Crafty overload.

Hello, lovely readers. I didn't disappear. :) It's just that my time has been completely divided this week between school/homework and sewing. I've got that fall craft festival coming up at the beginning of October, and I have a list of goals of what I need to accomplish each week. So I've been super busy sewing and crafting. And I have a ton of new things to show you, but first I wanted to show off this:

It's an "Alice in Wonderland" skin for my little 3rd generation iPod Nano. And it was completely free! Want to know how?

I'm a member of the Disney Movie Rewards Program. If you're a big Disney fan like me, this is a really cool thing to participate in. Many Disney DVDs that you buy come with a rewards code. You go to the website, create an account, and put in your code. Each code gives you a certain amount of points. If you've bought any Disney DVDs over the past year or so, those are likely to have codes that you can use, too! When I joined the program a few months ago, I went through all of my Disney DVDs that I had bought or been given (animated classics, live action classics, and newer ones like "Prince Caspian") and put in all of my codes and ended up with over 500 points! You can also get points through Disney CDs that you've purchased or movie tickets (I did this with two of our Alice in Wonderland tickets-I couldn't find the other one). When you build up points, you can redeem them for really cool rewards. Like this iPod skin from SkinIt. It would have cost $14.99 plus shipping, and I got it for free (well, about 400 points). This was the first thing I ever redeemed points for, and it was really easy. And even though some of the rewards require huge amount of points and some aren't very exciting, there are some cool ones, too.

No, I was not paid for that little speech in any way. :) I just wanted to let you Disney fans/obsessive DVD collectors about a way to get some freebies!

Okay, now on to some sewing goodies. I apologize for the poor quality of some of the pictures in this post, but the lighting was bad and my battery was going dead so I was in a hurry.

I made little zippered clutch last night. It's the "Perfectly Pleated Clutch" from my new Amy Butler book. This is going to be mine, as it was my first trial attempt and I got rather attached to it and can't bear to part with it. When I first saw this bag in the book, I didn't like it too much, but now it has grown on me tremendously. I thought that the pleats would take a really, really long time, but they're really quick and simple because you sort of do them on your own and don't have to be precise about measuring and whatnot. It did take two very long pieces of fabric: 8 inches x 56 inches, I believe. My pieces were only 46 inches long, but it still worked out fine. I wasn't too crazy about the main bag fabric, so I was glad that the pleats sort of distort it in a nice way. I do love the top band fabric, though (which I also used for the interior).

The little handle on the back is a little awkward. I think it would work better if it was off to one side a bit instead of right in the middle. My hand is so big that I have to struggle to fit it all the way through, and when you just hold the handle, the clutch sort of leans forward in an odd way.

Yes, that is an Elvis keychain. I bought it on our trip to Memphis five or six years ago. And there's a lovely turquoise zipper.

I recently became disgusted with paying $1.50 for a 7 inch zipper, since I've been going through a lot of them. So I ordered 50 zippers, in assorted colors, from this Etsy shop. The service was very fast and friendly, and the zippers evened out to be 44 cents each. Which is a big improvement!

This owl bag is so adorable! I desperately want to keep it for myself. But I can't. I'll just have to buy some more of the fabric and make one for myself some day. I guess I need to start making things out of ugly fabric. Because I always want to keep the things made out of cute fabric. :)

Matching wallet.

I bought this penguin fabric last winter and this was the first time I used it.

Cute little zipper pouch made from leftover fabric from my last bag.

Two more zippered pouches, with slightly different dimensions:

Two iPod/cell phone cases:

So there you have it. :) I've sewed more in the past week than I have in a long time. I really want to have a lot to offer at the craft festival, which I'm nervous and excited about. I'll be back soon with some new items to show!

Until next time,