Travel Document Organizer

Before I traveled overseas the second time for work I decided to make a travel document organizer. Of the tutorials I found online, I liked this one from Thimble the best. Here's my version

The tutorial was easy to follow and the organizer itself is really great. I like the security the zippered pockets provided and it was great to have everything I needed at my fingertips.

 

If you have a need for such an accessory, I'd really recommend it.

Cute Dogs & A Funny Picture

How cute is this picture?

hehehe

Adventures in Sewing Purses

I asked Mr. ShowMe to get me Lisa Lam's book, The Bag Making Bible, for Christmas last year. My plans were to sew my way through it and improve my bag making skills as I learned new things. The first bag in the book is the Peek-A-Boo Pleat tote. Here's my version.

 

And about the time I finished it I found out my employer was sending me back overseas. Having gone once already I knew I wanted a better carry on bag, so I skipped ahead in my book and made the Great Getaway Bag next. 

It was just the perfect size. Big enough for all my carry-on necessities, plus my laptop, so I was able to pack my lap-top bag in my checked bags and not deal with in while I was traveling.

I still haven't made all the bags in the book, but I've found it a valuable resource. I've learned a lot of things that I didn't know before. Whenever I'm trying a new purse design and want to add a feature that I haven't tried before, it's my first stop for instructions.

Jewelry Organizers

Mr. Showme has been busy making some really cool jewelry organizers. He's been experimenting and figuring out how to transfer a printed image directly to wood. This isn't decoupage or decals. The process is really neat the results are quite breath-taking.

These first two are images from vintage sewing patterns. The lady in the green dress and the next one with the pin-up are printed onto reclaimed cabinet doors.

This one is from a vintage pin-up.

Some old advertising.

And a couple that weren't printed images, but were stained glass.

Here's one showing how much jewelry you can get on the pegs that he attached around the frame. I'll have my own jewelry a bit more organized than this, but we wanted to show how much it would hold. They're in our Etsy shop if you want to see more pictures or any new ones as he posts them.

Luggage Tags

I wanted to make some luggage tags to help my dark green suitcase stand out from all the other dark green suitcases. I looked at and even tried a few tutorials online. I ended up taking the things I liked from a few different ones and added a little of my own ideas in the mix to come up with this. I'm really happy with how they turned out.

 They're fabric on both sides with Velcro at the bottom keeping them together and elastic loops at the top to slip knot onto the luggage handle.

It's hard to see in the picture, but I bought a wallet photo insert for $1 that had six photo sleeves at Target. I cut the sleeves off and separated the two pieces of plastic so I got two pieces of clear plastic from each sleeve. For my buck I have enough plastic sheets to make twelve luggage tags. I just stitched around the three sides leaving the top open to slip the piece of paper in with my secret identity printed on it.

I also finally braved the dreaded button hole and ended up wondering why I was so nervous about doing them! They were a breeze!!

A Baby Shower

We threw a baby shower today for a co-worker. It's her second, so she wasn't really expecting it, (the shower, not the baby! hehe). The diaper tricycle that I made was a big hit. It was a lot of fun.. much more fun than the diaper cakes I've made in the past.

Where I'd Really Rather Be

Florida. St. Augustine Beach.
Where I'd really rather be at any given moment.

Vintage Linen

I had all this vintage linen in my fabric stash that was just mocking me all the time with what to do with it. I'd look at my fabric shelf to select fabric for a project and would spend a few minutes looking at it, unfolding pieces, sighing, and folding them back. I finally got an idea and decided to try it. None of it has any sentimental value, but I still feel a sort of obligation to use it wisely. Much of it was once cherished by someone, I've been so afraid of wasting it on something that wasn't worthy of it.

Yeah, I know.. I think too much... go ahead and say so, you wouldn't be the first person to come to that conclusion!

So here's what I came up with. How'd I do?

Market Bags

I made a few market bags from some vintage curtain and drapery fabric that I had. I tried two different styles and like the way the blue floral ones came together better than the way I made the one with the tropical fabric.
They're in our Etsy shop... 'cept for the ones I kept for myself. Next time we head out to the flea market, I'll be ready!

Dad's Been Busy Too!

My father-in-law has been busy. We're listing some of his things in our Etsy store. Here's a sneak peak:

He's really good with wood working. That last picture is a frame and the picture doesn't do it any justice. Mr. ShowMe needs to take a better picture. That hutch is a child sized. Sooo cute! I would've killed for something like that to play with when I was little!

Going Back to Work to Rest!

I'm going back to work tomorrow having been off since last Friday. I burned a couple of vacation days after the holiday to extend my weekend. I'll have to post pics this week of all the things I made.. five purses, three market bags, and a couple of bracelets. Mr.Showme has been busy too, he's making these super cool jewelry holders. I"ll need to get pictures up of them too.
Check back for more details! 

Frustrating Crafting

It was one of those days in craft-land. I did manage to get three new market totes done, but then started on a new purse design using some vintage drapery material, and ran out of navy blue thread. So I started on another purse design using some vintage linen and realized I only had one magnetic snap. UGH!

Guess who's going to JoAnn's tomorrow?

Potholders

I'm relatively new to the blog world. I know.. I can be slow about things at times. I had heard about blogs, but all you hear about in main stream media are the radical political types who go too far complaining about someone of some importance, or the occasional news story about the person who got a little too mouthy in a negative way about their employer and got fired for it. To be honest, it was the movie Julie and Julia where I really learned about the blog world. I love that movie! I wish I had found her blog as she was writing it and followed along, but I'm not sure I hadn't even heard the word blog back then.

When I discovered I could make purses, that lead to internet searches and the wonderful discovery of all the sewing and craft blogs. After a quick lesson from Mr.ShowMe on how to subscribe to a blog I was on my way. Imagine my surprise when I then discovered that these talented blog creators give stuff away! I've yet to win anything, mind you. I'm horribly unlucky when it comes to drawings, but it's still fun to enter.

One such blog, had a potholder making contest. Now I knew I'd never win, I'd never made a potholder, in fact I'd never even quilted anything, but we need potholders, so I thought I'd give it a try. I did this one by quilting some scraps together. It turned out ok, but a little wonky.

It's not quite as wonky as it looks in the picture. I propped it up on something and it wasn't sitting level. Here's a picture of the back.

Not bad.. but not great either.
I went back through my fabric stash and found a piece of fabric that I had fallen in love with. It was one of those fabrics that I didn't want to use because I was afraid if I cut it, I would mess it up somehow. You've had fabric like that, haven't you? But I got brave and used some. I did a fussy cut and quilted around the pattern on the fabric.

I liked the effect from the quilting like this, but it was still wonky. So after a bit more tweaking, I ended up with this.

I know! Right? I backed it with a rust colored corduroy fabric and seemed to conquer the wonky factor. Oh! And I almost forgot. For quilt batting, (since I didn't have any), I used an old mattress cover for a bed size that we don't even own anymore. And if you're wondering where the loop is, I didn't forget it. I don't hang up my potholders anyway, so I didn't put one on it.
So I figured out how to make a decent potholder, and I also learned that even wonky potholders will keep you from burning your fingers when you're taking a hot dish from the oven!