Holy moly, it’s that time again! Wasn’t it just New Year’s Day?

Anyway. I thought I’d compile a bunch of Valentine-related tutorials I’ve done here for your crafty pleasure:

Top row, from left to right

• Here’s a little video how-to for a pretty stand-up gift-topper. It uses plastic canvas. Of course.

• This button-embellished notebook cover is sized for standard small spiral notebooks. And if I do say so my dang self, there’s a nice little trick for placing buttons precisely in there.

• …And if you need an excuse to acquire lots of felt colors, look no further than my Simple V-Day Sachet.


Bottom row, from left to right

• Turn some scrapbook paper and old magazines into these hanging hearts, which spin nicely with the air currents.

• If you have some scraps of fringe in your stash, turn them into these flowery greeting cards in just a few minutes.

• …Or, get a little more detailed and create a wallet shrine filled with pictures and ephemera for your loved one.

Oh, and I couldn’t resist including this little bonus: a necktie heart brooch.

Happy Crafting!

CraftyPod is a blog about making crafts and making media. If you're seeing this post on another website, I'd love to know. Thank you!

Some of you (hopefully most of you, actually) are familiar with Nancy Zieman, of Sewing With Nancy fame. (That’s the longest-running craft TV program in the country – it’s been on PBS since 1983.) Nancy has a new line of Tablet Keeper products with Clover, and she offered me a chance to try them out. Having seen Nancy demo some of her other template products at CHA last year, I was excited to see how this one worked.

I was also excited to have such a nice use for the fabrics I’d ordered from Daisy Janie. I love how they look together here!

The Tablet Keeper is essentially a clear plastic template that guides you through the process of making fabric covers for electronic tablet devices or good old pads of paper. Used by itself, the template is awesome (more on that in a moment), but you can combine it with a few other products for an even easier experience, like the fusible Create A Strap interfacing shown above.

I’d recommend watching this excellent video Nancy made, showing how the Tablet Keeper system of products work. The whole process is very easy, and I love, love, love Nancy’s ability to make these extremely-simple tools that create perfect results.

I’m pretty measure-phobic and genetically inclined toward wonkiness. But with this template, you just keep re-applying it to your project at crucial moments. It’s your pattern for cutting the fabric. It’s your placement guide for the strap and Velcro pieces. It’s your guide for placing the inside spine.

…And what I ended up with was a level of precision that I’m not usually able to create myself. The written/illustrated instructions that come with the template are very clear and detailed, and walk you right through the process. It took me maybe three hours from start to finish.

One tiny caveat: I did have to cheat the measurements a little to fit my Kindle Touch.

The Tablet Keeper will make covers in three sizes: Large, for large paper pads, Medium, for iPads and similar devices, and Small, for Kindles and other e-readers. But after reading through the instructions and watching the video above, I noticed something odd: the Small size seemed a little too tall for my Kindle Touch. You can see what I mean below – the pink lines denote the Small template size.

So I went here and learned that different Kindle models have different dimensions. The Tablet Keeper, it turns out, is sized for the Kindle Keyboard and the Kindle Fire, which are a little taller than my Kindle Touch.

No problem; I just cut my fabric a little shorter than the template indicated (7 ¾” high, for those who are curious). The template, luckily enough, has a totally unrelated mark on it (shown below) that I was able to use as a guide line, and with that, my cover turned out just fine.

(For the record, I checked our iPad, and saw that the medium size dimensions for the Tablet Keeper do fit perfectly. But there’s no way K will let me make a girly cover for his iPad!)

I also opted to put some iron-on vinyl on my fabrics, as we’re in that interminable season here in Portland where everything in your bag tends to get a little bit wet. And, although you can get buckle hardware in the Tablet Keeper product line, I discovered that this little buckle, which has lived in my stash for 12 years, was just perfect for this project.

Which should remind all of us that it is completely okay to never, never throw anything away. :-)

I was curious about what kind of process goes into making a tool that simplifies a project to this degree, and Nancy was nice enough to elaborate:

“I have a bin of Tablet Keeper prototypes! My guess is that I personally made 12-14 prototypes, then my ace stitcher, Sharen, made another 8-12 tablet keepers before the design, size, details (snap, Velcro, and elastic placement) were finalized. When we have achieved the final design, photos are taken of each step, which I use to write the instructions. Most generally during the instruction-writing step, I’ll streamline the process and then make yet another sample!

As a side note, the initial prototypes did not include the Pre-Cut Tablet Keeper Shapers. That product concept came to mind when I was sewing — the Tablet Keepers were not secure enough to house an expensive e-reader! Clover agreed to pre-cut the heavy plastic. What a terrific finishing touch to the Tablet Keeper.”

(That’s true – those fairly rigid plastic sheets do give the finished Tablet Keeper a nice sturdiness. I was able to cut mine down to fit my altered size very easily using a utility knife and a cork-backed metal ruler.)

So, my Tablet Keeper has been out and about with me several times now, and I’m loving using it. It definitely gives my Kindle lots of extra protection in my bag, and makes it more comfortable to hold. And I might just make that girly iPad cover, and use it in secret. :-)

If you’d like to check out the Tablet Keeper template, take a look at Nancy’s website.

CraftyPod is a blog about making crafts and making media. If you're seeing this post on another website, I'd love to know. Thank you!

Back in August, I got to meet Jason and Courtney Dirks, the dynamic duo behind Meylah. They’re lovely people, and I ended up doing a tutorial for their site – this Kanzashi Candle Wrap. It’s a simple project that works with Kanzashi or really any favorite fabric flower.

Pop on over and download your free copy – and while you’re there, you can enter a giveaway for a set of Clover Kanzashi Makers, which the folks at Clover (who are also lovely) donated.

CraftyPod is a blog about making crafts and making media. If you're seeing this post on another website, I'd love to know. Thank you!

