PINK PEONIES
FRENCH style ~ ECO FRIENDLY TOTE
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| Please click here to purchase |
A beautiful French style Eco-friendly shopping tote, completely handmade and decorated with original, hand painted Peonies and signed by the artist.
It is fully recyclable and made of strong, water proof cotton canvas complete with hip, French style burlap straps for an extra provincial style!
This bag is entirely made in the USA, with USA made materials and paint , and because no part of it has been imported, it cuts down on greenhouse gasses and therefor makes it truly eco-friendly.
The entire tote is lined and double stitched for durability and has a small inside pocket to hold a pen or notebook.
This roomy, 20" x 18" tote bag makes a beautiful, eco-friendly statement!
I'm an Eco-friendly Shopper ~ BAG
I've decided to create an Eco-friendly shopping tote range, that would be more durable and practical than what one normally gets in stores.
These bags are not only made from very strong linen but also lined, complete with an inside pocket.
I simply stamped each bag with one of my custom made stamps to give it a professional look.
After painting a French grain sack style stripe in the centre of each bag, I decorated it with a different, traditional vegetable.
Each bag reads "I'm and Eco-friendly Shopper" and has it's veggie named in French.
My aubergine bag got red stripes. I finished the pictures of with some gold fabric paint here and there.
For a more sophisticated, messenger, diaper, student, mommy tote, I decided to do a lovely, feminine Peony themed bag.
This is such a versatile bag and could really be used for anything. It is made of a waterproof fabric which could simply be wiped clean.
All the designs are painted free-hand, which gives it a unique, green feel.
This bag has 9 pockets for absolutely anything! It is roomy and has a very comfortable cotton strap which fits nicely across the torso or could be adjusted to carry over the shoulder.
These bags can be purchased from my shop.
Enjoy!
BEAUTIFUL CUSTOM PACKAGING ~ using a rubber stamp!
So, for a while now I have been meaning to integrate all my 'things' with one look, and came up with a very old, unoriginal idea of rubber stamping the tissue paper I use to package all my Etsy shop items, bread, homemade gifts etc.
And, as per usual, I went over to trusty old Graphics Fairy where I found the lovely wreath, added some personalized text e.g my web address and blog address. This design I then sent to an online stamp making company and within days (one of the many blessings of living in the US) I had my lovely stamp and ink pad in the mail.
Like a First Grader, I couldn't wait to get my hands on that stamp and stamp EVERYTHING!
I stamp the tissue paper I use for packaging in a repetition style so it looks all fancy and professionally printed!
For good measure, I give the centre of a basic brown paper bag a once over with my Frenchy looking stamp, and voila!
My very own custom made packaging, not bad I tell you!!
HOMEMADE LIQUID HAND SOAP ~ for pennies!
After pinning for a few months now, I decided it time to put some of those pins to the test and made a batch of liquid hand soap, playing around with a few different recipes.
It is astonishingly easy and cheap, I must add. Never again in my life, shall I buy a chemically laced, over the top priced, un-eco friendly plastic bottle of liquid hand wash....and after trying this recipe, hopefully you too!
As all you need is {so basic} a grater, old bar of soap, glycerine {only $2 for a bottle at any pharmacy, I bought mine from Target} and filtered water.
Start by grating a cup full of soap flakes, I used an old bar of French lavender soap which my husband bought for me from Morgan Tancredi. I found it so precious that I never used it! Bring 10 cups of filtered water to a boil, either on the stove or in the microwave and add the soap flakes as well as one tablespoon of glycerine.
Stir until all the soap flakes are dissolved and remove from heat. The liquid soap will thicken on standing. Add a few drops of essential oil if you like, I added some lavender oil.
To make life easier, you can pour the soap mix into a large jug, and let it cool down completely, giving it a stir every so often.
Be warned that once cooled down, the soap is thick and gooey and slip all over the place! Fill the soap dispenser using a funnel.
You will have such a big batch {and I only used a third of a bar of soap} that you can store the rest in mason jars, or pretty it up with a bow, to give a very special handmade gift to a friend.
You can also fill old soap dispensers like I did here and get a lovely label from Graphics Fairy to use as a label which I covered with broad packaging tape to prevent water damage! This makes for a lovely hostess gift!
The only outlay I had was the glycerine, of which I used 40¢ worth, as I had the soap, essential oil and soap dispenser. Not bad for almost a gallon of fabulous French liquid hand soap!
The soap works brilliantly and smells divine, only problem is, I now have to find another use for the matching soap dish!
VALENTINE ♡ lunch bag
So, this year for Valentine, I am planning to pack my kids' lunches in something more special than the usual same old, same old. And, once again (!) Graphics Fairy had what was needed in terms of a lovely free graphic. Remember when printing directly onto a brown paper packet, to set the computer printer settings to 200 X 140mm. This way you only need to pop the lunch bag into paper tray and print. Also note, to set printing on reverse so your Valentine would get the message!
I will, in a next post, give you the recipe for this fabulous, flaxseed wholewheat bread, but nevertheless, here I made an Italian inspired sandwich of lettuce, tomato and salami, complete with a rosemary dart for love!
