Crafterella

The Lego Play Mat

2012-02-13T15:00:00.000-06:00

We have a ton of Legos around here and that means that I end up stepping on one at least a couple times a week. Little Sir’s favorite place to play with Legos is in his bed. It is not unusual for him to wake up in the morning with a Lego print on his skin somewhere from the tiny Legos that have hidden in his blankets.
To solve (or probably just help it happen a little less) this problem I decided to make a Lego Play Mat using this tutorial from Make it Perfect. Not to be left out Little Miss asked for one too and I also made a few (four) for a friend. I used some specialty fabric for Little Miss and Little Sir and for my friend I used thrifted sheets.This is a simple project that most beginner sewers should be able to do, the instructions are very clear, and there plenty of pictures for reference. I would suggest that after cutting your first circle to place it’s right side facing the right side of the lining fabric. Then fold it up and set it aside until you’re ready to sew. It didn’t occur to me to do this until after I had cut out my 12 circles, which weren’t exactly perfect, and matching them up proved to be a bit tricky and some of the circles had to be trimmed. I am very excited to have the projects finished, I’ll be giving them to the kids after school I hope they’ll really like them and Yay, this is another Pinterest project!

Art Journal: Self Portrait

2012-02-08T09:00:00.000-06:00

I was so inspired by the Chuck Close self portraits on For the Love of Art I knew that I HAD to make my own. I used my avatar photo for the self portrait part and have been doodling away in the squares whenever I have a few minutes. I have been doodling in pen (more zentangle-y?). I can’t wait to start adding color. I’m not sure that I’m going to used colored pencils like Kristin suggested. I think that watercolor or markers would work better for me.
BTW, if you’re keeping track (I am) this is a pinterest project.

My Little Pony Jumpsuit Lounger

2012-02-06T09:00:00.000-06:00

Or what I’ll call a custom Forever Lazy. I used McCalls 6475 and My Little Pony licensed fleece. Booties that Velcro on are included on this pattern, but I opted not to make those.
Everything went together smoothly in an evening. The instructions were very clear and the order of sewing things made everything easy. This would be a good beginner pattern because it is mostly straight sewing and fleece is so easy to work with, the most challenging part is installing the zipper and there are very clear instructions that include hand basting to make sure it’s in the right place and doesn’t slide around when you do sew it on with the machine.
The fabric yardage recommendations are pretty good with plenty of room to arrange and cut out the pieces. The yardage includes fabric for the jumpsuit and booties, since I didn’t make the booties I had enough fabric left over to make a drawstring bag.
I definitely recommend this pattern, I will be using it again. I think it would be great made out of cotton terry cloth. The pattern is available in children’s and adult sizes.

Cupcake Baby Hat

2012-01-30T11:09:00.001-06:00

My cupcake baby hat is finally available in my Crafterella Cupcake shop!!!I am so excited that it’s finally finished! AND, just for you guys, I’m having a special promotion from now until February 11th., enter the coupon code BLOGFRIENDS and receive a 20% discount in my Crafterella Cupcake store.

Friday Finds

2012-01-27T22:36:00.000-06:00

Welcome to my new monthly feature, Friday Finds!!! I’ll be sharing some of my favorite finds(stuff I loved so much that I bought it) each month.
My favorite find of January was this light up globe (vintage 1982 – is that really vintage?!?)It works great, but it does have some damage here on Africa and also on the top. I think I can patch it up with some tissue paper and Mod Podge. If not I am making it into a light up Death Star(scroll down).
One of our local thrift stores last day of business was today and they we selling most of their clothing for 25¢. I managed to only spend $4.00, but it took a lot of restraint. This pair of gray cords and these camouflage cargo shorts looked perfect to recon into some tote bags.I was really excited to find this 100% cotton velveteen jacket in my size, now I need some fun accessories. Velveteen is apparently difficult to photograph, it is not nearly this bright in person. I won't bore you with all the t-shirts I brought home.
And finally some treasures that I found cleaning in the basement. My vintage (from the 80’s again) rainbow unicorn bandanna, my witch boot cookie jar, and my Victorian boot vase. I actually have a fairly large collection of shoe figurines, but really no where to display them.What is your fabulous find of January?, I’d love to hear about it.
Have a super crafty weekend!

