DIY: Fabric Notice Boards

  I have been pretty busy lately and once again my blog is missing some updates! i did a few DIY around the house, but did not have any time to take a few pictures so I would post about these recent projects.

However, today I took the time to take a few pictures and show a fabric Notice Board that I made. I hope you like it!

I first saw this notice board on Ikea, and wanted one, but once again, I found it pretty expensive, besides, I was not particularly taken by the fabric... So I decided to make one myself!

It is pretty easy to do, and all you need is a stapler gun, cute fabric, some wadding, glue, scissors, one canvas and ribbon!

Here is a a picture of the final product:

So here is a small visual tutorial:

Step 1: Gather the materials required

Step 2: Cut the wadding and glue it to the canvas

Step 3: Cut the fabric and staple it to the canvas

Step 4: Cut several stripes of ribbon and display it to your taste in the canvas

Step 5: Staple the ribbons 

Step 6: Add a few buttons to the ribbons

And finally, enjoy your Notice Board!

 

DIY: Butterfly white framed

 

I have been  eye shopping for some time now this beautiful butterfly picture  but it is so expensive that I had to work out how to reproduce it... in less expensive ways...!

You can find the  original butterfly white picture here.

It is beautiful, but so out of our budget...
So I worked out a way to do a similar one... It just requires a lot of patience! Basically, you have to cut around 100 white butterflies, and glue them to a large white card board in a way that reproduces a heart shape. Then, just cut a single red butterfly and glue it as well. The final step, just frame the final collage! I simply bought an Ikea Ribba Frame 50x50 that allowed this 3D collage.
And here is the final product:

 Now it is just waiting to be hanged in our living room wall!

 

Another Fabric box!

I need several fabric boxes to storage....all the little things that keep piling up and appearing from  nowhere...!Particularly all these plushs....

So, with my brand new fabrics, I started sewing one:

I followed a tutorial by make it and love it, I did a few changes, so I didn´t follow the tutorial completely to the letter... Since I will be making more boxes, I will later on post about every step I followed and the changes... But you can find the tutorial from make it and love here.
And here are a few snapshots from my first rectangular fabric box!

More boxes soon to come....

 

More fabrics to play!

Today I had the most lovely day!

I  went to Salisbury, and even though it was really cold today (yes, winter time finnaly arrived) the sun showed up throughout most of the day. But for me, the most fun part was... fabric shopping!

Salisbury has several fabric shops.... and each one with the most lovely and cute fabrics! 

So I couldn´t resist, a bought several fabrics today. I already have several projects to start, and so these fabrics are coming in really handy....:

   I am also getting ready for Christmas time... My decorations these years are mostly white and silver, and when I found these christmas theme fabric, I just had to have it... 

I can´t wait to start these new projects!

 

DIY: Fabric Pouch

Again it has been a while since my last post, but I have been so busy that time flies by and so it is really difficult to keep posting!

I have been doing so much simultaneously that I simply can´t manage to post all of my experiences... work plus hobbies plus all the other things that run your life and... Its hard to keep it all! But for this little one experience I had to find the time to post.... It´s not that is an amasing  one, but is a little project of mine that I wanted to try for a while now, and it did seem hard to begin with, but at the end is really easy.... Just litlle ol me is a bit clumsly, so my little experience does show some minor errors, but stil I am really proud of it! It was a first experience so, bear with me!

It is common to find around the internet this cute pouches... And, as I mentioned earlier, I really wanted to make one. So, a quick google search and I found myself an easy tutorial to follow, this one, from Pretty Prudent.

The tutorial is pretty self explanatory, and I follow almost every step, I just added some wadding between the linen and the out fabric.... And here is the end result:

 

Note to self, buy a zipper foot! I believe it will make it easier to sew later on a zipper... But this little acessories have to be purchased in time...

And some more extras pictures of my cute little fabric pouch...:

 Really, can´t wait to use with the regular daily toiletries....!

 

DIY: Fabric basket 2

Again, it has been a while since my last post, and I finished this second basket a few weeks ago, but only now I found the time to post about it.

I have to say that these baskets are really easy to make, even though they seemed at first really hard to sew! I am attempting right now to sew a different basket, with a rectangular shape. Now this new shape is  really tricky! 

But I will post about it later on.... Luckily tomorrow or even sooner!

Air Festival @ Bournemouth!

Today I went to Bournemouth for the day and enjoyed the 2013 Bournemouth  Air Festival! It was really amazing watching the Red Arrows in action!

And we were really lucky  because the weather was simply amazing, perfect for a beach day...and with the air festival bonus...!

Here is a simple of today´s show... I loved the heart! I can´t hardly imagine how the Red Arrows are able to do it, just imagining the complexities of synchronism... and flying in such velocities!