I love a good Easter basket as much as the next gal, but I adore the idea of this simple little gift box. Sometimes you just want to give one beautiful egg or a few choice candies to a favorite teacher, co-worker, or friend, and this little presentation is perfect.

The whole thing is constructed from two kinds of felt: regular wool or acrylic felt, and Friendly Felt, which is a recycled-fiber stiff felt. Fusing the two together, you can really construct just about anything. The boxes make up in just a few minutes, and decorating them gives you a great excuse to rummage about in your stash.

This is my first “donationware” tutorial, as inspired by June. It’s a chance for you to offer a little support for the free crafty you’ve enjoyed here in the past, if you want to. The basic tutorial is here at no charge, or you can get a fancier PDF version (including the full pattern) for the price of whatever donation you’d like to make. This is an experiment in making free tutorials on this blog more sustainable, so if you enjoy the tutorial content here, I hope you’ll consider supporting it.

What do you think of this model? What other tutorials would you like to see in this format?
Incidentally, my apologies for the size of that button. There’s some mystery in PayPal’s code I can’t crack.

Materials (per box):

One 9×12 sheet Friendly Felt
One 9×12 sheet acrylic or wool felt
PDF Template
Fine-point Sharpie
Scissors
Ruler
Bone Folder
Lightweight fusible webbing
Iron and ironing board
Pressing cloth
Hand-sewing needle and thread
Craft glue
Assorted embellishments

The PDF has a full-size printable pattern, but you can also draw up your own, using your favorite drawing program. It’s really just a cross-shaped series of boxes, arranged as you see here. In my version, the top and bottom of the box measure 2″ square, and each side measures 2″ wide by 2 1/4″ tall. That’s sized to fit a US Grade A Large egg, by the way.

Step 1: Print out your pattern onto card stock and cut it out. Trace it onto a sheet of Friendly Felt with a fine-point Sharpie.

Step 2: Before you lift the pattern from the Friendly Felt, mark it where the lines go across the long side. We’ll need those marks in the next step.

Step 3: Now, use a ruler and your Sharpie to trace all the lines from your pattern onto the felt (and here’s where you’ll need those marks from Step 2). Then, go ahead and cut the pattern out along the outermost lines.

Step 4: The reason we drew in those interior lines is so that we can score them. So use a ruler and a bone-folder to firmly score the Friendly Felt along all these lines. We want these scores nice and deep, so don’t be afraid to put a little muscle into it.

Step 5: Then, fold the Friendly Felt along all these score lines. Fold it both directions, and crease the folds. We want nice, prominent creases here, so we can locate these folds later on. Set the finished Friendly Felt piece aside.

Step 6: Now, trace the same pattern onto regular felt and cut it out. (You don’t need to draw in any of the interior lines here – just trace and cut the overall outline.)

Step 7: Lastly, trace the pattern one more time onto some fusible webbing. (Again, no need to worry about those interior lines.) When you cut out the webbing, cut about 1/8″ inside your traced lines, as shown here. You don’t have to be super precise about this. You just want the webbing piece to end up slightly smaller than the felt pieces.

Step 8: Place the Friendly Felt piece on your ironing board with the traced lines facing up. Place the webbing on top, with the paper backing facing up. Center the webbing piece over the Friendly Felt piece.

Step 9: Heat your iron to the setting recommended on your package of fusible webbing. Place a pressing cloth over the Friendly Felt and webbing, being careful not to disturb their alignment.

Step 10: Follow the package directions to fuse the webbing to the Friendly Felt. When you iron over Friendly Felt, it will actually melt a little and become very soft and pliable. That’s why a pressing cloth is so important – to protect your iron! When you’re done ironing, don’t handle the Friendly Felt until it has cooled and re-stiffened.

Step 11: Once the Friendly Felt has cooled, you can peel away the paper backing. You should see a uniform shiny coating of fusible webbing on your Friendly Felt now.

Step 12: Now, place your regular felt on your ironing board. Place the Friendly Felt piece over it, with the webbing side down. Line up the long edges of both pieces.

Step 13: Place the pressing cloth over this and follow the package directions once again to fuse the two pieces together. Once again, let the felt cool and re-stiffen before you handle it.

Check all the edges carefully to make sure the two layers have completely fused together. If not, put them back under the pressing cloth and iron them some more. You may find it helpful to flip the whole thing over and press it from the other side as well.

Step 14: In my pattern, there’s a little extra felt that wraps over the end of the Friendly Felt. It you’re using my pattern, then at this point you can fold that felt over and use a little scrap of fusible webbing to fuse it in place.

Step 15: OK, with everything fused together, it’s time to re-fold the felt where you made all those deep scores in Step 4. We’ve hidden all those lines we drew between the layers, but you should be able to give the felt a gentle bend and it’ll fold right on the score lines. (If you’re having trouble identifying where a fold is, you can hold the felt up to a light and easily see the drawn score lines. Crease the felt once again along these lines.

Step 16: We’re going to whip stitch the corners together. So first, thread a needle with a single thickness of sewing thread, and tie a good knot in one end.

Hold the box piece so that the Friendly Felt side faces down. Bring the needle up at one corner as shown here, catching one side of the box. Pull the thread all the way through so the knot can hide on the Friendly Felt side.

Step 17: Now, gently bring the two sides together, forming a corner. Pass your needle through both sides to form the first stitch.

Step 18: Continue stitching in this manner to join the corner. (By the way, I’m using contrasting thread here so it’s easy to see. You’ll want to use matching thread.)

Step 19: When you’ve sewn your way to the top of the seam, finish your last stitch so the needle is on the Friendly Felt side of the seam. Finish the thread by passing it through a few stitches here at the back side. Repeat this process to sew up the other three corners.

