Self-made Hairpin Lace Loom

unikatissima DIY Hairpin Lace Loom

I found two tutorials on how to make a hairpin lace loom (see links below) and because I hadn’t the appropriate material at hand (in fact that’s strange seeing all the stuff I have lying here about ;-)) I did it a little different:
I took two toilet paper tubes, cut them lengthwise, rolled them up strongly and taped them all around.
Then I pricked two metal kebeb skewers through those thick cardboard rolls: my hairpin lace loom was done!
;-)

At last I could give hairpin lace a try and it – worked.

 

unikatissima DIY Hairpin Lace Loom
That is to say that I haven’t read the hairpin lace instruction at stichdiva thoroughly(!) and therefore it didn’t work in the beginning.
They write ‘Insert hook under thread of topmost loop’, but for me it isn’t the topmost thread (blue arrow) but the foremost thread (red arrow).
After I took the foremost thread everything worked fine.

At the moment I don’t have the time for it but in future I will play around with hairpin lace :)


Links:
Instructions for self-made hairpin lace looms:
Instruction at ehow – from metal
there you can find further down (Resources) links to hair pin lace tutorials
Instruction at Little Projects – from bamboo skewers and hot glue sticks
via: DIY Hairpin Lace Loom: the link isn’t available no more.

Tutorial for base hairpin lace at stitchdiva

Google search result for ‘hair pin lace’
Google image search result for ‘hair pin lace’
Google search result for ‘Gabelhäkelei’
Google image search result for ‘Gabelhäkelei’

Recycled Gift Tags

Hamburger Liebe Recycled Gift Tags

I find these recycled gift tags great!

As well the round as the rectangular elements can depending on the season easily be cut from old Birthday, Christmas, Easter, Spring or whatever cards, or from matching gift wrap papers that are glued to white paper for reinforcement.

In place of the gift wrap papers you should also can use pages from old books, beautiful pictures from (travel) brochures or self-made or self-stamped paper.
And photos.

And, yes, you should also be able to make a coupon Advent calendar! :)

And then you can also embroider, doodle, paint, cut to paper flowers the elements.
And incorporate small beads or yarn threads.

Whew, my imagination rans riot again ;-))

 


Links:
Recycled Gift Tags (Postkarten Recycling) (German)

Here at unikatissima:
Entries with the tag ‘Advent’
Entries with the tag ‘Easter’
Entries with the tag ‘card’
Entries with the tag ‘books’
Paper Making
Entries with the tag ‘stamping’
Entries with the tag ‘photo’
Entries with the tag ‘Advent calendar’
Entries with the tag ’embroidery’
Entries with the tag ‘doodle’
Entries with the tag ‘painting’
Entries with the tags ‘paper’ and ‘flower’
Entries with the tag ‘beads’
Entries with the tag ‘yarn’

Tea Cups Jewelry Holder

ElBrooklynTaco Tea Cups Jewelry Holder

What a nice idea: glue together old cups to a tea cups jewelry holder.
If you don’t have enough jewelry you may surely also put bonbons in the holder ;-)

 


Links:
Tea Cups Jewelry Holder (DIY Teacup Sculpture Complete!)
via: Make a Teacup Sculpture
via: So cute! Glue mugs together for a funky jewelry holder.
via: Dollar store tea cups hot-glued for bathroom storage

Decorated Lids Advent Calendar

DesignSponge Decorated Lids Advent Calendar

Somehow I seem to be completely fixated on Advent calendars at the moment because the tutorial for the decorated lids originally doesn’t have anything to do with Advent calendars ;-)
But it it works of course if you glue numbers on and put a (gift) coupon into the lid :))

What is more it surely would also be nice if you glue photos of your loved ones in the center of the lids (ok, then it surely wouldn’t be an Advent calendar anymore ;-))

 


Links:
Decorated Lids Advent Calendar (Paper Scrap Recycling)
via: Jar lids beautified!

