Make your own baker's twine

I remember going to the baker's as a child and watching them wrap the boxes in that red and white twine. Now there are so many different colors you can buy. But why buy when you can make?

I stumbled upon (literally) this great tutorial for making your own baker's twine. I already have a ton of Sharpies on hand so I went to Walmart to get a ruler (25 cents) and the crochet thread ($2.28).
If you get the thread at Michael's or Joann's using a coupon you could probably pay even less. I had masking tape but you could use almost any tape if you aren't planning to use the ruler for anything else.

I had the little cardboard winders on hand already. They are perfect for keeping the twine from getting tangled.

I can't wait to tie up Garrett's birthday gifts. It's so colorful and fun. You could even make multicolor twine.

Fun with Washi Tape

I can't help it. I've gotten caught up in the washi tape craze.  One look at pinterest and you can see all the cool things you can do with it.
I was bored the other night and decided to decorate the back of my tablet.  I want to redo it when I have some more time. But not bad for a first time.

The Luggage Project

For many years Ben has kept his magic cards in this old fashioned train case. He sold his cards but I wouldn't let him get rid of the case. 
It's a Relco brand, Joyce Lane style case from the 40s-50s. But it's in bad shape.

It's going to need a total overhaul. I don't have time to do it all at once so it will happen bit by bit (hopefully with updates).
Here's what I need to do:
Replace the mirror.
Reline the interior
Make a new snap on zipper pouch
Make new elastic strap
Paint and stencil the outside
replace the handle

Tea towels turned bread bags

I don't really have a ton of cute tea towels. For me they were functional for drying dishes. Now we've started baking our own crusty bread (really simple and delicious recipe) I need bread bags.
Plastic bags don't breathe and keep moisture in. Paper bags get tossed out. But linen, linen makes perfect bread bags.

So I gathered some of my tea towels and made simple drawstring bread bags.  I've saved so much cord and ribbon that I used what I had in my stash as drawstrings.

Step 1: Seam up the sides.  I used my serger for this. You can use a regular machine and sew up the sides or do french seams.

I really love my serger

Step 2: Fold the top down to make a casing for your drawstring.  Since the top of the towel already has a finished edge you don't need to have it doubled under.

Step 3: Insert string.

Step 4: Put the bread in the bag. Try not to eat it.

You may notice there is no bread in this bag. That's because we need to make more. These bags are so easy to make and great for gift giving instead of wrapping paper.

Flannel stash 7/8/13

Flannel stash 7/8/13, a photo by teawithfrodo on Flickr.

so much flannel

Business card holder

My amazing friend Laura made me this Sculptey creation today.
I love it and I'm excited to show it off.

And we're back

we arrived home early Sunday morning from our trip.
2705 miles driven.
I was going to do a post about how to keep children occupied or what to expect but Garrett was amazing.

Summertime is busy but Garrett is doing so well there will be an update post on him soon.