Fighting with photoshop

I spent hours the other day looking for a suitable template for business cards.  One that had crop marks or bleed marks, or just the right layout, and it needed to be A4 (for home printing), and none of them were what I was looking for.  It was driving me insane – considering all the free stuff available on the internet, I would have thought I would have been able to find what I was after, but no.

So, I did it all from scratch.  You can see the results of my labours above.  Ironically that wasn’t the hard part!  The hard part was laying out the spaces and the crop marks and rectangles to show where the cards will be.

So for those who use photoshop and who want to do some business cards, I’ve put the background layout on my website for you to download for free.  Just remember to turn the “eye” off on the grey rectangle layer before you print so it doesn’t show, and leave it on for the crop marks so you can see where to cut them.

Find it on my new website: snotty-dog.com

I need your help!

I would be very grateful if you would fill in a short survey for me to give me an idea of whether my products are what people want.  It should take a minute or two, and then you’re done!

Click here to take survey

Many thanks!

Hopefully if enough people like them you will see them on sale soon. xx

Casting on, the “thumb cross” method.

Hiya,

Just a quick one for today.  I went looking on YouTube for cast on methods, to see if there was an easier way than I was doing it.  And they seemed a bit more complex, to be fair.

So then I went looking to see if anyone was doing it the same way I was, and I couldn’t find one.  I figured I would do a video to show my technique just in case it wasn’t out there at all, and to show a different way that some people might find easier.

It’s just a simple single needle technique where, having put a slip knot on the needle, you loop the ball end of the yarn around your left thumb, and yarn over with the tail end, and bring the tip of the needle through the gap in the loops.  It makes way more sense to watch it, honest!

I can’t embed video here, so here’s the link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dAQil-Laarc

If you do it this way too, let me know in the comments.  It would be nice to know I’m not alone!

Eco friendly, MCS* friendly (& cheap!) washing “tabs”.

(*Multiple Chemical Sensitivity)

You will need:

Two or three bars of “vegetable oil based” soap – I used Palmolive olive oil soap, £1 for a pack of three, or thereabouts
Essential oils if you have a scent you want, but not essential as the soap will give a delicate scent.
Washing Soda Crystals – about a third of a 1kg bag (about £1 per bag)
A good sized (three pint or more) pan
1.5 pint jug
metal spoon, (or a wooden one specifically for this job)
A grater
A flexible plastic tub or a silicone baking pan
Storage container

Get your pan, and a silicone or metal spoon – if you use a wooden one, don’t use it for food again afterwards, as it will leech out soap and ruin your food!

Grate all your soap. Put a pint and a half of boiling water (from the kettle into the pan to save time and electricity), and put it on high enough a heat to keep it very hot, but don’t boil it.

Add a little of the grated soap at a time, sprinkle it on the top of the water so it doesn’t clump back up again, and gently stir it in. Do this until all your soap is dissolved into the water. This may take a little while. You can now turn off the heat under your pan.

Get yourself a jug, and put the soda crystals in, and make it up to a pint and a half – stir well. It likely won’t all dissolve just yet, but give it a good stir and pour it into your hot soap “soup”.

It should be a little thicker now than it was. Add your essential oils now if you are using them, and mix well.

While it’s still hot, pour or ladle out a layer into your baking pan, about half an inch thick. You don’t have to be exact. If it’s winter, you can place this outside or on a windowsill to cool quickly. When it’s set – you can test this by tipping the pan or pushing up the bottom – use a plastic knife to cut it into rectangles about the size of a dishwasher tab, no bigger. Or if you don’t have a plastic knife you can tip the whole thing out onto a chopping board and use a normal knife – just don’t use a normal knife on your silicone bakeware!

Just repeat this process until you have “set” and chopped up all your mix into chunks.

Stick these in a container or old ice cream tub, and use one of those little drawstring string bags, so for each load, put one or two chunks in, depending on the level of dirt on your washing. You don’t need to use fabric softener either, your clothing will come out soft without it.

I have been using these for months now. Give them a go – your health and your planet will thank you!

Hair Clip Revamp – easy, cheap & eco friendly!

I was putting one of these in one day when part of the colour layer just fell off:

I figured that if it could “fall” off, it could also “peel” off, and so I could reuse the clips, and put another colour on them.

This was good news since I had some in a really icky yellow colour that I never wore, so I set about peeling the colour off the other matching one, and the two yellow ones, just to try it out.

I figured the best thing to try first to add colour would be nail varnish. With it being acrylic, and having remover to hand if it all went a bit wrong.

I had some matt finish in black and dark purple, and having dark hair, and not wanting them to stand out too much, I figured they would work well.

