If you have children or pets at home (or even if you just occasionally get pets and kids as guests), it is always best to store detergent (including concentrated laundry packs) in their original containers, up high and preferably out of sight.  That makes a cabinet above your washer or dryer the perfect place.

I’ve talked about laundry room safety before on the blog, but today I want to make it even easier on you.

Have you ever walked through a store and have something catch your eye, but you just aren't exactly sure what you need it for?  It happens to me ALL.THE.TIME.  That may be why I have a garage and craft room filled with supplies that would be cool to do something with.. if I just knew what.

You already know that April showers bring May flowers, but did you know that April showers also mean.. the start of UMBRELLA SEASON!  And if your family is like mine, you have extra umbrellas for every occasion. We have them in the closet, each kid carries one in their backpack, I have a bunch in the car, one in my gold bag.. Umbrellas EVERYWHERE! And the last thing I need is wet umbrellas dripping all over my house.

So as my entry into the Power Tool Challenge (This month was a One Board Challenge), I designed a simple umbrella stand to corral all the stray umbrellas and to give them someplace to drip off when they came home wet.

This was such a fun and super quick project, I whipped it up a crocheted basket (or maybe it is more of a bowl) in under 2 hours and it used EXACTLY one skein of yarn with zero waste! (Those are the kind of projects I love.)


It is a super simple crocheted basket or bowl made from t-shirt yarn.  The yarn makes the bowl really stiff which is perfect since you can get a great geometric shape that won’t collapse on itself. (I'm including the instructions below but you can download the free printable pattern at the end of the post. )

The yarn I used was Zpagetti by Hoooked Yarn. I love that this yarn is made from leftover fabric from European textile factories and so I know the labor practices used in it’s manufacture are safe and legal (no child or unpaid labor).

Hoooked is a European company, but you can buy their products on Amazon or by ordering from them directly. They also make adorable little amigurmi kits with their yarns, which is another way to try them out;

How to crochet a t-shirt yarn basket

The pattern from the bowl starts with a simple circle (I use continuous loops)

I used a 6.5MM hook, and the stitches were pretty tight. You could use a larger hook, but you may need more yarn.

R1: SC6 (single crochet) into a MagicRing (6)

R2: SC2 in every stitch (12)



R3: SC2 in every stitch (24)

R4: SC2 in every stitch (48) slip stitch ring ‘closed'

(This last row will probably start to curve upa little, which gives the basket the ‘round’ bottom. The “right” side of your work will be the inside bottom of the bowl, the “wrong side” will be touching the table, therefore the outside of the bowl is also the ‘wrong’ side.)

R5: In BLO (back loop only) SC1 in every stitch (48)

R6:  SC1 in every stitch (both loops) (48)

R7: In FLO (front loop only) SC1 in every stitch (48)

I wanted a pattern in the crochet (and I wanted to extend the yarn to finish a complete row) so the final row is partially decorative.

R8: *In BLO SC1, CH1 (chain), skip next stitch* Repeat 24 times (48)

Invisible finish off.

You could also weave a second color of t-shirt yarn though the CH1 spaces left in the final row. I used some white to demonstrate what it would look like:
But I think I like it plain.

A super simple project for a pretty little basket!   Get the printable easy-to-follow instructions in PDF form by email:

It is week 2 of the Clean Up Your Act Organization Challenge!

Earlier this month I joined four other bloggers (Gail from My Repurposed Life, Jeanie from Create & Babble, Debbie from Refresh Restyle and Wendi from H2O Bungalow) and we are challenging ourselves (and YOU) to get our creative spaces into tip-top shape for the new year.

On January 30 we will reveal our spaces.. and give you a chance to show off yours. Anyone who successfully completes the challenge is eligible to win some great prizes.   (You can read all the details in the kickoff post.)



Now for an update on my garage/workshop:

In the kids’ advent calendars this year they each received 24 new TsumTsum figurines.  If you don’t know what they are consider yourself lucky. TsumTsums are made by Disney and feature all their characters from the movies and TV.  (The majority of the ones in the photo above came from this set or this one.)

I’m so excited about this project, not only because my kids love it, but also because it is part of this month’s power tool challenge.  The theme is REPURPOSE this month.
 My entry is this end table repurposed into a LEGO play center. The plastic bin which houses the legos pops out for easy clean up and the little drawer in the table is the perfect place to store building instructions.  Everything in arm’s reach for the best experience!
 
For more inspiration, the ladies of the Power Tool Challenge also have some awesome entries:

And turned into this all in one play center.

The lower level features a large 15x15 LEGO plate building area.
While the user level has a smaller play area, perfect for holding mini figures or precious builds, along with a large pull out bin for loose legos. The drawer is the perfect place to keep all the instruction booklet. 
Highly functional, self contained and compact.  My kind of end table!
To transform it, I first removed the faux leather inserts.

I replaced them with plywood (I used the pieces that came out as a template for perfect fit:)
Next I sanded the entire thing down.
I used my Finish Max Ultra to paint this piece. IT was so fast and easy on all the curves. When the paint was dry I used E6000 to glue the plates down.
And here is the finished piece:
Just add LEGOs and you won’t be able to pull your kids away! 

The average American household does 400 loads every year (but in my house I am SURE we do way more than that.) Since the beginning of automated washing machines,  powdered detergent (and then liquid detergent) have always been used to get clothes clean.

Then, in early 2012, concentrated liquid laundry packets came on the market and changed the way many of us do laundry.  Smaller, easier and more convenient, these little concentrated laundry detergent packets can pack quite the cleaning punch.  But are you getting the most out of your laundry packets?

There is actually a little learning curve when it comes to safely and effectively using this relatively new detergent technology and so today I want to share some best practices when it comes to using concentrated laundry packets.