Stampin' up a storm

Do you ever use stamps? No, not the lick and stick for snail mail kind!
The inky rubbery kind!
Have you tried making your own stamps?

I thought it would be fun to try when I saw someone offering a stamp carving workshop, unfortunately I can't get to the workshop (it's too far away) but I wondered how hard it would be to do it yourself.

handcarved stamped cards

You can find out how on this tutorial by Lisa Tulse.

It looks easy enough - you just need the right tools.
You can make small stamps from good quality erasers and you need something like a craft knife or lino cutting tool to cut the design.

If you need inspiration - or another how-to, check out Gennine's blog.
So many sweet ideas.

Gennine's stamps

Of course there are other materials you could use - remember potato prints? haha!

Making this 'n that.

Fancy doing a spot of sewing this week?
Nothing too complicated.
A little bit of this and a little bit of that.

Got a pair of jeans that don't fit anymore?
Or a pair that is a bit worn out or daggy?
Look no further! This is what you can do with them -

jeans bag from craftsy

There are many on-line tutorials about making jeans bags - or you can probably hoe to work it out yourself.
There's one is here on craftbits. That one actually glues the bottom shut! But I'd prefer to stitch it closed and some use ribbon or even a tie for handles - I like that you use another part of the jeans for a strap.

How about making your own pj pants or sleep pants?

from living well spending less blog

Pjs don't have to be perfectly constructed, they just need to be comfortable.
I like that these have got a contrast trim at the bottom.

I love lot of little storage bags, but zips and other closures can be fiddly.
This great little tute shows you how to make bags that snap shut.
Shhh, there's a secret to doing that....

snappy bags from the crafting chicks

check it out!

I love this idea!

by leafy treetop spot

Little doo-dads to keep your charger cords under control!
How neat is that?


Do you think legwarmers will ever come back into fashion?

If you do then you can find out how to make them here at i heart naptime.
Pretty cute, eh?

Simple little projects from around the webs.

I love cowls.
And I can knit.
But I have never tried arm knitting.
Yes, there is such a thing and you can look here to find out how!

from handimania

And because one cowl per post is never enough, here's one that might be useful to make a dent in my fabric stash.
This is a faux sheepskin lined cowl I found on design sponge.

from design sponge

I actually might not use the faux fur, but it would sure be warm.

I know I've posted about serviettes/napkins before, but reversible ones?
Oh yeah!

on kojo designs

At one stage I fancied myself as a bit of an artist *coughcough*.
And if you do too, there are lots of fab easy ideas over at grow creative.

by grow creative

Oh, yes and another bracelet - using rope.
Looks simple but needs a few special supplies.

from makezine

I do like the idea of using rope.

Paper beads - and how to make them.

I was inspired by something I saw on facebook the other day (as so often happens) - paper beads.
I remember those!
What a great way to recycle all those old magazines I've got, I thought.

So I had a look about to see what was going on around the place.

There are heaps of tutorials and inspiration on the interwebs.

This is the one that started off my journey, on Instructables.com.

Instructables

DIY fashion

You can find some mighty interesting-looking templates and a neat set-up for drying your beads on Adrienne Butikofer's blog.

Adrienne Butikofer

I love this take on the paper bead necklace by My Poppet - it's a bit modern.

My Poppet

 Or how about these versatile flat beads.

paperbeads

You can use all sorts of paper - 

Hambly Screen Prints.

Scrapbooking paper or Wallpaper perhaps.

Old books or sheet music or maps or....

Tanith

 You could wrap them in thread -

or wire - 

epla

You could coat them in shiny resin - 

eHow

You could draw on paper, doodle, paint - the possibilities are endless!

So easy-peasy and so un-spendy!

Love it!

Things to do with tshirts - apart from wear them.

I have some tshirts to use up somehow as well as all the fabric I mentioned last week.
Most of them are khaki or grey, so not very inspiring in the colour department, but I'm sure I can find something to do with them.

Where to start?
With jewellery of course.

1. Bracelets.

These bright braided bracelets are fun.
And easy-peasy.

