Homemade camera strap cover with a pocket.

I’ve only had my camera for a couple months, and I’ve already lost one lens cap. Lovely. I saw on etsy.com that some people are selling camera strap covers that have a little pocket that you can put your lens cap in while you shoot pictures. So I googled around and found a few tutorials that I could combine {like I do with recipes} to make a strap cover for myself.

I’ll be honest, this took me two tries. My first attempt I didn’t do it with a slit halfway through and my pocket got all messed up, so attempt two was a must. Thankfully, the second go-around worked a little better!

I first folded my fabric in half, right sides together. Then I traced my existing camera strap on my fabric twice.

I cut around my lines, leaving about a 1/2 inch on all sides for my seam allowance.

Then, I folded the end of each fabric strip over twice to create a nice clean edge.

Then I stitched that hem.

At that point, I measured a line about 3 inches right at the center of the strap and cut slits on both sides to my original strap line. This is where you make the opening to slide your strap in the cover in the middle so that you don’t have to snake the strap all the way through the entire length of the cover.

Same story, fold it over twice and sew your hem here. {You do this on one side of the fabric…on both pieces of fabric you have – they should line up perfectly if it’s measured correctly. Read to the end, it’ll probably make more sense!}

 

So this is what my fabric strips looked like once I got to this point.

 

Make sense now? Next I roughly measured & cut another piece of fabric for my pocket, leaving plenty of excess fabric. I hemmed the top and bottom of the pocket fabric.

Then came the most annoying part, getting the pocket pinned correctly onto one of the pieces of strap fabric where the left and right sides overlapped my strap fabric, but still leaving enough excess fabric in the center so that my les cap could actually fit in it. Yeah, I don’t have any helpful hints on this – it was frustrating, but I finally got it.

Then you get to pin your pieces of strap fabric together & sew a tiny bit outside the line that you trace.

Trim off the excess fabric around the seams.

Flip it right side out & pray that it looks decent & fits.

 

Slip your existing camera strap in using your nifty center opening & connect it back to your camera & smile that you {hopefully} won’t be as likely to loose your $10 lens cap again!

I think this cost me a total of $3.20 plus a few screams of frustration with the first failed effort. :) Etsy.com listed these at $30.00. Yup, I think my effort was worth the saved moolah!

More senior pictures of a pretty girl.

So, I just want to post one more set of the pictures from Tuesday. I want to have them saved on the blog so I can look back at them later, when Rita’s all “adult” everything. ;) It’s neat to think that I’ve known Rita since she was eleven…she’s certainly grown into an amazing woman & great friend over the last seven years!

The picture below was a joke because I asked her to run her hands through her hair & pose…I actually kind of like the picture though!

 

And I had to include this picture where the pup came running at Rita before a picture. 

Last night we ate dinner with Libby & Scott and then had dessert with our small group. I made lemon cupcakes since everyone else said they were bringing chocolate dishes.

We played an intense game as a group and then called it a night.  And tonight I have a Boy Scouts event to work, but luckily, Eugene’s bartending the event, so we get the evening together.

Rita’s first senior picture session.

After work yesterday, we headed to my parents’ place to meet up with Eugene’s sister, Rita. A while back, Rita asked me if I would take some pictures of her so she could use them as her senior pictures. I agreed, on the condition that if she didn’t like them, she would promise not to feel obligated to use them & she agreed.

We took around 300 pictures, and with such a beautiful subject & scenery we got tons of good shots {in my opinion!} There’s way too many pictures to post where Rita looks so beautiful, but I want to share some on the blog to remember. I’m definitely no professional, but I’m hoping she’s happy with how they turned out!
{Sorry there’s gonna be a bunch…I just can’t pick my favorites!}

 

 

See what I mean? She’s gorgeous!  To see more of the set, click here and use the code “Rita” {creative code,  I know}, and then select the “Slideshow” button that’s in the top right corner.

I really enjoyed the hour with her – talking, laughing, squinting, smiling, swallowing bugs, etc. I’m pretty blessed to have married into such an amazing family.

 

 

Mr. Shumaker has his own classroom.

Yesterday I actually took the entire day off work {well, minus a few calls I had to make in the morning!} It was lovely having two days off in a row…it’s been so long since I’ve had that!

I did some laundry & other stuff around the condo before meeting Mr. Shumaker at his new classroom at Catholic Central School. Then we ate a really good summer dinner of hamburgers & homemade French fries {recipe to come when I get more time}.

He really lucked out with a room that’s air conditioned, with a view outside, and it’s carpeted. :)

We rearranged what we could, considering that they still haven’t given him any desks for his students yet…minor details, I guess. But he got to put up all the sports posters he’s been selflessly storing under the guest bed {since I prefer not to have a living room or bedroom decked out in Griffey posters.}

This is what it looked like before we attacked it – it was previously a computer lab.

 

See – nice windows!

The back area he created for storage & two seats at a back table.

Mr. Shumaker starting to arrange his desk…

This is my favorite poster of his {honestly} & it’s going to be behind his desk.

His podium, stool & TV. Maybe he should add a post-it to the ESPN ONLY sign that says “or History Channel.” 

 

His parents gave him this stool for a Christmas/graduation gift. And they also wrote loving, encouraging notes on it for him to always be reminded of their support.

I’m sure his room will look even better once he has desks & chairs for his students! He starts teacher work-days tomorrow. I’ll be praying that it’s a smooth transition for him! I’m so thankful he has a job! :)