My first purse from a pattern!

I consider myself to be a decent seamstress, but patterns have always been a thorn in my side.  How do you lay them out?  Pin and trace, pin and cut?  Taping them together or laminating?  UGH!  So when I've made purses in the past, I just sort of made them up.  A couple of squares, a long rectangle, a zipper and voila!  A purse is born. 
Well, I found this cute FREE pattern and decided to give it a try. I think it turned out pretty well.

You know what else stumps me?  Lining the inner and outer pieces to sew together so they come out the right way.  It took me three attempts to get it right.  Thank God for seam rippers!

"Feminine Product" Storage

Okay, so we've all had those moments where we go to the restroom, sit down to do our thing and realize we need a "change."  But...OH NO!  My "items" are under the sink in the cabinet.....over there.

So I always kept mine in a basket next to the toilet.  But my fiance thought that was a little too.....on display.  So I came up with a more discrete solution.

An empty tissue box! 

All my little lifesavers fit neatly in the box in easy reach, but aren't quite so "look at me, look at me!"

Win, win!

Refilling your automatic soap dispenser

A while back, I bought a fancy electronic automatic handsoap dispenser for my daughter's bathroom.  So far, it has worked out wonderfully.  She gets a kick out of the soap coming out into her hand by itself and encourages her to wash her hands more often, which is a plus.  Well, when the original soap ran out, I realized that the refills are EXPENSIVE! $$$$$  So, I set out to find a way to refill it with a less pricey soap.

My empty container and the dispenser.

Store brand hand soap and this little condiment bottle I picked up at the dollar store.

Fill up your condiment bottle with the soap.

 

Press the tip of the condiment bottle into the original container until it goes past the rubber piece.  Then squeeze the bottle to transfer the soap.

Once full, return the original container, now refilled, back to the dispenser. 

And there you go.....refilled soap dispenser for a fraction of the cost of the name brand.

Mini Christmas Tree

The Christmas season always puts me in the mood to create.  Unfortunately, like most people, I am on a very limited budget.  So, I'm making what I can with what I have.  My post today is for this adorable Christmas tree tabletop decoration I made.

 

Isn't it cute??

I found this styrofoam cone at the $1 store and wrapped it with green yarn I already had in my stash.

Wrapped and wrapped and wrapped.....

Then I made little dots of glue with good ole Elmers and sprinkled them with glitter.  Voila!  My tree is "lit"!

Now for ornaments, I used these tiny little buttons I had.

The star was a little yellow button I had as well that I anchored with half a toothpick at the top.

And there you go, my finished Christmas tree.  My baby pigeon was quite impressed. :)