A Shop a Week

Well, it's not really a-shop-a-week any more. More like a-shop-a-month... But, hey, we're still here, so it could have been worse... My life feels like a total chaos in the last month or so (I'm back to part-time work, after a year and a half, I began studying again but still at home with the little one), so I neglected the blog a bit. Hopefully it will get better soon...

Anyhow, Green Queen Eco Design is a fantastic shop. I've been following it for a while now. They sell mostly fabric lampshades. I actually fantasize about making one myself, but meanwhile let's just take a look at these beautiful lampshades.

I love the color palette of this lampshade

And this one is more on the romantic side

I want this for my craft room! And my bedroom. And the living room...

And this one is not a lampshade nor made of fabric, but it's a great idea as a gift for kids that have everything already.

Pebble Dominos

Don't forget, if you know of any amazing online shop, or if you own one, let me know :)

Merry Xmas Everyone!!!

Fabric Covered Decorative Letters Tutorial

This post was originally published as a guest post on the fabulous blog Someday Crafts, and I'm posting it now here on the blog as well.

When we moved to our new place, the wall above my daughter's bed seemed empty. I wanted to hang something there, but didn't know what. That was when I saw cute decorative letters, and decided to make those for her. It's pretty simple, and I prepared an easy tutorial so that you can make them too!

You can use store bought wooden or paper mache letters for this project, but it's so much fun to make these yourself, so I'll teach you how to do that.

For the letters you'll need -
A piece of cardboard
Empty toilet rolls
Scissors
X-Acto knife
Glue Gun

Using the cardboard, trace your chosen letters, twice of each, and cut them.

Draw parallel lines on your empty paper roll, about 2.5 cm (1") apart, then cut.

Using hot glue, glue your circles onto one of the letters.

Then apply glue to the other side of the circles and place the other letter on top. The hot glue dries quickly, so work fast and gradually.

Cut a few strips of cardboard (if you're using regular cardboard box, make sure to cut the cardboard perpendicular to the waves).

Using these strips and glue gun, finish your letter. It doesn't have to be very accurate, as we're going to cover it with batting.

Let it dry for a few minutes, then you can move on to the next step - cover your letter with fabric!
For that, you'll need -
Your letter (obviously...)
Fabric
Some sort of batting
Scissors
Spray adhesive
Piece of felt

Cut the fabric and batting to match the shape of the letter. As we're going to work with curves and corners, make sure you leave enough fabric for mistakes. Place the batting on the letter and the fabric on the batting. Using the spray adhesive, glue the fabric to the back of the letter. This part can be kind of tricky - each letter and its own problems...

A few words about working with spray adhesive - Spray from a distance of 20-30 cm (8"-12") on wrong side of the fabric and on the back of the letter, wait 10-30 seconds and carefully apply fabric onto letter. If you have wrinkles, lift fabric and apply again.

Now to the back of the letter - cut a piece of felt a bit smaller than your letter, then use the spray adhesive to apply onto the back of the letter.

That's it! You can now hang your letter or word on the wall. Since they're made of cardboard, they're super light, so it shouldn't be a problem. You can glue a loop of yarn to the back or just use double stick tape.

I'm Guest Posting Over at Someday Crafts!

I'm so excited, I love Someday Crafts and I'm guest posting there today! Come and check out my easy Fabric Covered Decorative Letters Tutorial!

A Cereal Box Turned Magazine Holder Tutorial

One of the best things I've learned in the past few years (mostly thanks to my kids, that bring home from school  these fabulous ideas) is to take something that isn't needed anymore and breathe new life into it. And so, when my cooking books and magazines shelf looked like this...

I knew I just had to find a solution to this mess. While I was thinking about it, I saw the cereal box that somehow found its way to this shelf and decided to use the empty boxes laying (for a couple of months already...) in our recycling basket.
But to put the magazines inside the box and call it a day? No way! For once I wasn't lazy... I prepared everything I needed (and a camera!) and began working. To be honest, it's a 10-minutes quick project, even if you add a cup of coffee on the side, so bring the stuff and get going!

Shall we begin?

Find a big, narrow box (it doesn't have to be a cereal box), nice fabric (not too heavy, not too lightweight), spray adhesive and scissors

Cut the box like that

See? Just like that

To measure how much fabric you'll need, place the box on the fabric and wrap around. Leave 1.5-2 cm (0.6"- 0.8") hangover.

We'll begin with the narrow tall side. This will be the back of the box.

Shake the bottle well, spray adhesive from 20-30 cm (8"-12") distance on wrong side of the fabric and on the box, wait 10 seconds and carefully apply fabric onto box. If wrinkles are created, lift fabric and apply again.

Paste the fabric onto all sides of the box from the outside, except for the bottom

When you get to the narrow tall side again (where we began working), fold in the edge of the fabric, to keep things clean, and then apply.

Now spray adhesive on the bottom of the box as well and apply fabric, then paste the edges of the fabric onto the inside of the box. That's how it looks now.

Now it's all nice and organized! You can also use it to hold kids activity books or magazines for the bathroom or you can even use it at the office.

Fabric Covered Binder Tutorial (a nice packaging to your blog planner)

When I went to the store to buy a binder, I didn't like any of the binders they had, so I decided to upcycle one myself. I took a simple binder and covered it with fabric. This is an example for an easy-peasy upcycling that will take you 5 minutes to make, but create a WOW! change.

This is how you will make one yourself:

Materials: a simple binder, fabric (you can use 2 different pieces. One for the inside and one for the outside of the binder),  spray adhesive, scissors

Place the binder on the fabric that you're using for the outside. Leave 5 cm (around 2") hangover and cut

Spray adhesive from 20-30 cm (8"-12") distance on wrong side of the fabric and on outside of binder and carefully apply fabric onto binder. Start with one side, then move to the center (the narrow part) and only then to the other side (apply other side when binder is closed). If you have wrinkles, lift fabric and apply again

Move on to the inside of the binder. Fold in the sides edges, spray adhesive and apply

That's how it looks now

To paste the top and bottom edges, cut 2 vertical stripes in the hangover fabric in the center (the narrow part) and fold a triange in the corner

Fold in edges, spray adhesive and apply to the inside

Now to the inside. Cut the other piece of fabric to size (leave 1-2cm / 0.4"-0.8" hangover)

In the center, where the rings are, cut 2 small slits and thread the rings

Fold in the edges towards the wrong side. You can press or paste first, but if you're like me, just use your finger :)

Spray adhesive like you did on the outside and apply

That's it, done! Easy and fun. And when people ask you "where did you buy this?!", you can always reply with "oh, this? I made it. It was nothing. Took me exactly 5 minutes...".

I used this binder for my blog planner. If you also need a blog planner, just subscribe to The Crafeteria's newsletter and you'll receive one to your inbox within 24 hours.