Mini Pin Cushion Jars

2012-01-25T14:44:00.000-06:00

Eight years ago I was working at the Holiday Inn in Memphis, Tennessee. I delivered room service during the week and bartended on the weekends. Everyone who ordered a sandwich for room service got a tiny little jar of mayo, a tiny little jar of mustard, and a mini jar of ketchup. I loved those tiny little jars and I would often rinse them out and bring them home. They were stored in boxes and hauled to several new apartments, back here to Nebraska, a few more houses, a storage unit, and then to our new house where they we promptly stored in the basement with everything else. I brought a box of them up this weekend, one of the treasures found while cleaning.
A milk jug cap was the perfect size for a pin cushion for the lid, I have attached it permanently to the metal lid with a brad.The pin cushion will, of course, be embellished more (rick rack!!!) and the metal lid will be painted. This color combo reminds me of cotton candy, which then makes me think of the circus, so I will be painting “big top” stripes on the lid. (Yes, that is exactly how my brain works!)
Fill the jar with buttons, safety pins, and thread card, add some more pins and a needle to the pin cushion and it’s a mini sewing kit, wouldn’t it make a great gift?
I have a lot of these little jars, anyone have any ideas on what else I can do with them?

The Basement Hoard, 2 Years Later

2012-01-23T10:17:00.000-06:00

It’s been 2 years since I shared photos of my messy basement and talked about all of my plans. The good news is that some of those plans have worked out. My husband does have his nerd cave set up and often has friends over to play Magic the Gathering and my craft room is set up and staying fairly organized!We have divided the basement space into three separate areas using giant shelves as walls. The far end is the nerd cave, the center area has been stacks of boxes and totes (all my stuff) and the other area is laundry land. This weekend I decided to start working on the center area. We want to set it up to be our paper craft/collage making area. We have an old school paper cutter (the kind you can chop fingers off with), some library card catalog files, file sorting shelves, and a drafting table waiting to be set up.
I made a ton of progress! However it doesn’t look like it (forgot to take a before photo). I labeled some of the piles to give you an idea of what all is down here. Once I get things more situated all of the holiday stuff will be put into a small storage room at the back of the basement. Right now that room is filled with chairs and bags (and bags) of fabric. Baby stuff will be eliminated. A lot of the totes will be emptied, they are full of clothing that needs to be sorted, sold, and donated. Personal memorabilia (photos, cards, and knick knacks) will be relocated to the up-upstairs. I have learned a lot:
1. I seem to have some sort of obsession with glass jars/bottles and tins of all kinds.
2. We are not minimalist, we like stuff and we like to display it all on shelves and tacked to the walls.
3. I have a lot of fabric! (no really, A LOT)
4. When the zombie apocalypse hits we will have enough supplies to survive (now we need to start stocking up on food).
Once we get this area cleaned up and set up I’ll share more photos.

Champagne Chairs

2012-01-18T09:00:00.000-06:00

The minute I saw these tiny chairs by Martha Stewart on Pinterest I knew I HAD to make them! I asked all my friends to save their champagne corks and cages on New Years Eve and I ended up with 3, I was soooo excited, I didn’t think I was going to get any (there were a lot of screw on lids this year)!
I LOVE them, I love them so much that I’m thinking about starting a new tradition of drinking a bottle of champagne every New Year and making a little chair with the cage!

2012-01-13T09:00:00.000-06:00

The Crafty Closet

2012-01-11T22:12:00.000-06:00

I hung my giant buttons today and was excited to learn that my Mother had found me another cheese dome, because I NEED more of these giant buttons! I’m having a hard time deciding how the holes should be positioned, I may be over thinking this.
As I took this picture to share with everyone I realized that I had never mentioned my crafty closet. Not only am I lucky enough to have a craft room, but my crafty room has a closet! And, let me tell you, it is packed to the gills with all sorts of goodies!
Notice that everything is sorted into clear totes and most of them are labeled. I am always amused when people are amazed that my mess is really organized, it’s more of a volume issue. I have so much stuff that looks cluttered.
The center is all totes (shoe boxed sized), to the left is wire shelving for fabric storage (it’s still all neatly folded), and on the right is a sweater organizer that is holding an interesting selection of supplies that aren’t in totes. There are also boxes stacked to the ceiling on the top shelf and Boobzilla (my duct tape dress form) now lives up there too.
I am hoping to eventually have all of my supplies in the craft room (and out of the basement), but it seems to be more of a life goal than an overnight project.
What color should I paint my next button? I’m thinking orange or brown.

