Card Wallet

I found this at http://www.infarrantlycreative.net/business-card-wallet/

I would like to do this with an all around zipper closure.  I hope to figure that out one day.

Mega Credit Card Wallet {Sewing Tutorial}

February 9, 2015 By Beckie 108 Comments

I swear I am not a spendaholic.  I don’t even have any credit card debt.  But I do have a lot of gift cards, reward cards, business cards, sky miles cards, etc.  I know I can store some of these on an app but I just feel better having them with me.  It is probably the reason I have a paper planner still.  I am old school I suppose. Necessity is the mother of invention, right?  When my cousin saw that I had 3 different systems in my wallet to hold all these bad boys she decided to take on the task of helping me put them all in one place.  The Mega Card Holder Wallet was born – all 38 pockets of it.

The gorgeous fabric I used was Premier Prints Zoom Zoom Wonderland, Joel Dewberry Lodge Lattice Vintage Yellow, Joel Dewberry Wood Grain Vintage Yellow, Amy Butler Martini Mustard, and Amy Butler Optic Blossom Yellow.

Supplies:

Outer pieces (I used home decor fabric that is a little thicker): (2) 9” x 9”

Inner pocket: (2) 8” x 8” (this pattern doesn’t matter too much since you only see about an inch of it since the pockets cover it).

Outer fabric pockets: cut (3) 2 1/4” x 9” then cut (4) coordinating pieces 2 1/4” x 9”.**A short cut would be to cut long strips of 2 1/4” fabric and then cut them down to size after sewing the tops down 1/4” (we get to that part in step 3).

Inner fabric pockets: cut (6) 2 1/4” x 8” then cut (6) coordinating pieces 2 1/4” x 8”. (You can do the same short cut with these as well.)

Medium weight interfacing: 8 3/4” x 8 3/4” (to be applied to just outer main 9”x9” fabric.

Strap pieces: cut (2) 3” x 3” of main fabric

2” Velcro

1.  Attach medium weight interfacing to outer main fabric (just one of them).

2.  Take your 3” x 3” strap pieces and right sides together sew around three sides and turn right side out.  Press.  Top stitch 1/4” along those three sides.  Take 2” of Velcro and sew along the edge in an “X” pattern. Set aside.

3.  Iron the top of all pockets 1/4” and then sew down.

4.  With your 8” x 8” pieces, starting from the bottom and working your way up, mark 1” lines stopping 2” from the top.  Repeat with other 8” x 8” piece.

5.  Take the 2 1/4” x 8” pocket pieces and starting on the very top line, place the raw edge on the marked line and sew across.  With alternating fabrics, sew the next piece on the line below and repeat until the final pocket raw edge meets up with the bottom raw edge. Baste up the sides to secure pocket edges in place.

6.  Repeat with other 8”x 8” piece.  Set aside.

7.  Take the non-interfaced 9”x 9” piece and repeat step 5. Now we should have three pieces covered in pockets.

8.  Take the 8”x 8” pieces filled with pockets and put them right sides together lining up all the edges.  Pin and sew 1/4” along the edge leaving a hole for turning at the top.  Turn right side out.  Press.  Sew across the top line to close hole.

9.  We are going to repeat step 8 with the 9” x 9” pieces, but first, find the center along the right side of the piece covered with pockets. With the Velcro facing down line up the raw edges and baste in place.  Now take the outer 9”x 9” piece and along the right edge, find the center, and sew in the other piece of Velcro 1/2” from the side. Now we are ready to repeat step 8 with these pieces. Instead of just top stitching the top closed do it all the way around as close to the edge as possible.

At this point you have a 9” x 9” and an 8”x 8” covered in pockets.

10. Find the center of the 9” x 9” piece and draw a line with disappearing ink from top to bottom.  Measure and draw lines 3/4” to the left and right of this center line.  Sew those two lines creating the two sets of pockets.

11. Take 8”x 8” double sided pocket piece and fold in half to find the center and  draw line. Place that center directly over the center line on the 9”x 9” piece. Sew down attaching the two together.

Voila!  Now you have a business card, credit card, gift card, reward card wallet with 38 pockets.  Rad, huh?

