Practical* Crafts

So recently I have finished some fun projects that I thought I would share.
Seeing as how lately I have been living in apartment for a year at the longest and have still been acquiring things (😝) I thought it would be useful to have some sort of bag or box that is small when not in use but large and sturdy enough that I could use it for packing. Instead of buying it, I wanted to make it myself. So I designed a box (made out of cardboard and grocery bags) based off my brother's reusable grocery bag. It was a fairly long process but I like how it turned out. Now I just have to see how it withstands a move. It really is just cardboard and plastic bags (no tape or glue, etc). I used binderclips, paperclips, a carpet needle, and an awl to make it. And it folds up relatively flat (with a false bottom).

 My second project was inspired by my Saturday hikes. I have low topped hiking boots and so with the advent of summer there is a ridiculous amount of prickly seed pods of various sorts that would get caught in my socks. After one week of stopping every 5 minutes to pick out the prickles I got smart and did something about it. The next week I made gaiters out of gallon ziplock bags but they were kind of hot and sweaty and noisy. So two weeks after I made these gaiters out of my old pants (good thing I hadn't thrown them out yet). They might be more effective if I wore them over my boots instead of inside them (a few prickles still slide down to my lower foot) but I wasn't sure I had anything hefty enough that could survive the beating the cloth would take on the bottom of my boot and these work great so far (I've only used them once but still). I'm also glad I made the plastic prototypes because I cut these a little different than I would have otherwise.

  So maybe these projects don't look exactly classy, but I still enjoyed designing them and I made them with stuff that I just had laying around (or my mom had laying around... well I did buy the binderclips). I might have been able to find similar things at a store, but then I would have had to go shopping! Plus, it makes me happy when I can make something that I will use.


*As in they can be used, not necessarily that they are monetarily worth the time or effort.