Mining Monday: Napkin & Placemat Round-Up

Good morning!
Hope everyone had a wonderful weekend.

I decided I'd do a bit of searching for placemat and napkin ideas today.  I have a couple yards of really beautiful fabric that I didn't want to sell, but that I didn't quite know what to do with. 

You see, I love purple.  Adore it.  When I sold a yard of this on eBay the other day, it almost hurt to let it go!  That's one of the signs I need to pull something and work with it myself.

The question was: "What to do with it?"

It's is filled with brilliant colors.  Too strong to make something to wear.  Could do a quilt, but not the colors hubby likes for things, as much as I do.  Could do a tote or purse.  That still might occur, but I really don't need another at this moment.

Then it hit me: placemats & napkins.  I could look at them whenever I wanted and I could accent the placemats with some batiks I have in stock.

Next question: "What design?"

The answer?  A Mining Monday!

So here you go:



This first idea from Handmade by Alissa is very tempting.  I think the purple could be the "base color" and I could accent it with stripes in teal, yellow, orange or light purple.  It would be easy to pull out some great color from the purple.

Image by Handmade by Alissa

This next placemat from Spoonflower, appeals to me, as well.  I can see the purple being the background for LOTS of color OR the hexagons, for more of a "pop" or accent.  I like how both this one and the one by Alissa use machine quilting as part of the design.  I also like the wonderful tutorial she did and the info on using the hexies.

Image by Spoonoflower

This is a great tutorial for reversible placemats.  I will save this to look at later, but I think that the fabric I am working with is just a wee bit to strong to use this way.  I really like how it turned out with the lighter fabrics - very crisp.

Image from Centsational Girl

Here's a cute one - not what I am looking for exactly, but, I like the idea and wanted to remember it, so... I added it here! I thought this would be great for a picnic: love putting the silverware right with it!

Image from To Sew, With Love

As lovely as all these are, here's the one I am going to try first.  It comes from Ellison Lane and is PERFECT for the fabric I have in mind!

Image by Ellison Lane

 Now, how about some napkins?

Here's a pattern for double sided ones.  Love the fabric she chose.

Image from Punkin Patterns

I like the trim around these from the Purl Bee.  I was thinking of getting a bias tape maker, so this would be a great project to try with it.

Image from the PurlBee

Sigh... here is one more reason I need covet want greatly desire a serger.

Image courtesy of Pandiola Lane

Most likely, this is what I'll try: mitered cornered napkins.

Do you use cloth napkins?  Have you made your own placemats?  What style did you do?

Have a wonderful day,
Carrie

Mining Monday: 10 Ideas for Organizing your world

After yesterday's fun video about recycled storage ideas, I thought I'd expand on the idea with a "Mining Monday" post as I am in great need, personally, for this.  My friend and I have determined our Chi is off and some organization would help... soooo.... Let's procrastinate / go hang out on Pinterest and get the ideas rolling!

We all know I have plenty of fabric AND lots of boxes, so this one seemed a natural start: fabric covered boxes!  The original idea came from a Belarussian site, so the author translated it: THANKS!

Image from Handimania.com

I'm very much into the fabric/box "thing" - here's another GREAT tutorial with wonderful directions you need to check out from over at Positively Splendid.

Image from Positively Splendid

This next idea I would like to do on my crafting table: a Craft Room Lazy Susan.  I love the colors she chose and the concept. Bit of recycling and voila!

Image from Craftsbyamanda.com

Have a few books laying around?  (That's a bit of an understatement here...) This project is fantastic!  A "book sling" - who'd of thought, right?  This would be perfect for my grandsons!

Image via Domesticimperfection.com

Any site who's tag line is : "Home of the Never Ending Honey-do-List" is a place I want to visit!
How about this idea: adding wheels to a wine box for under table storage?

Image: DIYVillage.com

I am a visual person - which means, I need to SEE my materials!  Sigh....makes for a bit of a mess, really.  I thought this idea from OneProjectCloser might fit the bill for me: a shoe bag organizer!  Take some time to check out their site: you can get LOST there!

Image from oneprojectcloser.com

Most of these ideas take a wee bit of time and materials.  Here's one that's so simple it's CRAZY!  You can pop over to Smart Savvy Living for even more ideas!!

Speaking of hangers: here's one for washi tape (or other tape, as well!)  My only thought is that it's a bit of a pain to get at a roll on the far side, but it would get them up off the table and in view, right?

Image from sillyoldsuitcase.blogspot.nl

Okay, this one isn't what one might think of as "storage" but... wait: how did they get both the fitted and flat sheets so... flat?  LOL!! Right, it's Martha!

Where was this idea when my kids were little?  I need to show my son this one for his boys!

Image from 100things2do.blogspot.ca

What sort of organizing ideas work for you?  We'd love to see!  I've added a Linky Tool you can use to share, if you'd like.

