Candy (Snack) Bag Pouch

As many of you had noticed, I love taking completely useless things you would normally throw out and transforming it into something useful!

I'm sure many of you enjoying eating sweets and snacks, right? Have you ever thought of what you could do with the bag once you've finished devouring the treat? How about a pouch to store miscellaneous items? It is also a great way to help the Earth by being environmentally friendly!

Here is a collection of Japanese plum candy bags I've collected over the months from a generous donor. Any candy bag or chip bag will do. I decided to use four bags: two bags for each side of the pouch. This will also depend on the thickness of the bag as well, but I would recommended to go no further than two bags for each side (it will be too hard to put things into the pouch due to the thickness).



This project does require a sewing machine because manual labor is going to put your hands into a world of fatigue! You can try using a glue gun or E6000 craft glue, but I'm not sure how well that will work. You will also need to purchase a zipper which can be found at any craft/fabric store.



I decided to use find a video tutorial on how to sew on the zipper as it it difficult to explain in writing. The tutorial I found on youtube does a great job of explaining how I sewed on the zipper.

Click here for video

After completing the pouch, I decided to use Japanese packaging tape to "decorate"/hide the rips on candy bags.



This is what the final product looks like! This would also be a great alternative to put these bags to use instead of throwing them away to sit in land fills.



I also provided a snapshot of the inside just for viewing purposes.



Thanks for reading and please tell me what you think! :)

Charm/Jewlery Case Reconstruction

The perks of cleaning your room every so often is magically finding random things that you “thought” you lost. Before I begin, let me share a little something. Buying watches are one of my many obsessions and you can imagine that over the years of buying them, I've accumulated many watch boxes. I recently rediscovered this box and decided to perform a reconstruction.

Here is a Roxy watch box that I wanted to throw out, but figured that I should put practical use to it instead. Although the process is not photographed, I used black acrylic craft paint. I know it wasn't a wise choice to use because the paint isn't going to hold on well but I didn't want to spend money buying more materials. :)

I found the box quite dull and decided to decorate it. I used the backing of a border sticker (that I was going to throw away) and glued it on to the box.

Here is the final product, finished and ready to use!

Please tell me what you think and thanks for looking!

Quilted Black Wallet Reconstruction

I fell out of the blogging world again! I'll spare you the excuses this time and get straight to point. I've been on a recon roll lately and with March as National Craft Month, it is just the muse I need.

I found this lifeless black quilted shoulder bag sitting in my sister's donation pile she left behind, unused and collecting dust. Although I LOVE quilted purses (reminds me of those Chanel handbags I could never afford), I personally find this purse impractical. Since I'm not a big fan of pull string type bags, I knew it was a perfect opportunity to put good use to it. I immediately grabbed my scissors, started cutting and threading away.

I'm not the type to always plan things out when I work on projects as I like to improvise and “go with the flow”. However, I knew I had a sense of what I was going to construct using this black purse. The rule I gave myself was to only use the purse pieces.

After intense hours of cutting, measuring, and sewing, this was the end result. I know what you're thinking, I sacrificed a shoulder bag for a puny wallet?! I like to think of it as putting something into good use, I saved that bag its misery! :)

Sunglasses case recon w/ small tutorial

In celebration of March as National Craft Month, I decided to focus more on DIY's and Recons! Which is totally fine with me because I haven't had time for a proper manicure! I originally tried to do a tutorial with this project, but for some reason it didn't work out...(hehe). So, this is somewhat of a tutorial but the photo process is lacking.

Sunnies are another one of my obsessions! I love sunglasses and I also love buying them, but not all of them have cases! Since I'm trying to not spend excessively, I decided to do a recon with what I had laying around. I came across a Fucci (Fake Gucci) sling bag that I got as a gift, sitting in my closet collecting dust. I saw it as a recon opportunity. Unfortunately, I didn't take a picture of the bag before I tore it apart, but that's okay. :)

Since this is a recon, this is going to be an easy and a quick project because everything is already pre-cut. (which I love about recons!)

Step 1:

Proper tools are very important when it comes to crafting (at least in my opinion). I used a self-healing mat, rotary cutter, metal ruler and a sewing machine (not pictured here). You can also hand sew, if you have the patience.

Step 2:

Materials are just as important as tools, as you need them in order to create your desired project. :) (I included the Gucci wallet for comparison with the Fucci print. :D)

Step 3:

Sew on the border to: (1) make it look good and (2) to minimize the fabric fraying. If there is no border, then you can fold the fabric down to create a border.

Step 4:

Be sure to measure the dimensions of your sunglasses to make sure they will fit. Fold the fabric in half and sew according to what you measured with the wrong side facing up. The wrong side is the side that will be facing inside of the case (as shown in the photo)

Step 5:

Flip the case inside out, use and enjoy!

I hope this tutorial made sense and should you have any questions please do not hesitate to ask!

Black Flats Reconstruction (3 in 1)

I've been so lazy!! and for too long! I've been keeping myself busy here and there working on small projects.

