beautiful, unique tri-fold wallet!

I had been fiddling around with the idea of creating a wallet pattern for several months, and last March, I finally sat down and did it.  There were several parts of this that kinda scared me to begin with.  First, is the whole idea of designing my own pattern, which I had never before attempted.  It’s just that none of the patterns I looked at were exactly what I wanted, and if you make a wallet from scratch you might as well have it have everything you want! One pattern would have no coin purse, then another wouldn’t have enough pockets, then another wouldn’t have enough credit card slots, or they would, but not the right location….apparently I’m picky about my wallets, who knew? 
  
The other thing that scared me about this pattern is that I wanted a zippered coin purse, and before this, I had never sewn a zipper, and in fact had strictly avoided them.  However, once I dived in this fear quickly dissolved only to be replaced with another major problem.  Lining.  Of course my wallet has lining, but lining in general is such a hassle.  I’m not afraid of it, it’s just a lot of extra sewing that doesn’t seem all that necessary.  I cut this process down considerably by using a folding technique that cuts down on the sewing necessary.  
  

All in all, this pattern turned out pretty dang good for being my first pattern. It is a tri-fold wallet with a zippered coin purse, a bill pocket, and an extra pocket for all your receipts, checkbook, etc.  In addition it has 6 credit card slots! It fastens with a coordinated colored elastic and button fasten. I also added a cute rosette to the outside to dress it up a little. The pattern is probably of medium difficulty.  Don’t be afraid of the zipper! It’s one of the easiest parts for me now.  Unfortunately I will not be providing the pattern on this blog for free ( I do have some patterns up my sleeve that I will put on the blog later, so don’t be too bummed).  I’m trying to sell them and putting it on the web for free is kind of detrimental to that process.  However, I am selling the patterns for $8, or I can make a wallet for you with your specific color choices for $20+shipping. Just comment below, or e-mail me at columbiacrafts@yahoo.com.  Sorry for the plug, but I’m done now. One more wallet that has more of a landscape fabric to it.  

Granny Squares, Not Just for Granny’s Anymore…

Since Teresa posted the link to the Craftgawker sight I have been busy browsing and finding crafts I would like to try. I saw this one and thought it looked like something I could do. However, the link didn’t have any instructions attached. It is pretty much just granny squares stitched together to form a bracelet using crochet thread. 

Once I found out it required crochet thread and a really small hook I began to doubt my abilities. I tend to avoid working with tiny hooks and thin yarn…it usually does not end well. However, I gathered my courage and decided to give it a try. I figure that eventually I will be unable to do crafts like this because I will have bad eye sight and arthritis, so I better do it while I am still young!

So I went to Joann’s and bought the size 10 crochet thread and the size 8 (1.8mm) hook. I think that might have been the first time I spent less than $5 in that store. I was very proud. Now I had the supplies, but I had to figure out how to make a granny square. Odd as it may seem with all my crocheting I have never actually made a granny square. I think I have avoided it because to me if I wanted to take the time to actually attach multiple blocks together to form something I would just stick to quilting. Also, it is a pretty horrible name for a crochet pattern…Why would I want to make a granny square when clearly that is something old people make. I on the other hand am too young and cool for that.

However, I decided to ignore my fears and prejudices and give the pattern a chance since I liked the end result pictures I had seen. So I googled ‘granny square’ for a basic pattern and I proceeded to make my first granny square. After the first block I found the process was going pretty well. I was happy to find that the thin thread and the small hook weren’t as bad as I feared they might be! 

So I created four more blocks and then started slip stitching them together. Once I had them all together I went around the bracelet once with a single crochet for the border. I started in the middle of one of the ends so that once I got back around I could chain 8 and then slip stitch it back into the border to form a button holder. I raided my small button stash to find an appropriate button and I sewed it to the middle of the other end.

   

Ta Da! I successfully created a stylish bracelet! I made my first one near the end of last week and have already made several more! I am getting used to the crochet thread and have even made a few ornaments, which turned out pretty good too. I’m very excited for the possibilities this opens up and I can’t wait to see what else I can find to make! I’ll be sure and keep you posted on my future creations. Until then, happy crafting!

