I can’t recommend Lisa’s A Bag for All Reasons enough. With great step-by-step instructions and clear photos, the author takes you through everything you need to know to complete many bag types.
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I was so excited when the package containing Hand Printing from Nature showed up unexpectedly from Storey. The note simply read, “Kristin, I think you’ll love this book, enjoy!” I suppose that’s one of the many reasons I love working with Storey Publishing, they really get to know their authors. Anyway,  I realize now I’ve waited WAY too long to crack it open.

I’m so looking forward to getting my studio cleaned up later today so I can try out some of these beautifully crafted ideas.

Giveaway details at the end of the post! Read more →

Create

1. Beautiful Fabric Pendant - I can just imagine a little fabric leftover being used for this.
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Way back in 2006 I wrote one of my very first sewing patterns, a little quilted pot holder. The idea was good, but even back then it didn’t turn out quite right. So, as I’ve been poking around in the archive, I came across it and decided to remake it how I had always pictured it in my mind. That and I need some new pot holders around the house!

Step One: If you are working from a pile of scraps, piece them all together so you have two 9×9″ squares. Now don’t be lazy and go ahead and press those seams as you go. You won’t be able to show off that pot holder with pride if it’s all lumpy.

Step Two: Layer all your pieces together like so: Contrasting fabric right side down, batting, heat resistant fabric right side up, main fabric right side up.

Step Three: Pin layers and stitch two intersecting lines. Sew two more sets of intersecting lines like so:

It’s helpful to do a basting stitch (long straight stitch) around all four sides to hold all the layers in place.

Mark out the second set of lines by measuring 3″ from the center line. I used a quilting ruler that just happened to be 6″ wide. Lucky me!

Step Four: Sew on the bias tape. Now you’ll do this just like the edging of the quilt:

A: Pin to one side, right sides together, and stitch.

Just make a little pleat to turn the corner.

Flip the bias tape right side out and it will naturally want to wrap around the edge.

B: Turn over the edge, pin in place, and stitch again. Done.

I opted to stitch this last step up by hand, but you can use a machine just as easily.

And done!

Every 6 months or so I get to the point in my studio where my works in progress, stash, gifts, random house stuff, and hid-away-so-guest-won’t-see-it” completely takes over my studio.

After this last clean out was done I got rid of:

• 9 boxes and 2 garbage bags of craft stuff
• 3 bags of trash
• 2 overflowing boxes of recycling
• a whole pile of things that had no reason to be in my studio and found homes elsewhere in the house.

And for every box I kept, I was getting rid of a box, which was a pretty good feeling.

I’m lucky to have ample storage space for all my art supplies. I never in a million years thought that I would have a partner who would be so completely understanding of my need to squirrel things away to use later…. within reason. For me, I know that it’s not that I need more space. It’s that I need less stuff. And I need my stuff to be more organized.

Every time I reorganize my studio I think “this is it, this is the best way to organize my s*&t ever, it will stay clean this time.” Nope. But each time I reshuffle my things I do learn a few valuable lessons. Sure I’m hopeful that this time I have it. But will I give myself a hard time if it’s just as bad a year from now? Nah. Life is too short. But I’m hoping for it to be a full year instead of 6 months time before I have to do a complete clean out.

Organizing a Studio Lessons

• While daily cleaning is key, sometimes it’s good to tackle a big clean out all at once just to get it done on be able to move on to the more important things in life – like knitting!
• If you can afford it, invest in a nice set of containers that fit your stuff AND your space well. I have these really great shelves in the “tile room” where I keep all my supplies. But until this last clean up, I was keeping my stuff in piles and random boxes.
• Don’t buy said containers until you’ve actually gone through your stuff and figured out what you need. For me, I’ve learned I need about 20 shoebox sized ones and 10 double wide shoebox ones.
• While donating and selling and recycling is great, even I need to realize trash is trash and my house is not a trash bin. You cannot “organize” garbage. Just throw it out! Do it.
• But, also don’t forget about donating what you can and recycling what’s recyclable. And if you have the space and the time and the desire fill a bin with things you want to sell and get it listed on ebay IMMEDIATELY and if it doesn’t sell that first time, donate it!
• Daily cleaning is key. Weekly cleaning works well too. Yearly clean….. come on now. Just pick up after yourself (myself). Me, crap I’m bad at that. But I’m still young and I’m learning.I’ll get it eventually.
• Don’t just tuck something into your craft space to “put away later”. You won’t. I won’t. And things will pile up on the edge of your work table until you’re (cough, read ME) trying to cut fabric on a 1/4 of the table because the pile has taken over.

On an up note. I have been doing really well keeping my office clean. But, that’s because I clean it up every morning before I start my day’s work. And once a week I take out trash and make sure I’m not stashing things in weird places like behind my books. If you don’t have an issue with cleaning, you may not get the sanity of this. But I know some of you, yeah, you right there. You totally get what I’m saying and you’re shaking your head thinking – oh crap, I really should get that something something from behind there.

