Ribbon Ruffle Camera Strap Cover

Now that summer is fast approaching I know my camera will be out in full force snapping photos. My original camera strap was looking like it needed an update. Now I have noticed several different camera strap covers that look super cute online, but discovered that with minimal time, some fabric, and of course, some pretty May Arts ribbon you can custom make one yourself!

I choose to make this cover a slip on version, instead of actually sewing it to the strap. This way I can make several and change them out whenever I wish! First off, find the material you want that suits your fancy. I am mad, MAD I tell you!, about chevron so this yellow and white print was the obvious choice. Now if you have read my tutorials before you will know that I am not big on measuring. Ha! So just lay down your strap and use it as a guide to determine the length and width of material you will need...and of course make certain your material is doubled.

I have always heard when using ribbon or material that will be ruffled you will need at least double the length of your project. I actually did 1.5 times the length of my strap, just incase I got too crazy with my ruffling ;) I used the prettiest robin egg blue faux linen, one of my favorites!

You will need to sew across the top of your ribbon to attach to your material and here I will point out my mistake. (You mean the girl that can't really sew and doesn't measure anything made a MISTAKE? Umm, yes. Always.) I should have made a hem here at the end of what will turn out to be the ends of the camera strap, but I didn't. And now my ends are loose threads. Boo. Make sure yours aren't!

To make the ruffles I start sewing, lift of the foot and push some material in, close the foot and sew a bit more..and then repeat the process several times. NO rocket science. NO measuring. Just push and sew. I think there is actually a certain foot that will “ruffle” (not the proper term I am sure) for you, but alas this sewing novice does not have one.

Sew how it is gathering? Pretty little ribbon ruffles!

Once you are all done, a row of ruffled ribbon goodness. I really like that color combo. So bright and happy!

So now fold over your material so the right sides are facing together (and wrong sides are facing you) and sew the length of the strap, making sure to not sew down any ruffles..not that I know from experience or anything ;)

Here's what it will look like when it is all done:

Not too awesome yet, huh? But wait! Now is the fun part, or as I like to say, the most time consuming part. You gotta turn that dude inside out, which is not an easy task. Seriously, the majority of my time was spent doing this. I pushed a little dowel rod in it, and maybe I ended up breaking said dowel rod, but eventually it worked.

Now you can slip your camera strap inside....

..sit back and enjoy your new pretty ribbon ruffled camera strap.

And when anyone asks where you purchased it you can smile the smile of satisfaction that comes when you have made something yourself...and remembered to hem it ;)

I hope you have enjoyed this tutorial! Please let me know if you have any questions and certainly link me up if you decide to make one. I am thinking of color combos and maybe making a few just to change out when I want.  

Have a beautiful day!

one organized shelf

Slowly, ever so slowly, with small bits of time here and there, I am purging and organizing my craft space. At this rate it should all be accomplished by the time the boys go to high school! At least I have a goal, right? ;)
I have a ridiculous amount of scrapping stuff to sell. The more I scrap and craft the more I know my style--what I will use, what I have TIME to use!, so the rest has to go. I plan to sell it this spring at a scrap/antique sale if you are in the area.
Anyway, I do have one little shelf organized to show for it all! Here is a little shelf that I picked up for $4 at a local thrift place. It holds my stamps and ZING collection...gotta bust that stuff out more often!

Below it is an old, as in square nail old, bucket bench. I like having vintage/antique furniture in my scrap space. Serves a purpose and looks interesting.

The space on the bottom holds a fabric bin from Target with all my Thickers and other alphas. Beside it is Studio Calico kits.
The second shelf might be my favorite. It holds embellishments, which are like sprinkles on a cupcake to me :)

This is the Sassafras box. I don't organize everything by manufacturer, but if I have enough of somethings it helps me to keep it all grouped together. A keep a small bowl inside it for any loose brads or stickers.

Beside it is a bling/sparkle button box.

And then a brad box. I really love brads...I think it shows ;D

The top shelf has two more bins where I keep most of my punches.

I tend to use things more when I see them so having them ready to just grab works for me. They may not necessarily be organized in the box, but they are contained ;) The rest of the punches are in an over the door shoe organizer.

I had just a few inches of space beside the punch boxes and didn't want to waste it so I used 3 cropper hopper organizers: one for printed pics ready to scrap, one for sticker alphas and one for 12x12 sticker sheets.

