Display Redux

I'm constantly struggling with the way I display the creations I sell at craft shows. Since I don’t do all that many craft shows, I can’t justify spending a lot of money for expensive displays. Besides, I like a display with a DIY look rather than a store bought display rack.

I have a large display I made for my beaded earrings made from peg board and covered with quilt batting and fabric. I pin my earrings cards to the padded display. The display gets clamped onto the table. It works quite nicely.

When I started making earrings from recycled aluminum cans, I needed a new display. I wanted it to be in keeping with the recycled theme, so I used some leftover pegboard and made two smaller display boards, but this time I decoupaged newspaper to the board. My earring cards covered most of the board and the “recycled” newspaper showed around them. It was okay, but I really didn’t like it much. It was only temporary.

This summer I have been selling my creations at an area Farmers’ Market. I'm only selling the creations that are made from recycled and up-cycled materials. My booth is done in “recycle green” and orange. I was hoping to be able to find a fabric with little recycling symbols all over it to recover the pegboard, but the only one I found had symbols that were too large. Instead, I found a pretty floral pattern with green and orange as well as some turquoise. I love the addition of the new color. It made me smile so I bought it.

Using the same process I used for the large displays, I cut some fabric and batting.

I used some spray adhesive on the boards, set the batting down, sprayed the batting, and set down the fabric.

A few staples around the back and I had my new displays.

Now I just need to figure out a new and better way to display my map wallets. Anyone have any suggestions?

Up-cycled Maps

So, do you remember the small stack of maps I picked up at the tag sale a few weeks ago? Well, it’s time to reveal what I’ve been doing with them.

  

I’ve been up-cycling them into wallets.

I am able cut the pieces for two to three wallets out of each map, depending on the size of the map.

I try to lay them out so I get some interesting cities or a variety of colors on each piece. If I plan them out well, I have surprisingly little waste from each map.

Each cut piece is covered with a light vinyl film to make the wallet tear resistant and water repellent and then I head to my one of my sewing machines.

I like to use my very inexpensive, very lightweight, Brother machine for sewing paper and plastic items. It operates almost like a toy, but it really is the best for the job. (I reserve my beloved Necchi machines for my other sewing.)

I sew all the pieces together with brightly colored thread.

     

Sewing paper is really quite fun.

And the wallets work up pretty quickly.

And there you have it! Another lilea b. creation, ready for sale.

Major Score!

We did some tag sale-ing again this weekend. I can't believe the great finds I scored. It's going to take me a couple of posts to show you everything. For today, I'll just show you the items I bought that will be used for crafting.

First, this bottle and jar cutter kit. I've wanted to experiment with cutting old glass bottles and making them into vases and such. You know how I like to find new recycling crafts.

Look at this kit. It had all it's parts and was never used. We found it in the basement of an estate sale. Hubby almost talked me out of buying it, saying it wasn't anything that we couldn't find in the form of "real tools". It was pretty cheaply made: all plastic, even the screws! But, I figured for $1.00, what the heck.

So, I took it home and put it together and I was pretty satisfied with it. Then I went online to see if I could still buy the tiny replacement cutters. Guess what I found. Two of these "cheap" kits just sold on ebay recently. One for $27.00 and the other for $34.52! Part of me wished I hadn't assembled it yet, and the other part of me was so happy I bought mine for only a buck!

So moving on...

For six dollars more, I found some zippers, a few buttons, some corduroy trousers, and some natural color canvas. The canvas is hemmed on the edges as though it was intended to be a tablecloth or something, but it's brand new. These items will all become parts of new purses.

For $12.00 I got 20 balls of yarn (11 of them are 100% wool), 3 spools of cording, circular knitting needles, a knitting stitch gauge, and a Vogue Knitting magazine. The wool will be knit and felted into more purses.

But, my biggest score was this:

Neckties! 27 of them!

Some of them are so unique. This brown one in the center has a picture of a room with throw pillows and a table and lamp.

Some are really bright and some not so much.

Many coordinate nicely with each other, which will be a really good thing when I start using them to make purses.

Neckties often sell for $2.00 to $3.00 at Goodwill and thrift shops. These ties weren't marked, so Hubby made an offer. We got all 27 for just $8.00. Score!

Stay tuned to see what else I bought!

Posts to look forward to:

Vintage Tags Sale Finds

A Bedroom Re-do

A Product Review

A Finished Object: Gaia

Inside My Vintage Books

Yarn Pottery

Up-cycled Maps

One thing leads to another…

I was spending some time online tonight and one thing led to another. I read a tweet by Ravelry’s rainydaygoods about a 21 Day Yoga Challenge. Her link led me to a blog, where I learned more about the challenge: to practice yoga every single day for 21 days, for at least 5 minutes each day. Some days you might practice for a full yoga workout and other days it will only be a few poses for 5 minutes, but you must do yoga every day.

The theory is, if you do something for 21 days, it will become a habit (or if you stop doing something, you will kick a habit). I’ve read about this theory before. It’s all about changing your daily routine.

A few years ago I was practicing yoga every day. I woke up an hour earlier than I needed to every morning. It was a real challenge since I hate mornings, but I really felt good afterwards. So, why did I stop? Well, I remember I got a bad cold and stopped for a week. After that, I guess I just had a hard time getting myself up so early.

This challenge is good because it allows me fit yoga into my life without the “all or nothing” approach I was forcing on myself before. If I don’t feel like getting up an hour early, I don’t have to. I can take 5 minutes and do a few poses before bed, as long as I do it every day.

Hopefully one thing will lead to another and most days I’ll invest more than 5 minutes, and hopefully it’ll lead to a life-long habit.

So, who’s in with me?