Happy Crafting!
Kristin Roach

It’s been awhile since the last swap and I know I’m ready to change up some of my stash! And here’s where I go into info-mercial mode:

• Are you tired of working with the same fabrics, papers, and yarn?
• Is your stash a little “blah?”
• Could your fabric use a fresh face in its mix?

Well, here’s the answer! Join the Craft Leftovers Swap and release 1 package of your goodies into the world and receive one in return!

Sign up on Swap Bot from now until October 17th.

Deadline to send out is October 31st!

{have you joined the swap? grab this button, add it to your sidebar, and link it to the swapbot page}

Here are the details:

One of the hardest parts of not acquiring more craft stuff is resisting the desire for new inspiring craft supplies. Get inspired while continuing to work from what’s on hand–just work from someone else’s stash!

The Craft Leftovers Swap allows you the chance to trade in some of your stash for someone else’s! You don’t gain “more,” you just swap for some new inspiration!

Join me in my mission not just to destash, but to find wonderful uses for all our cast offs.

:: While everyone is encouraged to participate, do not do so unless you know for sure you can send out your package on time. If you have swaps under your belt, your rating must be 4.9 stars or higher on average.

:: This is an international swap, so make sure you have enough spare change to send a package to Japan if needed. Who knows, in return you may just get a sweet package from your favorite part of France. I do not plan on having a region specific swap any time soon. It’s quite a bit of work hosting a swap and so I want to include everyone I can in the few I do host (quarterly: July, October, January, and April).

:: You will send one envelope of your leftover goodies to one partner. I cannot assign more than one partner to any one swap member, so please do not ask. I’ve tried. Can’t do it.

:: Each envelope must be 6×9″ – cram it full, all you can fit but don’t go larger, we are doing an equal trade.

:: You can send any kind of craft supply – stash, recycled, vintage, or leftovers, DO NOT Purchase anything for this swap.

:: Check your partner’s profile to see if they have a crafting preference. And as such, only swappers with completed profiles will be allowed to participate. If you are new, make sure to add a few details about the kind of crafting you like to do.

:: All supplies must be in good shape – no stains, holes, or funky smells.

Not sure what to do with little bits of this and that? Check out the project archive for all kinds of ideas, inspirations, tutorials, and projects on what to do with leftovers!

Happy crafting & swapping!

Kristin Roach

Oh no, no, no! Since my last stash bust post my little tile room full of crafting supplies has become the dumping ground for a million different piles of things from my studio, office, and around the house. We were having company and needed the living areas to look more tidy.

Get out of here you stuff!

Well, that’s a little better, but there is still a long way to go. Here’s a new pile of yarn in the shop to help get this room cleared out:

And, just to show you I’m making progress purging in general. I released 1 bag of old clothes to Goodwill, donated an old miter saw to a rummage sale since we got a new one, recycled a box of cardboard boxes, and filled a garbage bag with trash. Whew. I feel like more room should be cleared out than there is. Ah well.

Oh and I’m in the process of making some new pillows for our *hooray* new couch from scrap of fabric and a ton of stuffing.

I’ll be posting a tutorial on these in a few weeks. I took pictures. I just haven’t written it up yet.

How’s your stash busting going?

Until next time!
Kristin Roach

C.L. Tice is a writer, poet, crafter, and mom.  Her writing and creating adventures are inspired by the world around her.  She can be found at her blog, Mused.

Recently, my workplace changed to having swipe card access rather than the punch codes we had been using. We’ve never required ID badges for employees and I’ve never worked anywhere where we had badges or cards. So this is a new experience for me.

If it was only the door to get into the building, it wouldn’t be much of a problem and I would leave my card in my work bag. But, to get to the restrooms and common area, there is another locked door. I can see myself forgetting my card and getting locked out. It’s not like I can put the card in my phone like I did the numbers.

I thought a good solution might be a lanyard that everyone else seems to like so well. They give them out everywhere – parades, fairs, promotional tables. But wouldn’t you know, the only one I had in my house when I went looking was the one my son uses for his key.

What is a crafter supposed to do?

Make one!

My sister came over earlier in the day and went through my stash of fabric so I had a pile of scraps right on top. With the sewing machine already threaded from an ealier project, piecing them together didn’t take much time at all. The most time consuming part was picking out the fabrics – and at one point I decided it didn’t matter if they really matched. It is patchwork after all and should

I cut the strips to 3” wide and between 1” and 2.5” long based on what I had for scrap. I cut three pieces of each fabric and ironed them.

Once they were sewn together, I ironed the seams flat and folded the long piece in half. Then, I opened it up and folded each side in to the middle point and ironed again. Folding it back up, I sewed along both edges.

I didn’t have any D rings in my house but I did find a key ring and re-purposed it for my lanyard. Putting the ends of the length together, I slipped the ring onto the fabric. I folded up the end about half an inch and then another inch, settling the ring into place and sewing the fabric to itself.

