I made this back in April and have been wanting to share.  I saw another post on craftster about Ric Rac's 1-hour purse (http://www.craftster.org/forum/index.php?topic=234709.0 ) and tried it out--it was great for someone who had never made a purse before.  I highly recommend this pattern--very cute and very easy!

All the fabric is from a pillow sham I got at Goodwill for 50 cents and have been saving for just the right project--I think the wavy pattern looks so good on this! I did modify it slightly and did a flap with a button cause I had the supplies on hand. I also learned that I will probably use some sort of iron-on interfacing or heavier stabilizer (than the flannel I used) next time, as it is a bit floppy after two months of use. Does anyone have a recommendation for use with plain cotton? I have some other fabric I'd like to use but would like it with a bit more body.

Comments welcome, thanks for looking!



Inside pocket


My daughter wanted in on all the picture taking so we have one of the purse we sewed together for her--here she is showing the inside. Too cute!

My family is moving to LA this summer so we are on an ultra-tight budget for the next few months, but we have 3 moms and 3 grandmothers to think about for Mother's Day--what to do?

I got this idea from something my 3 yo daughter did at preschool for Valentine's Day, but reworked it with a photo frame.  It is a frame she painted with a picture of her and a clothespin and magnet on the back so you can clip stuff to the fridge.  I think that they only were about $2 or so each if you only need the basic supplies(a bit more for us cause we needed more paint). Super cute and super fast, and thought I'd share it with all of you!

Here's a picture of the finished product:


and the back with the clip:



OK, now for the tutorial--my first! I am missing some of the steps, 'cause I thought about this after the fact, but I'm sure you can use your imagination.

Supplies (all from Michael's):
wooden picture frame (5 @ $1 each--I don't have a picture of the plain frame, but they were in the wood cutout section, just discard or stash the dowels used to stand them up)
clothes pins ($2)
magnetic strip ($1)
glitter ($1--btw, old spice shakers are great for glitter with little ones!)
picture ($1 for 5 prints from Walgreens)
paint
superglue


1. Paint and LIBERALLY apply glitter in colors of your choice (or other decoration), then let dry. I spent 20 minutes after they dried rubbing the frames to get off all the loose glitter!
2. Insert picture into frame


3. Superglue a strip of magnet to clothespin, then clothespin to the back of the frame, let dry.


You're all set!

Thanks for taking a look, hope you find it helpful!

This is my first challenge entry, I was so excited when I saw it was lamps! I have made a couple so I just had to pick which one was my favorite. 

So I actually made this lamp a while ago while I was living in Korea. I took a hanji class (Korean paper craft) while I was there. I saw something like it in a shop, but it was like $150 US, so I took a picture and modeled it off of that. I have since lost the picture but have posted something similar at the end for reference.

Just to explain construction a bit: it is a cardboard frame with rocks at the bottom and birds made out of lengths of wire (and a whole bunch of hot glue). You cover the whole thing in scrunched up hanji (mulberry) paper dipped in a sort of rice flour glue and let it dry. Then you sponge it with a weak bleach solution to change the color to a aged brown.  The shade itself has a plastic base (pre-cut) that you have to tape togeter in the pumpkin shape and cover with white mulberry paper.

I always think this is the kind of thing that people would love to learn about in the US--in my opinion another cool Korean thing that is way underrated!


Lit up-


In the light-


In progress (after paper, before bleaching)


A reference sample


Thanks for looking!

Hi there, I am hoping that some of you with more quilting knowledge than I, a newbie, might know if this makes sense:

I have this book, Last Minute Fabric Gifts, by Cynthia Treen.  She has a very simple baby quilt that I thought I'd try my hand at for a friend who just had a baby:



Here is the materials and instructions:



Well as I get into it, it seems that the batting is 32" x 32", but when you seam the interior gauze, the square only ends up 31" x 31" (you are then supposed to tack stitch the interior gauze/batting together) Then it instructs you to seam the pieced outside so that the finished measurements are only 30" x 30"! It keeps getting smaller and smaller as you go out!

Is this normal when you sew a quilt, for the interior to be bigger than the outside, or are these instructions just poorly done?  Also, I should add that I bought poly batting, cause the store didn't have the wool batting called for in the materials list (in case that's the problem).

So now I'm wondering if I should just be making the outside bigger to match the batting, but don't want it to be too "baggy" on the edges, if you know what I mean.

Thanks for helping a fledgling quilter--if this works out I'm going to have to try some real ones!

For my daughter's 1st birthday (she's now 2 1/2), I did a ladybug birthday party.
Here's a picture of the cake:



And a totally gratuitous shot of her eating the little ladybug I made for her (her cheeks were slightly pink the rest of the day!):


The only downside was that I used waaay too much red coloring paste, so the top layer tasted not so good...

I finally finished this piece that I have been working on for almost a year (admittedly, I mostly worked on it on business trips--on the airplane).  The design is by a company called Artstitch, they do a lot of art & crafts/art nouveau style designs.

This is my first embroidery project, but I have to say I'm hooked, I love it--I started a new project the same day I finished this one!

I do have a question, as this is my first cross stitch --how do you frame/mount such work?  With the embellishment of the fan button, I'm not sure it would work under glass, but I really would like it on the wall to show it off.  Any suggestions?

Thanks!



Close-ups:

This is my first post, of a project I did a while back. (I have lots of projects, but never remember to take pictures when the light is good!)

I lived in South Korea for three years and learned to how to do hanji, which is a Korean paper craft. Here are some pictures of a hobak, or pumpkin, lamp. The entire thing is made of paper, with plastic sheets underneath to hold the rounded shape. I cut the decorative designs out with an exacto knife.

Thanks for looking!