any ideas for things to make on the road?

[cinnamon teal]

Hi all you crafty peoples,

In 4 days my husband and I are embarking on a epic road trip adventure.  We're going to spend 6 weeks driving from California to the east coast and back.  My question to you all is, do you have any ideas for things to make on the road?  I plan to do some knitting - probably christmas presents - but I would love to do some sewing or jewelry making also and I would love to make something that I can give to the various relatives that we will be staying with, however any car friendly craft ideas will be greatly appreciated.

Thanks a bunch!

[cinnamon teal]

Yikes! I'm leaving in 36 hours!  Any ideas, all you crafty geniuses?

[licalee]

Make Lucky stars out of paper strips. I made one in the car today and gave it to the nice girl at the drive thru window and she adored it. It's great to give little things like that to people you meet along the way.

http://www3.telus.net/public/rosesen/

Maybe some magnets made from those glass floral marbles? get a shallow box to put them in to dry - and Aleens Tacky Glue works well for those and doesn't stink.

Small sewing projects? Small stuffed aminals, purses (coin maybe), wrist cuffs, embroidery. Embroidered socks for people would be fun and small enough to do in a car seat.

If you were making jewelry i'd stay away from beads - I can't keep those things from spilling at home - I can't imagine how it would be in a car. Maybe knotted, knit or sewn jewelry? Or if you did use beads limiting the variety and having something easy to seal like a zippered baggie.

Here's my two cents on road trips:
I've taken many long road trips like this (6 trips that lasted 4-6 weeks on the road) and if you have the ability to record the audio from your favorite movies it's really nice. One year we had Can't Hardly Wait and Fear and Loathing In las Vegas and they were perfect for when we ran out of music we wanted to listen to (usually after day 1 or 2). Since you have a long time I would highly recommend stopping at any place of interest that interests you. My guy and I would stop at every state park we saw and it was well worth it. I also suggest taking a different route home than the one you came on - that always helped with us. Two of my favorite trips included thousand-mile plus detours that were decided literally at the last minute. Also if you can avoid Kansas and Nebraska - do it! Oh - and amazingly it can be comfortable with a bunch of crap in the footwell so if you need a lot of stuff for what you're making you'll be surprised how much room is down there. And finally I'm not a big fan of Wal Mart but places like that on road trips help so much with shopping since they have everything in one place - including craft supplies!

Have a ton of fun! I loooove road trips.

[licalee]

I also wanted to say some of the stuff from leah's book looks easy to do in a car - and it also looks like a good read on those projects you wait to do when you get home. - http://craftster.org/book/

I'd try a used bookstore for cheap craft magazines that you can look through on the drive, then pick up materials on your next shopping trip.

And though this is going to make me seem obsessed with socks (and underwear) - buy or take some extras because laundry on the road is a bummer. You can wear the same shirt or pants/shorts/skirt more than once especially if you spend the day in the car but if you run out of underwear or socks on the road that's two hours at least that you've lost to laundry. designate a bag for dirty underwear and only wash it when you need to - preferably when you're over at a friend or realtive's place.

Also you can save a lot of money by camping instead of going to a hotel, plus it's a lot of fun. It's often 1/3 to 1/4 the cost of the cheapest lodging in the area (for 2 - even cheaper for more) and you get to meet more people and see more of the places you're traveling through.

If you can get people to make you last-minute mix cd's those are really nice.

If you find something you love but have no room for it you can have it mailed to yourself or someone you know.

[jloveg]

I  am a  truckers  wife.... truck  trips  are  what  we  lived......

do  you knit?   that is  a  good  thing,  if  you are  in  car  invest in a  folding desk  you can  get  them  at  walmart they  fit  right  over your  legs then  can fold downa dn slide  right  under teh seat.  they have 3 areas  inside for  storage......  great  for  clay  projects   or  beading.   do you do    apliques?  great  time  for  cutting  out the  projects  you  want to  work on when you get  home.   Good  time  for   cross stitching.

learning  to  crotchet  or  making  those  cute  felt  stuffies.......   the  fold up desk makes a  great  cutting  table.   

this is the time to  do  lots  of  yarn from skein to ball if you do that  with yours.   Lets see  anything you can  cut  out for  working  with later.......

