But, now that they should be in everyone’s hot little hands (though probably not the 2 US ones.. unless the post is being good…  Here they are:

There’s 4 of them, not 3… because I was so impressed with Liz’s entry, I had to make her one too.

So we have…

• Tereza’s pad – Priestess AIO with purple flannelette top, 2 layers bamboo fleece core with PUL and print cotton backing.  I like this pad, it’s purple obviously but it’s my favourite of the celestial prints I have.  She’d said: “I’d like an AIO pad,  priestess size, with PUL. I’d like deep dark colors like royal purple, navy blue, chocolate brown, burgundy and black, with either geometric, celestial, animal, dragon, candies or geisha patterns. Doesn’t have to match, just be complimentary, and I’d like flannel or velour, please.”

• Liz’s pad - Neophyte waterproofed pocket pad, with bamboo velour top, PUL and print cotton backing (with 2 double layer bamboo fleece inserts).  This one had me stressed a bit as I knew I had red paisley but misplaced it (because it was only a tiny bit left).. and while I have purple paisley, 2 other pads were purple, and she wanted red as her first choice… but after turning my sewing room upside down (well, not really) I found it – yay!  She’d said: “N3ophyt3. (Just cos I lik3 th3 word.) Pock3t with PUL, fl33c3 backing ok but not n3c3ssary.  V3lour, cotton minky or su3d3cloth good on top, (so anything but flann3l.) I lov3 R3D most of all and also would b3 silly not to say PURPL3 but also lov3 all th3 light3r colours in pr3f3r3nc3 to dark3r on3s. Can’t go past a good paisl3y patt3rn. Also lov3 rainbows and strip3s. Cut3sy past3lly ones with ch3rri3s, flow3rs or cupcak3s also acc3ptabl3. For my own compl3t3 s3lfish 3njoym3nt, th3 patt3rn is th3 most important.”

• Jodie’s pad – Cotton velour topped AIO Nymph length pad with 2 layers bamboo fleece core and PUL.  She’s a woman after my own heart with the love of purple   “Pantyliner Size, AIO, PUL, Velour, Purple (do I really have to pick more than one colour lol??  C’mon I know you’ll have oodles of purple fabric in your stash hehe!  Ok ok ummm any jewel tones – turquoise, blues, dark pinks) Love owls, cats, floral, swirls, patterns. Match either – I’m easy (not in THAT way lol)” (sorry, I had to include that last bit because it makes me giggle )

• Julie’s pad – Mini pantyliner with 2 layers flannelette one layer print cotton.  D’oh, I just realised I meant to put an extra snap setting on that one for her…   She’d said: “Mini, AIO, No PUL, I’d like the thinnest pantyliner you offer. Velour or cotton. Pink, purple, black, red, blue, baby pastels.  Hello Kitty, tattoo, cutesy, polka dots, red fruit, lotus, vintage floral. Prints matter more.”

So there we go… I hope you ladies like your new pads!

Also while I was making pads, I did a swap with Marnie from Noonee Wilga (I got a very beautiful purple velvet and owl print pad) and after much deliberation on fabrics (sometimes having too much choice is a curse) we went with the organic cotton & owl combo (so we both went for owls lol!), with my star sewing and I did some decorative stitching around the edge (which got a bit botched on the wing, but ignore that)

The weather outside was being silly while photographing, that’s why the backing mat looks totally different in each shot.

Firstly, can I suggest switching to reusable wrappings instead of single use paper….    See my “Eco Friendly Gift Giving” post for ideas how to limit waste when giving gifts, and this guide to making your own bags/wraps

Reusable gift bags

Hair elastics

Fairy Stuff

Jewellery

Aprons

Lunchbags & Wraps

Hair Wraps

If you’re planning to buy gifts, I’d recommend doing so ASAP to avoid postal delays, so you get your goodies in plenty of time.  Also Monday the 20th will be the last day I’ll be open, before having a bit of an Xmas break.

But if you still want to give lovely wrapped gifts and cards though, there is are better options!!

