DIY - Envelopes made from fashion magazines

Do you find hard to bin fashion magazines? Well, I do. I find it very inspiring to look through those glossy pages and see various fashion clothing. They are useful resorts for me as I sew and design a lot. What I only dislike about the fashion magazines is that they are full of adverts! Errrr... But back to the point. I wanted to use these old fashion magazines somehow. I made vintage envelopes just couple days ago and I was thinking this could be great project for recycling magazines as well. So I created these tiny little envelopes to hold my business cards!

If you want to do this craft here is the tutorial: 

What do you need?

-          Old fashion magazines, such as Elle, Vogue, ..

-          A pair of scissors

-          Pencil

-          Glue stick

-          Ruler

-          Carton/cardboard (i.e. cereal box)

Steps:


             1. Draw and cut a template out from carton as per below picture.
  

2. Now place your carton template on magazine paper, draw the lines

3. cut  your envelope with a pair of scissors. 

4. Fold it up. Do the sides first then use the folded sides as a guide on where to fold the top and bottom.

5. Use a glue stick to stick your envelope together.

And that’s it! Enjoy your new recycled envelopes. You can use them as a gift card envelope; business card holder or you can store small things in it such as earrings, rings.. You can also draw bigger templates and do larger envelopes for wrapping a book, cosmetic, accessories or whatever gift you want to wrap up!

DIY Dog Bed

If you have a dog you know how hard is to keep his bed clean at all times. My dog Floo has several pillows and I wash these almost every week! I have quite small washing machine and sometimes it's difficult to get rid of all the dirt as pillows are quite huge :-/ That's why I decided to sew a pillow case that I can easily remove and wash properly anytime it's necessary. 

What you need:
- 2 rectangles of durable fabric such as denim, corduroy, or heavy cotton
- 4 side rectangles (as on picture)
- fiberfill stuffing or previously used dog pillow (in my case),
- zip 16-18 inches long
- sewing machine & polyester or cotton thread
- scissors, chalk and ruler

Instructions:
1. Measure pillow first. My pillow is 65 cm long, 60 cm wide and 10 cm high. 
2. Cut two large rectangles ( length x width ) and 4 side rectangles ( 2 rectangles = length x height and 2 rectangles = width x height ) from desired fabric as per below picture:

3. Pin and sew all side rectangles together to create large "square". If you want to make the project easier use only 1 long stripe for sides instead of cutting 4 smaller rectangles. I personally think the pillow looks better when sides are created from 4 individually cut rectangles.

4. Pin and sew this "square" with one large rectangle together. Make sure right sides of fabric face each other. For added durability, create a second row of stitches right inside the first row of stitches.

When you turn right side out you should have now clean edges like this on each side:

5. Pin and sew sides of "square" to the other rectangle. Leave 1 shorter side open. We will add a zipper to this side shortly.

6. If zip is shorter than width of the pillow, sew few cm/inches from each side.

7. Sew the last piece of "square" and zipper together using a zip footer. Make sure you leave a zip half open so you can turn right side out through it when you're finished! 

8. Turn your case right-side-out and fill it with a pillow. And that's it! You have just created easy-to-remove, machine washable pet bed!

If you have any question about the project or any recommendation and useful links please leave a comment! Thanks!!

DIY scarf

I have loads of remaining pieces of fabrics which I only store in paper bags for "someday" craft projects. Now it's time to start using them! This time I decided to do a scarf in combination of grey leaf printed cotton and  light grey jersey.  

Instructions:

1. Choose 2 fabrics you like. I chose light-grey jersey fabric and light grey cotton fabric with cute leaves print. 
2. Cut two long rectangles from each fabric in same length and width. My scarf is made from 170 cm (67 inches) long and 42 cm (16.5 inches) wide rectangles. 
3. Pin and stitch the sides right sides together to create a long tube.
4. pull the tube right side out, and pin the seams at the two open ends.
5. Stitch both sides separately to create long stole
6. This is it! Very easy 1 hour project! 

Does this scarf look more like a circle scarf? That's because I tied the scarf ends below the front fold! Here are other ways how you can tie a scarf. Isn't it great? (source: Pinterest)

Skirt tutorial - remake a wide & long skirt into thinner & shorter skirt!

I  kept myself busy with remaking this never worn skirt last weekend. I think I got it as a present few years ago. I don't remember from who eerrrrrrrrrr...but it was somebody who thought I am much taller and wider! I didn't want to bin it so I kept it for a couple of years in my wardrobe. I owe few pieces like this skirt which are only hanging  there waiting for their time to show up and be wore... Well, this skirt wishes have just came true! 

Instructions:

1. Turn the skirt inside out and put it on. Mark the skirt with a chalk or insert pins vertically along the sides. Adjust both sides equally to the desired tightness. In this case I marked skirts 1 inch from each side. 

