Tag: crafting

Life, DIYs, & Cooking · Uncategorized

DIY | Enamil Pin Display

bookishluna7 Comments

DIY12:17So, I recently realized I have a ton of enamel pins, but they are all sitting in the bottom of a drawer or in a cup of some sort. I love pins and have since I was young. I started my collection when I was in 3rd grade…. so it has been a LONG time. I personally really enjoy collecting them because they are small and compact since I don’t have a ton of space. But, at this point I hide them away. I would prefer to display them and have the ability to look at them.

The main reason I would love to look at them is because I only buy them when I am visiting a new place or on a special occasion. I would love to be able to walk into my space and look at the happy memories. So, I went to google and typed in “Enamel Pin Display” and found the following inspiration.

image 0

This turns out to be from the Etsy shop PinnyslugDesign. So, if this DIY does not workout for me, I will be buying them. But, I am hoping it does work out because I can actually say I have everything I need think I need to make these myself! How often does that actually happen?

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Materials needed

  • Embroidery Hoop
  • Fabric
  • Exacto knife

Optional

  • super glue
  • needle
  • thread

Progression Images

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I am so happy with how these come out. I ended up leaving the ends raw until I fill them up until I am satisfied. When I have all the pins I want on them I am going to sew the edges in with some embroidery floss that I have laying around as well as put some glue around the edges so they don’t shift to much when I sew them.

I love how simple and cute these are and how I can easily add different sized hoops as my collection grows. I also don’t have to worry about finding the exact same frame or whatever. Raw hoops are always around and don’t really ever change.

How do you think I did recreating this DIY?

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Life, DIYs, & Cooking · Uncategorized

DIY Tested | Sprayed Edges, Can You Guess the Book?

bookishluna6 Comments

DIY12:17

It has been a little bit of time since I have shared a DIY with you all, but I have been seeing sprayed edges all over the place the last few weeks. I have been seeing it pop up in my youtube feed quite a lot. Some of these videos were talking about how they liked it, some talking about how they hate it, and some of them are DIYs on how to create this book on your own books. I finally got to a point where I needed to try and do this to one of my books.

I ended up seeing two types of methods being used. The first is using acrylic paint from a tube and painting it onto the book with a sponge or paint brush. I really liked the details that can be made with this option. Then I saw another method where you can use spray paint and acrylic paint. I think a  year ago I saw Little Book Owl try this with Nevernight, you can see the video here: PAINTED PAGE EDGES | Defacing Nevernight.  While I really like this idea I wanted to start off simple. So, when I came across the following video I wanted to give it a try.

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So, for this DIY I needed a few things, some I did not have and did not want to spend a lot of money on. I didn’t have an airbrush, but my Boyfriend does. So I asked him to help me out with this DIY. I did like how in the video he talks about how you can just use a spray can, but I thought it would be fun to try my boyfriends airbrush. I also needed paint, tape, and a book. My BF supplied the thinner needed for the paint, the airbrush, and a bunch of effort!

The most difficult part of this entire process was getting the airbrush to work, but it turned out the one by BF went to use first was actually broken. Thankfully he was gifted another one and on day two… yes day two we were able to complete the DIY. We did not finish the first day because we were trying to use the first airbrush and we ended up using all of the daylight trying to fix the broken one.

Also, just like in the video using less stick tape so you don’t damage the book is great, but sometimes it did not want to stick at all. That was a little aggravating at times, but well worth the effort so random parts of your book aren’t painted. I am glad this video gave you a few tips to help with it and gave me a few idea how to cover the book without using a TON of tape.

If you can guess what book I spray painted please write it in the comments I am curious to see if anyone can figure it out. I will give you a hint, it has been released in 2019.

Anyway, I really loved doing this DIY and I plan to do it again in the future now that we have a working airbrush. It was pretty straight forward and I was very worried about over saturating the pages and cause them to ripple, I didn’t have that problem at all. The pages are still unaffected and sit as intended, with the added bonus of being personalized a bit. It was also great fun with the BF to sit and do this together. It is wonderful when your hobbies overlap!