Step 20: One last step: there’s a small tab on the lid of the box that tucks into the box when you close it. Cut the sides of this little tab at angles, as shown here.

Now you have a little box-shaped blank canvas to decorate! All the versions you see here, I decorated by raiding my collections of ribbons, trims, lace, and ric rac. You can attach embellishments with hot glue or tacky glue. The PDF has a bunch of other ideas, too.

Poke a little Easter grass into the bottom of the box, and tuck in a pretty decorated egg.

Want the PDF version of this how-to with the full template?

Click the button below to donate, and you’ll get your copy via email. (You can choose any amount  you like, but if you don’t mind, at least $1.00 lets me cover PayPal fees and still have a few cents leftover.)

CraftyPod is a blog about making crafts and making media. If you're seeing this post on another website, I'd love to know. Thank you!

Happy Friday, everyone! Here’s a little roundup of tutorials I’ve done lately, in case you were at a loss for stuff to make this weekend. (Which of course you are NOT, but still….)

First, up top there is honestly one of my favorite things I’ve made in recent memory – many thanks to The Oregonian for hiring me to make it! I got a bunch of leather (well, pleather, actually) handbags at the thrift store, cut them up, and reclaimed the leather to make this garden journal cover. The how-to is online over here.

The sewing part is quite easy, and it was super fun playing around with those leather flowers and leaves. (Also, tiny signs of Spring at last! Believe me, here in the Northwest, we’ll even take moss.)

Next, I got to do this fun tutorial for CRAFT – it uses shrink plastic to make these two-sided photo picks for parties. It’s a party pick and a place card at the same time! (And I assure you, that cupcake went to a very good home after the photo shoot.)

The how-to is right over here.

…And then finally, my February column at CRAFT was all about making a small, simple, and painless online marketing plan. If you’ve ever felt at a loss about how to best talk about your business on your blog, Facebook, or Twitter, give this a whirl – I think it can help you. It’s right over here.

I hope you have a great weekend! I’ll be crocheting on my new granny square bag, playing a new video game obsession, and eventually cleaning the house. Eventually.

CraftyPod is a blog about making crafts and making media. If you're seeing this post on another website, I'd love to know. Thank you!

I swear, this is one of the least-attractive things I’ve ever made, but it’s also proven to be one of the most useful, so I decided to share.

But before the tutorial, a little background: I am always cold. Even in 80-degree weather, I can find a way to need a sweater. Heck, I’m a little chilly right now.

Katin, on the other hand, carries his own internal tropical vacation paradise around with him all the time. So we’ve always had trouble finding an optimal Winter blanket configuration for sleeping. I needs me some layers of fleece, but that’s like a visit to the sauna for him.

So finally, I came up with The Franken-Blanket. Here’s how it works:

To show you the process, I created a small blanket-analog. The green piece represents a fleece or wool blanket, and the blue one represents a cotton blanket.

Lay your blankets flat on the floor and place them one on top of the other. If your blankets are the same size, that’s awesome. If they aren’t, then line them up along the top edge and let the bottom edges be uneven.

(If the bottom edges are uneven, you may be able to trim them, if your blankets will take that. My cotton blanket is a loosely-woven thing, so there’s no cutting it. The bottom of my blanket is extra Frankenstein-y, and I just tuck it in.

Next, mark a line down the center of the top blanket. This involves some measuring! I used a retractable measuring tape on my full-size blanket, measured in from the side, and marked my sewing line with tailor’s chalk.

With the line marked, I added two rows of safety pins, about 3″ away from either side. These pins will stabilize the blankets in this mission-critical zone.

So let’s talk blanket-wrangling. I think it’s helpful to get a buddy to help you with the next step of this project, because your blankets will be heavy and floppy and large.

I rolled up the right side of my blankets, so they’d fit more easily through my sewing machine. Then, as I was sewing, I had Katin help me manage the left side of the blanket, moving its bulk around as I made my way down the seam. This really helped keep the blankets from pulling out of alignment.

Anyway. Then I sewed a seam along my marked line, and removed all the safety pins.

…Then I re-oriented my blankets so I had a double thickness of fleece on one side and a double thickness of cotton on the other. Franken-Blanket!

Now, because the blankets are heavy, that center seam can be a rather weak point in your blanket. So you may want to put the safety pins back along that seam and then sew close to either side, as I’ve done here.

If you were feeling fancy, you might even quilt the blanket layers together. Or, if you’re freezing and just want to get to sleep already, pop this on your bed and enjoy the equitable comfort.

CraftyPod is a blog about making crafts and making media. If you're seeing this post on another website, I'd love to know. Thank you!

I’m still over here thinking and re-thinking about Free and my future plans for this blog, which means I’ve been light on the crafty posting lately. Sorry. Here are some things I’ve done for other folks recently…

First, the Perpetual Button Calendar above was a tutorial for CRAFT. Any project that gives you an ironclad excuse to purchase 42 big buttons is a Very Good Project.

Next, here are some accordion files I made from old manila file folders, spray adhesive, and fabric. I quite like how they came out. These were for our local paper, The Oregonian. You can get the online version of the how-to over here.

(Couldn’t resist sharing, though, even if there’s no link. Also, Elmer’s Craft Bond rocks.)

And lastly, my January column on CRAFT is all about a New Year’s Bloggy Re-Org. It’s such a great idea, once a year or so, to re-visit the way your blog is organized. Can new visitors easily find your older content? Can you?

Enjoy, my friends. We’ll be back on track again soon.

CraftyPod is a blog about making crafts and making media. If you're seeing this post on another website, I'd love to know. Thank you!

In the meantime, I wanted to catch you up on some tutorials and things I have going on right now…

First, you may have missed this in the thick of the holidays, so I’ll mention my December column on CRAFT. It’s a collection of my favorite tools for Twitter – stuff to pretty up your page, stuff to weed through your follows, and stuff to help you analyze how you tweet. Check it out!

