I found it...

I found my next birthday present. Or maybe even Christmas.

I am not sure I have started even breathing after that first gasp.

Cori at Starview Sonnet is a crafting goddess, imo. :p

(If you aren't broke, like me, you can buy her HERE.  Just don't tell me about it and break my heart. )


Credit: Starview Sonnet 

I received a lovely, lovely blog award from Polly over on pollyfranceselizabeth! She has a very cute blog, that I find to be a very interesting peek into her world over in England..with a good dash of Japanese love thrown in. :p

Okay, rules are:

Name ten things I like:

The beach

Sewing

A good cup of tea

Making things

The smell of garden flowers in the morning

Jeans that fit

Cheesecake

Jewellery-lots of it-silver

My own space

Glass


And, tag ten other bloggers:

Everyday Tuesday

Flossy-P 

Magnolias and Sunshine 

Annekata

Arty Lovely 

Slightly Obsessed 

Toasty Toes

The Weather in the Streets 



Alright..I've got eight...and I've run out of time. It'll have to do. :p

It's nice to be liked! :D Same as it's nice to look at my sidebar, and realize 40 whole people like me enough to actually FOLLOW me!! Who'da thunk??? :p

A piece of string..

How to make a jewellery hanger..

Okay, well, I told my friend I had made this jewellery hanger, and was planning a tut. Not only did she love it, but she ran out and bought the supplies, and is now sitting there tapping her fingers waiting. Uh. Okay. Better get onto it. (I actually think she is PERFECTLY capable of working it out herself, but what the hey..I already have the pictures taken, right? :p


Supplies needed:

Wood plaque or panel

Paper of your choice

9 cup hooks

picture hanger thingie

paint

spray glue

med grit sandpaper

ruler

a nail and a hammer

First thing, make your wood and your paper match exactly in size. My paper and my plywood square are both exactly 12" x 12".

Sand the edges smooth. If you really want to be picky, you can go over them again with a fine grit paper, for a finer finish. I didn't bother, cause I knew if I didn't get on with it, I would flounder and fail and migrate to the couch before it was done. :p

Paint the edges. I used spray paint, cause that is what I had, but I would have preferred to use a brush on paint...it would have filled the gaps a bit better and looked nicer. It did go a lot faster, though! :p

While you are at it, paint the hooks, too. Let them dry while you finish the rest of the project. If you do use brush on paint with these, don't paint the screw part..it will just get messy when you put them in.

Spray the back of your paper with spray adhesive. Don't overdo it so that it seeps through to the front. Just a good coat on all parts. Make sure you get the corners and the edges, so they don't peel back up with wear and age. Also spray the front side of the wood panel.

CAREFULLY match up the edges of the paper and the wood, and lay the paper down. It will be very hard if not impossible to reposition it, so take this step slow. Smooth it on, making sure to press on the edges and corners, too. My scrapbooking paper had this white edge with their info on it that I had to cut off.

Now you make the grid for where you want to put the hooks. I did nine hooks, so I divided my board into a grid of two inch squares. How I did it was mark an infinitesimal dot at the edges on two opposing sides at each two inch mark. Lay a straight edge of the ruler along the line between a mark on one side, and the opposing mark on the other side, and mark a tiny dot at each two inch mark. You should end up with a grid of nine dots in the middle, spaced every two inches. (Let me know if I got this step wrong. I SUCK at this kind if mental math, and can't remember if I needed to do anything else to make it work.)

At each dot, take your hammer and nail, and tap it in about 1/8-1/4" (.5 cm approx), to make a starter hole. Pull the nail back out carefully so it doesn't twist and mark up the hole. Don't go farther down, cause pulling it back out will make a mess and cause damage.

Screw the hooks into the starter holes til they are flush with the surface. Make them end all facing up.

Attach my professionally named picture hanger thingie (I'm totally brain fritzing and can NOT remember what these are called) to the back...my one, btw, IS straight, no matter what is bizarrely going on in the picture.

Ta da!!! Turn back around to the front, hang on a wall, and drape your favorite jewellery across it. :D


As always, let me know if I have any errors, and show me if you make one!! :D



Playing along at:

   

 

Let the moss grow..

I am sooo tempted to find a patch of moss somewhere and make some moss graffiti. :p



Credits:
1, 2, 3: Anna Garforth
4. Bumbumbum 

Fleeting fashion..

I was searching for some stuff in my inspiration folder...found the folder of the work of Zoe Bradley. Seriously...paper??? Love love love. I know I have a thing for paper, but ANYONE has to admit these are INCREDIBLE!!! :D

Credits:
1. Mein-Inspiration
2, 3, 5, 6. If It's Hip It's Here 
4. T-Party 

Make an upcycled water bottle carrier..

