I have finally gotten my Etsy store, SLiP Shop, up and running!  SLiP is an acronym for Sustainable Lifestyle Products, and my goal is to stock the shop with a greener, more sustainable version of the things that we all use everyday.

Reusable Snack Bag

At the moment there are sandwich wraps and snack bags in the shop.  They are made with re-purposed vintage or remnant fabric, and use no plastic.  I see them as a reusable version of plastic zip top bags, that are are versatile and cheaper than the original.  I have tried to keep these about the same price as a box of plastic zip top bags, but they last a lot longer then the plastic bags, so they are cheaper in the long run.

There are a lot more products on the horizon, so check back often.

I love chalkboard paint.  I use it on just about everything.  Even my dining table is covered in chalkboard paint.  There is just one problem…. chalk.

Even if you forget about allergies, and the mess that chalk dust makes, chalk still has a serious flaw.  Chalk will not hold a point, it simply  breaks too easily.  So it is nearly impossible to write fine lines or on small surfaces with chalk.  I have seen a few new liquid chalk pens that write wonderfully, but they are very expensive (around $5 or $6 per pen).  What is a thrifty, chalkboard loving gal to do?

Buy a soap stone marker like the one pictured above.  Soap stone is an extremely soft stone.  It is so soft that a small amount of it will actually rub off on hard surfaces and leave a light mark.  This mark can be removed, but it does not rub off as easily as chalk, making it ideal for marking on items that will be handled (like the above food jars).  They can even be sharpened like a pencil, so they can write very fine lines.

Soap stone markers are traditionally used by metal workers, as they write easily on metal.  And since they are a tool they can be found, rather cheaply, at hardware stores.  My soap stone marker, seen above, was found at my local hardware store for about $2, and refills can be found for about $1 for a five pack (not that you will need them – I have used the same piece of stone for about 1 year now).

Happy marking…

Hello all.  My family has been busy of late.  We have been doing a lot of traveling since Fire Beard started law school.  A few weeks ago we stayed at his new studio on the way to visit my parents.  He has done a really good job with his place, and I hope he will let me show it to you all soon.  In the meantime, I would like to show you what we did with my parents.

Here in Florida we have a nature themed theme park called Silver Springs.  It is centered around the gorgeous natural spring flowing onto it’s grounds.  The park have glass bottom boat rides, animal exhibits, and animal shows.  It was the animal shows my kids liked the best.

Years ago, when I was about my daughter’s age, I volunteered to hold the ball python at the reptile show.  After hearing that story my daughter was determined to hold the giant snake too.  They no longer allow audience members to hold the animals during the show because the animals can be hurt by careless, or even aggressive audience members, but the nice young man running the show allowed my daughter to hold the snake after everyone else had left.  She loved it!

I was allowed to hold a corn snake which my son consented to pet (he wouldn’t touch the big snake), and the bird in the above pic got so close it actually pecked my camera.

Have you ever been to a great american park that wasn’t as famous as Disney World?  I want to know about it.

If you would like to make some tacks like these for yourself, it is really very simple.  Start with a fabric covered button kit, a few fabric scraps, and some tacks.  Make sure the buttons you buy are large enough to fit over your tacks.  If you can find them, buy the buttons that do not have a shank attached to the back.  The shanks can be taken off with a heavy duty wire cutter if you are unable to find the buttons with the plain backs.

First, remove the shanks if necessary.  Then follow the instructions on your particular button kit.  Once your buttons have been made, use hot glue to attach the tacks to the buttons.

This is a great project to use up scraps of precious fabric that are too small for any other use, as well as fabric covered buttons left over from other projects.  These buttons are also great magnet covers; but if you use the really strong magnets keep them far away from each other until the hot glue has thoroughly cooled – I know from personal experience that the magnets are stronger then the glue.

I decided to install 2 small Bygel rails and 8 Bygel containers that I picked up the last time I was at Ikea (total cost around $12 USD).  The containers hold things like colored pencils, markers, and scissors.  I also repurposed some small tin cans to hold crayons.  Under their table 2 cloth boxes I made a while ago hold paper, felt, coloring books, stickers, and other craft embellishments.  The kids started using their newly organized table almost immediately, so quickly in fact that I didn’t get a chance to take a picture of the table while it was mess free.

Now it is time to brag!  The morning after the kid’s craft table was cleaned up my daughter presented me with a project she made entirely on her own.  She turned her little shopping cart into a horse for her dolls to ride in.  I think she did a really wonderful job, and I just had to share.

