All Things Lovely

A Little iPad Cover Tutorial

I feel like I've finally caught up with a large percentage of the modern world, and entered the land of iPad ownership. I'm pretty excited and a little in love with Ivan...my iPad.

Ivan needed a little home to live in, so of course I thought I would quickly DIY a cover for it. Inspired by this iPad sleeve here, I came up with this. It's so easy so follow along if you'd like to make one too. 

Start off with some wool felt. I just used some of the leftover felt I had from my MacBook cover that I made last year. I also used a crochet doily that I picked up from Spotlight, a couple of white buttons, some velcro and yellow thread.

Cut out your pieces of felt. My top piece is 21.5cm wide and 24.5 cm high. The bottom piece is 21.5cm wide and 35cm high, to make room for the little flap.

I used a bit of spray glue, and then sewed my doily onto the back piece of the cover. Lay it out however you want. For mine I only wanted half the doily.

Once I'd sewn and glued it on, I trimmed around the edge to neaten it all up.

OK, now we're getting somewhere. To add a bit of interest to the front of my cover, I thought I would make a scalloped edge for the top. The easiest way I found was to mark the centre of my cover so the scallops would line up perfectly on both sides. Confession: first time I didn't do it and it looked horrible. My flap is not quite as long as originally planned because I cut it off and did it again!

Then using a reel of cottn and a Sharpie, mark out the scallops on the wrong side of your felt, so any marks won't be seen.

Then cut them out, and you'll be left with a cute little scalloped edge.

Next up is to sew some velcro on so that nothing slips out. You can use little press studs if you want, but I find velcro really easy to use. I just sewed a little rectangle on. Make sure you use cotton that blends!

Once that's done you can sew the two pieces together. I used one of the fancy blanket stitched on my machine to do this as I thought it would help the doily on the back stay together and not fray too much. You can use any stitch you want really, just make it sturdy.

I have to admit, I wish I hadn't of stitched around the scalloped edge now, but you live and learn right? Maybe I'll just make another one later. Once you've sewn it together, put your iPad inside and line up where to sew the other piece of velcro.

I decided to then sew some buttons on just for a bit more visual interest, and then because I'm currently in a mustard yellow obsession, I tied some cotton around so it does up like an envelope.

I'm kind of in love....

Christmas Ornaments

I thought I would quickly show you how I made the clay ornaments that I'm hanging on my twisted willow tree. I'm not fully happy with these which is why they're not going out as gifts. But I'm happy enough to keep them for my home.

I started out with some Fimo air clay, lace and some Christmas themed biscuit cutters.

I rolled out the clay on a plastic bag. Warning, this stuff sticks to everything! Plastic or foil is recommended.

I wanted the ornaments to have a slightly textured feel, so I used some old lace curtains. I laid them over the clay and just went over it lightly with a rolling pin.

Once I'd done that, I chose my shape and wet it thoroughly. I feel like it made it slightly easier to get the clay out of the cutter. The heart and bell shape seemed to be the easiest.

I just used a skewer to pop  hole in the top. If I was doing it again, I'd probably use a straw instead as it would sort of take out the clay, rather than just press it through if that makes sense? Not to mention it would have been good to have a slightly larger hole.

Anyway, after a good 48 hours of dry time, including turning them all over half way through, my ornaments were dry. You could always lightly sand off the rough edges but I actually left them very 'natural' ie I was too lazy to do that! Just threaded a bit of twine through and voila! Done.

Cute Little Tile Coasters

Happy Monday!! How was your weekend? Did you get up to anything fun, or creative or new? I had a lovely weekend, but I'll share more of it throughout the week.

I did however finish off this project, finally! I've been wanting new coasters in my living room for ages and so thought, what the heck, I'll just make some. Now, I'm sure there's a gazillion tutorials on the net on how to make them, but what's one more?

Start off with everything you need. I've used four 10cmx10cm glossy wall tiles, some Mod Podge, sealer, a sheet of thin cork and some sheets of scrapbooking paper. For this project I've used a sheet of Crate Paper Dreamy and Gathering.

Start off by measuring and cutting your paper out. Given my tiles are about 10cm square, I cut my paper about 9.5cm square since I wanted a bit of the tile to show through. It's obviously up to you what you want to do.

One you've got it all neatly cut out, apply a good dollop of Mod Podge to the back of your paper and spread it all out. Make sure you clear out any air bubbles, and get your paper all lovely and centred on your tile.

Then it's the boring bit for a little while to let it all dry. Once dry, paint over with some sealer. I've used Plaid Folk Art Outdoor Sealer. I will admit, this was the only sealer I could find when I was looking so I'm sure there's possibly better sealer to use. Let it dry between coats. I've gone for three coats and I'm happy with that, but if you want to do another one, I won't stop you.

