SHOESTRING: APRONS FROM MEN'S SHIRTS

The Goodwill in Upstate SC marks their items down differently than they do at home in Atlanta.  Atlanta takes 50% off for the color of the week, Upstate marks the color of the week to 50 CENTS. I thought about what I could do for a shoebox with one of the men's shirts.

I did my own thing but you can find a tutorial here for the green apron above.

I used one sleeve to make the ties.

I ended up with an apron, two little button pouches from the cuffs.  I still have one sleeve and the back left over.  Any ideas what to do with the leftovers?

I need to give everything a good press (I don't have a full size ironing board here) and a spray or two of starch to make it look crisp.

I was worried that the recipient might not realize what it is, a strange backless dress?  I made some tags that you can download and pin to your aprons, in English, Spanish, and French.

DOWNLOAD HERE

DOWNLOAD HERE

TIME SENSITIVE SHOESTRING DEAL; MAKE YOUR OWN MINI BOOK

HIP2SAVE is one of my favorite mommy-savings blogs.  She posted this week that MyPublisher is giving you five mini books.  Follow through to her link.  This is HER affiliate link, not mine.  $1.39 is all you have to pay for shipping.

I want to show you what I did:

I made a Tanagram Puzzle Book.  I have uploaded the individual pages to Dropbox.  The pages are sized to the mini book.  Here is the link to the actual book.  Downloaded the puzzles and solutions from Google Images.  I put them an a colorful background in Photoshop.

I am going to cut the pieces from a magnet sheet and store in an Altoid's Tin or get someone I know to cut from very thin wood.  The pattern is also in the dropbox link.

I think it will be a great addition to a shoebox for boys or girls and almost any age.

SHOESTRING: SAMPLE MACHINE SAM'S CLUB

I was at Sam's Club last Sunday and found this sample machine giving out packages of Fruit Snacks. Just swipe your card and out spits a package of Dinosaur Fruit Snacks.  I looked all over the package and found no "use by" date.  Maybe like Twinkies and will last forever.

If you think they would be good in Shoeboxes, they seem to be a good price, 7.48 for 75 packages, 10 cents a piece.

Throw these in your Shoebox Tub, free is always good.

TIME SENSITIVE; SHOESTRING FREE SAMPLE FOR TEEN GIRLS

Walmart is offering a free sample with three pads.  A nice thing to add to teen girl boxes.

School Supplies DEALS Staples

I always like to include school supplies in my boxes and BACK TO SCHOOL time is the perfect time to stock up.  Any of these deals at Staples (ends 8/22/2015) are great for OCC Shoeboxes,  Remember, only include rulers that also have metric measurements,  The Crayola brand crayons are SO MUCH better than the Dollar Store brands.

Staples 12″ ruler $0.35 (limit 30)
* Slider Pencil case $0.25 (limit 5)
* Paper Mate erasers 3/pack $0.25 (limit 5)
* Staples pencil cap erasers $0.25 (limit 5)
* Staples 1-subject notebook $0.25 (limit 30)
* Staples 3″ x 5″ index cards $0.48 (limit 30)
* Staples composition book $0.50 (limit 30)
* Staples school glue 4oz with glue stick $0.50 (limit 30)
* Crayola crayons 24/pack $0.50 (limit 30)
* Staples #2 pencils 12/pack $0.68 (limit 30)
* Staples filler paper $0.75 (limit 30)

Back To School: Start Saving Boxes

BACK TO SCHOOL TIME is the perfect time to start collecting your shoeboxes.  I've been known to pick out of my neighbor's recycling bin on trash day. Using cardboard shoe boxes is very budget friendly.  You will need to wrap them (more tips on this later) but FREE is good.