I had lunch at a restaurant by beach, and was able to enjoy my lunch with a privileged view over the bay were the show was still on... 

If anyone is interested in the festival... Tomorrow is the last day! I strongly recommend it...!

 

DIY: fabric basket

It has been a while since I last posted! I have been so busy, and my life has changed, and will continue on changing... But I am still doing some DIY around my house, I just don´t have the time to post all about it...

This fabric basket that I am now posting about was just a ´on the moment´ project that I decided to make. I saw on pinterest a while back some pictures and I wanted to do one for me, and today I decided to put my hands on it... I quickly googled for tutorials and  decided to follow this one, from Inspired by familia.

I will not post pictures about all the steps, since the tutorial is self explaining...

But here is a image of the final result!

I will do another basket soon...

 

DIY: Pillow covers

 

I have been really busy lately, (as always), but somehow I managed to sew this project which I was really anxious to try! 

I have some old pillow covers that I wanted to change for some time now and I also have some leftovers of fabric from my first DIY project, reupholster office chair. Hence my new DIY project begins, to sew a pillow cover! 

Here are some before and after pictures of my pillow covers:

Firstly I had to find a  tutorial to follow, since I am still a beginner when it comes to machine sew.... Luckily, I was able to find a  tutorial  really easy to follow,  at one of my favourite DIY blogs, In my own style. For this tutorial, (you can find it here) you don´t have to follow any pattern, it is really intuitive!

And here is a summary of the tutorial:

Step 1: Cut a layer of fabric that wraps around your pillow, plus around 20 inches. With  the layer of fabric right side down, turn over the both edges about 1inch, and fold it again and and then sew respectively. In the first picture below, you can see one of the edges sewed, wrong side up.

Step 2: Fold the layer wrong side up, and overlap about 5-7 inches for the opening of the pillow cover.

Step 3: Sew the laterals of the cover, closing the pillow cover, wrong side up.

Step 4: Turn the pillow cover right side out, and insert your pillow.

Step 5: Enjoy your pillow and its brand new cover!

I still have a lot of practice to do when it comes to machine sew... My stitches are far from straight, nevertheless I really liked the finished project! And this new pillow covers brightened up my sofa! It was in desperate need of colours!

 

DIY: Tote bag

As I mentioned in past posts, I recently purchased a sewing machine! Unfortunately, I have been so busy that I still haven't got the time to properly explore all its potential. However, I did somehow managed to sew a tote bag!  

Here are a few pictures of the bag:

 Unfortunately, I wasn't able to take enough pictures of all the steps I took when sewing it, but fortunately there are many blogs that post pretty good tutorials to follow. My favourite one for  a Tote bag, is this one here, by one of my favourite sewing blogs, Made.

Here are a few pictures of a detail of my stitches, not sure if I should feel this proud of my Tote bag, but I am!

I simplified the tutorial, by not doing it as a reversible bag. I did not think that was quite ready to do it, and besides, I did not have the time for it.... Also, this tote bag will be  used as a reusable shopping bag, so it does not have to be such a glamorous bag! And finally, I was using leftovers of fabric from my previous projects, and did not have sufficient fabric for it....

Maybe in a future attempt!

 

procrastination projects

I have been really busy this past days.... I am a little behind on papers that I should have already submitted, and so work and stress starts to pile up!

yesterday I arrived really late, and had this little gift waiting for me! I was sooooo happy, my heart melted once I opened it! 

You really love when you feel supported on you little procrastination projects! And what exactly are procrastinations projects?.... Well,  it´s everything that you start to do.... or plan to do....instead of what you really should be doing.... Here´s a clear picture of what I am dealing with:

 And so, if I already had so many projects.... Now I even have more! Not so sure about the knitting though....

 Even so, I can´t wait to explore freely all my endeavours...

So let´s get back to work, so I can explore properly my "sewing skills" ...

 

New Forest

Last weekend I visited new Forest for the first time. For the ones who don´t know, New Forest is a national park located in southern England.... and is simply beautiful. This park is filled with commoners'  horses and cattle, that simply graze away freely in the park. So, now and then, you usually have an extra party companion following you!

 I wasn't there simply for sightseeing, I was helping out a friend with her PhD fieldwork, so besides enjoying the amazing landscape.... we worked...! I was completely beaten by the end of the day, we walked a lot, and I was able to visit areas that would not be usually visited. We were a bit unlucky though, for the weather wasn't the nicest one (surprisingly, right?), but it was completely worth it!I will be definitely returning and hopefully with a sunny weather....

For now I will just leave you with a few images of the park!

 

Meet my brand new......

Sewing machine!!!!