Some stats from Stanford university (yes, it’s American, but I’m too lazy to find if there are any equivalent Aussie ones, and it gives a pretty good indication of what sort of waste we “civilised” societies produce)

• 25 million tons of extra waste is produced in America during the Thanksgiving to New Year period. That’s 1 million tons each week more than the rest of the year.
• If every family used reused materials to wrap gifts, rather than single use paper, it would save enough paper to cover 45,000 football fields
• 2.65 billion Christmas cards are sold each year, and that is enough to fill a football field to 10 stories high.
• Sending just one less card would equate to saving 50,000 cubic yards of paper

Frankly, it’s horrifying…and I’m sure Australia is no better.  Australians apparently send around 260 Million Xmas cards (so that’s less, but only because there are less people in Australia). So lets consider some more eco-friendly alternatives….

Cards

To be honest I’m not that keen on sending Xmas cards – I think it’s a terrible waste of paper, especially giving them to people I see frequently anyway… but since people tend to get snarky if you don’t send them, you can at least lessen the environmental impact…. Remember to recycle the cards you get, or give them to schools/playgroups etc. for craft.

• E-Cards – Electronic cards.. google “Christmas ecards” for heaps of links. Basically you just choose the design, type a message and e-mail it to your friends. Easy and no paper wastage.
• Recycled paper cards – Cards made from recycled paper. There are several out there to choose from, like these, these and these.
• Reuse Cards as post cards – Keep any cards you get where they have no writing on the inside cover, and cut off that front part. Use that as a post card to send to someone else the following year.
• Reusable Cards – Buy reusable cards (eg here, here, These are kinda cool, as they can get tracked so you can see where your card ends up [if people enter it in the website when they get it])
• Make Fabric/Felt reusable cards – (My tutorial here) These cards get sent to someone else the following year, instead of being single use.

Wrappings

Everyone likes to open gifts, so just handing something unwrapped is a bit unexciting, but there are ways to make eco-friendly wrappings.

• Kids artwork – When your kids do paintings or drawings on large pieces of paper, keep those to use as wrapping paper.
• Butcher’s paper – If you get packages of meat from the deli/butcher that are wrapped in paper, carefully remove the sticker and keep the paper. It can be printed with stamps or kids can draw on it to make it snazzy for wrapping.
• Small Boxes – If you get boxes for tea, chocolates, shoes, tissues and other small things, save them to use for holding presents. You can paint them, cover them in fabric scraps or turn them inside out to get rid of any markings.
• Teatowels, handkerchiefs and facewashers – If you see these on special you can always use them to wrap items and they themselves become part of the gift.
• Squares of fabric – Buy nice print fabrics when on special, or use cheaper plain fabrics with fancy ribbons. You can even just cut them with pinking shears instead of sewing. Use them as you would wrapping paper, just tie with ribbon instead of using stickytape. Or use “Furoshiki” (Japanese term for how to wrap stuff in cloth)
• Fabric gift bags – Make or buy fabric bags to hold gifts. For kids presents, printed pillowcases make a great “sack”, and can be tied closed at the top with a ribbon.  or you could make drawstring bags, or giftbags with a ribbon sewn to them (My tutorial here)
• Use paper gift bags instead of wrapping paper – gift bags are more likely to be reused than wrapping paper. Or you can make your own.
• Newspaper – If you wrap it the right way, it can look awesome – see
• http://www.adelle.com.au/gift-wrapping-ideas
• http://mayamade.blogspot.com/2010/01/how-to-instant-paper-flowers.html
• http://howaboutorange.blogspot.com/2009/10/make-gift-bow-from-magazine-page.html
• http://howaboutorange.blogspot.com/2010/10/how-to-make-recycled-paper-flowers.html

Gift Tags

Chances are you’ll be giving gifts to mostly the same people year after year, so why not consider some reusable gift tags, or at least not buying tags. Some ideas:

• Make clay tags – http://www.elmstreetlife.com/2011/11/diy-reusable-gift-tags.html
  