FULFILLING A CHILDHOOD DREAM

As a child, we are told not to get anything on our clothes that will stain. There was an emphasis on not drawing or coloring on clothes with pens, markers, paint, and any other art tool that will leave a mark. We had to be clean, neat, and proper. I heeded to the command and rarely ever got dirty and certainly never had art stains on my clothes.

That is not to say that I was never tempted to. As a child, and let's be honest as adults, when you are warned not to do something, it becomes a desire to do it just to see why you cannot. It is like forbidden fruit that dangles in front of us, tempting us. I remember being tempted to color on my shirt and the white walls of my bedroom...to create and mark something unique and totally my own.

Finally, I can say I have lived out one of my childhood desires and painted on a shirt....and it was awesome!

Before I continue on, I hope you do not mind another segment on shirts. While I am creative, I usually do not have crafts every week to write about and before I start tapping into past crafts, I figure I should write about any current ones I have whenever the chance arises. That, and I absolutely love my new shirt and I want to show it off on this blog too.

So to fast forward from being a tempted child to a couple of weeks ago. This inspiration came from Laura and Teresa, who were making shirts for a Taylor Swift concert. The craft looked fun and simple enough to do and the shirts looked amazing. I wanted to make one too!

I do not know who came up with this process. None of us did. I learned the process from them and they learned it from someone else. Hopefully, one of them will blog about their own shirts or comment on my entry and give you the site or book they learned it from. If not, at least you will have my instructions from a third or fourth party.

In the end, the instructions are probably more interesting than who came up with the process. So here you go:

Step One: Finding a shirt (or whatever item you plan on decorating). It should be a plain color and fabric (ex. no ripples). This is a semi easy part of the process. Mine was only difficult because all such shirts I owned were work shirts and I had to decide one that would become a regular shirt.

Step Two: Choose what you are going to put on it. I found this to be the second difficult part. There are billions of choices to choose from. I knew I wanted a quote, but where to choose from? Favorite book, tv show, movie, saying, song lyric? The options were endless! There were so many I loved! After a while, I choose a quote from William Shakespeare's “A Midsummer Night's Dream.”

Step Three: Whether from a printed out design or from your own artistic mind, trace the design on Freezer Paper. You heard that right. Freezer paper. Trace on the paper side of it. I suppose you can trace with anything, but I chose a simple pen.

Step Four: Using an Exacto Knife, cut out your design. I found this to be the most difficult (especially if you traced something fancy like a special font) and the most time consuming step. It took me a couple of days to cut everything out. To be fair, I had work, chores, and other things to do, so it was not a solid two days of cutting. It all depends on what you chose. But take your time in cutting. You do not want to mess up and have to do it again (I'm saying this from experience).

Step Five: If you want, you can use a pair of scissors and cut out the words or pattern and place them on the shirt wherever you like. With the long quotes I chose, I had to do this. Afterwords, place the pieces on the shirt (paper side up) and iron on for a few seconds. I cannot recall how long Laura and Teresa did theirs, but I only had mine on there for a few seconds. So I say, iron on a few seconds and if the paper is not stuck on the shirt continue to iron it until it is. You will know when it is stuck on there (and it is supposed to be).

Step Six: Now for the fun part! Place cardboard, a paper grocery store bag, or any barrier in the shirt so the paint will not soak through the shirt and onto the other side. Finally, grab some Acrylic paint and brushes and start painting!

Step Seven: Once done painting, pull the paper off your shirt. It comes off fairly easy. You may need a toothpick or other small stick (I used a sharp nail filer) to pick out any small pieces.

Step Eight: Let it dry. For each side, it took a couple of hours. But I should caution you, I made this shirt during a heat wave and that may or may not have played a part in the drying process, especially considering my little apartment was an oven. So my advice is give it a few hours and play it by ear. And if it needs touch ups, repaint the spots and let it dry again (I did that a couple of times)!

Now you have the instructions. All you need is to get the supplies! Have fun relishing in a childhood desire!

