Cheap Tuesdays - I Spy Bag Gift

My kids love I Spy games and books like Where's Wally and Spot What, so I have wanted to make an I Spy Bag for ages. I've mentioned my limited sewing skills (and patience) before, so I cheated again. I used felt so that I didn't have to stress about fraying seams. It was from some craft stuff I already had lying around that I'd bought to use for Christmas crafts with my boys, I think it cost 80c for the sheet from a $2 store. The clear vinyl/soft plastic was recycled from some packaging and I traced around some biscuit cutters for the window shapes. I did try sewing the plastic with some baking paper underneath but I was still finding it too difficult to sew, so I hot glued it and then double hand stitched over it instead to give it the best chance of surviving child use. Then I went hunting in toy, craft and junk drawers and found little things to put in the bag. Typed out a list of the things to spy; filled the sewn felt bag with rice (I think next time I'll put a little more rice in). Machine sewed the bag closed, twice, just in case. Now I just have to get around to printing the list, laminating it and attaching it to the bag :P

The boys have all given it a test drive and have put in orders for their own; hopefully their cousin likes it just as much!

Cheap Tuesdays - Kids Cooking Apron

When Christmas shopping with my SIL we were trying to find a kids cooking apron for her almost 2 year old. We found a couple for around $25 each, but they were all designed for 4-6 year olds and would have swam on her. We thought about getting a kids painting smock instead ($10-15 each), but the whole non-cooking-look was just not good enough.

So I attempted to make one for her birthday last week. My sewing skills are very lame (I can sometimes sew in a straight line & hate measuring fabric) so I used a tea towel as a base. I neatly cut hacked the sides and some of the top off and stitched seams. Sewed some ribbon for ties on. I attempted to get fancy and put a ruffle along the top but realised I didn't have a hope. It kept pulling into a circle so I made it into a flower with some bling in the centre to cover my dodgy handsewing.

The tea towel cost me about 67 cents (clearance special), the ribbon was lying around from a gift I'd been given, and the bling was a button saved from a scary piece of clothing I was given once. I also spent about an hour of my time to make it. Even to make this from full priced materials would have cost me about $7 at most and I spent less time making it than we originally did looking for one in the shops! Plus it fit her and the ties give her room to grow.