Merry Christmas!!

Wishing all of my blog readers a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!!

 ingredients:
Daisy
Fur trapper's hat from Target
Sparky
Santa Hat and collar from Target
"Merry" alphabet and ornaments: Crystal Wilkerson
"Christmas" font: Milkshake

Stenciled wall rack

I'm still in the process of organizing and decorating my craft room-this is a wall rack I made to hold a few necessities. I took a piece of 1 x 4 wood and painted it pink. Then I downloaded the free Sepeda dingbat font and installed it so that I could use it with Silhouette Studio. I used that along with my Silhouette SD to cut the bike out of vinyl, flipping one horizontally, then used it as a stencil to paint the bikes in off white (I think it's called Parchment). Then I drilled some holes and added fancy glass knobs from Home Depot along with a few hanging jars from the Target dollar spot (made for candles). Perfect storage for some of my goodies!








linking to:
be different...act normal
classy clutter
my romantic home
tidymom
30 handmade days

Plume Jelly Roll Quilt - a tutorial

I'm pretty sure this has been done but anyway, here's my take on it. I used one Moda jelly roll. This one happens to be Plume, by Tula Pink. I needed extra fabric for the backing and binding but if you use cross-grain binding, you could easily use some of the extra strips for that. I like bias binding so I used some fabric from my stash. So anyway, here goes. All seams are a scant 1/4" and you should press seams as you go. When possible, nest seams at intersections. Oh, and please excuse the awful pictures. I took most of these in our old house which had horrible lighting and some were taken with my phone (what was I thinking?).




First separate your strips. I used the floral ones for the middles, but there weren't quite enough so I used some of my border strips for the missing middles. Make sure there are at least twenty-five border strips.

 The ones on the right are extras that I didn't use on the front. They can be used as part of the backing (more on that later) or for binding.




Now take the strips for the borders. The first thing I always do is cut the selvages from the ends of the strips. Don't cut too much! Then, from each one, cut two 10.5" pieces and two 6.5" pieces. These will make up the border for one block.  This will leave enough left for one "middle" for later. Repeat with twenty-four more border strips for a total of twenty-five sets. Set aside all of the extra pieces. In the picture below I already cut the extra piece.



Next you need to cut seventy-five 6.5" strips for the middles. I was able to get six from each "middle" jelly roll strip. I had nine of those so I had to cut an additional twenty-one 6.5" strips. Use the extra pieces from the border strips for this.



Separate the middles into sets of three. I put the darker/more solid strips in the center. You should have twenty-five sets.



Sew each set of three middles together as shown and press the seams.



Take your shorter border strips and sew them to the ends of the middle units as shown.



Then take the longer border strips and sew them to the sides as shown. One block done! Repeat until you have completed twenty-five blocks.



Next lay out your blocks. I turned every other block so that the middles go in alternating directions. See those two blocks on the left side of the bottom row? I turned those before I sewed the blocks together. 



Sew the blocks into rows, and then sew the rows together. Your quilt top is done! If you want to, you can add a border here with some matching or contrasting fabric. I didn't want a border.

Press the quilt top well using lots of starch. I use Magic Sizing. Prepare your quilt back. I chose to make the extra pieces into a larger block by sewing them bricklayer style and then trimming. Then I sewed the backing fabric (which I got ultra-cheap at Connecting Threads in the clearance section) around the block. Scroll down for pics of the back. Press your quilt back with lots of starch too.

Sandwich and baste your quilt. I used Elmer's School Glue to baste mine. I put the batting down and smoothed it out. Then laid the backing on top, folded back about 10" at a time, and drizzled the glue in a thin zig zag pattern. Smooth down the backing fabric and press to dry the glue quickly. Repeat all the way across the back. Then I flipped the whole works over and did the same for the quilt top. You want to use a very thin drizzle of glue and remember that it doesn't need to be a solid sheet of glue. My machine has never had a problem with sewing through glue basting but your mileage may vary.

