Nook covers

So, Celebrate the Boy came and went and I didn't do a whole lot of celebrating, other than, you know, keeping mine fed and clothed. I did, however, have a craft inspiration for a friend's boys' birthdays.

They are about to turn 9 and 7, are mad keen readers and both have nooks (like kindles I believe). Plus, their mum is a chemistry teacher.

In an idle moment, my older boys were squabbling over our periodic table mug, as you do. Seeing He (Helium) at the top made me think of one of their sons - Henry - and I wondered if there was an appropriate element for their other son, Howard. Turns out there is: Ho (Holmium). Atomic number 67.

The other source of inspiration came from a load of spare legs: having turned all the boys school trousers and jeans with worn knees into shorts for the summer, I had a lot left over. Some I saved for patches, but really, there's only so much patching to do...

So, denim, periodic table nook covers. I must say, I'm pretty pleased with the result.

I used the tutorial at Little Birdie Secrets and copied her lining, exchanging sophisticated black for more kid friendly green and blue. I deliberately kept the jeans stitching on the pieces I used for the back covers because I think it's a nice detail, and used printer transfer paper to print onto white cotton, which I sewed onto the fronts. The details of the elements are just done in Word (remembering to reverse the image to print out).

I really like the idea of using periodic table initials for personalising gifts, and imagine I'll be doing it again. I also just noticed that I can use US state abbreviations for all my family, so might move onto that next.

Something I really like about crafting is learning a new skill. So in this case, I put in zips in a different way to how I'd done them before, and learned how to line a pouch - hopefully both things I can use again.