In my house, we (and by “we,” I mean me and my uninterested husband and kids that I am forcing this on) are doing our best to be better stewards of our environment.  So when Dot asked me to be a guest poster on Dabbled while she sunbathes on an exotic beach being served fruity cocktails by 22-year-old buff cabana boys (I am now thinking I got the raw end of this deal), I immediately racked my brain to come up with a crafty “green” project.

And thus, the reusable sandwich bag project was born. Here in the South, school starts ridiculously early – like next week.  So since we are heading back to school, I thought it would be the perfect time to make

these bags.  These bags are the perfect size for holding sandwiches, cookies, crackers, chips, apple slices, grapes and all the other lunch staples.  And while you might not want to store watermelon or last night’s pot roast in them, they work really well.  Not to mention, they are simple to clean and can keep untold amounts of plastic bags out of the landfills.  So without further ado . . .

Reusable Sandwich Bags

Materials for one sandwich size bag

• 7”x 15” piece of plastic or vinyl lining (This is located in the home fabrics section of most craft stores.  This is a much easier project if you buy the plastic lining that DOES NOT annoyingly sticks to itself.)  If you want to make snack size bags, cut your plastic into a 7” x 8” rectangle.
• Construction paper/cardstock/heavy duty paper template – 6.5” x 10” will work
• 7” piece of sew-on velcro
• (2) 7” pieces of Decorative Ribbon

Step 1.  Place your vinyl right side up on your working surface.  On each of the short ends, you will sandwich the vinyl between a piece of velcro and a piece of ribbon(ribbon on outside or right side edge, velcro on inside edge).  Pin in place.

Step 2.  Stitch the ribbon/vinyl/velcro together.  The end product looks and works best if you hem both the top edge and bottom edge of your velcro.

Step 3.  Fold the vinyl in half (wrong sides together) so that you have a 7” x 7.5” rectangle (7” x 4” for snack size bags) with the velcro on the inside.  Place your paper template inside the folded plastic so that ¼” overhangs both sides (template will overhang top).

Step 4:  With your iron set to a medium heat, fuse the vinyl together on the edges using your paper template as a guide.  DO NOT place the iron over the entire piece of plastic.  Instead use the tip of the iron to seal the edge.  When you’re done, let the pouch cool for 30 seconds and then remove the template.

Step 5:  Stitch the now sealed sides using a 1/8” hem.  Be sure to hem the entire length of the bag, including the ribbon/Velcro portion (I suggest backstitching this portion as well) to ensure your bag can endure repeated use.

This project is easy, fast and cheap.  You can easily make a dozen bags in an hour, and when all was said and done, the cost for each bag comes in at just under 30 cents.  And best of all, most vinyl is dishwasher safe on the top rack (test a single bag first to make sure).  Enjoy!

Really nifty writeup on Craftypod, a review of The Pocket Paper Engineer– a book on how to create pop up books! These are so fun and look like some really great projects. (*adds to ever growing list…)

Betz White made this fabulous Etch-A-Sketch Laptop cover! I’m in love… When I get a new laptop, i may have to try this… (via)

Several really cool things from Hostess with the Mostess
– a Wii themed party
– Child’s Candyland themed party
– Denture-like Ice Cubes – too cool and creepy, these might be good for halloween.

No Interview this Week… I’m looking for suggestions of people you guys think would be cool to interview! If you have nominations, let me know!
Previous Dabbled Interviews:

Interview 1: Diane Gilleland, of Craftypod
Interview 2: Diana Evans, Artist
Interview 3: Shannon Riffe, of Make It and Rifferaff
Interview 4: Cory Godbey, Artist and Author of “Ticket”

All Interviews

As you probably know, i outsource my ideas that involve woodworking to my fabulous husband, the maker behind the Play Stove, and other cool stuff.

Previously we created a Finger Puppet Bus to store The Boy’s Ikea finger puppets. After Ikeahacker linked to it, I got numerous requests for more detailed instructions. So here they are! [Note: I think it would be great to do this with homemade finger puppets as well. Here’s some great finger puppet crochet patterns from Crochet Me ]. If anyone has any cute instructions for felt or cloth or yarn finger puppets, let me know and i’ll include!

