Think Inside The Box

Good day, Earthlings!... I mean, um... friends!

I have for you my first ever "how-to" craft post. Woohoo!

          Here I will show you how to make a sturdy decorative storage box for your collection of sewing patterns, and you'll need no more than an afternoon to do it. First up, a list of what you'll need:

- A sheet of foam board (Spring for the good stuff at a craft store. The "dollar store" may have a lower price, but it comes with lower quality.)
- 6 sheets of 12"x12" scrapbook paper (2 patterned for outside, 4 white for inside and bottom)
- X-acto knife
- Ruler
- Pencil, nice and sharp
- Mod Podge, paintbrush
- Hot glue gun and glue sticks
- About 4 feet of Yarn (optional but preferable)


Now that you have what you need, let's get started!

1. Use a ruler to draw two 5"x7" and two 5"x10-1/2" rectangles on the foam board and cut them out with your X-acto knife.

Step 1.

2. Cut printed scrapbook paper about 1/2" - 3/4" larger than the board pieces in each direction. (You should be able to fit two board pieces on one sheet of paper.) If you have a bit less than that, don't worry. It'll work just fine.

3. Use paintbrush to apply Mod Podge to part of the foam board and place it MP-side-down on the paper, making sure it's centered. Then keep pasting the paper down little by little. It may be tedious, but if you apply a lot of MP all at once, the board may warp from the moisture, so take your time. If the board does start to warp, place a large, heavy book on top of it while it dries.

4. When dry, cut into the corners of the paper to reduce bulk, and use MP to wrap the paper around the raw edges of the board.

Step 4.

5. For a clean look inside the box, trace each board piece onto white paper and cut it about 1/8" smaller in each direction. Use MP to paste the white paper to the back of the board pieces.

 Before and after Step 5.

6. Use hot glue to assemble pieces as shown. (Don't worry if glue seeps out the sides. The optional yarn decoration pretty much takes care of it.)

7. When dry and cool, place assembled sides on top of leftover foam board and trace the inside. Use a ruler to straighten the lines. Repeat Steps 2-5 for bottom using white paper and use hot glue to assemble as shown. (This piece should fit snugly inside the assembled sides of the box.)

 Step 7.

          Congratulations! Your spiffy little box is complete and functional. But if you're put-off by any hot glue that squished out the sides during assembly, here's a simple fix that also adds a bit of texture.

1. Cut 4-ft length of yarn in half. Put a line of hot glue on the inside corner of the front of the box and place end of one length of yarn on the glue. (I used the tip of a pair of scissors to press the yarn into the glue.)

 Optional Step 1.

2. Put another line of glue on the outside of the same corner covering where the board pieces meet and wrap yarn around the corner and press it into the glue.

Optional Step 2.

3. Continue wrapping the yarn around the end of the box and finish by gluing down the yarn end inside the other corner. Do the same for the other end of the box.

Optional Step 3.

          Yay! Now your box is even better than it was before! It's the perfect width for most store-bought sewing patterns and it looks lovely on your desk, dresser, or shelf. If you like, you could also make a cute label to dress up the front of your box or use other embellishments to really bling it out! Cut the foam board any size and make a whole set of boxes for all your sewing and crafting supplies, DVDs, or whatever you have that needs a place of its own.

Happy crafting!

Kayla

Change It Up

Greetings, lovely people!

     So I'm in the planning stages of crocheting a ripple-pattern blanket for my room here at school. I found a lovely pattern in the wonderful Crochet Today! magazine (yes, the exclamation point is part of the title). The July/August 2011 issue features a beach blanket that seems thick and cozy enough to keep you toasty in cold weather, as well. The pictures show a carefree woman walking barefoot on the beach on a breezy, overcast day, wrapped in a colorful ripple blanket.

     I am very excited to start this project, though I may not be able to do so for a while. The colors recommended in the pattern are a bit too summery to use at this time of year, so I plan to experiment with color combinations through the making of the ever-useful gauge swatch.

     For those of you who may be new to the art of crochet, a gauge swatch is like a sample pattern of the project you are making. It has you utilize the recommended yarn and hook size to make a certain number of rows and number of stitches per row, usually measuring four-by-four inches (unless it's a complicated pattern stitch, ripple, or worked in the round). If the swatch is too small, use a larger hook. Making gauge swatches is very important when you are planning projects that need to be precisely sized, like clothes. If you start a garment without making a swatch, the measurements may be wrong and pieces may not match up right, and by then it will be too late to start over.

     Gauge swatches are also a great way to experiment with color. If you like, try a variegated (multicolored) yarn, or create a stripe pattern. For this blanket, I am working with both solid and variegated colors to see how they look together. I'm working on using yarn I already own for now, using up my super-duper stash to see if I'd like to buy more of certain colors if they look good. Here are some of the gauge/color swatches I've made so far.

     Do you have a favorite? So far, mine is the yellow/burgundy one. I have a few more combos to try out, though. Maybe one of them will tickle my fancy more than these! The stripes will of course be thicker on the real blanket, but I only did two rows of each color in order to see the repeat pattern work out.

     I sure hope you found this to be a rather informative post. I'm glad I could share this useful information with you. Happy hooking!

Live long and prosper,
Kayla