This summer I'm going to Europe with my boyfriend and I need something to hold both our passports and some other things... I also happened to have some new fabric lying around, waiting to be used... so the travel wallet for two was born!


Outside


Back with a small zipper pocket for quick access to bills or coins


Inside with a compartment for two passports, a slip pocket for tickets or maps, five card slots a pen grip and a small pocket for band-aids and the like.

I can't wait to use it! So excited!

Thanks for looking. C&C are welcome!

Picked up a men's sweater at a thrift store for 10$ (I see people here who mention getting nice clothing items for 2-3$! Where do you find such thrift stores? =O ) and remade it into this nice winter tunic. I'm not a big fan of winter and winter clothing, especially since you often end up wearing the same sweaters days on end... this will give my closet a bit of variety =)

Reconstructed:




Before:


Basically I fitted it nicely to my figure, got rid of the sleeves and changed the collar (adding buttons for extra classy-ness ).


Since it was a knit sweater (I was careful to chose a tight knit that I could work with), I used a zig-zag for all my stitches (holds yarn better together) and then did a kind of "overclock" by hand. To change the turtle-neck collar into an opening one, I stitched two lines close together, cut between the two, overclocked the edges and turned them underneath so you wouldn't see the raw bits. =)

It was a fun project and I'm very satisfied with the result!
*Runs off to thrift store to look for a cheaper sweater to reconstruct*

My first completed crochet project (not counting all the granny squares scattered around my house...)
Last winter/spring I decided I wanted a slouchy beret and as soon as made up my mind of crocheting one, I started seeing them all over the place (in stores, on people in the bus... everywhere! berets were stalking me, I swear!)!

Finding a simple-to-make, yet not simple looking pattern was a bit of a challenge. In the end, I found a tutorial on youtube... only problem was that it was in Spanish, y yo no hable mucho espanol! (I don't speak much Spanish). What do you do in such a case? Take out your crocheting hook and say "challenge accepted" of course!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y1jfFrN1QAs&feature=related

After watching the video over a few times (and consiberably improving my spanish vocabulary) I managed to jot down the instructions. I started crocheting on a plane last spring, then the hat was forgotten for a few months and finished in August... I decided to wait till a colder time to post it here and only just remembered it last week when I stumbled uppon in in the closet during Christmas cleaning. Needless to say, I've been parading it ever since! ^^ I must say, I am in love! Stylish way to stay nice and warm! =D



C&C more than welcome! Thanks for looking!

You know you're obsessed with crafting when: you see a cute skirt in the store and think "ohhh! I totally gotta get some nice fabric and make one like that" - True story.

For the upcoming New Year party, I made myself a silky, shiny, gorgeous bubble skirt! And it only took a couple of hours! I honestly think it came out way better than what I saw in the store but, as I have no photo to compare, you'll just have to take my word for it


I found a lot of different tutorials and how-to's for bubble skirts, the idea I ended up using, however,(there was no one tutorial that I used, but rather a mix of several) was fashioning the skirt out of a straight skirt and a circle skirt.

For this I used:
-A wide elastic belt
-A bit of old shirt to make the straight skirt (any stretchy fabric works)
-About 1.5 m of silky gold fabric

Step 1: Sew the elastic into a belt that sits comfortably, wherever you want it to sit (ideally hips?)
Step 2: Sew the straight skirt onto the edge of the belt (the side it's sewn on will become the inside of your skirt)
           Note: the skirt should be about 10 cm bellow the desired length
Step 3: Cut out a doughnut for the circle skirt (the hole being about 10cm larger in circumference than the belt is). To do so, fold fabric into two and then two again, draw an arc 1/4 of the desired circumference and from there measure the desired length of the skirt + 20cm.

Step 4: Gather the top of the circle skirt: sew a simple stitch by hand and then pull at the string till it's the same width as     the belt. Stick or pin the skirt onto the belt before sewing it on with the machine, making sure that the gathering is uniform. The skirt should be sewn on right side of fabric to right side of belt, but upside down, so that when you lower it, the stitches are hidden.

Step 5: Now that you have a pretty circle skirt and a straight skirt underneath, it's time to put them together to make the magic happen. As you did with the top of the circle skirt, gather the bottom hem. At the same time, you can fold the edge under 1~1.5 cm to hide the raw part. Mind you, it will gather a LOT more than it did on the top.

Step 6: Spread out the gatherings, pin the edge of the circle skirt to the edge of the straight skirt, and sew on with a zig-zag stitch. Voila! Admire the flow-y effect of your new bubble skirt!

Here is a shot of it inside out, so you can get a better idea of how it's made (I hope the writing is legible!)