Advent Calendars

It’s time to think about Advent calendars, therefore I compiled a list:

Older Advent calendars
I presented Advent calendars before.

Origami box Advent calendar
On the picture you can see my Advent calendar that I’m using for a couple of years now. I folded 24 Origami boxes (but I can’t remember where the instruction came from) that I’m filling every year anew.
Addendum: In the comments of the German entry Monika said, that you can get the instruction here.
unikatissima Advent Calendar

Boxes ‘Winter Village’ Advent calendar
In the same way as these picture boxes you can easily make a whole winter village with 24 houses ;-)
Art Attack Advent calendar.jpg

Octagonal Advent calendar
via: Projects gallery advent calendar
That’s no instruction, but I find it a beautiful inspiration.
Two Peas in a Bucket Advent calendar

Story Advent calendar
I don’t have a picture from this: quite a long time ago I selected a story where I knew that the addressee will like it, bought a pocket book with the story and cut the pages from the book.
I put the pages into 24 little packages, so that the addressee could read a part of the story every day.
Admittedly I found it very hard to destroy the book ;-)

Printable Advent calendar
There seem to be a lot of these, if I can believe the results of the Google search for ‘Printable Advent Calendar’ and the results of the Google image search for it ;-)

Another printable Advent calendar
This one simply looked a bit different ;-)
Petit Elefant Advent calendar

Initials Advent calendar
via: Creative Advent Calendars
I find the Advent calendar initials simply wonderful :)
Vincent Caplier Advent calendar

Easy graphic Advent calendar
via: Advent Round-up
Happy Mundane Advent calendar

Envelope Advent calendar
via: Advent Round-up
d Sharp Journal Advent calendar

Paper garland Advent calendar
via: Advent Round-up part deux
mer mag Advent calendar

Coloured window Advent calendar
via: Creative Advent Calendars
The Quince Tree Advent calendar

Photo Advent calendar
The Crafts Dept Advent calendar

Cookies Advent calendar
Of course you can always make a cookies Advent calendar with your favourite cookies receipe ;-)
FamilyFun Advent calendar

Gingerbread Advent calendar
They’re baking here a gingerbread tile and glue on beautifully decorated gingerbread cookies with sugar. Every day you’ll get a gingerbread cookie and on the last day the gingerbread tile.
Gingerbread Fun Advent calendar

Knitted Bag Advent calendar
via: Julkalender 2009 Christmas Calendar by Johanna Wallin
Knit every day a little piece and get a cute bag on Christmas :)
jdw blog-city Advent calendar

Knitted Hats and Mittens Advent calendar
Apron Strings Advent calendar

Knitted Little Hats Advent calendar
The last link on the page is the PDF file (~ 370 KB) with the (German!) instruction.
landlust Advent calendar

Jeans Pocket Advent calendar
via: fun advent calendars (round up)
The link to the original Advent calendar doesn’t work any more, but the photo is inspiration enough ;-)
roadside scholar Advent calendar

Socks Advent calendar
Once I bought 12 pairs of cotton socks that fitted the addressee’s feet ;-), attached them to a cord and filled them.
It looked funny ;-)

Paper Shopping Bag

unikatissima Paper Shopping Bag

 

At craftster started the ‘Craft Challenge #47 – Reusable Shopping Bag Challenge 2’ and I had the idea of making a shopping bag from paper (see also the other entries).
In principle I really like it, but some things didn’t work the way I wanted them to (see also below) so that I didn’t finish the handle but only show how it can be made.

