Reviews
products we love & products we hate
-
How to Make a Laminated Comic Strip Bookmark without a Laminator
A bookmark is a great way to preserve a piece of ephemera in a way that you get to see often, whether it’s a love note, a movie ticket, or in my case, a comic strip. Every lunch hour, I read the comics in the daily newspaper. Most days, they inspire a few smiles, but once in a while, a comic will tickle me so much that I have to clip it out to share with a friend. Usually they just end up getting crumpled in my purse, never to be seen again. One of my favourite movies is The Big Lebowski (as seen in my Budget-Friendly “Framed” Poster Prints tutorial), and…
-
My (Growing) Sewing Machine Collection
I might have a problem. Every time I go to a thrift shop, I scour the aisles for vintage sewing machines and accessories. I’ve definitely got the bug. I justify it because I use each machine for different purposes. My husband seems to support my nonsense luckily, and even helps me fix and maintain them. It’s really fun to play around with vintage sewing machines and I appreciate their vintage style. My foray into vintage machines started when my modern machine started giving me a bit of trouble. I decided to start hunting for a machine that had a larger throat area for quilting purposes. So far my collection contains five…
-
Singer 66 Sewing Machine Reveal
I’m the proud owner of a new-to-me Singer Model 66 sewing machine! I’ve been dreaming of a machine that had a larger bed on it because my Kenmore only has 6 inches of room under the arm from the needle to the base of the arm. It gets rather crowded when you are quilting a larger project. As much as I’d love a mid-arm machine (or if I’m dreaming big, a long-arm, haha), my budget doesn’t even accommodate a low-end model. Enter Kijiji, which I’ve been stalking for a while hoping a quilting machine would just happen to pop up at a miraculous price after reading through all the quilting machine…
-
Make a Mini Quilt with Fusible Grid
The quilt I’m sharing is an oldie but I still look at it fondly despite its flaws. I have this folded on top of my fabric shelves beneath my craft room window for my cats to snuggle with while they watch the neighbour cat across the street. This mini quilt uses bright pink and green fabric prints combined with sharp white squares. I call this a “cheater quilt” because instead of piecing my rows and carefully lining up my corners, I used the fusible web to layout the design. This is a great way for beginners to start to quilt. This post contains affiliate links, which means that if you click…
-
Review: IKEA wall storage rack BYGEL
I hate when my craft desk’s tabletop gets too crowded, so I purchased the BYGEL rail from IKEA to attach small plastic containers to the wall that are easy to remove when using supplies. Isn’t this storage solution cute in addition to functional? I trusted my fiancé to surprise me with the bin colours for me on his way home from work, and they look cute in my craft room. I use mine to store my soft-tipped markers, ink pens, sharpies, staplers, tape, and scissors. The best part of this storage system is that the bins are easily detachable. The bottoms are flat so you can take the entire bin…
You May Also Like
New Craftroom in a New House
-
Simply Built Ribbon Shelf Review
Simply Built’s Craft Storage Collection includes a wall ribbon holder with two dowels for holding spools of ribbon. I’ve incorporated this ribbon organizer into my craft room with a few minor adaptations. Maybe you’d like it in your craft space too? Because I live in a rental apartment, I wanted to avoid adding unnecessary holes to my walls. I placed this ribbon holder directly on top of my Closetmaid cubby shelf, rendering the bottom dowel unnecessary. It does look a little strange without a dowel there, but not so crazy that it bugs me. Most ribbons fit nicely onto the dowels, but some of my ribbon spools’ holes were too…
-
Hidden Behind the Bins
I’m sure you understand the feeling of being overwhelmed by unorganized supplies. Where did I put those patterns again? Where are the pink buttons? How can I find the paper I know is somewhere in this stash?! I will post this column, Taming Craft Room Chaos, each Thursday with tips on how to organize those odds and sods that are taking over your craft area. These tips have helped me tame my own monster of a craft supply stash. I’ve moved from apartment to apartment, but this one thing has remained the same: my craft stuff keeps accumulating no matter how much I try to use it up before buying…