Quilt as desired, then bind your quilt. Don't forget to add a label! I chose to do this corner thing with the label but I don't like the "pocket" effect it gives so I'm going to hand sew the free edge down. I made the label on my embroidery machine.



and here's the finished quilt. Pretty!



and the back, including the block made from the scraps. Yes, it went on a little crooked. Oops.




linking to:
skip to my lou
mad in crafts
keeping it simple
creating my way to success
ladybug blessings
memories by the mile
sugar bee crafts
funky polka dot giraffe
nap time creations

The Necessary Clutch Wallet

A couple of years ago I hurt my back (doing nothing at all-how sad is that) and from that time I quit carrying my regular purse. At first it was because it was painful but then I got into the habit of just taking my wallet into stores with me. The problem is that it was small and my phone and keys wouldn't fit in it. So I decided to make a bigger one. I looked high and low for the perfect pattern that would work for me and this was as close as I could find. I altered it a little bit to fit my needs. The pattern is called The Necessary Clutch Wallet and I bought it from Emmaline Bags on Craftsy. I also bought the hardware from her Etsy store and it was well worth it-very good professional quality hardware. Here are a few inside views and the changes I made.

View from the front. I added an inch to the height so my large-ish sized phone will fit inside. I made a wrist strap for it and also a long shoulder strap. I clipped both on the wallet and if I don't want to use the shoulder strap, all I need to do is remove it and leave the wrist strap attached. 


The inside-I added one more large zip pocket.


I made a small detachable zip pocket that snaps in to hold my key chain sized store cards.




I also added snaps in between the two zipper pockets so I could snap them together, keeping the wallet from opening as much, and keeping whatever I put in there from falling out.




I changed the position of the inside D rings, which are meant to hold the straps. The original position made the flap scrunch up when using the long strap and that bugged me. I left the original D rings in for now but may remove them sometime. I put the new D rings in the side seam. 


I also added a small outer zip pocket to hold my most-used credit card and two most-used grocery store cards. 


Plus I added cute zipper pulls. These are made by a company called Inazuma and I've seen them on Etsy as well as a few other sewing websites.


I've been using the wallet for a week or so, including an afternoon shopping trip, and so far it is working out fabulously! I'm very happy with it and with the changes I made.
The fabric for the outside is Sophie by Moda and the inside fabric is Lovely, also by Moda. The fabric for the small zipper pocket is some Japanese Hello Kitty fabric I bought on Etsy a few years ago.

linking to:
beyond the picket fence
someday crafts
creations by kara
seven thirty three
ducks in a row
the ny melrose family

Wedding card

I made this wedding card for my nephew and his new wife. The design is loosely based on the one shown in this blog post.

The dress shape was cut from a Silhouette store file and then put through an embossing folder (I think it's called Plum Blossom). The pink background was embossed with an embossing plate.

Ingredients:
Black and Blushing Bride card stock from Stampin' Up
Curious Metallic Cryogen White card stock from cutcardstock.com
Pearls (unknown)
Punches and ribbon from Stampin' Up

storage-drawer transformation

This is a little wooden chest of drawers I bought from hobby lobby. I took the "before" picture after I removed the hardware, but you can see it sitting in the background-it was a dark bronze kind of color. I sanded it, primed it with kilz latex primer, and then painted the outside part with white (actually parchment which I guess is slightly off white) and then the pairs of drawers with pink, orange and green paint. All of my colors are the little samples you can get mixed at Home Depot. I added one coat of polycrylic since the paints are all a bit flat. Then I spray painted the hardware with white. Much more cheerful! Now to decide what to store in it...








linking to:
beyond the picket fence
coastal charm
sugar bee crafts

storage - 6 x 6 pads, ribbon, buttons, and more

Today I'm sharing a couple of storage ideas. First is my 6 x 6 patterned paper storage. When Stampin' Up started selling these, I thought I had to have every one, and multiple pads of each. I haven't even used much of it but now I will (hopefully) since it's nicely organized. The first thing I did was make some mini file folders using some regular folders cut down and my envelope punch. Then I took my paper pads apart and filed each color in a separate folder. I had some spare file folder labels that I had for my cardstock so I used them for these. I only did this with my SU paper packs because the others ones I have don't really have any dominant colors. I kept those in their pads and turned them upside down for now so the scraps can stay in the pad. The whole thing is stored in a cd case from Walmart.

