Working hard, but hardly working

Hardy har har, Katie.

I know, I know. That post title is one of the lamest sayings ever, but in my current life state, it applies. Big time.

It’s Monday, right? Well, I wouldn’t know that by the way the last 2 weeks have shaped up. Namely, that I haven’t hauled my cookies into work in that long. I spent a couple hours in my office each day the week following the end of May term, but since then? I’ve been working from home.

Wait now, don’t misconstrue that photo. Sure, I’ve spent some quality time on that swing there. But, i earned my time there!

I sealed the entire swing, which was homemade by some guy my dad knows and came to me in raw, untreated wood form. It is now 100% waterproof, which I know because I spilled water on it when I was watering my plants yesterday.

As if that weren’t enough to earn my rest time, I also sewed those pillows. I bought some super cheap pillows and just covered them in an envelope-style pillow cover. No pattern. Easy.

Speaking of sewing, I also made this “Slouchy Bag”.

I got the pattern from 1-Yard Wonders, a sewing book that my friend got me years ago. You’d think I’d have exhausted the patterns in it by now, but I am still finding great things to make in it. Especially now with my new house.

And speaking of my new house….I’ve been working up a storm on some little and some not-so-little projects.

See that cute shelf there? I found a really cheesy looking shelf at the Goodwill for $2.50 and painted it with spray paint.

It was a shelf for a little girls room, with stars and moons on the pegs. I just unscrewed them and added a few stickers to cover the ugly peg ends, and it was as good as new.

Too bad my potholders don’t actually fit around those pegs. Damnitall.

Also, spray paint? Best thing ever. EVER.

Seriously. This took a few coats to cover completely, but it was just spray, spray , spray, walk away, repeat.

I spent the whole weekend just cracking away on my ever growing to-do list. I finished a lot of other kitchen projects, and no surprise here, but that room is definitely my favorite room in the house. I’m going to be a tease and wait to show you the other things I’ve done until it is totally finished.

To make up for my teasiness, here’s one more sewing project I finished this weekend. It’s even kitchen related.

See the environmentalist in me refuses to buy paper napkins. No really. I haven’t bought any napkins in over 5 years. Yes, really.

That’s all well and good when you live alone, but when your entire family comes over to help you move, but you’ve thrown out most of your cloth napkins because they were old and holey, it might become a problem.

Imagine six people (3 dudes…not that dudes are messier than girls, but…well, they are.) eating BBQ’ed brats, burgers, veggies, and lots of food…

You understand.

Maybe bibs would be more appropriate?

Cloth napkins are a great way to use up scraps of fabric. Stuff that you can’t get rid of, but there isn’t really enough of it to make anything substantial with.

Plus? EASY. We’re talking 4 straight lines of sewing easy. Even my messy family could make these.

What projects have you been working on lately? Anyone else need a bib when they eat? Thoughts about porch swings?

Hit me up with some comments!

Grab bag: More green than red

There are a ton of these kinds of lists, so what makes me think mine is adding anything to the mix?

Nothing. And it probably isn’t, butt regardless I wanted to write down what I am doing to keep the green in the red and green season. (Wow. That was cheesy. Even for me.)

Maybe what sets my list apart is that these are all easy (and cheap!) things that anyone can do without a lot of effort. In fact, some of things on the list require less effort than their alternatives. How’s that for a win?

Katie’s list of ways to “green” the season:

1. Recycle gift bags. I do this all the time. I’m feeling ambitious right now, so I’m saying that I’ll make, from my fabric stash, all the gift bags too. So the bag itself is a gift. We’ll see if it actually happens. (I should also note that I’ve been saying this every year for about 5 years. Hasn’t happened yet.)

But you don’t have to make a fabric bag. You can just reuse a bag from a gift you received. Or wrap your presents in newspaper. Or old t-shirts. Or fabric scraps. Or….you get the idea.

2. Just say no to Christmas trees. After yesterday’s post, I’ve decided to forego a tree for another year. I mean, I’m 32, I haven’t had one yet, and I have never felt like my holiday season suffered, so I think I’m safe.

3. Don’t send cards. Save the paper and the energy to mail them (not to mention the $$) and send some hilarious ecards.

Or better yet, CALL someone to wish them happy holidays. You remember phone calls right? They are what your texting machine was actually designed to do.

4. Along those lines, use the cards you get as gift tags. My mom was doing this back in day, before being “green” was hip and cool. (Its funny though, that now that it is cool to do it, she doesn’t anymore. Moms. Forever uncool. Hehe. Kidding.)

5. Give money. Be honest; you’d rather get money, so why not just give it too? Skip the madness of shopping altogether.

This has a couple added benefits – more time to do things that aren’t shopping in crowded malls and….well okay, that’s all I can think of. But still. That’s a big one.

Things like making all those fun crafts you’ve (I’ve) been wanting to make forever but you haven’t had time for.

And if your list isn’t 17834 pages long like mine is, here’s a list of 30 craft projects for the holiday season. Get going!

Plus, as an added bonus, most of these tips will also save you some green. (Money? Dollars are green? Get it?) Oooh, that was bad.

What are you doing this season that’s “green”?

Winner of the giveaway is Christin! Email me with your address and I’ll get your package out in the mail ASAP