Put a Cork in it! (Cork Place Mats)

A while ago, I found this amazing table that I fell in love with almost instantly. It's an antique folding table that has a healthy dose of wear and tear and was buried beneath a protective force field of dirt. Through all that I could see the diamond in the rough. I bought it, forced it to fit into my car, cursed my sedentary life choices while drudging it up the stairs to my apartment, and cleaned it up a bit. Now it's one of my favorite pieces of furniture. I'm having so much coming up with accessories and centerpieces. The most recent incarnation of "table dress-up" has been these very simple cork place mats.



I bought a roll of thin cork a while ago for a project that never happened. I'm pretty excited to let it live out it's crafty destiny in some way finally. The timing just happened to work out around Thanksgiving. This would easily be a fun project to keep kids busy while they are waiting for Turkey time AND teach them some basic sewing.

You Will Need:

4 pieces of thick cardboard, cut to 12"x18" rectangles (I used a furniture box)
1 roll of thin cork, large enough to cut 4-12"x18" rectangles
box cutter
glue
ruler
writing utensil
yarn of your choice
yarn needle
*optional: hole punch, decoupage roller

First cut your cork and cardboard to size. This was easiest to do using a SHARP box cutter. Make sure you cut the cork very carefully or it will tear. Not that it happened to me.*

*That is exactly what happened to me. 

Pour a thin amount of glue on the cardboard, focusing on the edges and corners with a large x through the center. I used a foam brush to smooth it out the first few but found that to be unnecessary. Line up the cork to the edges and press it to the cardboard. If you have a decoupage roller, you can use that to smooth the cork down. If not, just use your hands. They work too. After gluing I trimmed the edges with a box cutter again to make sure everything lined up perfectly.



Use your ruler and writing utensil on the back (the cardboard side) to draw a line an inch away from the edge all the way around. If you have a hole punch (I used my crop-a-dile on the small setting) you can pre-punch holes every quarter to half inch or so. You can just skip this step and get your yarn on if you're impatient but punching holes in advance makes the sewing go much faster. Double thread your yarn needle and start in a corner. You'll stitch all around the edges on the line. When the yarn runs out, just double thread your needle again and tie the ends tightly onto the old piece in the place mat. It makes for a pretty easy transition. 

Once you're done stitching the edges, tie the yarn to itself and flip it over. Admire your handiwork and subtly encourage those around you to compliment it.



Do you already have your Thanksgiving table all planned out? Is there room for a handmade addition or is it full of family pieces? I'd love to know!

Sheila

P.S. A sneak preview of tomorrow's project...

Weekend Inspiration: Plastic Cards

RIP pretty Florida driver's license. As of this morning, my driver's license no longer pictures a beautiful beach scene in the background, and a picture of a very excited 16 year old Sheila in the corner. Also, 16 year old Sheila found a way to turn an "A" into a star in the middle of my signature. No regrets. Now, my driver's license has a big ol' palmetto in the middle, a picture that actually looks like me and a signature that you would see on an official document or check from me. All important things to update but if you've learned anything about me by now it should be that my sense of nostalgia is a major motivation behind almost any action.

In honor of surrendering the old state license to obtain the new, this Weekend Inspiration is plastic cards. By plastic, I mean old gifts cards, expired credit cards, the junk ones from the mail, anything like that you might have piled up around the house. Or am I the only one who holds on to stuff like that?



Can we just talk about how cool this is for a minute? I'm not even sure what to call it (tapestry? mosaic?), but it's made from plastic cards, and I like it.



I couldn't find a good link to the source for this plastic card map, but it's so impressive it needed to be included as inspiration.



If you play the guitar or ukulele you could be set for picks for life.

This earrings were made using plastic cards as a sturdy base.



These equally awesome earrings don't even try to hide their humble plastic card roots. (Linking to pinterest here because the original source is in Bulgarian. Not sure how helpful that would be to most of us. They look fairly self-explanatory.)



If earrings aren't your thing, how about this bracelet?



Paper clips! You can make fancy paper clips/bookmarks! This is possibly my favorite simple discovery.

And if you just don't want to deal with any of this, apparently there are ways to recycle them by just mailing them in.

Any exciting plans for this weekend? I'm planning to hang a bunch of pictures and add other homey touches. Maybe I'll buy running shoes... Any recommendations? Hope your weekend will be more exciting!  :)

Sheila

Plastic Bag Doormat (Work in Progress)

Sometimes, projects take longer than I expect.

