the edge of your pad. make sure to use your .25 inch seam allowance (I just line it up with the edge of my presser foot.)

11.) and there you have it! A double sided reusable up-cycled swiffer wet jet pad! I used my scissors and went around the edge and cleaned it up a bit.

12.) And here is my evidence of use! It worked really well and got the crud off the floor. I have found that for a particularly stubborn spot, I step on the Swiffer head and press down while scrubbing away at it. It works! I did this with the actual swiffer pads and this new one. Like I said, it ain't pretty but it was easy and it works! Took less then 15 minutes to make an no turning it inside out or folding over edges or anything! Truly simple and functional! I want at least 3 on hand so I have two more to make. I will make a "fancy" version as well and post that later! Have fun!

Grocery Shoppen'

We have one of those little narrow pads of paper we use for a grocery list. It lives on the fridge next to the calender. I have tried to write my list based on the store layout (of the primary store we shop at, my husband is not a fan of going store to store and, honestly, neither am I.) And it doesn't really help me. Because I inevitably forget something for one section and have to add it to the bottom of the list and it just defeats the purpose of grouping everything based on location. For most people this doesn't matter, but for me it does. I am trying to be more organized (seems like a main goal in my life) and writing out a grocery list is a good way to do that and to cut back on unnecessary spending. We have a weekly budget we do our best to stick to, and lately we haven't been that great at keeping to it. So I made this to help me organize our shopping trips better. This is just a generic way of grouping things, but I have already started filling mine out and so far so good! Now the real test will be tomorrows grocery trip. Whee! Feel free to print this out for your own use!

Have respect! Not for commercial use!

The art of Macaroni

I LOVE doing arts and crafts with my daughter. Showing her how to make something fun from something so simple. She gets board easily, so I try to come up with lots of different things for her to do at home. Its either that or a constant barrage of playing candy-land and Mr. Potato head memory match (which she is really good at both.) I remember as a kid doing art with macaroni, and it was always in the original pasta color, never anything fun, unless it was manufactured that way. LOL. So I decided to make my own colored macaroni and this is how I did it. I don't think there is any perfect way to do it, but this is one method, and I found it very simple.

Supplies:
Cookie sheet
Pasta (any kind works)
Ziploc baggies (I used the sandwich size)
Food coloring (I used Wilton's)
Measuring spoons
Small breakfast spoon
Small dish
Water




1.) Pour pasta into a Ziploc baggie. Just eyeball the amount you want colored. there is no right or wrong amount. But if you want a for sure measurement do 1 cup of pasta (that's my estimation)

2.) In small dish put 1 tsp of water. You can use your breakfast spoon or something else, and dip into your food coloring. (I used the Wilton colors in the small little pots. Its a gel and it gives a better vibrancy of color.) Mix the color in with the water, breaking up all the food coloring chunks. If you don't get them all no biggy.

3.) Pour coloring into the Ziploc bag with your pasta.

4.) seal the Ziploc bag and toss the pasta with the color, massaging the bag to get any color chunks blended in.The pasta will absorb all the water you are using in short order. If you have more liquid, just add past to the bag and shake it up some more :-)

5.) Spread colored pasta on cookie sheet and set aside to dry. If you had to much liquid (as i did) then they will take a little longer to dry and they may stick together, so you will need to break them apart if you want.

6.) once its all dry create art to your hearts content!

My daughter thought this was a great time! She loves gluing anything that's not nailed down. In this image we were color grouping and counting. I wrote 1-10 on a piece of paper in the colors of the macaroni and she was gluing the same colored macaroni to the paper in the number indicated. Did that make sense? I hope so. you kids will love this!

Color Me Rad

Saturday was a great day. The rain held out for the 2013 Color me Rad run in Eugene Oregon. (around here it rains every 5 seconds it seems like) We got lucky! it held out for the 1.5 hours we were on the race grounds :-) My girl Kelly Raze of Muffin Top Chronicals was my partner in jogging hilariousness. We had a blast and cracked many a joke and the woman got me to jog a good 33-40% of the entire race. She did awesome doing about 75% jogging. I lengthened my stride to keep up with her jogging while I walked. We had a blast. Here are some pics of yesterdays festivities! Seriously awesome and we will be doing it again!

 Use before the race in our nice clean white shirts!

 Post race Sumo Pose!

 This was our team for the race :-)

 Color me rad mug Shot!

 Made Kelly and I neon hair clips we wore during the race.

I am THAT cool!