I already have a blog over at Food By Carrie, which almost never gets updated anymore. I mean, moving to Seattle and homeschooling both girls right now really takes up all my time. But, when ever I do have the urge to make something, and if Pintrest and the internet at large don't have exactly what I want, and if I feel obligated to post my cool idea - if all those things are true, I wouldn't want to post on my Food Blog, now would I?
So, I submit to you, my occasional craft blog. IF I feel the need to write up something crafty (and I warn you, those will be few and far between) I'll do it here. Hopefully with pictures. Maybe someone will even find and pin it!!! Squeee!
The Ultimate Teacher's Utility Caddy - Part 1
If any of my friends wander over to this blog, you'll know that I am also launching into a new season of Directing a community for Classical Conversations. I'm super excited, and I've been poring over ideas of what I want my community to look like, things I want to do, etc. One thing I've been praying for is the space to store our weekly items in whatever church we meet in. (ending a sentence with a preposition, AGGGGGHHHHH!!) If we get some space, I'd like to have easily-accessible totes where the tutors can store their weekly supplies.
In my last community, we had a large shelf where we picked up our crayons, drawing paper, dry erase markers, maps - all the things that we needed each week. It was great; the only things I brought from home were the things I actually prepared for class - my supplies were stored in the building. In my current community, we have some storage but everything has to be kept in a tote. Which is still much better than toting the tote back and forth from home, but not as nice as just picking out the things you need from a cabinet. All of my supplies are in zippered bags down in my tote, and I'm constantly digging them up from the bottom.
So what's a new Director to do? If I have the space, I'd love to provide my tutors with a caddy that they can just pick up and bring to their room. All their writing and art utensils, paper, maps, etc - everything that they need each week - would be available in one location, and (ideally) in only one or 2 containers. Oh, and being cute, sturdy and reusable year-after-year is a must.
Amazon wasn't helpful with exactly what I wanted, and what I found that was close was pretty expensive (I need 6 of these things!) I found this post for a simple DIY utensil holder and that got me thinking. Then I found this little guy at IKEA, which is also close to what I want. I wondered about combining them into a single carry-all for both paper and utensils.
I began to envision a paper holder of some sort at the center, with cans of different sizes around the sides to hold the different supplies. I thought of duct tape to cover everything, but it's fairly expensive and can be difficult to work with, and not super cute. Spray paint would be the cheapest, but I wanted my project to look nicer. I settled on fabric to cover everything. The fabric should protect the edges of the file from wear, and can re-done if it gets dirty after a couple of years.
On a quick trip to Walmart, I picked up some supplies. Of course, the fabric will be cheaper cut off the bolt from a fabric store, but this was just for the prototype. And this is way easier than matching your own fabrics if you only want to make one or 2 for yourself!
Supplies for Magazine file covering, and can coverings:
- Magazine file - a sturdy one, not folding cardboard
- pack of "fat quarters" (18"x 23" coordinating fabrics) (makes 2)
- 1yd of coordinating fabric (makes 2)
- Permanent spray adhesive
- 2 8oz cans (tomato sauce sized)
- 6 14 oz cans (standard tomatoes/corn/etc sized)
- 2 large soup/spaghetti sauce cans (I forgot to check the ounces before ripping the label off)
There is no need to wash the fabric, as you'll never wash it during use. Also, the sizing they have on it will help keep it smooth and square as you work with it.
I used this project as a starting point for how to cover my magazine file. Except instead of measuring, I just laid my file down and traced around it. There is no need to know how long or wide anything is, as long as it fits. I also traced the width of my ruler around all the edges to give fold-over space, and it was plenty. I left 2.5 inches to cover the bottom.
I covered my table with an old sheet before getting out the spray glue. Outside on a large piece of cardboard would be the best. Be sure to open windows if you use the adhesive inside. I misted one section of the fabric at a time, pressed the file onto it, flipped it over, then squeegeed out the wrinkles with a credit card. The card gets super gummed up, so use something without a magnetic stripe, like a rewards card. I'm sure alcohol would take off the glue, but I didn't want to risk it.
I worked around the box, making slits at the corners for folding/wrapping when necessary. The 2.5" at the bottom was all crunched up by the time I got around to finishing it, but it was easy to unstick. The glue takes a while to fully dry.
I am really impressed with the result! Super cute and it took be about 30 minutes from layout to finished.
For covering the cans, I did measure so I could easily cut all my fabric at the same time. You can cover all 10 cans using just 2 of the fat quarters if you are careful. Cut the 23" length down to about 11" long (the pieces won't be exactly 23", so 11" is probably all you'll get) You'll now have 4 pieces in 2 colors. Re-fold the pieces to be 18" long, and cut one into 3 pieces, each 6". Do this again with your other color = 6 pieces 6x11", in 2 colors. These 6 pieces will cover your 6 standard cans.
You now have one piece in each color left. Fold to 18" long and cut off a 4" piece from each one and those will cover your small cans. The remaining larger piece will cover your large can. Tada!
A note about the cans. I have one of those awesome can openers that unrolls the edge of the lid instead of cutting through the metal. It is slightly harder to operate, but the edges of the can are perfectly smooth, since nothing was actually cut. I'm not sure if the fabric alone would be enough to protect fingers and hands from the sharp edge of a regular can opener. Maybe a 1/2 width strip of duct tape first? Quick hit with a rough file? You'll have to experiment.
Covering the cans is fairly straightforward. Mist the fabric. Lay the can on, roll and smooth with your hand as you go. The extra at the top should be re-misted then allowed to set-up for about 30 seconds before folding over towards the inside of the can. Make your spray hit both the fabric and the inside edge of the can in quick bursts - you don't want the fabric to get wet. Letting it set up makes for a more permanent bond. Then just fold the fabric down all the way around and press. The glue is super forgiving and you can peel up and re-stick as much as needed until it's as smooth as you want.
For the bottom, make slits in the fabric about every inch around the bottom. Mist again, as above, allow to set up, then fold down one tab at a time around the bottom, (start at the inner layer at the seam) pressing the fabric into the rings of the can as much as possible. Where your fabric overlaps at the seam, you can give the second layer of tabs and the seam another quick mist (blow on it for a quick second) at the end before pressing down. Try not to soak the fabric though - if it's wet it won't stick to anything until it dries a bit.
By now, your hands are absolutely covered in gummy glue and bits of string that have peeled off the edges of the fabric, especially if you covered all 10 of your cans. My sheet was so sticky that the fabric strips were sticking to it before I even applied my glue. It all worked out anyway. By the end, I was peeling up my misted can-strip and laying it on the can in my hands, and holding it while rolling - I think it worked better this way. When you're all done, you can clean up your hands and scissors with a cotton ball and rubbing alcohol. For reference, the can feels like I used about 1/4 of it for all this.
Rejoice in all your cute fabric-covered parts!!
Whew! I think it took me about 2 hours for all this cutting and gluing. Not bad for an afternoon project. I had my kids help me to stretch out my sticky sheet and lay it over the patio table to dry overnight, but it's cool and damp here right now and I don't think it's dry yet. I'm sure it will never wash out - permanent crafting cloth!!
For Part 2: Configuring the caddy, changing my mind on the design, cutting & dying the clothesline, braiding handles.