accordion sewing box

for my sister-in-law's birthday I found a nifty wood sewing box on ebay. it showed up late and the handle was broken in shipping :( but I fixed it up a bit.

I buffed the wood out smooth with steel wool and rubbed walnuts all over. the oil in them stains the wood and hides scratches - pretty cool, huh? I glued and clamped cracks here and there, filled chipped spots on the inside with glue and sawdust (makes a great wood filler if you don't have any on hand... but happen to have glue and sawdust) and cleaned up the hardware a bit.

then I removed the old, tacky, shelf paper printed to look like marble and replaced it with embossed felt.

I needed to cover the parts on either side of the box that the handle was on since I decided to just remove it altogether, but it was kinda icky looking. I took ornate little bookplates I found at Michael's and inserted some embroidery I did on faux suede - they came out better than I expected! I want to do more embroidery now :) and I just happen to have a small mounting hoop I bought the other day for a buck!

I'd really like to try my hand at making my own box like this one, and I really wanna use dovetails. this guy makes it look easy. if you don't watch it all, at least skip to 5:08 - it's a great shot... of nothing noteworthy! but nonetheless a great video. I could watch instructional videos all day - I love how inspired I get after I watch someone make something cool.

pin toppers

here's a how-to on making the pins... as well as what not to do O:) I threw fire in there for fun, actually :P if you're going to intentionally set the plastic on fire (it does make nifty looking pin toppers, too) do it outside! I have ash floating around my bathroom still.

lil jar pincushion

I saw a canning jar pincushion a while back and have been wanting to make one, but I don't have cute small mason jars.

so I used a pimento jar and poked holes in the lid to stitch the cushion to like a button.

similar to a baby food jar pincushion, just sewn on instead of only relying on the glue - and I like the little tufted part in the middle. the ring is a needle rest made from spandex and a ring blank with a bead cap I flattened out on the bottom.the pins are made from a #6 disposable plastic casserole lid I colored with pencils and cut out and melted onto regular straight pins via candle flame so I could shape them and to get that round look from over-heating the plastic without killing myself trying to do this in the oven.

sea glass

Galveston sea glass I beach combed for, silver, and wire wrapped faceted crystals.

the teardrops reminds me of the wistful feeling I get on the last day of vacation when I'm looking at the treasures I've found in the sand and wishing I didn't have to go home yet.

knitting needles

I did similar knitting needles for a swap last year. the case is faux suede from a place mat I found. I love the blue :) I used 50 yen coins my brother brought back from Japan for the closure with a strip of leather and some blue pearl-like beads. staining the dowels was the hardest part. I actually started them back in the summer! but the case went together really quick. I might post a how-to if anyone is interested in doing one.