Key Chain Wristlet

My pile of scraps have been growing. So I decided to do something about it and I've been doing a few different scrap busting projects. One of them is making a keychain wristlet. They are easy to make and they look great. They are also really durable. When the strap on my clutch wallet broke, I replace it with a wristlet, and its been working out quite nicely.

Here is how you can make your own: 

Materials & Tools: 

• Scrap fabric 
• Snap hook 
• Sewing machine & notions 
• loop puller 
• Iron

Instructions 

1. You will need two pieces of scrap fabric that measure, 2" by 11" (FYI be careful of the fabric you use, you want something nice a durable, but not took thick because you will run into problems later) 
2. Place the right sides of fabric together, pin and sew along the long edges. Leave a 1/4 inch seam allowance. Congrats, you made a tube!
3. Use your loop puller and pull your 'tube' inside out. Use your iron to press the 'tube' so it is nice a crisp
4. Top stitch along the long edges
5. Insert 'tube' through the snap hook and fold it so that the two short edges are together. Pin and sew along the short edge 
6. Flip the strap around, so that the other side is exposed. Move the sewn short edge over to the snap hook. 
7. Pin and top stitch above where the snap hook is. This way you can cover up the raw edge and give your wristlet a nice finished touch.
8. Put some keys on it and you are good to go! 

Make one yourself! I've been having a lot of fun making all different kinds of wristlets! 

Spring, sprang, sprung!

So I have been enjoying the first days of Spring! One the first day I kept singing this song from Willy Wonka as I went for a wonderful walk around the block. Gyspy was very excited to go exploring in the  Spring time air.  Then we had snow for the next few days which was certainly NOT COOL! 

Aside from nice weather time, a few different things have been going on. I have been working on updating our living room pillows. The pillows were kind of blank so I decided to spiffy them up a bit. I used the freezer paper stencil technique and made some arrows and chevron patterns. What do you think? 

After making some pillows, I started working on a new bag. I used some techniques learned from Craftsy and came up with this fancy bag. I like how it came out, however I have to make the from pockets taller. It also features an interior pocket and a TARDIS. This is part of a new line I am working. Its for the fashionable professional geek. Fun fact, I used one of Tim's dress shirts to making the lining. 

I learned this past week that I was featured on the Crafts for Kids blog, woo hoo ! Thanks to them for featuring my Sharpie Mug tutorial.  Speaking of being featured, I was also excited to see that one of my bowties made it on a treasury list called Primarily Yours. My crafts are getting around! 

I also did something kind of crazy, I signed up for a 5k.....thats a muddy obstacle course.... and I'll be trying to escape zombie hoards. Yeah you heard that right, ZOMBIES! Its Matt's birthday and this is how we are celebrating. Our team is called Z.E.U.S. (Zombie eradicating utility squad) and hopefully we can escape the grips of walkers! Yeah I don't know what I was thinking but its too late now but hopefully this forces me into some healthier habbits. 

Iron Craft Challenge # 5 - Something 'Green'

Its another Iron Craft reveal day. This time we are up to challenge # 5. Since St. Patrick's Day is almost upon us the challenge was to craft something that was green or 'green'. Crafters could take this in two different ways, either make something with the color green or do something that is going green, like repurposing something or using recycled materials. Green is my absolute favorite color and I have a lot of green stuff, however I am trying to do different things for Iron Craft, so I went for the ladder, something 'green'.

I have been sewing since I was in high school and I have always collected my scraps. Fabric can be pretty pricy so I keep every last bit because you never know when you will be able to use it for a future project. So after sewing on and off for about 10 years I have racked up quite the collection of scraps. Its starting to get out of hand. Since all of the pieces are really tiny to make big project, I decided to sew them together for a patchwork effect. So I had my materials but still at a loss for a project, what could I make out of all these scraps?! 

A while back I enrolled in a bunch of Craftsy classes. A series of free classes were recently released. Some are hosted by Kristen Link (from one of my favorite sewing blogs, Sew Mama Sew). In the classes Bag Making Basics, one of the projects is making a bucket bag. Since it didn't require too much fabric I decide to give it a try.  