Less Pinning, More Doing

2012-01-09T09:00:00.000-06:00

I love pinterest, but honestly it is a time sucker. I could waste the day away and while I am getting a lot of ideas and inspiration I’m not making anything.
This weekend I tried to do a little more making. Ribbon bookmarks.
A lotion bottle cell phone charging caddy.
And, my most favorite, giant buttons from domed cheese boards!
If you look closely, you’ll see that the paint isn’t even dry. Believe me, this picture does NOT do them justice and they’ll look even better once I add the string and get them hung up! I am on the hunt for more domed cheese boards, I NEED a large collection of these for the craft room walls.
You may have seen this one on the Facebook page: I also started cutting out and sorting letters, eyes, lips, and textures for visual journaling, I’m calling it a ransom note kit.
I have a huge board of journaling ideas pinned, now to start doing. It will be nice to have this ready to go.
I will be marking the pins I have done with a * at the beginning of the text. I want to make sure that I am really doing and not just wishing the hours away.
Have you been making things from your pinterest boards? I'd love to hear about it, share some links in the comments :)

Insanity

2012-01-05T10:30:00.000-06:00

Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. -Albert Einstein
I think that a lot of times we get stuck repeating the same actions over and over again because it’s comfortable and easy. When you realize this it can be a bit upsetting and disappointing. I will be doing different things this year!
In that spirit this is what I’m currently working on…baby hats! Samples of my knitting and crocheting skills. I have a plan for these hats and I’ll share that next week. I am also taking a class at the community college, it’s a self improvement class. I’m excited to learn something new (and different).
What new things will you be doing this year?

...and the Winner is...

2011-12-31T14:16:00.000-06:00

Yesterday did not seem like Friday, so sorry I'm a day late :) I threw the names in a hat and the winner is Beth, who said, "Love following your blog. You are so inspiring!" (thanks). I need you to email your mailing address to crafterella(at)hotmail(dot)com and I also need to hear from you by Monday, the 2nd. or I'll have to pick another winner.

And because I can't have a post without a picture, here is the craft room all cleaned up! You can see the floor and the table top AND the ironing board is clutter free (not pictured). I had a crafting party here last week and that proved to be the incentive I needed to get it all cleaned up. I am super excited and I keep reminding myself how nice it will be to just shut the doors when I'm finished working and the kids and cats won't be getting into my stuff.
Happy New Year everyone!!!

Happy Holidays + a Giveaway!

2011-12-23T09:00:00.000-06:00

I hope you all have a wonderful holiday! Winter break (from school) has officially started and I still have a few projects that need to be finished and some presents that need to be wrapped up. We finally put up the tree, we used all the vintage ornaments from the 70’s, I love it! I am also having some friends over next week for a post holiday crafting day (so I need to do some MAJOR cleaning), so what I’m saying is I won’t be around much next week.
I hit a lot of milestones this year: 500 blog posts, 200 followers, and lots of new friends and to say thank you I’m having a small giveaway. I happen to have an extra planner with my newly designed planner pages bound and ready to help you get organized in the new year! For a chance to win all you need to do is leave a comment on this post, that’s it! One entry per person, you don’t need to talk about it on Facebook or tweet about it or anything else. I want this to be for my regular readers, not random people looking for a freebie. It has been such an exciting year and often I am surprised that anyone is reading my blog, but I know a few of you are and I just wanted to say Thank you :) I’ll be drawing the winner next Friday, so make sure I have a way to get in touch with you, I want to get it shipped out right away.
Have a wonderful weekend!

Keepsake Ornaments

2011-12-19T09:00:00.000-06:00

I spent the weekend making our keepsake ornaments. Every year I like to make photo ornaments for myself and Grandma. At the last minute I found this great tutorial to make snowmen photo ornaments and since I was already planning to make the hand print snowmen I decided to make my Mom a set of a dozen new ornaments.Here’s my set, I just LOVE them! Now I need some fancy ribbon to tie on the loops.Here is my Mom’s set. I included some plain round glitter ornaments and some embellished cube glittered ornaments. I can’t wait for her to see them!
I loved making all these ornaments and the kids liked helping a little too. I have a ton of packages to wrap and a special surprise planned for this week, it’s going to be a busy week!!!

One Week of Pre-Christmas Crafting Left

2011-12-16T22:51:00.001-06:00

I haven’t put my tree up yet and I have about 10 projects that absolutely have to get done. I did finish these felt and embroidered ornaments.What is everyone else working on for the holidays?
Have a super crafty (and productive) weekend!!!

