I Have a New Desk Cup! (And This is How I Made it)

Many years ago, I was all into masking tape.  Meaning, I made things with it.  I made all sorts of things.  Wallets, animal sculptures, a hand (that was pretty neat), and I even made a desk cup for myself once!  It's been sitting now on my desk for all these years, filled with pencils, scissors, and other long things that go in a desk cup.

It is made of masking tape, so over time, it's gradually slumped over, or rather, backwards, so that it can't even stand up on it's own anymore.  It's been leaning against a picture I have on my desk, half covering my friend's face.  (Sorry Rachel!)

When my mom got rid of her big 4-cup measuring glass recently because the measuring indicators on the side were nearly all rubbed off, I rescued the big ol' thing out of the trash, sure that I could make something of it.  I had the idea to make it my new desk cup soon after I took it, but I didn't just want to dispense of the old cup and use the new one without decorating it in some way!  (And let's be honest; I wanted to blog about how I would decorate it.  ;))  So this is how I did it!

You've probably noticed by now that the title of this post is half false, as I did not actually make my new desk cup, I simply...reupholstered it, so to speak?  And what did I "reupholster" it with?  That, my friend, calls for STORY TIIIME!

Once upon a time, when I was about ten probably, I got two new pairs of PJ pants, of the same silky, lovable fabric.  One was brown with different colored stars, and other was off-white with different colored hearts.  You wanna see what they look like?

I loved one pair (the brown) more than the other, but I loved them both.  I told myself (and I think my oldest sister too) that I would wear those pants until I could no longer wear those pants!

One day, when I was probably 13, I was wearing the hearty pants.  Well, I forgot to pull up the pants before I squatted, and the next thing I heard was r-i-i-i-p.  I knew where they had ripped: right in the rump.  But!  I could still wear them!  Oh yes, I could.  I continued to wear those pants until a sibling or someone said I should stop, and I finally laid those pants down to rest...in my bottom drawer, where I keep fabric and other art supplies.  (Hey, I showed you a picture of my bottom drawer in this post!)

The next summer, I had a friend stay with me for about a week (the same friend, in fact, who's picture was half covered by the masking tape cup!), and I told her the story of how the pants broke, and she thought it was very funny.  Because it was very funny.

But me thinks I should get on with this tutorial, perhaps?  Ooh, and this might be a good time to mention that this was not my idea, so don't go spreadin' this around like I'm a genius for thinking this up.  'Cause it ain't the truf!  (I mean, you can definitely go spread it around, but don't give me full credit.)  I saw it on Pinterest, and I'm sure it's been done by more people than I know of.

(In a booming voice)...GET YOUR SUPPLIES READY!  Ahem.

Supplees
Old fabric (that you'd better not mind cutting)
A clear glass vessel to adhere your fabric to
Liquid glue
Water
Spoon (or finger)
Bowl
Scissors
Newspaper (to work on)
Almonds (to snack on while you work)

I already discussed where I got my fabric from.  Now you just have to get your own.  My fabric is silky, but I don't think the material really matters.

Cut your fabric into strips of about an inch wide, and however long they need to be to extend from the bottom of your vessel to the top edge.  Mine were about...seven-ish inches?  That's after cutting them like two or three inches shorter because I realized they were way too long.

Now mix together your glue and water, which you will be coating the fabric strips in.  At first I just unscrewed the top on the glue bottle and tried to squeeze it out, but, even though it made cool patterns in the water, it was not fast enough for me, so I just took off the whole top, and poured it in.  Mix it all up with a spoon (or your finger).

Dip a strip in the glue mixture and submerge until completely covered, and then pull out and sort of wipe off the glue with your fingers.

Then, making sure that the "right side" of the fabric is facing outwards, sort of lay the strip in the glass, with the top of the strip aligned with the top of the glass.  If you have a glass that is not completely straight all the way around (like this one), you'll have to trim the strips around that area accordingly.  Make sure to overlay the strips slightly.

Mind the fact that there may be bubbles, which you will want to remove before the glue dries.  It may take a few tries to get all the bubbles out, but it's worth it.  Especially if you're prone to act OCD about things...

When you're finished laying in all the strips you need, all you have to do is wait for the glue to dry!  I actually was able to pour out some of the glue that had collected in the bottom, and that sped up the drying time, or, lessened what it would have been otherwise.

Now, take a little break to snack on your almonds.  THEY'RE HEALTHY!  (I had been snacking on them this whole time, actually.  Ha, treachery!)  (Yes, there are also pretzels mixed in there with the almonds.  Ha, more treachery.)

