Textbook purse

Hey everyone,

While researching how to make a totebag for my cousin's birthday, I found some instructions on how to make a purse from a hollowed out book. I had posted a picture of my own medical textbook purse but without instructions, so here they are now:

http://curbly.com/chrisjob/posts/4164-curbly-video-podcast-how-to-make-a-handbag-out-of-a-recycled-book

Sincerely,

E

Valentine's Day

I had no idea what to get A for Valentine's day (yes, I think men should get gifts on v-day too!). One night, as I was staying up way later than I should meandering the internet aimlessly, I came across, quite possibly, the cheesiest website I've ever seen. It's called Links 2 Love. And while most of their items are far beyond my romantic threshold, there was one thing that I came across that I thought was actually rather cute.

http://www.links2love.com/buy_links2love_pillowcases.htm

Can you make out the little black scribbles on the two pillowcases? It is a man climbing on a rope to a woman, waiting for him on the other side. It reminded me of long-distance love.

I figured that I could easily make similar pillows, especially since A (bf) and I happen to have the same sheet set from Target...

Materials:
2 pillowcases
Soft fabric (I chose satin) - 1 yard should be more than enough
Thread that matches the above fabric
Fabric markers if the pillowcases are light in color (otherwise, you will use the thread instead)
Paper
Scissors
Cardboard

1. Get out your first pillowcase


2. Lay out your fabric

(Yes, that is a black flower in the background left over from Halloween...)

3. Draw a heart on some paper and cut it out.

4. Lay the heart on the fabric and cut around it. You can try taping the center of the heart to the fabric so that it doesn't move. You will be folding the edges of the heart under itself so that it will not fray, so cut an inch or so out from the paper heart.

5. Place a large bit of cardboard inside the pillowcase, so that when you sew on the heart (assuming you're handstitching and not using a machine), you don't go through both sides.
Lay the heart shaped piece of fabric on top of the pillowcase. Next, fold an edge of the fabric underneath itself and start sewing that in to place. You may want to do this inch by inch because it is hard to get the curves just right so that they don't look jagged.

6. Now your heart should be entirely sewn to the pillowcase.


7. Stitch a line from the heart to the edge of the pillowcase- this will be the rope.

8. Then, since I was having a terrible time hand sketching the little man and the little woman, I printed it off from the Links to Love website, cut it out and stitched around it (since the pillowcase was too dark for me to use fabric markers).


9. When you're done sewing the heart, rope, and person, move on to the second pillowcase.

10. The finished products should look something like this...

Happy Valentine's Day!

<3,
E

Scribble Flower Shirt (J-Crew/Anthropologie)

Oh man, two posts in a row. Look at me go. Today I am going to show you the "Scribble Flower Shirt" that I decorated for my mom for the holidays. Take a peak at the shirts that it was modeled after to see if you're interested in making this craft.

Anthropologie sweater

This is the shirt that another girl made that was inspired by
said Anthropologie sweater.

Materials:

Plain shirt or sweater
Fabric paint or markers in various colors - I used markers. I actually didn't even think to buy paint, but I think that I would've like the markers better anyway because they allow you freedom to vary the opaqueness.
Needle and Thread
Sequins, buttons, beads (optional)

Unfortunately, I do not have pictures of each step of the process, but you can get the idea here: http://simplyhandmadebypaige.blogspot.com/2010/07/tutorial-tuesday-guest-blogger-jessica.html --> I will admit that she has a ton of cute tutorials, but that doesn't mean you should stop reading e & k !

1. Take your shirt and scribble some blobs on there in different colors. The messier and more asymmetrical, the better, I say. Stop for a moment after each circle to take a look at your shirt. It's easy to get carried away and paint/draw too many, which would make it look like a clown shirt.

2. Sew shapes in the rough shape of flours on top of each scribble. You could probably hand stitch this, but I chose to use a sewing machine because I was pressed for time. You can obviously use whatever color of thread that you'd like but I think that black looks nice because it provides a stark contrast to all of the colors and is somewhat grounding.