Here is the finished product! Its not the most beautiful thing because I had made some odd fabric choices when I started sewing. At one point I used the checkerboard stuff to make myself pillows, I was really into Ska back then. The bucket bag was perfect for all of my knitting stuff. I especially love that the pockets hole the needles and other notions! 

Mail Organizer (Tutorial)

Its been a while since I posted one of these things! A while back I got fed up with the growing mail pile that just accumulated on my counter. To put an end to it, I decided enough was enough! I also just so happen to have a ton of this burlap bunting with antique keys printed on them. So I put two and two together and this is what I came up with:

It was a fairly easy project, good for beginner sewers. Here is how I accomplished fashionable organization.

Materials & Tools

• Fabric (I used burlap) 
• Staple gun 
• Canvas (I used one measuring 11 x 140)

Instructions:

• Iron all of your pieces
• Lay the canvas on top of your biggest piece to figure out your dimensions. Remember to give yourself enough seam allowance to staple the fabric to the canvas. Here is what I ended up with 
• Main Fabric: 15 X 18 
• Big pocket: 16 X 15
• Small pocket: 12 X 15
• Take the poket peices and fold them in half. Sew along the folded edge. That way your pocket will be nice crisp. Do this for both pocket pieces

• Lay the pokets on top of the main peice, then sew along 3 sides of the pocket.

• Lay the main fabric (with pockets attached) face down. Lay the canvas on top. Make sure to position it so it fits the pockets. 

• Fold the corners and staple, then proceed to staple all around the canvas until it is nice and sturdy. 

• Lastly hang it up, stick some mail in there and enjoy the your brilliant work! 

If you give this tutorial a try, let me know how it turns out! I love hearing from you! 

T-shirt quilt

This is my friend Laura and she is super adorable. She recently got a sewing machine and wanted to make her mom a t-shirt quilt for her mom for Christmas. She turned to me for help.

I had always wanted to do a t-shirt but never got the chance to. I was going to make one for my friend Caitie out if her fiance's crazy collection of concert t-shirts. Matt however could not part with the shirts that I think are in a trash bag in his closet ( being put to good use). So I had a plan mapped out for the quilt to be constructed, but wasn't able to use it until Laura asked me for help.

Laura recently finished school and has a new found love of craft. I was very honored when she asked me for help making the quilt for her Mom. Laura's Mom is an adorable hippie lady with a fondness for the boss, Bruce Springstein. Laura explained that her mom has all of these shirts and hardly wears all of them. So Laura decided they would be put to better use being repurposed as a quilt!

I've done projects like this before, but on a smaller scale. Here is what we did to make it work. First we took an inventory of all of the shirts we had to work with. Since both sides of the shirts were visually interesting we wanted to use them. We made a pattern (a big rectangle) and we traced and cut all of the shirts from this pattern. There were a few shirts that were small tank tops that wouldn't work with the pattern, so luckily there was enough to make an entire row of a smaller of them. Laura placed it in the middle and it looks great. After all of the pieces were cut out, we ironed on some interfacing to make the shirts sturdy. We then figured out how it was going to be organized. Laura stitched all of the rows together then sewed all the rows together. Think of it like one big puzzle piece. Then I helped Laura bring it all together and sewed the quilt front with the queen size sheet. Some quilting batting was in between. And it came out looking fantastic! I am so proud of Laura!

The completed quilt!

Owl Mobile & Phone Pouch

I am still riding the post Thanksgiving buzz. I had so much fun with my family and I miss them! However I am glad to get back to normal, which means spending time in my dungeon-o-craft. Here is what I have been up to. 

My cousin, Melissa, is expecting her second child! After I posted a picture of some owl stuff I was making for story time, she asked if I could make owls for a mobile. I was excited to except the challenge! I am still in the process of assembling them but here is what they look like so far. You can check out Melissa's blog (she specializes in maternity fashion) at MamanJolie. 

Lousia is my Dad's girlfriend and one of the most amazing ladies I know. According to my Dad she always loses her phone. So she asked if I could make her a phone case that she can wear around her neck. While she was still here, we hit up the fabric store and found some remnants to use. I was able to finish it before they left and here is how it turned out. 

Sunday Snapshots

I have been taking a lot of pictures lately, I felt like I should share with you my week in pictures......

