Jeyn Reyn's Craft Blog

Cute handmade Surprise box for babies and infants (using recycled materials!)

2010-08-23T18:20:00.000-07:00

My best friend's daughter, Ella Bleu, was going to turn 1 years old and I wanted to make her something special.

When she was at my house she loved my daughter's "What's in the Box" box I bought her on OneStepAhead (http://www.onestepahead.com/catalog/product.jsp?productId=535356), so I thought I could make her this and it would be more of a personal gift and a sort of challenge for me.

I got to use some recycled materials too like packaging cardboard, ribbons, an old French book, and some crinkly plastic bag from our bread (to make it crinkle when you push the cat and butterfly).

She loved it, but let me know what you think.

p.s. The little stuffed toys were bought at Toys R Us for just a few dollars, but Ikea has tons of little stuffed animals for cheap and they are cute too.

Cozy travel protection bag - How to make it!

2010-08-20T16:35:00.000-07:00

So Patrick is going to India for 3 weeks and probably not staying in the best of hotels, so he told me that he read in his guide that it is recommended to take a some type of bedding to protect from germs and who knows what. He wanted something light that he could easily pack away and travel with on his journey, and I thought about that "As Seen on TV" sheet sleeping bag thing. I knew that I could make it, so I told him, don't worry about a thing, I know what to do.

I went to Marshall's and for $19.99, I bought a Twin set of sheets with the pillowcase in tan color, with a thread count of 320/Egyptian Cotton. It feels soft and durable and half of the job was already cut out for me.

Want to make one too? Here is what you'll need and the directions:

Project Level: Easy
Time to make: (approx. 30 minutes-1 hour)

SUPPLIES:

Twin flat sheet of your choice (preferably a darker color as so not to get too dirty, too fast)
1-2 pillowcases (2nd one can be used for the travel bag)
8 inches of standard Velcro
Thread
Tea muslin
Embroidery thread and needle

DIRECTIONS:

Step 1: Fold the Twin sheet in half (outside in) and sewed it all together, except for the top opening, and about 8 inches on the top left hand side for the Velcro closure.
Step 2: Measure it for the person who will most likely use it, or if 2 people, just have the tallest/biggest person lie down inside of it and mark about 6 inches from the bottom of where their feet lie (this will give them some extra wiggle room).
Step 3: Turn it inside out and attached the pillowcase bottom to the top of one of the sides of the opening of the bag. The pillowcase was a bit shorter than the length of the twin sheet folded in half, so I just centered it as best as I can.
Step 4: Sew the velcro onto the top side area. You will have to fold over the 1/2" edge and place your velcro on top and sew it. Doesn't really matter which side (hook or fuzzy) of velcro you put on which side, but I put the hook part on the bottom and chose to have the fuzzy velcro on the top.
Step 5: Your bag is complete, but you need to make the storage bag for it, so you will need to tuck in the attached pillowcase inside the bag, then fold the bag in half, then half again. Then roll the bag up like you would with a sleeping bag. You should end up with a Tootsie-roll shaped bag.
Step 6: Take your extra pillowcase and measure your bag by putting your rolled-up bag on top. IMPORTANT NOTE: I started it at the top of the pillowcase because mine had the two-ply edge already sewn (you will need this for the robe closure to close the bag). Cut about 1.5"-2" around all sides to allot for the gerth of the sleeping bag.
Step 7: Before you sew up your pillowcase bag, you need to cut your tea muslin in a square or rectangle and either embroider your "Cozy" before you sew on the applique to your bag. Writing it out first in pencil and using back stitch embroider works the best for me.
Step 8: Center and sew your "Cozy" square onto one side of your bag.
Step 9: Put the two outsides facing each other and sew it together, leaving the opening at the top. Turn your pillowcase bag outside in and your bag is almost complete.
Step 10: Snip a small hole on each side of each seam (4 snips total). This is where you will need to insert the rope or string that will be used as a drawstring to open and close your bag. Take a medium size clothing pin and attach your rope or string to it, insert into one of the little holes you made and move it through the two-ply edge that already came with the pillow. Once you get it to the other side, tied a knot on each end (so as it won't go back into its hole), and you've completed the bag.