All I did was clip them onto a magazine, and paint the varnish on. I had to do a couple of layers to get it to the thickness I wanted. I have a feeling had I used gloss it would have been a lot thicker.

There’s no reason why you couldn’t just buy the plain ones to do this, rather than peeling the colour off. Or paint over the top of it, even.

The great thing about this is that you can paint your clips to match your nails or your outfit or your jewellery, or whatever you like and can get the colour for!

It’s so cheap you could even argue that if you already have everything it’s even practically free! Especially if you use one of those varnishes that’s past its best, or there’s too little left to do a full set of nails. It’s also eco friendly since you’re saving them from being thrown away. It’s quick – you can paint them in minutes, and then you only have to wait as long as the varnish takes to dry.

And there’s no reason why you couldn’t embellish them with flat-backed gems or paint them with stripes or spots or whatever too.

Knitted tea cozy for Bodum teapot.

 

I’ve never made a tea cozy before. Mostly because I haven’t really used a teapot much, mostly because I am usually alone, and can’t justify making that amount of tea for myself. My large teapot is still in a box somewhere. This one is a far more manageable size, about two mugs worth, and so given my recent increase in herbal and sencha tea I figured it would be handy to have one to keep it hotter for longer. And you may have gathered, I don’t buy things if I can make them instead.

This, despite how it might appear, is a very basic, easy to make cozy. I guessed the size I needed, and (using what I *think* is double knit, and number 8 [old English] needles) cast on 100 stitches. This made it a lot easier to divide it up for hole placement, for example. It consists of a single rectangle of a 1×1 rib at the bottom, and the rest is a 5×5 rib.

Its finished shape reminds me of the dried poppy seed heads I used to see near my home at the end of summer.

There are two holes for the handle, simple cast off on one row, and casting the lost stitches back on in the next, as you would for a button hole. You can do this this way because unlike most teapots this Bodum one has a separate glass “bowl” that you can unclip from the plastic “holder” section – you take it off and thread the handle through the holes before popping the glass section back in.

And then the drawstring goes through a row of single stitch button holes, one in the middle of each of the 5×5 rib sections. It is sewn up the front just enough to part for the spout.

It opens right up and scrunches down so you can fill it, and then you just pull it back up, and tie the drawstring again. You don’t have to worry about it dropping off en route to the table, and you don’t have to lift it off to pour.

The cord is lucet braided, but you could just as easily use a single chain of crochet, or contrasting colour cord instead if you don’t have a lucet.

 

I’m quite happy with how it turned out, given that I completely winged the entire thing, just holding it up against it every now and again, and trying to imagine how it would look once it was sewn up and wrapped around. I haven’t seen one like it, anyway, and I do like to be individual.

Funky Card Holder

Today’s entry is a card holder loosely based on this one: http://schlosserdesigns.blogspot.co.uk/2009/02/tutorial-tuesday-business-card-holder.html

I knew I wanted to make one as soon as I saw it, but I wanted to give it the Snotty Dog twist, so taking purely the twin pocket idea, I set about making my own with that little added extra “something”.

It is large enough to take store cards or even credit cards if you don’t have any business cards to fill it.

And the clip means you can attach it to the end of the zipper on an inside pocket of your bag so it doesn’t drift about in the bottom evading capture when you’re standing at the till, or trying to get your business card to someone who needs to dash off.

You will need:

A very small amount of fabric(s) of your choice, scraps even, or a fat quarter.

Coordinating thread(s)

2 small rivets. Even card making ones should be fine if that’s what you have.

Rivet setting tool (you usually get a basic one to use with a hammer in the pack)

1 snap fastener or press stud

1 small swivel clip

2 jump rings, one larger than the other to attach the clip. Or you could use a single smallish split ring- the type of thing you have your keys on.  (I made my jump rings as I have jewellery pliers and wire, and it only takes a minute.)

Instructions:

First I checked the measurements and it turns out that the cards I’m making this for are (roughly) 3.5 x 2 inches.

I then decided I needed 3/8” for seam allowance, and ¼” for “ease” so that the cards aren’t rammed inside, and you have enough room to get one out easily, even if you have a fair sized stack in there. Plus then another inch in between the cards where the fabric folds over. This will allow room for your clip later.


This is what the pattern should look like (I forgot to write on 3 1/2″ up the side as I was making this all up as I went along and took the pic before I realised), just note that that is inside (extra to) the 1/4″ and 3/8″ measurements:

And this is the pattern for the pocket pieces – note that the measurements include all the seam allowance all the way around but only on the pocket pattern.  It would have been overly complicated to draw them in, and it’s easy enough to remember that ALL the seam allowances are 3/8″ on this project:

I went through my fabric stash and found these which I thought went together well (or clash so badly your eyes are now bleeding, it depends on your taste!). At this point I hadn’t fully made my mind up what the interior fabric would be, so I went looking in my stash and came up with a rather fetching turquoise that goes clashes particularly well.

