Kraken Got Your Card?

It's a business card holder. No, really...

Kinda random, right?
I was thinking, for that someday when I have my own artist table I will need an eye-catching place to put my stack of business cards. What's more eye-catching than a couple of purple tentacles?

I had a bit of foam leftover from my [Staff of Infinite Mysteries] and Riven projects. I started by sketching a rough shape on the foam with a pen, then carving the foam with a hot knife. First I carved the shape with a long wire knife, the kind they sell to cut floral arrangement foam. Then I carved the details with a smaller, sharp, angled hot knife.

Then I attacked it with sandpaper.

When working with foam like this, you can cut a very rough shape, then fine-tune the shape with rough sandpaper and finish with a finer sandpaper. This foam is very easy to shape by sanding.

After sanding, I applied a quick coat of white primer.

Painting was an experiment with purple, black and white acryllic paints to get the desired look.

Business cards fit easily in between the grasping tentacles!

Repurposing Oatmeal Containers

I eat a lot of oatmeal, and the containers just seem too potentially useful to just throw away! They have lids and could be excellent storage containers for craft supplies, but they look like trash, right? Well, then... I just need to make them look cute!
Materials:
- Oatmeal canisters (empty, clean)
- Shelf liner/contact paper with a pretty pattern (Option B: use decorative paper and double-stick tape)
- Scissors, pencil, ruler

1. Do a little test to see what the finished product will look like by wrapping a scrap of the contact paper around the canister. I had this shelf liner paper leftover from lining the drawers of a refinished nightstand. You could use any sort of decorative paper, but this particular type has a sticky back to it so you don't need glue or double-stick tape.

Does it look good? Does it fit under the lid? Yes? Okay let's continue.

2. Measure the height of the canister, then add 1/4 to 1/2 an inch so the paper will overlap the bottom. This is the WIDTH of the piece of contact paper you will need to cut out.

3. Wrap the paper around the canister and use a pencil to mark the circumference, then allow for 1/4 to 1/2 inch of overlap. This is the LENGTH of the piece of contact paper you will need.

4. Use a ruler and pencil to mark the lines on the back of the contact paper, then cut out the rectangle.

5. Wrap the paper around the canister to get a good fit, you may need to make an extra cut if your canister is tapered at all. Then peel off half of the backing and start applying the paper to the canister. Match up the edge with the top of the canister, leaving the overlap at the bottom. Use your thumb to smoothe out the air bubbles as you go.

6. Use your thumbnail to press the edge of the paper in at the top lip.

7. Press the overlapping edge down around the bottom of the canister.

8. Put the lid on it. All done! Now do all the rest of your oatmeal containers to make a matching set...

9. The best part: figure out what to put in them!

I discovered that they make excellent paintbrush holders.

Somewhere to Stick Those Needles

I discovered that needles get lost very easily when I just toss them on my magnetic pin catch-all.
That's why I decided to make this beauty:



This little emery was made entirely of scrap fabric I had lying around - some white felt (which I hope is wool, but probably polyester) some pink wool felt, and green linen. Ideally in making something like this you would want to use natural fabrics since fabric like polyester could dull your needles.

The button was leftover from a quilting project, and I used it to pull all of the layers together.

Craft Room Organization

A well-organized space is essential to productivity!

Allow me to give you a tour of my craft room...

My sewing corner is over by the windows. All of my sewing supplies (and even some of my painting supplies) are close at hand in nifty storage cubes. My desk is actually a dining table I got at Ikea when I used to live in a tiny studio apartment. To the right of my desk (unpictured) is my ironing board so I don't have to move very far from my sewing machine to press seams.

I discovered this fabric storage idea online at hgtv.com. IKEA sells these great wire baskets and frames for very affordable prices. I purchased two sets for a total of 12 baskets stacked floor-to-ceiling.

The wire baskets allow my fabrics to breath while also allowing me to easily see all of the different fabrics I have available to me.

I sorted the fabrics by color and hung little labels on the on baskets!

The labels are small pieces of wood I purchased at Michael's and spray-painted with chalkboard paint. Then I used white chalk to write on the color names. I hung them with mini binder clips.

If I ever need to get more in the future it will be easy enough to pick up more of these stackable, modular baskets!

Over the years I have ended up with so many little small organizers that it made sense to repurpose a tall wardrobe as a shelving unit to house them all. Now, whenever I need buttons, snaps, hook-and-eyes, Velcro or other odds and ends I know to look behind door number one!

I dedicated a separate little center for my paper crafts and ribbons. I usually separate my paper crafts from my sewing so it makes sense to keep all of the scrapbooking/paper supplies and tools separate too.

I transformed a wine rack into a bookshelf! It holds my books related to crafts, sewing, fashion, costume design, stage makeup, etc.

On the lower shelf are my "idea binders", which are full of doodles and notes... creative inspiration,sketches, small patterns and diagrams for quilts. 

Two of the idea binders are plain white ones, the kind that you can slip paper into the front of. I customized them with pretty scrapbooking paper to make the binders a little more attractive.

Custom Push Pins (e.g. Cubicle Bling)

Tired of boring thumb tacks?

I was! And I had all of this lovely scrapbooking paper lying around... and these little clear marbles leftover from wedding decorations...

I've seen several people on Etsy make similar crafts so I thought I ought to try it myself.

Materials:
- Scrapbooking Paper (or other decorative paper or tiny photo)
- Thumb tacks (the flat-topped push pin kind)
- Clear glass stones
- Mod Podge
- Elmer's Glue
- Scissors

Instructions:
Glue the paper onto the back of the glass marble with Mod Podge, then use a generous amount of Elmer's to attach a flat-topped push pin onto the back.

Using a similar technique you could make these into pendants, hair accessories, brooches, magnets, etc.

After making a bunch of push pins, it made sense to decorate a piece of cardboard with the same paper and stick them into it. It was easier to bring them to work this way.

Now they are CUBICLE BLING!