Once all that is dry, it's time to finish them off. Cut from a sheet of cork squares about the size of your tile. I've tried to cut mine as close to the size of the tile as possible as I really don't want to wreck my furniture. However, my sheet of cork is very thin. The thicker you go, I guess you could make it a bit smaller. 

Get out your trusty Mod Podge again and smear some over the back of the cork. Carefully stick it to the back of your tile, and you're done. New coasters!

I thought I may as well make some for a gift as well. Very cheap, and too easy!

Cute Covered Magnets

I'm sure you've seen these around but I decided to have a play at making my own magnets to go in the new studio. If you want to play along at home, I thought I'd do a little tutorial.

First up, gather your materials. I've used self covering buttons, some 15mm magnets, you'll need some pliers, really good glue and fabric scraps. I'm using scraps from the chair I covered and pillow I made so that it all matches.

Unless you can get buttons with a flat back to them, you will need to grab your pliers and cut off the little bit on the back.

Once they're all done, it's time to start covering your buttons. Line up your fabric if you're fussy about what you want centred on the button, and then push the button cover and fabric into the special little doovalacky that they give you. Trim all your fabric down so that the back of the button will fit in well.

Press the button back in and make sure you push firmly so that the button back is secure. Then dab some glue onto your buttons and magnets. Don't make the same mistake I did and glue the wrong side of the magnet. Who knew that magnets are only magnetised on one side sometimes? Not me! My glue says to let it sit for about a minute until it's a bit tacky, and then press together.

Then press your magnets and buttons together and voila! Cute little magnets.

I put them on my new whiteboard in my studio. Oh, the calendar is from Etsy seller Ola Design. I bought it last year, and I've framed some of the gorgeous pictures.

Don't forget to enter my giveaway as well! It ends this Sunday night.

A Chair Makeover

Do you remember the 99 cent chair I won on eBay? One of the biggest bargains I've ever managed to wrangle! I felt so bad when I went to pay the poor seller, I tried to offer her $5 but she wouldn't take it, so I figure OK, it's meant to be. This weekend I finally got around to doing something about it. Here's a recap of it before.

The plan is for it to be my sewing chair to go in my studio, so after sanding it back and washing it I painted it white to match the other chair and other furniture. Then came time to recover that seat, it is far from comfortable.

I went down to Clark Rubber and they cut me some foam for the seat. I bought high density foam so hopefully it will stay comfy enough for quite some time. Of course, I'm using fabric from the Drawing Room collection by Anna Maria Horner.

First I gave the seat and foam a light spray of glue, just to keep it from slippping around while I covered it with a light wadding, just to slightly round off the edges of the foam and give a nicer look and feel under the fabric. I also gave the wadding a light spray glue as well, just to keep it to the foam. Using my trusty staple gun I then just pulled it taut and stapled away. That part is fun!

Then it's on to covering with fabric. Position your fabric exactly how you want to. I also gave the fabric a light spray with the glue as well, but it's probably not necessary. Trim your fabric and then start stapling. My tip would be to actually press down on the foam as your pulling it taut to make it as tight as possible. I would recommend two people, I did this by myself and while it's definitely do-able, I think the extra hands would not be unwelcome.

And voila! I'm done. It's certainly far from perfect but I think I'm happy. I'll be giving it a good test run so hopefully it goes OK. I can't believe how easy it is to give an old chair a new lease on life, the whole thing probably only cost be about $35 - including the chair, so I think it's definitely worth a little bit of work.

A Covered Lampshade

I am so late on this project. I bought this beautiful fabric from Joel Dewberry's Ginseng range for my 'Winter Themed' lounge room colours, you know, to match the new cushions I made to give the room a warm feel. Now that we're well and truly into spring, I've finally got it done. I'm annoyed with myself, but that's life I guess! In a week or two I'll switch to 'Summer Theme'. :)

So, I got this lampshade that I've been using for the past two years and decided to cover it. Before, it was just chocolate brown suede, which did work but didn't inject much colour into the room. Rather than buying a new one to cover, I figured I'd just use the old one. The lampstand was actually made by my uncle when he was back at school (35 odd years ago)! I love having things from within the family.

After cutting out my fabric to roughly the right length and width, I quickly sewed a hem on one end to keep it all neat and tidy. Using spray adhesive, I covered both the lampshade and my piece of fabric and waited until they went tacky.

Once the fabric was stuck on, I went around and gave it another little trim just so there wasn't too much overhang. Once it was trimmed, I stuck some double sided tape to the fabric and pressed it down around the inside rim of the shade.

I also stuck some ribbon on inside the lamp just to cover the ugliness of the fabric inside. it took all of about 10 minutes and now I have a lovely new lampshade, which gives some really nice colour to the lounge room.