Healthy and Pretty Air Freshner

Do you have a bunch of these things laying around?

I know, I know, they're very, very bad for you.  But I only just found last year and I haven't bought any since.  I figured there must be something I could do with the empty ones though so I kept them.

I also had this roll of washi tape laying around that I didn't know what to do with.

So I put the two together and got this!

Then I filled it about 1/3 full with essential oil and the rest with water.  Plug it in and you have your own, healthy, air freshner, that looks a little different than everyone else's.

I wrapped the tape around the edges but there's an opening in the back so that if I need to check if it's empty or not I can still see inside.

I think this whole project took me about 3 minutes to complete.  Don't you love projects like that!?!?

Lacey Top

Do you ever look through your closet and wonder what the heck you were thinking when you bought something?

I found a t-knit turtleneck top in a drawer that I purchased as a layering piece for under a tunic I made.  But when I put it on the whole thing reminded me too much of Robin Hood, so I've never worn it.

So, as usual, I got out my scissors and made it into something new, and much nicer!

Here's what you need to make your own lacey top:

Materials:
T-knit top
wide elasticized lace (mine is 6 3/4" wide)
standard sewing kit
sewing marker (not shown)

Steps:
1) The first thing I should've done was iron my top, but what I actually did was turn it inside out and cut off the sleeves.

2) Next, decide what you want your neckline to look like and lightly mark it out with an erasable pen or pins.

3) Cut along the lines.  Mine is a boat neck so it looks like this now:

4) You can skip this step if you want but if you're anything like me and raw edges drive you a little batty, just go ahead and serge or zigzag your edges, turn them, press them, and sew down.

5) Tack the edges at the top of the shoulder together. Don't worry if it doesn't line up perfectly.  It's going to be covered up in lace right away.

6) Now the fun part!  Get our your lace and pin it to the sides of your top, wrapping it all the way around the top of the shoulder, creating a sleeve opening.  I didn't have enough lace to just go straight up and down so I angled the back piece into the side.  Make sure to start your lace about a half inch lower than your hem so that you can turn it under (later).

Play with the placement of your lace and come up with the most flattering lines.

Sleeve

Under sleeve

You can never have too many pins!

7) Stitch down your lace, sewing close to the edges.

8) Don't forget to go back and turn your hem and sew it down.

And that's it!  So easy!

Oh! and here's one more tip!  If you want to take it one more step and make it a little more sassy (aka: sexy) cut out the fabric underneath the lace along the sides.  That way you'll have peek-a-boo sides without showing off too much.  I'm hoping to wear mine to work so I'll just leave it as is but for you more adventurous girls... go for it~

*This lace is very similar to the lace I used for my boot socks so I'm going to answer the question that kept coming up with that project....I was very, very lucky and got my lace in the bargain bin at my local fabric store.  Look in the elastic section, lace section, embellishments section, or the bargain bin at your store.  I can't tell you exactly where to find it because it's often a speciality item that isn't carried regularly.  I have also seen it at Wholeport Crafts (link on the sidebar, and no I do not get a commission for any sales there, it's just the only place I've seen it online.)

I think it looks prettiest with contasting lace.  What do you think?  What colours would you put together?  Leave a comment below~

This project was featured here:

  

Proud to be Canadian (and a little Geeky)

OK, today's post is completely off topic but I'm pretty excited about it so I figured you might be interested too...

Have you been following @Cmdr_Hadfield on Twitter?  He posts the lovliest photos from the international space station, plus he's Canadian so I like to support him~

It's entirely possible that I've been slipping his name into conversation too often lately because a friend of mine recently sent me this link: http://www.asc-csa.gc.ca/eng/webcast.asp  along with this note: "Something tells me you'll be interested in live streaming this".

What? Commander Hadfield and Captain Kirk chatting live through space?

I have no idea why my friend thought I would find that exciting~

The Canadian Space Agency is hosting the live chat today at 10:30 EST HERE or on Ustream HERE.

