Little Finishes

 

A couple of little finishes for today

Lavender Eye Pillow and two notepad holders

 

Cute fabric used on these notepad holders, and this time I used the same fabric for the inside pocket as I used for the outside. 

 

 

 

The new lavender eye pillow was a necessity for myself for my yoga classes.  My old one seemed to be a little short across the eyes, so I made a new one.

 

I did not make a removable cover for this one, see previous post here, I just used a cotton fabric for the top and then a satin fabric for the reverse.  This feels really great against the eyes.

 

 

 

The remaining Rat Trap is still waiting to be finished.  I cannot seem to find the right embellishments for the look I am after.  Maybe this weekend?

 

Hope you are having a great week

Judy

Rat Trap - Altered

Do you see objects when you are shopping, and think "I can do something with that?"  I seem to do it all the time ... I was in a shop purchasing some notepads when I saw this packet of Rat Traps

 

I had some notepads in my hand at the time, and thought - Notepad Holders!

 

 

Can you see it, the snap, used to hold the notepad securely - easy to access

 

I removed a couple of the fittings, and just left the spring and snap.  Then I base coated it, just in case the rat graphic showed through the paper.

 

 

The paper I chose to cover it with, has a fabric type feel, and in the retro 1950 style ..I just used mod podge to glue it down and then sanded the edges.

 

 

I painted the edges black, and then attached some very strong magnets to the back .. I think I overdid it with the magnets, but it certainly will not fall off the fridge

 

 

 

Now to take it into the house for the test on the fridge - all good! 

It looks great just by itself without anything clipped onto it, nice piece of art of the fridge

 

 

Add the notepad to the clip

 

 

 

 

It will also be great to hold artwork, invitations, bills, reminders etc

 

 

 

Now I have one more rat trap left, and I am going to try a totally different look for this one.. same principle but maybe a vintage look with lace, or a floral one with artificial flowers ... I will see where it takes me.

 

Have a great weekend

Judy 

Where have the days gone?

I cannot believe that I have not updated my blog at all this month, and it is already the 15th?
What have I been doing, you may ask?  Well to be truthful, not much! Obviously... although that is not entirely true, as the online store has been keeping me very busy.

I did get a chance to make a couple of little Notepad holders, based on a tutorial from "The Art of Homemaking"

 

This was the first one I made (for myself) - as you look at the photos, try and see an obvious mistake.

 

The inside contains a little pocket for a pen or business cards or coupons and two elastic loops to slide your notepad through

 

 

I did fix the problem after these photos were taken, however with the next set, see if you can find it?

 

Another one was made for my sister, Sue

 

 

The inside

 

 

Did you notice the difference, yes the loop was on the wrong side on the original one.  I was trying too hard to ensure that the printing was the right way up ... oops

 

The original instructions were for a 4" x 8" notepad, and the ones I had on hand were 3" x 5" so a little bit of playing was required to ensure I got the sizing right.

I have already put mine to use, and I love the convenience of it ... more little gifts to add to my gift box.

 

I hope to make a couple more very soon

Judy

 

 

 

Bargain Shop Find - Chalkboard Labels

I had a great find at our local Bargain Shop today - Pack of 24 Chalkboard/Blackboard labels, with white pen for only $2.00 - bargain!

 

I purchased a number of these little jars, all ready to organise my craft supplies

 

 

So I added the self adhesive label, wrote on them, and now I am starting to get organised.

 

 

With 24 labels in each pack, these can be used in a number of ways:

 

Check out these link for uses of chalkboard labels:

 

Pantry Labels - blog.worldlabel.com

Mini Mason Jar Tumblers with Faux Chalkboard Labels - vintagezest.blogspot.com.au

Notebook Cover with Chalkboard Label - thegirlinspired.com

Chalkboard Labels for Wedding Drinks - onthegobride.com

Chalkboard Bottle Labels -  hammerspadewhisk.com

 

Lots of great ideas, most of them involve making your own labels, but if you can purchase them already made, so cheaply, go for it, I say!

 

Judy

Button Jar Gift Tags

Combining my love of buttons, and handmade gifts, this idea from Kelly at Live, Laugh, Rowe was made for me.

 

You can download the file for the mason jar graphic from the site, print it out, and then you are right to go.  There were 8 tags to be made from one page.

 

So I grabbed one of my jars of buttons, and got started

 

 

Any shape or size can be used.  Here my 8 finished gift tags

 

 

 

These can be pinned to your gift, or punch a hole and tie on.

 

 

 

As you can see, I also used some corrugated card for the backing on some of my jars, I like the different texture it gave the tag.

 

Remember to also keep a separate sewing machine needle for when you want to sew on paper or cardboard.

 

Judy

Rainy Day Craft

I found a lovely rainy day craft on Pinterest this morning ...  recycle drink coasters into Post-It Note Holders.

 

The above photo, certainly looks much better than the original coasters.

 

 

This is what I started with ... ordinary drink coasters that you can pick up in any hotel or restaurant

 

Cover each side with scrapbooking paper, punch two holes in the top, thread some ribbon through, add your post-it notes, and you are all finished.

 

 

 

I tried to match the paper with the colour of the post-it notes I had on hand

 

 

 

Six finished little gifts, all done in a couple of hours.  Great for teachers, co-workers etc

 

Judy

It's A Start

I had time yesterday to put a hanging top on a hand towel.  I use these types of hand towels in both the kitchen and laundry.  Now, be prepared, I know it is not much, however it is a start!