Sweet dreams!!

jeynreyn is having a HUGE INVENTORY/LIQUIDATION SALE!!

2010-02-23T11:55:00.000-08:00

(¯`'•.¸(¯`'•.¸ ¸.•'´¯)¸.•'´¯)

♥♥♥HUGE INVENTORY SALE!!!♥♥♥

I will no longer be creating my ATM/Eyewear/Mirror pockets and need to move my inventory to allow for some new designs!

This is not just a clearance sale, this is me really liquidating my shop inventory. All items are the last of its kind!

Everything is re-priced at a fraction of its original cost.

♥ATM pockets were $15-17, now just $10-13.50♥
♥Eyewear pockets were $27-32, now just $25-30♥
♥Mirror pockets were $11, now just $8.50♥

Check it out: www.jeynreyn.etsy.com

(¯`'•.¸(¯`'•.¸ ¸.•'´¯)¸.•'´¯)

And some fresh barrettes...

2010-02-06T21:23:00.001-08:00

Something I did just for fun..

2010-02-06T21:09:00.000-08:00

Moving inventory...good things coming..

2010-02-06T18:15:00.000-08:00

It's been such a while since my last selling, but that's because I've been traveling, moving, and organizing my inventory and space.

I now have more room to work, and therefore create. Although I really love what I've done so far, I think it is time to move onto something else. I've had several ideas brewing for quite some time. I just need to see what works and what doesn't. Your feedback will prove quite valuable.

In the next couple of weeks, I will have the remaining part of my inventory listed in my shop. These are items that I actually designed and completed last year, but didn't get the chance to photograph and post them. We are talking about 8 different Eyewear pockets, 5 new ATM pockets, a couple of mini photo books, and a slew of newly designed and made Infant/Toddler scarves (which are really cute).

Here is a sample of what I have. Please check back to either my blog or shop for more info.

Cheers!
jeyn

French Countryside Home in Angouleme-drawing by Patrick

2009-08-13T09:22:00.001-07:00

The other, significant half...:o)

2009-06-30T23:18:00.000-07:00

A beautiful picture of my luvvy, Patrick, on a fresh and early morning in Chania, Crete.

Doing Renegade in San Francisco 7/18 and 19th!

2009-06-22T00:34:00.000-07:00

I'll be sharing a spot with some fellow friend sellers (KittyBabyLove and Mama's Magic Studio), this July 18th and 19th, at Fort Mason in San Francisco (see http://www.renegadecraft.com/ for more info).

This is Renegade's 2nd event in SF (usually they are big in Brooklyn and Los Angeles), but apparently it was a big hit last year, with lots of crowds and cool items to buy. I'm happy to be part of it and am feverously getting ready for it with my new items and new packaging too. Should be a good time.

Mention you saw this post off my blog and I'd be happy to give you a 10% discount!

Hope to see you there! Oh, and my 17-month old daughter will be keeping me company. ;o)

Sorry, I've been away traveling and now I'm off again soon..

2009-06-22T00:17:00.000-07:00

Hey there folks!

Sorry for the lack of posting. We ended up taking an impromptu 2-week trip to Greece in May, and since our lease is up the end of June, and Patrick is taking a break from his job, we decided to live abroad for a short while in France and Asia, starting this July.

This all came on so quickly, so we've spent the time since we've returned, just planning the whole darn thing. A lot of work, but I'm sure it will be worth it in the end.

Anyways, my shop will still be open for business, as I have a lot of new and really cute items already made, but just haven't listed them as of yet-this pertains to both my jeynreyn and lovemedo shops.

Items will be listed from abroad but shipped from my Mum's house in the U.S., to anywhere they need to go, so no worries on getting what you need in time. :o)

And, as usual, I am always here to answer your convos or emails, whether here or there, so fire away!

xoxo jeyn :o)

BTW-Here's a sneak peek of some upcoming items...

Neat idea for a eyewear case..an add-on strap for your purse!

