Checks n' Cherries Needlebook

Create this handy dandy little needlebook to store your needles while traveling!

Materials:

• Felt
• Bandanna or material of choice, a fat quarter will do fine
• Ribbon of your choice
• Chipboard (the board I used is a bit thinner than chipboard, but serves the same purpose)
• Glue
• Crochet thread or pearl cotton or all six strands of embroidery floss
• Needle
• Scissors or rotary cutter
• Cutting mat and ruler

Dimensions:

Chipboard:
Cut 2 pieces - 2 1/2" by 3 1/2"
Cut 1 piece - 1/2" by 3 1/2"
Cut 1 piece - 1/2" by 2 3/4"

Felt Pages:
Cut 4 pieces - 3" by 5"
(mine are red)

Felt "Batting":
Cut 2 pieces - 2 1/4" by 3 1/4"
Cut 1 piece - 3/8" by 3 1/4"

Inside Felt Cover:
Cut 1 piece - 5 1/2" by 3 3/8"
(mine is green)

Decorative Ribbon:
Cut 2 pieces - 6 1/2" long

Let's Craft!!

Step 1

Glue the felt batting pieces to the 3 /12" long pieces of chipboard.

Try to center them as best as possible.

I'd like to take this time to note that while I'm fairly good with crafting and tutorial writing, you can see that my photography skills are still developing. I'll try to get some better pictures later :)

Step 2

Because I'm picky about certain things, I marked the center of the bandanna fabric as well as the center of the chipboard spine.

I then placed the covers about 1/8" from the spine, leaving a 3/8" border of fabric all around.

Step 3

If using bandanna material, do not glue the batted chipboard pieces directly to the fabric. I used Fabri-Tac and it seeped through, leaving unsightly dots.

Glue the corners first.

Now glue the top and bottom, then the sides. Take your time if you want nice, neat corners but it's not really necessary as they will be covered up by the felt for the inside cover.

Step 4

Using the 2 3/4" piece of chipboard, sew it to the felt pages and felt inside cover. Layer it in this order: chipboard, felt inside cover, then the felt pages. Try to keep your knots small because you don't want added bulk in the next step.


Here is a shot of the finished insides.

Steps 5

Glue about 1/2" of the ribbon to both covers

Step 6

Starting in the center, glue on the felt inside cover.

Step 7

Close the book to bring all the pages together in the center. Hold them together and trim all the pages to the same (or close to the same) length as shown below:

Finished!

(I know... I need to take a better picture)

"Debut" of The Fearless Crafter

You may noticed some changes. I've decided to start a new year a bit early. It's been a few days since I came up with my moniker, and honestly cannot remember what sparked the idea.

Basically when I craft, I do it fearlessly. And without directions. That has the potential to be dangerous, and therefore makes me fearless. Ok, I did read the directions once when I started to do resin work but only because its chemicals.

A recent example: I'm learning to knit. My mother gave me all her needles, and that just tickled me pink. I couldn't let them just sit there, collecting dust. I very quickly learned that even though they don't appear to extremely sharp, they can still stick you. So I purchased little pink rubber slipper thingies for my needles while I travel. Problem solved.

I really want to get more bang for my crafting time, and hope to have more tutorials here.

Swap: OYP9 Christmas Edition RECEIVED

I've been feeling a bit down lately, and receiving this package was a perfect pick-me-up!

I am in love with this snowman can! The colors are so much more vibrant in real life.


A gorgeous clear ornament that has "Winter Wonderland"


A darling wooden tree ornament, with glittered ornaments:

A cute little Santa pot filled with candy:

Sparkly glass charms::

A matching bracelet and earring set that makes me think of Jolly Rancher candy:

Swap: Once You Pop 9 - Christmas Edition SENT

My partner's favorite Holiday color combos include red/green, blue/silver, and red/white. Her favorite Holiday motifs are woodsy, traditional, cute, snow (men,flakes), red/white (candy canes). I decided to go with woodsy and the red/white color combo.

The woodsy-country Santa can:

Polymer Clay Ornaments:

Beaded Icicles:

An advent calendar, a la Allsorts. This was a lot longer than I thought it was going to be. I also had a mishap with the ribbon between each pocket. I ran out of the original ribbon, which actually turned out to be a good thing because the new ribbon is a red and white gingham print. BTW, 9 feet of ribbon is not long enough for this project... I used almost 18 feet!

A crochet candy cane scarf, that did not want to be created in eyelash yarn so I used regular worsted weight:


I also adorned a black and silver frame with poly clay holly leaves and berries, but forgot to take a picture of it. I hope she is able to get a shot to share with me.