Okay, your break's over!  BACK TO WORK!  I didn't realize until I finished the inside that I also wanted to do the handle.  My former self needed a reality check.  Because that handle needed doing!  So cut a strip that's short enough to go on the underside of the handle, and that won't curve at the top.  Dip it in the glue just like before, and then slap it on!  Nope, JK.  Don't slap it on.  It won't work very well.

The glue will drip probably, so...don't go showing off your work until it's all dry and dripless.  Isn't this heart at the bottom of the handle cute-puhtoot?

Here it is in action!

I must stress again that this idea does not come from my creative little brain, but, I have not seen any tutorial as detailed as mine (not like I looked for one...!), so I've got that at least.  Maybe you don't even care for all the details, but you got a story too!  Woot woot for bonus material!

P.S.  In case you were wondering...I still wear the brown pants.  Not sayin' they fit though.

P.P.S.  I haven't yet taken the time to figure out how to add the pin it button to my peektors, but I pin all my posts, so if you want them, go ahead and follow me on Pinterest!

Quick Christmas Craft: Fabric Covered Jar Lid

Believe it or not, Christmas is fast approaching.  Gasp!  Christmas?  Already?  You must be joking!

For realz.  No joke.  I can't believe it either.  But it has come to that time of year again, when some people are starting to get all fancied up for Christmas, and then others...are not.  Because they are wailing in disbelief.  That's what I am doing, in the innermost parts of my brain, but not out loud, or even in my thoughts, really.  I simply haven't been thinking about it too much.  Those times I have thought about it, it blows my mind almost out my ears.  Not quite, but almost.

I heard Christmas music on the radio the other day, for the first time this season.  I was in complete denial.  I am of the opinion that Christmas music SHOULD NOT be played on the radio before Thanksgiving, and actually, not until after Thanksgiving.  Well, that was two days before Thanksgiving!  Uh, not cool, mahn.

My sister has been calling me a scrooge because I don't like Christmas music before Thanksgiving, but the fact is, in our house, we've always been against Christmas music before Thanksgiving!  For realz, why do you need it that early anyway?  I don't get it.  Can't we just get one holiday over with before going on to the next?  Talk about a problem with going-on-to-the-next-thing-before-finishing-the-first-thing syndrome!  (It's gots to be a thing, but I don't know the fancy name for it.  I have it bad.)  Just so you know, I am not a scrooge, but everything in it's own time, right?

Anywho, the point eeyis, Christmas is quickly coming upon us, whether or not we like it (I do love Christmas, but WOWWIE WOO, this year went by fast!).  If you're like me, you'll wait until the last possible minute to get your gifts all ready, because you are a major procrastinator, or, you love Christmas and gift giving so much that you'll get your stuff done right away, except the problem is, you don't know ezackly what to give people, so you'll sit there, waiting to dig in, but you just don't know what to dig in to!

Well, I just may have a solution to both of those problemos.  Enter, fabric covered jar lids!  Not just the lids by themselves, obvs.  A jar with a pretty lid can be a great gift.  Fill it up with hot chocolate mix, or cinnamon sticks (just thought of that off the top of my head!), or simply give empty as a pretty storage jar! These are so easy and fun and quick, that you could make a bunch to give together.  I recommend using either a variety of jars with matching fabric, or a variety of fabric with matching jars.

I am doing a new thing now, which is called, "naming the supplies in list form."  I've never done that.  Not sure why.  But it's probably a good habit to pick up.  Don't hold me accountable to do it every single time though.

Supplees
Jar lid and jar to go under it (I used a salsa jar/lid)
Pretty fabric (not too thick, but thick enough to hide any pattern that might be on the lid)
Sticker Maker
Black sharpie
Scissors
Ribbon (optional)

The idea for this project stemmed from the fact that I have a whole drawer full of fabric.  Okay, not completely full to the brim (I store stuff other than fabric in it), but you know, basically full.  Observe.

The firstest time I did this was with the below jar.  I like the way that it turned out.  I was looking for a way to use some of my fabric, plus make that candle (that's what it is, in case you couldn't tell) look more attractive.  It's my opinion that that green wax is hid'jus.  I was quite happy that I had fabric that matched.  Then I did decide, "Well why not blog on it?  For realz, Maggie!"

