I tried it and... I love it and I made it even easier

The original idea for this comes from Make it and Love it (which I love almost everything she makes).  She made a cell phone charger from an old lotion bottle.  That got me thinking "I bet I could use any plastic bottle and make millions of these."  Well it is a bit harder to come by millions of plastic bottles than I thought it would be but as one empties I snatch it up and get creating.  She made hers with Mod Podged fabric.  I made a couple that way and they work great.  But the other day I was wanting to make one that could be used ASAP.  So I tried spraying the entire thing with spray adhesive and sticking my fabric on.  The verdict... 

FABULOUS and fast.  From beginning to end this project took 10 minutes.  I used a dish soap bottle.  I cut the shape free hand but if you check out Make it and Love it she shows you the general idea of how to cut one.  I sprayed on the glue, stuck on my fabric (smoothing as I went), cut an oval to cover the bottom (attached with the spray glue), punched a hole in the back with my hole punch (probably the hardest part) and done.  Here are some things I have learned from making these:
#1.  If using a clear bottle like a dish soap one then don't draw your outline with a dark marker or something that will show through (since you don't cover the inside with fabric.
#2.  If making this for a cell phone charging station before cutting out the opening in the back measure the size of your plug on your cord because you want the opening to match the size of the plug otherwise they don't always work.
That's it.  I think the idea if brilliant.  I love the spray glue method and I am rapidly trying to use up all the bits of soap and lotion in a bunch of different bottles so I can create a whole set for my craft room for pens, markers, sewing tools etc.

I tried it and...

It worked but not on what I thought it would work on.

I found this idea on Pinterest from the blog One Good Thing by Jillee.  She showed how she cleaned her cookie sheets by using a mixture of baking soda and peroxide.  Her results were amazing.  I have well used cookie sheets and thought they might like a little sprucing up.  So I tried it and it worked kind of but not like her results did.  I abandoned the project after two cookie sheets and decided the well used look works for me.  She didn't say how long she let it sit so perhaps had I left it for longer it would have worked better.  But I was determined to have it work on something so I decided to try it out on my stove top burner pans (please don't judge-cleaning these is not my favorite thing at all).  This is the before:

 And this is the after.  And by after I mean after I let it sit for about 5 minutes and then  washed and scrubbed off with a scouring pad.  It was much easier to clean than any other method I have tried before.  With the first swipe with a rag a bunch of the grime came off.  I did have to scrub because these were pretty bad but I didn't have to work harder than I have had to previously so I think it was a big success.

 On two of my burner pans I got them clean except for the stains.  This isn't grease or food, it is like a stain from water or heat or a combination of both.  I am not sure.  It doesn't come out so I thought I would show you this in case you have this problem too and are thinking this will miraculously take care of that.  It helps get off grime and grease though.

Now for a side note about cleaning with baking soda:
Beware of the gritty film that will be left all over everything if you decide to rub this on all your surfaces.  I didn't purposely do that but I was careless in the whole process so I ended up with baking soda on parts of my counters and I had the darndest time getting them clean.  I had to pour vinegar on them to finally get the baking soda off so beware.

I tried this and... loved it-Cheaters Quilt

"I tried it and...." is a new series I am doing on my blog where I share about ideas that I have found and tried and how I or my family has liked them.  There are so many great ideas out there.  I am so thankful I don't have to think of everything on my own. 

I wanted to make each of my girls a new quilt for Christmas, something that was large enough to snuggle in.  I didn't want to have to sew an actual quilt ( not enjoyable for me).  So I made them these: (it is the perfect compromise between a handmade quilt without actually having to make a quilt that I could find).

The idea came from a blog called A Little Bit Funky  If you haven't ever seen it before ( I hadn't but found it on Pinterest) then you need to check it out, especially the 20 minute crafter segments (LOVE THEM).  She made this for her boys:

She bought a down comforter (crib size) and then attached squares of fabric using an iron on adhesive (like you could use Wonder Under) and then she sewed around all the edges.  You can check our her blog for the specifics.  I thought that the final product was so cute.  I wanted to make a couple for my girls.  I didn't like the price of down comforters but found these ones on Amazon for $20.00.  (I have linked to them below).  I also found a bunch of lightly used receiving blankets at our thrift store in town and bought them.   I wanted to dye the quilts so that they wouldn't look quite as dirty as fast.  I did this with some Rit dye (which is super easy to use only not on polyester...which the quilts happen to be).  So I was hoping for a deeper pink but ended up with a pale pink after 2 trys at dying.  Still the end result seemed to suit the fabric squares I had.

Blankets purchased from here

The end product looked like this: (I did an A one and a B one for my girls).  I will say that it worked best when I covered the entire fabric block with Wonder Under instead of trying to cheat on the cheaters quilt and just putting a little bit.  I sewed all my horizontal lines first and then my vertical. 

 When it is washed the edges will fray.  I haven't washed them yet so I don't know how much frayage there will be but I am not concerned about it because I don't mind that look. 

Overall the project was not that difficult; a little time consuming but not nearly as bad as sewing an actual quilt.  I think these would make cute baby quilts as well.  I definitely will try it again.  Go and check out A Little Bit Funky; it is fantastic.  Thanks for the idea.