I love how this turned out. You can see all of my unopened pads in the back. With any luck these will get used now.




Here's some of my other storage. This is a Making Memories shelf where I keep my ribbon, buttons, paint and some other stuff. On the bottom shelf the ribbon spools were too big to use with the dowel in the middle, so I tied it (with some ribbon) to the front to create a little stopper thing. Then I just set my larger ribbon spools behind the stopper thing. The rest of my ribbon spools are on the next shelf up. The jars and tins hold my buttons and the jars near the top on the left have some paper flowers in them. The clear paint can looking containers on top hold small pieces of ribbon. The long tin holds my Stampin' Up markers (I don't have many) and the little pouch on the bottom holds my rubber cutting scissors. Also on the bottom-some of my McDonald's and Lego Hello Kitty collection.




Click here for a link to my other ribbon storage. I keep my non-spooled ribbon on foamcore boards and almost 7 yrs later, it's still working out great for me!

Fabric covered photo boxes - a tutorial

Here's a quick and easy tutorial to cover standard sized photo boxes with fabric. I used fat quarters from Stampin' Up for these, which are very generously sized fat quarters. I don't even think they can legally be called a fat quarter. With regular ones be sure they will fit over the photo box. You should be able to cover one box bottom with a single standard sized unwashed fat quarter. If it's been washed, it may have shrunk so be sure to check the fit. You'll also need a fat quarter for the top. I was able to do two tops per fat quarter but again, these Stampin' Up ones are much bigger than normal.

Mod Podge is also necessary for gluing on the fabric, along with an applicator (I used a foam brush).

Before you start, remove any hardware from the box. Mine had label holders that I had to pry off.

Step 1: measure your fabric if necessary. Make sure it will go around the box and overlap by about an inch on all 4 sides. Same with the top. Cut off any excess. In this picture I'm measuring only the length of the fabric. Then I checked the width.


Step 2: brush glue onto the bottom of the photo box and place it on the center of the fabric.


Step 3: use a ruler as shown to make a mark about 3/4" outside the edges of the box. Mark it at the edge of the fabric. Repeat for all 4 corners. (for the lid, make the mark at about 1/2")


Step 4: draw a line from the corner of the box to the mark.


Step 5: cut on the drawn line, and then cut across, leaving a flap that is about 1" (see the dark lines shown on the picture below)


after the cuts (this photo is flipped):


Step 6: Brush glue onto the long sides of the box (one at a time) and fold up the sides. Be sure to apply glue wherever the fabric will lay, including inside the box. Fold the fabric to the inside of the box and glue it down, keeping the corners as smooth as possible.


Step 7: On the end flaps, apply a little bit of glue to the sides and fold them like this:


Step 8: apply glue to the box ends and fold up the fabric ends. Be sure to glue inside the box and fold over the excess fabric.


Here is the finished box:


Make the lid the same way but be sure to measure 1/2" in step 3 instead of 3/4". Also, be sure the corners are as smooth as possible on the inside so the lid will fit on the box.


finished lid:


And here is the finished box, complete with tight-fitting lid.




hint: I hate washing dried mod podge off my hands, so I wear disposable rubber gloves when doing the gluing part. Also, be sure to let the glue dry thoroughly before putting the lid on the box. Otherwise you may never get it back off.

linking to:
craft-o-maniac
the girl creative
skip to my lou