First page…

Sweet and Sour Meatless Meatballs

I found this recipe here. http://happyfoodhealthylife.com/2014/12/17/vegaterian-sweet-and-sour-porcupine-meatballs/

Print

Vegetarian Sweet and Sour Porcupine “Meatballs”

Yield: 24 meatballs

Ingredients

For Meatballs:

2 cups water

1 teaspoon salt

1 cup lentils

1 cup Minute Brown Rice

1/2 small onion, diced

1 cup quick-cooking oats

3/4 cup grated cheddar cheese

1 egg, beaten

8 ounces tomato sauce

1 teaspoon garlic salt

1 teaspoon dried basil

1/4 teaspoon black pepper

For Sweet & Sour Sauce

1 cup packed brown sugar

3 Tablespoons all-purpose flour

1 1/2 cups water

1/4 cup distilled white vinegar

3 Tablespoons soy sauce

Instructions

1. First, you will need to cook the lentils. You can do this earlier in the day to save on some prep time if you'd like, as they do need to cool slightly. In a small saucepan, bring 2 cups of water and salt to a boil. Add lentils and drop the temperature down to a very slight simmer. Cover and let simmer for about 25 minutes, checking about every 7-10 minutes to be sure there is still plenty of water and the lentils aren't burning. The lentils will be done when water has boiled out and the lentils are tender. Roughly mash with a fork while hot and set aside to cool down.
2. Once the lentils are cooled, preheat your oven to 350 degrees F and start working on your mixture for the meatballs. 
3. Add the lentils to a large bowl along with the Minute Brown Rice, onion, oats, cheese, egg, tomato sauce, and seasonings. Mix really well until it's all combined. It may work best to use your hands to be sure everything gets worked together.
4. Once mixed, begin forming into golf-ball-sized meatballs and placing in a baking sheet prepared with non-stick spray. The spray is important or your meatballs will stick to the pan!
5. Place in the hot oven for 25 minutes, taking them out about half way through and gently turning them over to be sure they brown on both sides.
6. During the second half of the baking, it's time to make the sauce. Combine all sauce ingredients in a large skillet. (You'll want to use one that is large enough to place all your meatballs in without crowding them or having to layer them on top of each other.) Whisk all ingredients together, bringing to a boil. Once it starts to boil and thicken up, it's likely your meatballs will be browned and ready to be placed in the sauce. 
7. Very gently add the meatballs to the sauce, spooning sauce over the tops. Cover and let boil for about 10 minutes. You'll want to gently stir the sauce and meatballs every so often just to ensure that they aren't sticking to the bottom of the pan. 
8. Once the sauce has thickened, the meatballs are ready to serve. You can either serve plain with skewers for an appetizer or on top of a bed of rice or quinoa for a full meal.

Deodorizing Room Spray

I found this on Simple Life Mom http://simplelifemom.com/2015/03/22/natural-deodorizing-room-spray/

I want to give this a try.

I think it might be better to mix into 50/50 water/alcohol mix.

Ingredients:

• 2 oz (1/4 cup) filtered water
• 8 drops lemon grass essential oil
• 15 drops lavender essential oil
• 15 drops bergamot essential oil
• 10 drops eucalyptus essential oil

Directions:

1. Combine all ingredients in a dark spray bottle (preferably glass).
2. Shake well before each use.
3. Do not spray directly on cloth without testing first (remember that you are using oils).

I hope you enjoy!!  Let me know what your favorite essential oil scent it.

Shared on some of these great blogs.

Read more at http://simplelifemom.com/2015/03/22/natural-deodorizing-room-spray/#PDYWpvRgAvcr10Jq.99

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Found at http://www.thisoriginalorganiclife.com/2013/04/17/dig-essential-oil-room-freshener-perfume-body-mist/

1.) Measure out 4 ounces (or the size of your container) of purified water (tap water is okay, too)

3.) Pour water into container, then add essential oils

For this recipe, I used:

5 drops of Patchouli

4 drops of Sweet Orange

3 drops of Lemongrass

After adding  your desired essential oils to the water, simply give a good shake, and you’re ready to go!  It really is this easy!

