Monday, November 28, 2011

Tea Cup Pin Cushion

Hello all! Today I needed a pin cushion like you wouldn't believe! I was working on a project that called for an enormous amount of pins and had them scattered all over my work table so I decided to take a "time-out" and make me a pin cushion!

Here's what I did!

What you will need:
  1. A tea cup
  2. Some faux fur (I used white)
  3. A bit of fiber fill (the stuff you find in a pillow) just enough to fill your cup an inch from the top
  4. Hot glue
  5. Scissors



Once you have all of your materials you will want to lay the fur out with the back side facing up and trace your tea cup opening onto the back side of your faux fur. (Tip: leave a tab on both sides as seen in photo below. This helps in the gluing process and keeps everything tight.)


Now you will want to add your fiber fill to your tea cup. Try to compact as much fiber fill into the tea cup as you can but only to an inch of the top. You want enough room to hot glue in your faux fur. (Tip: Hot glue the sides of the fiber fill into your tea cup. It helps to keep it down and compact. Do NOT hot glue the top middle of the fiber fill though. If this is done then you will have difficulty inserting your straight pins into your pin cushion.)



Last but not least is the hot gluing of the faux fur! Yay! We are almost done! Take your faux fur and begin with one of the tabs. Hot glue it facing inward and work your way around your tea cup. Hot glue the entire faux fur circle into your tea cup and enjoy! Yup, it's that easy guys! New pin cushion with little to no cost!

Yours Truly,

Momma Smith


Tuesday, November 15, 2011

Adventures in Book Purse making!

If you'd like to use this photo please get my permission first. Thanks.

Oh, what to do! What to do! I've got tons of vintage books and nowhere to put them. I've put them on eBay and no one wants them. I've also tried to donate them to local thrift stores but the printed works are in very low demand so I was turned away and told to give them to libraries which also turned them down because of the age and condition of most of them. I was left with a sense of loss. I absolutely love vintage books and couldn't understand why no one seemed to feel the way I did. I needed a solution for this problem and fast. With Christmas right around the corner, I also needed gifts that were really amazing but not expensive. So I searched the web to find a repurposing for my vast collection of vintage books and stumbled on some truly great ideas! Here is one that I actually did and my process! Enjoy! (I have a lot of photos of this project so I have made the steps into collages to save space. Thanks guys!)

My Book Purse how to:

What you will need.
  • · A vintage book
  • · Coordinating fabric
  • · 2 purse handles or ribbon to use as handles
  • · A yard of ribbon to match your book and fabric and a button (to use as a closure for your purse)
  • · An empty cereal box or piece of cardboard (to adhere your fabric lining to)
  • · Clear finger nail polish (to stop fabric from fraying)
  • · Glue (both spray glue and crafting glue)
  • · Needle and thread (or sewing machine)
  • · Scissors
  • · Pins (to keep fabric together during the sewing process)
  • · Pin Cushion (I made mine HERE)


1st Step: Find a vintage book that is in serious need of a second life! (I usually put my vintage books that are rare or unique on eBay for a month or so to see if anyone is interested in them and if not, I either keep them or repurpose them. You can find out what I have for sale on eBay HERE. I may have just what you are looking for. lol)

I'm using a small book that won't fit much but will look cute with a little black dress. My phone and drivers license will fit along with some spending cash but not much else. I love the vibrant pink color of this book. Also the black and white graphic art is a huge plus!

2nd Step: Removing the pages from the book. This is a delicate process. It took a lot of soul searching for me to actually do this. I love reading and love books so to disembowel one felt wrong. I know that this book will be used more this way but it hurt to remove the pages. Choose your book carefully!
If you'd like to use this photo please get my permission. Thanks.
3rd Step: Make the sides' template. Stand your book on its side on a sheet of paper. Trace around the side of your book as seen in photo. Cut out template leaving a half inch of space from your trace mark along the outside.
If you'd like to use this photo please get my permission. Thanks.
4th Step: Making the inside of your purse. Lay your book out face down on your chosen fabric. Use your cutting device to cut around your fabric an inch or so from the book. You want to leave an inch extra fabric to glue down around your cardboard insides. Grab your cardboard now. I used an empty cereal box. Measure out the inside of your book around your cover. You want the insides to fit right where the paper is on the inside covers. After you have the measurements cut them out.

If you'd like to use this photo please get my permission. Thanks.
5th Step: Glue your inside fabric to your cardboard. You are going to want to place the cardboard on top of the inside of your book. Match up the sides and spine to the books sides and spine. You want the plain side of the cardboard facing up. Take your spray glue and give your cardboard a good light coating. Follow the spray glue instructions. Glue your fabric to the cardboard once the spray glue is tacky. Make sure your fabric is facing print out toward you. Don't glue print side down.

If you'd like to use this photo please get my permission. Thanks.
6th Step: Making the sides. This step is where you get to use your sewing skills! I hand sew my sides but you can use a sewing machine and save lots of time. Grab your template that you made earlier and fold it in half. Now cut down your fold. Place one half of your template onto your fabric and cut around it leaving a half inch extra. Now do the other half of your template. Match the straight sides and pin. You will sew down the straight sides.

If you'd like to use this photo please get my permission. Thanks.
Now you will need to sew down the straight sides where you pinned. Once done open flat and place on your fabric and cut out a matching triangle. Do not cut in half. Now pin these together with backs facing out. Sew these together leaving a half inch or so open at the bottom to turn inside out.


