As part of my scrapbooking bookshelf revamp, I had some ugly notebooks I wanted to prettify. I picked a green fabric to complement the folders I made of Robin’s medical information.

I sewed vinyl on the back to create a pocket for labels to go. I think they turned out pretty good!

Check out this link for my step-by-step directions!

I’m linking this to my first ‘party’ ever!

UPDATE: Only use the vinyl along the spine – it sticks to itself on the bookshelf or in stacks and makes it a pain putting them back on the shelf!

I got three stockings done enough for Christmas morning and got to finish the sewing-machine-sewing on the other three stockings over the next two days, but I am holding off on the final hand sewing so I can finish all my sewing-machine-sewing projects and put the sewing machine away as soon as possible. Which is still taking a long time!

First, I made a pattern from some scrap cardboard. Then I sewed up the felt linings – I didn’t want the stockings to stretch out, so I lined them.  Next, I cut out six stockings from two sweaters. The hardest part was centering interesting parts of the sweaters and remembering to alternate the toe direction. There was no way I’d be able to get all six toes facing the the same direction, so I just made sure I had three of each.  I used collars, cuffs, and sleeves to add interest to the stockings.

I used a zigzag stitch and sewed my seams at least twice to make sure the knitted yarn was stable. I like each stocking for the variety of details they have. 🙂

Now, I need to stitch the felt lining to the stocking tops and add the buttons and any other embelishments I want. I’m thinking yellow starts or holly sprigs…

First off, Robin had an appointment with his cardiologist on Tuesday. The hole in his heart has gotten smaller and his pulminary hypertension seems to be less significant. So he got to decrease his oxygen use from 1/8 a litter to no oxygen during the day. He still gets the 1/8 at night for a while, but I don’t think it’ll be for long!

My three projects this week really only got started on Friday. I needed to do some shopping and didn’t get enough time earlier in the week.

First up is some wind blocks for the doors:

Second, stockings for our family made out of second hand sweaters:

And last, are notebook covers:

I decided to recycle my version of Pinterest!  I used to tear pictures and articles out of magazines and organized them into binders. I went through all of these and kept only 8 pages – and they all go into my household binder!

These were organizing my memorabilia for albums, but they are big and ugly on the shelf. Since I decided to use the wheeled cart for pages and albums and the shelf for supplies, I emptied these into folders.

I like this idea better. Rather than having to carry multiple pages/albums to scrapbooking gatherings, I can pull out one drawer or one folder.

I think my scrapbooking bookcase is going to end up being functional and attractive! But, I have lots of things to sort through before I get there. For example, these boxes are filled with old cards and letters.

I could just cover the boxes or use new ones so they are pretty, but I have decided to deal with them now – at least the sorting part. I’m making three piles: recycle (this is only half), send to the writer, and my scrapbook

I have also found lots of cards and things in my memorabilia-catch-all-drawers, but I will go through them later. I am thrilled I cut it down so much!