Here is a simple and yet fun project using basic black flats. I bought these at a stand from my local Farmers' Market. They were only $10! So I couldn't resist! I never ended up wearing them and began to collect dust in our storage room. I decided a change was needed to make these shoes wearable. As I was walking around Joann, ideas starting coming to mind and I ended up purchasing (2) gold bracelet toggles, a bag of silver end connectors, leather band lace, and a metallic gold lace.


This is the what the Mary Jane flats looked like when I first bought them.




A close up picture.


Black leather band I sewed to the back of the shoe.


This is the final product! So I know I skipped a few steps, I was so into it that I completely forgot to take progress photos. :( But as you can see, I used the gold lace, gold toggles, and silver end connectors to make the ankle wrap.


Here is a close up of the ankle wrap with all the jewelery hardware.


I also found some other fun uses for the ankle wrap!


A bracelet!

There you go! A pair of black flats reconstructed/altered to my liking with 3 uses in 1 product. What do you think? :)

Totoro Eyeglasses Case Reconstruction

Here is a fun and simple project that only took me a matter of hours to make. You can use any old soft eyeglasses case you have laying around. Doesn't have to look exactly like what I made, but since I love Totoro from Hayao Miyazaki's My Neighbor Totoro (for those of you that don't know)and the eyeglasses case is gray, I thought, "Hey! Why not?".


I first started out with a blueprint/doodle in my notebook. You don't have to do this, but I just like to draw out/plan out first.


Here is a close-up of the little Totoros I drew for fun. :)


This is what the case looked like before. I used an Express eyeglasses case my sister gave me when she use to work there. If you look closely at it, it has Express plastered all over it which is huge turn off. But the overall satisfaction of the final product outweighs it. :)


This is the final product. I used green felt to make the leaf, some old buttons for the eyes and black threading for the nose & whiskers.


A close-up picture. :)

You can use this pouch to store anything to your heart's content. I personally would not use this to store glasses because the case is too soft and could easily get crushed. I like to store my mp3 player and cell phone for easy access and so it won't get scratched.

I hope that this will inspire you to make your own fun & cute decorative eyeglasses case. What do you think about it?

Moccasins with a personal twist!

I know it has been a while since I last posted, but with good reason! I have been keeping myself busy with another project!

I was browsing around Michael's one day and came across a DIY: Moccasins kit. I thought it would be something fun to keep myself busy with. It was about $15.99, but since I had a coupon it only cost me about $10 dollars or so with tax.



This is what the kit came with:



When completed:



Upon completion, I felt that the final project lacked serious character and wanted to do something more. After browsing through much online tutorials and YouTube videos, I came across Katie's Darlingtonia Moccasins. This was just the inspiration I needed. Although love her Moccasins very much and would LOVE to purchase one, I don't have the financial means to do so as of now. But I will be purchasing a pair in the near future.

I drove back to Michael's again in hopes of searching for something that would give my Moccasins what it needed and I found this:



Who would have known that leather jewelery would go a long way!



I added some embellishments so it wouldn't look so plain. These beads were sitting in my arts and crafts bin for a long time and figured it would be the perfect opportunity to use them.



A side view of the Moccasins.



As you can see, the stringing on the left Moccasin is different from the right because I ran out of string and didn't want to go buy more if I only need such a small amount. Kevin suggested that I put a charm on the back of only one shoe to make it unique and I do say that it looks good.



So here you have it, a completed Moccasins project. I hope this will inspire you to go out and make your own or to purchase one from Katie because her Moccasins rock!




*Side Note*: I also wanted to mention that these Moccasins kit didn't have soles on the bottom of the shoes, so I went to a local shoe repair store and had one slapped on.

How to make your own Storage Boxes! w/ a small tutorial

I thought that this might be a fun idea to share with all of you. First things first, I am your typical girl with tons of shoes (which includes the boxes) and wrapping paper. Since Ikea has practically become my second home for these past few weeks, their wonderful storage boxes caught my eye. But I just couldn't bring myself to spend such money on an item that I thought was somewhat overpriced for a cardboard box. Since I am a huge advocate of being eco-friendly and recycling, I decided to wrap my old shoe boxes with old wrapping paper to make my own storage boxes. It's not really great but its a fun small project to do when you're bored or want some storage boxes! Its also a great way to reuse resources and save money. Make sure that the boxes you are going to use are ones with the detachable lids (as shown in my photos). They are easier to wrap and more practical than ones with the attached lids.

What you're going to need, depends on how precise you want the size of the wrapping paper to be. If you don't care and prefer to go gung-ho then all you're going to need is a glue stick and scissors. But if you are detailed orientated like myself (basically OCD), you'll need scissors, a ruler, xacto knife, and a glue stick. If you are going to use an xacto knife, make sure you have a self-healing cutting mat (like the one featured in my third photo) so you don't damage any surface area you may be working on. I also recommend using a glue stick (Scotch brand because it its really sticky, but any glue stick will do too) because it will give you a better consistency compared with liquid glue. I know one my photos has liquid glue in it, but don't use it unless you want streaks to show up on your storage boxes.

I apologize for the first few photos as they are really grainy and yellow-tinted. Don't know what happened there. Please tell me what you think! :)