church bag

When you go to church for three hours every Sunday you end up needing to carry a lot of stuff. Books, quiet toys, drawing paper and colored pencils, a drink and snack for the baby, and so on.

The bag I had wasn't working well. It was a cavernous tote bag with no way to organize it and when I cleaned it out I found approximately 6 pounds of crushed cheerios hiding at the bottom. Lovely.


Luckily, Michael found this bag hidden in the back of his closet. He got it for free at work several years ago. It is made from a heavy duty canvas and has many pockets and compartments. It holds so much with out being big. But, it is UGLY. I am not one to sport logos. So the obvious solution was to cover those unsightly logos!

From my stash, I grabbed some fabric that coordinated with the bag. I folded the raw edges under and topstitched it right on to the bag. Problem solved!

I really didn't dress to match my bag this morning, I swear. I am really drawn to yellow and gray. Did anyone notice that all the giveaway items were yellow and gray? I think I might be obsessed!

the poopy clutch

Melissa Esplin has a great tutorial for a diaper and wipes holder that she calls a poopy clutch. clever, right? it corrals the diapers and wipes so they don't take over the purse.


the tutorial has options for leather, vinyl or fabric. i initially wanted to use leather for mine but the smallest piece of leather i could find was about $40. while i could have made several clutches with that one piece of leather i only need one clutch. luckily i was able to find a remnant piece of white vinyl for a couple of dollars.


the lining is 100% cotton and i used heat and bond to fuse the lining to the vinyl. i bought the button post at Tandy Leather Factory for $1.30.


this is a really simple project- there is no sewing involved! the total cost was less than $8 and i no longer have bunched up diapers cluttering my purse. hooray!

spray paint is my friend

the first thing i ever spray painted was the locks on my windows. this was back in 2005, when we had just moved in.

who wants to spend $75 on new hardware for windows that are over 30 years old when a $3 can of spray paint can do the job?



recently i have had a few more spray paint projects:

1- the little orange votive and the blue candle sticks were all tarnished brass. i bought them at a Habitat for Humanity Restore for 50 cents each.


























2- these white vases i got at a local store for 87 cents each.











i painted one orange because i love orange and the other red to go with my valentine decor.





3- i got this pewter footed bowl at a local consignment store for $3. i actually liked the pewter but i am trying to add more color to my home so i decided to go ahead and paint it. i am really happy with how it turned out. i think it might be my favorite so far. it makes a perfect place to store our keys.