I felt like I was sewing foreeeeeeeever!

Not really, it actually didn't take that long, it was the prep that took a while.
I must say you will be bombarded with a ton of pics.....sorry for that.  I'm a visual person, I like to see pictures and I feel that you will understand it better if you can see what I'm seeing.  I'm a weirdo like that, when people talk I have to see their mouth moving, if not all I hear is mumbles. LOL!!

Okay, now on to the project.  I have been wanting a mat for the entrance to my craft room.  Why you may ask....oh just because.  Well I went on a adventure looking for the right materials to make it.  I definitely didn't want to spend lots of money and I knew I wanted something handmade. By me, duh!! I went to Goodwill, sadly I couldn't find anything that I was totally in love with.  Now I realize I could have gone to Wally World to buy a cheapie for 5 bucks, but what would be the fun in that.  Then I went to $ tree and bought 200 feet of poly rope.  That cost me about 4 bucks. 

When I went to another Goodwill, I found this twin sheet for 3 bucks, it would have to do.  All the way home I thought about how I could snazz it up a bit.

I decided I would make some of the colors pop.  Boy, was I in over my head.   With 3 fine tip markers I went about my merry little way and outlined the green, pink and dark pink prints.  For this twin size sheet it took me 6 hours to finish!

Can you see the change?  It went from Dull to Cheery!

After the (6) hours, my fingers were cramping, my neck was aching from looking down and I had a headache from the permanent marker smell....but I was happy to be done with that.  Now I was ready to cut and tear.  What??  ←  that's what theHubs said....after all that you're going to cut it up.  Yup!  I took the pinking sheers and snipped about every 1 inch along the edge.  Then I just ripped it into what you see below.

Sorry, I didn't take a picture of the part where I tied the end of the rope and the end of the strip together.  Then I wrapped the rope a couple of times to cover it.  To start off the mat I folded the start of the wrapped rope down about 2 inches  (like this ║) then I sewed it together.  Then I just continued wrapping, turning, and sewing.

I used a zig-zag stitch for the whole mat.  I kept the center of the rope and the center of the foot aligned so I could get the zig-zag on both sides.  (╥)

Okay, I'm a lefty and I do most things backwards!! Lol!!  Well, this was totally my fault for not thinking this through.  I'm so impatient sometimes and I pay for it with mess ups like this.  When I was done with my first 50 feet of wrapped rope....I had a curving bowl mat......NOOOOOOOOOO!  Yeah, instead of running it through and turning left I was turning right.  So hence the almost bowl.  I had to start again and I did it correctly.  I took the seam ripper to the bowl and used this piece at the end.  So, it worked out.

See, I'm doing it the right way here!! 

Please ignore the Hobbit feet below!!  Geez, they look like stand in feet for the Lord Of the Rings movies, lol!!  There are shadows around, I don't have cankles okay! My feet are little and cute...so theHubs says, lol!! I love to stand on it barefoot because it's always cool. 

I really love the way it turned out!  Even though it did take the (6) hours to add the color I'm glad I did....it pops right?

I'm really tempted to make a bigger one...who knows maybe I will!  So in total it cost be less than $8.00 and my time. 

I'm glad you stopped by to check out the latest project.  Everyone have a great week.


Linking up at the fabulous parties in my party tab and also at these great places -
Craft-O-Maniac
Watch Out, Martha!

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Semi Wordless Wednesday - In the Craft room

Can you see how messy busy I've been?

This is my sewing table...I can't even get to my cutting mat.

I think I have some cleaning to do!

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Scrap Busting - Wristlet Clutch...(sounds fancy huh?)

I've been scrap busting for a couple of weeks now and these have been my favorite project to sew.  I was happy to have enough of the dark fabric to make 4 wristlets.....yay!!  I'm only showing 2 because I had about 3 zillion pics and I didn't want to have a picture show post.  I'll post the other two at a later date.  I'm very happy with the finished product.

Here you can see some of the details of the flowers.  Which were bits left over from some of the tote bags that I have sewn. If you look closely  the centers of these flowers are a bit raised...using scrap batting that I shredded, I just stuffed it into the center and finished sewing around the flower.  Then I folded this piece in half and rubbed it together to give it the frayed edge.

Same thing on this one, stuffed the centers and sewed around or overlapped the next flower or shape.

