I’m hoping I can get a skirt out of those, or at least one of them.

This one is just awesome!  It was stuffed into a vent in the ceiling and appears to have some moldy spots on it hopefully I can still get some fun use out of it.

As if playing around on etsy isn’t dangerous enough already, the other day while poking around I clicked ‘shop local’ and stumbled onto some pretty neat stuff. My favourite was JewlezyBug so I’m sharing her first! Julie has created some really cute characters and uses some interesting materials. She paints on rocks to make neat pendants and uses pages from old books and phone books as the canvases for her whimsical paintings!

I sent her a message on etsy and she seems really fun and agreed to do a GIVEAWAY!!!!! Soooo free stuff to someone who’s in need of cuteness! Julie is willing to giveaway one of her prints, see them all here in her flickr pool, just leave a comment here telling us which one is your fav (they’re numbered 1-90). I like this little guy.

I asked her a little bit about herself and she sent this little blurb, thanks for sharing!

“I have always doodled and painted for as long as I can remember. I am drawn to bright colours and happy motifs that catch the eye and make you smile. I like my art to make you feel good and brighten your day. I use old books and phone books as my back drops because they visually stimulate the eye and provide texture to the art. I feel my art is a reflection of my inner child just wanting to play. I take inspiration from colour, from my day, nature, from the people in the my life and from my furbabies (4 cats and 1 dog: Jewels (hence the name!)”

She also has a blog where she shares her new creations, fun crafts and her cute animals. I love these ribbon curtains she made.

I’ll do some magical random winner picking Sunday night and announce Monday morning! Ohhh the suspense, I’d better set my iphone alarm . . .

]]> http://www.sewtara.com/2010/07/16/friday-find-jewelzybug-designs-giveaway/feed/ 16 http://www.sewtara.com/2010/06/15/another-tote-complete-many-months-later/ http://www.sewtara.com/2010/06/15/another-tote-complete-many-months-later/#comments Wed, 16 Jun 2010 02:51:14 +0000 tara http://www.sewtara.com/?p=1254 So I finally managed to finish my tote I’d been working on for ages. Now that I’ve been sewing more and more things I got some ideas on how to finish it well. I was going to do things a certain way but now I’ve discovered much better ways to go about it. It’s actually a squarish bag but I didn’t use interfacing (in hindsight I should have) so it’s a tad floppier than it should be. It was a great use of some fun scraps and I love the vintage doily touch.

There’s a pocket inside with 3 compartments and then there’s one big one on the back. I’m sure it will be super useful! Now I just have to find time to use it with my growing collection of totes and bags.

Go check them out and enter the giveaway!

The handles are made from a belt I thrifted and the main white fabric with the brown plantlike print was on crazy sale for $3 for a big huge remnant. I love the little detail of the brown inner fabric peaking out at the top. I’m pretty happy with the results considering it was my first attempt.

Made this cute little stand for our Easter/springtime snacks.  My friend and I have been on the hunt at thrift stores for the perfect pieces to make a cake stand.  While browsing Joann’s last week she happened to pick up an egg cup and a small plate and we had an idea.  So we each picked up a cup and plate.  They were in a clearance aisle for 50% off!   A little bit of glue . . ..

A little bit of drying . . . .

All ready to go, just add treats!

When I came upstairs with it my husband said, ‘Oh cool, are you going to sell that one?’.  I nearly died, after all that drinking and saving and trying to explain with gestures to the maid at the resort the pouches weren’t garbage . . . AND packing them to fly to England and then back to Canada!  No way.  This bag is mine!  Plus they say ‘kirsch’!  How cool is that?

I’m going to visit my cousin tomorrow for the night, I’m packing the cover and some pages for Nate’s counting book.  Some embroidery is needed so perhaps I can get that done while the gaggle of our 5 children play.  Here’s a shot of the #1 page, there’s a robot on it.

I’m taking her daughters some crayon cozies gone wrong, I cut them a tad too short and they only hold 15 crayons instead of 16.  They’ll still like them and I figured rather than waste fabric I’d make them anyway.  I also made them  some little juice pouch totes as well.  Lately some of students in my class have been bringing them for lunch so the lunch lady has been saving them for me.

I cut off part of the box to make it angled to sit on the floor nicely.  With a Sharpie I drew some big circles on it, I was going to make flowers but then I figured two boys would probably go for something a little less girly.  So I turned the circles into mouth of goofy looking aliens.  They’re sort of our family, a big daddy alien, a eyelashed mommy alien, a boy alien and a little baby alien.

Cut out the holes with a blade or sharp knife.  Then I painted them in, while watching LOST.  I just used craft paints, nothing special.

Back to the pile of socks, pictured here.  I also used a lonely single scratch mitten since we don’t need those anymore.

Since, coincidentally, I had been researching bean bag fillings I decided to use rice.  You can rinse them and air dry, if it breaks open it’s pretty easy to clean and if Nate did try to eat it no big deal.  The socks were pretty easy to fill, I just used a spoon and sewed them shut with the machine since it was fast, hand sewing would work.  Cut off the excess sock and you’re ready to go.

I hoped for an action shot today but it was harder to get than I thought.  Wesley turned the game box into a machine and was driving it around the house while stacking the ‘bubbles’ (aka the socks) in a pile in a corner of the kitchen.  Oh well, the point was for them to have fun and they did.

I wanted to do a silhouette sort of thing so first I Googled images of cameos to find something to base a frame on.  My blue wash out fabric marker didn’t really show up too well on the green sweater so I had to free hand here and there.  I’m happy with the frame and cupcake outline but once I took the hoop off and slipped it on I’m not sure I’m happy with the placement of the design.  It’s a little low I think and not very crest-like, more breast-like!  Might have to do some restitching tomorrow.

Here’s my finished clock, sorry for the glare.  However, there are some issues with it *sigh*  I painted it with chalkboard paint that doesn’t seem to be acting very chalkboardy.  In certain light you can see the erased writing, somehow it’s still marking the clock.  Also, I used painters tape to cover the hands while I sprayed the clock, it didn’t seem wise to try and remove them and the clock wasn’t cooperating so I left them.  In peeling off the tape the hands got unhappy.  By unhappy I mean they actually popped off and I had to stick them back on.   They seem wobbily now.  I didn’t put a battery in yet but I doubt it will keep time properly.  When I tried to move the hands to figure out the button positioning it seemed to be placing the hours a little uneven and wonky.  I stuck the buttons on with large glue dots.

It’s still nice to look at though.  Maybe I’ll just have it say ‘time to craft’ forever.