Binding Long-Stitch

I found this on http://sas-does.blogspot.com/2005/01/long-stitch-binding-tutorial-part-1.html and for part 2 http://sas-does.blogspot.ca/2005/01/long-stitch-binding-tutorial-part-2.html  I have combined it all on this webpage

Long-stitch binding tutorial - part 1

In the first part of the tutorial we'll be preparing pages, assembling signatures, and taking measurements for the long-stitched notebook.

1. For this project you will need:

·                     cutting mat (optional but useful)

·                     ruler

·                     x-acto knife or scissors

·                     pencil or pen

·                     needle and thread (used in the second part of the tutorial)

·                     awl (could be replaced by a thick needle, a knitting needle, or any other spiky object)

You will also need:

·                     one-side printed paper (9 sheets)

·                     thicker paper for the notebook cover

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2. Fold each one-side printed paper in 4, so that the printed side gets "hidden" inside.  To do so, first fold the page width wise (printed part inside) and then fold it once again to make a 4 1/4 x 5 1/2 rectangle.

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3. When all future pages are ready, separate them in groups of 3 (three groups in total) and put one page inside the other, as shown on the picture. 

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4. You should end up with 3 signatures - the notebook block.

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5. It's now time to figure out dimensions for the cover.  The height of the cover equals the heights of the block (5 1/2 inch).
The width of the cover equals (the width of the block) x2 plus the width of the back of the block (aka the depth of the block).  To measure the depth the block, slightly squeeze signatures together (like on the photo above).  The depth of my block measured a little bit less than 1/32 inch.
The total width of my cover was: 4 1/4 + 4 1/4 + 1/32 = 8 17/32
You can add about 1/8 inch to height measure and width measure - this way your block will be sitting deeper inside the cover.. 

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6. Once the cover is measured and cut you will need to score and fold it.  Just measure 4 1/4 of both sides and score lines.
If you added extra 1/8 to your total measure you have to take it in consideration, when scoring  and folding the cover. 

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7. When folded, your cover should look similar to the one above.

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8. It's now time to mark and pierce signatures.  The height of the signature needs to be divided into 5 sections.  You can choose to have equal-sized section or, like me, make the top and the bottom section bigger (or smaller).  My 3 middle sections measured 1 inch each and my top and bottom sections were 1 1/4 inch each. 

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9. Using an awl or a thick needle pierce signatures one by one.  To ensure that holes are spaced equally on each signature use one of them as a guide.

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10. The last step is making horizontal slits in the cover.  Once again use one of the signatures as a guide to mark the back of the spine.  Make horizontal slits on the back without crossing the hinge-folds.

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1.Begin with the first signature.  Pass the thread through the first hole in the signature (from inside) and through the first slit in the cover leaving a tail inside the signature.  You will use it to tighten and secure your stitches.
Wrap the thread around the end of the block and the cover, near the hinge-fold.  Bring the thread in and tie two knots. 

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2. Pass the thread into the second signature hole and through the cover.

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3. And then from outside into the cover and the third hole and from inside out through the fourth hole and the cover.

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4. Wrap the thread around the end of the booklet and cover.

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5. Pass the thread through the fourth hole of the booklet but not through the cover.

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6. Pass the thread through the fourth hole of the second signature.

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7. Wrap the thread around the end of the block and insert it through the slit in the cover and back into the last hole.

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8. Pass the thread from inside into the third hole and slit and then from outside into the second slit and the hole.

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9. Pass the thread from inside out through the first hole and the cover slit.  Wrap the thread around the end of the booklet.

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10. Insert the needle into the first hole of the signature.  Do not go through the cover.

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11. Bring the third signature and pass the thread from outside into the first hole.  Wrap the thread around the end of the booklet and pass it through the slit in the cover and back into the first hole of the third (last) signature.

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12.  Similarly to the first and second signature, pass the thread in and out: into the second hole and slit from inside ..

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13. From outside into the third slit and the third hole ...

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14.  Into the forth hole and the slit, around the end of the block and once the thread is inside, tighten all the stitches, tie the thread and your are done!

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15.  This is how the notebook looks inside.

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Although the description of the process seems long, this type of binding is much easier than the coptic stitch.  I also like that the notebooks made this way lay flat when open. Decorative stitching adds a cute touch to these notebooks.