Time to do that again! One more time for the other side. This gets easier the more you make.

If you'd like to use this photo please get my permission. Thanks.
7th Step: Finger nail polish the edges of your fabric then set it aside. You will really want to do this step outside. The smell can make you sick. (The reason I used finger nail polish is because it's what I had readily available and it works but there are products you can buy from the craft store just for this kind of thing.)

If you'd like to use this photo please get my permission. Thanks.
8th Step: Ribbon Time! Grab your purse handles for this bit. (If you are using ribbon for handles then you will need to measure the size you'd like your handles to be and glue them to your book as if you were doing this step but without the pre-made handles) You will want to have a good bit of ribbon inside of your book glued to help keep your handles in place. The bigger the book purse the bigger ribbon and more glue you will need. Since this is a small book I could have used much smaller ribbon had I wanted but I think the thicker ribbon looks better.

Cut 4 pieces of ribbon. Mine are about 4-6 inches long. Lace them through your handles and glue them to your book matching up the sides so the handles will line up. (Hint: I made a ruler mark on the white page of the book where I'd like my handles to be. This lined up perfectly. The ruler mark will be covered with the fabric panels made earlier.)

Fold your ribbon for the closure. This will look like an Awareness Ribbon if done right. Glue this into your book between the two ribbons that are glued for the handles. Next thread a piece of ribbon for your button closure. Glue into place opposite your Awareness Ribbon so that when your book is closed you can feed the button through the Awareness Ribbon to form a clasp of sorts.

Follow the picture guide to fully understand these steps.

If you'd like to use this photo please get my permission. Thanks.
Here is a close up of the ribbon closure. It should look like one of the Awareness Ribbons when you are finished.

If you'd like to use this photo please get my permission. Thanks.
9th Step: Gluing the inside panels and sides. Let's get those sides in! Check out the photos below. This will be done one side at a time.

If you'd like to use this photo please get my permission. Thanks.
As seen in photo 1 you will need to glue the sides down to one side of the book. (Hint: I ironed the sides in half. Make sure you have the sides halved with the sewn middle line on the inside. The whole purpose behind cutting the template in half for the sides and then sewing the two half triangles together was to make a crease that would allow for a cleaner close.) I've added close ups of these steps below.


Next add glue to the entire inside panel you just glued your sides on. I dabbed my glue all over paying special attention to the edges.



Then add the first half of your inside panel. Don't do the spine yet.


Let this dry for a few minutes before gluing the other side. (Hint: Place several books on top of the glued sides for a few minutes to make for a stronger hold.)

This next part can be a little tricky. If you have some paper clamps you may want to grab them now and use them unless you've a third hand...

Dab glue on the entire half of book you have remaining. You will want to put a line of glue down both sides where your side fabric will be and down your book spine as well.



Then very carefully place the side fabric triangles to the line of glue on the other side and tuck in the bottom of the triangle fabric on the spine. Add the inside panel and clamp with paper clamps. After about 10 minutes or so remove the paper clamps and place the books pages back inside the book so you can weigh it down with heavy books.


This will ensure that the glue hardens tight to the book and you do not damage the spine of the book. If you just place heavy books on top of your book purse empty then it will surly damage the spine and potentially ruin your entire book purse. That would be very sad.  


Enjoy your new book purse!

Happy Holidays,
Momma Smith





Monday, November 7, 2011

Kids FootPrint Butterfly

FootPrint Butterfly DIY
Oh my goodness, it's that time again! The holidays bring out the DIY gal in me more than any other time. This week I wanted to do a project with my 6 year old and his cute little feet. I surfed the web to find something worthy of my son's time and came across an adorable picture of a butterfly made of two tiny feet! Yay! I had to make one of my own and that is what I did! Here's my process. Enjoy y'all!


What you will need for this project:


  1. Canvas or Canvas Paper. (I used Canvas Paper cut down to an 8X10)
  2. Acrylic Paints
  3. Paint Brush
  4. Frame To Fit Canvas (Purchased at Goodwill .50 and spray painted silver)
  5. Two Tiny Feet
Place your canvas on either newspaper or a drop cloth so as not to ruin the surface you are painting on. Sometimes I learn the hard way.. like dripping tons of paint on my kitchen table and getting a huge headache when trying to clean it up before family dinner time!! Not my idea of fun. lol.

Prepare the colors of your choice. I went with yellow for the feet and red for the toes. It reminded me of a sunset.

Now grab those tiny little feet and get to painting! My son couldn't stop laughing during the foot painting! Paint one foot at a time. Paint the left foot first, one color for the foot and a different color for the toes. Place the painted left foot on the right side of your canvas and press down. Try not to wiggle during this part. Lift foot straight up without smearing the paint.

Time to paint the right foot and place it on the left side of your canvas. (Leave enough of a gap between both feet for a little butterfly body.

Paint in your little butterfly guy then give him two arms and two feet. I used a toothpick to paint the eyes and mouth. It made the job so easy!

I added a little bit of red with my yellow paint and went over his small feet to give them dimension and then painted blue all around the butterfly. (I added water to my paint brush to give the blue a more flowing look. Very easy to do!)

Let your project dry then frame it! Voila! Instant family art for any room in the house. Thanks for stopping by and be sure to come back soon!

Love,
Momma Smith