If you read my previous post about my Plastic Bag Holder (LINK) you know that i have a serious plastic bag hoarding problem lol but in all seriousness I have all these bags but always forget to bring bags with me to the grocery store!
So I decided to make a small bag holder for my purse, I actually made this before I made my large tea towel bag holder, to try & not bring so many bags home again lol I have been using it for about a month & so far it is working out great!
I bought the fabric at Walmart, they sell those patterns in however big squares, so you can use any pattern or material you like, the one I used was either 100% cotton or polyester…sorry, I cannot remember.
Finally, the sewing pattern for this compact bag holder is actually a pattern for a no zipper pillow case, scaled down a lot lol
If you are cheap like me, you reuse your plastic bags for many things, though you find your collection just keeps growing & growing & growing!!!
After I get a certain amount I will put a bunch in the recycle, though for those ones that I may need to use in the future I keep…but these crazy things just keep multiplying!! I tried a “life hack” from Pinterest, putting your plastic bags in an empty kleenex box…then ended up havin 3 kleenex boxes full & was still putting more in bags hanging on the cupboard door knob lol
So I finally had enough!!!
I decided to make a bag holder, turns out it is super simple & you do not need to be a sewing magician to make one! AWESOME!!!
All you need is a tea towel, needle & thread or sewing machine, scissors & thread.
Here are some wood pieces I painted with chalkboard paint & used different materials (inks, paint, twine, chalkboard felts, gel, etc.) for all of these freehanded designs.
The Cheeky Naughty or Nice Paddle– all two sold, the third sold at silent auction for my day job’s christmas party for united way Happy Holidays Gold Tree – still available Happy Holidays with small reindeer head– still available Happy Holidays & Gold Gel– sold Merry Christmas Gold Tree– still available
Let me know what you think, I am thinking of making more next year & might try to sell some on etsy.
If you see anything you might like here just email me, glass vases also still available, click here to view (Link to vase post to come)
Center pieces are always great to have to dress up any holiday party table, you can use anything from flowers to candles & set a warm, festive mood.
This project was inspired by the Halloween centerpiece I made for my home/Night of Fear Festival table.
While out shopping with my mom the inspiration hit, we saw the aisle of ribbon at Michael’s & I instantly thought of my halloween vase & how I could create holiday centerpieces. While we were at our local Dollarama, it was close to closing time, I had a last minute idea to grab some small ornaments to add a little sparkle to the vases to make them complete.
In total I decorated 9 vases and 2 jars with lids.
Here is what you will need:
glass vases, glass jars with lids – Dollarama or Michael’s white denim – Michael’s ribbon, burlap wrap, twine – Michael’s/Walmart/Dollarama Small ornaments – Dollarama glue gun & glue sticks – Walmart/Dollarama
Here was my process:
Made 1 sketch to isolate my idea, then started to wing the ribbon designs one by one with different layers of ribbons or burlap wrap, using hot glue to attach the material to the white denim I picked up (this comes in a roll that is about 6” high). While making these I found the white denim was a great to use not only as a base for the material but as another rustic element integrated into the design.
I wanting to make sure the “sleeves” made for the vases were removable (so they could be washed if need be) this denim was key, it is woven tight enough that the hot glue did not go through the material onto the glass; therefore, the sleeves were not glued to the glass & are removable.
Step 1: Wrap the denim around the vase so it had about a 1/2 inch overlap, this will be the seam used to glue the material around the vase – in retrospect I realized this project could of been done not just with hot glue but sewn together as well.
Step 2: Keep the denim flat & layout the other ribbons/burlap wrap & cut to match the denim’s length.
Step 3: Layout the designs you want to make with all the different layers of ribbons & glue to the denim
Step 4: Prepare the ornaments, mine had small pieces of ribbon for hanging on a tree that I removed so the twine could be use to wrap the ornaments around the vase – be sure your twine is long enough to go around the vase & tie into a bow in the back.
Step 5: Wrap the ribbon “sleeves” around the vase & hot glue the material (or sew) the 1/2 inch overlapping seam, finish off by tying the prepared ornaments around the vase – you can also go one step further and glue the twine to the seam in the back to better secure it in place.
Let me know what you think of this project & if you make any on your own please share with me on my social with the #inspiringdeisngsvase
You can also see real time posts of what will come next on my social.
Starting the process with thumbnailing some rough sketches to map out designs; this initial process is very important, it is more efficient & you have less mistakes when you plan your work out.