I hope the instructions are helpful! It's a combination of others' instructions, my mom's tips and my own logic/learning by doing experience.

And of course, the model shot! (Now just to find/make a nicer shirt... hmmm)


Thanks for looking! =D

I'm not sure if these go here, so if anyone can suggest a better section, it's cool.

Decoupage is a technique when you cover something with pretty tissue paper and then varnish it and add painted on or glittery touch-ups. Google can tell you way more than me on that subject (or any subject for that matter thehe)!

Last year my mom and I made this wine bottle for New year:


It's a full wine bottle that's just been jazzed up a bit Everyone found it so pretty that no one wanted to open it! It had to wait till the Old New Year (a Russian tradition) to finally be opened. I can tell you the wine tasted amazing

This year we decided to make one for each family with whom we exchange gifts. Here they are, with a "2012" on each:




My favorite is the money one. (Can you believe it? "100$ bill" paper napkins at the dollar-store!)


The project was a bit time consuming but totally worth it! They make great gifts!

This year for Christmas we decided to host a party and as there were several kids, I made little party favors.

These friendly little monsters will keep any bag or key-chain stylish and funky


The purple one was given away before the group shot, and he's a little different since he was the first born.


And a couple of individual shots.



I made these out of simple cotton prints and some other fabric I had lying around. I found that the best fabric was a flannel-ish type (dark blue monster), and the best stuffing was scraps of fabric cut up into tiny pieces.

Thanks for looking!

This is what my little sister is getting under her tree this year (from me at least, and loads more from Santa)

I saw this adorable little tutorial and new I just HAD to make something!
http://www.rufflesandstuff.com/2011/08/lollipop-shirt-tutorial-two-ways.html
it's reverse applique and super easy to make!

Full shirt:


Super close-ip of the bow (which is my favorite part):

This is overdue to be uploaded! I've been using it for a couple of months now and I LOVE it!
When summer ended, I felt that I really needed an autumn bag and this came to mind http://www.craftster.org/forum/index.php?topic=366907.0, I just new I had to make one for myself!

Front:


Back:


Inside:




In Process:


This was a really fun project to make and design! Thanks so much to "85%confusion" for the inspiration =D

For "back to school"/"OMG I'm starting university" I bought myself a new laptop. My old one wouldn't charge anymore and I needed something lighter. So... new laptop = new case! =D

It's a Lenovo Thinkpad (which I recommend to anyone looking for something small). Very simple, sober design. At first, I thought of jazzing it up, but then I realized I liked it just the way it is. So instead, I had to make a matching case. And despite all the happy, colourful fabric that was jumping up and down saying "pick me! pick me!" I came up with this classy, sober design.


Front


Back

It's fake leather (really soft and pleasant to hold) with a cotton print.


Open

If you're like me and have a lot of trouble with stick on velcro (it doesn't hold well with the crappy glue that's on it, yet kills your needle if you so much as try to sew it on), I suggest covering the glue-y backside of the velcro with some good fabric glue. Since I got a bottle of fabric glue, I've been using it eeeverywhere, and I can definitely say it's an item worth having in the tool box


They match! - The red dot on the sleeve echos the red dot in "Thinkpad" and the red track-dot in the middle of the keybord =D

So last week was my little sister's 9th birthday and I had to sew her something! (I'm serious, no choice there. She's seen me sew a bag for my best friend's birthday and sew random things during 70% of my free time... so I knew she was expecting something nice for her own birthday)

Since she's quite crafty (takes after her older sister ) and I want to encourage her to draw more, I came up with this little purse for art material.

Inside with all the nifty supplies I got her


Without the supplies

(I'm definitely going to add another elastic band to hold the pencils and markers, as you can see they're slanty)

Outside


Tag




Outside (back) with a pocket for a sketchpad




Zipper

I sewed the zipper on with white thread because I needed it to be white on the outside, then I simply dabbed some black acrylic paint on the inside. Very simple and very effective, looks a LOT cleaner.

Happy sister



My advice to anyone planing to make a hand-made gift: start WAY in advance!
I had a crazy time making this since I was trying to hide it from my sis, who is always at home whenever I'm free and stays up late =P. Even if you can't start too much in advance, make sure you have a very detailed plan of action, rather than just a vague idea (for instance, I knew I wanted a pocket for a sketch pad and elastics for pencils, but I had no idea what to do on the other sides of the purse, both inside and out (it was on the eve of my sister's birthday that I went to get the art store and found the wooden figure and other things)). Once you have a clear plan, every minute of time you have to work on your project will be well used and not just squandered in organisational ideas and doubts.

Thank you for looking and, as always, C&C are more than welcome!