Who You Callin' a Snuggie?

I have a really good camera bag.  It's a sling style and has plenty of pockets.  It looks something like this:

source



But I also like to be able to just put my camera in my purse and carry one bag around.  Unfortunately that doesn't protect my camera and lenses very well.  I came up with the idea of making little drawstring "pouches" for each spare part. 

I have a set of fleece sheets that are no longer used - they are soft and cushiony, but not bulky.  And I love the grey colour.  The pillow case alone provided more than enough material for me to fashion my pouches.

Here's what I did.

I turned the pillow case inside out and laid it out on a flat surface.  I took my longer 55-250 zoom lens and put it in the pillow case, sliding it down to the bottom corner.  Using a pillow case is nice because two of your seams are already sewn for you. 

I used a ruler and a Sharpie to mark where my other side seam should be. It should be snug but not too tight.  I measured two inches beyond the edge of the lens on the open end to allow the bag room to close (plus a hem) and marked it.

(radius is one inch - allow an extra inch for hem)

I removed the lens and drew straight lines to join the marks, making a rectangle on the material.  While you could draw the lines with the lens inside the pillowcase, I found that they didn't always end up being straight.  I cut out the "rectangle" and got to sewing.

You're going to close the top of the pouch with a drawstring, so there are going to be open edges where the string comes out.  You'll want a nice finished look there, so take your two raw edges on the open side and fold over the material - right side out - sewing a very small hem on each one, all the way top to bottom. 

Take your top open edge and fold it over 1 inch, right side out.  Sew all the way across the opening about 3/4" from the edge. 

Do you see how you have a nice finished edge at each end?  Aren't you happy you sewed those tiny hems?

Turn your pouch inside out and sew the open side together, keeping as close to the first hem as you can. Only sew up as far as the stitching that goes across the top.  You don't want to sew your drawstring opening closed.

If the bottom isn't already sewn for you, sew it closed now.

You now need to string a ribbon or cord through the top.  I used a navy & white flat ribbon that used to be the handle of a shopping bag.  Resourceful, yes?  I have found that the easiest way to string the ribbon is to attach a safety pin to one end and feed the pin through the hole. 

Slide the ribbon all the way through, tie a knot at each end to keep it from slipping back , turn your pouch right side out and admire your work.

The lens fits perfectly and I'm not so worried that it's being damaged in my purse.  I might keep it in the pouch even when it's in the camera bag in case it should fall out (not that that's ever happened - not more than once anyway).

I then went ahead and made a pouch for my smaller lens, my Lightscoop flash redirecter, and my little point and shoot.  It's especially good for small cameras as they're always getting tossed in a bag or knapsack (as you can see from the scratches on it already).

(See the difference when the flash isn't bounced?)

my little army

I think I'm going to make one for the camera body, and probably one for the battery recharger because that cord is always all over the place, even when it's in the camera bag. 

Yes, I'm out of control.  Snuggies for everyone!

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I'm linking up here this week!

Homemade Pizza

Pizza is a favourite in our household.  We have it at least twice a month if not more.  But not that greasy delivery stuff.  Mine is homemade.  Or I guess more accurately, semi-homemade, since I don't make the crust myself.  I like food to be ready FAST.

Most of the time I buy flatbread rather than the usual pizza crust.  It's pre-baked so it doesn't get soggy in the middle.  And the texture is just...better.  Less doughy?  More chewy?  I dunno.

I like to get a bit non-traditional with the sauce.  Sometimes I mix sweet chili sauce with ranch dressing.  Sometimes it's sweet chili sauce and bbq sauce.  And then sometimes it's just sweet chili sauce.  Hmmmm, think we like sweet chili sauce? Think I just like saying "sweet chili sauce"?

Vegetables are a must.  In fact, often we just have a vegetarian pizza because that's all that's in the fridge.  Lots of mushrooms, sweet peppers, onions.  This time I added spinach, broccoli, and cauliflower.  That's a lot of vegetables.  If there's sausage, bacon or hamburger thawed I'll fry that up while I'm chopping the veggies.  It really takes no time at all.

Then on to the shredded cheese.  I usually buy whatever catches my eye. Tex-mex is pretty good. This one was straight mozzarella.  Nice and stringy.

Finally a sprinkling of spices.  Cause chili sauce isn't enough.  Oh no, there has to be black pepper at the very least.  This pizza also received a nice dose of steakhouse pepper seasoning.

