~Menu Monday~ What’s on your plate?

Hey there!  Everyone ready to start a new week? We are in the final few weeks of summer vacation and are trying to pack in a few more adventures before the 6:30am wake-up calls start.  After the beach vacation a few weeks ago, we’re taking it easy with the simple everyday things.  The library, pool, free-bowling and mini-golf outings are in heavy rotation as is hockey, band and Tae-Kwon-Do. This is quite enough to keep us busy, but also allows us plenty of time to relax and be lazy too. Do your kids have favorite summer activities you tend to do each year?

Last week I shared my airplane tote I made for our trip. Today, I wanted to share with you a few more things I put INTO this tote!  Besides the essentials and a few kid-related items, I made the two pouches above.  The pouch pattern is called the Open Wide Zippered Pouch and it’s a free tutorial by Anna from Noodlehead.

The fabric exterior (top) is from Emily Isabella for Birch Organic fabrics. The line is called Yay Day. Parade has the white fabric background, while the red is Lovely Fox. The exterior bottom is a home decor weight navy denim.  Anna does a really great job with her tutorials and I was able to whip these up really quick. There are three sizes written, but for what I needed I used the small and medium pouch.  What I love about these pouches are how the zippers are installed.  With a nice boxed bottom and wide opening, it can fit A LOT more than typical pouches can. Perfect for my bags!!  I used one pouch for my iPod and iTouch with cables. The other I used for cosmetics/girly items.

This was my typical day-bag that I carried down to the beach.  I usually had one of my pouches for a small camera or craft, a few munchies and drinks and always a book and magazine. On the day I took this shot, I read Creative BagMaking (British magazine) I found at Books-A-Million last month.  Really impressive magazine. I just wish there were more like that released here!  The beach tote I found on the clearance rack at Target shortly after we arrived. Loved that I was able to clean it out and not worry about wet items getting to my goodies. And for $7, who could pass it up?!

So what are you all up to this week? Have you been school supply shopping for your kids like I have? Working on any new crafts or sewing projects? After my quiltty advenures last week, I am slowing it down with two more blocks from my Craftsy class.  I will work on Week 9 of the Zakka 2.0 sew-along which looks fairly easy.  I also have 10 totes/bags to list in my shop. My only problem is finding the right lighting. We’ll see how I do. ~Cindy~