Work in progress...

Leather confetti, the side product of something new I'm working on.
Something cute, I promise.
That something will come with a tutorial - that too, I promise.
Next week, most likely...
So stay tuned!

Relaxing, but not too much...

We're back from a short but relaxing (really? keep on reading!) break in the Alps. I decided not to ski this time, which I now somewhat regret, but had a great time reading and watching the others ski... The girls both got their 'Première étoile' this year, which made them proud and K. now really got the hang of skiing too and has started thinking about our next vacation in the mountains. We both took a laptop to work in the evenings, but neither one of them made it out of the suit case and isn't that exactly what a holiday should be like?!

To keep me from getting too relaxed, however, both girls decided to give me a scare, though it was totally unintentionally on their behalf, I must add. First little H., by disappearing under a safety (?) net and down the hill while sledding (at the designated area for sledding - no kidding!) - good there was a small tree on her way down which stopped her from going further down and hitting the rocks. It wasn't a steep cliff, but I didn't know that when I saw her disappear from my radar and heard her big sister scream after her. Surprisingly, she didn't get hurt, but was I glad they both were wearing helmets! We now have one more story to add to her quite lengthy, if I may say so, list of mishaps...

As if I hadn't had enough excitement with that already, M. fainted the next day while queuing for food at the restaurant. Well, she didn't faint right away, just told me she wasn't feeling well - so I took her to the bathroom (wrong choice!) - where she fainted as soon as we walked in... Air was what she needed! Still wearing her heavy ski boots I couldn't lift her so I dragged her between my legs through the restaurant yelling for help - which I did get, eventually. The people at the restaurant were great once they had noticed me, but getting noticed took me a while, in spite of M.'s limp body between my legs! - quite a sight, I bet. Anyway, she was fine once outside and after getting some fresh air and a sugar cube. As a matter of fact, she was back on her skis that very same afternoon and went ice skating after...

So, whoever thought in the mountains you need to be on skis for excitement is wrong, so wrong - all you need is two kids and they'll take care of the rest!

Time for a short break

It's been a crazy two weeks - I feel totally drained. Tired.

The girls are off from school now, until the end of the month, and I decided I needed a short break as well...

I wish you a - a bit early, I know - Happy Valentine's Day!
I didn't come up with much for Valentine's Day this year, but feel free to check out last year's and the year before's Valentine's Day themed posts!

I'll be back soon!

xo, P.

DIY Japanese tape

Ok - you may want to classify this DIY idea under 'totally ridiculous', 'totally irrelevant', 'totally useless', whatever... but please, do keep on reading.

This idea just popped to my mind while I was cleaning up my messy crafts table and my eye fell upon
- my double sided tape, which was still sitting there after doing this post and hence has started collecting dust already which is not so good on double sided tape
- and a stack of security envelopes (you know, these envelopes used by banks, insurance companies, telephone companies, utility providers which usually contain bills).

And since anything's better than cleaning up a messy table on your birthday, I said to myself:
'How about making some (not so) Japanese masking tape and writing a tutorial!'
Why would one make his/her very own tape, you ask me?
- because the real stuff doesn't stick
- because it's late at night, stores are closed, you ran out of fancy tape and you need to wrap that present, so you are desperate to find a tutorial to solve this problem this instant!

Well keep on reading then as I have something for you - As a matter of fact it won't take more than a couple of lines to explain.

What you'll need:

- double sided tape
- security envelopes, or by extension: paper with a nice print (magazines, origami, wall paper, ...)
- cutting board or if you don't have one, a ruler, pencil and scissors

Instructions:

1. measure the width of your double sided tape
2. cut your paper in strips same width as your tape
3. make a guess of how much fancy tape you'll need
4. rip off a piece of tape, same length as your guess in step 3
5. stick tape to the back of your paper strip - cut off excess paper
6. Use to wrap your present!

That was easy, wasn't it!? And again the possibilities are endless.

Now, if you were wondering about those little boxes that I have used in at least two posts - I have twenty three (23!) left as they were part of an advent calendar we received from a big and generous company - some boxes still have a little chocolate inside as we made our own advent calendar and never got to finish this one.
I might try a couple of chocolates now, actually. It's my birthday after all, and since my table looks even messier now than it looked before anything's better than...

