Placemats, part 2

a quick post, with mostly photos. I've found that I'm much better at showing someone how to make something, rather than trying to explain it. It's most likely because I tend to learn more that same way. Here are a few photos of a placemat I made yesterday.

1.I gathered a bunch of pages from some magazines.



2. Then fold the page in half, about 3 times.



3. you'll need about 20 folded strips of paper and they don't have to be exactly the same width.



4.I used a long piece of tape to hold the edges of paper together. It makes sewing them together easier.



5. Once you've sewn along both edges of the place mat, carefully remove the tape, and continue sewing down the length of the placemat.



Hopefully the photos will help explain the process a little better! If you have any questions feel free to ask!

Repurposed Placemats

On a mission to find cute placemats for a dinner party I was having this past Sunday, I ran into Pier One. I found these placemats that were made from magazine articles all sewn together. I didn't purchase those, but the idea stayed fresh in my mind, and once everyone had left the house, I knew just what I would be staying up late to create. My own repurposed magazine placemats... only more colorful.




As it turns out, they are super-duper easy to make and only took me about an hour to make 2 placemats. I used 2 Modern Brides magazines for mime. (my favorite magazine ever!) I just tore out the advertisements that were brightly colored or that had interesting photos/graphics. Don't worry if you didn't tear the entire page evenly, I went through and trimmed each page to about 3/4 to 1/2 the size of the original page. Fold the torn pages in half, and then in half again and in half one more time. (3 folds all together) I used 20 strips of paper for each place mat. I took a piece of scotch tape, sticky side up and arranged the strips of paper so that the edges were stuck to the tape. This made sewing so much easier! I just sewed down the length of each placemat about 12 times, and then took the tape off. If you want to seal them, which you probably will, you can use a few coats of matte or gloss mod-podge for paper, or clear contact paper.

Hopefully this is easy enough to follow along, but if you'd like, I can always make another quick placemat and take step-by-step photos? They really are so simple and fun to make. Hope you like them!!! I'm thinking of making some scapbook paper this same way too. It'd be a great way to re-use my ever growing stash of magazines!

may I have your attention please...

My name is Tara and I suck at blogging. Yes, there is no way of getting around the fact that I am a terrible blogger. I admire so many woman that seem to be able to manage their time well enough to keep clean homes and find the time to blog after the dishes are washed and the kids are asleep. I however, am not there quite yet. Granted my home is clean, and the dishes must be washed right after the last person has finished their dinner, my kids are tucked into bed around 9pm and by 10:30, I'm usually ready to start work. Unfortunately, my cute blog isn't included in the category of work. Guilt ridden, I'm back... and making a mid year resolution, to blog at least twice a week. I seem to have been introduced as crafter/blogger alot recently, which makes me a bit anxious because in fact I'm not a blogger, an imposter blogger would be a more accurate title. But I will be diligent in my efforts to uphold my resolution. With that, my sincerest apologies if you check in regularly to see if I've posted!!

this post is a rambling mess in itself but it's something I felt compelled to write about. Up next is a post about placemats, making your own that is. Be back in about an hour.