Tutorial (kinda)--Easy Backdrop for Photo Shooting

I have been reading about backdrops for photo shootings.  But some required tons of work, and others taping sheets to walls.  None would work for me.  I am not buddies with the word “work”.  Besides, I have a dog and a cat who LOVE to get involved.  If  I have to tape sheets to the wall, all I would have is a PET STUDIO.  

My need for photo shooting is mostly for my crafts that do not take up much space.  My lazy crafter’s bulb went on when I look at my backyard.

Natural light, check.  Old swing chair, check.

The  biggest posters boards I could find, check.  

Prop the poster boards on the swing chair.  
No crease!  

Set my subject on the poster board and shoot!

 

I used flash, but was happy with the result.

Try different time of the day to get best natural light.

Tried a different color.  

Still prefer a warmer tone.

Follow TingTingMamMa

Dress for Joplin

This is the dress I made for the Joplin project.

I had the choice of sewing a dress for 5 year olds, 7 year olds and 10 year olds.   From my experience packing shoe boxes for the Operation Christmas Child, most people would choose younger children.  Being mindful of this fact, I chose to sew for a 10 year old girl.

I went to the craft night with the floral fabric and without a T-shirt.  Unfortunately, when I got there, they were all out of girls’ T.  The event coordinator had a few boys’ T for me to choose from. And, fortunately, there was this mustard color T that matched my floral fabric perfectly!  Praise the Lord!  It all worked out.  

One little thing that I did not consider was the amount of gathering for a size 10 3-tier skirt.  I was gathering like crazy!  At the end, I took the dress home to assemble it.  Before the night ended, I thought something was still missing from the dress.  So I stenciled a strawberry (to match the floral print of the skirt) on the T with a bit of sparkles.  

Really pray to make a young girl smile on her 1^st day of school.

Follow TingTingMamMa

Good Bye and Hello

My trusted iron that had been laboring for the past 14 years had finally breathed its last.  

It actually decided to retire 3 weeks ago.  But I was not ready to part from it.  I borrowed my husband's tools and revived this guy for a short while.  When it no longer heat up and snapped, I knew it was time to come out of my denial.  This is a tribute to a post-worthy iron.  Good-bye!

The timing of my old iron's retirement was not desirable, for I was in the middle of my lunch bag project. (it was a "arrrrr" moment).  The urge of finishing the project was so strong, I decided to head to Target around 10:30pm in search of a replacement.  My mother-in-law was very gracious to accompany me as my "body guard".  Thanks, mom. =)  Praise the Lord, there was a sale on irons.  
Welcome to my craft room, Steam Master.  Thanks in advance for the work you will do in the years to come.

Follow TingTingMamMa

Tutorial--Thread & Ribbon Rack (Real Cheap and Easy!)

You have seen one of these thread rack in the craft store, right?  It organizes and displays all your thread spools. Pretty useful I’d say.  Though it’s affordable (around 10 dollars a piece), I was reluctant to spend money on something I could make.  I’ searched online to see if it’s cheaper and easier to build one myself.  Here are some posts I found:

http://www.instructables.com/id/How-to-Make-a-Simple-and-Stylish-Thread-Rack/

http://blogfullofjelly.blogspot.com/2010/02/diy-thread-rack.html

http://www.minitoko.com/wpblog/2011/02/thread-rack-diy/

These posts are inspiring.  But being sluggish, I do not feel like running to the hardware store anytime soon.  Not to mention that I don’t really drill, saw or sand (I sure am a mutant in the family…sorry, dad.)  It's my belief that only the creative ones could afford to be lazy.  This is what I came up with:

Thread/Ribbon Rack:

Cost:   Absolutely nothing!

Time:  5-10 minutes at most

Materials:

•       2 pieces of cork boards that my son no longer uses.   (can’t believe my luck!)  They are rather thin, about 1/4" to 1/2".  If yours is thicker, one piece should do.
•         a handful of 8x2 screws (sand color, found in my husband’s tool box.  Thanks, honey.  BTW, I am not giving them back…)  *Be sure to check if the screw head is small enough for your spool to sit on before using them.
•         a ruler

A closer look at the screws.

First, I stacked the 2 cork boards to give it depth for the screws to grab on.  Then the ruler was used to determine how far apart I want the screws.  Once that’s certain, the ruler just laid on the cork board to guide and level the screws in the same row.  

