Posted on Saturday, September 27, 2014

DIY Felt Tablet Sleeve

I was looking for a pouch of case or sleeve for Nexus tablet and Pinterest, as my go-to-inspiration-source. I found few posts on tutorials how to make an iPhone and external hard drive sleeve/case out of felt & handstitching.

So I was wondering if I could try to make a tablet sleeve instead of buying it.

And I tried. Success! And I am super happy with the result 🙂

It didn’t take a long time to make this. Basic material you will meed are:
– Felt in your your favorite color
– Scissors or rotary cutter
– Pinking sheer
– Ruler
– Needle
– Thread in matching color with the felt
– Valcero or button

First, measure the tablet. My Nexus is about 5″ x 7″

Then I measure the felt I wanna use. I found this darker grey in my stash. Using rotary cutter and quilt ruler, I cut my felt into 12″ x 7.25″

Then I fold to make the sleeve at 5″ from the bottom. Hold it with needle so it will stay in place when you hand-stitch its sides.

This is what I love… Handstitching. I think this is what they call blanket handstitching. This blog post is an excellent tutorial with pictures.

Last step is adding the fastener. For mine, I use adhesive Valcero. You can pick what you want to use for the sleeve flap.

I am happy for the result 🙂 And I hope you can follow these simple steps. If you have any questions, feel free to leave it as comment and I will try my best to answer it.

Thanks for visiting my blog today!

Posted on Sunday, August 10, 2014

DIY Embossed Felt Business Card Wallet

I went to a blogging conference, Declare Conference, in Dallas this weekend. It was amazing conference for women. I got to meet some of my friends I met on Social Media groups (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Blogging) IN PERSON!! We got to spent time together and I share hotel room with 3 of them. I will share some pictures later this week 🙂

So, when I found out that I would have roommates, I started to look for inspirations. I decided to make a business card holder/wallet for them because we were suggested to bring business cards to swap with others there. So, Pinterest where I went for more ideas. I found so many tutorials using sewing machine and they said that it was for beginner. I told myself, “Helen, this is the time to learn and try using your new sewing machine.” I tried. But failed. It was not because of their tutorials, but it was because of my lack of ability of using this machine! Check these sewing tutorials if you want to try 🙂

I still have LOTS of felt leftover from our craft making party last year and why not using felt and hand stitching, I talked to myself. And there went I tried. Adapting from this sewing tutorial, I made single card wallet/holder with felt. And I wanted some textures on my felt, not just plain felts. I remembered this embossed felt tutorial from Becky Fleck and decided to try when I made these business card wallet.

Supplies you will need to make this business card wallet/holder:

Felt
Iron
Needle and thread
Scissors
Rotary cutter
Pinking shears
Ruller
Spray bottle and clean water
Rubber stamp of your choice

my ruler is too long for this picture… sorry.

You will need 1 of 4″ x 2.5″ rectangle and 1 of 3″ x 2″5 rectangle. I cut my felt using my rotary cutter and quilt ruler, quick and easier than using regular scissors.

Lay the felt on top of the stamp that you want to use. For this first one, I laid my smaller felt on top of one of the butterfly rubber stamp from Denami Design – Fancy Flutters stamp set and using my spray bottle I sprayed the felt lighty with water.

The iron I used is a tiny one I found at Walmart (or you can find at any craft store). It is not too hot for craft projects. So, I press the felt on the rubber stamp with my iron for about 15 seconds. Don’t be too long. But if the impression is not what you want, you can press again for another 10-15 seconds.

Here’s what the embossed felt look like after the ironing:

Then last step is to put them together. Lay both felt on top of each other and stitch. I used blanket stitching to make the pocket. You can use the pinking shears before or after the stitching together for the decorated border top.

Here’s another one I made using one of the rubber stamp from Taylored Expressions – Sky’s the Limit stamp set.

And this one I decided not to embossed the felt but added a crochet doily on it. The pink is just fit with the dark and light chocolate 🙂

So that’s the simple project I made for my conference roommates 🙂 Thank you for visiting my blog today! Have a fun crafty day!

Posted on Monday, June 16, 2014

DIY Stenciled Canvas Tote Bag

Summer is finally here! We had such wonderful and fun weekend celebrating our 6th Anniversary and Father’s Day. I am thank God for my husband, Dave each day and love him more! I praise God for him! The best father God has given to my daughters!

You Color My Day | Digital Scrapbook layout designed by Helen Gullett

Kit: Live Life In Color by Jen C Designs Template: May Grab Bag, Memory Makers Vol.7 by Jen C Designs Font: OldNewspaper Type

More exciting today… I am joining an amazing craft blog hop today! It is The Silhouette Challenge – Handmade Gift Exchange on the Silhouette Challenge Facebook Group. If you would like to join us, please go to Lauren’s blog to find out the details.

