A personal victory...aka Harddrive Cozy Part 2

I finally figured out how to post a pdf file for others to download. So here it goes...the Harddrive Cozy!

If it's not too much trouble, please let me know if you try it and how it works.

Also, I have posted the pattern on Ravelry. Check it out here.


Thanks so much to those of you who have shown an interest in the pattern!

It's my first pattern, so bear with me. Please feel free to contact me with any questions, comments, or suggestions!

View the original Harddrive Cozy post.

Valentine's Day!!

Another fun holiday coming up...Valentine's Day! Continuing with my attempts to recycle and reuse, I came up with these cute Valentine's Day cards.


Here's what you will need:

• Tissue paper (The stuff from Victoria's Secret purchases works great!)
• Mod Podge (regular white glue would probably work too)
• Brush or sponge for Mod Podge
• Notecards or card stock (remnants of flashcards...)
• Cardboard or whatever you want to adhere your hearts to
• X-acto knife
• Scissors
• Pen or pencil

(The paper bag in the picture above will be used to make envelopes)

Step 1: Tear the tissue paper into a bunch of little pieces and Mod Podge them to your notecard. No particular method...just whatever you like.

Step 2: Once the notecard has dried, turn the card over and draw your heart.

Step 3: Using an X-acto knife, cut out the inner portion of the heart.

Step 4: Using scissors (or the knife again, if you prefer) cut out around the outside of the heart. You will end up with the shapes below:

Once you have your hearts, affix them to cardboard, or card stock, or whatever else you have in mind! I used double stick tape for mine...the Mod Podge made the hearts curl a bit so I thought the tape would help to fight the paper's urge to curl.

I also embellished with another of my many $1 stamps and cut down the inner heart a bit so it would fit better.

And the pillow is complete!

But I had a lot of help. Here it is though..

Complete with pockets for my remote or lip balm or any other necessities... yay!

A new kind of box..

So this is in its early stages.... but I'm really excited about it (despite not really coming up with much of anything on my own). I found this tutorial on Instructables.com and have come up with my own use for the finished product. The tutorial shows you how to make a cube from old cd cases for displaying pictures, but I have found that it makes a great way to store those cd cases that haven't yet made it to the "please find a way to reuse me" stage.

I haven't really thought it all the way through yet. It's a little shaky when used with the openings on the sides versus the top and bottom... but I'm thinking a little hot glue along the inside edges will fix that. I will keep you posted.

I can't wait to make more and stack them to make an entirely recycled cd tower!!

You put your right foot in...

Whether it's the Hokie Pokie, or the picture in my mind of me reluctantly dipping my right toe into the ice cold swimming pool that is sewing, the title applies. But here it is. I'm trying to sew.

I've been wanting to cover this thing for a while. Another of my many Walmart purchases, it's been around for about 15 years now. The fabric is not very nice and the color no longer matches my decor. It also used to have incredibly large piping on it, which I cut off.

So after my aunt gave me over 6 yards of Virginia Tech fleece at Christmas time, I decided now was the time to cover it. What better way to fix a pillow that doesn't match anything than to cover it with bright orange collegiate fleece? :)

I must confess.. I actually made a body pillow case as my first project, but I don't think that really counts as a sewing endeavor. So I will consider this the first attempt at legitimate sewing.

Luckily, my mom (who actually sews) had a pattern from a pillow like this she made years ago for my sister. Also luckily, she had the patience to work with me on cutting out the pattern pieces. Sad, I know, but I did need help. So here are the pieces.

If any of you out there are sewers, or Hokies, or would just like to brighten my day, please leave me some words of encouragement. The worst is yet to come. Haha.

And they're all made out of ticky tacky...

Although Christmas is long past, in my family we are still trying to squeeze a little more celebration in. So with a trip to visit some more family just around the corner, I have just finished round two of cookie baking and gift tin packing.


It seems that 2008 is the Christmas of the paper (and wax paper) box. So using my new found paper box making skills I made these wax paper boxes to hold cookies instead of buying more candy or muffin cups. They worked pretty well, despite being no where near as precise as its scrapbook paper relative.

I tried some new cookie recipes this year in addition to some of my regulars. The tins (purchased around this time last year for a dramatically discounted price at Walmart) include:

• Peanut butter blossoms
• Snickerdoodles
• Ginger cookies
• Cinnamon peanut brittle
• Chocolate crinkles

I thought I would share some of these recipes because I think they are delicious and super easy. The peanut brittle (which is in its third year of Christmas gifting) is a great recipe from Gale Gand.

I normally make a double recipe (one recipe at a time), resulting in 2 cookie sheets full of brittle. I also like mine very heavy on peanuts so instead of using two cups of peanuts as the recipe states, I use about three cups (one and a half jars) of peanuts per recipe.

The ginger cookies are on year two and seem to be a hit. I only bake them for about 12 minutes resulting in a chewier cookie than the recipe would create.

Last recipe - the chocolate crinkles. This is the first year I tried these and they are absolutely delicious! I made these just as the recipe is written and they turned out wonderful.

The crinkles would also be great for Valentines Day!

Harddrive Cozy

Well... I got a new external harddrive for Christmas, which syncs all my files and is fantastic, so the first thing I had to do was knit it a cozy. It's a Western Digital My Passport Essential (in case you have one and want to knit this) and according to the website its measurements are as follows:

Height - 0.590 Inches
Length - 4.967 Inches
Width - 3.130 Inches

...which I am sure could be used for other items as well. It is quite stretchy. If you are interested in the pattern leave a comment and I can try to type something up. But its knit in the round on size 4 needles with some Caron Simply Soft I had laying around. Cast on 36 stitches and knit a 3 by 1 rib.


Then I just added this little tab and button to keep it from falling out. Result: cuddly little harddrive case to protect all my pics and music and the like.

P.S. - Happy New Year!!!

P.P.S. - I've added the pattern. Check it out here.