Since I am hoarder saver of many, many things....I was able to recycle the zippers and metal loops from a book bag that I had.  Yay for Fifi!!!  If I can reuse it I will.  I also sewed in a little pocket on one side and my tag on the other side.  I say if you made it, tag it! So when your out and about, people will ask where did you get it from.  You'll say "oh I made it" and they'll be all oooohhh and ahhhh! It's nice to be noticed.

Hope you've been enjoying my scrap busting projects.  

Thanks for stopping by.  Leave comments, let me know what you think!  

Everyone have a great week!

******Yes, I know I misspelled wristlets in the title. I'm just not sure if I fix it, it will mess up all my link ups.  So it will stay as it is.

******fixed it...I hope it works.

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Scrap Busting - Yes....more! It's a desk pad.

The Scrap busting fool is back!!  Since all I'm using is scraps I didn't have enough to really make something more glamorous, like fancy place mats for the dining or breakfast tables. But I did have enough scraps to make a desk pad for my laptop.....yay!!

Here's what I did...

1) I cut up 2 x 2 inch squares

2) I arranged them the way I wanted it to look, stacked them by rows,then sewed them to make the strips.

3) Sewed the strips together and now you can see it what it will look like.

4) Here you can see what the back will look like.  I used a white on white paisley print.

5) Now to baste, bottom and top sandwiching some batting.  Then I pinned to keep it all in place.

6) Since this is a hodgepodge of different scraps I just top-stitched squares on the inside of every square on the top. (boring)

7) Whew....I was close to not having enough scraps for the the binding.  I had to sew lots of little pieces together, then cut to make it about 2 inches in width.  Make 2 folds towards the center, press with the iron....then fold that in half and press with the iron....done!

8)  I pinned the binding allllllllllll the way around.

9) Sewed the binding on and mitered the corners....at least I didn't mess those up because that sucks!

10) Done......It's not perfect but it will work for me.

11) Now my Laptop can sit all fancy on its new desk pad.  Perfect fit too!!

11)  Just had to show off my little desk top too!  You can barely see my plant on the left side. I've had that ivy for about 13 years now.  It stays on the desk in my craft room...why?? Oh because I have 2 really bad and sneaky fur babies that like to shred my plants.

Hmm....I wonder if I'll have more Scrap busting posts!  Maybe, I do have lots of it.  You might get too bored with it.  We'll see, lol!

Thank you for stopping by!! Have a great day!!

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Scrap Busting - Scrappy Table Runner

Well sadly I was not one of the winners of the $$MegaMillions$$ 
<insert sad mopey face here> lol!  
But I'm happy that I'm super blessed to have what I do have and I am not without. I have the things I need and most things that I want.

Okay, there has been a lot of scrap busting going on in the craft room.  I have bins of scraps that I just don't want to get rid of.   So, I decided to get busy with the scrap busting.  

Without going into too much detail - the hearts were made from scraps of a quilt (not so mellow yellow) I am still working on from last summer <sigh>, the top is a piece of muslin fabric, the bottom is a piece of white on white paisley print and batting for the middle.  

I never tire of seeing what people are making or creating.  So I hope you all never get tired of seeing the things that I post.  If you really read and visit most blogs you'll see the same things, just different spins on it.  Bags, totes, clothes, pillows, curtains, mug rugs, painted furniture, recipes - you name and there are about 3 zillion different variations of the thing. Which is why I never get tired of seeing so much inspiration.

Here is my spin on one of the many things that I have made.

Tumbling Hearts

Scrappy Table Runner

Thanks for stopping by!  
Let me know what you think.... I ♥ comments!
(I try to e-mail to all my comments, I want you to know that I do read them and
appreciate them.  If you still have no-reply set up, I reply to the comment on the post.)

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Busy in the craft room - making stuff like Pillowcase Dresses

These little sausage fingers have been busy at work! Pillows, dresses, refashions - they're tired! 

Well I made this cute pillowcase dress using bandanas.  Super easy to make! Everyone makes them and there are tons of tutorials out there. If you would like a tutorial let me know and I'll post one showing how I make them.  I made this one for my besties 9 month old, the tote bag I made late last year was for her 13 year old and she loved it!

 I want kids so bad!!  I love making these little dresses.  I know I would enjoy making clothes for my baby!

Can I just say I want a pillowcase dress too!!  How cute is this? 

2 bandanas, 1 piece of ribbon and voila this cute dress

Chose this color ribbon!

I also made a little hair clip to match.

I made it, so I tagged it! (duh)


I think I'm gonna make a few to sale at the monthly open-air craft show that is in our area of town.  If you saw this would you buy it? 

linked up at Today's Creative Blog here