Today is Day Six of celebrating Earth Day, which I will be doing for the entire week! I hope to provide ideas and useful tips showing you how to use items that would either have been thrown out, dumped off at the thrift-store, or are just perhaps forgotten.

Today I want to share some ideas on how you can use up scraps, tiny bits, and left-overs. These “Stash Projects” are all great small, non-daunting projects that can be completed in a few hours, or over a weekend. They make great gifts for your “crafty and creative” friends, and can be customized to their own unique style. You can find all of the directions in my book, Creative Embroidery, Mixing the Old With the New.

1. Scrap Pins: This hand-sewn project starts with a piece of ribbon or fabric, which is stitched with tiny bits of lace and ribbons, then adorned with treasured buttons and embellishments.
2. Treasure Keeper Pocket: This project turns bits or ribbon, lace, and a collection of buttons, into a pocket to keep a secret stash of treasures safe.
3. Buckle Bookmarks: This fun, simple, project uses scraps of fabric, bits of lace, embroidery stitches, and embellishments to create a bookmark that would surely please all of your “bookish” friends. Who, by the way, are my kind of people!

1. Lace Collage Brooch or Needle Keep: This elegant, hand-sewn project is created with precious bits of lace, and fabrics, and is embellished with embroidery stitches and buttons. You can create a brooch, turn it into a needle keep, or even an ornament by following the instructions given for the Heart Ornament in the the book.
2. Heart Ornament or Pin: If you know my work, you know that hearts, hearts, and hearts are my favorite things to make. This hand-sewn heart project uses a bit of fabric, a bit of lace, and lots of buttons, and can be finished in an afternoon.
3. Scrap Pins: This is another example of the project listed in the previous group, which shows you the variety of design choices your stash could provide.

Here are a few classes that I offer, that use ups those precious bits and pieces.

• Beadoodlery
• Country Cottage Tussy Mussy
• Gingerbread Details and Decorative Trims
• Log Cabin Heart Etui and Pincushion
• Perky Pincushion

Here are some other tips to live by:

• Use gauze gift bags, for storing little precious bits of lace, ribbons, or plastic buttons.
• Re-purpose gift boxes, or other cardboard boxes to store buttons, beads, and embellishments.
• Re-use plastic sushi boats to store and organize your embroidery threads while working on a project.

Happy Earth Week, be kind to her, she is the only one we have. ~Christen