Some Things Never Change

I still love ice cream (even the fake stuff!).


I still love saving money.


I still make this face.


I'm still interested in the USS...er, I mean Russia.


I still twirl my hair.


I still sell at craft fairs.


I'm still a hippie.


But some things do....

I could never be mistaken for a boy.


I'd never be caught dead wearing this fanny pack.


I'm never eating at McDonald's ever again.

The Finished Product

I gave you a peak at the cloth pads I was working on. Well, after more like 2 or 3 hours (not the one hour that I predicted), they're done!

In addition to photos, I thought I'd re-answer some of the questions asked in the comments of the last post, for everyone's benefit.


(Yes, the flame fabric might just be my favorite.)

Q: What are the snaps for?

A: I put them on the flaps to keep the pads in place. If you do an Etsy search, you can see what different styles of pads look like. They almost all use snaps. Snaps last longer than Velcro, and are nicer to the rest of your laundry.


Q: So what kind of fabric do you make them out of?

A: The ones I'm working on now are flannel, towel, towel, windsuit, flannel. :-) The windsuit material gives it a little waterproofness.

Q: How do you take care of used ones? And how long do they last?

A: Before I got pregnant, I would rinse them in cold water until the water ran clear, then keep them in a closed bucket of water and baking soda. Then I'd wash them in hot water every couple days. Now (when I start needing them again) I think I'll rinse them and throw them in with the dirty diapers (Which are in a dry pail and get washed in hot water every day). This is because it will be easier since I'm washing diapers anyway, and because it's unsafe to keep a bucket of water around with a toddler.

Depending on how many you have, what they're made out of, and how you care for them, they can last up to 5 years.


And there you have it.

Also, although I planned to serge around the edges of these (as I serged the flaps and the pantyliners I made that I didn't show you photos of), alas, my serger is wimpy. It couldn't handle all those layers. Phooey. Zig-zag stitch plus walking foot, to the rescue! (Which, by the way, I scored at an estate sale for $30. Sounds like a lot for a sewing machine presser foot, doesn't it? Well, they regularly sell for $50+ on eBay. Yeah.)

Sneak Peak

Here's the project I'm working on at the moment.


Yep, I hear the gasps. Those are pads. Menstrual pads. For me to use. I was reluctant to post about them (with photos), because they are, indeed, taboo. But then I thought, "When has that ever stopped me?" So here they are.


My husband has agreed to give me 2 hours a week when I am completely off mommy duty. I feed Lucy, then I can do whatever I want for an hour, twice a week. Mostly that means craft. I think I only need one more hour to get these done. There are 20 of them.


And they'll have snaps! which came in the mail yesterday. Woot.

Nursing Mommy Trail Mix

Because motherhood is a journey...

OK, I couldn't even type that with a straight face.

I thought today, since I just finished making more of this wonderful stuff, that I'd share with all of you. But I'm not sharing the actual mix -- you have to go make your own! (Although honestly, if you come up to me in church and say, "Jessie, I'm hungry..." I'll give you some.)

I ate quite healthfully while I was pregnant with Babby. I avoided sugar and white flour and tried to load up on the protein and dairy fats. After I gave birth, I went crazy. I ate whatever I wanted, whenever I wanted. And I was hungry all. the. time. What most women do while they're pregnant, I did after I was done. This included eating an entire bag of dark chocolate chips in less than a week. Gah. Then I realized 1.) That's not the best way to nourish a nursing baby, and 2.) I got really cranky without the chocolate. So I came up with this solution:


Nursing Mommy Trail Mix! (The name is a work in progress -- got any suggestions? The bawdier, the better!)

This beautiful snack food consists of:
--crispy almonds
--crispy walnuts or pecans
--dried cranberries
--dried cherries
--Ghirardelli 60% dark chocolate baking chips

"Crispy" nuts means that you buy un-messed-with nuts, soak them in salt water for at least 6 hours, then dry them out in a food dehydrator or warm oven (not over 165 degrees). They turn out all sweet and crispy and awesome.

[Side note: If you haven't heard my story about why soaking nuts and grains makes them tasty and good for you, here it is. There's a technical explanation with a bunch of words that are hard to pronounce, but I like this one a lot better.
Nuts and grains are seeds, right? And seeds are meant to grow in the ground and make more food, right? Well, they're built quite well for that. So well, in fact, that they are equipped with ways to pass through a digestive system and still wind up in the ground, growing something! BUT. If you soak the seeds before you eat them, they start growing, and in essence turn into a vegetable! That means they're a lot easier to digest and much better for you. It's like magic!]

I can make about 3 quarts of this for under $20. So it's not particularly cheap, but it's sooooo good.



So anyway, I eat this trail mix instead of just eating chocolate chips. I get some protein and some good fats and some fruit. I keep a jar of it by my nursing nest (the love seat in the living room) with my water bottle and the basket of things I always seem to need (pens and pencils, nail file, thermometer, breast pads, baby nail clippers, etc.). It's the best!

Diaper Covers

I made some diaper covers. Lucy has three that are too small, three that are too big, and one that's juuuuust right. But now she has three that are just right, because I traced the one that fit to make a pattern for the other two. And here they are.


(Fleece from Freecycle/thrift store) Actually, the dark blue used to be an airline blanket.


Felted sweater from Freecycle. It came pre-felted! The leg cuffs were the sleeve cuffs, and the waistband was the neck. Turned out a lot better than I expected.

