Funky CD Case Tutorial

You know I love to use up every little scrap of fabrics I love. Remember how we pieced together this apron?

So, here is another project for all your fabric scraps you've been afraid to throw away (despite all the eye rolling from your husband...). It will look cool in your new car! (or my new car)

Funky, Fabric Scrap CD Holder

Supplies:

Fabric Scraps (cut into 8x5 inch strips)
Sewing Machine
Thin Cardboard or Sturdy Interfacing (cut into two 12x6 inch rectangles)
Two additional pieces of fabric (cut into 8x14 inch rectangles)
Scissors
Hot Glue Gun


Instructions:

Roll one long edge under and press to create a hem and avoid fraying.



Use a piece of fabric as a base (about 8x14 inches), and begin to layer your strips of fabric onto it. Begin at the top and layer each piece about 1/2 inch lower than the one before it.

Pin and run a stitch along the edge. (This seam is just to hold your pieces together). Each layer remains open at the top and provides a little pocket for a CD. It will look like this:



Flip your sewn strips over and center your cardboard or interfacing. Wrap your fabric around the cardboard.



All these layers were thin enough to sew through, but too thick to pin...soooo I pulled out the duct tape to hold it in place! Here is the piece we will use for the back, covered with a single layer of coordinating fabric.



And here is the piece we layered and sewed, also taped to the cardboard.



Sew the fabrics onto each piece of cardboard and remove the tape. (Sew slooowly so you don't break your needle). Clean up the edges with your scissors.



Now, you should have two fabric covered cardboard rectangles. One should have a single fabric covering it and the other should have your layered fabrics covering it.

Hot glue the front and back together, just sandwich all the ugly parts inside!



Flip her over and fill her up with all your funky tunes (because we do NOT listen to mom music in my new ride!)



See? Cute, huh?



Set it in your new car and wave it around to random people at red lights! Motion for them to roll down their windows and shout "Hey! I made this yesterday!" Some of them will point at you and tell you are #1 using their finger!

Just turn up the music and smile...



Don't forget that tomorrow is Tutorial Tuesday's Link Party. We will have prizes again this week. Come on back and teach me some stuff!

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Tutorial Tuesday - How to Make 10 School Lunches in 5 Minutes

Originally posted August 2009...enjoy!

I saw this someplace on a blog last year and stored it in my brain like a squirrel stores a nut. It scratched it's way to the surface this week as I geared up to send my babies back to big bad school.

I don't know about you, but my kids never give me enough warning that they'd like to pack their lunches on any given day. And when they do, it's right when I'm making three different breakfasts, yelling about brushing their teeth, asking why they pulled their favorite shirt out of the laundry, or reading spelling words while they tie their shoes.

I have three kids to get ready in the mornings and packing lunch at the last minute is one of those things that just sets me off at 8 o'clock in the morning.

I saw this last school year and I swear I saw a beam of light shine on it from the heavens and heard angels sing. This could change my life, for real.

Once a week, take a loaf of bread;



Lay out 10 pairs (today is PB & J, but it's just as easy to do ham and cheese, turkey and cheese, bologna...whatever) and put it together assembly line style. Go right down the line, baby, it's no big thang!


Stick those bad boys back in the bag:



Double bag 'em to avoid freezer burn:



Stick 'em in the freezer to wait their turn for last minute lunch duty. Oh yeah:



See? 10 sammies lickety split, no stress, no me going all mommy dearest on the boys for springing it on me at the last minute. Nice.

Hey, guess what? I'm off visiting today. I'm spreading the Tutorial Tuesday love and posting for Fave Crafts today! This is an oldie-but-goodie and my favorite type of craft. It doesn't involve running to the store, just using up all of the junk we have lying around the house! Even if you've seen it before, it's worth a trip over to Fave Crafts to check out my Reversible Fabric Scrap Apron Tutorial...come on you know you want to...click it!