• Make Tags from old Xmas cards or wrapping paper – Save nice cards/paper, and cut tags from them.
• Make tags from cardboard – Buy a special gift tag punch (like this) or make a template and trace around it (if you make your template on some clear plastic, you’ll be able to see through it) and use it to punch out tags from anything – interesting bits of scenery from magazines, plain parts of cereal/cracker/tissue boxes… possibilities are endless!
• Make reusable felt or fabric tags – Embroider or fabric paint the names onto tags you make from felt or fabric.
• Make Chalkboard tags – you can buy chalkboard fabric, or just make heavy card or wooden tags and paint with chalkboard paint. – http://commonthreadskingston.blogspot.com/2010/12/re-usablechalk-board-gift-tags.html and http://www.prettyhandygirl.com/2010/12/creative-gift-wrapping-day-4.html
• Make newspaper or book page tags – http://www.curbly.com/users/chrisjob/posts/9507-how-to-make-easy-literary-leaf-gift-tags-free-template-included
• Make plain paper tags and laminate them - Get some nice paper and cut tag shapes, then laminate them. Use a permanent marker or whiteboard marker to wrote the names on (permanent marker will rub off with a little metho on a cloth)
  
• Make paper tags with names already printed on and laminate them – this is what I have done, I made basic tags with all the names of people we give presents to (and some people like the kids I made more than one tag so I could wrap a few presents for them), cut them out, laminated them and punched a hole in, and I thread a piece of string through the hole and I have reusable tags! I collect them and the fabric wrapping to use for next year’s gift.

Found on Cloth Pad Shop – http://au.clothpadshop.com/category/31

Or these on Obsidian Star – http://www.obsidianstar.com.au/category/52

Or, if you’re planning on going away over the holidays, or don’t want to have to worry about changing pads while you’re busy with festivities, why not take this opportunity to try out a menstrual cup!

The Lunette menstrual cup is a fantastic product that allows you to catch your flow internally (like a tampon), but with a much greater capacity than tampons and without the risk of TSS or the horribly drying feeling from tampons.  Being reusable, they also don’t contribute to the mountains of feminine hygiene products going into landfill.  They are great for events where you’ll be out all day and don’t want to have to worry about changing pads, as for many women, a cup will be able to be worn all day without needing to be emptied.  (and if you do need to empty it while out, it’s a simple case of removing it, tipping the contents into the toilet, giving it a rinse/wipe and reinserting it!)

Not to mention of course being able to be worn during swimming or hanging out at the beach!

If you are thinking of making the switch to menstrual cups, I’d recommend buying one now so you can give it a “dry run” (so to speak) before your period comes, so you’ve had time to practice and get comfortable with it.  To inspire you, use the code “lunette4xmas” at checkout to receive a 15% discount on the Lunette!  This offer will run until Sunday.

I was asked to stock more foldup pads, so that’s what I’ve focused on in this latest restocking. Some are made from hemp or bamboo fleece, for a heavy absorbency thick pad. Some are made with flannelette for a light absorbency thinner pad.

http://www.obsidianstar.com.au/category/105

If you are not familiar with fold-up pads, they are a style of pad where you have a booster section sewn to the pad, that folds up to form the absorbent part of the pad, and unfolds for faster drying.

The way I make foldup pads has a winged top part that snaps around your underpants like any normal pad, with a rectangle of fabric sewn underneath that is folded into 3 (a “trifold”) down the centre of the pad. When unfolded and laying flat, the booster section is free to flap about when hanging on the line, helping it dry faster.

To use the pad you simply fold one side of the booster over into the centre (as shown below), then fold the other side over. Snap the pad around your underpants and you’re good to go

Some foldup pads include a strip of PUL waterproofing, to give leak protection. Some do not include this to cater for those who don’t like synthetics in their pads.

http://www.obsidianstar.com.au/category/105

Base+Insert Pads

I have made this style of pad before, just not very often (although it’s the style I make most regularly for donation pads for charity), but always overlocked, and I was never happy with how they looked. So I decided to use the nice curvy shape of my “Neophyte” pad and make some nice looking “turned and topstitched” pads with it.