As I already blogged a long time a go, one of my wishes was to purchase a sewing machine. And.... I did it!
I had a few doubts about the machine I should purchase, as I am a beginner, and I don´t know a lot (practically anything) about sewing. My latests projects were done hand-stitching, and the blogosphere was  quite handy for me to learn hand sewing, all that I learn so far was thanks to blogs out there that have tutorials.


John Lewis web site does have a web-test on the type of machine that someone should purchase (find it here).  I found it quite useful as a machine guide. When I went there for purchasing the selected machine, the employees there were even more useful and thought me a few basic steps and how to use it!

So, I am less then a beginner when it comes to sewing... And even less when using a sewing machine, again I am so thankful to these amazing tutorials that show the basic steps on how to use a sewing machine! DIYdesign has these really good tutorials with a few videos that I am following (you can found these here). So I spent time getting to know my sewing machine, and getting the sense to the different stitches and I absolutely loved it! I can´t wait to try it for real, I have so many projects in my mind!
Here are a few examples of the stitches I sewed.... I used a leftover of fabric from my project "purse organizer" for this experiment...

Bear with me, as I explained I am less than a beginner! But I am improving with time, I can notice a difference, the final stitches (on the right) are done forming a really straight line!! Not bad for a first time right?

Blog as work in progress, Chapter3!

OK, lets see a black & white signature!

Much better...But not yet the final one....

 

Blog as work in project, Chapter 2!

Ok! Lets see how the signature image is now....
So, first step, signature is set, even though I will change it later on...
Second step,  I finished the rearrangement of my DIY projects page... And I added the buttons of the blogs I usually use for inspiration (fav DIY blogs)....
And finally!   I understood the way to change my twitter button... As expected is so easy.... Now, I will design new icon buttons so its more personalized.
Now what I still don´t understand is why this post is connected to my first one... And why I have a green line between the posts? Blogger just keeps surprising me...

 

Blog as work in progress

Everytime I search the blogosphere, I see all these amazing and extremely talented blogs, with designs so beautiful, and then I see liittle ol´mine, and get really embarrassed.
yes, I am not slightly satisfied with my blog´s design, starting with the follow me icons for twitter, Pinterest and to rss feeds. Twitter´s button is the one that is giving me more trouble. I just wanted one either with the "t" or the bird, but Twitter´s choice for buttons don´t including these ones now. I don´t mind designing one for my  blog, the thing is, I still haven´t learned how to link the new button to the follow me on twitter link. In twitter´s help website they only show how to link to the buttons they offer (see it here), and the customization choices are really limited (just add/ remove your name, show/don´t show the number of followers and size). As you can see, the design is really limited! What is puzzling me is that when you copy the button´s code to your html gadget, I am not able to understand the code for the image, and so, I am not able to replace it. Really frustrating, and when I finally get I will know that will be this really easy step.... Until then this is just frustrating!
I am also thinking about simplifying the blog rolls that I have... I have several, divided according to themes, but I am thinking about just mixing all up.... I want to simplify the appearance of my blog, keeping it to the minimum.
SO I am guessing this weekend´s DIY will be my blogs design!

DIY: Convert a small drawer into a jewellery box

This is a project that I had in mind for a couple of days, I got inspired when I saw this post by Tea Rose Home and mixed it a little up with the tutorial about the purse organizer.

So here are the photos of my little recent DIY project before and after:

And now, the materials I used.

I also used and extra pink fabric for the little pillows to contrast with the striped fabric.

And now, how I did it:

Step 1.
Measure you drawer, and design the shape of the jewellery box to better fulfil your needs. Cut the cereal box / card paper as the dividers and  base of your jewellery box. Bellow you will find the template I used.

Step 2.
Cut the fabric and the wadding that later on will be little pillows of the box . I did cut rectangles 8/15 cm, 15/15 cm of wadding and pink fabric, but these measurements might have to be adjusted depending on the size of your box/drawer.

Step 3.
Sew the wadding, and later on sew it to the pink fabric. (for this step follow Tea Rose Home tutorial, that explains it beautifully - click here for the tutorial).

Step 4.
Cut a strip of fabric, 6/15cm and sew it as the form of a button loop. This later on will be a hold that will be handy when removing the "jewellery box" from the drawer.

Step 5.
Cut two pieces of fabric to line the card paper that will be later on the base of the box, use the card paper as a template. Sew three sides of the card wrong side out. Turn it outside out, insert the card and sew it closed with the loop. Repeat the first three steps of procedure for the box dividers.

Step 6.
Glue the dividers and the little pillows to the box base, and insert the box in the drawer.

Step 7.
Enjoy your jewllery box!

Please feel free to comment if you have any doubts..!