Clasps/ Rookie mistakes - laptop sleeve

So originally, I wasn't going to do this as its own post. I was going to edit the sewing laptop sleeve (here) and just be all happy that I had finished.

That was until I realised what a rookie mistake I had made.

So picking off from where I left at the end of the last one. I had my "finished" sleeve and I headed off to my friendly- locally owned craft store. (I could've gone to my kinda friendly craft mega store, but those employees aren't quite as invested as the ones in friendly local owned. And given I didn't know what I wanted, I needed someone invested in craft.)


It was suggested that I use a magnetic clasp. Like this!

It ended up being $2.50. Taking my total spent on this sleeve $12.50. Not bad given the ones I was looking at in the shops were $30.


This is where the rookie mistake came in. I went to attach my clasp (my friendly craft supplier said that I just pushed it through the fabric and put the securer on the other side. Easy.) I went to do it. And realised I had sewed up the other side. So I couldn't get into attach it. (Major rookie) 

So I had to cut the side of my hard sewn seam, (I didn't need to go all the way, just enough to get my hand in).

I attached my magnetic clasp (which was surprisingly easy) and then I sewed back up the hole that I cut up.

Next I had to put the clasp on the other side, which was easier because I didn't have to cut up what I had already done. I just had to line it up.

And voila! A (finally) finished laptop sleeve!

Some tips:

• When you start a project, make sure you know how you're going to finish it. Redoing things is annoying, time consuming, and any other adjective you can think of.
• Start with the flap. When you are attaching the magnetic clasp, start with the flap bit, then you can line up the bottom with the top. If you start with the bottom, then you end up with a clasp that does nothing. Its a rooking mistake (another one, from experience)
• Dont be afraid to get advice. Whether its from a store owner, a friend, your mother, or even me! Someone elses opinion helps

Raining crayon art

So given I have only just started this blog, there are going to be a long(ish) list of crafty things that I have done already. So I’m going to start trying to catch up on them. And I’ll probably through some new ones in too!

So 4 years ago, I decided to paint room. I went for the moody grey with a black feature wall. But given that I’m not actually moody enough to consistently require a black and grey room, it was always the plan to lighten it up with a piece of artwork. Unfortunately for me I’m a student. Student = broke. So I decided to get my craft on, browse pinterest and DIY it.

I stumbled across crayon art, the one that did the rounds about 4 years ago. Where you melt down crayons to create a picture, I did that.

It started off wellish. I had read on one of the many sites that tell you how to do it that the easiest way is to use a hot glue gun. I didn’t want to ruin the hot glue gun that I already had, so I took myself of to the shop to buy another cheap one.

I get myself all sorted, a canvas painted black (to match my moody wall and I thought that the black would make the coloured crayons pop), a rainbow of crayons, and my hot glue gun. Then horror struck, my crayons didn’t fit into the glue gun. So the rain affect that I was going for was not going to work by just running it down the side. So I tried taping it to the top and getting the hair dryer on it. That also didn’t work (though I have no idea why).

So eventually I just put the crayons on the hot end of the glue stick until it had melted a bit, and then dropped it onto the canvas where I wanted it.

I’m quite proud of the final result!

If you are wanting to do something like this yourself (which I’m sure you will manage to do much easier than I did!) here are my tips:

•  Go in with an idea of what you want to do. I wanted to do a story of someone playing in the rain (hence the blue/ grey, and the coloured one). It was based on the quote “life isn’t about waiting for the storm to pass, its about learning to dance in the rain” cause that was the phase I was in when I made it. But I still love it now
•  Find a hot glue gun that fits your crayons. I bought one of the thin glue ones which didn’t fit my Crayola crayons. If you want to splurge on the big one than I’m sure your life will be so much easier
• Splurge on a glue gun. You will almost certainly ruin the one you use. So whether you want to use the one that you already have, or buy a new one specially for this project, you will need 2. Unless you like to have pretty coloured crayons all over your future projects, but that’s really your call
•  Paint everything else after the crayons. It may sound obvious, but it wasn’t to me. I was so excited to see my art come together that I painted that white bits first. Then I sploted melted crayon all over my white parts. Good news though! The paint covers the crayon really easily. I just put the tip of the hot glue gun on the bits that were in the area I was painting over (to flatten them), then a coat of white paint covered it completely
•  Have fun! Clichés are always fun, but in the case of crafty things, this one is always important. You can always buy a piece of art to go on your wall, so there really is no reason to stress! Worse case scenario you can do the good ol’ fashioned paint splash.  

Till next time! And my next project!

Dat girl