I tested out the circle cutter on the latest Paper Source catalog (their catalogs are so pretty, and the next best thing to all the pretty papers they sell.) It makes excellent circles. My mom (who of course already had a circle cutter) gave me some tips for how to best use it. Specifically, you should only ever turn it in one direction (I chose clockwise.) Also, when turning, hold on to the blade end of the cutting arm and apply a little downward pressure to ensure that you cut all the way through the paper. Once I cut my circles, and you can tell from the picture that I cut a lot, I ran them through the Xyron and turned them into stickers. All in all, I was quite pleased with the results.

1. Baby Lock Creative Pro – I love this sewing machine. I sew almost every day, and this new machine handles fabric more smoothly than my old one ever did.  If I had a top 6, I would probably also mention the walking foot, which I bought separately. The walking foot makes sewing stacks of fabric together so much nicer than I ever thought it could be!
2. Fiskars 45mm Rotary Cutter – I almost always cut my fabric with a rotary cutter. My lines end up straighter and I can cut through several layers at once. Not to mention it’s so much faster than scissors.
3. Westcott Titanium 4″ Curved Embroidery Scissors – I use these little scissors all the time to trim threads close to the fabric.
4. Olfa 18″x24″ Self-Healing Cutting Mat – A rotary cutter isn’t much good without a mat. I love the grid and diagonal lines on this mat. It is large enough for most of my projects, serves as a ruler, and also helps me to mark diagonal lines I use when quilting some projects.
5. Donna Dewberry 6 1/2″ x 24 1/2″ Easy Read Ruler – Large enough to easily measure out pieces for card wallets, which I make frequently, transparent, and with clearly marked half inches. This ruler also came with optional stick on feet to keep it from slipping on fabric, which made a big difference for me.

These are the 5 tools I use most often and would be lost without. I’m not sure they are all the coolest tools I own, though (Baby Lock excepted), so I may have to do another top 5 of my coolest tools. What are your top 5 tools of your craft?

G2BGreen.com has an excellent article about plastic and reusable bags that includes some eye-opening statistics. Statistics that make me think I need to stop putting it off and get my reusable bags made. I did not know that it could take 1000 years for a plastic bag to decompose, and with the number of plastic bags most of us are using, that amounts to a massive pile of plastic bags. I wonder where that pile is? Perhaps part of the pile is in that garbage vortex in the Pacific ocean.

A lot of grocery stores have started to sell their own reusable bags, which I think is wonderful. And if I understand correctly, some of them will even credit your bill when you use those reusable bags so that they ultimately pay for themselves. I think this is wonderful. If it weren’t for the fact that I like to make my own bags, I definitely would have picked up a few reusable bags at the local grocery store by now. If you are like me, and want to make your own reusable grocery bags, here are a few excellent free patterns I found:

• Simple Cloth Grocery Bags from Jan Andrea’s Baby Crafts
• How to Make a Canvas Bag from Pie and Coffee
• Wallet Size Fold Up Reusable Shopping Bag from Whip Up
• A TOTE-ally Easy Way to Help the Earth from Instructables
• Fabric Shopping Bag from Dye-abolical Designs
• Cheap & Easy Fabric Grocery Bags from Wisdom of the Moon

With so many patterns, what are you waiting for? Go make a reusable grocery bag!

• Amy Butler’s Hourglass Pillows
• Tracy Porter Patchwork Quilt

And if you’re like me and don’t have a sewing machine upon which to make quilts and pillows, maybe you should check Etsy for something warm and snuggly. I bet a pair of fingerless gloves from TickledPinkKnits or a beautiful, warm sweater from BDG Designs would do the job.

How do you like to warm up on a cold, snowy day?

Alright, so this post was supposed to be about helping you get some inspirations to be crafty and creative this weekend, but I just went to YouTube to find the link to the Scott Bakula song, and I came across all these other great Scott Bakula clips. So what if this is a crafty blog? I need to stop for a moment and pay homage to Scott Bakula. My Quantum Leap watching buddy and I (we’re on Season 5 now, and sad about the impending end of the series) both have a special place in our hearts for that time when Scott Bakula sang Volare.

Ok, I realize most people don’t share my love of Quantum Leap and Scott Bakula. Even so, you have to give him kudos for doing his own singing (more singing here). I guess if your weekend plans don’t include watching Quantum Leap, you could try some of these crafty things instead:

• Make a luggage tag and get out of town. May I suggest your destination be somewhere warm?
• Can’t get out of town? Stay at home and snuggle up in a blanket with built-in hood.
• Try making some adorable shrinky dink pins from Wee Wonderfuls.
• Make the weekend sweet with some delicious chocolate chip cookies. (I have made this recipe, and these cookies are both huge and delicious.)

Whether you try some of these suggestions or not, I’d like to hear what your creative plans are for this weekend! Even more, I’d love to hear that I’m not alone on this whole Scott Bakula/Quantum Leap thing.

I’ll be on the road for the next two days, so I may or may not post. I know, you’re sitting on the edge of your seat.

How is all your holiday crafting going? As if your plate wasn’t full enough, here are few more crafty holiday ideas I’ve seen lately:

• Chia over at Chia’s House of Stir Fry recently hosted a holiday cookie exchange, which included good food, tasty cookies, games, and prizes. And, I suspect, her delicious eggnog. This would be a great way to gather with friends this season. Who doesn’t love a plate full of handmade cookies?
• Heather Bailey suggests making a garland out of yo yo’s (and if you don’t know how to make yo yo’s, she’s got a tutorial for that, too.)
• Moonstitches has a great pattern for a holiday zakka owl pennant.
• Button Trees at Tutti Fruiti, Two Peas in a Bucket, and Ali Edwards.
• Felted Wool Star Ornaments at the Purl Bee.

I used a lot of paper I just had lying around, and even a page from an old book. Some stationery and index cards found there way into the pages, too. I also printed out a few new pages with some of my favorite quotes on them. This would be a great project to recycle/re-purpose paper you find around your house. And who couldn’t use a personalized, handmade, eco-friendly journal?

I enjoyed putting the book together. It was easy and fun (although a pain to cut down all the papers to the right dimensions. I have added a fancy paper cutter to my wish list.) And now I’ve got all this fancy bookbinding glue, so I think I’ll make a few more.

If you want to try your hand at your own homemade lampshade, I found this great tutorial on flickr. I haven’t tried it yet, but it’s definitely on my “to do” list. And if you’d like to get that homemade look but don’t want to actually make it, check out the cool lampshades at When In Doubt Draw Flowers and Garnish. Garnish has lampshades made with hand screen printed fabric and the ones at When In Doubt Draw Flowers are made with vintage wallpaper. (And while you’re checking out the lampshades, be sure to look at the rest of their shops. There are a lot of cool things to be had in both.)