USE WHAT YOU HAVE!

Do you ever feel like you have SO MUCH STUFF that your house needs to go on a diet?  I DO!  And if you know me...then you know that I REALLY try hard to use what I have...from kitchen items, craft supplies, scrapbooking materials...just about everything.  

And you might not know that I have been crocheting since I was in 3rd grade.  And, that means you get lots of EXTRA yarn and it starts to accumulate.  I have 3 shelves just like this one with EXTRA yarn..what is a girl to do with it all.  I really don't want to throw it away and in the past I have made squares for Warm Up America...but recently I got another idea.

Our church was collecting scarfs for the homeless...so I thought...ok, I will go out and buy some and get them to church...then I remembered all this yarn!  So I started to make scarfs with extra yarn!  YEA!  I get rid of yarn, make things that will help keep the homeless warm AND it didn't cost me a penny!  AND as an extra bonus, my shelfs are starting to become less crowded.

So I found a stitch that I liked and off I went.  Here are a few that I made.  They specifically needed scarfs for men...so I grabbed manly colors and the rest is history!  I made 9 of them.  I will continue to make scarfs from my extra yarn and keep them until the next time we need to donate them.  It made me feel good, I don't have to put my house on a yarn diet and 9 homeless men will have a warm homemade scarf!  YEA!

Do you have something you would like to use and help someone else?  Then I challenge you to get it out and create whatever it is!  

I also made a scarf for me...then my husband saw the colors I was using and said, "hey, I want one that color...make me one?"  So I did.  So now we are up to 11 scarfs.

I then got a CRAZY idea while "spending quality time" with my husband when he was watching football.  LOL  The Seattle Seahawks were on...and their uniforms caught my eye.  They were cool colors.  I kept thinking...I need to use those colors for a scrapbook layout.  The colors are Outdoor Denim, Pear & Slate.  The next day I got our NEW SPRING/SUMMER catalog and saw one of the kits WAS those colors!!!!  YAHOOO!  

For years...we have had a tradition that every New Years Day, we take our picture for the first page of  my album, so today we will take our picture for our 2013 album.  BUT, of course you have to have color coordinating clothes!  Our coats worked GREAT!  (I knew I wanted to take it outside).  BUT, wouldn't it be fun to have scarfs to match the layout!  LOL  Of course!  So off I went to make both my husband & I scarfs to match the layout (ok, I wanted one that color anyway...but this was a good opportunity to use it in the picture too!)  

So if you are counting I am up to 13!  I think I am done...well wait!  I now have EXTRA yarn in these colors so I must make ONE MORE!  UGH!  I think scarf burn out has set in!  LOL  But I will make ONE MORE to use up what I have!

What do you have that you can USE UP?  I encourage you to not only use what you have, but do something good with it!

And here is our January 1st 2013 photo for that first page of my 2013 album. As soon as I print it I will officially be caught up with 2013 photos!  LOL