3. In the center of the flowers, you can sew on sequins, buttons, or beads.

This is the shirt that I made. I realize the quality of the photo isn't very good,
but it's the only one that I have right now. I will try to upload better ones at a later date.

Au revoir!

- E

More T-shirt crafts

Sorry for my long absence. I have continued crafting since my last post but all of my projects are either half done or are too small to be worth posting here. This winter break I was excited to go back home (as I have re-located to The District for my masters), if only so that I could get my hands on a sewing machine (and see my friends, I guess... just kidding). I decided to decorate a shirt for my mom and a scarf for my boyfriend for the holidays. Unfortunately, I do not have pictures of the entire process, but I should be able to walk you through them, nonetheless.

T-Shirt Scarf Materials

needle and thread - you can hand stitch or use a machine
scissors
t-shirts
tape measure

1. First you're going to start out with your t-shirts. You can use plain ones as you'll see in mine or you can use some of your old favorites to make a memory scarf, as seen below:

(http://blog.craftzine.com/archive/2009/10/t-shirt_memory_scarf.html)

2. Next decide the length and width that you'd like your scarf to be. You can take one from your closet and measure it. I believe that I made mine 5 ft long and 8 inches wide. It would also be possible to kind of wing this by cutting the largest possible area of the shirts within the area of the seams and then decide your scarf length based on how much fabric you have.

3. Lay out your first shirt. If you know what size you want each piece to be, cut a couple of inches larger than that so that you will have room for the stitching. Or, as I said above, cut the largest possible square/rectangle from each shirt and figure out the precise dimensions later. You can always go back and cut all the pieces to be the same size as the smallest one.

4. What do you want for the other side of the scarf? Unless you're a hipster, you might want to think about creating a scarf that actually functions (aka has the ability to keep you warm). Therefore, I chose to make one side of the scarf from t-shirts and for the other side I used warm, fuzzy fleece. If you do choose to make both sides of the scarf using t-shirts, you may want to consider keeping one of the side-seams of the shirt along the edge of the scarf since this will cut down on the amount of sewing that you will have to do.

5. Organize your shirt pieces for one side, pin them together, and sew.


6. Now that you have one side of the scarf, pin it to the other side of the scarf. Don't forget to pin it inside-out, so that the seams won't show (unless you want them to).

7. Sew both sides together and turn right-side out. Sew the remaining side.

This is a different scarf than the ones that I used for the instructions.
I finished this scarf, but do not have pictures of how to do it and I have
pictures of how to do the other scarf, but I have not finished it.

Two happy people + 1 lovingly made scarf

Instructions on my mom's j-crew/anthropologie-like t-shirt will be for the next post. Until then...

- E

bag made from a shirt

Admit it. You have some old shirts shoved away in the dark recesses of your closet. You know what I'm talking about. Those ones that you haven't worn in years and may not even remember you had until you poke around. Let's say we re-purpose those and get some use out of 'em, ay? This is so easy, you'll wish you had done it sooner.

Here's what you need:

1 shirt (long or short sleeved, doesn't matter)
scissors
needle and thread
sewing machine (optional)

Dig that shirt out of your closet. Maybe that one from the high school when midriff was in...

Cut the sleeves off along the seam, leaving the seam attached to the chest of the shirt.

This is what it should look like when you're done cutting.

Turn your shirt inside out, line up the bottom of the shirt and pin both sides together. Then, using a simple needle and thread or a sewing machine sew the bottom of the shirt closed. Turn the shirt right-side out and you get your finished bag.

Your finished product should look something like this. Wear the bag by putting your arm through the arm holes and place items through the neck hole, which you can enlarge by cutting past the seam. These bags are particularly convenient for rolling up and carrying in your purse for those unplanned purchases. I say, why should recycled bags just be used for groceries?