The rules is simple: use Silhouette die cutting machine to make a gift for the assigned exchanged friend. I made this stenciled canvas bag for my friend, Debby.

hmg-canvas-bag-stencil

Supplies you’ll to make this tote bag are:

Plain canvas bag (get at any craft store)
Fabric markers or paints
Freezer paper
Iron
Silhouette die cut machine
Cutting mat, spatula, tweezer
Shapes from Silhouette online store. For this my bag, I picked Poppy head and stem from Donna Downey.

I found couple link tutorials you can check out their tutorials how to make stencil project using freezer paper:

First, open the shape on Silhouette Studio software. I resized the phrase to 8 in tall for the tote bag. Then I mirrored the writing to the right. Then I cut 12×12 freezer paper and put it on the cutting mat shine side up. Then cut. Use the spatula to pick the cut shapes off the cutting mat.

I added the stems first on the bag. Set the iron on low (no steam!) and lightly run the iron on the freezer paper (shine side down) on the canvas bag until it sticked on the bag.

I found a pack of 24 fabric markers at Walmart because I cannot find fabric paint there. I always wish that we live right next to Hobby Lobby…hahahaha…. 😀

Using the green marker, I drew the stems on the bag. I layered it couple times to get bolder result. This marker dries right away after you draw on any fabric so that you can peel off the freezer paper right after the drawing. This is perfect for quick project.

After peeling off the stem freezer papers off the canvas bag, I added the poppy shape using the iron again. And using the red maker I filled in all the cut shapes of the flower. I did twice to get darker red.

When I was done with the red, I peel off the freezer papers and then colored the middle of the flower with black marker.

Ta-da! It is done! I love how result! Very lovely poppy flowers. I am planning to make one more for me and add my favorite Bible verse on the bag too 🙂

Are you looking for more DIY Gift ideas? Check out my Silhouette Challenges friends’ projects. I hope you all find inspirations you need from this blog hop today 🙂 — Click the link below to see the projects:

An InLinkz Link-up

HAVE A FUN CRAFTY DAY and THANK YOU for stopping by today!

Posted on Monday, June 2, 2014

Summer Party Idea

Are you ready for Summer time? I am! 🙂 Our Summer plan is full of excitement, party, outdoors, traveling and food! LOL… How about your summer plan?
Today, I would love to share this idea of Party Favor idea from Close To My Heart. Enjoy watching the video to learn how to make your own perfect party favors using Cricut®-cut shapes and the My Acrylix™ Big Top stamp set from Close To My Heart:

Feature products on the video:

My Acrylix Stamp – Big To C1580

Cricut Artiste Collection Z1790

Posted on Tuesday, May 27, 2014

Stretching Your Embossing Folder and Stamp: DIY Paper Flower

We had a wonderful long Memorial Day. My husband cook out tasty food for 3 days! He is the best cook ever 😀 We also went driving on our Jeep at State Park close to us and love the wonderful days we had. Just love warmer days!!

I have been playing a lot with my new embossing machine. Last weekend, I gathered all the courage I had to stretch the use of embossing folders with stamping. So… here’s what I did: stamped and embossed 3D paper flower. Check out these 2 embossed paper flowers I used them on 2 shaker cards I made for my friends:

I used this simple shaker card tutorial to make this cards. The sentiments I used are from The Happy Couple stamp set and Joyful Birthday stamp set. I stamped them with Black Pigment Ink Pad. First card, I stamped the anniversary sentiment on a piece of velum, added some glitter embossing powder, and heated it with my craft heater. The second card, I stamped the birthday sentiment on the base card, centered the position that would show in the frame. I got the metallic multicolor sequins and beads at Walmart only 🙂

I love those flowers on the cards, and I thought they would make my scrapbook layouts pretty, too… so I made more of them with different colors and pattern. And I took some pictures how to make them:

First stamp the petals from Hello Bloom stamp set on a piece of White Daisy Cardstock. I used Sorbet, Juniper and Pear Exclusive Inks Stamp Pads.
Run it through embossing machine. For these flowers, I used Chevron Embossing Folder and WRMK Evolution Advance machine.
Then cut them and curl each petal gently using Quilling tool.
Use Liquid Glass to put them together. You only need a small dot in the middle of each petal.
Made a little bow with Baker’s Twine Neutral Metallic, Cashmere. And add it in the middle of the flower using Liquid Glass.
Then add button (or gems) to finis the flower.

I hope you enjoy today’s cards and tutorial! Don’t forget you still have 5 more days to get the sweet deal of Scrapbooking Month and my 1st Anniversary Party with Close To My Heart.

Thanks for stopping by and have a fun crafting day!

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Inspire Me Monday Week #125