diy laptop sleeve

This is one of my favorite diys ever, and I'm so excited to be able to share it with you guys! I made this laptop sleeve specifically for college, to keep my laptop protected while I'm running around in between classes. There are also a lot of variations to this diy, so you can really pick and choose what you want to make a totally unique laptop sleeve!



Materials: fabric, cotton lining (they use them in quilts) (the lining is just for extra cushioning), buttons, scissors, as wells as a needle and thread and a sewing machine.

Oh and you'll also need extra materials like motivation music and some liquid energy to get you through the night.




Step one: Cut out shapes

You will need four pieces of fabric and four pieces of lining total. Just trace your laptop on the fabric (leave about an inch to an inch and a half extra fabric around the edges) so that the fabric is slightly larger than the laptop. I chose to use three different fabrics: two green for the front and front inside of the sleeve, and white for the back outside and light green for the back inside.





Step two: quilt pieces

Okay, it's not really quilting, but what you do next is you take two pieces of fabric and two pieces of lining, and lay the lining in the middle of the fabric, like a sandwich. Make sure the fabric is right side out, so that when you flip your "sandwich" you see the right side of both pieces of fabric.

Then you'll go to the sewing machine and attach everything together. I chose a zigzag line to sort of mimic actual quilting, and just sewed rows along the fabric. Don't worry about back-stitching; the ends will end up getting sewed over in the next step.

Once you finish one "sandwich," just do the same thing to the remaining fabric and lining.



Step three: piece together

Next you will lay the two sandwiches together, the sides that you want to be the outside touching each other (so the wrong sides are currently on the outside). Then you will stitch the bag together, sewing along the perimeter of three of the four sides, like so:




Step four: hem

Now that you've sewn the bag together, it's time to hem! With the last side that is going to be the mouth of the bag, you'll fold over the edges and sew them together. (Make sure you don't accidentally sew the mouth closed!) (Alternatively you can hand-stitch this part to avoid stitching on the outside of the laptop sleeve by not having the needle go through the outside piece of fabric, but I'm not too particular--or patient--for that so I just used the sewing machine).

You will hem all the way around the edge. Then you can reach into your bag and pull it right side out! Isn't it so pretty?




Step five: straps

You could really do anything you want with this step. My original idea was to make the sleeve be more like an envelope, but since I didn't have enough fabric I just added straps. Making an envelope would be very easy (probably easier than straps, actually). You just make one of the sandwiches longer in step one (two pieces of fabric and two pieces of lining) to create an envelope shape.

I'll show you how to make straps though. :) Just cut out your desired length of straps that you want (we will hem them, so shoot for a little bigger than what you want), and hem up the edges (fold the edge so that you see a little bit of the right side of the fabric and sew), so that you will have a nice clean line that won't fray.

(Alternatively with the straps, you can cut two pieces, put the right sides together, sew both long edges and one short edge together, turn the fabric right side out, and hand stitch the last end for a cleaner look.)



Step six: add buttons!

It's no mystery that I love buttons. So of course this project had to include them. For your straps, Mark the length of the button on your strap with a pencil (your line can be vertical or horizontal, depending on the size of your button and/or strap). After you cut along the line, make sure that the hole is big enough so that the button will go through, but small enough so that it can stay in place.



Then you'll have to hem the edges of the button hole. ^^ Those were the settings on my sewing machine that I used (I just experimented on a scrap piece of fabric until I liked something). Basically you want the needle to stretch from left to right a lot and not move forward very much, so that you get a nice, thick line. The trick is to go slow on this part, and make sure you don't accidentally sew the hole closed.



Then on the front of your bag, you'll sew on the buttons and then button them to the straps. On the back of your bag, you'll attach the other end of the strap with a decorative button.






Step seven: touch ups

Your laptop sleeve is almost done! I noticed that there was a lot of cotton lining showing so I trimmed up the edges to get rid of any extra material. You'll want to cut at an angle towards the inside of your bag so that no cotton lining (or very little) will show. (If you don't want any showing, when you are first making the sandwich, you can leave the lining out, put the right sides of the fabric together, sew three sides, turn it right side out, stuff the lining in, and hand-stitch the last side so that, again, it will look even cleaner than what I did.)