Simply cut out a heart shape and doctor it with some lemon juice to prevent the white from turning yellow by the time the lunch bell goes!
A close-up of the graphic I created by adding type and the plate and silver wear.
Hope you have a lovable Valentine!
X O X O
FOR THE LOVE OF TEA { rooibos tea }
With Valentine nearing at a major speed, I find myself more and more in need of a cup of tea! And as Rooibos tea is a red tea from South Africa, {my beloved country} it thought it is only appropriate to sew heart shape tea bags for Valentine.
Then, as usual, I head off to Graphics Fairy where I found myself a graphic or two to make up the above tea tag. To keep the design sophisticated, I printed I LOVE YOU in the same soft blue as the wings of the cherub.
I cut it out and folded each tag in half and glued it to eacg tea bag string.
Sweet, I know!
Because Rooibos tea has no tannins, and is very high in anti oxidants, it can be brewed for long and reheated for up to two weeks without going bitter. Rooibos means red bush and is made of the twigs and not the leaves of the plant. It has a red colour and a rich vanilla like taste.
To add to the cuteness of the ♡shaped tea bags, I drew hearts on sugar cubes just for fun.
Rooibos tea can be found in most stores across the US and the world, hope you give it a try!
X ♡ X
VALENTINE RICE PILLOW as HEATING PAD
For Valentine this year, I thought it might be sweet to make each of my kids a rice bag which they can heat in the microwave and slip into bed before they eventually get there...
To start, go grab a graphic of your liking from Graphics Fairy and print on fabric. Simply iron a piece of fabric, slightly smaller that printer paper, onto freezer paper, the actual size of a sheet of paper that fits your home printer...and print! (the heat of the iron melts the wax which causes the fabric to stick temporarily to the paper)
To dolly the graphic up, I sewed a small, pink heart on to give the pillow a bit more dimension.
The words I added in my graphics program called Inkscape, which I downloaded for free.
All you need to stuff the pillow slip is rice, and fragrance oil. I used lavender as it helps inducing sleep which does not come easy to my teenage daughter! Add a few drops of the oil to the rice and half fill the bag.
Heat the rice bag for 3 minutes when needed and enjoy!!!
With ♡,
SPECIAL TOUCH TO A CHRISTMAS CARD
Like most other folk, I use a current photo of my family to send with our Christmas card each year. This year though, I wanted to add a special Bible passage inside, just to remind us all of the real reason for the season!
So off I went to Graphics Fairy to find a nice wreath and bow to frame Isaiah 9:6 and printed it out on coloured card stock.
This I framed with gold tissue paper to lend it a feel of gold leaf, fitting for our King!
ADVENT CALENDAR BAGS
Each year I buy one of those commercial advent calendars with plastic tasting chocolate. This year, I decided to do something unique and special, eco friendly and re-usable....
I went straight to Graphics Fairy where I found lovely Christmas theme graphics, like this old Santa, and beautiful ornate Christmas frames for both the bag as well as the number tag. I printed the fabric on my home computer and sewed a rectangular bag of about 5 X 7".
Now, I am not a rep for Lint Chocolate, it is just that my kids L O V E Lint balls, and it is always a huge treat for them to get only one, let alone one a day for 25 days in a row!!!
So I placed two in each bag, one for my son and one for my daughter....and you could add as many as you like of course!
I printed a tag for each day on brown colored paper, punched a hole in it and threaded a piece of twine through, wrapped it around each bag and...
VOILA!! A beautiful, special little advent bag, which could be used for stocking fillers as well!
Such an easy project, yet a very special way to anticipate the birth of Jesus as the true gift of the season!
o x o
BATH SALTS IN HAND SEWN SACHETS
I've had so much fun making these paper envelopes. Firstly I printed a design from Graphics Fairy
on paper, hand coloured it...for that handmade feel..and sewed on a (bedbath&beyond) ribbon.
This makes for a very personal and special gift, especially someone who has it all! Or a special teacher, mother or friend who needs some pampering.
I filled my sachets with my own homemade Lavender Bath Salts:
1part Sea salt
1 part Epsom salt
15 drops Lavender essential oil
E N J O Y !
PLEASE be so kind and vote for my blog at BLOG GUIDE BOOK, Top Blog 2011 , I would really appreciate it, as my blog is one of only 19 that made it to the second round!
All my love,
MOST DARLING LITTLE PINCUSHIONS!
Welcome to my new page, SEW COUTURE, where I plan to share all my sewing projects with you! First on the list are these most adorable pin cushions!
Not only are the sweetest addition to my needlework space, but also practical! Who doesn't need a pin cushion in full view!
The best part is the reminder printed ontop "....my cup runneth over.... " { Psalm 23:5 } I got the print of the cup from Graphics Fairy and added the script which, of course, I got from the Bible!
Each pin cushion is as unique as the antique cup it's made of
This makes for such a special, useful and beautiful gift!
If you like, you can purchase it from my shop
Look forward to sharing all my future sewing projects with you!
