dividers from scrapbook paper - with birds!

I'd been wanting some new dividers for a while, my old ones were pretty tatty at the edges, and the commercial ones are too dull for my taste.  I have a massive stack of very cool scrapbooking paper, which aren't strong enough on their own, but I had a bit of a play and with some folding have ended up with these dividers, which are strong and cool looking!

Birds on the back of two of them, although sad that the dude on the left has his head folded under....

They are about half a centimetre wider than the diary pages, which was intentional.  It gives just a small edge so you can easily flick to a page, but not so wide that they get dog-eared.  My filofax goes in my bag and is just lumped in there indelicately so this is a real issue!.  

The way the pages are folded you end up with a cute little pocket which is handy for all manner of bits and pieces.  

bright filofax papers

I had been using the filofax coloured notepaper, but with my Lamy safari fountain pen it looked like the paper was almost wax coated, and I didn't like it.  

On my hunt for new notepaper (I'm not a fan of DIY-ing) I found KiddyQualia's etsy store.  I bought some really nice bright notepapers, and some grid papers.  

The note papers have a really nice colour range 

and they work well with my fountain pen!  yay!

I see that on her etsy store she is starting to add monthly and weekly view calendar inserts so I'll be checking those out as well

New Filofax!

I set up a system to reward myself for going to the gym, and here is my latest treat, a new Filofax! I got a personal chameleon in aqua from Pens and Leather

 

I'm really liking it, and I'm glad I bought it, it definitely feels like a step up from my metropol. The photos below are probably the best colour representation of the aqua, I've noticed in lots of photos it either looks green or the black stands out while the aqua washes away, but these photos are pretty true to colour.

The pen ring is smaller then the metropol, and I've been experimenting with different pens to see what works, at the moment I've just got a plain bic but I'm not loving it so I'll keep trying. In the front slots I've got business cards and some stickers that you'll see in my diary pages too. I needed my passport for work the other day and that tucks in nicely in the full length pocket.

I've used the same dividers that I made for my metropol, and will probably stick with them for a bit until I get bored of them. I blogged about them here

I use day per page diary inserts, and I love using washi tape and stickers to decorate the pages.

 

Post it notes currently live in the card holder at the back.

I'm very happy with my purchase!

 

 

Winter coat

I've decided to make a winter coat this year, something of a perennial habit for me. I made my first one at a sewing class, and it's great, mostly thanks to a good fabric choice.

Last year I made another, but a combination of probably the wrong pattern, and definitely the wrong fabric, plus some fitting issues ended up with a wadder.

So this year I'm going all out, I did a bunch of research on patternreview.com and picked out a pattern that I think will work, simplicity 2812

 

Decided on a combo of collar (gathered), sleeve (inverted pleat), length (mid thigh), pretty much like the red coat in this picture

 

I even did a muslin of the bodice and made the necessary adjustments

 

And this evening I cut out the bodice and interfaced it. Which went well although this black fuzz that is all over everything is a bit ominous...

 

Wish me luck!

 

Charlottes quilt

This is a quilt for a friends baby girl, baby quilts are such popular gifts

I use flannel on the inside to make them lighter, and to cut down on costs as quilt batting is very expensive here in NZ. I am working on using my stash fabric, including fabrics that I've been holding onto because I love, so I donated this cute bird fabric to the baby quilt cause.

 

 

New Filofax new dividers

I really like having pops of colour in my Filofax, and these new dividers do it nicely for me in my new red metropolitan Filofax.

I made them from a cardstock set I have, that's all about retro stuff, and some of it was such big patterns that it didn't really work, but I picked out the patterns that did.

The pattern with the alphabet on it goes in the front of my binder and it's a nice cheery touch when I open up.

And lovely little bits of colour down the side!

I used some kikki-k dividers as a template (they were boring grey) but didn't make as many as came in that set, which is why the tabs don't go all the way to the bottom of the paper.

Would anyone be interested in buying these if I were to put some sets on etsy? I know lots of people make their own but maybe there are people out there that would rather get them pre-made?

 

Quick jewellry

 When I got home from work this evening I was itching to do something with my hands, so decided some quick jewellry was in order.

Four pairs of earrings

 

 The pair on the left don't photograph that well, here is a different view

 

 And then a seriously simple necklace to focus on the large bead that I really like

 

 Almost instant gratification!

New (to me) Filofax

 I've been enjoying my faux-Filofax, except for it was a bit small at pocket size, both the paper size and the ring size.  So having decided i would go for a personal size, I started online window shopping, and have decided on a personal chameleon in aqua.  But it's pricey, and I wanted to make sure that the personal size was right for me, so I found a red metropolitan on trademe (the nz equivalent of eBay) for $15 and I'm really liking it.

 I'm using debden-colins day per page diary inserts and a collection of Filofax, debden-Collins and kikki-k other inserts.  I'm really liking the kikki-k paper, cotton cream and a nice weight, The medium size kikki-k inserts fit the personal size Filofax. The personal size is working well I think, and I will get the chameleon, it's tied up with my gym rewards system, although if I see one on sale I'll get one and make myself wait!

