Juice Pouch Wallet How-to

This how-to I originally had posted this over  Cut Out and Keep, but I want to post to to my blog as well.

I wasn't the one that came up with the idea, but this is just how I did it. I have been seeing these little coin pouches online and at craft shows and decided that I wanted to try to make one. I also want to apology for the quality of these pictures. I took these pictures right before my old camera died.

Now time for the how-to:

Step 1
Get a empty juice pouch and a zipper. My zipper is much longer then what I need, but it's what I had on hand.

Step 2

Cut/ slice open the bottom of the juice pouch.
You will want to clean the inside and outside of the juice pouch with warm soapy water and dry it. This way you can make sure all the juice is gone and there will be no weird smell to it after you make it.
I ended up letting mine dry overnight to make sure it was completely dried.

Step 3

Flatten the juice pouch, if you haven't already. Line up your zipper, so that a little bit of the end hangs off the side. Make sure you are not lining the juice bag up too close to the zipper's teeth.

Step 4

You can unzip the zipper to make it easier to sew on. I used my sewing machine to sew this. It is up to you what stitch you would preferred to use. I did a small zigzag stitch on mine, but have seen them with a straight stitch.

Step 5

With your zipper undone, sew the zipper onto the other side of the juice bag. Make sure when you do this that your zipper will still be lined up with the other side. I used a pin to hold it in place, to help me.

Step 6

Now fold your juice pouch in half and zip your zipper up.

Step 7

Cut off the sides of the zipper. Make sure to leave a little on both sides hanging over the edge of the juice pouch.

Step 8

Tuck in the sides of zipper into the pouch and sew up the sides. You may want to unzip your bag some when sewing up the side with the zipper, just to make it easier.

Step 9

Now your project is done. Sit back and enjoy your new change purse.

Swapping

I really enjoy swapping with other crafters. Not only do I get awesome items from other crafters, but I also get inspiration to make some really cool craft items. I especially enjoy doing theme swaps.  Currently, I have been swapper with other people on LXCrafter.com The League of Extraordinary Crafters is a website that I and some other crafters from around the world started. Right now it is still a work in progress, but I'm hoping soon it will look beautiful. I have been getting my husband to code the site, but unfortunately that is easier said then done.

Since, I'm so into to swapping I'm really hoping soon to get a tab on my blog that will show nothing but pictures of all the wonderful items I have swapped. For now please enjoy these pictures of some of my more recent swapping adventures.

These items I put together for my friend Melissa. In this swap you will find a Valentine zombie, a Valentine monster, a mini lunch pail, magnets, a jounral with a pencil, and a candy heart. My friend Melissa loves skulls, so many of these items where design around that theme.

These are the beautiful items that Melissa made me. The pictures do not do them justice at all. I love the earrings and the bracelet she made me.

This swap wasn't theme but was a fun swap I did with my friend Vanessa. I like to post a lot of the craft items I make on Facebook. Vanessa loved so many of them, that she wanted to do a swap based off of  some of the items I posted. In this swap you will find a mini monster pail, craft pirate stickers, a Jack ornament, scrabble necklace, Jack necklace with matching earrings, a pirate theme bag, beads, and some buttons that represent the League of Extraordinary.

 These are the items that Vanessa sent me. I love the dragonfly necklace and it is done in one of my favorite colors, brown.

This was a swap that I did around Christmas time. This swap was done as a three-way swap between my friends Melissa and Zina. How the swap worked was that I was to make items for Melissa. Melissa was then to make items for Zina and Zina was to make items for me. In this swap you will find a felt owl, a felt heart swap peace sign, a sparkly purple star, a gingerbread skeleton, the Cheshire Cat, Jack Skelleton, and a sparkly spider.

I love all these ornaments that Zina sent me. They are all made from felt. Her stitching is so nice and neat. She is just amazing.

This pirate theme swap I sent to my friend Heather. In this swap you will find a pirate bear, a rum necklace, craft pirate stickers, pirate ornaments, a teasure chest, a eye patch, a grow your own kraken, and wooden ornaments to decorate.

These are the wonderful items that Heather sent me. I love the booty bag with the mini coins and my new bookmark that is meant to be a part of Jack Sparrow's hair.

Before I end this post I just wanted to share, since I talked about it in my last post, all the fabric I got at the thift store. I have big plans for the Harry Potter fabric. The last Harry Potter movie comes out a couple of days before my daughters birthday and I plan on making her all kinds of Harry Potter items, since she is such a big fan.

