A Sewing Organizer Pictorial

I stumbled upon a pictorial for a sewing organizer project on Pinterest where the link led to a site that had been red flagged and Pinterest wouldn't allow me to repost it. What to do? What to do? Alas I decided to host the pictorial from here. Note, this is not my creation. I am only hosting it out of reposting frustration.

I hope you can make good use of it :)

Creme de la Creme

We are not big coffee drinkers, well, my daughter would be if I let her, but basically we're occasional connoisseurs. Still one day several months ago I bought 3 coffee creamer flavors to use in our occasional cup o Joe's. Finally finished one and thought there must be a way to recycle this thing without sending it to the recycle center...upcycle, if you will.

So onto the search to see what the internet has to offer. First I stumbled upon a re-use, but I had the powdered creamer, not the liquid, so the bottle isn't clear. I found a lot of ideas for what could go inside the creamer bottle, from crackers, to game pieces, to letters or word groups as a learning tool in the classroom.

Found a few recipes for making your own creamer. This one looked pretty good, actually:

Cappuccino Creamer

1 (14 ounce) can sweetened condensed milk
1 1/2 cups skim milk
1 teaspoon almond extract
1/2 teaspoon orange extract
Mix and keep in airtight container.

But this would require a 2 week commitment of coffee drinking, that I'm not sure I'm ready to make, so I found this one made from dry ingredients.

Cappuccino Creamer

1 cup Hot Chocolate Mix
1 cup non-dairy coffee creamer
1/8 teaspoon allspice
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 cup nonfat dry milk
In a jar with a screw-top lid, combine all ingredients and shake well to blend.

Then I stumbled upon this page with a wealth of ideas from picnic containers to piggy bank to ... a great list. http://www.ehow.com/info_8370389_recycling-ideas-coffee-mate-containers.html One thing I would add, though about their list, is that if you use your container to store laundry soap, never use it for snacks. Best to be safe than sorry. Use one for food, one for non food, ne'er the twain shall meet.

And then there are the craft ideas:  Like the Coffee Mate Snowman, Santa and the Easter Bunny But they seem a little out of season.


When I came to this page, I thought perhaps that is what I would do with the first of my empties. We also don't use a whole lot of sugar at our house, so having a container that holds a small quantity would do just the trick. Lots of other great ideas in the comment section of that page, too.


But in the end I decided to use a suggestion I read for repurposing a Clorox wipes container...go figure.

Sticker Madness

Here's a fun little idea to do when the kids have a snow day (or when you're feeling a little creative and playful), make your own stickers.

It's really pretty easy.

What you need:
1 envelope (1/4 oz)  unflavored gelatin
4 tablespoons boiling water
1 teaspoon light corn syrup
1/2 tsp flavoring extract
Add gelatin to the boiling water and stir until dissolved. Stir in corn syrup and flavoring.

You can use your own artwork, wrapping paper, magazine pictures, whatever moves you. Simply paint the sticker gum to the back of your art and allow to dry. Then cut out your "sticker", lick and paste.

If you aren't ready to let your inner child out to play, you can also use this tip for making your own address labels or resticky envelopes that lost their zest. Or for bookplates such as those needed to free your books (see bookcrossing.com).

This idea came from Skip to My Lou