 

Last week Comedy Central premeired  Chris Hardwick's Standup special, Mandroid. Tim and I were lucky enough to score tickets back in February of last year. It was quite hilarious and I suggest you check it out. 

Also last week I did an Owl themed storytime. I needed some owl finger puppets to go along with it. 

My hair was getting pretty long. I was sporting a serious duck tail! I finally went to Bella Filia and got my hair chopped off. I feel like its shortest its ever been and I was a bit nervous as she was cutting. I always get nervous, but it always comes out great. 

My friend Laura has been wanting to learn how to sew for a while. She mentioned that she wanted to take her Mom's old concert T-shirts (mostly Bruce Springstein) and turn them into a quilt. So we met up and I helped her create a game plan! Glad to say the quilt is in progress and should be ready for her Mom as a Christmas present. 

Thanksgiving is in a few days. I am so excited to be not only hosting my first family holiday, but also having my Dad here! I have been preparing and decorating a bit. This subway art was on pinterest and I printed out a copy and it looks pretty fancy on my little mantle area. Here is the post if you would like to make one yourself! 

Last week we hung out one night at my friend Tyler's. I have been friends with him since Kindergarten and we were even in a band together durring High School. We were called the Helicopters, he sang/played guitar while I played drums. It was a lot of fun and while I traded my drums in for a sewing machine, Tyler is still playing music. This was taken in his basement as a bunch of us were just randomly jamming with his stuff. 

I had gotten this Star Wars wrapping paper from Louisa. While I was at their house I needed some wrapping paper to wrap a  present. Louisa has a box of wrapping stuff and this stuff was in there, unopened! She said I could keep it and I have been hanging on to it ever since. Its been a couple of years and I am in a moral dilema. I got my first Whimsey Box last week, in it were materials to make coasters. I am thinking about using the wrapping paper for it, but do I really want to open up the sacred wrapping paper?! I don't know! If you have any thoughts, please feel free to comment. 

Catching up ....

To everyone who has entered the Doctor Who Giveaway, THANK YOU ! 

If you are interested there is still plenty of time to enter! Click here for more info.

Speaking of the Doctor, what did you Whovians think of the season premiere? That Steven Moffat sure knows how to tell a story. I am looking forward to next weeks episode featuring dinosaurs! I am also looking forward to watching it and enjoying some coffee in my new travel TARDIS!

In non Doctor Who related news, the house has been coming along great. Of course I have been spending most of my time in the basement in my craftin' space, I like to call it my craft dungeon. I have had time to go through that big ol' pile of scraps and I am making a dent! I have been cutting up scraps into pieces that will become a few regular items, such as coin purses, zipper pouches and pockets for my bags! (i know you are all very excited over pockets)

Here are some things that I have been working on lately.... 

 

 I originally made this for my friend Kim's birthday, about almost a year ago. I used a different technique, a reverse applique. However it got ripped up! So I painted on the deer and it turned out well.

I have a whole bunch of 3 inch zippers I bought from Zip it... the essential place for all of your zipper needs. They also have a great selection of supplies!  I figured they would be good to make little coin purses. Thoughts?

If you really like any of these items and wondering where you can get your hands on them, be sure to check back they will be posted on my Etsy shop soon!

How goes it?

Some exciting things have been happening lately....

Tickets to Paris have been purchased !

Tim and I never took a real honeymoon. When the discussion came up I was all about doing Europe but it didn't work out financially and I was in the midst of classes. So we saved up and figured let's get it done now before we are house poor. It also coincides with my graduation! And thanks to Uncle Sam and our nifty tax refund them tickets are ours! We go in June and I am so excited!






Thesis has been less painful
My trusty crew and I have been trudging away. Compared to to a lot of other people in the class (that don't even have a problem statement) we are sitting pretty nice. I couldn't do this at all with out Diedre and Peggy... I am eternally grateful for those gals. They are so sweet so on a recent trip into Queens it was hilarious to see them pounce. We were a few exits away from the school and wouldn't ya know it a benz was riding our butts! The car came up on our right side and we saw nasty woman give us an "Ugh" face. They proceeded to react saying "what's your problem bitch!" It was awesome and I love them. Also don't get on their bad side based on this story.

