Doggy Door Re-Do

Here's another little handy dandy project I did this weekend--I slip covered the doggy door. Now before you go thinking I'm someone who likes to keep the couch under a clear vinyl cover, let me just say this is an upcycling project and not one for purely decorative purposes.

You see, that little door goes into the front foyer, which has a coat closet and 2 additional doors into the large rooms downstairs {the den and living room}. That little room doubles as a dog house for our furry little fellas, and they sure like it that way. Apparently they like the room so much they wore the plastic/rubber door out within a year of installing the dog door. We looked into a replacement door, but it would've been a) more plastic to wear out and throw away in a relatively short time, and b) cost almost as much as a whole new doggy door.

We discussed options, which included a hinged wooden replacement, and decided to install a fabric option. I took the old doggy door, which tore off right at the part where it attaches to the door, and made a fabric sleeve, slipped it in there, then added fabric reinforcement along the top, where the screws go through to attach the door to the frame. I used an extra 5 layers for the reinforcement to *hopefully* keep this door up for a while longer than the original part. If not, no worries--the cloth is cotton and I can just throw it into the compost and sew a new cover out of a stronger material.

So, whatd'ya think? Tacky or cute? Is it worth it to fork over another $40 to have a "normal" looking doggy door?

Scrimping to Spend

'Tis the season for over-indulgence, spending freely, and lots of consuming. That's okay, really. I'm okay with that. I like shopping and I really like gift giving, but where's the balance in all that?
I rationalize my spending by choosing where/what to spend money on. One thing that screams waste is the plastic dish scrubber. I feel guilty buying them. In fact, I feel so much guilt that I tried to grow loofahs last year to replace the plastic, but they were mislabeled seeds and I actually grew delicata squash. I have since paid way too much for coir scrubbers, but know their time is limited.
Enter the onion bag. Scrunch it up so it's nice and frilly (lots of surface material for scrubbing action), sew a few stitches through the center to keep it in said scrunched up shape and voila! Dish scrubby without excess plastic waste!
I used a sturdy upholstery weight thread to sew it together, then attached a loop of thread to it so I can hang it to dry, too.
Are you scrimping in some ways to spend in others? What sort of crafty recycling are you doing these days?

Okay, okay, I'm a little {unfashionably} late to the party.
From here until they're all gone, I'm donating $5 from each calendar sale to Wheels for Henry. I *think* I have 30 left, so it's around $150 we {as in you + me} can pitch in and give to the cause!

Love the one you're with

Sometimes the "season" can get too festive, making gift buying stressful and the whole thing a tiresome ordeal. You and me, we both know that's not what it's all about.

Gifts are supposed to be a manifestation of love, right?

Well, what do you do when you've got little ones to buy for...the two legged kind that already has boxes full of plastic, noisy, light up toys, or the four legged kind that just deserve a little something for always being there with unconditional love and admiration.

These gift suggestions work just as well for parents of the two-leggeds and four-leggeds as they do for the little ones themselves, and if you're looking for something a little less tangible, I've got some ideas for those kinds of gifts, too.

For the wee little peeps: Plan Toys will not lead you astray: innovative, imaginative, ecological, and timeless.

Too many toys for your tot already? Why not start a 529 and ask family members to contribute to the future good of your little one.

For the Cat Lover or Miss Kitty herself:
Akemi Tanaka cat bed
Eco-Me cat grass kit
Planet Dog makes a cat toy
Square Cat Habitat Itch
Firstrax litter pod

The Pupster that deserves more than a pat:
Deadly Squire dog bed
Bill Pickles treats. . .any of 'em
Biodegradable Business Bags keep puppy
parasites out of our waterways
Orbee anything, but these little treat bulbs
sure are cheery!

An alternative to buying something for the pet (or pet owner) that has everything: Take a cause for the paws and give to a local animal rescue. Lots of them need blankets, detergent, beds, toys and tons of other stuff. You can give a good or give some cash, whatever you choose, animals are always a worthy cause. Find a rescue near you through pets911.

