Shopping bags and Roans shoes

So seeing as how my only reader is the one I made this set for (love you Vendetta!), I didn't want to post about it until she received it. And she did! So now here is my latest...

I made a great reusable shopping tote using this tutorial from good ole Craftster http://www.craftster.org/forum/index.php?topic=177482.0 . It really messed with my mind when it came to joining the straps, I just could not for the life of me understand what I was supposed to do. So I read the whole thread (yes all 70+ pages), and many people mentioned stumbling at this step, but that they just followed the instructions and it worked. So going against everything that I felt logical, I just followed the instructions, and guess what. It worked! And to go with the tote, I made her some produce/bulk bags. They have elastic at the top so its easy to put fruits/veggies in, but they won't roll around your cart. And if you're putting in smaller items, its easy to use a twist tie. Also, they should hold very small things like beans, lentils, rice, etc. I'm not sure about powdery substances (spices, baking powder, etc), but hopefully she'll let me know :)

The Set

The tote with two boxes of cereal. Its gusseted, so there is actually still more room in there. And its slouched down, it does actually go over the boxes when being held.

The tote folds up into itself nicely so you can throw it in your bag

The produce bags, showing the elastic top

And then because my little bub has such fat little feet and I have such a hard time finding him shoes, I decided to make Roan some shoes/slippers. I followed the free pattern from Darling Diapers (my favorite diaper pattern btw) http://darlingdiapers.com/SDminimocfinal2.PDF . While not a dismal failure, boy are they wonky. But it was a good learning experience, from start of cutting the pattern to having shoes in my hands was about 2hrs (and believe me, that was with me going slow), and I know what I did wrong and what I will change for next time. So Roan has been wearing them at home (he doesn't care that they're wonky) although they're too big so fall off a lot. But I will be making more!

Oh and while I was chatting with hubby tonight, I made a dozen-ish magnets. I love how easy these are, and they work awesome! I use Diamond Glaze that I bought off of a great lady on Etsy http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5645982 , magnets that I bought from the Dollar Store and stones that I got from Michaels. I also bought some rare earth magnets from the same lady at Etsy, but I'm saving those as the Dollar Store ones work so well. Crappy picture, but easy fun project.

And to keep it in the family, Ciaran and I have been working on some Halloween crafts. The first is a basic foam 'Spooky House' that came in a kit from Walmart. He liked it, although wasn't familiar with the creatures. Frankenstein turned into Frank, so he calls it Franks House.

Then a woman on a forum I frequent posted about a craft she did with her son. It looked like fun, so I did it with Ciaran today and I'm thrilled with how they turned out. Take clean glass jar. Paint the inside (I used acyrlic craft paint from the Dollar Store). Use a sharpie to draw on face. We used black yarn and black felt to embellish the witch. Use electric tealight for the Halloween glow.

Whew I think thats it! Hopefully this space will be busy in the near/constant future as winter and Christmas are coming and I have a ton of projects in mind!