Next, time is running out to register for my next online class, Write, Publish & Sell Your Crafty Ebook. Do you want to develop some new income streams in 2011? Digital self-publishing holds a lot of potential, and this class will walk you through everything from analyzing your ideas to producing your ebook to how to sell it online and market it over time.

It’s really comprehensive, and if I can toot K’s horn just a little, my online class space is freaking awesome. :-) Get more deets and sign up right over here. We start Monday!

…And then lastly, I also had this tutorial for adding applique to your knee socks on CRAFT. It’s a simple project – it’s just a matter of working with the stretchiness of the sock. The how-to tells all.

OK, then. Happy Wednesday, and enjoy!

CraftyPod is a blog about making crafts and making media. If you're seeing this post on another website, I'd love to know. Thank you!

Today, we wrap up our series on ebook gifting with a cool little box presentation. You can buy someone an ebook, put it on a thumb drive, and then tuck it into this little book-looking box as a stocking stuffer. This is a nice presentation for ebooks with a hefty page count, and ebooks with printable worksheets, like my Creating a Blog Audience.

Here’s what you’ll need:

• Thumb drive with an ebook file on it
• This downloadable print-and-fold template
• Scissors (or a craft knife and ruler)
• Bone folder
• Reduced-size print-out of the cover (more on this below)
• Glue stick
• Scrap of decorative paper
• Adhesive-backed Velcro dots

First, print out this pattern and cut it out. The whole key to success with this project lies in how precisely you cut along the outline. So it’s a good idea to cut into each corner from both sides, as shown here – not around the corner.

Now, take a ruler and bone folder and score all of the fold lines that pass over the shape. (Again, careful precision makes a huge difference in your finished box.)

On the edges where the “pages” are printed, just score the topmost and bottom-most lines. Also, see the little tab on the right? Cut all four little tabs out this way, and score them on their fold lines. (Those fold lines may be a little hard to see because the “page” lines run over them.)

I should say up front here: it’s not like I went to paper engineering college or anything. I’m going to show you what I think is the easiest way to assemble this puppy. But if you’re more experienced than me at this stuff, well, knock yourself out. And then send me an email and tell me how you did it.

Okay, that said, make the first fold as shown here. There are three fold lines on the long side of the piece; fold the center one.

That first fold is the basis for the cover of our box. Flip the piece over and glue this fold closed with some glue stick. Then, fold up the score line that’s near the edge, as shown here.

(To be clear, though – not the fold line that’s closest to the edge. You want the one that’s just to the left of that one.)

Okay. Now give the whole thing a quarter turn, so it’s facing you with this orientation. Fold the two short sides up, and bend in the four tabs.

Put some glue on the two tabs that are closest to the cover piece we folded earlier.

Now, fold up the cover side, as shown here. (That “Ebooks are Awesome” becomes the spine of your book-box.)

Then, press those tabs to the inside to hold the sides up.

Bring the cover and spine up now, and let that fold line nearest its edge tuck into the bottom of the box, covering up those tabs.

Here’s how that looks on the outside.

We’re going to do something similar with the other long edge of the box now. Glue up those two remaining tabs.

Now, fold up the side, as shown here.

From here, it should look familiar: press those tabs to the inside to hold up the sides…

…And then fold that side piece over the tabs. Let the fold closest to the edge of that side nestle in the bottom of the box.

Do similar folds at the two short sides of the box.

Then, fold the cover and close the box! You can gently pinch the folds with your fingers to give them a sharper crease.

Print out your book cover at a reduced size (look at Wednesday’s ebook for details on that). I usually print an 8 1/2″ x 11″ cover at 25% to fit this box, but your cover may be different, so double-check it before you print.

The box pattern comes with a template you can trace onto your print-out. Then, cut it out and glue it to the cover of the box.

The same template, by the way, can be used to cut some scrapbook paper into a bottom liner. Glue this into your box to cover up all those folds and edges.

I’m using a Velcro dot (one with adhesive on it) to affix my thumb drive. It won’t hurt the thumb drive any, and it’ll keep it from rattling around in the box.

et Voila!

About the Ebook:

Creating a Blog Audience is designed specifically for crafters who want more blog readers. It takes you through a process ot evaluating your blog, and offers concrete ways to build your community online. Read more and get your copy over here.






This presentation would also be great for:

Making a Great Blog is my best-selling ebook. If you’re just starting out blogging, or you’re not happy with where your blog is now, this ebook takes you through questions and worksheets that will help you make better posts, clean your blog up visually, and help it reach out into the community. Read more and get your copy over here.

CraftyPod is a blog about making crafts and making media. If you're seeing this post on another website, I'd love to know. Thank you!

Our series on giving ebooks as gifts continues today, with a really beautiful binding method known as “perfect binding.” It’s a great way to bind ebooks that print out to 1/4″ thick or thicker, and it takes surprisingly few materials. Today, I’m binding a copy of Handwork for the Holidays, by Katie Startzman and Laura Poulette.

Here’s what you’ll need:

• One ebook, printed out (more on that below)
• Paper cutter
• 2-3 Letter clips or binder clips
• E6000 or Gorilla Glue
• Scrap of paper
• Glue Stick
• Scrap of fabric
• Scrap of fusible webbing
• Scissors
• Iron and ironing board

I printed this ebook the same way I printed Monday’s ebook – I reduced the size so I’d get two pages on each sheet of paper. (You can also perfect bind an 8 1/2″ x 11″ print-out.)

I also printed the front and back covers out on matte photo paper, which gave them better clarity and color than regular printer paper allows.

First, I cut the pages in half, so I had 5 1/2″ x 8 1/2″ pages.

…But then, looking at the cut pages, I noticed that this ebook has a layout with very specific parameters. See how the cute bead graphic lines up with the bottom of some pages, but is 1/2″ above the bottom of others?

