Laptop protection; collage sheets; Manic Monday announcement!

Posted on | January 28, 2007 | 20 Comments

Hi there!

I know. I’ve left you hanging. I didn’t post after my day out with Angie. But Angie did such a great job of describing our day, I couldn’t have done a better job and, well, I figured I’d like to her blog so you could see our day. To check it out, look here. We both picked up some cabinet cards and old snapshots at the antique malls. Angie picked up a vintage hankie. I picked up a vintage medical book and a box full of old patterns for a bargain! Then we went to lunch at a cute little place called My Florist. It was a lovely day.

After I left Angie, I went to SAS Fabrics by the Pound. For those of you who have been reading my blog, you know that I had a long six weeks (seemed like six months!) where my Windows-based laptop computer was in and out of the Geek Squad’s hands. Finally, I chose to go with a MacBook this time around. And, I’m so glad I did. And, since I adore this piece of machinery and I really want to keep it in excellent shape, i was looking at the option of getting a sleeve made for it. But then, I figured, heck. Why should I have a plain black neoprene sleeve when I can make my own with some attitude? So at SAS, I went on a hunt for some vinyl to use on the outside. See, as I mentioned in this post, I’m a klutz. And I don’t want anything to happen to my MacBook when it’s in transit! I found a cool denim-patterned vinyl for about $2.99/yard. I got a yard, figuring it would give me enough to make at least 3 sleeves (Yes, I anticipated messing up the first one at least! LOL). And I bought some trim to add to it. I also had some batting and some pretty cotton fabrics in my stash that I knew I could use. I also picked up some sequin waste for my stocks and for Tracey. All in all, a long but good day.

I came home around 3:30 and 10 minutes later, my husband came home. His best friend from childhood was coming to stay with us this weekend along with his wife. So, well, we needed to do some cleaning up! We kicked it into high gear and cleaned until 6, when Dave left for his monthly poker game. I ordered Chinese food and then went to work on figuring out my laptop sleeve!

Now, as I’ve mentioned in the past, though I have a very logical part of my brain, I tend to just jump into projects like this. Which means that no, I didn’t draw out a pattern on paper or make actual measurements (perish the thought of even pulling out a straight edge or ruler!). So, to say the least, the first one, though it worked (I kept putting my MacBook inside of it to make sure it fit!), it was far from pretty! – edges that are not finished; a lot of unfinished spots inside, lots of ick, basically. But at least I tried it. I found the most difficult part was sewing on vinyl. I didn’t even think that it would be a problem with the feed dogs and the presser foot. But then again, I’ve never sewn on it before. That was a major pain. By 11 pm, I had finished a prototype (yes, that’s it to the left – click on it to see a larger image and to see what the writing says!) to use as a pattern, realized where I had gone wrong, and went to bed!

Saturday morning, I was determined to work on this again and to use what I learned from my mistakes to make it work out better this time. Dave was on call this week, which meant he was headed to the hospital to round. I jumped in and started working on my sleeve. But not until I actually checked online to see if there were any patterns. And DUH There were! Damn my impetuous nature! (Just Google “laptop sleeves DIY”!). But despite this, I did not find one that met MY needs. They were made of old pants legs, sweatshirts, t-shirts, and foam. Not my style. However, I did use the ideas of how to get the measurements and looking at them, I saw where I had gone wrong the first time. So this time, I actually tried again. Googled “sewing on vinyl” and I learned that I could use tissue paper to feed the vinyl through the sewing machine…. MUCH BETTER! To the right is the second try. I need to add some Velcro for it to close, but it will work. No, it’s not beautiful, but at least it’s all mine! LOL I think the third time will be a charm, but I don’t think I have it in me to try a third one at this moment!

Then Dave brought in the mail. And I received a treat from my friend, Tracey! It is the “goodie bag” she prepared for me for the party I missed due to my vertigo. It’s so CUTE and it’s a perfect piece for me. I mean, coffee-themed? How much better could it be? And inside were many fun treasures; however, the one I treasure the most is a booklet made for me by the party attendees. Some background: Tracey had asked us each if we were willing to share a technique or project with the rest of the group. I was going to teach some of my intuitive collage and share my new collage sheets with the group. Since I wasn’t able to attend the party, I sent the collage sheets to Tracey via email. I had updated two of my sheets and created some new ones using vintage images I had purchased. I wanted to see if they were going to work as well as I’d hoped. Well, in my absence, the group all did collages using my collage sheets. And they were a hit!
So, today I am pleased to introduce ArtsyFran’s newest collage sheets, featuring vintage images.

Collage Sheet 1: Vintage Children’s Images 1

Collage Sheet 2: Vintage Adult Images 2

Tomorrow, I will post the collages and the new collage sheets. But they are already up in my Etsy store where you can order them now! There is so much you can do with these sheets. And there are some more surprises coming up soon.

MANIC MONDAY!

Yes, it’s going to be another Manic Monday here at ArtsyFran Designs! To kick off the new collage sheets, I’m going to GIVE AWAY one set of each of my TWO NEW Vintage Image Collage Sheets to one lucky winner who posts a comment in my blog by 8 am Mountain Time, Monday, February 5th. I choose this date in honor of two of my favorite people: my niece Eliana, and my cousin Tammi, who both have February 5th as their birthdays. So, same rules as last time. You can give up to one comment per day and for each comment, you will get another chance to win!

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