Glittery Vinyl I found in my high school fabric stash turns out some pretty classy crafts

Apparently my parents house is the location of katie craft-tacular 2k9/2k10.
Today I was digging around in my closets here and found some delightful glittery vinyl that I bought for a project in high school. We had some assignment to make a purse that didn't look like a normal purse. So I made a glittery "toaster purse" with an attached "piece of toast" brown wool felt change purse. I thought it was awesome then, but I was only 15, so you can't really blame me that much.
So I was thinking, what can I do with glitter vinyl?
I thought my laptop sleeve was looking kinda shabby, so I started googling around for ideas for a cute new laptop sleeve design. I stumbled across this really great Lauren Merkin gold leather laptop envelope. I don't think they sell it anymore, as I couldn't find it on her site. Thank goodness for google images though, for revealing this gem.

So I see that gorgeous gold leather envelope and I have I a VOILA moment. Scallops are so cute, out of the ordinary and easy to just cut on the vinyl as the edges won't fray. That means no hems! WOO!

So I traced out the flap scallops on some newspaper, cut out the vinyl and pinked the inside edges edges and sewed one simple seam around the bottom three edges.

I think it turned out pretty well. It fits my laptop like a dream.

 I still need to add a little velcro to the bottom of the flap to keep it closed. I think that I'll sew it in on the very bottom scallop and cover the sewn part with a cute little button in a fun color on the outside of the sleeve.

Now I can tote my laptop in style!

Crafting when you're snowed in is the best!

I am currently at my parent's house in Kansas City for the Holidays. I was briefly stranded on the east coast due to snow, and just barely scooted out of Philly after a short stay with Colin before snow killed all the flights coming into the midwest.

We've been snowed in more or less since a white Christmas snow storm we had at the end of last week. Not as much snow as we got in Baltimore before I left, but enough to make driving to my families homes on Christmas problematic.

So, being cooped up at home this much has gotten me thinking about craft projects I could work on to stifle my cabin fever. I had a party to attend last night, so I whipped up a cute little headband to wear during the afternoon.

The party was a grade school reunion. It was strange, but super fun to hang out with people  that I grew up with but probably really haven't seen since high school at the earliest. Anyways...

I really like frilly headbands, but it seems like every time I would try one on, the flowers or bows always sit at a weird place on my head and look really silly. So making my own lets to control where the flowers and sticky outy bits on the headbands get to sit.

To make the headband I glued some grosgrain ribbon to a plastic headband and made two little rosettes out of some scraps of black lace my mom had snagged from my grandparents house a couple of weeks ago.

One genius trick for glueing on the ribbon is to use diamond glaze. It is a runny glue, but sets really fast, dries clear and clings to the plastic headbands like no other! I was using cheap dollar store thin plastic headbands intended for little girls, so I didn't really want the orange glittery headband to show through. You can check out Diamond Glaze here, but it is pretty readily available at most craft stores. I will totally be using for any headband projects in the future.

Here are the pictures:

I know you can't see the detail really at all in this, but I put it up to show you how I wore the headband...

I made my flowers by sort of gathering a skinny strip of the lace fabric and sewing it together at the bottom edge in a spiral shape. I have found some pretty good fabric flower tutorials though, if you want to make your own with more specific instructions. These headbands are such a quick fulfilling project. This one only took me about 20 minutes.

Links - 

Poppy Boutonnieres

Flowers for the toes of Slippers (but would look great on a headband or a pin too!)

DIY wedding Headbands (SO pretty!)

Fabric Roses and Peonies (peonies are my favorite flower, and this martha stewart site gives you templates to print)

This morning, the roads were beginning to look a little bit better, so I hit up a thrift store on my way home from a doctors appointment.

I must have floral fever, because I picked out this cute floral tin today. I think I will use it to store jewelry. I also scored a cute apricot colored cardi and a pair of nine west flats. All for $11! The thrifting here in the midwest really is the best!

<3

graceland!!!

My bestie, Morgan, convinced me to road trip back to school with her to Memphis, since this is sort of my last chance to ever see her school. Her boyfriend currently lives in Paris, so she's visiting him over spring break, which means now I get to visit her at the end of winter break. Anyways, the super fantastic wonderful part is...
SHE BOUGHT ME TICKETS TO GRACELAND!
I will certainly have pictures when we go. Look out for photos mid January.