Ebooks are like snowflakes – each one will print in a unique way. In the case of Handwork for the Holidays, I love the layout so much, I wanted to give it the nicest presentation possible. So I trimmed another 1/2″ off each page – some pages, I trimmed from the bottom, and the others, from the top.

…And then, I decided to trim 1″ from the right margin of each page as well. (I left some extra margin on the left side to accommodate the binding.)

Depending on the ebook you’re printing and binding, you may or may not need to do this much trimming. Take a look at the layout and see what it needs.

Anyway. With all the pages printed, stack them up in order, with the covers in place. Then, tap the binding edge of the book against your work surface to straighten it out.

Pop a couple of letter clips or binder clips onto the stack at the top and bottom to keep it in place while you’re binding. Place those clips about 1″ away from the binding edge, like you see here.

Now, cut yourself a strip of binding paper. The size will depend on the book you’re binding, but it should be the same height as your book. Its width should be enough to cover about 1″ of the front and back covers, plus the spine.

Wrap this strip around your book’s spine and press it in place to crease the paper, like you see here.

The key to this binding is a very strong, flexible glue. I love E6000 (yeah, I know – surprise!), but Gorilla Glue works well, too. I’ve also used silicone sealer.

Put a nice, thick line of glue along the spine of your book.

Here’s another angle. See the left side? There’s enough glue there. See the right side? that’s not enough glue. You need enough glue to cover the entire spine pretty thickly.

Anyway. Once you have optimal glue levels, go ahead and press that strip of binding paper over the spine. If some glue oozes out the ends, wipe it away with your fingers.

Then, move those clips so they’re covering the spine. Leave them in place for several hours while the glue sets. Overnight is even better.

Once that glue is dry, if you need to, you can glue down the rest of the binding strip with some glue stick. (Some of the E6000 will have oozed around and anchored down at least part or the strip, though.)

Now, we need to cover up that binding paper! Here, I’ve taken a strip of linen fabric and ironed fusible webbing to the back. (If you’re unfamiliar with this stuff, you might take a look at this tutorial I did a while back.)

The webbing is slightly tacky once it’s ironed to the fabric, so you can easily position it on the book and press it in place with your fingers. First, I positioned it over the front cover, and then wrapped it around to the back. I trimmed off some excess at the back.

Then, I used scissors to trim the fabric to the edges of the book.

…And with a quick press of my iron on both sides, the fabric is now fused to the cover. Nice, eh?

About the Ebook:

Handwork for the Holidays is a beautiful collection of gift and decor projects, with some knitting, some sewing, and some paper craft. You can read my review here, and score your own copy here.






This binding would also be great for:

Stitch Village, by Joan Gorman, is a lovely collection of sewing and embroidery projects, complete with patterns and stitching templates. Joan’s designs are so whimsical and charming. My review is here, and you can get a copy here.

CraftyPod is a blog about making crafts and making media. If you're seeing this post on another website, I'd love to know. Thank you!

Today’s project in our ebook-gifting series a simple-but-pretty felt envelope. You can easily buy your favorite crafter an ebook, save it onto a CD, and then package it in one of these cuties.

Today, I’m making these for two of my favorite food ebooks: Hitchhiking to Heaven Prizewinning Recipes, by Shae Irving, and (Not So) Sweets, by Pam Harris (aka my Mom). I had fun picking out jam-like colors for one, and sweet pinks and whites for the other.

Here’s what you’ll need:

• Two sheets of felt in colors that coordinate with your ebook’s cover
• One ebook, saved to a CD
• One print-out of the ebook cover (more on that below)
• This awesome downloadable pattern
• Two buttons, at least 3/4″ in diameter
• 10″ length of 1/8″ wide ribbon or ric rac
• More ric rac for trim (optional)
• Scissors
• Tacky Glue
• Embroidery floss and needle

So, download the pattern and follow its instructions to cut out the pieces. You’ll need one front, one back, one flap, and one cover window.

Next, you’ll need to print the cover of your ebook at a smaller size, so it fits on the envelope. I usually print an 8 1/2″ x 11″ cover at 25%. Look at your printer dialog box for a “Scale” capability, like you see here. You might also want to print it on some card stock or photo paper, so you get the cleanest version possible.

(Alternatively, you could print the cover full-size and shrink it on a copier.)

Cut the cover out so it’s about 1/4″ smaller on all sides then the felt Cover Window piece.

Then, lightly glue the cover to the center of the envelope front. (The front, by the way, is the taller of the two envelope pieces.)

Put a little glue on the cover window, and then press it lightly over the cover piece, making sure everything’s centered.

If you like, you can add a little embroidered embellishment at this point. I’m doing a simple running stitch here, but if you’re into stitchery, you could do all kinds of other stitches.

Now, we need to sew on the two buttons that form the closure. Take the envelope flap and lay it over the envelope back, matching the top edges. Position one button on the center of the flap and the other on the center of the envelope, about 1/4″ under the flap. Stitch these buttons securely in place.

Set the flap aside for a moment. Pin the envelope front and back together, matching the bottom edges and sides. (See how the front piece will stick up a little at the top? That’s what you want!)

Sew the pieces together along the two sides and the bottom. I’m hand-sewing with a whip stitch here. You could also pop these onto your sewing machine, if you wanted to do it faster. My pattern has a 1/8″ seam allowance built in, so just keep your stitching 1/8″ from the edges of the felt.

Now it’s time to add the flap. Line it up with the top edge of the envelope front (the part that’s sticking up).

Stitch the flap to the envelope front. Be careful not to catch the envelope back in your stitching – you don’t want to sew your envelope shut!

To finish off your closure, just put a little bead of tacky glue under the button on the flap…

…And then press the end of a strand of ribbon into that glue. Let it dry for an hour or so.