2. Ensure the skirt fits your hips and belt comfortably. Hold the skirt tight and sit down. Ensure that you can sit comfortably. 

2. Sew along each side edge.  Remove pins as you sew! 

3. Cut the extra length off of the sides and bottom and then re-hem. 

DIY project: Chalkboard painted jars - get your kitchen organized!

I decided I wanted some  little jars to keep spices and all various ingredients in my kitchen drawer. I thought a chalkboard paint would be great on glass jars as it is the simplest way how to easily label and relabel the jars. 

It was simple DIY project and everyone can do it in few minutes.

You can find similar project which I did with wine bottles just few days ago HERE.

DIY TUTORIAL: 

1. Tape around the edges of where you’re going to put the chalkboard paint. Use masking tape or something similar. I used an ordinary office tape and it took me a long while to remove remaining glue from jars.

2. Stand the jars up and smooth some paint onto the surface.  Paint them from side to side  and try to do it in one or two strokes. Paint top of the lids as well. 

3. Let the paint dry for about 30 minutes. If necessary apply another coat. Leave the jars aside for 1-2 days. Then remove the tape and enjoy writing on them with a chalk!!

DIY: Chalkboard painted bottles - write a message to your loved one!

I've found a lot of projects to occupy my mind at Pinterest and this is one of them. It took only few minutes to complete! 

Cheer up somebody's day by leaving  a cute message on  a bottle! 

If you want to change message just wipe it up with wet cloth, just like at school! :)

...And here is the tutorial. What you need is:

Chalkboard (Blackboard) paint 

empty wine, beer bottles

paint brush

You can also see some jars on the picture. I painted them as well and use them as herbs/spice jars. I will post the pictures soon!

Paint each bottle with blackboard paint. Stand the bottle up so you can paint each side at once.

Leave it dry for about 30 minutes. And that's it! Now you can leave a message on your new vase :)

DIY projects (part 1)

Hi everyone!

Due to my orders I am quite busy and I don’t post too much recently. So please forgive me! I will add more posts very soon. What I want to share with you guys today is DIY projects which are extremely EASY to do and look fabulous. I have already tried to do few of these and it's been such a fun!

!! Please follow links displayed below each project to see full tutorials !!

1. Gift box packaging tutorial

Do you have a problem to find appropriate packaging for gifts sometimes? Make your own packaging! It takes only few minutes!!

How about a puffy boxes? This packaging is perfect for small gifts, such as jewellery, sweets, make up, perfume, cell phone, …

You can find the basic tutorials for “milk box”, puffy boxes and other packaging here!

2. Magnet containers

Give pretty spice or candy containers a new life in seconds by turning them into refrigerator magnets. 

Place a small, powerful magnet inside the back of an empty tin, which makes the tin itself magnetic. (Nonmetallic containers will work if you stick an adhesive magnet on the

outside.)

3. Flower project

This is quite funny project. All you need is empty toilet rolls (well, you need to start to collect them quickly), scissors, and quality paper glue!

Fold the toilet rolls, cut them into same sized thin strips and qlue every 5 strips together to form a flower. Use cloths pins to hold them together while the glue is drying. After that glue the flowers to each other and create a flowing connected design.

Full flower project tutorial is here.

4. Cherry Blossom Branch

For this project you will need pink paper squares ( I used yellow – which wasn’t great idea, because yellow cherry flowers don’t exist, hehe ...ups!  ) tape, scissors, bare branches, vase or frame.

Follow the origami club tutorial to make cherry flowers. Cut your branches to a size that will suit the frame or vase that your will be using. After you have arranged your branches in a vase or frame, attach the folded cherry blossoms to the branches using

tape.

You know what is great about this cute cherry blossom branch? It will never dry out!!

Cherry blossom branch tutorial

5. Painted Wine Bottle Vases

Collect a bunch of bottles and jars in different shapes and sizes and make lovely DIY centerpieces for any occassion!

Find out more about this project here!

Do you like any of these projects? Which one would you like to try? 

Easter Monsters

Easter is just around the corner so I have decided to create something weird for this holidays :) 

!!EASTER MONSTER!!

I don't know why people create bunnies for Easter which I think have nothing much to do with the religious or historical aspects of the holiday. They probably do it for the same reason as I do. It's so much fun!!! I enjoyed doing these weird large-sized eyes bunnies / monsters :)

It is made from new fluffy super soft kids socks, foam insert (could be pillow polyester insert), polystyrene eye inserts and few buttons!  

It is very simple and easy to make a sock doll. You don't even need sewing machine to do these creatures. All you need is scissors, needle, thread and some old socks! :) You can do it by yourself or help your child create lovely sock bunnies this  holiday. You can find a lot of ideas how to make a  sock doll at various website. Some offer videos or step-by-step presentation.

Good luck and have a fun!