“greenWinkle” BagBags

Ok, I’m being very brave now. I’ve decided to show you the project we’ve been working on for the past year or so. This is a handbag made entirely from plastic shopping bags.

So how green is that?


This particular one is made from the silvery white bags with green writing on them. It has a pearly sheen to it and with the green–well, it turned out really pretty.


We call it the Water Lily BagBag. Besides being made from “repurposed” grocery bags, it’s amazingly strong and durable, and get this–it is washer and dryer safe!

These are the company tags we had carved from coconut shells.

We’ve made  quite a few more–each one with totally different colors–in four sizes. I’ll put them on here one at a time so you can see them up close.

I’m working on setting up an Etsy shop so–

–please let me know what you think

It will make me brave.

The Bald Kid’s Viking Slippers


I’ve been asked to show the sneakers outside the “Door.” So here they are..

So, one day last July, Rhen says to me, “You know what would really be cool?”

I say, “I have no earthly idea.”

He says, “If you could make me some freaking cool, high top, slippers. But that would be too hard, wouldn’t it?”

I just smiled my sly little smile and said, “Yeah…way too hard.”

So began the journey to High Top Sneaker Slippers–in Viking colors, of course!

The finished product.

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Oh, and yes, his feet are this big. I can prove it…

Dane Dolls

Elder Dane

I’ve had enough people ask me about baby Kenny’s Uncle Dane Doll, that I thought maybe I’d show you up close. It’s been hidden away behind the “Door” tab with the other “secrets,” that the kids got for Christmas.

When Dane left for a mission to Lithuania in June the twins were only 6 months old. We wanted the babies to know his face so that when he comes home, he’ll be a bit familiar. So, the idea for the Dane doll came about.

Football Dane

The original pattern was for a kitten doll–which I made last year–from the Lion Brand yarn site. It was easy to change the colors and leave off the pointed ears and turn it into a human–in this case–Uncle Dane. I sewed a three stitch brown tie at his neck and a black tag on his shirt. The face was made from June Taylor Colorfast Sew-In Inkjet Fabric Sheets. It was so easy to just pick the face picture from my computer and run the fabric through the printer. I cut it out and sewed it right on to the crocheted doll head.

The babies love them!

Sleepy Baby Lamb

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Sweet Lily-foo is getting the same present as Beckham…only in a different shade of this incredibly soft, perfect for babies, yarn.

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Pretty sure her surprise will be the “Very Berry” or maybe the “Barely Pink.” Hmmm….I’ll let you know…when I know.

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“Very Berry” won the toss. Believe it or not…this is about to become a baby lamb.

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Body and head…

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Feet and ears…

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make this Sleepy Baby Lamb!

Slippers For The Family Feet…

Every year–usually at Christmastime, a few dozen family feet need rewarming with new slippers. I had the kids dig their current sets out from the under the various beds to see if they needed repair, a good scrubbing, or retirement. Only Jillian’s were wounded enough for the mending basket and it wasn’t critical. So, first-it’s Daney boy’s turn for a brand new pair, because before he left, we discovered that one of his slippers was missing. Eaten by dragons, no doubt.

Making new ones is the least I can do for the cause of a cute, cold, boy–who is far, far away. We were told not even to buy a coat for him in America because we don’t have anything warm enough here in the States to help in 30 below weather. Yikes. I picture him strolling the snowy streets of Lithuania wearing a moose hide overcoat and beaver boots. I really hope not. As much as I want him to be warm and well, I tend to frown on all that real fur stuff.

So anyway, the slipper I make is a jimmied version of an old baby bootie pattern I purchased about a billion years ago from Annie’s Attic. It looked so comfortable and most importantly–actually stayed on their feet–that as my babies grew I just made the pattern…ahhh … bigger. Much, much bigger in Rhen’s case. I’ll put the directions on paper someday–if anyone else wants it.

Now, I’m halfway through with a nice cozy pair made from Peaches & Creme 100% cotton (in Shaded Brown) and a ball of “repurposed” wool (yarn that used to be something else, before it became a ball of yarn–in this case, a sweater), in dark chocolate. The idea is to make them soft and warm and sturdy enough to survive a trip to the mailbox…

…and of course to save the life of an innocent beaver.