DIY: Embroidered Cards

I know it's a little after Christmas, but I thought I'd share with you a quick tutorial on ways to sew your own cards! I embroidered some Christmas cards and one New Years card this year (inspired by Next to Nicx), but you could totally embroider cards for all occasions. I had this glorious plan to sew like 10 cards this year and I thought it was going to take no time, but the first one took me... pause... about 8 hours to complete
>.< ahh! (the one pictured above) I ended up giving it to my sister and her husband so I hope they frame it and keep it forever! So I quickly nixed that idea to make 10 cards and with such an elaborate design, figured out quicker ways to do it, and simplified it so each card afterwards ended up taking me about 30 min. each. Phew!

I don't have as many detailed photos as I usually do for my tutorials, but it's easy enough!

DIY: Makeup Brush Case

Whenever I go traveling, I always stuff my makeup brushes into a ziploc bag, which mushes the brushes and spreads my makeup onto the other brushes...but no more!

I now have a functional and cute case to store them in! Deborah Moebe's book, Stitch by Stitch, has a tutorial on how to make a picnic placemat, and I modified her instructions to make a laminated makeup brush case. I wanted to line my case with a plastic lining so that it can be cleaned easily, but I couldn't find any laminated fabric with a cute design at Jo Ann's and I was too impatient to order it online, so I used a shower curtain! It's a lot cheaper that way too, and mildew and bacteria resistant! Perfect!

The instructions below will be how I made the orange case, but I'll list out how I modified them to make the black cases. (see modification notes within the steps).

DIY: Bias Tape

My next post will be how to sew a makeup brush case, but first, I'm going to teach you how to make bias tape, which will be the first step to making the makeup brush case. This was the first time I made bias tape and honestly while I was making it I was like, this does not make sense!! but with patience and diligence, it worked out! I'm sure I'm going to be making more in the future and it'll be way easier now that I know what I'm doing!

What is bias tape?
Bias tape (aka bias binding) is basically fabric that is cut at the bias, the 45 degree angle to the selvage, into a long strip. It's a little misleading that it's called "tape" when it's not sticky at all.
Because bias tape is cut across the woven threads as opposed to along them, it is flexible and durable. It is used mainly for edging projects, especially curved ones, such as armholes, necklines, placemats, bags, etc.

You can buy them already made but the selections are pretty limited (see Wrights bias tape above), or make them yourself.