Sorry, no action shots... Yet.

And yes, I do feel better now that I've crafted something. Thanks for asking. :-)

Craft Room, Finale

Well, the craft room is completed. I mean, there's still some stuff sitting around in piles, but that's how it'll be anyway, so I'ma call it done.

Here's how it looked with all the fabric piled up in it before I put it all away.


I should have taken photos as I was sorting the fabric, but I just wanted to get it done!
I sorted them into types and then decided where each type would go. As I put them away, I took out what I didn't need (OK, what I didn't want), and set it aside for garage sale or the supply shop.

And here is the finished product!





That's right, I'm already crafting. I was desperate to make some more cloth wipes and diaper covers for Lucy. After that, new personal hygiene products for me, about 4 months worth of mending, more shipping envelopes, and more Scrabble coasters. Whew! Lucy, you best get to taking longer naps!

Weekend Thrifty Finds

It's time for more brag-- I mean, sharing concerning last weekend's thrifty finds. I hit up one ginormous estate sale and a medium-sized flea market. The flea market yielded a $10 cordless weed eater (yay!) with a charger power cord (yay!)... that turned out to be from an old school Nintendo (booo!). That was exciting. "Why isn't it charged yet?" "Maybe the battery is shot?" "...Well, there's yer problem!" An actual charger was ordered and is on its way.

The estate sale, however. My goodness. There was so. much. stuff. Everywhere. Stuff. I came home with about half what I could have, including:


Records. I can't decide whether to keep Mama Cass or give her to Becky. (I mean, I would give it to Becky without question if she had a record player, but...)



Books for turning into journals. I've actually made a journal from another copy of that same edition Little Women, and it sold, so I figured, "Hey, why not?"



Build your own stamp set. After finding that toy printing press last week, I think I'm obsessed.




Big-ass pot. (Excuse my language, but that's really the best way to describe it.) I'm seeing insane amounts of turkey stock, and beer. But not at the same time.



For scale.

(That is, either to show you how big the pot is, or how skinny my babby is, or both.)

Craft Room, part 3

In case you're new to this blog, I recently moved and gained a craft room. (Yay!) However, I have a three-month-old daughter, so it is taking me an inordinate amount of time to get it all organized. (Boooo!) So I've been posting update photos. The first two posts are here and here.

The major improvements lately are
1.) The middle of the floor is almost completely clear, which means everything but the fabric is almost completely put away (which isn't saying too much, considering the massive amounts of fabric currently living in the garage.)
and
2.) Pretty ribbon holders!

Niiiice...

I took 12" dowel rods that I found with the cake decorating supplies at Walmart, cut slits into the ends with a jigsaw (actually, the husband did that part), and basically made a triangle around the dowel out of string. The string slips into the slits on the ends of the dowels, and then ties in a knot at the top.


And here is the famous Britney Spears shelf (because it's tall, thin, and shallow). Har dee har har. Come to think of it, we should really update our pop culture references... Any suggestions?

Blog mentions

Here's the latest (short) round-up of blog mentions for my Etsy shop:

An interview I did for this ephemera blog.

My board game coasters were picked for this post of Monopoly cuteness!

Yay!


(Complete side note: As I typed the word "round-up", I felt a surge of anger, due to the fact that I just watched this documentary.)

Estate Sale scores!

The husband, the babby, and I hit up the Farm Market and two estate sales this weekend (or as we like to call them, "Estáte Sáles!" as if it were Spanish, and we were the Unconscious Argentinean). I was completely unprepared for the absolute haul we came away with. Observe:

i
A picture collage frame (I had been looking for one) and an amateurish painting in an awesome frame, which will be spray-painted black (the frame, not the painting) in order to display some art we got for our wedding (that was over 3 years ago). Yeah. It's about time. $3 each.



Embroidered table runner (50 cents), Sister Act (love it!) (25 cents), and a 1952 yearbook. Yearbook = major score. It was originally $15, but while we were browsing, the man announced everything was 75% off. Hello, $3.75!



And at that same sale, the husband found pipes. Soooo many pipes. Every time I walk into any type of sale and he stays in the car, he says, "If you see any pipes in there, let me know!" Well, he found these. They were originally $20 and $25, down to a total of $22.50. He only had $10. We were in the process of negotiating a loan when the man announced the 75% off. I gladly gave him the extra $1.25. Oh, and the ties are: jogging man, baseball player, sail boats. Husband has claimed the boats, but the other two will probably end up in crafts. ($1 each)



Hello, gorgeous! Sunbeam mixer with two bowls, juicer attachment, and manual. I made a bee line to this thing, lugged it to an outlet, and plugged it in. Success! Nothing was priced at this sale, so I nonchalantly asked how much. $10. I will take it.



Box of rick rack (50 cents).



And here's the most fun acquisition of the day, in my opinion -- a toy printing press! I saw this box of stuff in the garage and asked the kind man for a price. He said, "Do you know what this is?" I said, "Yes." He then said things like, "This thing is great. There's still ink in there! We had a lot of fun with that." I told him it looked like a lot of fun. He said, "I don't know how much that would go for in the right place, but you can have it for $5." Sold! Are you kidding me? I would have killed for something like this as a 7 year old.





It's got ink and little letters and trays to stick in the press and tweezers and paper. It's fabulous.



I made it work! Hello!