Since Fire Beard Vacated his section of our office I have been transforming it into my studio.  I was inspired by some of the beautiful crafting spaces I have seen on Pinterest, to create a space that that was more organized, and more beautiful.  When the transformation is complete I will show you my entire “studio,” until then, I will show you some of the pieces I am creating to make this space my own.

This thread organizer is probably one of the most useful changes I have made in my craft area so far, as my thread organizer was constantly falling over, and allowing the spools to roll across the floor.  To make this organizer I painted an unattractive cork board that we had on hand.  I covered the cork portion with fabric (I glued it on with modpodge).  After spray painting the thread holder, I screwed it on to the cork board.  Then I mounted the whole apparatus on the wall.

You may be wondering why I didn’t simply mount the thread holder to the wall.  Well, mounting it to the cork board allowed for an additional use.

I could stick pins in the cork to the bobbins as well!

It is back to school time once again, and you know what that means, new school supplies –  Fresh notebooks, full bottles of glue, and best of all, new whole pointy crayons!  But what do you do with the old broken bits of crayon that sit neglected in the shadow of the new crayons?  You make crayon blobs.

Simply take your broken bits of crayon (paper labels removed), stick them in an oven safe mold, and melt them at 175 degrees Fahrenheit until they are well melted (about 30 minutes).

Helpful Tips:

• Use a mold that will not be used for food later, or line the mold with paper.
• Don’t be tempted to turn the temperature up, or leave them in too long, because the pigment will sink to the bottom of the mold.
• Small molds are easier for little hands.  Try not to make your crayon blobs larger than will comfortably fit in a child’s hand.

If you want to be even greener, you could try putting your filled mold in a car on a very hot day.  I know my car will get hot enough to melt crayons

When I saw the Soho Smocked Dress from Modern Top-Down Knitting, it was love at first sight.  I had to knit that dress, but that much good quality yarn doesn’t come cheap.  I began searching for good, affordable yarn, but I didn’t have much luck.  That was until, quite by accident I came across Little Knits.

I ordered a full bag of Nashua Creative Focus Superwash, and paid just over $20 for the bag, that’s about 75% off.  I suspect the yarn was overstock or something similar, because there was a limited color choice.  The yarn came in about a week after I placed my order – not bad for a trip from Seattle to Florida – through the cost of shipping was a bit high.

Overall I couldn’t be happier with my purchase, and I would encourage anyone looking for good cheap yarn to give them a look.

As you can imagine, things have been rather chaotic around here of late.  I have been preoccupied by “The Big Move,” and my crafting has suffered as a result.  The move should be over as of this post however, and then we can begin settling back into something of a routine that includes crafting!  In fact, I have big plans concerning the kid’s play area, and my own crafting space (which will be enlarged with my husband away).  I may even have a few surprises coming up.

In the meantime, I will still be looking for a job (thank you economy), figuring out new ways to save money, reusing what I already have, living naturally, and hopefully telling you all about it.

Her name is Cheep3-PO, also known as “Cheep”.  She is one of our new pet chickens.  She and her 6 sisters are one of the things that have kept me so busy of late.

Why chickens?  I have wanted chickens ever since I contracted Lyme disease a few years ago (don’t worry, it was caught very early, and treated with a round of antibiotics – I am fine now).  Our backyard is infested with ticks, and while I was researching safe and natural ways to get rid of ticks, I ran across chickens as a method of pest control.  What could be better than turning yard pests into fresh eggs?  How about also getting free fertilizer from their poo, and a garden clean up crew…

My husband still wasn’t convinced until we visited some friends in Texas, and met their chickens.  Firebeard thought the chickens would be dirty, smelly, and obnoxiously loud.  He found that they were pretty easy to clean up after, and that the girls were quiet and pleasant sounding.  Finally, he was sold.

We got 4 chicks soon after coming home from our trip, Dorothy, Rose, Blanch, and Sophia.  They were all Buff Orpingtons, from our local feed store.  Later, we got 3 more, Cheep3-PO, another Buff Orpington, Chewbraca, a dark Brahma, and Spot, an Ancona (sex still unknown).  Our dog surprised us by being extremely protective of the little birds, herding them together, and keeping other dogs away.  The chickens surprised us by following us around the yard, being extremely tolerant with our kids, and having distinct little personalities.

Have you ever thought about owning a chicken?  If you have, you should check out backyardchickens.com for more information about owning them, and your local feed store or mypetchicken.com (as few a 3 chicks per order) to start your own backyard flock.