Get 'Er Done
First thing is to select your jar/lid of course.  I suppose anything will work; just don't use canning lids.  Make sure to wash the lid before working with it.  This may seem way too obvious, but apparently not to me, because I was thinking at first I would only rinse out the lid.  However, I didn't want it to forever smell like salsa...so I done warshed it.  Even if it doesn't smell like whatever it was used for before, you should still wash it, since it may not be a good idea to wash it after it's covered with fabric.  The jar is not as important to wash now, but when you do wash it before gifting away, make sure to get the sticky stuff from the label off.  I got it off with very hot water and lots of scrubbing.

After selecting which jar and lid you'll use, you'll need to pick a pretty fabric.  If you're using this as a Christmas gift, maybe something red or green.  I didn't purposely use a Christmas-y green for mine, but how convenient that I did!

You don't need much fabric.  Only enough to have at least 3/4 inch around the lid on all sides (depending on how tall the lid is).  Trace around (on the wrong side) with a sharpie or other writing utensil, and then cut out.  Fun fact for your brain: In the picture below, I traced where I thought, at the time, was the right distance from the edge of the lid, but it was in fact, too close.  So I didn't actually cut on that line I'm drawing in the picture.  It's just for show.  Don't do it that close.  Basically, the distance should be about 2-1/2 to 3 times the width of the jar lid.

Now here's something myself hadn't considered: not everyone has access to a sticker maker.  What will we do now?  I suppose the best thing would be to "paint" glue onto the fabric circle with a paintbrush...  I'm a bad blogger for not thinking of a good alternative aren't I?  If you come up with something better than painting with glue, let me know in the comments!  Now that we are past that...I'll just ignorantly assume that everyone does have a sticker maker and move on.  :]  Carefully insert fabric into sticker maker, and turn knob until it starts to come out the other end.  At that point, it might stick to the "teeth," so you'll have to pry it off, which could be (only) slightly difficult, since the sticker maker manages to make things quite sticky.  You can do eet!

Now is the actual tricky part, assuming you do indeed have a sticker maker.  You have to get the fabric off the wax paper stuff that it's stuck onto at this point.  This can be very difficult, so try not to let much of your fingers touch the stickiness.  Because you can never again free them!  Never!*  It can also be difficult because the sticky stuff doesn't take a liking to fabric (what does it have against fabric?), so it tends to come off easily, so you have to kind of keep pulling the fabric up and and putting it back down over and over again until the stickiness stays on the fabric.  It really is not that hard once you get the hang of it.  Do it all around until you're able to pull up the whole piece, and then gently lay the whole piece down on your working surface, sticky side up!

*Just kidding.

After that, it's all truly fun, quick, and easy!  Gently lay the lid down in the center.  Don't worry if it's not exactly in the middle, just make sure there's enough room all around to wrap around the edge, and then inside.  Which is the next step!  Start by sticking the fabric up on the edge on two opposite sides (east and west), and then do it again on another two opposite sides (north and south).  Do that until it's stuck on the sides in eight or more spots.  Then stick down the fabric on the inside in two opposite spots, and eventually all around, in the same fashion as you stuck it up on the edge.  Or, you could go clockwise around in this part.  Whatever you do, make sure you stick the fabric down in every spot in a way so that there's stickiness in every spot, so it'll actually stick there.  (Did that make sense?  Heehee, try saying that ten times fast.)  The lid should still be able to screw onto the jar.

And you're done!  If you want to make it look even more fashionable, tie a pretty ribbon around the neck of the jar, and gift away to someone special!

This was before tying on a pretty ribbon.  The lid reminds me of a beret!

Pretty ribbon to the rescue!

I love the way the glass looks in this picture.

Somehow, I managed to make this incredibly easy activity look long and complicated by my abundance of words.  Hopefully you can still see how this is a quick and easy activity!

What would you fill the jar with?  How could you personalize this?

Fabric Flower Hair Clip

Woot!  I'm doing something different!  I'm sure y'all have gotten a little bored reading card tutorial after card tutorial.  Funny thing is, when I started making this flower, I thought I was making it for a card, but nooo, that didn't work out!  I'm quite glad though.  Truth be told, this will look like a card making tutorial until the hair clip comes in.  Hehe, I'm sorry.  I can't help it.

A few years ago, I had an out of state friend come over for a few days, and one of the things we did was make cards.  That is, we planned on making cards. I don't remember if she got any made, but I know I didn't.  Instead I paced around trying to think of a card idea, and finally I came up with the idea to fold a long piece of fabric in half and sew it together at the bottom, and make a rose out of it, and then use it on a card.  I folded the fabric and sewed it together at the bottom, but I wasn't quite sure exactly how to make it into a rose, even though I sort of knew in theory how I was going to do it.  So that long piece of fabric stayed on my chair or on my desk or really, it's probably been many places in the vicinity of my room.

