Absolutely Brilliant!!

I was discussing with a friend about how my 6yo has worn through the knees of almost all the jeans i bought him to start Kindy with. As a parent, its super super frustrating to find reasonably priced clothing for kids as it is, and then to have him come home with holes in the knees from playground play is enraging at best.

Mr. Chris happened to find a cool blog with a really cool tip, reinforce those knees BEFORE they get trashed. http://thefrugalgirls.com/2010/01/how-to-prevent-knee-holes-in-jeans-and-pants.html

I took this one step further because there was no way i was going to spend almost $2 per pair of jeans when i can get a 17 x 36 piece of thermabond for $2.45/yd. (that is nearly 30 4x6 patches!) I got the heavy duty no-sew stuff for applique work. I bonded it with my iron to scraps from a pair of my jeans that were just plain worn out...almost more hole than jeans! and took care of knees on 8 pairs of kid jeans with one leg, and still have plenty of material and thermabond left over.

only tip with that method: make sure you round the corners on your patches so they don't peel up! and try not to dry jeans on hi heat, always safer to go with low.

Canning-mania!!!

I have jumped into the revered art of Food Storage. Not just shoving food into the freezer, or canning some jams or pickles...nope, i am canning things that must be canned by pressure canner! So far i have put up Pinto Beans, Baked beans, veggie beef soup, and Beef stock. I have chicken---yes CHICKEN-- processing as i write this, and some chicken broth on deck to go in later today, and some apples in the fridge awaiting peeling/coring to be made into apple sauce (it can be just Water Bath canned).

Its not because the world is 'ending', or Jesus is on the next train through Clarksville, or Zombies are around the corner (ok, there are but we don't talk about them..)...but rather WHY NOT? Why not know exactly what is in your food? Why not have home-cooked convenience food at your fingertips for a fraction of the cost to get it from the grocery store? In jars that can be washed and re-used time and time again? The only waste is the lids used for canning, but i am planning to remedy that in the future with some Tattler Brand reusable canning lids.

My family has already gleaned from the bounty already put away, and is super excited every new batch i put up.

Snappy Snappy!

sometimes my world just needs snaps. Snaps on aprons, snaps on towels, snaps on cloth diapers, snaps to make some things in my life easier.

i have thought long and hard about selling these products, but really who would buy them? The market is actually pretty small in my opinion, and i would rather share the idea for free than capitalize on it in an over-capitalized world. especially when i know that you can do this yourself as well with jsut a small investment in the right equiptment! My price/labor is minimal, it literally takes me 2 minutes to add snaps to something, and then i put my stuff away and move on with my day. I couldn't imagine the time i COULD spend manufacturing items for sale! The clutter and backstock would be epic.

i am more than happy to add snaps to items FOR people for a small cost of equiptment and time, around $2/snap ...especially since everyone likes a different style of towel or apron ;).

Here are a few samples of what i have done with snaps:

Vintage Apron, Added snaps so that the top ties crossed my back.

Dish towel. Zach got tired of them always being on the floor, so i fixed it. They can also be used for a child (or adult) bib.

snap detail.

I had added snaps to my cobbler aprons because the ties wouldn't stay tied. Then i gained weight. I needed just a TINY bit more room, so i cut the handles off a reusable bag that one of the dogs ate (yes, i have a habit of saving usable things...shhh) and added snaps to each end to make it so my apron fit me better. I can barely function without an apron as you can tell from the horror that is the vintage apron...it was Battle Birthday Cake that day...

Snap detail. I also added snaps so i can snap one of my dish towels to my apron to keep it handy for hand wiping.