Now you can wrap the ribbon around the buttons to close your envelope! For the pink one, I used some narrow ric rac instead. You could also use some yarn.

If you like, you can also add some other embellishments. I like to glue a ric rac border to the cover window. But there are approximately one bazillion other crafty possibilities (give or take).

I like to slide my CD in, still in its paper envelope. (The pattern is sized for this). You can certainly put the CD right into the felt envelope, but I’m probably over-paranoid about scratches. Anyway, go ahead and slide in your CD, with or without a paper sleeve. And that’s it!

About the Ebooks:

(Not So) Sweets, by Pam Harris, is a collection of delicious dessert recipes for people who can’t eat sugar. (I can say “delicious” with authority, as I have eaten them all.) Learn more, and get your copy, here.




Hitchhiking to Heaven: Prizewinning Recipes by Shae Irving is a gorgeous collection of jam and jelly recipes, combined with all kinds of helpful tips and tricks. You can read my review here, and score your own copy here.








This presentation would also be great for:

Social Media for Your Crafty Business (by me!) is a good starter book for crafters looking to jump into marketing on Twitter and Facebook. You can read more and order a copy over here.

CraftyPod is a blog about making crafts and making media. If you're seeing this post on another website, I'd love to know. Thank you!

Today, we’ll continue our series of tutorials for turning crafty ebooks into awesome, wrap-able gifts. Here’s a slightly more traditional binding method. It’s great for ebooks with a heftier page count, and ebooks that benefit from a full-size format. Like my Weaving Un-Loomed ebook.

Here’s what you’ll need:

• An ebook, printed out (more on that below)
• 3-4 letter clips, or 5-6 binder clips
• Ruler and pencil
• Needle and buttonhole thread (available in sewing stores)
• Cork trivet (or other padded surface)
• Awl
• Card stock for back cover (optional)
• Bone folder (optional)
• Tacky glue

So, first, you’ll print out your ebook. I like to print mine two-sided, so I use fewer sheets of paper. Your printer very likely can do this, too.

I also decided to print everything but the front cover onto regular paper. I printed that front cover, then, onto some matte photo paper, so it would be heftier and look nicer. (You could also use card stock.)

Set the cover aside for the moment. We’re going to work with the pages first.

We’re going to use a stitched binding technique to bind the left edge of all these pages together. To begin, clamp the stack pages together. (This is your last chance to make sure they’re in the right order, too!)

I like to use letter clips for this, because they’re nice and wide, but if you don’t have any, binder clips will work just fine.

See how the clips are placed? At the top and bottom, about an inch away from the edge we’re going to bind. (In fact, I’m going to refer to this edge from here on out as “the binding edge.”) So far, so good.

Now, use a ruler to draw yourself a guide line 1/2″ from the binding edge. Then, make a mark 3/4″ in from the top and the bottom.

If I were a precise, traditional book binder, I would tell you to make an evenly-spaced row of marks along this guide line, between those top and bottom marks. But instead, I’ll tell you to eyeball it. Make a series of marks that more or less divides the area between the top and bottom marks up into equal parts. You should have an even number of these marks when you’re done. (In my sample, here, the marks are very roughly 2 3/4″ – 3″ apart.)

(I know, I know, traditional book binders – a travesty of loose measuring! But frankly, it works fine and I am measure-phobic.)

Anyway. Get yourself a cork trivet, or some cardboard, or something else you can safely press a sharp awl into. Place your clamped book on this surface, and push your awl into the paper at each of the marks you made. Gently push and twist, and after a few minutes, you’ll poke your way through the entire stack.

See what I mean? Awls are dang sharp.

Once you’ve made all the holes, then you’ll use them for your stitch binding. I prefer to use “buttonhole thread” for this process. It’s a very strong thread with lots of nylon that resists tangling. I’ve tried to do this binding with regular sewing thread, and wasn’t as happy with the result – it tangles too much and tends to rip the paper.

Cut a nice, long length of the buttonhole thread – I use three arm’s lengths – and thread it onto a needle. Don’t tie a knot.

I have a tutorial over on CRAFT that will walk you through the stitch-binding process. Start at Step 8, and go from there.

When you’re all done stitching, you’ll have a nice, strong, flexible book to page through! So now we can add a cover.

So, I have my front cover that I printed earlier. Since many ebooks (including mine) don’t really have a back cover, I’m making one by cutting an 8 1/2″ x 11″ piece of coordinating card stock.

Score the front and back covers 1/2″ away from the binding edge. I’m using a bone folder here, but if you don’t have one, you can use a very light stroke with a craft knife.

(But get yourself a bone folder next year. One thousand and one uses!)

Place your back cover face down on your work surface. Put a line of tacky glue along the binding edge, between your scored line and the edge of the card stock. Place the bound book pages onto the back cover, lining up all the edges, and press them lightly with your hands.

Then, put a line of glue on the bound book, inside your stitching. Press the front cover over the pages, lining up all the edges.

Now it’s time to clamp everything tightly while that glue dries. You’ll need clamps evenly spaced along the spine of the book, like you see here. Leave it to dry overnight.

The next morning, you might want to glue a CD envelope inside the front cover, so you can give the ebook file along with the printed version. (This was a plain old CD envelope from the office supply store. I dressed it up by gluing a piece of scrapbook paper over it.)

About the Ebook:

Weaving Un-Loomed takes you through five weaving projects you can do using very simple household materials. It’s a great book for any crafter who’s ever been curious about weaving. You can read more, and score your own copy, over here.






This binding would also be great for:

Card. Paper. Ribbon, by Kristin Roach, shows you awesome things you can do with wadded-up wrapping paper, used greeting cards, and used curling ribbon (which, incidentally, you may have a lot of soon). Read more and score your copy over here.