 

I kept the full length of the hand towel, and just added a fabric topper with a button, so that I could hang it on a hook..

 

My next attempt at following a pattern from Flower Girl Designs Collection for a "Keep It Cool Can Wrap" needs twigging.  I followed the pattern exactly (which I always do, "the first time") however the measurements were way off ..it may have something to do with the size of our cans in Australia?

 

 

Notice how it is too short, and the next photo shows that it is also too wide, I even took it in 1/2"

 

 

I will make another one, but I think I will add Velcro to one side, so that it can wrap snuggly around the can, and take my own measurements for the height of the can.  I think these would be a novel gift for friends, and I am thinking of making them in "pink ribbon" fabric for my table at the annual dinner.

 

I do not have any excuses for no motivation in the next few weeks, as my friend Belinda send me a list of ideas of things to make ...

 

Judy

Quiet Times

Yes, I have been very quiet lately.  A couple of reasons ... busy with the online store, busy with household repairs / renovations, not motivated ...

 

The online store has been busy, with packing orders, adding new products, and everything else that goes with maintaining a online store.

 

My home has had the carpets in all the main living areas, pulled up to reveal beautiful ash floorboards, which have been sanded and polished.  I did not realise the amount of dust and mess this would create.  Even though most things were covered, the dust has found its way into absolutely everything.

 

I have lost my motivation with sewing, I am not sure what I want to do ... I like making small gifts, so if anyone has any ideas please let me know ...

 

I need to start thinking about the Breast Cancer Pink Ribbon dinner in October.  The year is passing by so quickly it will be here before I know it ...

 

Three little items finished

 

1. Bowl Buddy as seen on Selina's blog

 

 

Selina amazes me with all the projects she finishes.

 

 

2. Handmade pendants

 

 

These were easy to make, the kits were purchased from "Little Red Raspberry" on Craftumi.  All I needed to do was adhere the graphic to the glass dome, and then once it had dried, glue it to the pendant tray.

 

3. Knitted Owl

 

 

This is a little lopsided photo of my knitted owl - these are called "Owl Puff" a pattern by Jenna Frupar.  They are knitted on either a circular needles, or a set of 4 needles.  Easy to follow instructions, the only problem I had was that I did not know what a Kitchener Stitch was?  This was required to stitch the owl closed.  Lucky "Mr Google" came to the rescue.

 

I had a enforced quiet day today, we had a scheduled power outage from 9:30 am to 3:30 pm - even though it was a cold and rainy day, it was fantastic to snuggle up with a book, without feeling guilty.

 

Judy

Let Sleeping Dogs Lie

My old dog Brandy is really feeling the cold this winter - he sleeps in his bed in the corner of the kitchen, but has taken to really snuggling down under his blanket ...

You can hardly see his head, just look in the middle of the photo on the right hand side, really snuggled up!

I called out his name, and he popped his head out to say "Good Morning", bed head and all, he he

Sometimes, I wish I could stay buried under the blankets all day

Still no time in the craft room ...
Judy

Bloglovin

I have been doing some reading about the replacement of Google Reader with Bloglovin' .. It appears to allow us to transfer all the blogs we currently follow to Bloglovin' before Google Reader disappears at the end of the month.  We also need to claim our own blog.  Now I must admit I do not understand this completely, however it seems relatively simple to set up a new Bloglovin account and claim my "own" blog, so here I go

Follow my blog with Bloglovin


Hope this works??

Judy

I'm Back

As you are aware, I have been away for a few weeks.  I attended my niece's wedding at Maroochydore, which was wonderful.

She looked absolutely gorgeous - the bride and groom

The bride with her parents

As you can see from the photos, the weather was fantastic, although we did have some doubts about rain showers early in the day

I used this occasion to stay longer in Queensland and have a "well deserved" holiday - it was great just to laze around, walk on the beach etc.

However back to reality and the COLD weather - hope to get back into my craft soon so that I have something to show you

Enjoy your day
Judy

Cable Tidies

These little cable tidies came about by accident.  I went to the craft studio to grab some ribbon to tie around my power cables before packing them for holidays.  However, I saw the velcro tabs I had cut in preparation for the top opening tissue covers, and an idea came to me.

Fabric Cable Tidies

These three were quickly made with just scraps of fabric

iPhone and iPad cable tidy

Camera charger cable tidy (must take photos of the wedding)

Then I decided to make one a little longer, for the iron cord

I tried the iron cable tidy on an extension cord, but it was not long enough, so I will make one longer when I return from holidays.  Great idea to keep all the charger cables, power cords tidy.

Measurements I used, just in case someone else is interested.

The iPhone and camera charger:

4-1/2" x 2-1/2"

Iron cord tidy

6-1/2" x 2-1/2"

• Cut two of each size in fabric and one in interfacing, round the ends, just to make it look nice
• Iron interfacing to the wrong side of one fabric piece
• Place wrong sides together
• Sew all around, leaving a gap for turning
• Turn right side out, iron
• Top stitch all the way around the outside
• Sew a velcro tab to each end, ensuring you sew each piece on opposite sides
• All done

Easy, but handy.

Judy