As the tee-shirt yarn obsession continues, I have found another use for its fabulousness. I bought my smallest daughter a cool wooden orange fox pull toy at a thrift store but the pull was missing. I could have just tied a string to it and called it good but I decided to take three different colors of tee-shirt yarn, tie them together at the top, braid all three strands and then tie to the pull toy. So cute I just love it! If she could talk I think she would tell you she loves it too.

I will be writing a weekly piece at the Phoenix New Times Chow Bella here is the tag line:  Every week, artist, writer and cook Cyndi Coon will bring you an idea for making the most of what you’ve already got in the pantry or the fridge. Ladies and gentlemen, we introduce the Thrifty Cook.

This week the Thrifty Cook (that’s me) offers a blueberry crisp recipe to use up the five pound box of blueberries I bought on a whim at Costco. Head over to the Phoenix New Times Chow Bella Site to read all about it: click here.  

Do you love surfing to find all the fabulousness out there in the form of craft blogs? Read my Thrifty Maker thoughts about starting a craft blog over at the Phoenix New Times Jackalope Ranch: Blog About Your Craftastic Self. Then get on it and start blogging. Join the community – it’s fun.

With the kids starting back to school you can finally catch up on that stack of Summer reading you thought you would get to. That means take some time to hand craft yourself a lovely bookmark to tuck into the stack of books. I made this one for the Creative Escape SWAPs that happened in Chandler, AZ over the weekend. I used Bazzill Basics Paper in White, Raven Black and Navajo Blue. For the embossing I used the Cuttlebug embossing folder called Typeset. For the Chair I used the Cricut Heritage Cartridge. Then I Razzel Dazzeled it up by gluing on a black button at the bottom and attaching three black hot rocks with my irock to the chair. For the step by step click here: Paper Bookmark How To

I have a fun new gig! I am now writing for the Phoenix New Times Jackalope Ranch Culture Blog. Check me out over there – I am the Thrifty Maker. Here is my How To for making a Campaign sign bird house piece called This Old (Campaign Sign) House.

It is back to school time and that means personalizing your goods. Boring is out and adding the handmade touch is in. For my personalization I choose to YUDU a hot pink blank laptop bag. I used the old school typewriter from the Heritage cartridge and printed it twice on the bag. I also used a charm label from the Heritage cartridge to screen print a little extra bling on a chain. For the Tutorial Click here: YUDU Laptop Bag How To

To say I am loving the T-shirt yarn would be an understatement. I made a T-shirt yarn bracelet to go with the ring I made the other day. If you haven’t made T-Shirt yarn before check out that tutorial first. Once you’ve made the yarn then it is really just a matter of selecting what color to work with and then deciding on how large you would like your topper flower to be in both height and width. After that you follow the How To provided Here: T-Shirt Yarn Bracelet Allow for a little drying time and then you are off and running with your wrist decoration. Enjoy! xoxo LL

I made this super cute T-shirt yarn ring in an instant. If you haven’t made T-Shirt yarn before check out that tutorial first. Once you’ve made the yarn then it is really just a matter of selecting what color to work with and then deciding on how large you would like your ring topper flower to be in both height and width. After that you follow the How To provided Here: T-Shirt Yarn Ring Once you allow for a little drying time you are off to the party with your new bling. Enjoy! xoxo LL

I have had a roll of window screening laying around, left over from another project and got to thinking how could I make some jewelry out of that? I grabbed my Cuttlebug and my Skull and Crossbones die called Beware and went for it. For one of the pieces I used pink embroidery thread around the outer edges and then coated it with a stiffener. The next piece was made from a plastic sheet I picked up at a hobby shop. I ran this one through the cutting die and then the matching embossing folder, I used pink flocking for the eyes. For the final piece I covered it in pink craft paint which will fill in some of the holes and then top coated it with stiffener. The black and white fabric came from a scarf that I found at a dollar store and ripped up to make little shredded pieces to tie on. Finally, I put everything onto a hot pink plumbers chain I picked up at a local bead store. You could create a necklace like this using any Cuttlebug dies and embossing folder combos. For my Tutorial Click Here: Skull and Crossbones Necklace How To Happy crafting xoxo LL

Thinking of trying to fit in one more road trip in before the end of summer? Before you head off,  make this fun Car Technology Storage bag. You gotta have somewhere to put your ipod cord, cell phone charger, GPS and emergency power monkey. I used the Cricut cartridge called Summer Vacation to cut the central theme pieces of the truck and camper out of black paper to burn onto a YUDU screen.  I used the YUDU to print the design onto a black handled bag that I picked up at a thrift store. I cut Aqua felt to the shape of the handle and used rivets and E-6000 to attach it. For the zipper pull I created a charm out of shrink plastic. Enjoy making your own travel goodies this week and Happy Crafting xoxo LL