CraftyPod is a blog about making crafts and making media. If you're seeing this post on another website, I'd love to know. Thank you!

Last year, I didn’t talk much about crafty ebooks during the holidays, because let’s face it – as cool as they are, it can be hard to give them as gifts, since there’s not really anything tangible to give.

…Which got me thinking: what could you do to make them tangible – and crafty? So I came up with a whole bunch of cool ways you could buy someone an indie crafty ebook as a gift, and also turn it into something really cool to wrap up and put under the tree.

Today, we kick off a week of tutorials for making great gifts of crafty ebooks. Hope you enjoy – and support independent self-publishers!

Today’s project is extremely simple – print, cut, punch and you’re done. It’s a great binding method for ebooks that would be handy to carry in your craft bag, like Carina Envoldsen-Harris’ Stitching Borders and Beyond.

Here’s what you’ll need:

• One ebook, printed out onto heavy paper or card stock
• Double-sided, heavyweight scrapbook paper
• Paper cutter (or ruler and craft knife)
• Glue stick
• Three-hole punch (or standard hole punch)
• Two 1″ binder rings (available at office supply stores)

A couple notes on printing your ebook:

Stitching Borders and Beyond is designed to be an 8 1/2″ x 11″ book. But since I wanted to make a book that I could easily carry, I opted to print it smaller. Many brands of printers have this capability built in!

Above is a shot of my Hewlett-Packard printer’s dialog box, so you can see where the option to print two pages to a sheet of paper appears (near the bottom). Your printer may have the option in a different place, of course. Fiddle around with the settings until you have things where you want them – just print the first page while you’re testing, so you don’t waste paper.

I also opted to print the ebook onto card stock instead of paper, so it would be nice and sturdy in my craft bag.

Once you’ve printed your ebook, you can cut the pages apart with a paper cutter. So my pages are now 5 1/2″ x 8 1/2″.

Take a look at the layout of the ebook. If you have a generous margin on the side, you can bind it on the side. If there’s a more generous margin at the top of each page, then you can bind it at the top.

Stack all the pages up in the correct page order. I also decided to cut two cover pieces from heavyweight scrapbook paper. I cut these slightly larger – 5 3/4″ x 8 3/4″, so they’d be distinct from the rest of the book – and, so that if I flipped the book open to a particular page, I’d be able to easily find the cover to close it later.

I then trimmed the printed book cover down a bit and glued it to the front cover piece. (Again, leaving a wide side margin for binding.)

If you have access to a three-hole punch, the next step is super simple: just adjust the punch to make holes where you want them, and punch each page.

If you have a regular old one-hole punch, you can still make that work. I usually punch the holes in the top sheet, and then use this sheet as a guide to punch each remaining sheet.

Lastly, stack all your pages up again. (Make sure they’re still in the correct order!) Pop a binder ring through each of the holes and snap it closed. And you’re done!

See how nicely the double-sided scrapbook paper works out?

About the Ebook:

Stitching Borders and Beyond is an adorable collection of embroidery patterns for decorative borders you can stitch onto clothes, household items, and anything else that strikes your fancy. There’s clear step-by-step instructions for each component stitch, plus patterns. You can read my review here, and score your own copy here.




This binding would also be great for:

Small Stitches Booklette, also by Carina Envoldsen-Harris, takes you through 11 innovative embroidery stitches, and shows you lovely ways to use them. Read my review here and get your copy here.

CraftyPod is a blog about making crafts and making media. If you're seeing this post on another website, I'd love to know. Thank you!

It’s not like I had the time, really, for another ornament tutorial. But somehow I got all fixated on the idea of chenille stems, and this happened.

Actually, it’s a really quick and easy little ornament (not counting glue-dry time). You could use these on your tree, or as garland, or gift tie-ons. You could make a whole mess of them at once, and it’s a nice craft for older children, family groups, or holiday craft nights.

Anyway. First you need three 12″ chenille stems. Bend them all up according to this handy little video. (Sometimes it’s a lot easier to show something in motion than in still photos, you know?)

Once you have three petal units bent, then cut yourself three circles. (I know there are only two pictured here, but bear with me.)

You’ll need two circles of fairly stiff cardboard. If you plan to make a two-layer flower, then you’ll also need one of regular card stock. My circles here are 1 1/4″ in diameter, but that’s not like a law or anything.

Get yourself some tacky glue, and put a nice, thick puddle in the center of one of your cardboard circles. Keep it away from the edges, but be pretty generous with it.

Next, place your three petal units into the glue. You’ll have plenty of time to arrange them just so while the glue stays wet.

Then, put a little more glue over the center and add the card stock circle. Make sure everything’s centered in relation to everything else.

Now, this whole thing needs to go under a heavy stack of books for a while, to press the shape nice and flat. But there’s one important key…

…Make sure the weight you place on your flower is balanced. If you’re making lots of these ornaments at one time, this won’t even be a problem – just spread all the ornaments out under the books.

If you’re only making a few at a time, however, you may find that the books can’t lay flat over the ornaments – the thickness of the ornaments throws the books off-kilter, like you see above. This will result in off-kilter ornaments!

(Not that this has happened to me or anything.)

…So, just place a little something under all four corners of your books to help them stay nice and parallel to the table top. If you live in a house with thousands of tea bags, like I do, then that’s a natural choice. You could also use magazines, or junk mail, or whatever you have on hand.

Leave the books in place for an hour or so while the glue sets.

Then, remove the books and add a second layer of chenille to the top. (How do you get a smaller flower? You just lop off 1/3 to 1/4 of each chenille stem before you bend it into the petal unit.)

Add a little more glue to the center, and then press the other stiff cardboard circle over the top. (Again, make sure things are centered.)

…Then it’s back under those books for several hours or overnight.

