HodgePodge Sneak Peek!

Well, it's that time of year again . . . craft fair time!  

This year will be my second year with a booth at HodgePodge, my hometown's craft fair.  Last year was my first time and I learned a lot.  I did reasonably well and made a pretty good profit.  I'm super excited for this year since I have a lot of new items I didn't have last time.  I'll actually have lots of jewelry this year: book spine bracelets (which I came up with AFTER HodgePodge last year), book themed pendants and charm bracelets made from book pages.  For this post, I think I'll just show off purses.  I'll post pics of my jewelry soon!

Last week I purchased a special purse hanger on eBay (for $35!).  Check out how cute (and please try to ignore my mess on the table)!

It only holds 10 purses, so I'll have to find other ways to display them.  Speaking of purses, I already have two made especially for the fair.  I wanted to have a better selection of classics this year, so I'm not posting these on Etsy.  Here is an exclusive sneak peek!

I made this brooch inspired button for the purse closure.  The image was cut from the book and I coated it in some sealer.

Yes, that is Alice in Wonderland fabric!  It's covered in the original John Tenniel illustrations--love it!

Here is a shabby chic "Pride and Prejudice."  The book cover was faded and had spots but I think that only adds to the charm.

A similar brooch-like button for this purse, again made from a book illustration.  It's purty.  ; )  Right now I'm working on a "Wizard of Oz" book clutch that is very different from the classic style of these two.  Imagine if Tim Burton had directed the adaptation and you'll have an idea of the style.  I'm very excited to show it off . . . which I will in a couple of days when it's done!

T-Skirt Tutorial: Turn a Men's T-Shirt into a Skirt!

I love t-shirts.  In fact, I'm a little obsessed with them.  At one point, I owned 60+ t-shirts.  When I first saw the idea for a t-shirt skirt, I was excited to say the least.  Besides being cute, they are extremely comfortable!  I wore mine with flip flops in the summer heat and it was so nice.  I think I'll wear it through fall by layering it with leggings.

I researched and read several different methods for making a skirt from a t-shirt and found they were more complicated than they had to be.  By accident, I recently discovered foldover elastic.  This stuff is genius . . . why didn't anyone tell me about it earlier?!  Anyway, I decided to try using it as the waistband for this skirt and it was crazy easy and fast.  Here's what you'll need to make your own:

A t-shirt (preferably a men's size . . . I'm a size 6 and used a size "L" shirt)

1 yard foldover elastic (available through this amazing Etsy shop)

Thread

1. Turn the t-shirt inside out.  Now, if you have a skirt that fits well, get it out now.  I used an old a-line skirt as a template.  I laid it on top of the shirt and drew the shape onto the t-shirt with chalk.

2. Using the chalk outline as a guide, cut the t-shirt.  Be sure to leave about an inch outside the chalk for seam allowance.  Pin the sides of the skirt at the chalk line.

3. Sew the sides of the skirt.  Be sure to try it on to see if it fits well.

4.  Following the line down the middle, fold the elastic over the waist and pin.  When you get to the end, fold the elastic over once and then fold that portion over the starting point.  Pin down, then sew.

Tah-dah!  You're done!  Super easy, fast and cute.  I can't wait to make more!  If you make your own, please post your results!

I'm currently having a giveaway on my Facebook page right now.  Post the word "Alice" to my wall (as many times as you'd like) for a chance to win this "Drink Me" necklace I made:

You have through Monday, August 29th to enter.  The winner will be announced Tuesday, August 30th.  Good luck!

Curioser and Curioser

Sorry it's been awhile. I'm up to my ears in projects. In celebration of the LDS Temple in Atlanta being rededicated, the youth are performing for the leader of our church, President Monson. I've been asked to be a dance coordinator which entails teaching teenagers choreographed numbers . . . not the easiest task but it should be fun. So I'll be doing that for two months. Then, I'm trying to finish a screenplay for the Nicholl Fellowship Competition. The deadline is May 2nd. Did I mention I'm also trying to potty-train my toddler? Or that my husband is on a three week business trip? Have I squeezed any sympathy from you yet?

ANYWAY, I had to share a project I tried the other week. I got it from The Felt Mouse blog and it was really easy and neat. It's a tutorial for an Eyeglass Brooch. As Jennifer points out, all old eyeglasses should be donated to the Lions Club or other organizations that collect used glasses for those in need. I got my lens from an old pair of my mom's reading glasses . . . she buys a pair, loses them, then buys another pair. This happens about every other week so she has lots and lots of glasses! If you don't have any old ones laying around, plenty of stores carry reading glasses for cheap (some even for $1!).

I followed Jennifer's directions, only I used E-6000 as my adhesive instead of Diamond Glaze. From the look of it, I think E-6000 is much easier to use. It's a gel and so it doesn't run. I just squirted a generous amount on the inside of the lens and evened it out with a foam brush. I did have a few air bubbles but I still like it. I used an illustration from a copy of "Alice in Wonderland" and I love how it turned out. Instead of painting the back of the brooch like Jennifer, I coated the back with matte ModgePodge (one of my favorite things in the entire world! LOVE that stuff!) so the text of the page showed.

I still felt the brooch looked unfinished so I glued a blue ribbon around the edge and tied a bunny charm to the top. It still looked a little off so I glued a ruffle as well. It's a little more fussy than I intended but I think it all works.

Going along with the Alice-themed post, I've got to brag on my "Alice in Wonderland" book purse. Yeah, yeah it's cute and all but what I'm really proud about is the button closure. It's ELASTIC! I finally made a button closure I can be proud of! I usually use ribbon but it's kind of a hassle to get on and off. I didn't want to use just plain elastic because it's not cute and it could get caught and tear. So I made a little tube of fabric to protect the elastic and frankly, it's just cute because it matches with the rest of the bag. YAY! Every bag with a button closure will now have a fantastic elastic loop. I'm in the process of "updating" my current bags so they all have elastic loops, too. I'm just so happy my bags are functional as well as cute. That's very important to me.