Beautiful Scenes in Toilet Paper Tubes

Yes, I did say toilet paper tubes! 

Art by Anastassia Elias

Art by Anastassia Elias, found on Indie Fixx

Art by Yuken Teruya, found on Indie Fixx

Colourful Cozies

I learned how to knit today! Well, learning actually... I'm only on my 8th row. Jen, of Darling Notes, is teaching me. She gave this adorable cup cozie a few days ago and I decided that I had to learn. 

Jen recently posted some really cute knitted cozies on her blog and a week later she is working her third or fourth one. These cozies are great; they are reusable unlike the cardboard version and they look much cuter too. Just keep one in your bag and you are set the next time you stop for a latte or hot tea. 

 Images from Wayside Violet via Darling Notes

For the weekend, when you are curled up on the couch with a coffee and a good book, you can use this cozy. It buttons to fit perfectly around a mug handle. 

Image from Natalya's Studio via Black and White {Side By Side}

For another twist on hand-made cozies, Make It and Love It has a tutorial for making these colorful fabric wraps. 

 Images via Make It and Love It

Fabulous Fabric Ties... with a Twist!

I'm a big fan of Creature Comforts so I was super excited to flip through Gifted Magazine today! It is full of gift ideas, stories, inspiration and projects. I definitely need to make some of these fabric twist ties!

DIY Trick-or-Treat Bags

About a month ago, Jen over at The Finer Things blog, posted some reusable Halloween totes. What a great alternative to the plastic pumpkin or shopping bag!

I thought they were so cute that I decided to make one for each of my nieces. Jen was kind enough to post my project as a follow-up to her original post. Thanks Jen! 

Supplies:

~ 4 sheets of 9" x 12" stiff felt. For one bag, I used 2 sheets of orange with 2 sheets of glittery black. For the others bag, I used 2 sheets of green and 2 sheets of glittery white.

~ Embroidery floss and a needle

~ Thick yarn 

~ Halloween shapes made out of craft foam

~ Scotch Maximum Strength Adhesive (this worked well for the felt and foam)

Directions:

For the front and back of the of the bags, I used the full sheets of felt, no cutting needed. Then for each side, I folded the 3rd sheet of felt in half, lengthwise and cut it down the middle. To make the bottom, I cut the last piece of felt to be the same thickness as the sides. You will have about 3/4 of a sheet left over. 

To sew the pieces together, I lined the sides up flat and used a simple stitch that also became the border. 

Once all of the pieces were sewn together, I cut the yarn to the length I wanted for a handle and sewed it into place on either side at the top, inside of each bag. To make sure the handle would be strong enough to hold a bag full of candy, I cut small squares of felt and sewed them right on top of where I attached the handles. Not only does this reinforce the handles, but it also covered the ugly knot at the end of the yarn. 

The last thing was to decorate! Rather than create my own shapes from scratch, I saved some time by buying pre-made foam shapes and gluing them on. Each bag got a spooky ghost and pumpkin, but on the other side, one got a haunted house while the other got a witch's hat. This glue took about a day to be fully dry, but they seem super sturdy now.

I can't wait to go trick-or treating with the girls on Sunday and see how well they hold up! 

Have a Spooktacular Halloween!!

all images via The Finer Things

Pouf!

I can't remember exactly when I first saw Christien Meindertsma's urchin poufs, but I have yet to get them out of my head. They just add something fun and unusual to a room. If you can afford one from HUG it will be hand-knitted in the Netherlands with New Zealand wool and will even have a tag with the name of the sheep that your pouf is made from. Since I don't have a spare $975 to spend on an over-sized pillow, I looked around for some alternatives...

These colorful poufs are available at Huset for $98.

And Ferm Living makes a square version. I love this colorful stack!

CB2 has a slightly more affordable pouf for $79.95.

And for you crafters out there, Pickles has provided instructions to make your own pouf. This might be a good enough reason to learn how to knit!

Found on Apartment Therapy