Tadaa! I now have a nifty, and one of a kind, work accessory.

Happy Crafting!

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If you would like to contribute a guest post to Craft Leftovers, click here for all the details.

This past month I moved my studio to my home fully, finally, and officially. I really like our house. So does Jason. We decided not to renew the lease on our office. I’ve been slowly moving home the most used things.

March 28th, we moved all the least used things.

And it turns out there were a lot of them…the least used things that is.

So the great thing is that I have a really sweet office and studio set up in my home, which I absolutely love.

Yeah, there is an old piano in my studio. Eventually I’ll get it tuned and maybe potentially learn how to play it :) I want to refinish it first, it has about 20 layers of paint on it.

But then there is the pile, the pile of craft supplies in the basement with boxes and boxes of things. Many of them were given to me by friends, family, and other super kind community members. Others purchased, found, “scored” from local shops and travels.

Granted some of it was purchased for making kits. But really, I don’t sell enough kits to warrant this huge pile.

I feel like I’m part of some kind of craftoholics anonymous group: Hi, my name is Kristin and I’m addicted to craft supplies. By announcing it, I might actually have a chance of doing something about it. The funny thing is, I actually haven’t purchased much of these things. About 70% have been given, donated, gifted, inherited over the last 6 years or so. I’m in big trouble at the pace I’m going. I just have a hard time letting them go. I see possibilities in every little scrap.

It’s time to be more proactive. It’s time to let others be inspired with these fun things. It’s time to destash.

There’s stash busting in the sense of making from the leftovers–which I do most excellently. But I don’t think I could knit, sew, crochet, weave, needlepoint for the rest of my life and get through all these things. I will continue to try though.

It’s not just craft supplies either, I’ve acquired books too. Old pattern books I don’t really care for or books that I have knit the 1 pattern I liked. It’s vintage things and new things and used things. It’s just a lot. I’m ready to pare down.

I’ve talked big about this in the past. I had plans for destashing, but it never happened. It’s funny, but I think it’s actually like an addiction. You can’t actually break an addiction until you are ready. It’s like when some may know you shouldn’t smoke, but still do anyway. I didn’t really want to destash before, I just knew I should.

I’m ready to DeStash

The first option is the Craft Leftovers Shop. I’m going to start taking full advantage of that Stash category by selling cuts of fabric, skeins, collections of buttons, and craft books. I’ll try and get a new group of things listed every week.

Here’s the first batch:

After a few weeks, anything that doesn’t sell will get put up on ebay. After that, it all gets donated. I’m promising you and myself that I can’t keep it. Even if I’m all of a sudden inspired by it, if it’s in the “to go” pile it has to go!

How do you keep your stash from growing out of control? How do you keep it organized?

Now I’m off to sew to try and use up some more fabric so I don’t have to sell it. :)

Happy crafting!
Kristin

One of the things I wanted to work on this year was reading. And I have. In fact, I’ve worked on it a lot. It seemed only right to make a new bookmark to mark my place. I’ve already read more books this year than I did in all of last year! It started when I got sick and didn’t have anything to do but read. It’s like I caught the reading bug.

Fabric Stitchy Bookmark

materials needed

• scraps of fabric – smallish sizes
• canvas or duck cloth (pretty much the same thing)
• sewing machine with bright colored thread

Directions

Step One:
Lay out your fabric so it’s in the order you want.

Step Two:
Cut a general bookmark shape and sew the fabric to each other one piece at a time, use the zig zag stitch liberally, and trimming the excess as you work.

Step Three:
Take the canvas and sew it to the backside of the pieced fabrics, using a straight stitch, so it completely covers it.

Step Four:
Trim into a straighter bookmark shape (rotary cutter works great for this). Sew around all the edges with a zig zag stitch to finish off the edges.

And that’s it, all finished. These are so easy to whip together too. I’m sure you will like making it just as much as you enjoy tucking yourself in with your favorite read.

On the topic of reading

What have I been reading? Well, I tend to read a lot of non-fiction, usually pertaining to whatever I’m currently interested in. Right now I’m reading a book on dog training. Before that, I read about having an The Urban Homestead: Your Guide to Self-sufficient Living in the Heart of the City (Process Self-reliance Series)and getting my finances in order with The Simple Dollar. And, of course, just about any book on herbalism I can get my hands on because I’m taking a year long course: The Herbal Medicine-Maker’s Handbook, Healing Wise, The Herbalist’s Way and a few others I can’t remember off the top of my head.

How do I find time to read? Well, have you ever read Dr. Seuss’ Green Eggs and Ham? That’s pretty much my approach to reading–in a house, with a mouse, on a train, in the rain, here and there and on the roof. Seriously, I find I get the most reading done right in the morning while eating breakfast, on my lunch break, and any other odd chance I get–while cycling at the gym, while waiting for a train to go by in the car, I just make sure to have a book on hand so I’m ready to go.

Happy crafting and bookishness!
Kristin