The base pad is made with a backing of PUL and a topping of microfleece. This fleece topping together with the ribbon straps helps keep the inserts in place, and won’t absorb, so your base can be kept on while you change the inserts, even if the inserts have soaked through to the base.

The inserts are made from hemp/organic cotton fleece and flannelette. You can choose to wear them either side up. You can use one insert at a time for a light flow (or a medium flow if you change regularly), but you can use 2 or even 3 inserts together if you want more absorbency. This versatility allows you to use the one pad from light to heavy flow, just by increasing the number of inserts you use with it. Each insert will dry more quickly than a full pad will, so it’s a great choice for those who need to dry their pads inside, or have pads dry quickly.

http://www.obsidianstar.com.au/category/5

And I was running low on breast pads, so I’ve added a few more pairs.

I’ve been making 4 of each print, so think I’ll have to sew up one each way, then offer the other 2 as a “you pick”. But help me out here, what would your preference be? Hemp fleece top or cotton print top?

So, to celebrate selling 3,000 (+a couple) pads, I’m giving away 3 semi-custom pads.  One pad each to 3 lucky winners!

To win one, simply reply to this post, telling me (only entries with these answered will be valid):

• What size pad you want (from the 7 sizes I offer – http://www.obsidianstar.com.au/pages/pads)
• What type of pad (AIO, Pocket, etc.)
• Whether you want PUL waterproofing or not, or synthetic fleece backing
• Pad topping material preference (velour, cotton, organic cotton, minky, suedecloth, flannel)
• Preferred colours {pick more than one}
• Preferred prints {pick more than one} (eg. florals, abstract florals, animals, animal print, geometric, stripes, cutesy, Hello Kitty, swirls, halloween, food [sushi/cupcake], Geisha, rainbow, paisley…)
• Which is more important – that I match preferred colour, or preferred print

So I’ll pick 3 winners from random, and I’ll make up a pad that fits their stated preferences the best I can out of what fabrics I have available.  I can’t guarantee I’ll be able to make your perfect colour/print/fabric combo, but at least you’d get a pad of the type and size you want… and hey, it’s free! 

Please share this around to your friends so they can enter too… if I get a number of entries that includes a 3, I might even add something else!

Ohh, and since I’m 21 pads over the 3,000, I’ll draw the winners on the 21st Nov

—Edit—

Winners!

  Comment #33 Julie,#4 Jodie and #46 Tereza

I’ll also be sending something to commenter #13 – Liz  for cleverly including all those 3′s! (and whose post # happened to also have a 3 in it!)

Congrats ladies!  I’ll e-mail you to sort out your prizes!

Make your own fabric wrappings and do away with using single use wrapping paper!

It’s a good idea to have a selection of bags of different sizes so that you’re not trying to squeeze a huge item into a small wrap, or having a lone CD floating around in a massive sack.  Having simple squares of fabric are good for wrapping books and boxes.

You can do what I do, and ask for your fabric wrappings back again… If you’re personally handing the gifts to the person, they can give you back your wrappings after they open their gift.  Then you can use them year after year.  If the recipient will be willing to switch to using cloth wrappings, then gifting them a wrapping will help boost their collection, and then next year you can get one of theirs, and your collection will grow and change   To go completely reusable, think about making gift tags too.  Something like felt or fabric with the person’s name embroidered (or fabric painted) on…. so that it can be reused again next year too.

Choosing the Fabric

Buying Christmas printed fabric is best done in January, when the stores are trying to clear it out cheap… But if you don’t want to wait almost a whole year to start your fabric wrapping collection, and you don’t want to spend a lot on the Christmas fabric, you can always buy the MUCH cheaper plain fabric (maybe red or green poplin) or plain calico… and use nice ribbons to make it look more festive.