(munch, munch...)

Note: If you're interested in crafts using security envelopes check out this post with a non-exhaustive list of security envelope based crafts. Feel free to add more links to similar security envelope crafts in the comment section of today's post!

43

Me - I'm turning 43 today.

When I was a kid or even older, a teenager, I considered people aged over 40 old, accomplished.
Now, that I'm turning 43 myself it's different - I don't feel accomplished at all and wonder if I ever will.
I'm just on the road,
sometimes the road is bended, sometimes it's not.

I still like polka dots...

Valentine's Day :: DIY embroidered tape and a box

I love Japanese masking tape - I have a small collection of tape in different colors and patterns. The only problem I have with Japanese tape is that it doesn't stick. At first I blamed it on the paper I was using, but I've tried it on several types of paper and every single time the tape was undone by the time I was to give my present. It doesn't exactly leave a good impression at the receiving end - Oh, I'm sorry but I started unwrapping it already for you...hope you don't mind - It makes you look like a toddler at a birthday party!

Now, as you may know, I've been experimenting with Vliesofix lately and fabric, embroidered or not, on paper. Contrary to masking tape, it sticks!  And while I was thinking of a way to wrap my little notebooks for sending them off, I thought why not use the very same technique for wrapping - a piece of embroidered fabric to stay within the theme and to add a little accent to envelopes or to adorn small gift boxes with and wrapping paper. (Mind the idea of fabric tape isn't new. Check out Annekata's tutorial, for instance, which you can find here and la.daridari's fabric tape which you'll find here) So, I embroidered little bits and pieces in the same fashion as the little note books, and it worked out really nicely, if I may say so. I was also lucky to find (in my own closet of all places!) narrow double sided tape from a big tape brand , which made the task even easier.  I've tried it a couple of times now and it works like a charm - the only thing that didn't make it was the button I attached onto an envelope sent across the Atlantic - which was risky, I know. The button didn't survive, but the rest did, as you can see here!

If you want to give this a try, this is what you'll need:

- fabric scraps
- embroidery floss and a needle
- sewing scissors
- scraps of Vliesofix
- double sided tape
- gift boxes, wrapping paper, tissue paper, envelopes, greeting cards...
- buttons


General instructions:

- embroider the little scraps of fabric
- cut a piece of Vliesofix or double sided tape to size and stick it to the back of the fabric strip
- next, stick it onto envelope, wrapping paper, greeting card, gift box, ...

For the box:
- The little box  in the picture is a single chocolate box turned inside out - carefully undo the glued side of the box, turn inside out, and glue the side closed again.
- sew a button onto a strip of fabric
- put tape onto the back of the strip, leaving the button part of the strip, tape-free!
- stick strip to the top of the flap of the box - the button part is loose
- with a needle make a hole centered in the middle of the front of the box and pull through a piece of thread (make sure to tie a knot!)
- close the lid of the box and next twist the thread around the button


A couple of side notes:

1. When to use Vliesofix and when tape?:  use Vliesofix for sticking fabric onto an envelope or greeting card - use tape wherever you would use regular tape (on wrapping paper, gift boxes, etc.).
2. Why use Vliesofix and not glue?  Though glue might also work, I believe you get better results with Vliesofix - it's much neater to work with for one thing (no sticky fingers), dries instantly and doesn't leak through the fabric, blotting it or making it stiff.
3. Make enough of these at once and keep them in a little box, ready for immediate use.

Have fun creating!

Please note, these tutorials are intended for personal use only. Therefore, do not reproduce, sell or commercialize in any form without permission. Thanks for understanding!

If you made something using a tutorial found on this blog or if you got inspired by something you found here, make sure to post your pictures here.

Thank you

To my mom for posting the message on Good Housekeeping's Facebook fan page last week which led to an answer from the editor within half an hour...
To Good Housekeeping for adding credits and a link...
To all of you for the many comments, the e-mails sent out to GH, your suggestions and support, and for convincing me I'm not an idiot...

THANK YOU!

xo, Pascale