I have a few pics of the desk where I scrap, think old ;) , that I will try and show later this week. I really do love having a more organized area, even if it does look disastrous after I am done playing with paper and even if it will take me a lot longer to get it all organized! Still makes me happy :) Something else that makes me happy---
Last week over on the May Arts blog we had a blog swap week with Graphic 45. I created a little inspiration jar--

More details and pics can be found HERE :)
I love looking at other's creative spaces--do you? If you have some pics link me up! I would LOVE to see! HAPPY monday to you!! We are recovering from a birthday party weekend and a new 3 yr old with a cold :(

Another round of catching up...

Why is it 3 days past Valentine's and I am still making these?

Seriously someone stop me!
So Monday was enjoyed with with a green lego box, homemade valentines and spending time together as a family. I think the boys favorite part was getting sparkling cider in their super hero cups..that or the heart suckers daddy surprised them with.

A few shares for you today...lots of tutorials & lovelies on the Crate Paper blog from the design team lately! HERE I share how to dress up die cuts with lots of dimension and texture using burlap flowers.

I have always had a thing for burlap. I think it comes from my rug hooking days...which I hope to someday get back into. If only there were more time! These sweet boys were featured on the blog yesterday-

I love this herringbone stamp from Studio Calico--reminded me of some of the decorations you see on military uniforms...I am sure "decorations" is not the proper title! But you know what I mean ;) Anyway I combined it with some Jenni Bowlin Spice Tin ink, paper and star ribbon for embellishment clusters of the Army variety. These pictures were meant for that line, don't you think?! What's great is there are just enough elements of the Toy Box line with a "military" type theme, but really the line could go several directions. Of course with a little guy who packs toy gun heat everyday of the week it works perfect here. ;) Case in point...this was Paxton this morning:

2 cowboy vests, 2 pair of handcuffs and 3 guns. Bad guys BEWARE! :D That hat is his daddy's from when he was this age. Melts my heart to think of Rory wearing it!
On the May Arts blog we had a week with Glue Arts and I created this layout.

A little softer than the one above ;) Had fun with the Sew Easy tool using burlap string in place of embroidery floss. More photos here. May Arts ALWAYS seems to have a great contest going on! Be sure and check their blog and facebook page for details.
We are looking forward to sunshine and temps ABOVE freezing..like 60+ degrees! Am I dreaming? I hope not!

CHA and playing catch up

CHA is officially over---and all the photos of new goodies waiting to be released has my head spinning--in a good way! :D
I was fortunate to be able to design some projects for October Afternoon's booth at CHA. I don't think it would come as any surprise how much I adore their lines, and from what I gather they have released a few new products as well such as ...
Sprinklers, a spray ink (non-shimmery) mist in 4 basic colors as well as 3 colors that match each of the new lines. If you know me you know I rarely scrap without a bottle of mist, or 10!, ready to splatter on so I am super excited to see how these compare to the mists I already own.
 Miscellany,  like a packet of ephemera (buttons, ribbon, wild cards, chipboard shapes, etc.). I always like the variety of embellies
Four colors of Sticky Keys were released, which sound similar to the Mini Market stickers, but round in shape. I am a sucker for those mini stickers anyway.
And the rubber charms are back! I still have a package hoarded from one of OA's very first releases so I am glad to see these back in action :)

5 & Dime looks to me like a mash up of Thrift Shop and Modern Homemaker. Great for spring layouts, all things vintage-y and pics of Ethel:

Who is Ethel you ask? I have no clue! Ha!! I found some great vintage photos at a flea market and brought them home, knowing someday they would make their way onto a project..and so she did! Rory thought it was so funny that I just randomly scrapped a pic of a person I didn't know (much less that I had named her) and asked what would I do if someone saw it at CHA in California said, "hey--that's my great grandma!" I said, "Well then they should be disappointed that some cruel person in their family in Missouri sold her photo for 50 cents!" :D And I think she looks pretty there and really, she does love her flowers ;)

Another vintage pic I scrapped for the show using Modern Homemaker:

Don't those guys look like they are having fun? I think the honeycomb look will be a new trend (or at least a revisited one) in the scrapping world. These patterned paper hexagons were created using my Slice, rest in peace you crazy machine!!

And then my fav release, Rocket Age:

My boys, Aven in particular, are OBSESSED with space. We talk about it a lot during the day. As a matter of fact at dinner last night we were discussing random factoids about the planets, comets, black holes and dwarf planets. (are we nerds?) Anyway, I had mentioned to some friends I wish that a company would design a space themed line with a vintage spin.