As the purple one has a significant one way stretch and was rather floppy, I stuck on some scrap interfacing from my stash. You may now be kicking yourself that you threw those bits away that you thought would be no use for anything. I am in no way encouraging hoarding – I am in fact helping, yes, “helping” you to bust your stash. Okay, I know this won’t bust your stash unless you make one for everyone you’ve ever known, loved, met, worked around and made eye contact with, but hey, it all helps.

You don’t need to have the interfacing all the way to the edge of the seam allowance, just enough to cover the rear of the main part that will be showing. As you can see, I wasn’t in any way precise:

I did the same with the star fabric as it’s a chiffon/tuille see-through type fabric and thin and floppy as hell, so it needed a bit of propping up. Again there’s no need to add bulk to your seams – though the truth is, the scrap of interfacing just happened to be this wide, so I took advantage:

Now cut out your outer and inner main fabric pieces:

I used the selvedge here because as we are turning this inside out, I wanted an edge that was a bit more robust, and it’s a good way of making best use of fabric! Just be sure that the undyed/holes part is within the seam allowance. I had to trim about 5mm off, but it’s still sturdy without it:

Also cut out two “lining” pieces from some plain scrap to use for the inside of the pockets. Here are all the pieces laid out:

Okay, now take one of your “pocket outers” and one of your “pocket inners” in turn, and with right sides together, sew down one long side only. Remember all the seams are 3/8ths of an inch, and you don’t have to back stitch if you don’t want, as the ends will be enclosed in the next step.

Now – and remembering to use matching thread, unlike on my first attempt that I had to undo – turn them right sides out, and top stitch about 1/8th in from the edge you have just sewn, so you enclose the last row of sewing you did, and flatten what will be the top edge of your pockets. It will look neater if you sew it liner side up, and pull the liner over just a little more, so that it will be hidden when the holder is finished:

Now you need to find either something you can draw around, that is roughly 1 ½” across, or use a compass, and draw yourself a “U” shape that is roughly 2 ½” long x 1 ½” wide out of either a contrasting fabric, as here, or the same as your outer fabric. Cut out two of these. (Pic A)

With those U-shapes right sides together use the edge as your guide for the 3/8” seam allowance, and sew around the U, leaving the straight edge open. Take your time or you’ll have a wonky tab. Trim with pinking shears if you have them, or just down to about 1/8 to ¼” if you don’t. (Pic B)

Turn the right way out, I used my bone folder, it was just the right size, and press if you need to to get a good edge. Don’t push on your seams too hard or you may bust through them. (Pic C)  Don’t ask me how I know this.

Top stitch in a matching (or contrasting) thread, no need to back stitch, you will be enclosing the end. (Pic D):

The next step is locating your press stud “back” on your outer fabric. It will be located at the opposite end to the one with the opening for turning the thing right sides out (so in my case it’s at the opposite end from the selvedge). And you want it to be central along the edge.

So fold under your seam allowance, and using a ruler to find the middle, and holding your “tab” that you just made slightly under the edge as if it were sewn on the other side of the holder, lower it down and (you have to guesstimate) put a pencil mark where you want it to go. Don’t worry if you only have a biro, it will be covered up by the metal stud. I put an arrow so you can see mine as it’s hard to make out with all the other dots. You don’t want to be pulling the tab hard around to get it to shut, so leave enough ease that it will just sit right. Basically, don’t put it too far in, and don’t put it too close to the edge. You will get to fine tune where your tab gets sewn later, so don’t worry too much whether it’s in the right place or not, just go with your gut:

Make a hole where your pencil mark is just through the one (outer) layer of fabric. The stud (if you’re using this type) comes in four parts. When you have them in front of you you will see there are two parts to the bottom, and two for the top. Get the back of the bottom part, and put it through the hole:

Now put the front on, and crimp with your tool, or bash the crap out of your mini tool with a hammer, (the one that came in the pack.) The next bit is for those of you who think the show “You’ve Been Framed” is full of “instructional” videos -

Don’t do this on a glass table. I don’t want emails from people saying I made you smash up their furniture. And if you do do it on your best wooden table, put something underneath so you don’t damage your french polish. A chopping board would work, but get that okay’d with the chef of the house first.