I  HIGHLY  suggest  good  deep  containers for  any beads  you try to  use  and  get a   small piece of  non skid shelf liner to  put  on  that  fold up desk  to  keep  your  containers, scissors, what have yous  from sliding all around.     

Good  luck  and  have a  wonderfully blessed trip!

[cinnamon teal]

Thanks so much for the ideas and advice.  Those little stars are really cute - I think I'll have to try them!  And the lap desk idea sounds really great. 

I'm so excited!  We bought a Volkswagen camper van about 6 months ago and this is our first major road trip.  We're going to be camping for most of it and we got the National Parks Pass so we have free entry to them all     Ahh!  I can't wait!!  I'm bringing some shirts to recon and maybe I'll make some wrist cuffs (great idea) and I have some hemp and a few big beads to play with.

But right now I need to get some sleep.  If only I could get my brain to relax 

Thanks again for the tips.  (And you are so right about socks and underware, by the way.)  Any more ideas that you have will be thouroughly appreciated!

[Onyxnox]

If you knit - what about knitting with wire - you can pre-string beads onto a thin gauge wire and do simple knitting to make neat necklaces, bracelets, cuffs.  Consider learning crochet?  Same can be applied to crochet too.  Add some crimp beads, and clasps and voila - jewelry.  Embellish at will.

[EmilyFlew]

Embroidery is good too...when going on trips, I often just bring a big pile of floss and fabric, and play around with it free form. You can make little pouches or wall hangings to give to people you're staying with.

[jloveg]

another  great  and  handy tool  when traveling,,,,,,  since irons are in limited use   consider  purchasing a  butane  curling iron.......  yes it  does work....  I  have  used  mine  to  iron  on  interfacing and  then  iron clothes!  yes  its not  fast and as easy as a normal iron  but  when  you are  sitting in the  front not parked  and  can't  plug in .......  you need  interfacing  on some appliques......  theres  you  resource. 

 you  don't  have  time  now  but  next time  you  go  camping  before hand  you can  make  your own fire starter.    using  old  candles  that you can't  burn anymore   or  parrifin wax.    you  put  scraps of paper and dryer lint and used dryer sheets  in  paper  muffin cups  (leaving a small piece of paper sticking out the top as a fuse)  pour in melted wax until cup is full use tooth pick to saturate most of the  trash in the cup.   let them  harden.  store in well ventalated container.   and  they will start wet wood to burn!  you can  place them in the fire pit adn stack you wood  adn  light them  they  burn  long and slow  like a  candle  with  no  yucky  harmful to the  inviroment  residue left behind.

take  extra  supplie of  storage containers so you can find  some little  thing  from  each  stopping point and  when you get home  you can create a craft  with it.  memories forever.

also  one  thing I  have learned  camping   NEVER  assume all stuff will stay  dry.  definately  no matter  what  keep a  change of clothes for each person  in a  sealed  container taht is  closed in ziplock bags.   because when you  don't  have it you will need it  when you have it you won't need it.... be  safe  not  sorry.   be  sure to  also  give  some one you love a  copy  of  your  travel  plans.   you  never  no  what freaks  are  out there.   

take  lots  of  pics  for  scrap booking  or  crafty  later  also........  some  of  your  best  photos  will be  from  hanging out the  window  just  snapping  shots of  scenery  while he  drives.

enjoy and be safe.

[PinkyK]

Embroidery is good too...when going on trips, I often just bring a big pile of floss and fabric, and play around with it free form. You can make little pouches or wall hangings to give to people you're staying with.

I second embroidery. I'm always stitching in the car! Pick up the Sublime Stitching stitch it kit and you'll get tons of ideas!