And now you're all done! Here's what my laptop sleeve ended up looking like:





I really really love my laptop sleeve and I cannot wait to carry it around campus in the fall. The kids will think I'm so cool, haha! I'm even thinking of adding some pockets to the inside, so if you guys want me to I could make another diy for that! (And if you have any questions, feel free to ask in the comments or send me an email at introvertsintroduction@hotmail.com) Hope you enjoy!

diy watercolor nails

This diy is pretty awesome, because it's really simple and you never really know how it's going to look in the end. It's an easy way to get fancy nails without spending hours painting them.



What you'll need: nail polish, water, and an old paintbrush.



These are the colors I used. Basically I buy the cheapest nail polish I can find at the drug store and usually they are quality polishes.



Begin with a base coat. A light, neutral color will work best. Make sure it's completely dry before continuing on to the next step.




The next step is to add your color. Dip your nail completely in water. Take it out and quickly put a couple of dots of nail polish on the nail (using the nail polish brush). Then you can do one of two things. You can either use the old paint brush to dab the paint around, or you can put the nail back in the water and dab with the brush while it's still submerged. I found that thicker nail polishes tended to retain their shape while thinner nail polishes were happy mingling with the water. Repeat with other colors to add dimension.





Once your nails are dry, just paint on a top coat and you're all done!




I will definitely be trying this design again with a different color schemes. What colors would you use?

diy hair comb

You read that right! I've got a simple diy project to share with you today. I find myself wearing this hair comb all the time. It's perfect for pinning those baby hairs up and still staying cute.




All you'll need is a comb and some ribbon or yarn, as well as a hot glue gun. The comb was leftover from one of my many high school productions (it still smells a bit like hairspray and stage lights). Previously I had used some fuzzy yarn, the cool kind that changes color, but I didn't quite like the colors it had so I decided to go with some fun ribbon! You can use as many or as few colors as you like. For this tutorial I'll use three, but know that if you only use one color, you'll only need one string of it tied to your comb.



Step one: tie string. Skipping the first notch (aka hole) of your comb, tie the various colors on the second, third, and fourth notch.



Step two: weave. You're going to be working backwards for just a bit. You'll weave the blue string (on the second notch) on the first notch, the white string (on the third notch) on the third notch, and so on. Then after that it's time to move forward.



It reminds me a lot of making friendship bracelets, where you bring the strings that you're not currently weaving off to the side. Continue to do this until you reach the end of your comb.



Step three: tie and glue. Just tie the string together (I suggest tying the blue to the white and then the white to the green, so that all three colors are secure), and then reinforce with hot glue. (You can also hot glue the beginning if you notice the string is a little loose.)

And there you have it! A beautiful new hair accessory I guarantee you'll be wearing non-stop.

Let me know if you have any questions.

diy shoes

Be warned, this probably isn't the best diy in the world as my creation started cracking after a few wears. This would probably work better with a pair of cloth shoes. Just so you know. Anyways!



You'll need: shoes, obviously. I chose to paint over my old fake oxfords to make them super pretty. I saw these shoes on amazon and decided it would be super easy to recreate them myself, even if I would only be able to wear the shoes once more (I had a hunch the paint would chip as my shoes were made of cheap material).

You'll also need spray paint, painters tape, sandpaper, and paint brushes. The glitter and glue I thought about using for the centers of the flowers, but I ended up not doing it.



Step one: wash and sandpaper. You need to wash your shoes to remove any grass and dirt that may be on them. After drying them, sand over them lightly with some sandpaper to remove the paint/whatever is on the shoe so that your paint can soak in.



Step two: tape. Be wary that sometimes painters tape doesn't always work. I suggest pressing hard on the tape to ensure no paint soaks through. Also you'll need to remove any shoelaces that may be on the shoe.



Step three: protect. Stuff the inside of the shoe with paper towels, newspaper, or plastic bags to make sure the shoes keep their shape as well as to protect the inside from any paint.




Step four: spray away! Follow the instructions on your spray paint and have at it! Keep in mind any wind that could affect the direction of the spray so that it doesn't get on your clothes.




For my shoes, I did two coats of white paint, making sure each coat was dry before moving on to the next. Then I let the shoes continue to dry overnight.




Step five: add details. (Ack! Forgive me, this is the first time writing with my tablet so I got off track with the numbering, haha. Silly me.) Now that the shoes are dry, you can paint on any details that you like. I even added white ribbon to serve as shoe laces.




And that's all! Again, there are a couple little cracks in the paint after wearing them so much, but I think my shoes still have a little bit of life in them, and with this fresh coat of paint, they've regained just a little bit more stamina.