Complicatedcrafticitis

I bought a shirt a while back that had a necklace attached to it. It is very cute and perfect for me, who rarely stops long enough to put on jewelry on the morning. However, the metal necklace kept coming apart in the washer and dryer, and I’m too lazy to hand wash it, so I decided to instead take the necklace part off and make it into a separate piece.  There was just one problem.  I had no idea how I wanted to do that.  The easiest way would be to buy a necklace fasten in the craft store and attach it to the chain, then tada! You have a necklace.  But of course, I hate all things easy.  It’s a sickness, it really is.  That was just waaay to simple for me.  This was a perfect craft opportunity and I was supposed to just slap a fasten on it and call it good? NO! I refuse! But for lack of better vision, I put it to the side until inspiration stuck/ until bazaar season was over.  Then I got sucked into this site and discovered this! How beautiful! How wonderful! How perfectly exactly what I was looking for! So inspiration had struck, but it was past midnight, and I had to wait till morning to try it out.  I’m ashamed to admit that sometimes when inspiration strikes that late at night I actually stay up thinking about it in bed and have difficulty sleeping because of it. Insomnia: another symptom in the disease of Complicatedcrafticitis.

So the next morning, I started right in on this great project.  I took a ton of ribbon, about two feet for each side and threaded it through the fist chain half way, so that I now had two pieces of ribbon.  Then I started a kind of braid process and wove them alternatively through the chains.   

There are just a few tips I would suggest.  First make sure that the chains are always laying flat and straight, otherwise they can get all bent out of shape and won’t rest right.  Next, always thread the ribbon in the same direction.  I always threaded it in over the first piece, under and through the chain. This makes it look and rest nicer, and it makes it easier to remember where you were. 





  


Other than that, this is a pretty simple craft, it’s just a little lengthy, especially if your chain is longer.  I tied it off at the end of the chain with a knot, and again near the end of the extra ribbon, which I left on to tie around my neck, around 6 inches extra. 

And there you have it! This is the actual shirt it came on.  That's why it looks so good with it! Ignore the goofy smile, I have difficulty taking pictures of myself.

 

 It is also incredibly difficult to take a picture of the back of your neck.  However, after several failed attempts, this one came out.  So here is hoping that you come down with a case of Complicatedcrafticitis.  It's really worth all the the insomnia. Just look at the results!

Crochet Baby Blankets

It seems to be a reoccurring pattern that I post on crocheted crafts, but honestly I do other crafts too! It just happens that my main focus tends to be crocheting. I enjoy this craft because generally it is easy to transport the project if needed, and I can do it while I am watching TV or hanging out with a group of people talking.

One of the crochet projects that I can most often be found working on is baby blankets. I like doing these because it is fast, easy, and cute! Plus at this stage in my life it seems like I always know someone who is pregnant. This way I always have a gift on hand. :) Also our church donates to The Caring Pregnancy Center every year, so I generally am able to offload my blankets there as well.

My favorite baby blanket pattern is the shell stitch. I like this stitch because it make the blanket look fancier even though it isn't any harder to create. My hook of choice is a "J" --this is my standard size, although lately with other projects I have branched out a little more.

I often do this pattern all in one color, but the picture also shows how different yarn can be added in to create patterns. The 2nd color is simply added in once you reach the end of a row. The shell stitch is created by chaining a multiple of 5 (I generally go with 105 stitches, but it is your choice). Then:

Row 1: double crochet 4x in the 4th chain from the hook. Skip two chains, single crochet. Skip two chains then double crochet 5x in the same stitch. Continue this til you get to the end of the row. End with 3 double crochets instead of 5.
Row 2: Chain 1, double crochet 5x in the single crochet spot from the 1st row. Single crochet at the top of the shell stitch created in row 1. Continue to the end of the row
Row 3: Chain 3,  double crochet 2x in 1st stitch. Single crochet at the top of the shell stitch created in row 2. Double crochet 5x in the single crochet spot from the 2nd row. Continue to the end of the row
Row 4-completion: Alternate rows 3 and 4 until you reach the blanket size you desire.
Border: Work border yarn the same way as previous rows. When you reach the end of the row turn blanket and stitch on sides; continuing the shell pattern.
Finish off.

A fun circus train snack

Last week I had my grandson down to visit. He is quite into trains these days so I decided to make these cute cookies from a Pillsbury cookie book I recently found at a garage sale.

You start with chocolate covered graham crackers and add animal crackers and make a cage with frosting. His favorite book is about the little red caboose so I added red by using a fruit roll up. The original called for life saver wheels but I used starlight mints. I made the scene on a piece of aluminum foil and let him place the cars on it when he came. It was quick, easy and he really enjoyed setting them up and eating them.