I've been preparing to do a series on using scraps, which has encouraged me to use up some of my scraps.  So, on the spur of the moment, I decided to finally make that rose!  I always thought I would do it on some brown paper, or more likely, thin cardboard, which is sort of brownish.  But I also had this large piece of teal paper lying around (it had only been lying around for less than a week, but still), and it seemed to match the fabric, so I decided to go ahead and use it!

I may not have explained very well when I said I sewed it at the bottom.  Maybe this picture helps?  If it doesn't examine below peektor. 

You can see that the piece of fabric is duper long.  It's probably around 18 inches, but I can't be sure.  I should've measured it before I glued it on.  Which is what I'm doing in this picture.  Or what I did already.  In this picture.

I did not mention it above, but you should use hot glue to adhere the fabric.  It dries much quicker than any other kind of glue, and it will hold it better.

It's really important to have a toothpick to press down the fabric, because you can't do it with your fingers because of the hot glue.  Continue twisting the fabric around while gluing down until you get to the end.

Here it looks like a rose.  Like it's suppose to.

But here...it looks like a cake.  That is not what we're going for.

At this point I didn't know exactly what I was going to do about the cake-lookage, but I decided to cut out the flower anyway.  I used my super fancy super sharp scissors so that I could cut through the glue.

I ended up cutting the top off, so it was shorter and not so cake-like.

I ironed the part that I cut off, so it didn't have the fold in the middle.

...And then made folds and glued on to the edge.  I made sure to glue it on so it sort of went out sideways instead of straight up.  I wouldn't have been able to do that if I hadn't cut it out.  I don't know if it was because of the ironing, or just the kind of fabric, but it stayed when I put creases in with my fingers.

There, that's pretty.

Ah, it looks so much better on the side.

Hot glue a hair clip onto the back.

Look what I done made!

Chevron Hello

I made this card, oh...about a week and a half ago probably, and I finally got the time to post on it!  I always get so excited when I'm using embossing folders!  They are super fun!

This is a tall pile of purple fabric squares!  We are going to make a flower the exact same way we did in Sorry I'm Late, so I won't go into as much detail on the instructions.

Cut out three flower shapes.  This fabric doesn't fray that much, but even if it did, it would probably make it look sort of cool and vintage...or something like that?  So it wouldn't really matter.

Stack them on top of each other so they all look evenly spaced, at least from the top, if not the underside.

For the thread in the center, I simply used some thread that had come out of the very same fabric the flower came from.  For all I care though, you could use a completely different color in the center.  Assuming it matches of course.  If it doesn't match...I would care.  For the center, simply come up and go back down with the needle and thread over and over again.

I decided to back-stitch a circle around the center, so it looks even nicer!

This piece is 3 3/4 by 5 inches, with the corners rounded.  I then went around the inside edge with a thin dark purple sharpie.

Because this is water color paper, it's rougher.

This was my first time using my new chevron embossing folder!  It was duper exciting.

I absolutely love the way the chevron embossing folder looks.  How couldn't I?  It's chevron!

Water colors are really fun if you do it right.  I've had this set for many years.

After completely wetting the paper, gently blot different colors onto the wet surface.  You must do all that in a timely manner, so as not to let it dry before getting on all the colors you want.  Remember that the colors will be lighter after they've dried.

I may have messed with the colors a little too much, or maybe it's just that I shouldn't have used blue.  If you're not careful with water colors, it could get muddied.

Notice how the color sinks into the grooves.

Vellum!

Cut out a 1 1/2 by 2 inch piece of white cardstock.  We will be making a tag shape by cutting out a "V" from one end.  I used an envelope to trace around.

For the vellum piece, I just held it in place over the cardstock, marked a small border (about 1/8 inch), and then cut out.  The flat ends (opposite of the "V") should be lined up together, though.

Use a straight piece of scrap paper to draw dots down each side of the cardstock tag piece.  They will show through the vellum in the final product.

Write something short and sweet on the vellum piece.

Since vellum is translucent, glue on the underside might show through, so I chose to back-stitch.  I think it's fitting, since there will be a fabric flower in the opposite corner.

Position the tag in the bottom right corner with regular liquid glue.

...And position the flower in the upper left corner with a glue dot.

I LOVE CHEVRON.