04-15-2011

Guestpost from Kristen @ 1 Sew Green Mama

Hi! I am Kristen from 1 Sew Green Mama. Over at 1 Sew Green Mama I am busy, sewing, knitting, gardening or working on being as green as I possibly can… on a budget.


I am so excited to be here at Lady Bug Blessings. I love Kristen’s idea’s and I absolutely love Handmade Tuesdays. I was inspired to do 2 whole birthday gifts hand made after reading her post.


Being new at this, it’s my first time guest blogging and Kristen was so kind to help me with all the details and she has the best name! So, getting onto today, I picked the tutorial that seems to be a favorite over at my blog and here it is.


When my son started preschool I started thinking how much waste he was going to have with his lunch. I knew the preschool wasn’t recycling so I wanted food containers that didn’t have a bunch of toxins in them and that were re-usable. So, I searched around and found little tins that were nice, but expensive. I bought him 1 for his yogurt, but I needed more. I did also find a reusable sandwich wrap, it was cloth on the outside and plastic on the inside. It was also washable. That’s when I thought of the snack packs! I was so excited. I had some old scrap fabric that was in strips. Not much I could do with, but C sure loved it. So, I thought that would be perfect. Now, it took almost a year to figure out what plastic to use and I came up with the food saver bags. They are washable and they are food safe with no voc’s or bpa’s. :-)


Here are my snack packs. The kids LOVE them. Plus when they get too dirty for a good wiping with water, I just throw them in the wash.

Now, I am going to attempt a tutorial. Since I am new at this whole blogging thing, I have never done one. But those snack packs are so easy and quick, (literally 15 minutes to make 2), that I thought I had to do it.

First, here is what you need:
1. Roll of food saver bags
2. Sew on velcrow
3. Cute fabric
4. Thread
First, cut the fabric in the shape above, then cut the food saver bag in about the same shape. Lay them right sides together (with the food saver bag, it’s the inside part of the bag). I like the bumpy side better, it’s less slippery, but I use both. Can’t waste any! Then sew around the edges leaving the bottom open. I like to cut the plastic after I sew incase it slips a bit. 

Next, turn it right side out, fold under the bottom and sew. Sorry, I forgot a picture of this.

Then you sew on the top Velcro.

Next, fold it up like you are done to mark where the other velcro goes. I’ve tried to sew it like a bag first then the velcro, but it makes sewing the second piece on a pain.

Don’t pin, just hold it there. The pins make little tiny holes in the plastic. Sew the velcro. After that fold it like a bag and velcro it closed. Sew the sides closed and top stitch around the top flap and you are done.

Happy snacking!



04-08-2011

Guest Post from Sarah @ The Bird’s Papaya

Hi Friends!

I’m Sarah from The Birds Papaya. I’m so happy to be guest-blogging here today at Kristen’s fabulous Ladybug Blessings! I love her fantastic ideas & link up parties, don’t you?!

So, you may want to know a bit about me (or not…but whatevs…scroll down otherwise). I’m a Canadian, Jesus-loving, Diet Coke drinking, Mom of 3 (4 & under) and blogger. Phew. Yep. That’s me!

My blog consists of the following: crafts, home decor, recipes, family life & a little bit of random…oh…and lots of giveaways & reviews from great little shops online.

Come by and visit me at The Birds Papaya and see some of my other projects like the Scrabble Tile Pillow or the Book Sling or come and hear about how I re-did our Master Bedroom using things we had sitting in storage (did I mention I’m all about being frugal too?).

Thanks to Kristen for letting me stop by today and share a little something-something with you all. I hope you enjoy :)

Much Love!
Sarah

I’m a sucker for apothecaries and hurricane vases because there are so versatile! Fill em up with different things as the seasons change and on you go. 
Easy peasy decorating!


I had seen some apothecaries over at Dollar Store Crafts. See theirs HERE

I bought all my supplies, by driving 45 mins to the states bc I wasn’t having any luck here! Dollar Tree is amazing. You lucky Americans. 
We have a rockin’ Dollarama, but they didn’t have the stuff I needed.

Before I got going, I saw this post by Two Twenty One and laughed because we were both on the same crafting track this week.
I LOVE her use of split peas as a vase filler! LOVE!! Check it out. 
She was inspired by this post over at My Blessed Life. 

It’s really just a domino effect of copy cat crafts
love it.

But hey, we all do crafts for ourselves, and blog to inspire
So please…COPY CAT this! 

Here’s my tutorial. 
Because mine are just slightly different from the rest.

My supplies:
3 vases, 2 tall candlesticks, 2 short ones
The Steps:
Remove stickers.
I don’t know WHY stores put stickers on glass that leave goop. When you don’t have Goo Gone, go to another source…I tried orange. It worked to a degree, still scraped away for a good 15 mins! 

The glue!
I used Amazing Goop’s Craft Goop.
Worked great.
Apply it to the candlesticks.
To get different heights, I stacked one candlestick holder on top of another 
(on this one below)

Place vase on top.
dry dry dry….
Fill with pretty things.
I went with some mini faux pairs.
But then I got bored with them, so I pulled out some dollar store flower fakeys, and yanked off the heads and threw ‘em on top. Worked!
Squeal!!! I love them.

Here’s the financial breakdown:
3 Vases from Dollar Tree = $3
4 Candlesticks (2 were in a 2pk) from Dollar Tree= $3
2pks of pears from Dollarama = $2
Flower heads from Dollar Tree = $1
TOTAL $9 for three filled hurricane vases!!

It really doesn’t get much cheaper than this friends.
04-03-2011

Chocolate Covered Oreos? Yes Please!

So I won a giveaway @ Kim’s Kandy Kreations for a dozen chocolate covered oreos. Amazing, right? I could not wait to get them! Let me tell you, I was not disappointed!!


Look how pretty they are! The packaging was perfect. They even sat outside last night and were still super fresh. None came broken or crushed. Perfect. You can also order them in regular chocolate, I just really like white chocolate.


Check out the beautiful flowers on the top! They came in lots of different colors!!


I mean, really. They could not have been any more delicious!! I really could have eaten the whole box right then and there!

If you head on over to her site @ kimskandykreations.net you can order your own for $18.

———-
P.s. She did not ask me to post a review or do any of this. I seriously LOVED them this much that I wanted to :)

04-02-2011

Tennessee Welcomes You

I went to Chattanooga today to see Christina & Anna who I was in Australia with. It is in the middle for all of us… Anna from Alabama, Christina from Georgia and me from across Tennessee. We went to Mexican and walked around shopping. It was so great to see them!! We now know to make sure we take into account the time zone change (central to eastern) as Anna and I arrived on Central time and Christina arrived on Eastern. She was the correct one as Chattanooga is Eastern time.

The funny thing is when you go from Nashville to Chattanooga you cross into Georgia and back out :)

And I really cannot understand why there are so many fireworks stores on the interstate, does anyone know??