Art Market cont'd and a blizzard in Baltimore!

Art Market photos finally. This is the printmaking department area. We had 8 tables all together I think.

Also, in new news, Baltimore has been covered in 14 + inches of snow. This caused my flight home to the midwest to be cancelled yesterday. I am now flying out of Philly on Wednesday. Continential Airlines called it being reaccomodated. Here is proof of the snow.

Thats me standing in a driveway. This was to illustrate that the snow was up to my knees. Granted, my knees aren't really the highest thing from the ground (I'm only 5' 2"ish)... But still, we got a lot of snow.

finals are half done and I'm reading a boring book

Finals are not so fun. At least these are almost the last ones I ever have to take in undergrad.
I've all ready had two critques, which means I have two more and a paper to turn in. I am a busy bee.
I have a book project and some photos to put up once I get them back from my teacher Thursday night.

My schedule is as follows:
Today/Wednesday, 4 pm (thats in about an hour when I finally get to leave work)
- six hour environmental design crit
Today/Wednesday, 10pm
- finish book project for morning
Today/Wednesday, 12am
- finish another owl for commission for my friend Ainsley (all that is left is the embroidery and stuffing)
- bake apple bread for sanity and class in morning
Thursday, 9am
-critique for the book arts class I TA, present my independent project
Thursday, 12pm-7pm
- finish science paper/book report on the most boring book I have read in a very long time. Please reference picture below.
Thursday, 7pm
- turn in said paper
Thursday, 10pm
- going away party for a friend who is a December graduate
Friday, All day
- blissful sleep
Friday, 8pm
- ugly sweater party with colin
Saturday, 7pm
- colin's job's christmas dinner/party at a lebanese restaurant (so excited!)
Sunday, 10:30am
- depart baltimore for newark, nj for my layover
Sunday , 12:30pm
- depart newark for the land of beef brisket and bbq
Sunday, 3pm
- arrive home to do nothing and finally see my parents

finals finals finals

I sold 12 owls!
And made boat loads of money at Art Market!
Okay, not boat loads, unless it's a pretty small boat to fill. But I did make more than I do in my bi-monthly work study paychecks in the span of 4 days.
I have two owls left that someone never came to pick up. So I will be photographing them and listing them on etsy with some prints by the end of this coming week.
Finals are now in full swing. Since I conveniently took the ENTIRE weekend off to frantically make lots of owls and entertain all of my friends who came up from d.c., I now have lots and lots on my plate.
I have no free time until Thursday night.
I leave on an airplane, with a stop in newark, nj, to go home on Sunday. Then christmas is the Friday following that.
My bestie leaves me to visit her older, grad-program-attending-paris-living boyfriend the 26th through after New Years.
Then I drive back to Memphis with her, and fly to balty from there around the 13th.
Whirl wind of stuff to do if you ask me.
I have pictures of the Printmaking Department booth to post when I get Colin's camera cord.
And the owls that didn't sell to show you soon.

another owl done.

Here is wee little hoot number two. Maybe I an get another done before class at 7?

owls... i have lots of owls to make

I totally just finished one of my owls for artmarket. Now, to finish the other ten.

So here is my first owl plushie. I fully intend to list these on etsy over winter break, when I actually have time to make something that isn't related to my thesis.

Oh, and sorry I look like a CRAZY face in the picture. This is what making owls does to me?
I can't believe that this semester is really almost over. What am I gong to do with my life after art school?

This week through next week is a mess for me... just all work and no play basically.
My thesis final crit is on Monday. Which means I need to put my nose to the grind stone on some intaglio prints and book projects that are just not quite good enough yet.
Sunday I have to work all day on campus. MICA is hosting a National Portfolio Review day, so there will be 1200+ people on campus, and luck me admissions work study gets to help out. It's not that I don't like these events. I actually really like working our weekend events... It's just that with the thesis deadline breathing down my neck, missing out on most of Sunday as work time is a little stressful. Oh well, at least I get paid.
Then Wednesday of next week is Art Market. That means Wednesday - Saturday are fun filled days of me manically checking in every 4 or 5 hours to see if anything I had sold. I should have friends coming to visit from DC though, at the end of next week. If you are in the DC/Balty area, you should come down to MICA to get some affordable art and gifts. You know, you could even by an original print or owl friend made by me!