I then painted some 96# Bristol Board paper with different colour inks, carved my stamps & stamped away! once the stamping ink was dry I used my jumbo Recollections Lever Stamp to cut tags out of my stamped designs, put together different sets, packaged them using sandwich bags & the extra inked strips of paper.
Here are some of my sketches, final sketches, stamps & packaging:
The office I work at full time is having their 6th annual holiday shopping show, I did not participate last year but was convinced to participate this time around to sell some of my illustrations & paintings, then I thought “why not make some holiday related items to sell?” With my November not being as crazy as my October I will be able to find the time 🙂
I plan on trying to make some hand crafted holiday cards, gift tags, wooden pieces and other holiday crafts. I went to my local Dollarama, Walmart & Michael’s Craft store for some supplies I needed to complete my process: a few sets of blank cards & envelopes, some wooden pieces, a jumbo paper punch & some 96lb Bristol paper, glass vases, ribbon & more.
To see more of my work follow me on my social to see real time posts of what will come next.
Disney Descendants Mal – here is a photo of her homemade Halloween costume to show you what the back of the the character’s coat looks like – to read more about her costume & her brother’s homemade minion costume check out my previous post Homemade Halloween Costumes 2015 (Link to come).
This is a chocolate cake made from scratch decorated with store bought icing…it was an exhausting month so I was a little lazy lol I bought a can of white icing and used Americolour Food Colouring to colour the icing. Using a reference photo for the dragons on top, I attempted to freehand Mal’s Dragon Symbol. My niece was very happy with her cake…once she figured out what it was supposed to be lol
This was a fun project and very challenging…I gotta start making more square cakes or round cakes with more of a diameter so the icing surface area is a little larger lol
Let me know what you think of her cake, would you be able to tell what it is?
I know this is a bit past Halloween but if you read my last post: Welcoming November you will can see October was an extremely busy month lol
This year I made my niece & nephew’s Halloween costumes, my nephew wanted to be Bob the Minion – he was extremely excited & mentioned he had the perfect teddy bear to take with him – my niece wanted to be Mal from Disney’s descendants – of course with her attitude it only made sense lol
My older sister (mother of my niece & nephew), our mom & I searched high & low looking for overalls for a 7 year old boy at multiple second hand stores, walmart, superstore & winners but could not for the life of us find any, so I made some instead.
My dad gave me an old pair of ripped jeans he had, the back pocket was the perfect width of my nephew’s chest. I cut a out the back pocket of one of the legs, making a panel with about 10 inches wide & 12 inches high with an added 1/2 – 1 inch of clearance for a seam on the top & sides. I then cut the straps out of the pant legs: 28 inches long plus 1/2 an inch to seam the top & 3 inches wide using 3/4 inch from both sides as a seam, making the strap 1 1/2 inches wide once seams are sewn. Then sewed the straps to the packet panel with two large matching black buttons, added button holes to the bottom of each strap & four on the bottom of the button panel. I then took a current pair of my nephew’s jeans, turned them inside out & sewed four buttons to the front waste band & two to the back; this way the overalls panel & buttons could later be removed and his pants were back to normal. As a final added touch I airbrushed the “G” on the front by making a stencil of the “G” & mixing fabric medium with airbrush paint. He wore a long sleeve yellow shirt, a yellow toque & face paint – I also got him a bald cap, painted it yellow, that he wore for school & even under his toque lol that boy means business when it comes to Halloween!
For my niece’s costume I bought a woman’s small white blazer from a second hand store as a cheap, clean canvas to work on. I printed out a reference photo of Mal’s jacket & free hand airbrushed everything except the dragons in the heart on the back (I cut out a stencil to ensure crisp clean lines). There were some other pieces I wanted to add to the costume but could not find the time, like the bottom “skirt” with the asymmetrical cut, high collar & dragon wing shoulders. I was, however, able to cut the jacket, giving it an asymmetrical collar similar to Mal’s & airbrush the illusion of studs.
These costumes were a bit of a challenge as I am not a seamstress by any means lol So it was a bit frustrating at times when it came to sewing, but you cannot improve if you do not try! The jacket itself was a bit of a lengthy process & was the first time I have ever airbrushed on clothing, I used a 1:1 ratio of airbrush fabric medium & paint…if anyone out there knows if this is correct or not please let me know lol it seemed to be the safest bet at the time & worked pretty good as the paint did not crack, peal or harden too stiff on the fabric, it even withstood the rain on while we were trick or treating! Through the challenges, difficulties, frustrations & many a late, late nights it was worth it in the end to see how happy they were to have these homemade costumes to dress up in that can be special memories & mementos for them when they are older.
Noelle Fontaine Design & Illustration 