Drawstring Pencil Cases

I bought a really cute sheet set for my son's bed, but had no use for the flat sheet that came with it. My Grandma gave her time to sew these cute and easy drawstring pencil bags.  A simple shoe lace or cord makes a nice drawstring.  I thought they looked so cute!

A Few Weeks to Go!!

It's almost that time of year!  Time to pull together all our projects and finds over the year and put them into boxes.  The collection date this year is November 17th - 23rd.  If you're wondering where to drop off your boxes, click here to find a collection centre near you.
Last weekend I hit a local thrift store and managed to snag 26 new skipping ropes during their buy one, get one free toy event.  Yahoo!  There's still time to snag a few deals before the collection date, so keep shopping!!

Shoe Box Costumes

Last year at our local shoe box collection centre, were shoe box costumes that people could try on. My boys had a lot of fun with this!  This would also be an easy Halloween costume to make (and you could fit a snow suit under there!) or a costume for a parade.  A great way to catch attention and you could hand out brochures along the way!

You can find directions to make your own shoe box costume, by clicking here.

Volunteer Opportunity - Processing Centres

I've had the opportunity to volunteer at the Calgary Processing Center a couple times.  It is SO much fun.  I am from Manitoba, so Calgary isn't exactly "close by", but I've managed to work some volunteer slots into a couple family of trips we've taken over the years.  It's overwhelming when you see the amount of volunteers and boxes!  A great fun and friendly atmosphere and a way to get some new ideas for your own boxes.  :)

This is an old blog post (2007!) but you can read about it if you click here.

If you want to check into volunteering yourself, click this link for more details.

Facecloths!

Today I was blessed with a box of crocheted facecloths for shoe boxes!  Mrs. E Wiebe, from our congregation, saw a blog post I had made about learning to crochet so I could make some facecloths for shoeboxes.  She has been faithfully sitting by her husband's side as he has been in palliative care at the hospital for the past few months and to fill her days, she's been crocheting.  Today she dropped off 90 facecloths! She plans to carry on, making more as she spends more days in the hospital. The square ones have a bar of soap inside (wrapped in a bag).  These will be used to fill boxes at our church-wide packing party this fall.

Always amazed by the generosity of some people.  Instead of focusing only on the negative, she chooses to use her time to bless others.  And in turn these facecloths will be a part of a shoe box that will travel across the world, to share about God's love with a child.  Amazing!

Chalk

This week I found some chalk on clearance at Superstore.  Regular $2/pail these are on clearance for just .50 cents each.  These would be great for either gender and all ages.

I think most kids would have a place to use these...a street or cement wall, but I think of those kids living in areas that are more lush and green.  Cement may not be something that's plentiful, so I think a small chalk board would be a great addition to these.
They come in a small pail with a lid and handle, so I think it could be repurposed once the chalk has been used.
If you do go on the hunt for these, check the clearance bins when you first walk in, as well as the toy section.  Lots of summer clearance...

More Garage Sale Success!

This weekend I hit up some more garage sales.  I find it's best to know when a town or area of the city is having multiple sales as it increases your chance of success.  This past Saturday was the garage sale day for Island Lakes in Winnipeg  (Whyteridge area is also a good one, always the Saturday before Mother's Day).  It means getting up a 6am as I have a 1.5 hour drive into the city.  But I also scored some deals for myself and was able to visit a friend in the hospital, so definitely worth the trip!

It may be hard to see what's all in the picture, but I found:

- New set of hair barrets and headbands for 50 cents
- Beanie Babies in packaging for 50 cents each
- New cars pencils for 25 cents
- Skipping ropes, marbles, tiara, large bouncy balls for 25 cents
- Thomas train and monster truck for $1 each
- Wooden X's and O's game for $1
- Fuzzy socks were free...brand new found in a bag of hand me down clothing my friend passed along to me from a co-worker.

To find these things, I often looked in a bin marked 25 cents.  Yes there is a lot of stuff I didn't want. Pieces of stuff, obviously used things and just general junk.  It takes time, but there is usually a few treasures that work well for shoe boxes.  Either new in packaging or things that look new.  The thrill of the chase...always so fun.  ;)