I've fallen hard for washi tape, and I love how it adds a pop of colour to my pages.  

 

Card class number two

 My second card for my class is based on the perfectly flat cards lesson.  As usual I didn't have the supplies they used so a bit of improvisation was in order.  

 

The lesson showed a type of paint spritzer to make the solid colour area but I just used a stamp pad and dabbed it all over, which possibly isn't very good for the stamp pad.  The lettering is from a letter set I have, and when I made the mistake and used the wrong letter there was much swearing.  It was the very last thing I was doing so there was no way I was going to start again.   

The stamp is one I hand carved myself, which is easier than I thought, and something I think I will do more of.

 

 A piece of washi tape (my new favourite thing) and I was done!

First card for class

I've been taking an online cardmaking course, clean and simple cards.  

This is my attempt at the first card, I don't have the punch they used, so I had to cut out the hearts by hand and I don't have any sentiment stamps, but I quite like it anyway!

 

 

Calendar tea towels

I love the idea of Spoonflower, even though I have zero graphic design ability.  Their weekly design contests are great and it amazes me how many entries the get, people only have a week to complete their design. 

In November they had their annual tea towel calendar contest, and there were some amazing entries.  I decided that they would make good Christmas gifts, so ordered a bunch.  Spoonflower recommended that they were ordered on the linen-cotton canvas, which I did, and pretty reasonably priced seeing as you only need a fat quarter.  

These are the ones I ordered, plus one more that was speedily hemmed and gifted on the day it arrived.  I got two of the grey one and two of the boxy one.  Hemming was fiddly but easy really.  

This circle tea towel design is the one that won the contest, and has been gifted to my little sister.

I also ordered a swatch book of spoonflower substrates, and now I want to order all kind of fabrics on the cotton silk substrate - beautiful!

Pretty Filofax dividers

After struggling for a while with trying to maintain my schedule and tasks on a combo of my phone, iPad, and work computer, I'm giving a paper based system a go.  I've had diaries in the past but have always ended up with bits of paper going everywhere, so I've decided to try a Filofax.  Well, to be fair, I don't actually have a true Filofax yet, I've got a debden-Collins (which I think is mostly found in Australia and New Zealand) in the equivalent of pocket size.  If it works for me then I'll shell out and get a Filofax, probably a personal chameleon I think.  I need to know if it's a good option for me before I spend all that money, they are not cheap, although if it's a good system for you then it seems like it would pay for itself compared to buying a new diary each year.  

Side rant - the prices in NZ compared to the states or the UK.  We're used to things costing more here than overseas, but an organiser that costs $69 on the filofax USA site costs $169NZ on the Filofax NZ site, which is the equivalent of $132 US!  Nearly twice as much!  Why so much more?!  Anyway, rant over, I'll find somewhere else to buy it.  

I'm a very visual person, and I like my everyday items to look pretty, so the plain dividers weren't really doing it for me, so I made some new ones, which I like a lot better.  

These are yet to be hole punched, as we don't have a hole punch at home so it'll have to wait until I'm at work.  I used the address tabs as a template but I think next time I would use larger/longer tabs.

Sewing goals for 2012

1. Use what I have.  I have fabric, I have patterns, I have tools, I need to not buy more stuff.  

2. Fit clothes better.  I get so excited about the "sewing things together" bit that I woosh past the fitting part.  I need to work on spending more time on fitting to get garments I'm happier with.

3. Pants.  I have a pants pattern, Vogue 1051, which gets rave reviews and is exactly the kind of pants I like to wear.  I have fabric, and I need to get over my fear of the fitting issues on this one.  

That's all!  There will inevitably be some quilts, but my focus is really on the clothes sewing and I'm looking to make improvements in that area

Salme kimono top

I love using patterns from independent designers, it feels so much more personal.  So when I found Salme patterns on etsy, I grabbed a couple.  

This pattern is the kimono top, and I gave it a go with a wearable muslin.  I had a mystery fabric from the remnants bin at my local fabric store ($5 - bargain!) that I think is probably a cotton silk blend.  I have a gorgeous vintage silk in a delicate green with a lovely large-ish floral pattern on it, that I didnt want to experiment with but that I think would be good for this pattern.  

the pattern comes as a PDF, and it was only 12 pages to tape together so I was good to go pretty quickly.  With five pieces (front, back, back facing, front facing and sleeve cuff) it cut out quickly, and I was away laughing. 

I found the instructions on the pattern pretty good, although if you were a true beginner there were some bits that might trip you up, mostly about finishing.  I completely made a hash of the neckline and it never quite sat the same (totally user error, not the patterns fault at all) but apart from that it went together easily.  As a rule I don't love facings, so depending on fabric choice I would consider doing bias binding at the neck, but the facings are well drafted.  

All up it probably took me two hours, although that included the neck error so next time it would go together faster.  Here's the photo of my finished top, totally wearable for a muslin I think!

Bigups to Salme patterns I think they've done a great job, and I'd encourage people to check out the patterns