Make sure you hold the tool in place firmly, and don’t do what I did, which was to lose grip and let the tool jump to one side, causing the snap part to bend, rendering it useless until you bend it back with pliers while swearing under your breath:

Now you basically do the same type of thing with the tab, only this time, don’t do what I did and use a rivet setting tool to set the top of your stud – unless you want a dimple in it:

Fortunately I like dimples, though usually I prefer them on faces, and not in places where there should be a nice smooth chrome dome shape, but you live and learn and these days I just count myself lucky that I still have all my fingers, but that’s largely down to self-taught DIY and mechanics mixed with a neurological disorder that fries the old brain cells, gives you the shakes and 24/7 dizziness, rather than any built in stupidity. Honest. Some days it works better to aim for the nail, and sometimes to aim for the thumb, the fun lies in guessing what type of day it is.

Okay, now back to the larger pieces. Make sure you’ve marked on where your opening is. You want to start at the bottom mark, and sew (with 3/8” seam allowance) around to the top mark, leaving a reasonable sized gap to turn it the right way out:

Lay your pieces out in this order, ‘pocket & inner fabric right sides’ facing ‘outer right side’, and press stud on the opposite end to your opening:

Snip off your corners at a greater angle than 180, as shown here, as it allows the seam allowance to sit flat when you turn it out:

Pinking shear (or trim down) three sides to reduce bulk. Leave the opening end alone as it’s easier to sew later:

Turn the whole thing the right way out, making sure to put the pockets on the inside with the outside of them showing, like this:

Place your tab in the opening – making sure it’s the right way up – and sew the tab and the opening closed, as close to the edge as you can. You might want to remember to use the right coloured threads top and bottom, unlike me, the numpty who forgot. Not that it looks that bad, and it is on the inside after all:

Fold the whole thing down the middle, and mark the crease enough to sew a line along it. Then on one end, it doesn’t matter which, stamp out your “pilot” holes, and insert and set your rivets, with the top on the outer of the fabrics:

Now add the larger of the jump rings through the rivets, and attach the clip to this with the smaller one:

And you’re done!

Do check out www.ilovefreegle.org if you are in the UK.

Funky Card Holder by Louise @ Snotty Dog is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.

In other words, you can make these for yourself and your friends and family with my blessing, but you cannot use my work to sell them to make a profit, nor can you take my instructions and sell them as they are freely available here.  Do click through the link for more details, ta.

Sharpie marker saucer

Ever since I saw a pin on Pinterest about how you can write on pottery with a Sharpie marker, and “bake it permanent”, I’ve been wanting to try this. I had some saucers that I was going to give away, but rescued them in order to try this out. It just had to be done!

This is the saucer beforehand. Just a plain old thing, nothing special, and no markings on it whatsoever – perfect for this project; easy to hold, wouldn’t be missed if I botched it, etc.

This is what I used for inspiration. I don’t know anything about zentangles apart from they look like your ordinary everyday doodles but done with a black pen on white paper, as opposed to a blue Biro on a lined sheet! I liked how there were three “wings” to it, and the leaves, and the colour way.

Here it is after I had finished scribbling. I know the colours might change, but I don’t know how much at this point. I’m just hoping the dark blue dulls down a bit and blends in. I don’t have many colours of Sharpie, but I tried to use ones that go well together.

I haven’t done anything exactly the same as the inspiration, but I think I’ve got a similar, although more amateurish, feel to it. I don’t mind that it looks amateur since it’s the first one I’ve ever done!

The bottom of the saucer. The obligatory “Snotty Dog” logo. I only came up with the logo the other day, but I already like how it applies itself in instances like this. I think it looks like it was made to go onto crockery.

And this is how the colours came out after baking – 175 degrees for 30 minutes, putting it in cold, and taking it out after it’s cooled. I like how they’ve muted. I haven’t tried it in the dishwasher yet, or used it as a side plate or anything. Not sure if I’m brave enough to do it. We shall see.

So there’s another Pin I can cross off as having tried.

Door “anti-jammer” how-to.

I think they’re usually known as an anti-slammer, but in this instance I needed one to stop the catch from, erm, well, “catching”. Because for some unknown reason, (and I have taken the thing apart to try to find out the reason, without success), the kitchen door once closed, refuses to open. And it’s no fun being trapped in the kitchen.

And there’s only so long you can put up with makeshift anti-lock devices…..

I saw a picture of one of them on Pinterest, and it doesn’t take a rocket surgeon to work out how to make one.