 

unikatissima Paper Shopping Bag
That’s how my shopping bag looks from one side…

 

unikatissima Paper Shopping Bag
… and so from the other.
I used clippings from a travel brochure, so my bag is not only multicoloured but gives me even wanderlust ;-)

 

That’s what you do:

 

unikatissima Paper Shopping Bag
That’s what you need:

  • paper to strengthen (here an old TV guide)
  • paper for the outside (here clippings from a travel brochure)
  • plastic bag to strengthen the inside and make it possible to wipe it with a damp cloth (right top in picture)
  • some tape and a glue stick (which I forgot to take a photo from ;-))
  • scissors
  • sewing thread and best a sewing machine
  • possibly transparent plastic foil or plastic bag (non-adhesive or you can get bad problems with your sewing machine!)
 

unikatissima Paper Shopping Bag
First I layered three layers of my TV guide pages.
I used them askew as shown in the graphic so that they don’t always touch in the same place (every large rectangle is a page from the TV guide, the smaller ones are pages cut into halves in one or the other direction).
I taped them rarely so that the whole doesn’t fall apart.

On the future outside I laid on the clippings from the travel brochure and glued them on rarely to fix them slightly.

Note: Don’t use too much tape or glue because you can get bad problems with your sewing machine.

I laid the cut white plastic bag on the backside of my large paper rectangle with meanwhile four layers and begun to sew.

Note: It pays to fix the plastic bag somehow, too ;-)

 

unikatissima Paper Shopping Bag
Then I just started sewing (did I mention that I’m completely unexperienced in sewing? ;-))).

I wanted to sew (and have somehow sewn ;-)) lines but it was much more difficult than I thought.
Therefore I made a mental note of some points for the next bag:

  1. The paper for the outside should be better joined.
    I think it even best to lay and sew on a layer of transparent (non-adhesive!) foil or plastic bag, then it is also possible to wipe it on the outside with a damp cloth.
  2. Practise sewing before, so that 1st my thread doesn’t tear and I’ll be 2nd hopefully able to sew straight lines ;-)
  3. The crinkling happened when I rolled up my large paper rectangle several times this way and the other to be able to sew it.
    Paper that is crinkled often get fabric-liker, so I didn’t find it bad.
  4. I laid the clippings from the travel brochure so that they all meet on the underside of the bag – with the effect that it looks scruffy.
    Next time I’d put a broad stripe of coloured paper over the folding line of the bag.
  • I’ve sewn the side seams on the wrong side because I wanted to turn it after just like a fabric bag.
    Next time I will sew them from the right side because the turning was incredibly difficult and I simply couldn’t turn the corners completely.
    That’s why it has these chic rounded corners ;-))
 

unikatissima Paper Shopping Bag
That’s how my bag looks at the inside.

 

unikatissima Paper Shopping Bag
Actually I wanted to make a shoulder-long black with plastic bags filled I-cord as handle (I post-worked the photo to show you the knitting, originally it’s been completely black just as in the next photo ;-)) …

 

unikatissima Paper Shopping Bag
…but I don’t want to make it for a bag with lots of defects.
You can see here anyhow how I knotted the plastic bags together and knitted a little bit already.

 

unikatissima Paper Shopping Bag
The bag seems to be quite robust and I wanted to try out what it can carry.
Therefore I stuffed 1 l juice, half a kilo of bread, 2 appels, an orange and 5 tangerines in – in short a little shopping ;-)

 

unikatissima Paper Shopping Bag
Here I’m holding the bag with the content of the previous picture – no problems at all ;-)


Links:
Craft Challenge #47 – Reusable Shopping Bag Challenge 2
Entries for the Craft Challenge #47

Here at unikatissima:
Clothesline Knitting or Filled I-cord

Drinking Straw Jewelry and Ornaments

unikatissima Drinking Straw Jewelry and Ornaments

When I saw the drinking straw pin I thought: ‘Oh yes, I want!’ ;-)

 

unikatissima Drinking Straw Jewelry and Ornaments It is quite easy: I took two different coloured drinking straws, cut them (veeery carefully!) into spirals with an X-acto knife und knotted them (not too firm) together.
This way my little ball stays in form without glue, sewing or the like.
I wanted to cut them first with scissors but I got ugly edges, the cut must be made with a really sharp cutting tool.

I find it cute as well as jewelry as well as tree ornament ;-)


Links:
Drinking Straw Pin (curly elastic brooch)