I have snuck in some craft time!

Doctor Who head band

bow-tie bracelet cuff

Drawstring Bag - tutorial

This is one style of bag that I have wanted to learn how to make for a while. Drawstring bags can be versatile. Small pouches are great scrap busters, especially if you have long pieces that can be used for the drawstring! You can also make them to fit a wine bottle (which adds a nice touch to a gift). You can even apply this technique to make a big bag for something like laundry.

Tools:

• Sewing machine
• Ruler
• Rotary cutter/Scissors
• Safety pin

Step 1:

• Measure and cut the bag
• (this bag can fit any size big or small, just make sure it is a rectangular shape with the skinny side being the opening)
•  For this example the bag is : 8 inches length x 10 inches width
• Add a 1/2 inch seam allowance, and a 2 inch seam allowance for the top.

• Measure and cut the Drawstring
• The strap must be at least twice as long as the width of your bag 
• The width is determined by how you want the finished drawstring to be, the multiply it by 4. 
• Example bag drawstring is: 12 length x 2 inches width

Step 2:

• Make the Drawstring 

• Fold the drawstring in half then press
• Open up, then fold each edge toward the fold, then press
• Fold up again, then press 
• Pin and sew
• (But Sarina what about the raw edges! I know let me get to it!) 
• Fold over the ends and do a zig-zag stitch on the ends 
• You may want to use a think needle for this step because you are sewing through a lot of layers. 

Step 3: Drawstring hole

• Take one piece for the body of the bag. 
• Measure where the hole will be. This should be at least 1 inch from the top

• This should be at least 1 inch from the top raw edge
• Make sure the hole will be big enough to fit your drawstring.
• Use the button hole attachment on your machine (or you can triangle stitch along your measurements)

• Use a seam ripper to create your hole

Step 4: Assemble the bag

•  Law two body pieces on top of each other, right sides facing. 
• Pin along the edge then sew
• Leave the top edge (with the button hole) open. Do not sew this together. 

• Use the triangle stitch to sew up the raw edges

• Fold the top edge inward, sew along the raw edge
•  this will create the tube in which your drawstring will go through

• Fold bag inside out

Step 5: Insert drawstring

• Use attach a safety pin to your drawstring

• Work it through the hole and along the top edge

DONE!

Crafting my space!

So I have been looking for some interesting craft spaces for some ideas. Just check out this pinterest board. Its enough to make anyone yearn for a crafty space. I am limited with being in an apartment and all :( but the peg board is my first step to a nice craft space.

After going threw crafting spaces I liked the examples with peg boards. It satisfies both my need to have everything at my finger tips as well as it be nice and organized! Also my woot monkey likes chillin' out.

Awesome peg boards aside, I have been catching up on some old projects. I have finished a few more zipper pouches and some bags. Also there is a New Years Sale going on in my Etsy shop. Go check it out!

Sarina

New Years Resolutions

Now that 2012 is here, what is going to make this year different?

• Increase productivity
• Limit procrastination
• Don't loose my head while writing my thesis

What will help me achieve these goals this year? Why i am glad you asked!

For Christmas I received The Nerdist Way: How to Reach the Next Level (In Real Live) by Chris Hardwick. A NERDIST is defined as "an artful nerd...[that] creates and innovates." The Nerdist Way is a guide book for the nerd herd and explains how they can put their nerdy obsessive ways to good use.




 
I am looking forward to applying nerdisty methods to my crafting obsession as well as other geeky pursuits. Be sure to look for a review of the book coming soon!


What about the rest of yas ? Resolutions, anyone ? Leave a comment!

Sarina

2012 - The year of the Nerd Craft Librarian

So long 2011. I am getting ready for the new year by reinventing the blog!

I have decided to re-name my blog and I chose a name that pretty much sums up me and what the focus of my blog is so thus I have been reborn as the Nerd Craft Librarian. I will still be posting my crafty things but as you can guess I am also going to write about nerdy things and I will also featuring more info about my life as a librarian. This will include craft programs and storytime tips. And of course there will be some instances of the three areas overlap. 

I hope you stick around and make 2012 a great year for the Nerd Craft Librarian!