You will need:

Tools -

• Sewing machine

• Pliers, preferably two pairs or you’ll struggle

“Ingredients” -

• Covered elastic (even hair bands would work, though you would sew it in differently)

• Sticky tape

• Fabric off-cut (I’m using a bit of old velvet curtain)

• Thread to match (I just used white as this is just about making it work, not making it look pretty)

• 1.6mm diameter Garden wire (or any strong enough to hold the elastic together)

This is the wire and elastic I had on hand. If I didn’t have this wire I’m not sure what I would have used, although I imagine it would also be possible to sew the elastic together, it just wouldn’t be as strong. Strong staples might even work, or knotting it, although that’s quite bulky.

Before you cut the elastic to length, measure it around the handles you’re going to be putting it on, and add a good inch for overlap when you join – and probably 3x more if you’re going to knot it – the good thing about knotting it is you can test it out before you cut it.

And before you do cut it, wrap sticky tape around it so that the fabric outer doesn’t fray or unravel:

Use your pliers to wrap a length of wire around the ends of the elastic. Wrap it as tight as you can, and pull to make sure it won’t come undone. If it’s too loose squeeze the whole thing in the jaws to clamp it down.

You can see in the second picture (above) that one end of the tape came off, but at it happened after I’d wrapped the wire round, I wasn’t so worried.

Your fabric needs to only be about two inches wider than the width of your door (once hemmed). Put the elastic loop on top of the fabric, just to check it sticks out on either end. I sewed a hem on the sides of the length of fabric so they would be enclosed and not fray. There was already a hem on one short end from when it was curtains, and the other end doesn’t need a hem as it’s going to be enclosed.

Following the steps in the diagram, fold the elastic loop into the fabric. Now sew down one side enclosing the elastic down a long end. Start with the side of elastic that is smooth with no join in it. Now slide it around so that the “knot” is in that side, and sew along the other side, making a channel for the elastic on the other long side.

When I had done this I sewed on top of the “hem” stitching making the hole that the elastic (on the knot side) was only big enough to allow the elastic to slide through, but too small for the knot to come out, just so it looks neat and tidy. But you do have to take care that the join doesn’t end up in the middle, or the wire will put dents in your woodwork!

And this is what it looks like when it’s done:

Here it is in use, jamming the door closed, but without locking someone in the kitchen:

Success!

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Bottle cutting, and stuff…

Well I didn’t draw blood – which is a miracle, considering my lack of muscle control, and it’s still in one (technically “half”) piece, so I guess you could call my first attempt at cutting bottles a success…!

This is what my lack of muscle control got me the other day when I was using my glue gun – I got hot glue on several fingers and both thumbs, but this – my right index finger – came off worst.  I had to dunk it in cold aloe juice for an hour and a half to take the stinging out, but thanks to that it’s now gone down, and has been pain free ever since.

I was checking whether my compress had fully dried out, and this beastie popped out from behind the radiator.  Poor thing appeared to be shivering – that’s why some of it’s out of focus.

I cupped my hands around him and gently breathed warm air in to help him warm up, then he walked onto my hand, so I held it towards the door, and off out he flew!

So, on with the bottle cutting!

All you need is:

• A bottle that would otherwise go into the recycling.  I’m using a brandy bottle as it’s nice and wide at the bottom.

• A glass cutter.  (The pen shaped tool with a little wheel on the end that you roll along glass or tiles),

• Some hot water,

• And some cold water.

I taped some straight strips of cereal box around the glass bottle, taping it all around the lower edge, leaving the upper “cut line” without tape.  This was enough of a guide to keep the cutter straight.

Then all you do is scrape the wheel around the bottle, hard enough to make a mark.  You can tell you’re doing it right from the noise.  It makes an awful noise as it cuts into the glass, like nails down a blackboard.  (Blackboard?  Ask your mum coz you’re making me feel old already)

And then once you’ve gone all the way around, you take it to the sink, and pour hot water over the line.  Then cold, then hot, then, well, until you hear a “clink” and the top and bottom part company.

This is the top edge during grinding.  I used wet n dry “sand”paper for a bit (the black stuff), and the dremmel-alike a bit, and both seemed to work equally well, though the dremmel-alike of course does a lot more for a lot less effort.  Though I think there’s probably a better attachment for glass than I used.

And thanks to the wonders of refraction, my dog has an extra long neck…he’s not like that in real life, honest….

In this close up you can see where the dremmel-alike skittered (great word, don’t get to use it often enough!) across the surface, leaving marks:

But as you can see here, they’re not *that* noticable really:

And especially not noticable when there are things in it!  I am only really doing this because I want my glass back – and you can just see the tip of the glass cutter I used to cut the bottle, hiding behind my snips:

So there you have it.  One cut bottle, no drama.  Next one I do I will be more careful grinding the line so that it’s a smoother finish and less grinding is needed.