 Screwed the screws right into the cork boards by hand (slightly at an angle).   No tools required.  Make sure the screws grabs both layers of cork, yet do not puncture through the bottom layer (if the pointed ends of the screws are showing, you've gone too far).  
Could have used the double sided foam tape that came with the cork board to hang it, but I decided to nail this one to the wall.  Not going to take any chances to mount this twice.  

Like I said, cheap and easy.

I have 12 small spools of assorted color thread hanging around in the craft room crying for a home.  Since the board has extra room, I decided to use pins (that's right, just pins) for these light-weight guys.  Works like a dream.  I used a floral pin for the one odd spool on top.  The long pin works just fine.

Couldn't have been any easier.

Follow TingTingMamMa

Welcoming Baby Ling

A few freezer paper stenciled onesies for baby H. Ling.

I  imagine this cool dude couldn't wait to grow up.

Dressing smart for the Lord's day.

But mostly, living his whole life doing what his parents do best--praising the Lord.

Follow TingTingMamMa

Tutorial--Thread Dispenser

My laziness has really fueled me to be creative.  The thought of opening a drawer, get the thread spool out and cut a piece of thread already tires me out.  So, what can a lazy sewer do?  A thread dispenser is the answer.   

Got a scrap fabric from a pair of shorts, sew up the sides to make it into a little pouch.  At the bottom of the pouch, poke 3 holes and apply eyelids.  Pop in the thread spools and tag pin onto the wall. Voila.

Now I could hand sew without fuss.

Follow TingTingMamMa

August Aha!

I have two identical chalk holders/pens.  One for light color chalks and the other, dark color chalks.  Having two of them saves me time changing chalks.  So I can always be ready to mark on either light or dark color fabrics.  But…the only problem is that they look exactly alike!  Most of the time when I pick one up, it’s not the color chalk I need.  So I ended up spending extra time checking if I’ve got the right one.  What a pain.  My solution is to stick a small sticker on my dark color chalk holder to set the two apart.  You won’t see me pulling my hair over this one now.

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

For the bags and pouches that I make, I much refer the rounded corner  than the boxy look.  To round corners, you often need a round plate, a mug or can as a guide.  My craft table is already jam packed with stuff and has no room for dishes.  So, I took a piece of card stock, cut it into two squares (roughly) and rounded each corner with different sizes plates and mugs.  Punch a hole so I could hang it on the wall.  See, there's no need for dishes in my craft room.

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

I've be using fabric paint to style up the girls' plain Ts.  One of the things that annoy me is applying tiny dots.  I used a sewing pin, but was irritated that there's not much to hold on to (plus, the end is pretty sharp!)  I needed an "extension" for the pin so I stick it into the eraser end of a pencil.  Bring on the tiny dots, I could handle them now.

Follow TingTingMamMa

Thread Cutter

Did you guess it right?  In my end of July post, Take A Guess, I posted this little guy.  If you guessed it's a thread cutter, you are right.  To be exact, it's a thread cutter necklace.  I pupped open an empty dental floss and used the inside.  

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

I ripped the lid off another dental floss and taped it to my sewing table.  It works like the build-in thread cutter on the sewing machines. 

Follow TingTingMamMa

Box That, Would You?

This was where my pin cushion used to be., sitting comfortably in the tin pail.  

But right after our cat adoption, I quickly realized the truth of the saying “curiosity kills the cat”.  Our 5 year old tabby, Lala, often accompanies me by my sewing table.  His lazy naps don’t really bother me, but his “give me some love NOW” moments are quite frightening.  He would walk around my sewing machine and rub his chubby body against anything that comes in view.  I became fearful that he might accidentally release some of the pins and poke himself.  So I had to box my pins and pin cushions.

Needless to say that boxes became necessities on my sewing table from then on.

I box my clear/rubber stamps.

I box presser feet.

I box glue tubes and misc. things.

Humm, perhaps I should have just boxed my cat?

Follow TingTingMamMa

Take A Guess

Could you guess what this is and, more importantly, what’s its role in my craft room?

Follow TingTingMamMa

What's In Your Jar?

Have you stored your collections in glass jars?  

If you have not, you should seriously try.   

 It started off with my greed.  When I found these wooden floral buttons, I fell into my "gotta have them" mode.  All I needed was 4.  But the store only sold them in packs of 200.  Yap, you read it right.  And I ended up with TWO HUNDRED buttons!  

I had to find something to store them in.  Dug out two empty glass candy jars.  Poured the buttons in.  Looking good. 

This jelly jar now is home for all my other buttons. 

So, what's in your jar?

Follow TingTingMamMa