Hip/Sling Bag!

So I made a purse last weekend. It was originally meant for my cousin for her birthday but when I finished the style was way more me than her...so I kept it [yes, I'm evil-I know!] So here it is:

Laying flat on the table:

The inside snap and pocket:

Sorry for the not so clear pictures, the polka dots were getting a little trippy when I was taking the pictures!

Oh, and don't worry about my cousin, I made her a cosmetic bag and gave her a gift card-so she's covered!

New Moon! [Nothing at all to do with crafting but I couldn't resist!]

Well, like every other female in the world I'm hooked on the Twilight Saga, so I feel obligated to post the trailer for New Moon (the second installment of the series) that premiered on the MTV Movie Awards tonight. Once again, this has nothing to do with crafting or my crafty blog but I just had to do it! Enjoy! =]

THE TWILIGHT SAGA: NEW MOON trailer

Vinyl Lined Cosmetic Bag!

So, my little sister is going to be moving to the east coast to live with my older sister for the summer. She's leaving next week and she totally guilted me into making her a cosmetic bag before she goes, as a going-away present. I used the same pattern that I used for my older sister's Easter cosmetic bag. But for this one I used Therm-O-Web iron-on vinyl (I found at Joann's) for the lining so if anything spills it won't ruin the inside. That stuff is pretty much incredible! It's super easy to use! Onward to the pictures!

The finished bag:

The top (This was my first time really sewing with striped fabric and the stripes matched up! Even with the zipper- I was totally stoked!):

Side with zipper pull:

Other side:

Full of all of her junk:

I just realized that I didn't get a picture of the lining itself, I'll get one in the morning and post it so you can see it =]

My foray into screen printing!

So, I've been seeing screen printing a lot online lately and I thought, "what the heck, I can do that too!" So I checked out WhiMSylove's mini tute and I got shopping to make my own print!

I stopped at Michael's to pick up some Yudo screen printing ink (I'm too impatient to order the Speedball brand online- luckily Michael's is now carrying a screen printing machine and the ink for it) The ink:

Then, I prepared my "screen" (I used an old pair of pantyhose- It's what I had on hand) I got my little robot man from the Kittybuttons stencil website.

The finished product: (I just used an old men's undershirt--you know, the packs of like 6 Hanes shirts). I didn't get very good cover on his one little waving hand, but I think it gives him character!

Here's my screen with the finished shirt:

And here's me with my new creation, I just love my little robot man!

Here are other cheap screen printing instructions that were found online- check them out!

Threadbanger

Craftgrrl

Happy Printing!! =]

Countdown Calendar!

I made up this little countdown calendar for my 6 1/2 year old nephew, Ethan. He's had a lot of changes in his life this year and has been having a hard time lately so I made this countdown calendar to mark the days until my mom and dad go up to visit (which also happens to be his last day of school.)

Here's the calendar--he named my mom BB when he was two, we have no idea where he came up with it but it just stuck =] --It is made of two thin pieces of cardboard that are held together by some wrapping paper I had laying around. I added a ribbon to hang it with and some foam star stickers to give it a little extra something.

Here's a close-up of some of the days:
I made the calendar pages in Microsoft Word which, may I add, took FOREVER! The pages are held on with plain brads that I had left from a project I made last year. I put in an activity for Ethan to do every other day to give him something to look forward to.

Here's an example of some of the days:

Write a story about a boy named Joey!

Slide from one end of the kitchen to the other in your socks!

Find 5 things in your house that are your favorite color!

I hope that he likes it, he's really into writing his own stories (now he's into vampire stories, he wants to write like Stephenie Meyer because he knows we love her books--we've inadvertently made him a Twilight fan!!) and drawing so most of the activities center around that. This project could easily be tailored to fit any countdown needs. And kids love the idea of ripping off a page each day and seeing what activity they get to do next!

Fun with Terrariums!

I finally finished my terrariums! You would not believe the trouble I had trying to find plants that were small enough and that would survive in a terrarium. I ended up finding these little guys at Lowe's and now I can't remember what they are called (sorry!) I did manage to take pictures of the process. These were incredibly easy, even for me-- and I have no experience growing plants at all. Let's check out the pictures, shall we?

My first terrarium (finished):

Supplies

-Jar

-Soil

-Activated charcoal

-Pebbles

-Plants

-Water

The soil I used:

Activated Charcoal (I found this at Petsmart by the aquarium supplies):

Layers in the jar: first pebbles, second charcoal and third the soil.

Take the plant out of it's store container and shake off most of the soil around the roots:

Dig a spot for the plant, stick it in and lightly push soil around it. When you have it where you want it a little bit of water is needed. I wet a paper towel and squeezed the water into the jar, this gave me a little bit more control as to how much water actually went into the jar.

After the plant is watered I added some leftover stones that I painted with acrylic paints to give my jar a little color- I would suggest leaving the painted stones out of the jar overnight to dry that way the strong smell won't harm the plants:

Here are both my pretty jars soaking up some sun in the windowsill:

And here I am cheesing it up with my new creation!

Here's the link to the Wiki page for terrariums that I used if you want to check it out.

Terrarium Love!

So, it's been too nice here to do much in the crafting department since I basically only sew and knit. I was in the need of an outdoor activity to do on nice days to stretch my crafty wings. I've been wanting to get my hands dirty and actually grow a plant for a long time now (sadly, no- my lucky bamboo doesn't count) but I've never had much of a green thumb. So I decided to try my hand at making a terrarium. And if this survives I'll try growing a plant in the ground! If you've never seen a terrarium they're little ecosystems of moss, soil, flowers or other plants that live in open mouthed or closed jars like this:

(I found the above image on Flickr)

This is a slow process since I had a heck of a time finding just the right type of container. Finally I found these guys at Old Time Pottery for about $2 a piece.

I have all the supplies I need to start these fellas except for my plants- I know, it's a big thing to leave out- but I'm going to the nursery tomorrow to pick the guys out. I'm going to be taking pictures of all the steps of my journey into terrarium land and I'll be posting them for all later this week. If anyone is interested in making terrariums here is a link to a great site. Happy Planting!