I have more tea stuff and tatting to share today but before we jump into that arena of rabid over caffeinated sharks (I am talking about the tea drinkers not the tatterers)... I want to share a few peeps of my first ever ScrapyLand Design Team project!
Susan (DT boss lady) asked us to create a project with no constraints... all she asked was that it have a theme of "resolutions"... So I busted out every single craft supply in my arsenal and 20 hours later I had a cute little mini book that only had one page (totally not kidding... just one page... for reals). I might be a teeny weeny tiny whiny bit overzealous when it comes to these DT assignments (hard to believe right) but I am having so much fun with it I don't mind putting in a little extra lovin' (crafts are the coolest!!!!!).
So there it is.
My first ever mini book (with a mini-mini book inside)!
It's mostly teals... are you shocked?
Teal... really Lolly?!?!
NO WAY!
Hello?
Anyone out there?
If you read this blog with any regularity you will know this is my way of indicating the cricket sound
(also known as the cricket cone of silence)
He's cheesey and teal and I am ok with that!
Speaking of cheese...
(this is what we call a mega veer off course)
I have been thinking that we need a cheese ranking system around here.
If I get a tad too cheesy I have decided to rank my cheesiness.
Here is how this will work...
1 cheese = when writing the post I utter an inside groan (nothing audible)
2 cheeses = eye roll combined with a barely audible groan
3 cheeses = loud groan with thoughts of quitting blogging because I am losing it
(this particular section...
...the creation of the cheese ranking system
...constitutes a 3 cheese ranking)
That's a LOT of cheese.
(If I ever rank my cheesiness too low you gotta let me know so I can revise the cheese rank for the post)
You guys cool with that?
heh
Ok now that I have that out of the way... back to my project!
The spine of the January mini-mini book is made from felt and it's teal too...
...yet another LollyChops shocker...
(seeing as how I am part felt and I actually bleed teal... this makes perfect sense really)
...and that's the back cover.
You can read ALL about my project (what it's supposed to be, how I made it, see more pics, etc... over on the ScrapyLand blog today! Go check it out HERE!
So let's talk tea (again)...
After I finished up the paper tea bag template last week (you can see that version HERE) I got to thinking that a fabric version was in order (paper is only going to last so long in your purse and evidently a LOT of you guys carry super special secret blends of tea bags around with you). So I called MomChops Sewing Shop and she came over with her mad sewing skillz Sunday to help me work the template into a fabric version!
We'll roll right into that and then I have a few more small things to share...
Cut out two pieces of fabric using the template I am going to share at the bottom of this post.
Sew the two pieces together (right sides facing each other).
Leave the end open (the end is the left side where the orange squiggles are in the pic)
Clip your corners and trim your edges.
Then right side out the pieces you just sewed together...
...and iron the seams nice and tidy and tuck the ends inside the little pocket you just made.
Your end should look like this.
Sew around most of the edges like this - see next pic to see what I mean by "most of the edges"
(sewing on top of the seam you just created on the right side of the fabric gives your work a nice finished look)
The only way I can tell you where not to sew is to show you... so here goes.
You gotta fold the right side over to make the little pocket... so don't sew on the bottom of the fold or on the left inside corner (does that make sense???).
If you sew all the way around the whole thing and then fold it over and sew again...
...that's just not as nice looking in my crafty opinion.
So that's what your tea pocket should look like when done!
Oh and if you goof... and make a tea bag holder with a left side pocket instead that's ok too!
You can give it to your left handed friends!
(momChops and I goofed and made the second prototype the wrong way... we always work in muslin first for just this reason!!!)
So now that you have the pocket made you gotta close it right?!?!
You can either use Velcro (which you need to sew on for best results) ... this is the sticky kind and it's a bear trying to sew the sticky stuff on... so get some of the non sticky for this closure method)
OR
You can get all crafty fancy pants and sew a button hole and button on.
I personally LOVE this one (MomChops took the orange butterfly and the pink one home with her and I kept the teal one... yeah yeah I know... me and teal). hehehehe!
You can get the fabric version of the tea bag template below!
Now that you have your lovely fabric tea bag holder I thought it might be nice to direct you to a lovely post that Catherine from OriginalStitch wrote for the brewing of proper English tea (you can read it HERE)! She shared this with me last week and I wanted to make sure you guys saw it. The very night I read this I had 3 whole cups made just the way she described and I have been hooked ever since. No more tossing the tea bag in cold water in the microwave. This is my new favorite way to drink tea! Give it a try!
Oh and if you want to see another totally COOL way to make a fabric tea bag holder go take a look HERE. Jennifer sent me that link and I think that's another totally awesome tutorial!
I also wanted to share another pic of my Sister's tatting! She's finishing up her first week of tatting and she sent me and my mom these pics!
She's evidently making a bracelet for that gold circle thing in the picture
(which she tells is is some sort of thread cutter - coolest looking thread cutter ever!!!).
...and this is her other project!
I am so proud of her!
She's totally rocking this tatting thing!!!
So LASTLY... one more bit of news and I am off!
In about 3- 4 weeks I am going to reach 1 million hits on my blog! I think that's pretty darn neat and I want to celebrate!!! I am definitely going to do a giveaway... I already started making what I am going to give away and you guys are gonna LOVE it (I hope)...
But... I really wanted to see if you had any other ideas for what I could do to celebrate! This is exciting stuff right!?!?!?! I would love to hear your ideas over the next couple of weeks. I wish we could all get together for a mega party... would that be COOL or what!!!! Sigh. This whole giant planet earth being so big thing is so totally not cool.
I hope you all have a terrific week! I loves the lot of yas!
P.S.S.T. Guess what comes in the mail today (maybe)?????
MY REPAIRED VIDEO CAMERA!!! WOO HOO!
I'll be sharing the fabled craft video tutorial next Monday (assuming I don't blow anything up).
O.M.T. Here is a little sneaky peepy of my NEXT ScrapyLand project!
It's totally FUN!
I cannot wait to show you the whole thing!
More HUGS than you can stand!!!!!
