Felt, Felt, Felt, Pinterest.

O.k., when I decided to call myself a storyteller and try to write more stuff down, I caused an internal panic and shut-down. Typical. The same thing happened when I tried to journal one summer... and it happens every time that I try to diet... *harumpfh* Oh well. I have made a deal with myself that I must write for at least an hour while Lily Ruth is at Parent's Day Out. After all, someone has offered to possibly pay me, therefore it is my job to do it, right?

Good things have continued to happen since I last blogged, I just haven't had the time to tell you about them because (wait for it) I Discovered Pinterest (dun, dun, duuunnnnnn). *sigh* I've heard friends and other bloggers talk about it for a while. I intentionally avoided it because they ALL said that it was a huge, addictive time-suck. They were ALL right. You log in (just for a quick second) to see if anybody has cute ideas for Valentine's Day and the  next thing you know is that it's dinner time and all you have to show for your day are 23 'likes', 16 're-pins' and a bad case of eye-strain. By the way, in case you didn't know, Pinterest is basically an on-line bulletin board system. You create boards then 'pin' images or videos to the board. Much handier than bookmarking everything then scrolling through countless bookmark folders (Also, the pictures are so pretty!). My new Pinterest resolution is that I can only pin things that I find on my own - I am not allowed to troll existing boards except in emergency situations.

Speaking of Valentine's Day (nice segue, right?), did I show you the coffee cup sleeves that Lily Ruth and I made? Well, here they are!

Aren't they lovely!? They're so easy to make that it's a bit silly... The pink felt with hearts and buttons was our first batch. We made two of them:

I absolutely adore the finished product, but let's face facts here, people - felt is flimsy. These single-layered sleeves felt pretty much disposable. Our next batch were double-layered and feel sturdier. We made 3: one for Miss June, one for Mr Anthony and one for Nanny (Lily Ruth chose the recipients!). She also made 'shapes' for her friends Lola & Jett :-P

In case you want to make some sleeves of your own, here's a quick almost-tutorial:


Coffee Cup Sleeve
(or Coffee Cup Cozy, if you prefer :-P)

Materials:
pattern
felt ( I used wool blend and not crafting squares)
fabric marker
decorations (felt stickers, buttons, fabric paint, appliques, anything that tickles you)
hot glue gun
thread and embroidery floss in matching or contrasting colors

Method:
My jumping-off point involved two tutorials. This one form The Purl Bee:

Source: purlbee.com via Rachel on Pinterest

And this one from The Cottage Home:

Source: thecottagehome.blogspot.com via Rachel on Pinterest

I downloaded a pattern from The Purl Bee (available here) and added 1/2 an inch to the end so that it was the same length (but a slightly different shape) as a Starbucks sleeve:

(I also drew instructions on it in case I wanted to add the elastic/button from The Cottage Home's method).

Trace your pattern onto the felt & cut it out. Adorn your felt. We used felt heart stickers and buttons on the first batch and stickers and fabric paint for our second batch. If you use stickers, glue them in place with the hot glue gun or they will lift. If you use paint, allow it to dry overnight. I would not suggest adorning both sides in hope of creating a double-sided masterpiece - it'll make the sleeve too bulky.

If you are going to use a double layer of felt (which I would suggest), sew a quick line all the way around the edges to bind your two pieces.

Glue the ends together - I found that just barely under an inch of overlap is the perfect amount (you can see it in the first picture). Now add a line of stitching with the embroidery floss (I prefer a contrasting color) to ensure that it stays put:

Hey presto - you're DONE! Now you just need coffee:

And someone to share your coffee experience with. Preferably someone who will look at the camera. If that someone is not available, you may have to settle for this girl:

But you never know - you might get lucky and end up with THIS girl!:

I have more stuff to tell you, but right now it's time to play with my daughter, so you'll just have to be patient. Happy coffee and happy crafting, ya'll!