After that, you can get out all your crafty bits and bobs to decorate the center. I used some scrapbook papers, cut with punches and scissors. I also used some buttons (yay!), ric rac, and sequins. You could also use yarns, felt, pom poms – lots of possibilities!

Lordy, these are fun and addictive to make!

And if you make some, I’d love it if you shared a photo in the CraftyPod Reader Projects Flickr Group!

CraftyPod is a blog about making crafts and making media. If you're seeing this post on another website, I'd love to know. Thank you!

I got the inspiration for these ornaments a couple years back, when I saw this post on Zakka Life. I was also inspired by Oshie, an old Japanese craft in which you use small pieces of silk and paper to make padded shapes, which fit together into a particular images. You can see some stunning examples here.

My version is greatly simplified from the traditional craft, but I love the tailored quality these things have! And, due to the whole Kanzashi thing, I have vast stores of tiny fabric scraps. This project is an excellent way to use those up.

So, wanna make one? Here we go. First, you’ll need some thick, fairly rigid cardboard. Thick chipboard or mat board work well here. Corrugated isn’t a good choice – it can bend too easily.

I made you guys a downloadable set of four design templates, so feel free to use those or make up your own design. To get started, trace your shape onto the cardboard two times. See the dividing lines on the shape? Transfer these to the cardboard as well.

Carefully cut them out, making sure you don’t bend the cardboard in the process. The easiest way to prevent bending is to always cut in to corners, not around them.

(If you wanted to be fancier than me, you could also cut your shapes out with a craft knife and ruler.)

Cut one of the two shapes into sections along those dividing lines. Leave the other intact. And then, number the sections identically on each shape, as you see here. This will help you keep everything in the right order later on.

That may seem like a silly idea with this tree shape – after all, it’s pretty clear which part is which. But with a shape where all the pieces are nearly identical, this numbering scheme makes a huge difference.)

OK, now to “upholster” each of these pieces. Start with the cut-apart sections. Trace one onto a sheet of craft foam. (You can get this stuff in the kids’ section of most craft stores. One sheet will make a lot of ornaments.)

It’s important that the craft foam be exactly the same size as the cardboard. So stack the two together, and if your foam sticks out at the edges anywhere, like it’s doing here, trim away the excess.

Now it’s time for fabric. Cut a piece that’s about 1/2″ larger on all sides than the cardboard/foam pieces. You don’t have to be super-precise about it, as long as there’s roughly 1/2″ on all sides.

You’ll need some masking tape for the next step. (Good old masking tape!) Cut yourself a whole bunch of little pieces, and spread them out where you can grab them easily. I usually take about a 3″ strip off my roll, cut it in half lengthwise, and then snip each half into a bunch of smaller tabs. You’ll need some larger and some smaller, like you see here.

Also, place your fabric piece face down. Center the craft foam over that, and center the cardboard over the craft foam.

Begin the “upholstery” process at the corners. Gently stretch the fabric over one corner of the cardboard – be careful not to pull the fabric so tight that you bend the cardboard. Tape the fabric to the cardboard with the masking tape, burnishing it down firmly with your fingers.

I like to pull all the corners to the back first and tape them down. That gives you nice, smooth fabric coverage.

With the corners down, then pull the fabric around the sides of the shape and tape it down wherever needed. Some shapes need a lot of tape, and some don’t. Just make sure that you’re getting the fabric pulled nice and smooth over the front of the shape.

When you’re done, you should have something that looks like this. Be careful not to let the tape wrap up over the sides of the shape – you’ll want all the tape hidden.

Just a quick note: some shapes will have sharper corners, like this one. Occasionally, you may need to trim away a little excess fabric in order to tape it down smoothly. And, if you’re taping in tight spaces like this, keep plenty of smaller tabs of tape on hand.

Repeat this process to “upholster” the remaining pieces. (I have no idea why I feel so compelled to put that word in quotation marks.) As you work, keep these pieces laid out in their numeric order, so you know which ones go where.

Next, cut another piece of fabric that’s 1/2″ larger than the intact piece on all sides, as you see here. You’ll follow the same process to stretch and tape this fabric around the cardboard. Wherever you have an inward-facing corner, like you see at the tree trunk above, clip into the fabric a little.

(Just to clarify a point: this backing piece doesn’t have any foam padding. You’re just covering the cardboard with fabric.)

With your fronts and back all covered, it’s time to assemble the ornament. Place the back piece with its fabric side down. Then, put some tacky glue on the back of each “upholstered” piece, and then place it on its correct section of the back piece.

When you glue the topmost piece down, slip in a little folded piece of 1/4″ wide ribbon. That acts as a hanger. (Or, if you have no ribbon, use some yarn or a bent piece of wire.)

When you have the whole thing assembled, it’s time to put it under a stack of heavy books to dry. (The pressure will make all the pieces lie nice and flat.) If you have a little glue oozing out at the sides, like you see here. wipe it away with your fingers before you put any books over it.

Leave your ornament under those books for a few hours or overnight. And you’re done!

There are so many cool ways to interpret this project. I love using fabrics with metallic accents, because they look a lot like Japanese washi paper.

Here’s one where I “fussy-cut” my fabric to take better advantage of the leaf design.

…And here’s one covered with some beautiful dyed silk Pat sent me. It has such a pretty luster to it.

(Incidentally, the wreath is probably the most challenging shape of the four I designed, due to all the curved edges. I’d recommend making one of the other shapes first. Also, if you make a wreath, I recommend not cutting two identical cardboard shapes at first. Instead, cut one out, cut it into sections and “upholster” it, and then re-assemble them. Trace around this re-assembled wreath to get your backing piece.)

If you make one of these, I’d love to see! Will you post a photo to the CraftyPod Reader Projects Flickr Group?

CraftyPod is a blog about making crafts and making media. If you're seeing this post on another website, I'd love to know. Thank you!