This is totally what I had in my head! I do not say it lightly when I say I think this is my FAVORITE OA line to date. It just really fits my "momma to 2 boys" life right now and I know there will be lots that say it doesn't work for them, but I also just see it having great colors/patterns for summer, particularly 4th of July. I just love how this layout turned out--can't wait to recreate it for my own scrap album :)

I was also able to create a layout for the Crate Paper booth, who hit home runs with FOUR fantastic lines this time, as well as new embellies like ribbon, journaling tags and THE COOLEST BUTTONS EVER, but that project will show up on their blog at some point so I will wait to share until then ;D I will say I was able to scrap some photos I had been saving for sometime and the Toy Box line was the perfect opportunity!! There are still 2 lines of theirs I have yet to play with so I am excited to get those as well :)
And on the May Arts blog the other day I did a little gift bag re-do tutorial using FAB May Arts ribbon and Crate Paper scraps--

you can catch the full tutorial and more pics HERE. Do be sure and check out their blog and facebook page--I believe there is a giveaway going on right now with some fresh off the press ribbon!

Whoosh--busy post! Thanks for sticking with me :)
What a fun crafty time of the year---perfect for when you are snowed in because of a blizzard.
In Missouri.
For real.
Stay warm friends!!

A few cards..

..to throw up on the ole blog while I am absent being little miss scrappity scrapper. I really am still here....Just busy creating CHA stuff that I can't show yet and taking care of my littlest guy who can't seem to shake a cough and wheeze :(
Both of these were created with Crate Paper goodies...

I think this would be a sweet valentine or even a wedding card.

My boys flipped over this robot card.  I think they will each need one to remind them how much their momma loves them because I really do have 2 of the coolest kids. Evidence...

Uh huh. He was most definitely up to something.
And really likes to take his shirt off. He has came in my bed more than once in the wee hours without a shirt on! What in the world?!;)
Back to paper...did you see the Crate blog today? I was asked to join for the spring design team term! HOORAY!! 10 fun facts are up about me. Did you know the end cheese weirds me out? No? Or that I was a "hooker"? Hee hee--go to their blog for clarification on that one!! ;D
May Arts is still cranking out the most awesome ribbons and trims. I recently got ahold of this aqua faux linen.

 It's even prettier in real life! So pretty in fact a few more colors are headed my way ;) They have some organic ribbons coming soon that I am excited to play with too. I created this fun leaf headband after one I saw at Urban Outfitters, for not even 1/4 the price!

Is it even necessary to point out that that taking pics of my head is NOT my strong suit?  ;)
Head here for a tutorial.
HOw is the weather where you live? I went out tonight and it was 10 degrees! BRRR!!! Off to drink some hot chocolate :) Stay warm!

Where oh where...

..have I been?
Beside recouping from Christmas and prepping to ring in the new year, (which when you are a momma to 2 little guys means hanging out at home and trying not to fall asleep before midnight!), I have been getting crafty!
This easy peasy tree was up a few weeks ago on the May Arts blog.

The complete tutorial with additional pics can be found HERE.
And currently a lovely little pile of October Afternoon is sitting on my desk...

and I have a layout to show for it...and a part mini and second layout, but that will have to wait ;)

More pics HERE on the October Afternoon blog.
Getting anxious to start the new year, not so much setting resolutions, but goals to try and obtain.
Thinking about how this will be the year Aven starts school and still in disbelief that is even possible. Wondering what my days will look like as that happens and I am home with Paxton.
 Enjoying this time and year to slow down,
reflect,
and look forward.
Speaking of looking foward...a new year means new products revealed at CHA winter 2011! It's in L.A. this time around. Can't wait to see start seeing all the sneak peeks emerge.
Off to finish that mini ;) Enjoy your last day of 2010!!

Feeling Fallish

Happy first official full day of Fall!
Pumpkins are currently gracing our front steps...

15 pumpkins to be exact.
I even made apple cinnamon muffins last night in anticipation of this morning :)
And as far as decorating goes,

I've started that as well.
Including some halloween treat cones.

You can see more pictures and instructions on the May Arts blog.  And don't forget--there is always a great contest going on at the May Arts blog and their facebook page as well.

So what fall craftiness have you been up to? I just love this time of year!