Zippered Small Bag Exchange

I joined the Scrappy Girls Club on Facebook.  So many ideas for using scraps, and I have plenty of those.  Heather Valentine from The Sewing Loft is the originator of this group.  I am gathering that swaps are a big part of this group and I jumped right in and joined the first one that came up.

This swap was for a small zippered bag. It is encouraged but not required to send a little more than a zippered bag.  I hadn't realized that at first and was a little confused by the photos I saw of what people were receiving for the exchange.  I thought maybe there were two different exchanges going on at once.  Once I caught on I really enjoyed watching the many ways people found to use up their scraps.

Many of the gifts were very color coordinated and actually looked like a matched set.  They were true works of art and beauty.  Have to be the first to admit mine look as though they were created by three different people who probably don't even get along.  Such is my life.  I like diversity, I enjoy fun and funky as well as a little more sophisticated and probably everything in between.  Hoping my swap partner likes to change it up too.

I really had fun with this.  I found all the patterns on Pinterest.  So, yes sometimes I actually make some of the things I pin!  Here are links to the patterns.  I must have changed my mind about 20 times trying to decide what to make.  The bonus is now I have lot's of patterns for small zippered bags on my Sewing page on Pinterest.  Expect to see a few more in the future, so many cute bags, not enough hours in a day.

gathered clutch tutorial

Cat eye zippered pouch

cat coin purse  

This tutorial only has photos and you can tell if you look closely she hand stitched the entire bag.  I really like how she did the zipper but since I was sewing mine on the machine I decided to simplify and put the zipper on the back.  If I make it again I might try to do it different but this worked well enough.  I sorted through one of my jars of buttons to find the perfect cat eyes.

I added a small notepad I found at the 'going out of business' Hancock fabrics and a needle threader.  I use my needle threader more and more the older I get.

Have a Creative Day
Janet

Pinterest Photo Project

This is a project I have been wanting to try for quite awhile.  Here is the first tutorial I found about how to transfer a photo to a piece of wood.  I also found this YouTube tutorial with even more instruction.  If you google transfer a photo to wood, you will find as many tutorials as you want.

I saw this Basswood Canvas made by Walnut Hollow at JoAnn Fabric's last week, and it happened to be on sale.  So, I quickly bought one to give this project a try.  I like this better than a solid piece of wood, just because it is lighter weight and so easier to hang (at least for me).

I chose this photo of my mom and dad from their wedding day.  I've always loved this one, they look so happy.  My son says it's because that is before they had eight kids. (Haha)  I reversed the photo, so it would end up the same orientation when I put it on the wood.  Next, I copied it to a disc, because I can't find my flashdrive.  (I loaned it to my son for a class project.) When I transferred to the disc, I used a high quality setting.  I drove to Office Max and asked them to print it for me, because a laser print is what everyone says works best.  My printer is ink.  I had it printed on cardstock because I hadn't thought thru this part yet when she asked what to print it on, it worked well for me.

I painted the sides of my canvas black.  I thought this would look good with my black and white photo.  I used Golden Gel Medium because I already had some.  I put the medium on the board itself and some on the photo too.  Just put your gel covered photo on the gel covered board, photo side to the board of course.  Smooth it out, either with a credit card or a squeegee.  I let mine dry over night.

In the morning I wet the back of the paper with a damp paper towel.  Let the water really sink in for a few minutes and start rubbing with your fingertips.  Be careful if you have long nails so you don't rip through to the wood.  Although if you do it could be an opportunity for a distressed photo.

It took about five minutes to get the initial layer off.  I rewet the paper at this point.  Rub with a little more caution now so you don't actually rub off the photo itself. I noticed I didn't quite have my photo lined up with the edges of my canvas but this was an easy touch up with the paint.

I still need to either gesso the picture or add some protective coating, but I think it turned out pretty nice.

Back to my Phd's.
Have a Creative Day
Janet