Button Pouch Tutorial

 

For the Button Pouch I made for Lucy, I chose two vintage grain-bag fabrics a friend had given me, and I went back and forth with the purple plaid, and whether I should applique an elephant on the front. 

"Purple elephant or no purple elephant...purple elephant or no purple elephant?" 

In the end I opted for something a little more subtle.

Blue Jean Kindle Cover Tutorial

     Some of you (especially those of you who know that my frugality borders on stingy) may have read that title, and said,"Wait a minute. She has a kindle?"
Yes. It's true. But for the story on that, you're going to have to wait until the end of this post...mainly because I want you to scroll past the pictures and see the transformation of a few pieces of discarded blue jeans and cutting board into a kindle cover (I apologize for the florescent lighting...but most of my inspiration happens after sundown. Ignore the frequently changing colors..I did try to adjust them believe it or not). I also saved it until last because the story involves some videos, and those will be at the end.

     As for the cover, I really wanted to make one because most of the ones out there are either really expensive or completely synthetic. I wanted something that would last, and would be durable and thick enough to protect the screen, but streamlined, not bulky or floppy. I wanted something that I could shake (whether open or closed) and the kindle would still be held tightly.

     I thought it would be a good project to utilize my neglected denim collection, so I came up with a sketch. And even though I changed a few things, I'm happy with how closely I ended up sticking to it. I should sketch my projects more often.

I made some things.

Yesterday Nathanael and I went out to the garden to finish up some things we hadn't had the chance to complete during our busy Saturday. We made a few new rows, but it has been to dry to break the soil appropriately for planting (i.e. the soil is concrete), so I was writing some seed names on stakes, which required me to reference the seeds. About then, Nathanael and I both realized our seeds were just too disorganized. As you can see below, they were neither functional or manageable, but more or less in two large piles (though not spilling during transportation, which is a plus).

Thus, I decided that today's project would be solving this problem. I got a box (one of many from our move and the packages we receive from family), tore all of the labels off of it and went to work. As you may begin to notice, I never actually use scrapbooking paper for creating scrapbooks, but I love to use it to decorate. After adorning the box I used some cardstock (leftover from creating our wedding invitations believe it or not--though we only used the yellow for that) to create tabs, and voila! A recipe-box-like seed organizer.

 

Nathanael and I are both pretty excited about how much easier this will make our planting times. 

Also this week, I decided to make use of some of the blue jeans I have been collecting and make a thick, durable potholder. Nathanael's old black Singer sewing machine is pretty powerful to make it through all of these layers! Some parts of it required some seam-ripping and redesigning as I went, but I am pretty happy with the finished product and it is now listed in my shop. (See link at top left for shop listing and larger versions of the potholder pictures.)

 And finally, remember the rice bags I made at Christmas time? One of my friends really liked them and commisioned me to make one so she could use it instead of a heating pad for her TMJ. And since the rice bag has no plastic parts, it's a great way to reduce the footprint of an ailment. Here's what I created for her...

(The pictures taken on my jungle table cloth are of the rice bag before I filled it with some local popcorn rice.) I put some other little edible treats in the box too, because if you're going to pay for shipping, why not make it delicious, right?

Have you guys been creating or renovating anything this week?