When I write to you next, I will have started my graduate school classes. Wish me luck!

Coasters

Hey all! It has been too long. I feel like I've been a crafting maniac this past month, but I don't have much to show for it. Thankfully, I do have one pretty nifty craft that I can share with you all. They are coasters made with your very own pictures (or I guess you could use a magazine, scrapbook paper cut-out or a print-out from the internet) shelaqued on to tiles with cork backing.

Here's what you need:

A tile (you can find one at a hardware store, like Lowe's or Home Depot), any size (mine was roughly 4.25 in x 4.25 in)
Picture printed on paper
Sheet of cork
Paper Adhesive (I used Us ArtQuest Perfect Paper Adhesive)
3D Crystal Lacquer
Crazy Glue (I used Gorilla Super Glue, which I found to be less sticky on my fingers than the name brand)

Here's how to make 'em:

First, choose the image that you want to put on your coaster.

Next, place the tile on top of the section of the picture that you would like to use and trace around the edges on to the paper using a pencil.

Then, using a paper cutter/trimmer, cut the the picture along the drawn lines.

Cover the surface of the tile with your paper adhesive. Make sure that there is no excess liquid, since that may create an uneven surface.


Carefully place the cut out image on to the tile. Run your fingers or a pencil along the edges to make sure that the paper has sufficiently stuck to the tile. Place something flat and heavy on top until it dries. Trust me, you don't want to leave out this step. If you do, the picture turns out all bumpy.

Once the paper is completely glued to the tile, cover the surface of the picture with your 3D glaze. You could use some kind of shelaque or modge-podge as well, but I tried both and I much preferred the 3D glaze. It comes out a lot more clear, smooth, and glossy.

Wait until the top of the tile has dried and then measure out a piece of cork and cut it to size. Use your crazy glue to attach it to the tile. Be careful, though, because the cork is quite porous and it easily seeps through on to your hands. I suppose you could try using hot glue instead.



Et voila! Now you have some beautiful new coasters!

Australia!

After 3 weeks in Australia and one whirlwind day in LA, I am back in Lil' Rhody! Despite having an awesome time, I am happy to be home, especially because that means I can hang out with k and do some crafting! But first, let me share a couple of pictures from Australia (I don't really think the way the pictures show up on the blog does them justice, but if you click on the images, they will get bigger):

A wallaby (they are like tiny kangaroos)

Beautiful beaches

My family inside of a cathedral fig tree

Cathedral fig tree - I still say this one looks like it
came out of War of the Worlds, but maybe that's just me.

My brother inside of a crazy rock formation

I figured that I couldn't leave out the kangaroo
pictures. They're basically required, right?

This bird really cracks me up. Also, after looking at it, I'm
not surprised that birds are the descendants of dinosaurs.

Okay, you got me. This one isn't from Australia, it's from
my cousin's Bat Mitzvah in LA. I love the motion of the
picture, though, so I could not leave it out. I am
dancing w/ my dad in this one.

The following are some pictures that I took in Australia that have inspired some craft ideas, so I thought I would share them with you all as well.

I have never seen artwork quite like this before. The style seemed really unique and the colors were amazingly vibrant, which of course appealed to me.


These were the light fixtures in the main lobby of a hotel in Cairns. I don't
see why I couldn't do something like this on a smaller scale. Perfect
for a dorm room! Not that I'll be in one of those again.

I saw a woman with this sweatshirt bag in the airport.
And yes, I was a creeper and took a picture.

Back to the present. Today, I picked k up from work and we went to a park for some crafting and yoga. It was the perfect day for it. Sunny, breezy... People were out with their dogs and guitar notes drifted through the park from a nearby house. When I was in Australia I found a bunch of shells with holes in them, so we used these to make some jewelry.

k worked on a necklace, while I worked on a pair of earrings.

Final products: Earrings, necklace and anklet

Well, that's all for today! Good night to you all! I hope to have some more crafting news up soon, so check back later this week!

-e