Glitter Ornaments (and 1 Wreath) with Friends

2011-12-14T21:00:00.000-06:00

Today was a crafting with friends day at my house. We decided to make the glittered ornaments that are all over Pinterest. I had Future floor polish (instead of Mop and Glo) and plenty of clear ornaments and glitter.
This is serious crafting! As you can see Lisa (oobbles) had to be different and make a wreath like we made last year (minus yarn balls). The glitter ornaments are super fun and easy to make, we all wanted to rush out to get more ornaments and glitter.
Here are some of the finished ornaments, Sheena’s on the left and Kashoan’s (kraftykash)on the right. We had good luck with every glitter we tried, but you do get the best coverage with super fine glitter. Here are mine all ready to be embellished further, I’m thinking monograms and snowflakes.
FYI there is a rainbow of glitter all over my house!

Friday Favorites the Pattern Edition

2011-12-09T09:00:00.000-06:00

These are all on my list, now only if there were more hours in the day…Have a super crafty weekend!!!

Knitting Weather

2011-12-07T12:24:00.001-06:00

I am so predictable, the minute it gets cold I have to have a new knitting project to work on. I am a big fan of The Jane Victoria patterns her unique style really makes her patterns appealing to me. Yesterday I cast on for The Silmarwen Súrion Hooded Cropped Mozzetta Pattern and have furiously knitted my way through the first 12 rows of 2x2 ribbing.My favorite thing about these patterns is the symmetrical shaping, I have knitted a lot of different patterns and hers are the only ones with this sort of perfect shaping. Usually I have to learn a new stitch, but it is completely worth it.
I do need to mention that I have had problems with her patterns: The Alassë Míriel Hooded Cowl Pattern turned out way too small (completely my fault for not checking gauge) and there were some sleeve sizing issues with The Enelya Linwëlin Sleeved Mantelet Pattern (once again, my fault for not checking the finished measurements) I am not alone in my challenges with these pattern, but the designer has listened and edited both of those patterns to make things clearer and help with sizing. I have learned to pay attention to measurements and gauge. The designer has also been quick to answer questions.
I have frogged the Mantelet, I will restart again someday. For now the yarn will be reused for this project. I love knitting in the round, it seems to go so fast and I don’t have to concentrate so hard.
Does anyone have a special knitting project started for the winter?

New Planner Pages

2011-12-05T09:13:00.001-06:00

After living with my new simple planner for a few months there were a few things I wanted to change and a few things I wanted to add. This weekend I took some time to rework the simple planner pages, you can download them here: Crafterella’s Simple Organizer (personal use only).
The new set is 12 pages (actually 13, but that last one is blank, I could not delete it for some reason). Pages 5 and 6 are week at a glance and weekly menu planner, so I printed out four for each month.
I made a six month planner and it is about the size of a regular, single section notebook. This time I had it spiral bound and I like that a lot better than the wire bound. I made the covers with cardstock and stickers. I also added a double sided pocket for papers and a zip-loc bag for other small bits. If you are interested in how I did that leave me a comment or email me and I will help you.
I’d love to hear what you think about the new pages :) This is also my first time using google docs to share a download, if you have any trouble downloading the document or any other problems, let me know.

Metal Tape Experiments

2011-12-02T12:34:00.001-06:00

After watching this video about metal tape on Youtube and sharing it with a friend who had to take some time off work, we decided that it would be fun to give it a try. I wanted to make a postcard and she decided to make her holiday cards for the year.
I found metal tape at Wmart, in the hardware section by the caulk and duct tape. It’s called waterproofing tape. Be warned, the adhesive on the tape is stinky, but it does go away after the tape is stuck down and has a chance to set.We decided to make a sample sheet, to see what worked and what didn’t. Basically I just kept pulling interesting things out of the craft room and putting metal tape over them. What we ended up liking the best was cardstock cut into shapes and mesh that you patch drywall with. I think that I need to find someone with a die cutting machine to make me some fancy letters and shapes.I cut out a bunch of shapes and some mesh strips and covered the whole thing with tape. Smoothing the tape with my fingers made the designs underneath start showing up. Using a variety of tools I accented the designs and added extra details like lines, dots, and scrolls. A bone folder is really handy for smoothing out wrinkles in the tape and to smooth out design mistakes. I also really liked using a wooden orange wood stick (pointed on one end and angled on the other, used for grooming cuticles and nails)
Adding paint really makes the different textures pop. On this piece I used black paint, copper paint, and greek copper rub-n-buff. I really like the steampunk look this technique gives. I think I went a little overboard with the layering of elements, the K monogram, in the center, seems to get lost with all the other elements.
We had a lot of fun playing with this tape and my friend did manage to finish a few cards too. I can’t wait to see what else we can use this technique for.
Have a super crafty weekend!!!