For example, this is a doormat I've been working on made out of plastic bags. The first night I worked on it, I got is about 1/3 of the way finished. The next time I touched it I hardly made a difference. It's still sitting on the floor of my bedroom, staring at me. Mocking me with it's little plastic bag voice "Feeling lazy Sheila? We'll wait." Joke is on you, mean doormat, I'm going to post about you anyway.

This project is not at all difficult, but it is time consuming. When it's finished, we will have an easy to clean, waterproof doormat on our front porch. And it was freeeeeeeee.

You will need

-Plastic bags, I used around 60. 

-scissors

-rubberband

-Thick needle and thread

*60 sounds like a lot of bags but we had that lying around the apartment easily.  It's especially easy if you don't care if your bags are all the same color. Clearly, I don't. It's also helpful to have a roommate who supports your recycling hoarding habits. 

 

Start by cutting your bags into strips. For this project,  it's best to cut a few bags at a time and go back in sections. It's easy for the plastic to become tangled or unruly if you try to do too much at once. To cut the bag, flatten the sides in and remove the thin strip with the bottom seam and the handles. Cut the rest of the bag down the center long-wise to create 2 long circled strips. 

 Loop the circles together and tighten. 

The best compromise as far as tangle-free and not stopping every 5 minutes to cut more bags was to cut 3 bags and loop them all together at a time, for a "strand" that was 6 loops long. You will need 3 of these strands at a time; 9 bags for each section of braid. Start the braid by tying the ends together with a rubberband. 

It's easiest to braid if you have something to pull against, so I used the rubberband to attach the ends to the top of a chair. A door knob would work well too. An even, medium tension braid looked the best.

When you reach the ends of the strands, loop together a few more bags and add them to the end. I used about 20 bags in each strand for a total of 60 bags. I also moved the knot on my chair as I added bags so I didn't have to keep walking backwards around the apartment. Coiling the braided bags as you go makes it easier to see how much more you will need.

Once you've finished the braiding, you're ready for the tedious part: sewing. The bag cutting and braiding goes pretty quickly. It took maybe 2 hours (or the length of "You've Got Mail") from cutting the first bag to finishing the braid. The sewing is what is taking me forever. If you don't want to put it outside, you can probably get away with hot gluing it. But no cutting corners here!

I wanted my braid to lie flat so it would be a little wider and more flexible. I removed the rubber band from the end and started sewing by running a few quick stitches at the end to keep it held together. Working from the center around, the best way to keep stitches relatively unnoticeable is to run your needle between the strands (center to center) instead of through the plastic. It also requires less effort. Phew! 

Can you see the stitches? Granted, they're only in a few inches in the center so far...

Maybe now that the internet world knows about it, I'll be more motivated to finish. Especially since it will look so cute with all of Amanda's plants on the porch. I promise to give an update of the finished project.

Do you have the patience for a project like this? Or would you have to put it down and come back from time to time, like me? I'd love to know.

Sheila

"The Only Universal Language" Fabric World Map

My roommate is a master's student in conducting. I used to think of myself as a relatively knowledgeable musician. I was lying to myself. Anyway, today is her Birthday.

I had to surprise her. She went all out for my birthday in March. Last night I decorated her bedroom door and made her a chocolate layer cake with oreo cream cheese icing. And a little artwork. Fancy making you're own?

You will need:

- large world map print out, used here 4 landscape letter sized sheets taped together
- corrugated cardboard large enough for map
- 1/4 yard of fabric
- paint, used here are primary blue and black
- push pins
- Mod Podge and foam brush
- scissors
- black marker
- craft paper
- 4 eyelets and mounting tool (like Crop-a-dile)

After you've printed your map and taped the seams together, trim any extra paper from the edges. Carefully rip cardboard down to the size and shape desired to accommodate map. Varying the amount of corrugated board showing through adds texture.

Paint your board. I used a mix of primary blue with a drop of black. 

 Cut out large outlines of your map and mark your spacing.

 This is where it gets a little more complicated. Pin your paper map pieces to your fabric. I wanted the fabric to fray but trying to cut it was way to tricky. It was much easier after coating the back with a thin coat of Mod Podge and letting it dry. I didn't even have to take the pins out to do this. It gives the fabric just enough stability to be easier to cut, but unfortunately for this situation also keeps it from fraying easily.

The more details you cut, the harder it will be to get them all in the right place! Some smaller or closer islands are grouped together and cut out as one piece to preserve my sanity. This map is questionably geographically accurate... I double-checked. Remove the pins and paper templates and use Mod Podge on the back of the fabric to glue the sections on to the cardboard. Usually, I would recommend going over the top of the whole project with Mod Podge as well, but I didn't want the shiny finish and am secretly hoping the fabric will magically distress itself over time.

