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Monday in a Nutshell

* It was back to our normal routine. Hence the photo of my Starbucks bag packed with my lunch & water bottle.

* Shipped out my latest Etsy sale - a cute Dubble Bubble t-shirt bag.

* I broke "the news" at work to my boss. Everyone else will find out tomorrow except for the one coworker who happened to be there after hours.

* Went to the monthly ladies night dinner with the group from church.

* Received another positive update on my mom from my stepfather. Small improvements, but making strides.

* Got home around 9:30pm and my sweet husband surprised me with new windshield wiper blades and put them on the car. This is huge because I've fussed for months that I need some new ones (the old pair were smearing) but kept forgetting to buy any myself! Knowing that rain is in the forecast for the next 2 days, Trent wanted to be sure I could see. :)

* Fed the cats their canned food dinner (spoiled!).

* Posted my Project 365 photo to Flickr.

* Off to bed!

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Weekend In Review

I fought a headache the entire weekend that turned into a full blown migraine early yesterday afternoon. Between the pain and the loopy effects of the medicine, I spent my time napping and relaxing. Finally feeling almost normal this morning.

The previous 2 days were quite busy so maybe I needed that rest. Friday afternoon I took both cats for their yearly vet check-up. That was quite the adventure, but worked out well. Our only change is trying new dry food (suddenly neither are interested in what I've bought the last couple years - even Chester, aka 'piglet' because he almost never turns down food) and increase the amount of wet food they get each day (Cali has lost weight again).

That night we had Trent's sister and fiance over for dinner. They are always fun to see. After dinner we girls chatted about wedding details while the boys watched football. :)

Saturday morning I spent a bit of time sewing. I finished a custom order of t-shirt bags to ship today and made this cute Dubble Bubble Gum bag for my etsy shop:

Saturday evening we attended the NCSU / USF football game. I took this panoramic during the pre-game activities. It was a gorgeous evening and full stadium once again...well, at least until the rain came. It started slowly in the 2nd quarter. Then poured! The rain continued in a cycle of slight rain to downpour through halftime and most of the 3rd. Thank goodness Trent packed ponchos for the two of us. I'd guess 90% of the crowd was gone by the time the rain stopped. We left with about 4 minutes to go in the 4th quarter. The score was 41-10 and not in our favor. Oh, well, there's always next week. ;)

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Crafting Again

I had fun playing in my scrap room last night. Although I didn't scrap, it was wonderful to have an opportunity to relax and create.

I made a new t-shirt bag to add to my Etsy shop:

And packaged my latest order of Cat Squares. I was asked to send the pair as a gift and include a note to the recipient. Here's a photo of the card & ribbon I added to the standard packaging: Supplies: notecard from stash; Studio G stamp; Staz On black stamp pad; Marvy Le Plume marker; American Crafts ribbon.

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Q&A

I've gotten a few of questions recently that I thought I'd address in a post. Afterall, there never really is just one person in a group that is curious about something. :)

How I added text with strike through (ie, this) in my Weekend in Review post:

Use this HTML code: <strike>grocery shopping</strike>
Your text will look like this: grocery shopping

The inside of the Pretty Tote Bag has a pocket made of the striped fabric. Here's a photo I grabbed from JustUsGirlz shop:

Oops. I guess I didn't post the best photo of the California T-Shirt Bag. I took a couple of new photos & added them to the listing on Etsy. Here's one using it as a beach bag:

The Making Memories patterned paper on the Pink & Black card is from the Boho Chic line - Multipack Olivia 6x6 pad. It was part of my Big Lots shopping spree back in May.

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Organizing the Closet (again)

Trent & I spent last Saturday shopping at the outlets in Myrtle Beach since it was overcast and rainy most of the day. We both needed some new clothes and found many good deals. However, fitting the new stuff into the closet once home was going to be challenging as it was overflowing. I decided to set aside time this weekend to go through my clothes.

Before I started:
The shirts stacked above the drawers and those hanging on the bottom are mine. What a mess! Between those 2 spots and the bottom 2 drawers, I managed to clear out enough to fill one big box to donate.

Here's the same area after:
The space is small so it's awkward trying to get a good shot. I have some other shelves to sort through to the left of the drawers. Hopefully I'll get to them tomorrow. It is nice to have some breathing space in there again.

While sorting through my clothes, I came across a cute striped tank top I bought about 4 years ago and had never worn. Oops. It sat too low on me so I had planned to take up the straps. Instead, it disappeared into the closet until I came across it yesterday.

And, as you can probably guess from the photo, it took on a new life last night as a bag. Totally adorable.

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California T-Shirt Bag

I found this fun, summery t-shirt on sale at Old Navy last weekend and knew it would make a fun bag. Such a great size for shopping or a beach trip. Perfect print for the latter as well. :)

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(more) T-Shirt Bags

Today passed by in a blur. From Sunday School to the service. To a small shopping trip. To lunch. To the grocery store. And home by 3. I was worn out from the activity and heat! Horribly hot and humid here.

I managed to squeeze in a little creative time though to work on some new t-shirt bags from 3 shirts I bought at Goodwill yesterday. I managed to complete all 3 and add them to my Etsy store. They are so cute. I just love the patterns.

The one thing I haven't found time to do all weekend is scrapbook. Perhaps tomorrow after the gym - if I still have energy.

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Starbucks T-Shirt Bag

Trent & I have been doing little things to "be green" for years now. We both carry our lunches to work in fabric bags - mine was a gift from my mother :) - and recently we purchased Sigg aluminum water bottles to replace plastic ones.

My only dilemma has been toting these two items (my lunch fills the bag so no room for the bottle) plus my mug of coffee and purse. Ok so the purse can sling over my shoulder, but I'm not very skilled at juggling both drink containers, lunch and my keys. I've been putting the lunch & water bottle in a paper shopping bag which works great except for that nagging thought in the back of my mind that I have another idea on my "crafty to-do" list which would also work and, well, I just want to try.

A few months ago, I saw another blogger post with a reusable bag she made from a Heinz ketchup t-shirt. I've searched tonight to link that post and can not find it (anyone know what I'm talking about??). The idea came from the Martha Stewart Show (Good Thing: T-Shirt Bag). I've been wanting to make my own, but it keeps hitting the back burner.

Last night, I dug through my drawer of printed t-shirts. I cleaned it out pretty well last year so I only had about 2 dozen to pick from. But the choice was easy - my free Starbucks tee! It was part of a giveaway Starbucks had last year. It's way too small for me. I haven't worn it and probably never will, but love the cute print.

So, I pulled out the sewing machine. Grabbed some purple thread for a bit of accent. And began to sew. I followed the instructions except that I took about 7.5 inches off the bottom. Sewing the bottom at the existing seams created a bag that was too big for my intended use. Here's the result:

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