Crochet Chevron Cozy

2011-11-29T21:31:00.001-06:00

I posted a teaser photo of the start of this cozy on the Facebook Page a week and a half ago and then vanished off the face of the Earth. Between Thanksgiving and the stomach flu (that the entire family had on different days) I have been offline a lot.
The crochet part of the bag is finished, I used the Moon Water Clutch pattern from Lion Brand yarn as a starting point. The pattern is free, but you will have to register with them to see it. I used Hobby Lobby’s I love this yarn and an I hook to get the perfect size to hold a notebook or organizer. I love this design, fun and easy! When I filled in the chevrons on the inside top I used black yarn only, I thought that if I made any mistakes that a solid color would help hide them.
I love how it turned out, but is still needs a lining with some stiff interfacing to give is some structure and to make it easier to slide my organizer out without snagging the yarn. That’s where you come in, I need help deciding what fabric to line it with. I have narrowed it down to four choices: Chartreuse polka dots with fuchsia flowers, orange batik, sugar skulls on black, and that giant floral print that I have used numerous times before. What would look the best? I’m dying to hear what you think.

Making Stamps from Tub Toys

2011-11-14T08:00:00.000-06:00

Yesterday I shared a link to a video tutorial from Traci Bunkers on making your own stamps on my Facebook page, if you haven’t already, you should go and watch it now!
I decided to use some extra pieces from some tub toys and now I’m eyeing all the flip flops in the house. This is a very quick project - in about 15 minutes I had a nice selection of new stamps. I really like that you can redo any that don’t turn out or that you don’t like (notice there is not a robot stamp). I do think that you get a crisper image (which is what I like) using a firm and flat object that won’t slide around. I would love to have a knitted or crocheted stamp, but you would have to use a stiff cord or something besides yarn to get it to work.The stamps are very realistic looking, my husband asked me how I got the prints to be 3-dimensional. It reminds me of photocopying things laid directly on the glass in black and white. My favorites are the buttons (of course), the washers, and the clothes pins. I can’t wait to make more of these. What would you use to make an interesting stamp?

The Craft Show Photos

2011-11-11T15:38:00.001-06:00

I finally finished the roll of film in the disposable camera. I am really sad that I forgot my digital camera…the photos aren’t the best, but hopefully you’ll get an idea of how everything looked (it was at least 100% more awesome than the photos look). My table was in the gym with very little natural light and tons of florescent fixtures.My Mom made the snowflakes and I really like how they looked on the front of the table.I got a ton of compliments on my displays. The most looked at/touched was the business card holding slinky. I also saw several people checking out the vintage spool sign holders. It was a large show for a small town, there were over 130 vendors and they had a crowd of 1500 shoppers. There was steady traffic all day, but it seemed like there was a lot more looking than buying. I did sell enough to cover my costs and a little extra, I also handed out a lot of cards. The main reason I do this show it this is my home town and where I went to high school (they started hosting this show when I was a freshman), it’s great to see everyone and help support the journalism department, who organizes the entire thing.

Vintage Pillowcase Edging

2011-11-08T08:00:00.000-06:00

As I dug through my vintage sewing notion collection, looking for spools, I found this:Yes, that is rick rack embellished with crochet! It is very dainty. I have no idea where it came from, but there are two of them which makes me think that they are pillowcase edgings. They have definitely been cut off of something (and not as carefully as they should have been). I did some internet searching and found this tutorial for rick rack edging and lace insertion and it seems to be this exact pattern, how lucky is that? I am definitely going to give this a try! Imagine red rick rack with white and/or turquoise crochet. I’m thinking fun colors would really modernize this design.
No, I haven’t forgotten to post pictures from this weekends show, I forgot my camera and I HAD to have pictures, so I bought a disposable camera. I need to finish the roll before I get it developed (doesn’t that take you back? remember when it took a week to get your pictures?). I now realize how spoiled I am by my digital camera and the instant results!