Creating my way to Success

Eco-Friendly Shopping Bags - My New E-book

Too many plastic bags are used in the world today.

While they may be convenient to use, their toll on the environment can be devastating.

Although some are recycled, most end up in landfill - where they will remain for many years - or being light, they can easily blow away and end up in the oceans, forests and rivers.

To try and reduce my personal use of plastic bags, I have made my own reusable shopping bags - from bedding, curtains and old jeans. An eco-friendly solution to a problem that affects us all.

This is a problem that I believe we can all take a step towards reducing. To help people take this step, I have written and produced this e-book showing how to make your own Eco-Friendly Shopping Bags.

This e-book is for sale for only the cost of a cup of coffee.

AUD $5.00

So, I invite you to 'have a cuppa' with me as you browse through my new e-book.

For just the cost of a cup of coffee, this book provides you with

5 sewing tutorials and patterns

to make your own Eco-friendly reusable shopping bags.

All of my tutorials are full of clear photos and instructions and can be attempted by even a confident beginner sewer.

The first tutorial is for a simple pillowcase bag that folds into it's own pocket and can be carried in your handbag;

Next, I show you how to make strong reusable tote shopping bags from old bedding,

and produce bags from old net curtains

Then finally, the ultimate 'Eco-Friendly Handbag Shopping Bag'.

A handbag that contains a whole set of reusable shopping bags in a special hidden bag in the base of your handbag; for your weekly grocery shop.

You'll never have to worry about forgetting your shopping bags, or leaving them in the car again!

By making and using your own set of these Eco-friendly reusable shopping bags, you could stop literally hundreds of plastic bags from going to landfill every year.

Not only is this e-book very reasonably priced at only the price of a cup of coffee.

So why not 'share a cuppa' with me today and

buy my E-book:

Take positive action today, for all of our tomorrows.

Thank you!

----------------------------------------------------

I have to send out a huge thank you to the lovely ladies who were my pattern testers for this handbag pattern. Take a look at the gorgeous bags they made:

Lorena

Alison

Judith

Michelle

and Niki

Just gorgeous aren't they?

So how much is this new e-book?

Well I've decided to price it in the very affordable range as that fits my whole philosophy that you can use what you've got and things don't have to cost a lot of money.

So for the cost of a cup of coffee - just

AUD $5.00

you get this fabulous e-book, which comprises 5 patterns/tutorials including my new

Eco-Friendly Handbag Shopping Bag

My blog now has over 100 of my own free sewing tutorials.

I try to make them as simple and clear as possible with plenty of photos.

My new e-book is no exception to this, and all the tutorials contained within it can be tried by a confident beginner sewer.

I decided to produce this e-book for sale, to help fund my work and enable me to continue producing more free tutorials and encouraging and helping people to sew!

Since the patterns largely use upcycled and recycled fabrics such as old sheets and jeans, they are the perfect projects to have a go at, even if you don't have much sewing experience. What have you got to lose?

So why not 'have a cuppa' with me!

Buy my e-book today, and make yourself your own set of eco-friendly shopping bags.

I would love it if you shared this with your friends, family and followers; on your blogs and social media.

To buy this ebook, just send me an email at jillinamillion@y7mail.com to arrange purchase.

Thank you for your support.

Upcycled tote bag from clothes

After my successful sock monkey earlier this week, I couldn't resist playing around with some more of the clothes from my upcycle stash.

This time I grabbed a small pair of red jeans, a pair of black trousers and a black and white top.

I used one leg from the red jeans and the waistband for the strap; one leg from the black trousers and most of the top for the lining and made a simple patchwork tote bag.

I tried to incorporate some pockets and seams into the patchwork, but I have to say I'm not really that impressed with the result.

Of course, I learnt when I had a market stall for a while, that sometimes things I made that I really didn't like, sold very quickly to someone who did like them!

Hopefully this design will appeal to someone.

So this bag will go together with the sock monkey and a small tissue holder that I made...

..into the start of my upcycled clothes stall for next year's school carnival.

I've got a year to make things for the stall so plenty of time to play around and come up with some new designs.

Not a bad start though!

Do you ever not like things that you make?

I don't like this feeling - it's like something is out of place and I know I'll feel unsettled until I make something else I'm proud of!

Hmpf!

Jill

My first ever sock monkey - another great clothes upcycle idea!

I've wanted to try making a sock monkey for a while now, but since we live in the tropics, we don't wear socks very much and I haven't really had any 'spare' to use!

So when I collected my pile of clothing from the school carnival with the intention of upcycling them all to sell at next year's carnival, I made sure to include some socks in what I collected.

This pair seemed just perfect for a monkey, so I found a pattern to try here and set to work cutting, stitching and stuffing.

This is all that was left over at the end!

I'm very pleased with how he turned out - and I know my girls are going to love him!

There is such a variety of sock 'creatures' to make - just take a look at my

Sock Upcycling Pinterest Board

for some that I've found so far.

They're quite easy to make too - so I think this is something I'm going to teach my girls and they can help me make some friends for this little guy!

Have you ever made a sock monkey..or other sock creation?

Jill

Upcycling clothes - a big project

Last weekend was our school's annual carnival. This is a great day each year - the kids have so much fun, but it's also the school's biggest fundraiser.

I've had an idea swirling around in my head for the past year or two that I finally decided to put into practice.

I went to the clothes stall towards the end of the evening and asked if I could take some of the left over clothes at the end of the day to use for next year's carnival. They were more than happy to let me rummage through and take away a few bags.

They're now all washed and sorted - and I'm excited with the selection I have to work with!

Lots of lovely jeans...

Even some pretty coloured ones!

Shorts and pants - good strong fabric!

My plan is to make bags, notebook folders, pouches and who knows what else.

Then at next year's carnival have an upcycled, sustainable stall to raise funds for the school - and also raise awareness - getting people into the idea of,

"Use What You've Got"

Now I've committed to this project - it's going to take some planning and lots of hard work, but I think it could be the start of something worthwhile, educational, ongoing and profitable!

Any suggestions of things to make with these clothes would be very welcome!

Has anyone else ever taken on a similar task? I'd love to hear any thoughts or ideas.

Jill

Covering a basket - Use What You've Got!

This week I'm preparing for a Halloween party at our swimming club. I'm organising the raffle and was looking for a way to present the prizes.

We have an old gift basket that is rather faded and old:

And looking through my fabric stash I found some scary fabric that I really don't know what else I would use it for!!

So...in a very unscientific way I laid the basket on the fabric...

to check the size!

Then roughly cut out shapes to cover the sides, base and inner.

And stitched it all into place!

It looks so much better now! Although I think I need to cover the handles too.

And here it is with some of the raffle prizes.

Yes - already too much for the basket and more prize donations coming in too - so I may need to see what else I have on hand to hold prizes in!

Jill

Surinam Cherry Jam

We have 2 Surinam (Brazillian) Cherry trees in our garden.

Every year they produce lots of the cute lantern shaped fruit.

The fruit has quite a tart, sour taste and I'm the only one in our family who really likes them, and there are only so many tart cherries I can eat.

So every year, lots of these cherries just fall from the tree and go to waste.

This year I'm determined to

Use What I've Got

and make something with these cherries so that they get eaten rather than wasted.

Yesterday morning I went out and picked all the ripe red cherries I could find.

I washed them, removed the stalks and small green leaves on their bases, then squeezed them over a jug to remove the stones.

The pulp I got looked a lot like tinned tomatoes!

I ended up with 2 cups of the pulp, to which I added 2 cups of sugar and then simmered this in a pan for around an hour until it thickened to jam consistency.