Fabric and a crown

I've been dealing with a a bad tooth for awhile and finally got the last of the work done on it today.  It all started when the dentist pulled two of my wisdom teeth. They found a cavity that the wisdom tooth had been hiding. I went back to my normal dentist to have it taken care of, but turned out the damage was so bad, that I needed a root canal. Unfortunately, I couldn't have a root canal until I had gum work done, because I didn't have enough tooth in that area to support a crown. So, off to another specialist to have gum work done. Then, three trips later to my normal dentist and maxing my dental insurance out for the rest of year, all the work for my tooth is done.

The funny thing about this, was that I told my daughter yesterday, I was getting a crown. Her reaction was to say, "Well that should make you fell good. You will get to feel like a queen." Too funny and too cute.

image source

To be queen for the day, now wouldn't that be something.


Today, I also went to the thrift store. I love going to the thrift store to find fabric and other treasures. When I go I don't just look for just plain fabric, I like to look for sheets, table clothes, or anything else I could use for my sewing adventures. Today, I was able to score a whole bolt of dark blue fabric with orange flowers on it, 4 yards of white and red strip fabric, it reminds me of pirates, about a yard of white fabric with big red hearts on it, and about 4 yards of Harry Potter fabric, that my daughter went crazy over. Right now every is going through the wash, so once it's all done I will add pictures of my score. I got everything for right around $8. I was so excited!

Wish You Were Here, Postcard Contest

At the start of this quarter, in school, my teacher, for my advance photoshop class, wanted us to enter the Detroit AIGA's Wish You Were Here Postcard Contest. We were to either go out and take a picture or use a picture that we have taken in the past, that could represent Michigan. I decided to use a picture that I took of the Ann Scipps Whitcomb Conservatory on Belle Isle just east of downtown Detroit. This is the nation's oldest conservatory. I ended doing some color corrects, and had to boost up the blue in the sky. Living in Michigan it seems like we have a lot more gray skies then we do blue. I submitted my entry weeks ago and almost forgot about it till I received an e-mail about it. I was soo excited when I received that e-mail with my name being on the list of finalists.

Turns out they had over 150 entries and mine made it to the finial round of just 48 submissions. I was the only one in my class to make it in. At this point it is open voting to the public. The 25 entries that have the most votes will be turned into postcards and mailed to AIGA chapters throughout the country. Each person that would like to vote is allowed one vote per day up till March 9th. Please take a moment out of your time and click here to vote for me. Thank you.

Here is the picture I submitted to be used as a postcard

Valentine Zombies

I know it's way after Valentine's day, but I wanted to share this tutorial I made for these little zombie guys. I came up with the idea for these guys for my daughter's valentine's class party. She is a big zombie lover. I was thinking these guys could be great party favors for a birthday party or a Halloween party.


To make these you are going need:

• Green paper (I used scrapbook paper, but construction paper would work too)
• White Paper (I just used printer paper)
• Tape
• Glue (I used a hot glue gun, but tacky or elmers glue would work too)
• Foam (precut or you can cut them out yourself)
• Googly eyes
• A black or red marker (this is for the scars)
• A peach or pink marker (this is for the brain)
• Goodies to put inside, like candy. I put fruit-by-the-foot inside the ones we made
• A paper cutter or scissors would work too if you don't have one
• scissors

Step one

 Get your paper cutter or scissors out and cut your paper in half and then cut those pieces in half

You should have a pile that looks something like the picture below.

Step two

Get your tape out and make the paper into tubes like the picture below.

Step three

Get your foam out. I got this cool little pack below from the dollar store.

From this foam you are going to cut out large hearts. These will be the base/ feet for your zombie. You can use one of your tubes you have made, to figure out how big of a heart shape you need.

Step four

Glue the heart base/feet to the bottom of you green tube.

 

Step four

Next glue on your eyes.

Step five

I had some pre-cut heart shape foam pieces that glued on to give the zombies a heart.

Step six

Next take a piece of white paper and rip it in half. You are going to want to really crumpled this paper up. I ended up crumpling the paper and then uncrumpling it and recrumpling it. You want this piece of paper to sit on at the top of the inside of the green tube without it falling down to the bottom. 

Step seven

Get your pink or peach marker out and you are going to want to color all over the top of the brain. It doesn't have to be perfect. In fact leaving white spots make it look more brain like.

Step eight

Next get your red or black marker and give your zombie guy scars.

Now you have a very cool, friendly zombie for your enjoyment. Don't forget you can take out the brain and add goodies, like candy, small toys, or fruit-by-the-foot like I did.