Do you like sprayed edges?

Would you do this to your books?

Do you know what book I painted?

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Life, DIYs, & Cooking · Uncategorized

Crochet Project | Making a “Project Bag”

bookishluna4 Comments

DIY12:17

If you are new to crochet or have done it for some time you may know the that having a dedicated project bag to throw everything in is a great help with organization. In the past I have used reusable shopping bags or old work bags, but my latest one was starting to break and I started looking into a way to use the materials I already have to make my own project bag.

I was googling and going on ravelry and I ended up finally settling on a pattern to work off of. I came across a post called, sadly the author does not want it posted anywhere on the internet so I can’t share it with you. I will admit this confuses me that they don’t want it shared, but put it on ravelry and other places on the internet. But, to eat their own. I had quite a lot of thick yarn laying around and I though that the thickness was very similar to Plarn, aka plastic yarn, which was used in the pattern. If you don’t know what plastic yarn is, it is when you recycle old plastic bags and you cut it down into strips and sting it together to make yarn. It is a great way to reuse materials, but I am getting off topic.

I ended up following this pattern for a majority of it, but edited to make the shape work better for fiber yarn. I am very happy with how it came out and I am also happy that this project gave me a bit of confidence in my ability to crochet and edit patterns. A few months ago I would have just followed one to a T, way too afraid to change anything and thing I would mess everything up big time. Anyway, here are a few pictures of my process and the finished product.

-In Progress-

-Finished Project- 

It took me about a total of 4 hours to make this bag, I am really happy how it came out. I have never made anything with handles before so this was a very interesting experiment when I got on to that section. I am going to add a liner in the next few weeks so my projects don’t “stick” or get caught on the wool. Also, the colors are closer to the true colors in the in progress pictures. The picture below the lighting over exposed it a bit.

-Materials Used-

  • 10 mm hook, US N15
  • 2 –  Lion Brand Wool-Ease Thick and Quick Stripes, Size 6/Super Bulky  in the color Hudson Bay. 5 oz and 87 yards or 140 grams and 80 meters

Thanks for reading about my hobby, what do you think I should try to make next? I have been looking at cute cactus plants and slippers.

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Life, DIYs, & Cooking

Crochet Project | Baby Blanket Update

bookishluna7 Comments

DIY12:17

Hello everyone, I am coming to you today with a little bit of a bonus post. A few months ago I made a post called, Operation Find a Hobby | Making a Baby Blanket, I let everyone know my most recent crochet project. I wanted to report back in and show everyone the finished project. I just couldn’t wait until my next scheduled posting day to share.

I will openly admit that this project took A LOT of time. I worked on it at least a few hours a day for a month. It took 1 hour to 45 min to do a single row of the peach colored yarn and it took about half an hour to do three of the white colored rows. While it took a great deal of time I feel really accomplished finishing this project. It is the first one I made that was not a scarf and had a stitch outside of the single and double.

Without more rambling, here is a picture of the finished project. I am really proud at the object I create with my own two hards. It truly is satisfying to create something from a pile of yarn.

Thanks for reading, what do you think of the blanket?
What colors would you have used?

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Life, DIYs, & Cooking

Operation Find a Hobby | Making a Baby Blanket

bookishluna9 Comments

FindAHobby

Long time no talk about my other hobbies! Over the course of this series, which you can read more here: Operation Find a Hobby, I explored quite a few hobbies. Since then some have stuck and others not so much. One that I did not post in that series was crochet. The reason why I had not posted about that topic is because I have previously dabbled in it, but it never stayed with me. Most of the books I was using as a reference were either confusing and my in person resources were limited.

Over the last few months I have gotten more and more into it. I made a simple scarf in December and a couple of hats for friends and my boyfriend. Now I am taking on a much larger project and it is nothing like I have done before and I wanted to share it with all of you.

