charmed

A month and one day ago, I bought charms from littleblackdress on etsy. I was very excited because it had taken me exactly six days to decide what to purchase with my newly enabled Paypal account. I scoured etsy high and low for such a perfect first purchase. I found littleblackdress’s store and I knew I came to the right place. Once upon a time, I made jewelry out of every little thing I could get my hands on and her store made me feel like doing it again. So I made use of these wonderful little etsy buttons labeled “ADD TO CART” and “SHOP MORE.” The purchase took a little less than a minute.

The delivery took a month. I expected the items to arrive in the Philippines in two weeks. So I started calling the local post office by the beginning of this month. But nobody would answer the telephone. I called about five times but I was never able to connect with a human being on the other line. Have you ever heard of a government office that never answers calls? When I called their other office, some worker put the phone down while I was explaining my situation. Mom Dieu! I started to get antsy but my officemates wisely told me to wait. Well, wait I did.

Finally, the notice came. Here’s a completely unrelated and possibly funny fact: the entrance of the post office’s building is submerged in flood water. It can’t flow anywhere, judging by the dark green color, sticky appearance, and fauna that’s starting to develop. Evaporation is its only way out. (”We don’t think so,” say the tropical storms that have been hitting us one after another for three weeks now.)

So, on to my first etsy purchase.

MIXED CHARMS. There are five that are already hanging from the bracelet my sister is wearing.

 

SKELETON KEYS AND PADLOCKS. I love these.

 

SEWING CHARMS. Of course, these are my favorites. I bought the previous batches because of this set, to save on shipping you know.

 

Paypal is my new bestfriend.

 

And here is a charm a local smithie made for me.  She has a new etsy shop: strozzistawzeeh.etsy.com. Sterling silver goodness! I used black cord because I don’t like jewelry that are overly shiny.  (Special thanks to TEE for dealing with the transaction)

I WANT

an ice cream maker!!!

Seriously, I want a machine for making frozen yogurt, sherbet, and the occasional unhealthy, cholesterol-laden ice cream.

However, the only ice cream maker I can afford right now is the one with Mickey Mouse in the packaging and comes with a plastic spoon.

 

Yoga mat bag TUTORIAL

I have been wanting to make this for over a month. While I was cutting fabric for totes last night, I got re-acquainted with a fabric which I thought would be perfect as yoga mat bag.

FUN FACT: I made this the night I skipped yoga class. HEE.

YOU WILL NEED: 

Okay, I didn’t have to post the picture above. I just wanted to brush up on my photoshop skills.

1. Measure the circumference and length of your rolled-up yoga mat.

  

2. Cut your fabric. You’ll get one rectangular piece (circumference x length) and a round piece for your bottom. Add a two-inch allowance to your rectangular piece. For the round piece, I am sure that there is a formular somewhere for getting the exact measurement. I eyeballed mine and used my rolled-up yoga mat as template. Cut the same pieces for your lining. You should also cut 2 strips for your strap. Mine was 33 inches long and 1.25 inches wide.

 

3. Start sewing. Start with your strap.

 4. Turn inside out and topstitch.

5. Fold your rectangular piece, lengthwise. Right sides together.

6. Sew the long side, starting two inches from the edge, but on one side only. Sew all the way to the other end. The unsewn part is for your drawstring.

7. Mark three inches inches from where you started sewing.  Pin one end of your strap. The position should be the same as the picture below.

8. Sew your strap to the bag. Be careful not to sew the other side of the bag. Reinforce this part by sewing across the strap several times. I used zigzag stitch.

9. Take your circular part and pin it to the bottom of your bag. This would be the side opposite to where you sewed the strap. Make sure that you sandwich the other end of the strap between the circular part and your bag. In the picture, the strap is between the pink and blue-ish pins.

10. Sew them together. Turn inside out. After that, your bottom (well, not YOUR bottom) will look like this:

11. Sew your lining using similar steps. There is no need to start several inches from the edge when you’re sewing the rectangular part of your lining, though.

12. Insert your lining inside the external part of your bag.

13. Now fold 1 inch of the bag towards the lining. This is the piping for your drawstring.

14. Fold 1/4 inch of the lining towards the part that you folded in Step 13. This would lock your piping nicely.

15. Sew together. When you’re done, you will have a hole where you can insert your ribbon.

 

FINISHED BAG:

ACTION SHOTS:

HAPPY SEWING!

exclamation points everywhere

I got my first issue of Craft!!!

I will make this:

 

THANK YOU, MIMICH!!!

And yes, the magazine smells really nice.

discovered scrapblog

http://www.scrapblog.com

basket of sewing goodies, oh yeah, oh yeah

THANK YOU SO SO SO SO MUCH.