 The roommate loves to travel so I was hoping to combine the two loves of travel and music.

 But I hated how it looked so I re-did it using a few pieces of craft paper layered to cover the original writing and 4 gold eyelets to mount them.

It didn't turn out exactly how I had in mind. It had a life of it's own. Cutting out something in such varied shapes using a fabric with straight lines in the pattern was much harder than anticipated. Also, if I started over from the beginning I would probably soak the fabric in a tea bath first to tone down the bright whiteness of it. Overall, I'm still happy with it and Amanda likes it, so that's all I care about!

Have you ever had a project you'd like to adjust after you've already finished? Would you cut out all those tiny islands!? I'd love to know!

Sheila :)

Paper Towel Roll Napkin Rings

You didn't think I was going to stop with just the napkins did you?

Napkin rings are the punctuation to a table setting; they finish the look and complete to the tone. But they tend to be expensive as even the cheap ones are a few dollars a piece. To create an inexpensive alternative you can use a regular, plain ol' paper towel roll.This project was inspired by Renee's DIY Napkin Rings over at Rustic Crafts and Chic Decor. Thanks Renee!

You Will Need:

Paper towel roll or any other type of cardboard roll 

6 strips of unrolled paper twist, 15" long

Hot glue

6 buttons

Cord or ribbon

Hole punch

The first step is to cut your roll to size. You can use any type of cardboard roll you desire. I cut mine down the center and then in 1-3/4" wide sections since the roll was 11" long total. 

Next, wrap your unrolled paper twist around each section. It was easiest to wrap and then glue. Once you've completely covered the cardboard, hot glue the ends and any lose sections. 

Adding the buttons and loops was the tricky part. Use the smallest hole punch you have to punch a  hole centered about 1/4" away from each edge. Use a short piece of cord through the holes and your button and feed the back of the cord through one hole. Knot several times until it it is larger that the hole.

Next, use a longer piece of cord and tie a loop. Push the loop end up through the empty hole, leaving the knotted end inside. Both inside knots could also be hot glued into place if desired. 

Then just close it up around your napkin.

You could make them all the same, but it seemed like more fun to switch it up and let each ring be as unique as the napkin.

Even my "non-crafty" friend who I tricked into helping thought they were super easy to make.

Can you tell they started from a paper towel roll? More importantly, have you ever used paper twist before? I'd love to know!

Sheila :)

Cereal Box File Folders

Being a grown up is hard. There are bills to be paid, responsibilities to remember, and important documents to keep track of. When you move across the country a few times it becomes even more challenging. I had to take organizing matters into my own hands. 

File folders are expensive y'all. Especially when you don't need a million at a time. And the cute ones are even more expensive. However, reusing boxes you already have is free, eco-friendly, and in my opinion, adorable. 

You can use just about any thin cardboard box. Cereal boxes are usually about the perfect size so they don't require much trimming, but you could also use smaller boxes combined or frozen pizza boxes.

You will need:

•  
• a cereal box or other thin box
• an old file to use as a template (I'm pretty sure judging by previous content, condition, and hand writing on the label, I've probably had this one since 4th grade.)
• scissors
• writing utensil
• masking tape, optional
• label maker, optional

Start by cutting down the long seam of your box and laying it flat. Lay your template file over top and find the best fit. Don't worry if you need to include the tabbed edge to get the right size. We can fix that later. It's also a good idea to find a seam already made in the box to serve as the folder seam. It's a lot easier and looks cleaner than folding a new one.

Don't forget to save your Labels for Education or Boxtops! You're welcome, Mom.

If you care, now is a good time to check which image will be on the front of the folder. I usually like to go with the box cover. 

Once you're happy with the positioning, outline it. 

Cut it out. Said while making the Joey Gladstone gestures. 

Remember when I said we'd take care of the tab part later? The time has come. It's not necessary, but it adds a fun detail and a little stability. Use packing tape to cover the tabbed edge. Mine just happened to be decorative because that's how I roll. Half the tape should hang over the edge so it can be folded over and reinforced.

Now all you have to do is label it. It's easy enough to grab a pen or Sharpie but my favorite is a simple label maker. It looks nice, and it also easier to change if the content of the folder changes.

Voila! Grown up organizing materials. Kinda.

This may also encourage you to vary your cereal choices, which may or may not be a good thing.

What's your favorite organizing trick? I'd love to know.

Sheila  :)