7.21.2010

Rag Flip Flops

Girls Camp is a time when the Young Women in a ward get together, with the leaders, and do a summer camp. It has always been one of my most favorite activities. The memories from my camps when I was in Young Women's have stayed with me. I love singing around the camp fire, hiking, being in nature and the crafts/activities that our leaders had for us were always great.

This year, being camp director, my goal was to make sure that everything we give the girls will be things that they can continue to use once they are back from camp. These things will be a subtle reminder of their time at camp, the Spirit they felt there and the memories they made. We also asked the girls what things they would like to do {and would like NOT to do}. It was mentioned that they wanted to do rag flip flops.

Me, myself and I have never made them but I could not imagine that it would be too hard. I called up my cousin {she is a sewing/quilting machine} and we talked about how I could go about it.

Here it is......

Find any scrap material you have lying around or get a couple of quarter squares from your local fabric store. The scrap will need to be made into 1"x8" pieces. You will also need scissors, a ruler and a pair of flip flops.

1st Step: I took all my material and cut them into 8" lengths.


2nd Step:
Then at the top of each I cut in about a 1/2". Then I tore the fabric where I had cut it. There you have it, a huge pile of 1"x8" scraps. Each flip flop took 29 strips. Depending on the length of the straps on your own flip flops ~ you may need more or less. Make sure to tare enough strips!


3rd Step:
I went down the strap and tied all the fabric strips in double knots. I'm sure you could do a single but I felt the double knot would hold better and it made the ends just a bit shorter instead of having so much fabric hang off.



There you have it. Camp Flip Flops!!!

7.20.2010

Organize

As I am sure you have gathered, I love to create things ~ easy, hard, simple, intricate ~ whatever it is, I always find a release in creating and designing. One thing I love to do is sew, it's one of those skills that my mom made sure we knew how to do growing up that has turned into a hobby. When I was in high school I designed clothes. The past couple of years the spark for quilting has been rekindled and someone can never have too many bags. For the past couple of years I have been designing patterns for the perfect bag. I have come to find that there is no 'perfect' bag, just a perfect bag for each situation.

I have this small old binder that I have been putting my crocheting patterns in along with templates for quilts and other little nick-knacks. I was just using page protectors to toss everything in if I couldn't put a hole punch in to. It worked out pretty well to hold all those things and keep them in one spot. The only problem is that everything sinks to the bottom and the binder becomes lopsided.


How I fixed the problem was this. I took those page protectors and sewed pockets into them.

1st Step: take a thin piece of cardboard that fits into the page protector and draw a line on it as to where you want to make the pockets for the lower sections.



2nd Step: Take an exacto and cut along that line. {If you stitch before you cut the extra openings it hard to then cute it without going through the other side.}



3rd Step: When setting up my machine I put the length of the stitch to almost as long as it would go. If the stitches are too close together then as the needle goes through it will end up perferating the page protector and make it easier for it to tear along the stitches.

4th Step: Since the page protector is clear it was easy to look at the guides on my machine. If I was stitching where a cut was I left an 1/8th in seem allowance.


On the one's where I wanted to do a vertical stitch I took a piece of masking tape and placed it further in on the arm as my guide.


5th Step: Back stitching is out of the question, again, because we don't want to perforate the page protector to the point that it tears. I pulled both piece of thread to the back and simply tied them in a knot.


Final Step: Fill and stay organized!!! The binder has tabs that I have used to seperate the different types of mediums {for example crocheting and sewing}. These 'new' page protectors help me to keep my instructions and templates organized with everything else as well!!


I hope you enjoyed the tutorial.

As always ~ with every tutorial, if you like the idea but would rather purchase, leave me a comment. I'll set up a sale on my ETSY shop.

7.17.2010

Custom order - 100 Bridal Shower Recipe Cards

I received an e-mail yesterday from someone wanting me to design a card for a bridal shower, the colors are Tiffany Blue/Aqua and Red and the theme includes birds. She liked the Dandelion card and was wondering if I could work change it a bit to fit her theme. I was so excited because I haven't done anything with a bird yet.

The branch is from a design I did some time ago but ended up going a different way for that particular project. I love how it turned out. I'm going to have to print extras for myself.



My customer has this to say: I LOVE THEM!! They are perfect and I know that the bride will be thrilled. I am so excited!!!!!!!

7.06.2010

A Fun Book Mark

I wanted a book mark to go with all the books I have been reading lately, instead of just using a random paper scrap or an old piece of mail that has been siting on the counter. My sister had a neat little book mark that hung over the spine but I have not been able to find the hooks to make them. Instead I saw one with ribbon and I think it is perfect.



Keep an eye on my ETSY shop. I hope to get some up there soon. If you have a specific theme or color leave me a comment, I would be happy to make something just for you.

ENJOY!!!

7.02.2010

Crafts for Girls Camp

This year I am Camp Director for Girls Camp, it's an summer activity for they young women in my church.

I am so excited for the crafts we have set up for the girls to do. They are simple but fun. My main goal was to make sure that everything we give the girls will be stuff that they will actually keep and could use once we got home. I want them to be reminded about the testimonies we shared at camp and the spirit that was there with us.

Some of the things we are doing are a surprise to the girls so I won't be able to post about them until after camp, but I'll be sure to put them up here.

7.01.2010

Party Invitations for Halloween

Today has been fun. I spent some time designing some Halloween cards. I know we design them early so that we can be sure to get them online and available ~ but now I am so excited for a Halloween party. When my husband came home I told him about ideas for a party, he just looked at me like I was crazy.

When it comes time to choose one to use for our own party, I don't know which one I'll go with. I like them both for different reasons but I also started a couple others that I'm pretty excited about too. Good thing I have time to choose.

Ever since my seventh grade art class
I have loved Yellow and Purple together.

This one was inspired by a picture of drift wood (more like drift tree)
and the Hill of Crosses!

ENJOY!!

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