Dog Food Bag Purse

My friend Kristin over at Pawsitive U asked me if I would make a few things for her Chihuahua rescue group this year and this is one of the projects. Its made from a "repurposed"paper dog food bag, some fringe and aquarium tubing that I got at Petsmart. I guess it could be used to carry a Chihuahua in too.

The Repurposed Chip Bag Shopping Tote

I run a club at my school called the Ecomaniacs--we just started this year and so far its been a lot of fun. The purpose of our club is to make fashion and crafts from materials that might otherwise be thrown away (for instance, the ridiculous amounts of chip bags that get thrown in the school cafeteria trashcans.) To demonstrate what "could" be done with the bags I made this bag. Its just a prototype. Future models would need some vinyl sewn onto the top to make it sturdier and more durable, but this is the start of something fun! I took this pic from my cell phone so its not the best one but its what I had at the time.

Potato Chip Clothespin Bag

Well, let me tell you what summer boredom brings...

Me. Staring at a potato chip bag. Wondering what the heck to do with it but knowing it can't just be another piece of recycled waste.

Here was my issue...I needed a bag for my clothespins. As many of you know, I cloth diaper, and on diaper laundry days I do the eco-friendly thing and hang my dipes out to dry, thus requiring clothespins. I didn't have a bag for one but I needed one. My clothespins were getting spiderwebby (stupid bugs making homes in my 'pins...sheesh.) So ingenuity+ possibly 3 beers=clothespin bag made from a chip sack! Yippee!

I used my awesome pair of snap pliers to attach snaps to the bag and used some leftover seam binding from who knows what to make it cute (and more durable.) You can order your own nifty snap pliers and snaps at Kamsnaps.com if you want to get fancy like I did. They are super fast with their shipping by the way--got my snap pliers super quick! (Good thing too, because my ingenuity has caused me to attempt to start making my own fitted cloth diapers. I'll keep you posted when I'm finished but I'll need the snap pliers to make them look great.)

Recycled T-Shirt Zipper Bag Project

I made my friend Kristin (Lily's former dog trainer) a zippered bag made from an old t-shirt and some cute fabric. Lily was adopted from the Plano Animal Shelter and we are big fans of pet adoption, and since Kristin works with animals I thought she'd like it. (She did! She emailed me after she got it in the mail!)

This was the first project I've used a zipper in since college so I was a little rusty but I think it turned out okay!