29 January 2009

Stitching a DS Wrap

Here's the wrap I made for my DS!
I came up with this idea from the fabric pencil crayon wraps people make, I thought that would make a cool storage case for the little Nintendo DS cartridges that end up everywhere, so I set on making one. I played around with a piece of fabric, {it was just shy of a fat quarter size, doubled over} and decided to make a wrap with two pockets on either side, one for the DS itself and one to keep the little cartridges in.

These are quick diagrams to try and show how I made it, the first one is how the fabric is folded, you need to start with a doubled over piece of fabric cut so you have a long rectangle shape.....
Then you need to fold over each end to make the pockets, the side on the left is folded over about 3.5 inches and the side on the right is about 4.5 inches. You need to leave a gap in the center of the wrap so you can pull out the DS and cartridges from the pockets.
When you've pressed the pocket folds all you need to do is stitch it together. I included stitching along the folded edge, it doesn't need it but it just makes the whole thing look neater. I also used some American Crafts ribbon as binding along the pocket edges to make them a little more hardwareing. You need a good long length {about 36 inches long} of ribbon or thonging for your closing and that needs to be stitched into the pocket of the left side of the wrap.
The dashed areas show the stitching around the pockets. To finish off thread a button on the end of the closing and tie a big knot in the end to secure it. Here's my wrap all opened up. To close it you just fold it over and wrap the closing around then tuck the button under.
If you have any to pass on I would love some shares of other projects, I've got a stack of cute fabric waiting to be used.
xx Leo
P.S if you're here looking for the blog candy draw it's in this post and you have till the 1st of Feb to enter the draw. xx

25 January 2009

Daring Cardmakers & C for Core-dinations

This weeks DCM dare is to make a card with a heart on, so, not much to go on but I was thinking something cute, because generally hearts are cute right? I also wanted to make a good luck card and I'm on to C with my personal stash bashing A-Z challenge so I picked Core-dinations cardstock because I never use it enough and it is very cool stuff so it should be used. All those things combined together made me come up with this card.......

I just sketched out the shape of kittys head on some core-dinations black magic card and then embossed it with the Cuttlebug swiss dots folder then rubbed it back. Added on the features then made a background with some patterned paper off cuts and some more core-dinations, this time torn to reveal the core colour. Jammed the whole thing together and finished with the chipboard heart and the tape writer message.
Thanks for another fab dare!
I've got a sewing project to share tomorrow, if you have a Nintendo DS and like me you are good at leaving the little cartridges everywhere then losing them you might like it ;-)
Oh and don't forget about blog candy, here. End date for blog candy draw is the 1st of Feb.

xx Leo

23 January 2009

101th post! + blog candy + new cards

So I finally got to the 100th post on here, that's something for me because I'm such a pants blogger. I am going to try much harder this year and I think I'm getting there because this past couple of weeks I've had a massive creative splurge. I've been scrapping, making cards, sewing and all kinds of creative-ness. I even found time to make a new blog header, mostly from bits I had on my desk, which I actually tidied! Yes I can see actual patches of desk now, lol.

So anyway all this creative-ness has made me think I should update my blog with not just card things but try and include other makes to share so that's my aim for this year for defo. I'm also working my way though my stash piles and I've decided to do an A-Z of manufacturers challenge so for A I picked out American Crafts and I've only allowed myself to use American Crafts goodies. You can play along if you want to or make your own A-Z challenge up to get your inspro going. It's come in really handy for me already because my calendar in January and early Feb is full of birthdays...

A for American Crafts
I used lots of their lush patterned papers, Guesthouse Foam shapes, Minimark rub-ons, ribbon, Flair and Thickers. Everything is American Crafts apart from a little bit of felt and that one paper blossom and button, hey it's my challenge, my rules :P
OK on to blog candy business, I did say that I would do a give-away when I got to my 100th post so here is what I came up with. I plundered the office draw that has a load of spare goodies in from past Crafty Templates kits, added a few extra bits and pieces and made up two kits to giveaway!

1. Boy cards
Boy cards are so difficult and it's cool to have a stash of goodies there as a starting point so here I've made a kit to make boy cards with. There's loads of papers, Bazzill card, 6 card blanks and cool kraft envelopes with some boyish matching embellies.........
2. Project fun-ness
Picture the scene, it's a rainy afternoon you have a bit of spare time and you fancy sitting down to a crafty session, you get all your crafty stuff out and then nothing happens because your you time is up already. So here I've made up a fun kit full of bright colours to go along with the Crafty Templates Pinwheel mini book project, {I'll send you a free download of the project sheet too or print one off if you need me to}. Everything you need to follow the project is in the kit apart from adhesive and photos so you can sit down with the kit, follow the project and end up with something cool at the end of it.
Nothing complicated to do just post bellow Boys are cool {if you want the boy kit} or 'Projects Rule' {if you want the project kit} and I'll pick two winners out at random. E Z P Z!
xx Leo