The last and most important step is to fold aluminum foil around the edge of your pizza.  This keeps the edges from getting dried out and hard.  I wish I'd figured this out sooner - every pizza turns out perfectly now. Then into the oven for 20 minutes and it's done.

Check it out.  You want some, don't you?

I like that this pizza is light.  You decide how much cheese to add.  You decide if you want meat or not.  There is barely any oil and fat in this pizza and yet the flavour is still all there.

Here are some photos of pizzas past.

The only problem is that there are never any leftovers!

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Linking up to these parties this week!

Main Floor Bathroom Makeover

We've been in this house for about 3 years.  In that time I think we've only changed 3 rooms.  I'm not sure why it's taking so long.  Well, one reason is that I can never decide what colour I want.  But it's only paint, right? 

One room that IS nearing completion is the main floor bathroom - the powder room if you will. 

This is the only "before" picture I have: 

Cool lizard, right?  Too bad it belongs to the people who lived here before.  As much as I liked each of the colours, I really didn't like the two-tone thing, and especially the wallpaper border between.  Most rooms had a border when we moved in.  Why, people, why?
I'm not a fan of that little corner shelf.  There are some in the basement as well.  It's just too small and impractical.  Nothing fits on it (except a bottle of something apparently) and it's too high up to be used to store a spare roll of paper.  My arms aren't long enough anyway.

The first thing I did was tear down that border and paint the entire room. I started by giving the ceiling a fresh coat of white paint. I had read about continuing your ceiling colour down onto the walls an inch or two to cover up any spillover from the previous paint job.  I think that's so brilliant.  I also did this around the window and door frame. I've spent way too much time in the past with artist brushes trying to cover up old paint.

There were all kinds of nicks in the wall, especially beside the toilet.  My guess is a toy was repeatedly banged against the wall during toilet-training sessions.  We took down the old towel rack and toilet paper holder and spackled the holes.  Or perhaps "craters" if you go by the size of the hole left by the towel rack.

I'm really happy with the new wall shade.  It's very soothing. What's funny is, at the same time I was doing this, Tom was painting the garage walls.  He didn't want to buy new paint so he mixed all of our light-coloured leftover paint together and came up with a pretty interesting grey-green colour.  I came home from the paint store, held my paint swatch up to his new wall...and it was the exact same colour.  Not intentional at all.  At least we'll be able to match it if he ever needs to do touch-ups.

We decided that this was also a good time to buy a new toilet.  Our town has terribly hard water and the previous owners didn't have a water softener, so all of the toilets have hard water stains in them.  And our town also had a $75 rebate program for toilet replacement this year.  Nice. Not to mention that we got to get rid of that wooden toilet seat. Taking out the toilet before painting also made it easier to get a smooth,even coat on the wall behind.  And I didn't have to practice my yoga moves to get in there.

As mentioned, the window & door frame got a coat of white.  As did the baseboards.  It was a "builder's white" before - which everyone knows is not white at all. Here is the nice new toilet all installed.  It's higher than the last one - the only thing Tom put on the "must have" list.  I like the flat top (and the white seat!)

I took down the light fixture and toilet paper holder and spraypainted them oil rubbed bronze.  I had looked for replacements but nothing caught my eye or was in my price range.  Just a few coats of paint and they look brand-new. Plus I like the contrast with the wall colour. I did buy a new towel rack that had similar lines and spraypainted it as well. Eventually I want to replace the light as I think it's too big for the space, but it'll do for now.

Wow, the wall looks like a different colour in every picture.

I also painted the magazine rack with ORB.  Gotta match, right?  It was originally an off-white that wasn't doing it for me anyway.

This room isn't finished though.  I still want to frame in the mirror.  I have the wood - I just need to stain it and get it installed.  I'm going to try to give it an aged barnboard look.  And the room needs some wall art.  Again, I have it, I just haven't gotten around to hanging it.  I found some plaques at Hobby Lobby (at 90% off!) that mimic the colours in the room. 

I'm also going to paint the sides and front of the cabinet a deep brown to go with the fixtures.  The current beige just doesn't fit.  I think once it's done, the brown, grey-green, and orange (tile) will be a terrific combination.

Have you been making any colour changes in your house? Planning any big projects for 2012? Trying to cover up the "mexican restaurant" theme like we are?

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I'm linking up here this week!