I have a stash of Max's old Lego t-shirts, cut apart for a planned t-shirt quilt. Well, he has decided he wants a universe quilt from Land of Nod (it's pricey, but by is it gorgeous), and really, when am I going to find the time to make a full sized quilt? So last night one became his Valentine's Day present, a library book bag. I had originally intended to make a lunch sack, but the print was too large on this shirt. I think I'll try that next with a smaller print shirt. This was an easy evening project, and would make a great gift bag, too. I fused the t-shirt pieces to some blue cotton, to give it stability and an easy lining. Otherwise, I simply made it tote bag style, with side pieces and a bottom. Since the graphic ended near the cut off neck line, I made a binding for the top to attach the handles to.

I can envision more tote bags, gift bags and lunch sacks from that stash of beloved t-shirts. Green and free, my kind of project!

Hip Mountain Mama has a great challenge going on right now - One Small Change. The idea is that each month, starting in January, you make one small environmental change, leading up to Earth Day in April. Great! But what do I begin with? We've cut our weekly trash production in half, I make all of my own cleansers, use cloth napkins, have energy efficient bulbs, and all of the typical first green changes. We buy all organic foods, make pretty much everything from scratch, and even make my own herbal remedies, so I had to think for awhile... and then it came to me - junk mail! What could I do with junk mail, besides recycling? Make a book, of course! I've made three to date, one which will be a tutorial, but let's begin with my favorite - the envelope book.

Normally, the junk mail goes straight into the recycling bin, but with this project, I saved it all for the first week. I was amazed at how many envelopes I received. Not just from bills (almost all of mine are electronic now), but from magazine and credit card offers, mass mailings and more. Letter sized paper is easy to work with, but what do you do with envelopes? For this little book, I simply folded them in half, added a scrapbook paper scrap for a cover, and stapled. A few micron pens and scrap pieces of paper later, we have a book of wisdom gleaned from instruction manuals and warning tags.