2009-04-27T12:00:00.000-07:00

Just completed my newest design to add to my Spring Collection on my shop. Now comes with an Optional and Adjustable strap so you can loop it onto your purse.

et voila!

Maybe one of these will be our next house?

2009-04-17T18:47:00.000-07:00

Love this last one! I could live here..

Spring Cleaning..Etsy style..

2009-04-09T00:04:00.000-07:00

Spring cleaning is in order and I've been wanting to do something good for my poor old shop. Its pictures are screaming--I'm not uniform!! and my banner is cute, but not really relative to my items, and neither is my bunny avatar anymore (I used to make cute little rabbits).

So, it is my duty as a shop owner to bring my shop to order and not only show off the newest designs I have coming up, but to actually post them and sell them (what a novel idea!).

Actually, I was waiting to get this neat new camera to be able to take some better shots, so now that I have it, I'm going to redo everything over.

In the next couple of weeks, my shop items will magically disappear soon for a couple hours, while I update the listings and add new pics. I already updated the pics on my Pocket Full of Posies-Sunshine case, and you can already see the big difference between it and the other pics.

Stay tuned...

Sneak Peeks at some of my upcoming designs!

2009-04-02T00:36:00.000-07:00

Thought I'd try my hand at purses and wallets...

Keep an eye out on my shop, for I'll be adding some new and fun designs very soon!

Pocket full of Posies Eyewear case now in Sunshine Yellow

2009-03-20T00:28:00.001-07:00

E_Sunshine_glasses_0020, originally uploaded by jeynreyn.

Perfect timing for Spring Day! Now available on my shop..
http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=22426384

Studios I would LOVE to have..

2009-03-19T11:41:00.000-07:00

Very pretty. Almost like a boutique store you'd want to buy things from.

Not too great, but I like the ribbon wall spool idea and the center work table idea on this one.

Niiiicccceeee!!

This one has a sort of garage feel to it.

Very scrapbooking like style, but I like the organizational feel.

Feels like kindergarten. Yipee!

Feels like Art class.

Wholy Moly--this is really nice!

Little baby humor..Happy Thursday!

2009-03-18T11:41:00.000-07:00

Some things that make me happy...:o)

2009-03-15T18:00:00.001-07:00

Gorgeous Gray Hoodie by RoseLaRiche

Good ol' SleepyTime tea. Just looking at the cozy box makes me sleepy.

A pair of pears, door stoppers by PillowHappy

Small and simple necklace by Foundling

Last..and certainly not least!...my little girl Elodie and my fiance Patrick

Next on my wish list...a new camera to help my Etsy pics!

2009-03-11T12:46:00.000-07:00

I already have a great camera--a Sony Cyber-Shot, that cost my fiance a whoppin $1300, but we've had it for about 3 years, taken some great shots and videos, but also some really bad ones too.

The problem is that it is not really a "point-and-shoot" camera. It has a delay and it seems really fidgety on its light and settings. I've only been able to take some great shots on my Etsy stuff because I've fiddled so much with the settings and light, but when we use it for our travels and for the ever moving Elodie, we end up missing great moments and great potential shots.

Alas, I've heard great things about this camera and AllysonHill told me she uses this too. Check out her blog and you'll see what I mean.

The price is reasonable at around $400, but it looks like no video capabilities are available. That is pretty convenient with our Sony. Sure, we have a camcorder, but who wants to take both a camcorder and a camera to outings? Sometimes, a video says more than a pic. Just check out the sample Flickr pics below.

Ho-humm..camera? recession... camera? recession...ugg..

Happy Monday!

2009-03-09T00:44:00.000-07:00

New blog up, but some issues are still being tweaked..

2009-02-25T12:48:00.000-08:00

OK, got the new design up, but not sure if I want to stick with this or something else. So, if you see it change or something looks funky when checking back, just keep coming back and it will be fixed sometime in the near future.

Thanks for stopping by!
Jeyn :o)

Elodie's 1st birthday!

2009-02-19T16:50:00.000-08:00

Just celebrated my baby (well, now officially a Toddler (size 1T--oohhh!)) girl's birthday yesterday. Can't believe how fast that went, but we enjoyed every minute of it and are still loving being parents to sweet Elodie Olive.

