Reusable Coffee Sleeves

Whenever I get a cardboard coffee sleeve from a coffee shop, I always feel a little bad that it gets tossed away so quickly. You can turn your old wool sweaters into reusable coffee sleeves and cast that green planet guilt aside for a little bit. :-) Kitschy Cosby sweaters or holiday sweaters are great for those looking for a mini conversation piece, or an earthy brown or rustic toned sweater can look nice and calm you down while you sip a warm cup of chamomile.

How to make it
Do what everyone tells you never to do, throw your wool sweater in the washing machine on hot, then put it in the dryer. This will felt your sweater. Using a cardboard sleeve as a template, cut your sweater. You can double check your size before you sew the ends closed by wrapping it around a standard to-go sized cup. It’s better to make it a little snug than loose since your material can stretch a bit.

Use the blanket stitch to sew the ends together with embroidery floss, then sew around the raw cut edges of your sweater. You can use a contrasting color since it’s a nice looking stitch, or a color that matches if you’d prefer it blend in. Embroidering a design or your name is also a nice touch.

Join us tomorrow for the event in the Edgemar Courtyard, Friday April 22nd from 10am-1pm and try it out for free!

Recycled Cereal Box Journal

I’m sure a lot of you have been to or frequent a local Trader Joe’s market with their crowded mini parking lots and delicious name brand goodies. Perhaps you also have a collection of their stylish paper bags that you’ve been waiting to use for….something. I’m a fan of Joe’s Os myself and turned one of the cereal boxes and a shopping bag into a this little recycled journal to make my shopping lists inside. We’ve been making a lot of these in the studio lately!

How to make it:

1) Use an Xacto knife to cut the cereal box into the size you’d like for the cover. Then cut your desired number of pages out of your paper bag or bags. You’ll want to make the pages a little smaller in width than the cover in order to fit nicely in your journal. I decided to include some of the artwork on the bag into my journal too!

2) An awl and a Japanese screw punch are two great bookbinding tools to create precise holes through your layers of material. Be careful – this is sharp stuff! I cut three holes through the spine of my book and pages; one in the center and two on the sides about 3/4 of an inch from either end.

3) Used some waxed linen bookbinding thread to make a pamphlet stitch to hold the pages together. After it’s put together, you can decorate the pages and cover with paint, glitter, decoupage, even fabric!

Plastic Bag PomPom Garlands

I recently heard that Santa Monica will be banning plastic bags from most or all of the retail stores and restaurants in the city! They’re wasteful and abundant, but with a little thought, this soon to be contraband material can transform into a lovely decoration in your home.

We have these great little pom pom makers in the store, from small to jumbo in size. You may have made them using cardboard circles when you were kids! I made them in different sizes, out of plastic bags and yarn, then strung them together using baker’s twine.