So, for months I have been loving zig zag edged blankets. Something about them being irregular in a sense really appeals to me. For a while my friend and I have tried a bunch of different methods and she even asked a few people she knew who have been doing it for YEARS, DECADES actually, and still I had no luck with being able to figure out a pattern until I came across the site called Daisy Farm Crafts. I found her post called Crochet Berry Chevron Baby Blanket.

The pattern they made was exceptionally easy once I got the hang of it and I really enjoyed that there were some videos within the pattern to help you visually see the stitches when the abbreviations, which are new to me, were confusing. I would suggest you checking out their blog and seeing the patterns they have. I plan on trying more of them in the future, that is for sure.

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-My Current Progress-

While I am not very far into this project, I am very proud that I have finally mastered the zig zag pattern, but also learned how to do the berry stitch. Which, for me was very overwhelming because there seems to be about 6 or 7 steps for just one. Anyway, like I said I am not far into this project, but I wanted to share with you some of the things I am working on in my life and I thought this would be a perfect addition to the Operation Find a Hobby series.

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Do you crochet? What should I try to crochet next? What is your favorite hobby outside of reading?

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Reviews

REVIEW | Coloring with Thread by Tula Pink

bookishluna1 Comment

Book Review18302455*I received this book through netgalley in exchange for an honest review.*

Description

Color a Whimsical World with Needle & Thread!

There is no name more closely linked to ornate and fanciful fabric designs than Tula Pink. Sewists and quilters have long delighted in using her fabric to create whimsical sewn creations. Now hand embroiderers, too, can join the fun and stitch her signature designs with needle and thread!
In Coloring with Thread, you’ll find 17 of Tula’s animal and floral designs from her best-selling fabric collections rendered and primed for hand embroidery. Step-by-step stitch instructions for over 20 embroidery stitches are included to help you bring adorable bunnies, chipmunks, octopi, and elephants to life right in your hands. Each motif features a color guide and thread color suggestions selected by Tula herself to ensure a gorgeous finished design. Plus, you’ll find every motif on CD-ROM, where they are ready to size and print for your individual project needs.
Whether you follow her color guides or make each design your own, you’ll love coloring with thread and stitching the whimsical world of Tula Pink!

What I Liked

The designs in this book really make this craft seem more fresh and modern. Every time I go to a craft store to try to find patterns I can only find ones that really would be better suited for my grandmother and her friends. Most are not relevant or just out of date. These are quite the opposite. I love the bold colors and are very in touch with modern and current trends. This is something I am very appreciative of. These patterns/stencils are something I would be happy to display.
Another great positive to this book it that it lists all of the colors that are used in the project if you want to recreate it. I have used a few online templates and I would go with a photo to the store and try to best match the color, but often I was always a little bit off. Additionally, I like how they list all of the stiches that are necessary to complete the project. I think this is great because you can either skip a project if you are uncomfortable with a particular stitch or until you have practiced it enough to feel comfortable. When they list the stich they also have the page number listed where you can see the diagram of the stitch.

What I Didn’t Like

While I loved that this book showed the diagrams of the stiches. I personally would have liked to see actual photos of the stiches. To see where the needle should be sitting in the thread if it needs to go through like a split stitch. Also some of them need a bit more of an explanation for me such as the Basket stich. But, all of this could be remedied with a quick search on the Internet. So it isn’t much of a big deal.

Overall Thoughts

I absolutely adore this book. When this book is released I am going to be going to be ordering it right away. Like I said previously this is one of the most trend conscious embroidery pattern collection I have come across. This book takes this “dated” and makes if more modern. I can create something I am happy to display and even gift to others. I also think that this is a great introduction to embroidery. It explains a lot of the basics and the images are crisp and clear. In some areas they even zoom in on the finished product so you can see the detail. Even if you are someone who had made a few pillow cases or decorations this book would be a great addition to your collection. It brings something new and excited to a classic craft.

Book Information

Publisher: Fons & Porter

Publication Date: December 20th 2017

List Price: $21.99

ISBN: 9781440248115

Pages: 96 pages

*I received this book through netgalley in exchange for an honest review.*

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