Other Craft Projects

Repurpose Old Jeans – Dinner Placemats

on January 5, 2012

A little while ago I shared a post on how i massacred an old pair of hubby’s jeans to make a storage box which i use to hold Piper’s toys (well, some of Piper’s toys, after opening a huge pile of Christmas presents she has significantly more now). Whilst i was making that project I thought, “hey, i should use the rest of this denim to make placemats.”

You see, we bought a new dining table and chairs before Christmas and all of a sudden we were very aware of the fact that we never use placemats or coasters, and we both agreed that it would be a good idea to maybe invest in some. I refused to buy any because i felt inspired to make some with the denim, and i even went as far as to buy material for the other side. In fact i did everything except actually make them.

My old grump of a sewing machine held me back. I didn’t want him to chomp up the fabric and rain on my parade. Boooo.

So on Boxing day, my new lady (aka my new Singer sewing machine) made her virgin voyage (aka first sewing project) and its no surprise that it was the placemats. That day we feasted on Turkey sandwiches (a customary dinner for Dec 26th), served on plates, resting safely on my new groovy placemats.

For my last project lots of people wants a template…confession time: i have never used a template. I’m more of a “lets wing it” kinda girl. BUT this time i took some step by step photos.

1. Raid your husbands wardrobe. Convince him that despite your fantastic sewing skills, those jeans are beyond repair. Cut off a leg and cut up the outer seam you’ll have a chunk of denim to play with.

2. Either use a quilting ruler, or use your noodle to find an alternative. You can see that I used one of Piper’s wooden jigsaws. It seemed the perfect size for a place mat so I simply cut around it with my rotary cutter. If you prefer you can mark it out with chalk or a pen and then cut it out.

These jeans had a design in them so there was an extra seam. I didn’t worry about this, it just meant that some of my placemats have a line across the middle. Adds a bit of quirkiness.

3. Cut the same size out of the coordinating fabric. Mine was a pretty red with hearts. Lay right sides together and pin them together.

4. Sew around the edges with a straight stitch, leaving a 2-3 inch gap. I used the edge of the foot as a guide for the edge of the fabric, this was the seam is pretty much even all the way around. Snip the corners off the fabric as in the photo.

5. Turn the right way round and sew around the edges again (make sure you sew up that gap). I used the triple straight stitch for this. I NEVER even knew about this stitch before, and I totally LOVE it. It gives a really cool look, almost as if it has been hand stitched. I think i will be using this a lot.

Here’s a close look without the flash.

Isn’t it lovely.

I love my new placemats. To keep them all together in the dresser drawer i pinched a ribbon that came around one of Craig’s Christmas presents and used it to bundle all the mats together.

I wonder what else i could steal from my husband to repurpose…

Oh, seeing as I’m feeling inspired by my new sewing machine I’ve decided to make another category called ‘sewing’. This will make it easier to find all the fabric fun that I have. 🙂

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Christmas Cookie Exchange

on January 2, 2012

Have you ever taken part in a cookie exchange? You really should. Instead of buying gifts this year a group of us girlies decided to have a cookie exchange. I had to explain the concept to Craig and he decided that it was the best thing ever!

I made 36 cookies, and so did everyone else, and then we got together and distributed our cookies. You come with 36, you leave with 36 (minus the ones that you scoff of course), whats not to love? The best thing is that you have lots of variety.

I made some yummy sugar cookies in the shape of Christmas trees, and topped with icing. I bought some fancy pearlescent food spray so I could give my Christmas trees a bit of festive shine (can you even see on the photo?) Then I bundled them up, tied with bakers twine and added a little stamped Merry Christmas.

In return I received a collection of yumminess including peanut butter cookies, chocolate chip, white choc chip, fudge, oatmeal and raison cookies and I even got some fudge pieces too. I still haven’t decided which I like the best – I guess i am going to have to keep on eating them until they are all gone.

As a bonus, the actual cookie exchange was a great excuse to get together, eat, drink and be merry.

Thanks Sarah for organising the Cookie Exchange this year. I hope it becomes a long standing tradition.

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Personalised Jar of Treats (gift idea)

on December 29, 2011

Hey everyone
Sorry if you thought that Santa had stolen me away. I decided to take some time to focus on what was important in life- my gorgeous family, and our health. All three of us have taken turns to be ill, and just now we are full of runny noses and sniffles, but thankfully nothing too serious.

I wanted to share a few pre-Crimbo projects with you because I never had a chance to share them last week. First up is a little gift for Rachel, Piper’s ‘teacher’ at nursery.

I bought a preserving jar from a local country Market and also some choccys to go inside. I specifically chose flat circular ones so I cound decorate them to make them more Christmassy. Once I got home I realised that the jar was waaaaay too big and I would need about 5 boxes of choccies to fill it, so instead I washed out a jar which had baby food in it. These are fab if you are looking for a wee jar to hold things like buttons and ribbons, and usually work out really cheap. The added bonus is that with a baby in the house, it wasn’t a waste of the food either!

To decorate the chocolates I punched circles out of patterned paper and matted these onto green circles cut with my cuttlebug and nestibilities die. I just used a teeny bit of sticky tape to stick it down.

I cut a bigger circle to cover the writing on the top of the lid but didn’t bother decorating this because i wanted to cover it with fabric.

Carefully I added the choccys into the jar, arranging them in the best way I could so you could see the Christmassy pictures. I also cut out the ingredients list from the box of chocolates and tucked it into the jar. This way Rachel would know what type they are. This is also a good idea incase of any allergies.

Next stop, screwing on the lid and decorating. I bought a super cute bundle of Christmas fabrics a few weeks back so I chose one to use- I thought the green Xmas trees complimented the orange foil wrappers on the choccys. I folded the fabric square into quarters and rounded it off with the pinking shears to make a circle. Then I tied some twine around the fabric and tweaked it so it was even and pretty. To decorate I added some ribbon and tied a little bow.

Adding the embellishments was my favourite bit. I took a chipboard letter and painted it White with a paint dabber. Next i smothered it in embossing ink and shook over holographic embossing powder- it gave fabulous shine, but you cant really see it very well in the photo. Next I punched a hole with my crop-a-dile and added a jump ring.

To add another touch of Christmas I also added a little snowflake charm and secured it all in place with a mini safety pin.

I set aside a few evenings to do this project but it hardly took any time at all. I really enjoyed making something personal for Rachel, and she can even continue to use the jar as storage even after all the chocolates are gone.

Thanks for stopping by. I’ll be back to tell you all about the crafty presents I received for Christmas.

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