Garbage Bag Roll + Fabric Necklace

Craft:

I decided that I was sick and tired of all my jewellery this week! I Just couldn't find anything to wear, and I wanted something ‘new’ and colourful and bright… and nice and CHUNKY.

So I decided that the heavy-duty cardboard roll that I pulled out of my garbage bag packet would be the perfect base for a new necklace! Isn't it amazing what housework can lead to. (!)

This was a very quick and simple project. Firstly, I chopped up my garbage bag roll into little sections using a serrated knife.

I ended up with 11 little rolls in total.

Then I chose my material and cut it up into strips to fit the little rolls. 

I sprayed lots of spray glue onto the fabric strip. Sorry about the orientation of this photo, it's Blogger, not me!

And then I simply rolled up the cardboard onto the sticky fabric, and set them aside to dry.

Then I chose another type of material and cut a long, skinny strip to use as the tied bit of the necklace. I attached a large safety pin to the top of the material for quick and easy threading.

And that was it!! Now I need to actually GO OUT somewhere so that I can wear my new necklace.

I hope that you give this project a try – you’ll be surprised at how funky this necklace can look! 

You might also be interested to check out my other projects relating to making low-cost jewellery.

Have a great week and make sure you try and fit something creative in!

Emma

Easy-Sew Quilt Bed Cover

Sewing:

This week I decided that my sewing cupboard was a mess, and that I wasn't going to let myself purchase any more fabric until I’d used most of what I had already. 

I needed a project that was going to be simple, and also one that used up heaps of fabric in one go!

So I decided to make a beautiful quilt bed cover for our king-sized bed.

This project was very simple. I didn't even use ONE pin! It did, however, take a little bit of time getting the whole thing sewn together. All up, I think it took me about 6 hours (includes cutting up the squares).

Firstly, I gathered all my material to ‘use up’. Don’t worry about matching any of the fabric, it will all work very well together once it’s sewn into the quilt!

Then I found something square-ish to use as a template to cut my first square.

I used one of my daughter Poppy’s little canvases and added a bit onto the side when cutting it out so it was the exact shape.

Once I’d cut one square the size I wanted (and allowing room for the seams in the size of the square), I then used this piece of material as a template to cut up the others. I decided I needed about 13 rows of 10 squares for our bed.

If you decide to try this project, just cut one square out and then put it on your bed and roughly work out how many you’ll need. 

Once I had all my squares cut out, I started sewing them together. The easiest way to do this (I think!) is to get one square, put it right-sides together with your next square and sew down one side of it. Don’t worry about pinning anything first, just hold the squares together with your fingers. 

Once you've sewn the squares together, fold them both open like a book. Then grab your next square and do the same thing onto one of those first squares you have sewn.

Pretty soon you’ll end up with a long line of sewn squares. Once you've sewn as many as you need, move onto the next panel.

I sewed 13 panels of 10 squares each (as I mentioned above).

Then you’ll need to iron open the seams of each square (the sewn side only). This makes it easier and flatter when you come to joining all your panels together.

Then it really is just a matter of joining each of these panels together. Match right-sides together again for the panels and away you go with the sewing machine!

I found that not all my seams matched perfectly when I came to sewing all my panels together. But I didn't worry about it! It all looks good in the end!

My plan for the back of this bed cover is to purchase a king-sized bed sheet next week (when I make it into a town somewhere), and sew it onto the back. I will again just put the right sides together, sew around them, then turn it out and iron it all down. Then I’ll sew up the remaining area (where I turned it out from) and it will finally be finished!

I hope you give this project a try – it really is VERY easy! It also uses all your scrap material up very quickly!

Happy sewing!

Emma

Decorate The Dunny!

Home Decorating:

OK, I know it seems a little strange to be decorating my loo (!), but this looks really nice in my children’s bathroom! As you all know, I’m very keen about low cost makeovers, and it occurred to me the other day that another very low cost way of changing the look of your bathroom is to give your toilet a makeover! There are also so many really ugly toilet seats around (think lace, glitter and swimming dolphins), so I wanted to do something that was a bit more funky and modern.

This project could be especially nice if your toilet is in a room of its own, and the room is otherwise unable to be decorated much. In my case, the toilet in my children’s bathroom is in the smack-bang-centre of the room and therefore is the main focus of the room!

Of course these photos are more about the concept rather than the finished product. There are SO many options with this project! Whatever you wanted to put on there, really! You just need to be able to still sit on it and clean it! I also tried adding more material onto the toilet seat for a different look too. 

If you wanted to try something like this in YOUR bathroom, all you’ll need is some fabric or paper, scissors and some contact.

Firstly, give the toilet a quick clean!! Then trace the area of the toilet that you want to stick something onto. I traced straight onto the back of the contact. Then I cut the shape out.

Cut out the shape of the material or paper that you’d like to use. Just make sure that you’re going to have enough contact around the edge of your shape to keep it stuck firmly on. 

I then gave my material a quick iron. 

It was then a simple matter of sticking the material onto the contact, 

and then sticking it onto the lid of the loo. 

It’s still very easy to clean, and you can just rip it off and chuck it out when you’re sick of it!

It's just for fun! Enjoy your decorating!

Emma

More Hanging Mobiles Made out of Cardboard and Fabric

Craft:

Unfortunately Caity is snowed under again with work this week… so here’s another little post from me!

As you know, I love hanging mobiles! They fit into any space and look so funky. I’ve made quite a few over the time of our blog!

A mobile for Easter decoration

A mobile for Christmas time

Bird mobile

Outdoor mobile

Name-letters mobile

… and a mobile made out of cardboard and fabric.

Well, this is another version of my Simple Hanging Mobile. I completed it recently for an engagement present for some friends. 

These mobiles are really, really easy to make. All you’ll need is some cardboard (use an old box), scraps of fabric, scissors, spray glue, string and some hardy sticky tape.

You’ll find all the directions listed here. Try one out!

Happy making!

Emma