NOTE: FULL CREDIT FOR MY IDEA CAME FROM THE TUTORIAL BY BETZ WHITE AT PETITE PURLS!

Okay, so...I saw Betz's tut and LOVED the idea. But my family...we are..uh..active. In other words, I needed to make sure it wouldn't fall out, which meant completely changing how to put this together. Oh, and I wanted an adjustable strap, too. Upshot, I ended up making a tutorial of my changes, and you get to try it out! Heheh :D :D

I did this over a period of weeks, since I kept not having this or that, and so missed properly documenting every single step clearly, but I think they are clear enough, and I will elaborate when necessary. (Note: the strap on my model is a touch different to how my tut will show. Don't ask. I messed something up the first time, and when I fixed it and put it back together, I didn't notice til JUST NOW that I forgot to put one of the D rings back on. Sheesh. :p )

MATERIALS:

one leg from a trashed pair of cargo pants, including pocket

lining fabric of choice

1.5-2 yards 1" nylon webbing

2 D-rings

1 slide buckle

1 swivel clip

1 cordstop

12-15" cord for drawstring

Okay, take the pants....split it up the inseam as far as you can go, so you can spread it flat easily.

Figure out the dimensions you want, to fit your bottle; I measured my bottle, and then added an inch all around, plus seam allowances. Center it on the pocket, and cut out your square. Cut a matching lining from your contrast lining fabric. Cut a strip as wide as the square, but only about 3.5-4 inches tall, from the extra leftover pants fabric.

Fold the pants square lengthwise right sides together, and sew across the bottom and up the side.

Repeat for the lining, but only sew a couple inches up the side, and then leave a gap of a couple inches, and then continue on to the top. Backstitch a couple stitches at the end and beginning of those lines to keep them from coming undone when you are flipping the finished back through the hole at the end.

This is one of the steps I didn't get the best pic of, but it's really simple. At the bottoms of the lengthwise sewn lining and  outer pieces, pinch up the sewn corners and flatten them so they look like this. Sew straight across the corner, about 1 1/4 inch down from the point. When you open them out, voila, you suddenly have your 3-D bag shape. :p If you need a better pic of this step, let me know, and I'll hook you up. :D

Now, the drawstring casing. Fold the long strip you previously cut, the long way, short end to short end, right sides together. Sew up the side about 1.5 inches, and then backstitch a little to reinforce.

On the open section where you didn't sew, fold back the seam allowance, and press open. Repeat on other side.

Topstitch from top to bottom.

At the top edge, fold over your seam allowance, and press....

...and fold again, matching the folded seam allowance edge with the very end of the backstitched bit of stitching. Press.

Now sew all around, forming your casing.

The strap.

Take a three inch piece of webbing, loop it through a D ring. Sew back and forth across a few times, to reinforce. Repeat for the second D ring.

Loop the length you have chosen for a strap through one of the D rings.

At one of the ends, get out your lighter, and seal the raw end, so it doesn't keep fraying, by holding the end close to the flame til the raw ends melt (CAREFUL! Don't touch the melted plastic, and be aware of the flame!!). Loop it through the slide buckle, and sew back and forth neatly a few times, to reinforce. Weave the other end through the buckle.

Here is supposed to be a picture that I completely spaced. What you are doing here is attaching the swivel clip in the same way as the buckle, including singeing to seal, to the other end of the strap.

Okay, here is where I messed up the strap, cause I SUCK at spatial thinking, and put the whole shebang together backwards, twice. :p I am holding the bag in my hand, and am going to tell you how to do it right, so you don't have to get all comfy with your seam ripper like me. :D

So. Make a sandwich of all your layers, in this order:

Outer layer

D ring strap ends tacked into each side, right side of buckle to right side of outer layer (the rest of the strap should all be assembled, so it's all one piece)

drawstring panel, right side to right side with the outer layer

lining , right side to wrong side with the drawstring panel


Sew all around the circle, going back and forth a few times when you go over the d ring strap ends to reinforce.

Pull everything back out through to hole you left in the lining. Tuck the seam allowances back into the lining, and sew closed.

If you are using a synthetic cord or shoelace for a drawstring, you should singe the ends in the lighter, too.

Pull it through the casing, wrestle it into the cordstop by pinching it open as wide as you can and feed the ends through, and tie the ends together.

Tada. Done!!!

If you have any questions, just ask, and if you make one up, I'd LOVE to see!!!! Please!! :D


Joining in: