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Wednesday, October 30, 2013

DIY (No-Sew) Passport Cover


Hey Guyyss! 

I have another travel related DIY post for you guys today :) It is an easy, No-Sew passport cover! 


Here are the supplies that you will need for this little project:

  •  No-Sew Fabric Glue - I got this from Joann's or you can just get it from your local craft store
  • Some Fabric. I bought just a roll of fabric instead of getting it cut, these are already cut for you it was only $1.38 at Hobby Lobby. I'm going to be honest, I don't remember how big the fabric was. BUT you don't need much fabric just enough to cover the passport as well as a bit more for some wiggle room. 
  • Scissors
  • A ruler 
  • A Passport
  • Duck tape. 
 I am using Duck Tape that has the Union Jack Design on it. You can use any of your choice. I also bought this at Joann's for about $4. You can also get these at Hobby Lobby, they have all different designs, even Disney Mickey Mouse ones. You can also buy duck tape by the sheet instead of roll. If you choose a more specific design, I would recommend buying it by the sheet so that your design looks better. I am also choosing to use Duck Tape because it is water resistant. But keep in mind it is just water resistant NOT water proof.

First thing you are going to do is take your fabric of choice and measure it to the size of the passport.. We are going to add an extra inch and a half to both sides. (If your fabric was folded up or rolled up like mine, there might be crease marks so make sure you iron out these crease marks before hand) 
Notice that my fabric is folded in half. I want the cover to be a little thicker so I am going to use two fabric of layers instead of one. This is how it should look like after you cut your fabric:
 I measured half an inch from the top and the bottom and 1 and 1/2 inches from the left and right side. I added a bit more fabric on both sides just in case of mistakes. 
Measure out where your passport would be and trace a line across the top and bottom of the passport onto the fabric. You can use fabric chalk for this, unfortunately I didn't have any and I just used a similar colored sharpie. 
You are going to do the same for the right and left side. The lines will help you know where you need to fold the top and bottom of the fabric down like this:

 You are now going to glue the top and bottom fabric down. 

Make sure you do not glue past the right and left lines that you have marked. You can use a brush if you want a more even distribution of glue. Now press the flaps down gently and evenly smoothing out any imperfections or bumps. Do this to both the bottom and top flaps. 

Let it set for awhile to ensure that the glue is try before you continue. 
Since this fabric was doubled, you might notice that the top fabric will keep flipping up like this:
If so, you can go ahead and glue that down as well:

Again, make sure you are only gluing between the left and right lines. 
After everything is dry fold in your right and left flaps:

We are now going to glue down the right and left flaps. Mine are a bit thicker than I would like so I am going to trim both sides down to about an inch. 
Remember when gluing the left and right side flaps in DO NOT fill the middle with glue, only the top and the bottom. This is the sleeves that your passport will have to fit in. Do the same to both sides until it looks like this:
Notice how I am able to open it up. ONLY glue the top and bottom. After the glue is dry, put a passport in to make sure that everything fits okay. 
This is how the passport should fit inside the flaps. 
You can leave it like this if you would like but I personally am going to add some duck tape! 
We are going to align the duck tape with the top of the passport cover starting from the inside like so:
You are going to start from the inside, flip your passport over and continue to align the passport on the outside to the other side of the passport, flip it back over and align the inside flap as well. This is how the outside will look like:
And then the inside:

 Continue to do this until the entire passport is lined with the duck tape (Except for the middle part) Remember it is better to overlap tapes rather than leaving spaces in between. I do recommend buying the duck tape by the page because it would look more uniform and it would be just one bit piece of pattern covering the entire thing rather than maybe looking a little jumbled. Once you've taped the passport you are DONE!







And There you have it! You're very own Easy Breezy No-Sew Passport Cover!
Hope you guys liked this DIY! Leave me a comment if you made your own or for any suggestions! Have a great day, and happy Traveling! 

Adventure is out there!
Laura





Monday, October 7, 2013

DIY Mickey Mouse Disney Fund Jar

Hellooo!

I am here with another blog! This one is going to be quite different from what I plan on doing. Don't worry, it does have to do with traveling though. ;) I have yet to travel to any places where I am able to blog about it BUT I wanted to give this blog a jump start! 

As you all know, I love Disney. I've been to Disney World a couple of times and I am planning to go back again very soon. Like I said earlier, I am a college student so money is a little hard to come by (with loans and books and all) so I decided to start myself a little Disney World Fund. I don't have much yet but it's a start, so that I can make this the best Disney World trip EVER!!! (Too dramatic?) Well anyway, I came up with this DIY idea and I thought I would just share it with you guys. A simple and inexpensive way to jazz up your Disney World Fund jar. Want to make your own Disney World fund jar to resemble Mickey Mouse like this one? Then keep on reading! ;) 



I am currently using a Mason Jar for my fund. You can buy these at Wal-mart or any craft store or even online if you would like. (Just like these on Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Ball-Wide-Mouth-Quart-Bands/dp/B005T6FBOK/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1380924524&sr=8-2&keywords=Mason+Jars)

To be honest, they won't hold enough money for one Disney trip but they sure are cute and cheap enough to where you can use more than one jar. (Maybe, make each one a different Disney Character!)