(hurredly wrapped, but you get the idea)

Or, if you want to go even more eco-friendly, look in thrift/op shops and buy good sheets and fabric remnants and use those.  You might even find old Xmas tablecloths.  You can make gift wrappings for birthdays and other occasions this way, where you wouldn’t want Christmas prints…. and who says Christmas gifts need to be wrapped in red/green or Christmas prints anyway…

To make a bag with the ribbon sewn into the side seam…..

Take your fabric and cut a piece that is twice as long, or twice as wide as you want it.  Depending on the fabric you use, and the size you want to make… and if you want 2 side seams, or one side and one bottom seam….. you’ll have to figure out how best to cut it for your fabric. In this example I’ll be folding the fabric so that the seam will be on one side and on the bottom.

Pin a piece of ribbon into the side seam allowance, a few cm down from the top edge of the fabric.You want the ribbon to be a bit longer than twice how long you’d like it to be.

If your ribbon as a good side and a bad side, make sure that the good side will be showing when the bag is tied – this means your good sides of the ribbon should be touching… it looks wrong, because when you turn the bag, the good sides are together and you see the wrong sides, but when you tie the ribbon up, it goes around the bag, so it works – trust me!  … so… good sides of the ribbon together and it should come out as it should.  I suggest you make one, check it works, then make more…  or use double sided satin ribbon so it doesn’t matter

Now sew up the side/bottom seams of your bag.  If your ribbon has wire in it, you might like to remove it first if you’re overlocking/serging, or place it out of the way of the cutting blade.  Also make sure you don’t overlock over the pin! Make sure when you sew up the seams you don’t catch the ribbon in them!

So you now have a bag with a ribbon poking out from the side seam

Then hem the top (or you can do that before you sew up the side seam, as it’s easier to do when it’s flat)

So there you go…. no more paper wrap!

So I’m going to give fabric reusable cards a go.  And I thought I’d share a tutorial on how to make them with you.

Now, those people who are into embroidery and patchwork and appliqué can go to town here… I’ve seen some cool felt ones with hand sewn Xmassy designs on the front.  I’m about as creative as a brick with it comes to stuff like that, so I’m sticking with basic sewn ones… also, I don’t want to spent 3 hours embroidering on a dodgy looking snowman, only to have the card tossed in the bin.  But, if you’re crafty, and can be bothered, go for your life.

The only problem with these is, that it’s only an eco-friendly idea if the person getting the fabric card is going to reuse it.  So we may need to encourage people it’s a good idea and to at least use it as their card back to us, so at least limit some of the wastage.

A basic sewn card is pretty easy, cut an inside and an outside fabric… sew together.  Done   You may want some interfacing or an extra layer of cotton in there to stiffen it (or you can insert cardboard into it)

But I like the pocket card – It’s a card and gift in one hah!

So… To make a pockety card you’ll need……  One piece for the back, one piece for the front (I like them in contrasting colours), and the pocket bit.  Now here I’ve used one side candycane fabric and one side plain white, just so I don’t “waste” the nice fabric on the inside pocket (and because I don’t know if I’ll have enough of it for all my cards if I don’t)…. you can of course cut your pocket piece on a fold so it’s the same both sides and you won’t have to sew the 2 pieces together..

The card can be any size you like, but if you’re going to buy envelopes for them, then you’ll be wanting to make sure the envelope fits your card.  I plan to save some of the nicer paper wrapping paper we get on presents given to us this year, and make envelopes for sending out next year’s cards in.  If you want the measurements for this card (which you’ll want if you download my inserts below), they are:

Card outer  – 11.5cm wide X 16.5cm high

Card Pocket – 26cm wide X 9cm high

Now, when you cut these out… you’ll want to put the long/high side of the card outer on a fold.  The pocket part, you can either cut it so the long side is on a fold (so you don’t have to sew 2 pieces together).  Or if you’re wanting to save “wasting” the expensive nice fabric on the inside of the pocket, then cut one from a lining instead.  Then sew the 2 pieces of pocket along one of the long sides, turn it over and sew along the edge to make it neat. Now assemble your pieces with right sides of the card outer & inner facing, with the pocket inbetween.