Even though I'm a good cook, I'm a pretty bad baker, but, playing the Mom role, I baked her a Betty Crocker white cake with Cream Cheese frosting, with "Happy Birthday Elodie!" on it, forgetting to put "1st" on there, but I managed to remember the smiley face. I think Elodie either looked perplexed or shell-shocked and didn't really realize what was going on.

It was funny because after I sliced some pieces for us, it read, "Happy Birthday die", ha..I meant to take a pic of it, but I ended up eating the 'die' piece and forgot. ;o) xoxo Momma Jeyn

New blog design to come out soon!

2009-02-18T00:02:00.000-08:00

I already updated my Etsy shop banner with Adobe Illustrator and hand drew the flowers,etc., so now I'm working on updating my blog too.

So stay tuned....:o) Jeyn

Will the real Slim-Shady please stand up? (Stolen work on Etsy)

2009-02-10T11:04:00.000-08:00

Last week I was informed that there were some ATM pockets on Etsy that were amazingly like mine.I won't say who, but this person took my designs (at least 3 of them), and copied them EXACTLY, and I mean--e-x-a-c-t-l-y. I know this because it was unmistakable that these were my designs from my own thoughts. Besides the copy of the style, layout, this person took my verbiage (word-for-word), in my descriptions too.The only main difference was that she uses all crafters felt and I used mostly 100% Holland Wool felt, and you can really see the difference in quality and color.

Needless to say I was FURIOUS (and believe me, it takes a lot to get me angry). I didn't know what to do. I first looked on the Etsy forums for guidance, but most said that we should take it as a compliment and that it was just business. I'm thinking, it is not business, it is personal! it is my design.I took a day to think about it, but in the meantime it was reported to Etsy and I decided that I needed to contact the person and tell her that she really shouldn't do that and that she needed to take off those listings. Not only was it ethically wrong, but it was my stuff and she was selling it!

Luckily, she was cooperative and admitted to copying it, and she took the listings off. Unfortunately, she did keep her hearts one, which still looks suspiciously like my hearts design, but at least she took off the identical ones and re-worded her descriptions (for the most part).

Guess you can never keep your own hard work, unless you get a patent, which is too expensive.

Judge for yourself from the pics shown..pretty uncanny huh?

Not every idea works..at first that is...

2009-02-10T10:52:00.000-08:00

I've been wanting to put a twist on my ATM pockets for some time now and have had countless nights thinking about what design, and how I would do it,etc.

This morning I woke up very early and just had to do it. I actually have two designs I want to implement, so I did both of them, and sadly, the main idea didn't work out quite as planned.

Not sure if you know this, but with all my designs, I always make a prototype for me to use when out and about. This helps me experiment with it to see what works well, and what doesn't, or what could be enhanced. Trial runs are really great actually, and also, I usually get some type of attention from Cashiers or Sales Clerks, asking where I got it.

I'm keeping this ATM/wallet design, but I need to tweek it first before I can sell it. The one in the pic is the prototype, but it has a couple of flaws I spotted right away.

First, the 2nd pocket with zipper is just too small for keeping change and dollars in it. It fits them, but you have to have small fingers to get anything out with ease. It's not the way I like to shop, especially with one infant in hand and the cashier giving the change on top of the dollar change (I HATE that btw!). I'm going to expand that part and leave the ATM part the normal size.
Second, I used a vintage zipper, which served its purpose, but I'd rather use a smoother plastic one, less snags.

The other design I have in mind is a Vinyl and Felt Book pocket. I know there are still many readers out there (right?), who'd love to have just a small pretty pocket to protect their book(s). And some that just might want to keep their Romantic novel a secret, while reading their Wall Street paper on the Subway. ;o)

This pocket should come out this week, as I started on it this morning and so far, so good.

If you'd like to be on my mailing list for when it comes out, just leave your email or shop name by either adding it to my newsletter box in the sidebar or by commenting to this post, and I'll let you know before I post it on my shop. The first 10 people will receive FREE SHIPPING upon ordering!

Cheers!
Jeyn