These are the supplies that you would need for this project:
  • Black and Red Paint (I am using Acrylic, simply because it was what I had in the house, you can use Acrylic, glass paint or even Spray paint) 
  • Masking Tape or Painter's tape
  • A Paint Brush (IF you want two, to be safe. One to paint the jar and a smaller one for any small mistakes) 
  • A glue gun
  • A finishing Spray or a hardening spray. (I am using this finishing spray because again, it was what I had around the house)
  • Two Buttons. (I know the ones in the picture are yellow but I ended up switching them out for White ones to fit Mickey more.) 
Everything listed above I got at Hobby Lobby, except for the buttons. The buttons I got from my Mom who is a seamstress. But, you can buy buttons at Hobby Lobby as well. 

First Step is to empty your jar and remove the lid. Put a strip of masking tape about half way up the jar or to your own preference. Make sure the tape goes all around the jar. If you want your jar to have more red paint I would recommend putting that tape higher.

 I would also recommend putting some newspaper down so that you don't accidentally get paint on your working area. Now paint the area below the tape red. I would recommend starting with red first simply because if you mess up, red is easier to cover up with black rather than the other way around. Make sure you smooth out the bottom of the tape as well so that there aren't any holes where the paint can get under the tape. 

 This is what it should end up looking similar too. I put one one coat and then I left it outside to dry for a bit. After It dried for a bit I checked to see if I had missed any spots and I went ahead and put on another coat. After the paint is dry go ahead and take off the masking tape. 

FYI the red is actually not TOO dark, it was just later in the day and I didn't have as much natural sunlight. After taking off the tape, I find that it might be easier to take the tape off while the paint is still wet rather than when it is completely dry. If you do, do that make sure that the paint is COMPLETELY dry before you proceed on. 

Now we are going to put tape on the actual red part of the jar. You want to make sure the top of the masking tape aligns with the top line of the red paint.

Again, make sure that the top of the masking tape is completely smooth out with no holes. We are going to now paint the top black and you want to make sure the black paint does not get on the red paint. Using the same brush (But clean, of course) I'm going to paint the top of the jar black. And it should look somewhat like this:



Again, I am also going to leave this outside to dry for a bit and then put a second coat of paint on it as well. Notice I did not paint the entire top black

I left the part for the lid clear because you still want the lid to close the jar and I was afraid by painting it, it might affect it. 

Once everything is dry, tear off the masking tape. 


 After It was a dry I sprayed the entire jar with a sealer:



And just follow the directions on your own sealer. Mine drys in 15 min. And is ready to handle in 3 hours.

After your jar is dry take your hot glue gun and your white buttons. We are going to put glue on the back of the buttons in a + shape between the holes of the buttons so that you don't get glue through the open holes. I then put glue as a circle around the holes and then put it on the jar in my desired position and held it onto the jar for about 30 sec. Make sure you align the top of the white button to the top of the red paint but make sure you don't overlap it on the black paint. Do the same for both buttons. And this is the end result! 


And there you have it! Mickey Mouse in Jar Form!

Let me know if you try this and how it turned out or even how you improved it! 
Feel Free to share your own pictures with me! 
You're now one cute jar of money closer to your next Disney Vacation ;) 
Any Suggestions? Also Feel free to let me know! Thanks for reading!

Adventure is out there!
Laura

Friday, October 4, 2013

Intoduction

Hellooo!

I started this blog with the intention of blogging about my travels. I love to travel and I have been to a couple places and hope to be able to go to many more places in the future. Traveling is one of my passions as well as writing and I thought to myself: Why not combine the two? I am a college student as well and I wanted to share my adventures with all of you as a college student who travels. We all know Traveling costs a lot of money but we also know that as a college student money is hard to come by, I'm hoping my adventures will inspire you to travel as well and that you should know you don't need a lot of money to go on all your adventures. BUT, since I am a student traveling only comes every once awhile so I won't always be able to post a traveling blog, as you can see I have yet to post one (don't worry, I plan on it soon!). If I had started this sooner I might have been able to post a couple but till then we'll have to cross our fingers that I will be able to get out of school enough to travel. You may also have noticed the title of my blog, yes I am a Disney addict. I have to admit, I'm obsessed. I would love to be a Disney princess in Disney world one day! Now that you know a little about my blog, let's get on with the introductions shall we? 

I am a 22 year old from Texas (Everything is bigger in Texas am I Right?) I love my state and I am proud of where I come from. As far as my traveling background, my dad loves to travel. Ever since I was a little kid my dad has taken us on many summer vacations. Just to give you a little bit on my travel background, I have been fortunate to have been to a couple places. Within the United States, I have gone from Louisiana to Florida, to New York, California, Chicago, Nevada and even Wyoming. Wyoming is probably by far one of my favorites. Outside of the United States I've been to England, France, Scotland and also Belgium. I'm crossing my fingers for many more places in the future! I'm hoping you guys will stick around and allow me to take you along on all my adventures, I would love to have more people to share it with! And hopefully inspire some to take their own adventures as well. So long for now, and I will see you on my next adventure! ;) 

Adventure is out there!
Laura