Crafty Monday: A Crafting Challenge!

**I am updating the challenge so that we can take responses and sign ups until April 28, 2014. The projects will be due by May 16th but can be turned in earlier than that. If you plan to join, please fill in the form below! 

Yes, it is Monday. No, I didn't post anything last week. Yes, I have been very, very busy with kids and quilts. I've come to the conclusion that I will most likely be taking a bit of time off so that I can concentrate on getting my two quilts done in time for my clients - as that is what is the most important aspect of what I do! As for the block of the month and the sewing skill builder, those will hopefully make an appearance this week. I'm sorry for the delay!

But I thought I would sit down here for a bit and send out a challenge! Today as I was searching for some spices to make my slow cooker roast beef for some quesadillas tonight, I realized that my spice cabinet is a disaster. I had just returned from grocery shopping, couldn't find what I needed, didn't want to run out again, and just KNEW that my cumin was somewhere up there in that jumbled up mess. I've been wanting to redo my spices and get them organized for a long time. So I pulled them all out of the cupboard (found what I needed) and decided to do a search for spice organization.

I got a lot of really cool stuff, and of course Pinterest is always awesome, but all of it required that I either order something or run out and buy stuff. Neither of which I really wanted to do. Then I put my mind to work. I needed something to put them in on the door. That was most important. Most are already in jars and containers, and I don't show off the inside of my cupboards very often, so I wasn't concerned with aesthetics.

After a search around the house, my eyes landed on a discarded soon-to-be-recycled cereal box. Were my eyes deceiving me? Was that box the perfect size for a spice jar, yet not so wide that it wouldn't fit inside my cabinet door? Yes, it was perfect!

So I cut down the box, experimented with covering it in both fabric and spray paint (so far going with the fabric), and stapled it to the inside of the door. Voila! Yes, I will do a better tutorial on it on Friday, but guess what! I had made something from found objects in my home that served a much better use than landfill, uh...filler.

Cereal Box Spice storage in fabric

So here is my challenge to you:

Make something useful using discarded and found objects around your house! For this week's challenge (which I hope to have more soon!) it needs to be something to help you get organized. The only rules are that 90% of your item must be made from recycled or on-hand products. Anything from your craft room, tool shed, recycle bin, etc. You get it. No cheating and saying you didn't buy something when you did! Not that I think you will, but hey, gotta throw that out there.

All challenges MUST be submitted to the Flikr group by Sunday, April 13 and a description of your project including the items you used, what it is used for, and how you did it submitted to me at freckledotsquilts (at) gmail (dot) com. Please see above for deadlines and sign ups. You will still need to submit pictures to the Flikr group. Please use the form below to sign up. Then we'll vote on our favorites. The winner will have their project featured on this blog as a tutorial! If you have a handmade store online, this is also great for exposure!

Crafty Monday: Art Room Organizers

Good Monday morning! I try to stay cheerful about Mondays. They get a bad rap most of the time. But I always believe that without Mondays, we would not have the rest of the week to look forward to! Since we do have a Monday, and we show you some pretty cool crafty stuff on Mondays, let's say happy Monday and start on our Crafty Monday project.

Collaged Storage Box 

Along with trying to expand a tiny closet in our bedroom, we're also trying to refurbish a sunroom at the front of the house that is the kids' playroom. They have toys everywhere in there, and I still haven't come up with good storage solutions for all of the toys. It is also exposed to everything because we have giant windows (non-insulated mind you. What WERE they thinking?) and it faces the front of the house. While the geography of the sunroom is completely wrong (faces North with a west and east sidelong glance, should face south) there are a few things we can do with it. Mainly, I've been wanting to change it into an art room capable of doing double duty as a playroom. Art and play go together in my mind!

Right now my kids don't have a centralized place to express their creativity. We use the dining room table, the coffee table, floors, and whatever other space they can find. The same with the art supplies. They're in various places around the house and to actually do a project we have to hunt things down. So I've been organizing some thoughts on a Pinterest board for this project and came across one the other day that was simple, fun, and with a few tweaks could prove awesome.

Follow Freckle Dots (Tammy Lyons)'s board Building a craft room on Pinterest.

Of course, we're going to put up some curtains in this room, which I'll probably hand paint because I'm totally hooked and hubby bought me paints and brushes for Valentine's Day. But we also need storage in there.



This simple organizer was made using paper towel tubes and a shoe box. Her shoe box was very pretty on its own, but I didn't actually have a shoe box available. I had a juice drink box. I also didn't have very many paper towel or t.p. rolls because my husband found my stash and they hit the trash bin. (Bad husband. Bad.) Still, we were having an "ice day" here in the south, the power was out, and the kids were bouncing off the walls.

Supplies

I gathered up the box that I had and scrounged around for containers. I'm always saving back plastic containers of some sort. I also grabbed the Mod Podge, some brushes, old magazines, scrapbook paper, an old calendar, fabric scraps and the kids.