2. Knotted bracelets.

Would look good with some pretty coloured tshirts.

from hot polka dot

3. Necklace.
This is like the one I have made (but have no photo of)

from wholeliving.com

4. Braided necklace.
A bit more involved than the previous necklace/scarfy thing.
But has a neater end result for them that likes that sort of thing.

nautical necklaces how-to by brit + co

This version with three slightly different tshirts looks fab.

braided scarf on ohohblog

5. Headband.
That is a bit braided and a bit not (or knot!)

headband by Sugar Bee Crafts

6. Wrap vest.
Uses an extra large men's tshirt..
The end result is a bit super and you can also wear it as a scarf.

by wobisobi

7. Yoga pants.
This one needs a bit more work and measuring.
And would look really nice with a tshirt like this with a suitable design on the front.
But I'm not totally discounting it.

yoga pants from Kira's sewing projects

8. Tshirt to dress.
Now this has given me an idea - I have some hippie skirts that I thought to recycle into dresses and I could attach them to a tshirt top a bit like these.
Hmmmmm.....

unable to find original post

8. You could also use the fabric to make skirts -

from Melly Sews

9. Or hats -

by Joyfoolery

but, hey! that all looks like far too much effort!

10. Laptop case.
This I like! A lot.

from makezine

11. Dishcloths.
You cut up your tshirt into strips to make yarn and then you knit or crochet a small square with big needles (I guess)
Or you could just cut up your tshirt to use as a rag! Much easier.

by robotdinosaur on craftster

12. And then there are bags.

shopping bag by delia creates

 And the bag I showed you a couple of weeks ago.

13. Rugs.
This one actually uses a tshirt as the base - Brilliant!

by Molly Kay Stoltz

Too many choices!

Things I might do with a fat quarter.

I need to destash my fabric stash.....badly.
You see I bought an awful lot of fabrics when I was making tshirts for Boos Tees, and now that is no more I need to re-purpose, recycle or re-locate sundry bits of fabric.

A lot of it is in fat quarters*
A lot of it is stuff I really like.
I would like to use it.....but what? and how?

I already made some bow ties. (You can see them at the bottom of this post.)

So I've done a bit of research and have come up with these other possibilities.

1. Tea cosy.

tea cosy tutorial

I actually have a few tea cosies.
But I could make a toaster cover?
Or a food mixer cover?

I wouldn't do such fancy quilting and I probably would leave out the felt flowers.

2. Sweet little boxy pouch.

boxy pouch tutorial

You can never have too many pouches, right?
This is a different shape from all my other pouches.....so could be useful.


3. Fabric covered bulletin board.

fabric covered bulletin board

This is pretty cool because it involves no sewing and a lot of glueing!

4. Infinity scarf.

infinity scarf

I love infinity scarves.
I'm excited!

5. Tablet or kindle cover.

ipad cover

I just got a Kindle for Christmas so a cover would be good.
I wouldn't put the apple on the front though.
And I'm not mad about the binding....
It has a pocket on the front, not sure what that is for.

6. Drawstring bag.

drawstring bag

This could be very useful.

7. Simple tote bag.

simple tote bag

Yes, I know, another bag.....
Love this fabric too.

8. Fabric trays.

fabric trays

These could be very useful.
I could put beads in them!

9. Gardeners apron.

gardeners apron

Could also be a market apron.
I'm liking that idea.

10. Cloth napkins.

cloth napkins

Actually I call them serviettes.
But whatever, this is the easiest of them all!
and we do use cloth napkins.

This tutorial shows you how to get the corners mitred all neatly.

I could also make cloth handkerchiefs.
Oh, yeah!


* for non-patchworky people, a fat quarter is a quarter of a square meter of fabric cut in a square.

How to - make a playing card notebook, cover picture frames, decorate cups, cover lampshades and make a tshirt bag.

I love it when you can re-use or re-purpose something.
I hate throwing stuff away!
At the moment I'm doing a bit of de-cluttering and de-stashing, but maybe I could do some re-purposing instead!

I could make some notebooks with the pile of paper I'm trying to free myself of plus some unused playing cards.

by handmedowndesigns

I could also use some of the wrapping/decoupage parers/old maps etc etc to wrap some picture frames like these -

by AlissaBYoung

I'm loving these spectacular decorated cups.
I found them on pinterest.

found on The Berry blog

What you do is draw on a white china cup then put in the oven and heat to 180 degrees celsius for 30 mins. That should be long enough to heat set the ink so that it doesn't wash off.
I have got a whole swag of coloured Sharpies - could be fun!
Maybe I should start with a simpler design though....


This is really novel!
Cover a plain white lampshade with old (or not so old) tights/pantyhose!

found at vintage revival

And while on the subject of re-purposed clothing - here is a great use for old tshirts!

from Bluebird Sews

Make some shopping bags.
It's a really simple idea and there are many tutes on this but this one by Bluebird Sews had nice photos!
I also saw some that had a rounded neck bit - the choice is yours.

Have a great crafty week : )