Saturday, April 9, 2011

Coffee bag pouch

One nice thing in my town for a crafty and thrifty gal is our SCRAPS shop.  SCRAPS is St. Cloud Recycled Art Project Shop.  It is just that, a ‘shop’ of items that can be ‘recycled’ into art projects, and it’s all free.  Yep, a thrifty crafters best four letter word, free.

You can donate or pick up items that can be used for crafts.  I’ve donated some supplies I’ve had and items that I saved for ‘one day’ and decided that that day might not come for me.  It is a place to donate those things that you might look at and think that someone can make something with this.  Whether it is yogurt containers, egg cartons, fabric scraps, buttons, beads, plastic, paper, wallpaper, tea tins, foam, patterns or just about anything else you might imagine, it might just be there.

I went the other day hoping for some bubble wrap and just to see what was there as I haven't been there for months.  I lucked out and found one piece of bubble wrap and then  I saw a bunch of Starbucks Coffee bags.

My heart raced with the possibilities.

I just knew I needed to do something with them.  I wasn’t sure what I would make with them but knew I would have fun trying to figure out what to make with them.  The people in the shop asked what I was going to make and I said I wasn’t really sure, maybe a bag of some sort but I knew I needed to take a few to see what I could make with them.

I went searching for bag patterns but wasn’t really happy with anything I found.  I remembered that I had some zippers I got last summer so I decided to make a zippered pouch.  After some searching for some zipper tutorials I finally decided that I should attempt to make a zippered bag.

This is the first bag I made.100_7009

I used four of the same bag so the pattern was the same front, back and on the inside.

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I realized that it was really ‘crunchy’ and a bit too bulky to use the foil packet for both the outside and the inside lining.

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For my second pouch I didn’t line it at all.  The front and back are the same, it is the top of the bag from the first pouch I made. 

I decided that I didn’t like the way the zipper turned out with a lining.  I didn’t like that you could see all of the zipper.

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These are the latest two each from one bag.  One side has the top of the bag and the other has the bottom of the bag.

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I lined these with some light cotton fabric I had also picked up for free.

You gotta love when you use items right after you pick them up.

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I thought about making some smaller containers but wasn’t sure exactly what I pictured in my head would turn out so I made a relatively simple container from two bag.  For now it will hold the zippered pouches I made.

I’m thinking of taking them to an indoor flea market next weekend with a few of my sisters.  We are planning on selling some of our crafty items.  Any idea how I should price them? 

Mostly free/recycled materials and I’m sure my sewing skills leave something to be desired but I think the idea is fresh and original for this area.   At least I haven’t seen anything made from coffee bags around this area.

I’ll only have a few to sell and I would like to price them to sell but not completely give them away.   Really I would appreciate any ideas on how to price them.  I was thinking around $5 but I’m not really sure.  What would you pay?

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Thanks,

June

4 comments:

  1. Love this idea! I don't know how you could price them. But as a previous starbucks barista and serious crafter....I LOVE this idea!!!

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  2. What a fun idea, June! I love any project that involves recyling por repurposing. Not sure about the pricing either, but I think you came up with an awesome idea!!

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  3. These are so cute! I'm jealous that you have such a great resource at your disposal for great materials.

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  4. I stopped by to check out your globe, and just love everything else you blog about. Good job! I'm a new follower from the Tater Tots blog hop. I gave you the versatile blogger award. You can check it out here: http://www.meldreamsoften.com/2011/04/versatile-blogger-award.html

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