Scrap Supplies

I had to make my box work a little better for our purposes. It had a rather large hole in the bottom of it where the flaps came together. To "fix" it all I did was cut off the top flaps with a box cutter and fill in the hole with one of the flaps. I hot glued it down and I had a sealed bottom.

box

flaps cut off

flap that fit

glued that sucker in there

Scrapbook paper went on first

More collage

And more

And more

Collaged container with fabric, magazine pictures, etc. 

Collaged container

Beginnings of the organizer! 

We spent the afternoon cutting, pasting, collaging, and having a great time. In the end, we had a very unique pen/pencil/marking utensil organizer. We didn't do anything extravagant, but it was fun and we expanded on an idea that someone else had. You could decorate your box with all kinds of great things, even just plain fabric and paints. Hot glue or white glue could be used in place of Mod Podge. It's an awesome way to recycle and create a piece of art - for art. 

Sewing on Thursday: An armrest sling for crafty projects

I have a mess in my living room. It's not from the kids, or the dogs, or even the husband. It's me. All mine. It's globbed up in piles in various areas. I have organizers and bags filled to the brim with tools and accessories, yet none of them seem to be able to give me the rapid availability I require for my projects? It's a conglomeration of yarn, threads, sewing needles, knitting needles, crochet hooks, patterns, scissors, stitch markers, and coffee cups.

Try as I might to keep it tidy, I get back in there at the end of the day and start working on my projects. Before long, everything is right back out again. After 2 days, I've given up trying to put it away when I'm finished with it, because rarely is there a point where I say, "Ok, I'm done for the night." Nope. What usually happens is that I work up until I send the kids to bed around 8. Then we go in, read or tell stories, say goodnight prayers, and drift off to sleep. Yes, me included sometimes. They're just so warm and snuggly. It's difficult.

I want all of my tools right where I can easily grab them, without having to undo an organizer roll or search through the bag at my feet. They need to be ready instantly and be able to drop right back into place. So I created: The Armrest Project Organizer

Materials:

Approximately 2 yards of top fabric for sling top and pockets
1 yard muslin or backing fabric
lightweight interfacing
thread
ruler

First things first, measure your couch. I went from outside in, first measuring the drop on the outside of the arm, then the top of the armrest, the drop inside the armrest, and across the bottom of the couch under the cushion.

Also measure the distance front to back for the depth you want.

My measurements were 10" outside drop, 8" top of armrest, 13" inside drop, and 21" across the bottom. The width was 18" across. Add 1/2" to all of your measurements. I'll be referring to my measurements throughout, but please substitute your own measurements for mine. 

Cut from top fabric

1-18.5" x 21.5" (bottom)

1 - 18.5" x 13.5" (inside drop)
2 - 18.5" x 8.5" (top of arm/pocket)
2 - 18.5" x 10.5" (outside drop/pocket)
1 - 18.5" x 5.5" (pocket)

Cut from muslin or backing fabric

1-18.5" x 21.5" 

1 - 18.5" x 13.5"
1 - 18.5" x 8.5"
1 - 18.5" x 10.5"

Cut from interfacing for pockets

1 - 18.5" x 8.5"
1 - 18.5" x 10.5"
1 - 18.5" x 5.5"

1. Using 1/4" seams, match the sections to each other, right sides facing. Outside arm to top of arm, top of arm to inside arm, and inside arm to bottom. You'll have one long piece of fabric x the width you chose. Iron all seams open. 
   
   
   
   
2. Do the same with the muslin or backing fabric. I chose to cut these in sections so that they would hang better on the couch. You could also do one very long piece of each fabric if you choose.
3. Iron on interfacing to the 3 pocket sections. Turn the top edge of each pocket under 1/4" and stitch down to create a narrow hem. 
4. To do the pockets, decide how many sections you'd like. You'll only be able to section one of the pockets in this, and I chose to do the middle pocket. I made one 6" section and three 4" sections. I matched the edges of the bottom and sides to the longer (10") inside section and sewed straight lines from the top of the middle pocket to the base, then sewed a 1/4" seam around the sides and bottom. 
   
5. Layer the bottom pocket to the other two pockets and sew around all three thicknesses. 
6. Match the main fabric to the muslin, right sides together, lining up seams and edges, and sew 1/4" seam all around, leaving an opening for turning. 
   
7. Clip the corners and turn the piece right side out. Iron flat and top stitch around seam allowances. 
8. Attach to armrest by laying long piece under cushion and over the top of the armrest. 
   

TADA! You now have a beautiful, one-of-a-kind armrest project sling. You can use this for any type of craft such as knitting, crochet, needlepoint and much more. You can also use it as a handy remote control holder or a candy bar stasher. I hope you had fun with this and as always, if you make one, please post it to our Flickr group!