Instructions (by Dameion):

Supplies
Wood (In this case, 1/2 inch MDF)
Drill
Glue
Sandpaper
Paint (yellow, black, glow in the dark yellow)
#6 screws
1/2 ” Dowels

Out of ½ in. mdf cut to two 3 ½ “ x 8 “ rectangles (based on your finger puppet needs – ours holds 10 puppets)
Glue and attach together. Let dry.
Cut four 2” rounds using a hole saw for wheels (from ½ in MDF also) (You could also just buy 2 inch circles from the craft store, if you don’t have a hole saw)
Sand edges well. Prime, paint black. I beveled the hub with 3/4 forstner bit so they would stay centered. (See drawing below)

After chassis is dry, mark a grid pattern for the ‘seats’
Drill holes. if you have a drill press, set the stop (depth) @ ¾”. Otherwise you can use a regular drill and use a piece of tape on the drill bit to mark the depth

I cut the “seats” from a long dowel but precut dowel pins are an option as well. Stick finger in puppet & mark bottom, placer finger and ruler on flat surface (table) to get depth. Add ¾ inches to depth measurement. Mine were ½” wide x 2 ¼ long” (depend on size of puppet;)
Bevel or smooth the top edge of each dowel section for ease of placing puppet.

Front is a scrap from when I cut the chassis. I beveled the edge 15 degrees or so and left it a little taller than the chassis (an 1/8”)

Headlights are holes made with ½ in forstner bit sunk 1/8” down (Optionally you could just paint on the headlights or attach circles for headlights). Attach front bumper & glue with nail through the center of the headlight.

Rope attachment is a kreg bit drilled from the bottom. A hole & glue from the front would probably work as an alternate.

Paint yellow (or whatever color your municipality uses for school buses). Paint it again, heck you’re giving it to a child to play with!
Head lights are glow in the dark paint.

Seal, varnish, etc.

Attach wheels by pre-drilling the holes (I used #6 in screws, so make the pilots the appropriate size) ¼” from the bottom. Any place that looks right. I did 1 ¾ from the front and back (not counting front bumper)

Attach the wheels by placing a finishing washer at the top of the screw. Next is the wheel you made then finally, 2 flat washers. Before sinking the screw, put a little wood glue on it to make it less likely to back out. DO NOT over tighten. Make sure the wheels spin, but don’t wobble.

Place pegs (you could paint these in festive and matching colors, if you want, or just leave natural) in holes with glue. Wait 24 hours, enjoy.

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Since I translated this from D’s notes, I may have gotten something wrong. So let me know if anything seems weird.
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Some Cute Finger puppets I found on flickr:

Soozs’s felt puppets

Made By Moxie’s needle felted puppet

In forcing herself to get out of her creative funk, The Caffinated Crafter produced this cute little critter. I love him! (and on etsy!)

Little Arty Crafty Crow creates adorable yet slightly creepy little dressed up animals. (on etsy too!)

Bitter Betty has a tutorial/recipe for making an organic Strawberry Lime jam. Yummy!

Really simple graphic tutorial on making felt balls, by Verrito (via whipup.net)

Fabulous give-away at The Secret is in The Sauce. A real bounce castle! I could so get the boy tired out if i had one of those… (via Tip Junkie)

Although it wasn’t really the inspiration for this concept, the coolest sea creatures can be found on futuregirl!

The Evil Mad Scientists have done it again!This is probably one of the coolest things I’ve seen in a while. Definitely will have to try this.

I’m wondering if you could do the Flying Spaghetti Monster with a white chocolate coating, rather than marshmallow. hmmm, something to contemplate. Must try!

earrings at BleuArts…

It’s late for christmas, but these ornaments at Betz White are too cute!

As are these via ri-creazione

…and a little Martha — making felt balls:

More inspiration for projects…. I’ve been considering doing mittens as one of my recycled sweater projects, and these from Ravenhill are adorable!