Have a great day!
Carrie

Mining Monday: DIY Market Bag Bonanza

Amidst the massive cleaning/reorganizing of the weekend (okay, Saturday) I came upon a box of fabric I had pre-cut to make some bags, tote type, some time ago.  Rather than move them to the scrap bins, I thought I'd turn them into bags to sell at the up-coming farmer's market (just 3 weeks away!)  Just quick and easy ones you can fold up and tuck in a bag or your glove compartment.


So today's Mining Monday is a search for patterns and ideas to get me fired up!

The perfect place to start is the Green Bag Lady.  She and her peeps have produced and shared almost 27,000 tote bags for others, a project she created to replace plastic bags when shopping.  You can actually sign up to win some on her blog, HERE and follow her on Facebook, HERE.  Right on her home page you can find links to make your own bags - sweet!

Want something a bit ruggeder?  Perhaps you need to stop at the library on the way?  I found this one made from canvas over at Sutton Grace.

Perhaps you want something more "purse-like"?  According to the Moda Bake Shop, you can make this in 2 hours - though I am looking for quicker, BUT I like the use of fabrics, so I'm adding it in.  I really liked the tutorial, as well - some GREAT ideas there!

This is a bit more of what I am thinking (time-wise) and I like the way they constructed the handles.  This is pattern comes from JoAnn's and is actually called a Market Bag. They use heavier, upholstery material for this one.

A similar idea, called the Martha Market Bag has some good info about construction. 

I honed in on this one by Punkin Patterns for the fabric alone!  I also liked upping the strength of the bag (cotton) with interfacing.  But really?  It was about the purple fabric...just saying...

Hey, how about this one made from a pair of pillowcases designed by the Sewing Dork?  Sooo makes me want a serger...sigh...

Did you know they make the material you see the bags from the big box stores?  That light weight utility fabric?  According to She Wears Flowers, you can get it at JoAnn's! Who knew?  She has a great tutorial using said fabric ... oh, and it's purple too!  She has wonderful directions, too!

Oh boy.. oh boy!!  I just picked up some laminated fabric, so this pattern is PERFECT!!  She includes some VERY important ideas about how to work with it so that things like MELTING don't happen!  Yikes... that would be me!  Here's one of the ones I have available right now.

Whoa... looking for some bigger bags?  I ran across these by Michael Miller!  Not made to sling over your shoulder and I'm pretty sure you'd have to be rather rugged to lift them out of the cart, but maybe I'm just getting old!  LOL!

Oh my, then I found this little gem on Martha's website: easy peasy removable organizer to go INSIDE your tote!  How often have you been scrounging around inside a tote to find things like your wallet or a pen?

Want something "one shot" - almost no sewing?  How about this idea from Between the Lines for a bag made from a T-Shirt?  Unfortunately I just snipped up all my "stash" to start on T-Shirt quilts for hubby and DD.  Oh well...

I'd like to wrap up today with one last bag, you'll know why as soon as you see it!  I think it was MADE for me!  Hehe!

Do you have any other fun tote bag ideas?  Please share them or a link to them!
Have a great day!
Carrie

Headbands galore! Sharing once again... :)

One of my top posts over the past few years was about finding fun headbands to make.  I thought I might share it again with those of you that missed it or are new to Whitt's Kits.

There are all sorts of ideas here - hopefully you'll find one you like!  Let me know if you've got other ideas to share in the comments below.  We'd LOVE to check them out!!

Enjoy,
Carrie

Here's a Bow Tie Headband from Momtastic.com

Head over to Mine for the Making to see how to make headbands from bandanas!

Braided headbands - sooooo want to try these (idea from Alisa Burke)

Super easy ribbon headband from Alteredcloth.com 

 Scarf headband from Craftstylish

(**NOTE: to follow tutorial, click on the pictures, one by one - each has the step)

Knotted Crochet Headband by Maybe Matilda

Braid your T-Shirt with help from Sugar Bee Crafts!

Double strand lace headband here by Elisa

VERY cool scrappy leather headband by Missie Krissie

A post I did awhile back for fabric covered headband!

Mining Monday: Mark it! DIY Bookmark Projects

I love to read.  Lots of folks in my family and circle of friends LOVE to read, so today's blog is all about making bookmarks.  Something every reader needs!

How about a cup of tea?  This one looks sooo cute from Genuine Mudpie.  Hop on over and take a peek at her wonderful directions!  She has multiple ideas here.

Here's one that's a sweet little heart?  Martha Stewarts website has some great description.

Do you like to do a bit of stitching?  How about this one using "chicken scratch" using gingham as a base from over on Kerri Made?

Do you have some fabric scraps and a pair of pinking shears handy?  Here's a great on over at Here and Home.

How about making your own paper and creating bookmarks from that from Disney's Spoonful site.

Want to use a Silhouette machine to design one?  Here you go!

These are some beautiful altered art bookmarks from MonicaZuniga.

Do you have any ideas on YOUR blog or website?  Have you run across some you'd like to share?  Pop them into to Linky Tool below and we'll take a peek.

Thanks and have a creative day,
Carrie