Make sure the outside of the pocket is facing the same way as the outside of the card front.  If you put your pocket on the fold so it’s the same both sides, then you won’t need to worry about which side is which.  Sew around the edges, leaving a gap in the bottom edge open for turning.  Turn it, and you should get something like this – with a big long pocket.

Iron it flat, and then fold it in half and give it a really good iron on the fold…. you’re wanting to press a good crease into there.  Because then you run a line of stitching along that crease, to define where the card is to fold.

You need somewhere to write your greeting on…. Take a piece of thin ribbon (30cm long works well), and sew that into the centre back of the card, about 2cm down from the edge.  Just sew one little section.  It’s just to keep it attached

I’ve made some inserts you can download…  (they are a word file, prints to an A4 page).  There’s the front with Xmas tree and holly border, and there is a “back”, which will print onto the right spot on the back of each insert, which says it’s a reusable card and to send it on. Also another version of the reusable card blurb, that I like to print on card, or laminate and have under the message, so that it stays in the card when it’s passed on and my extra printed inserts are all used up

You can edit the wording if you like.  I cut them out just before the line, you can cut on the line if you prefer.

insert | insertback | instructions

Or you can make them yourself. You just need some paper a little smaller than the half of the card.

Punch 2 holes in the top to thread the ribbon through.

If you laminate the paper inserts, people can use a fine-tipped permanent texta to write on the insert and it will rub off with a bit of metho on a cloth.  Making a completely reusable no-waste card.  But if you don’t think your card recipients will have metho or textas  don’t laminate them… they will be single use then, which is a shame, but less paper wastage than a regular card.  Whiteboard marker will likely rub off onto the fabric, and those markers are generally thick and not nice to write with, so I wouldn’t recommend those.

If you print several of the paper inserts and pop them in the back pocket or tie a bundle into the ribbon and write on the top one only, your recipient will have a fresh insert for writing their greeting on, and so on.

Now, these do ok at standing up on their own, because the pocket gives them a bit of rigidity… but if you want a really stiff card so they stand on a mantlepiece, or you’re not going to do the pocket, then I’d suggest adding something in there to stiffen it.  You could try interfacing, but to make it completely card-like, cut 2 smaller sections (10.5X14cm) from some clear plastic or thin cardboard (something like a cereal box, plastic from the lid of a gift box or something).  You want it a bit smaller than half of the card.. so it fits inside.. and what you’d do is when you sew the card up, leave the whole bottom edge open, sew that middle seam in, and then slide your 2 stabiliser things in each side, and then sew around the whole card, sewing closed the opening.

And you have reusable fabric cards!  You could do the same idea for birthday cards and other cards too. If you don’t want to do the pocket, just leave that piece out.  Or you could put it on the inside.  If you did put it on the inside, you could use a button and a loop of ribbon to keep the card closed to hide the goodies inside.

If you give this idea a go, please share some pics and tell me how you went!

http://www.etsy.com/shop/ObsidianStar

And as an opening special, I’m offering a 15% discount at my etsy store until the end of Oct.  Just enter “ETSYOCT“to get the discount.

New jewellery has been added, some with a Halloween theme

http://www.etsy.com/listing/84336471/halloween-bat-necklace

http://www.etsy.com/listing/84336664/halloween-witch-necklace

http://www.etsy.com/listing/84513268/scorpion-choker-necklace

(Those Halloween necklaces are OOAK, I only have one of each of those the pendants, so I won’t be making more)

and some Pagan themed necklaces

(Click to enbiggen )

http://www.etsy.com/listing/84514718/yoni-goddess-necklace

Also, don’t forget I have Halloween themed pads on Cloth Pad Shop

http://au.clothpadshop.com/category/31

Spend $15 or more on Halloween themed pads (At myclothpadshop store), and you’ll get a free Halloween themed pantyliner!