Subtle Seasonal Changes

Hello Monday! You're a welcome treat to a very busy weekend. {Hmmm, how often do I get to say that?!?}
We started the weekend off with a holiday party, which spawned a last-minute-DIY-host-gift: homemade coffee liqueur. I used up the remainder of the rum from the vanilla extract project and created what should be a close approximation to Tia Maria. I followed the 2nd recipe here--except! (because there is always an exception, isn't there??) I used vanilla sugar for an extra vanilla-y-ness. The liqueur took less time to make than actually bottling it. I sterilized the bottle and decided to filter out the seeds from the vanilla before it was actually bottled. The "filter" was just a paper coffee filter tucked inside a funnel, which made pouring the concoction into the bottle a very slow process.
Having a home brewer in the house made things easy, though, and Hi C pulled out the crimper and added a cap to the top. I put some natural colored tissue over it, tied a little bow, added a label and listed ingredients, then off we went to drop off the kid at Grandma's and hit the party scene.
Apparently it doesn't take long for the transformation to happen: we were those people at the party that couldn't stop talking about their kid. As the season goes on, the nostalgia and sentiment grow stronger, it's only going to get worse, isn't it? And I'm pretty sure I'm alright with that.

What did you get into this weekend? Any subtle or not so subtle changes of your own? Ready for all the making and doing of the season?

The image below is a quick little recap of some of my favorite purchases from etsy this year. With all the advertising going on these days, I feel like maybe some honest to goodness product endorsement is worthwhile. These are the things that I enjoy having--not just because they look good, but also because they're well-made. The makers put extra time and effort into them and you can tell every single time you use it. When you find a seller/maker like that you know you'll be a repeat customer, which speaks volumes more than any sort of advertising, doesn't it? heatherjeany, kikiknits, littleflowerdesigns, radcow, radica, sweetjessie, xoelle.

The upcoming weekend has a full dance card already: a holiday party, an open studio/gift sale, and a belated Thanksgiving celebration. What am I thankful for? So many things. . .I won't get all mushy on you, but this week I'm also very thankful for the bloggers at etsy for picking my work to be on the front page twice!


Now, a couple questions to ponder--I have a lot of hits coming from regretsy. I can't figure out why or what the link is. Should I be worried?

I've had a handful of strangers write and congratulate me on making the front page. Is this some sort of new tactic to get people in their shops? Who are they and why do they care? Should I worry about my paranoia of kind sentiments?

I hope you have a wonderful weekend, please come back and visit on Monday! Until then, I'll be missing you something awful.

Two months down, a lifetime to go!

We're two months into parenthood and surviving just fine. Each day is amazing and exhausting, mind boggling-ly perfect and entirely scary. All at once. And there's nothing better in the world. Mabel, as a belated Thanksgiving thought, I'm so thankful to have you in my life. I don't know what I did before, but you've added a whole new level of happiness to each new day.

I have a few tidbits for those of you out there who are about to be mothers and fathers. Anyone else with some advice, feel free to add it to the comments.

One of the most bothersome parts of becoming a mother didn't have to do with the scary prospect of pushing a bowling ball sized person out of my vagina, but all of the consumerism associated with such an occasion.

Because of that, we didn't register for much. We took everyone up on their "Oh, we've got baby stuff you can have" that offered and ended up with way more clothes, blankets, car seats, cradles, bassinets, high chairs {. . .and things I still don't know what they're for} than we needed. There are a few things, though, that we ended up buying and loving, so I thought I'd list them for anyone in a "pregnant and I don't know what we'll need" situation.

This is the non-handmade list, and hopefully it's in time to add a few items to your Christmas wish list if you're feeling so-inclined.

Boppy. Save your back. Seriously.
Born Free bottles. Less burping, no BPA. {We had hand me down Dr Brown's but found out they were pre-BPA free. They were also good, but you couldn't put the whole bottle in the bottle warmer.}
Bottle warmer. Ours is a relatively cheap version from Target, but it makes warming bottles so much easier than using a kettle. It heats up the glass bottles in about 2 minutes. The plastic versions take a little longer.***
Snuggle Nest. Co-Sleeping isn't for everyone, but it does make it easier for us, and having Mabel right there in the middle of the night makes feeding and soothing so much easier. The deluxe has nature sounds and a night light, which is really nice for us, but not necessary. {Just ignore the creepy plastic-y family on the box and the website. You won't look so "perfect" the first couple weeks.}
A rocker/bouncer. We got the Brentwood and the sound options are really good, much better than most.

***UPDATE***Okay, scratch that, we had a bottle incident last night. The glass ones shouldn't go in the bottle warmer if they've been refrigerated. It heats them up too fast and the glass breaks. I repeat: The glass breaks. And that's not a fun thing to go through.

Also, I thought of another item to add to the list, though this was given to us. A Miracle Blanket. We used a hand-me-down Miracle Blanket and loved it so much we tried to find a similar, cheaper swaddle blanket. We bought the Kiddopotamus SwaddleMe. Yeah, not the same. The velcro is awkward to deal with when you have a wiggly little kid in front of you.