Parent Product Picks: Food Storage

Sometimes you have leftovers.  Sometimes you want to store those leftovers.  Here are a few things that we are currently using at Casa de Craftycakewagon.

Glad Press-n- Seal Wrap: I love this stuff.  Whoever invented this is a genius!  Yeah, it's normally about $6/roll, way more than those crappy other plastic wraps, but it actually works.  If you are lucky, you can score a deal after the holidays and get discounted "holiday" wrap- who cares if it has candy canes on it? 

I'm not even sure who introduced me to this stuff; I think someone brought something to a party with this as a cover.  It actually keeps things inside of a container (within reason) and keeps food fresh.  You don't need a rubber band, or multiple attempts to use it, it's just like a giant sticker!  (Full disclosure: No one paid me to say this. I just really like it.)

In effort to use less plastic for storing food, I have obtained a few ceramic bowls with lids from places like TJ Maxx and Homegoods.  They are nice because they all seem to have vents in the lids for microwaving, and I know that chemicals are kept out of our food.  We also seem to go through an inordinate amount of Bonne Maman jam around here, so I've saved those jars for a while now.  They are good for storing small bits of leftovers or sauces, and sometimes almond bark.

Teepee!

It's finally done!! Let the tale of craziness, woe, and ultimately happiness commence!

You guys, this project? It took me over a month to complete.  I was inspired by this picture from a Jo-Ann's mailer.

I thought, "That seems like a lot of work, but do-able."  The funny thing was, they sent me on a wild goose chase for the "directions" on their website, only to find out that they used a pattern I already owned.

So, I set to work.  Despite the fact that Zizi was scared of the play tent at her auntie's house and didn't like the real tent that we pretended to "camp" in this summer, I persevered.  I found a variety of fabrics that I thought went well together in a rainbow fashion (some I already had, some I bought, like that great wood-grain flannel up there).  I cut them into strips and set to work.  I sewed them into one big piece of fabric, and got ready to cut.



But, I didn't read the pattern as well as I thought.  I assumed I needed 4 panels, but in fact I needed 6 of them.  I realized this AFTER I'd finished the 4th panel and was out of fabric.  I just refused to buy anything else for this project, so I used some muslin leftover from our wedding.

Honestly, I think it looks better this way!

  

The next part of my trouble started when actually configuring the pattern.  I was able to sew it together just fine, but then I realized that there was no way for the fabric to stay attached to the poles!  They used a very small casing for a thin ribbon to supposedly be tight enough to hold up the entire thing; i.e. might work for a picture, but not real life.  So, I got some rainbow ribbon and made little attachments to thread through the main ribbon holding it together.  (Kind of hard to explain, but you can see it up there.)  Then I got some fun battery-powered lights to use at night.  Z doesn't really like them, but she does like the teepee!

She will play inside of it, but she also likes to flop into a panel on the outside.