Commander Hadfield is also releasing a new song with the Bare Naked Ladies (another group of awesome Canadians) on Friday on CBC music!  It doesn't get any more Canadian (or geeky) than that!

Update: Also on YouTube HERE.

Drapey Blouse

Remember way back in December when I told you about some pretty McCalls patterns I wanted to try?

 Well, I made another one....

It's just a plain jane blouse for work but it's kind of pretty.  I made view D from McCalls 6651.  I wanted to give it a test run with some cheapy fabric before I went for the super drapey short sleeve one in the large pic below.

You can see the leggings (McCalls 6173) I made here.

Next up will be this gorgeous jacket:

McCalls 6657

What's on your list of things to sew?  Leave a comment below~

Your Style Rocks!

Instead of crafting my time away this past weekend I spent a bit more time than usual just being lazy and hanging out on the internet.  Normally I would get after myself about this except that I came across this totally awesome website that made it all worthwhile!

Yourstylerocks.com is a designers dream!  This is how the website describes itself:

"Here at Your Style Rocks! We think that individual, home-sewn fashion is so much more exciting than standard clothes you can buy in highstreet stores - which is why we offer you dress patterns to download and use for free. You have your own design ideas? Awesome! Share them with us in our monthly challenge. The style rated the most by our community will be published as next month's free pattern. It could be your design that's going to rock our fashion world next!"

So neat, right!?!  Here's a sample of a few of the FREE patterns they have on offer right now:

Apparently they have such a backlog of FREE patterns to make and post that they've put the monthly challenges on hold for awhile, but in the meantime you can get busy making the patterns they have so far.  All you need to do is sign up for a free membership and you're in.

If you don't draw or sew but you still have ideas you can still send them in and, you never know, you could be seeing your designs in print!

*This is not a sponsored post.  I just think this is a really neat site and wanted to share it with you~

Gold Disc Necklace

I know how many of you liked my paper earrings project (It still blows my mind how much it's pinned) and now I have another fun paper jewellery project to share with you.

I was inspired by this beautiful necklace:

                                                                      Source: rstyle.me via Etcetorize on Pinterest

The original is 24 karat hammered gold discs, designed by Hervé Van Der Straeten and goes for a cool $970.  Just a little out of my price range...so I made my own!

Here's what you need to make one too:

Materials:
-heavy weight glitter paper
-medium weight scrapbooking paper
-Mod Podge and sponge brush (or your preferred adhesive)
-sharp craft knife or scissors and cutting mat
-metallic embroidery thread
-circle templates

Steps:
1) I almost went for some beautiful peacock feather printed glitter paper but in the end decided to stick with the inspiration.  It's good to use something heavier weight so that it will lay properly on your necklace.  Start by cutting various sized discs from your glitter paper.

Cutting from the backside.
This paper is too thick for my electronic cutter
so I just used a knife.

My discs are 1", 1.5", 2", and 2.5".

2) Make another set of discs from your scrapbooking paper.  This will go on the back of each of your discs so make sure you have enough that match in size.

3) It's not a bad idea to cut just a tiny smidge off the edge of each of your backing discs to  make sure you can't see them when they're glued together.

4) Cut a piece of metallic embroidery thread approximately 1.2 metres (47").

5) Tie the ends together and snip off any excess.

6) Now just make a little sandwich with your glitter paper, the embroidery thread (towards the edge), and the backing paper.  I found it worked easiest to just spread the Mod Podge onto the backing paper and then just snap it all together.

Place your discs willy nilly all over the thread, being careful not to twist your thread or your discs won't lay the right way when you put it on.

Voila!  You've just saved yourself at least $967!!

I might need to add more discs~

Here are some other paper jewellery projects from the past:

You can find all of these by clicking on the
TUTORIALS Tab
up top~

Have a crafty weekend everyone!  Don't be afraid to leave a comment below~