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November 22, 2010
November 15, 2010
{thanksgiving give-a-way! Once Upon A Cupcake...}
Just thought i'd share this giveaway hosted by Once Upon a Cupcake...head on over for your chance to win a dozen Thanksgiving themed cupcake toppers! Click here...
November 5, 2010
{props props and more props}
You're probably asking what that hideous styrofoam head is doing below. I picked it up at a garage sale for free over a year ago. It made it's way over 300 miles during our move earlier this summer, {try explaining to your husband why you must have the styrofoam head come with you, ha!}, and I knew i'd have a use for it eventually.
With the boutique i'm a part of coming up, I immediately thought that this would be great for modeling my hair clips and headbands on my table. I had some pink tissue paper {just plain tissue for gift bags} lying around and my trusty Mod Podged, so I made like I was 5 years old again doing paper mache, and covered my styrofoam head.
Please excuse the horrible 'before' photo, it was dark, gloomy and raining when I took this. Bad natural light means a crummy photo, but it was amazing weather!
What a transformation! Slightly shiny, new, bright, cheery, and most importantly useful. Can you tell that these two photos {'after' and 'in action'} we're taken on the day following the storm? Sunny skies, good natural light, much nicer photos. :)
Here it is modeling one of my Junebug Headbands. It's perfect! I'll be sure to post a pic of it in my table display next month.
November 3, 2010
{gifts in action}
Remember the little package I sent out to a friend up north? It contained a reversible padded camera strap I made as a gift for a wonderful photographer. Well, I got a couple pictures confirming it made its way onto her camera. Isn't it the cutest thing ever? I love making things, and love love love giving them away!
You can visit Brooke's blog to read more about getting it in the mail! And a big thanks as all photo credits on this post belong to Brooke.
November 2, 2010
{crocheted hair bow clips}
I've been crocheting a lot lately. It's one of those things I find hard to resist doing once the weather starts turning, and the days get cooler. To me there's just something that equates crocheting and fall/winter weather.
Cheerful yellow crocheted bow hair clips. And isn't that cake stand from yesterday's post cheery as well? I've made a little bunch of these for the boutique next month and whatever is left will make it's way into the shop. If none are left, don't worry i'll make some more and add them. I'm thinking rich fall colors would be perfect for the season.
October 28, 2010
{diy fabric cake stand}
Hello! I'm really excited about this next project. The only bad thing is that I didn't take pictures along the way to give you all a tutorial. Boo. I'll have to do another one and let you all see the process.
Cake stands are expensive! But it turns out they don't have to be. In fact this one cost me less than three dollars (considering I already had the fabric and Mod Podge).
I picked up two small plates at the thrift store for .99 cents and .79 cents, and the crystal piece in the middle, thats a candle stick and it cost me .99 cents as well. The bottom plate is slightly larger than the top plate, as I wanted the tiered effect.
Basically the method was: I cut my fabric to size and used hard coat Mod Podge to adhere it to the plate. Then I used really really really strong glue to attach the crystal candle stick to both plates (turned upside down, this means the bottom of the candlestick is glued to the bottom of the top plate).
I let the glue cure overnight, and there you have yourself the cutest cupcake/whatever you'd like it to be stand. (I'm not 100% sure if Mod Podge is non toxic, so use caution when placing food directly in contact with the plate's surfaces). I'll be using this one as part of my table display to hold hair clips at an upcoming boutique. It would also be darling as a catch all for jewelry. The possibilities for fabric combos and themes are really endless with this project. And they are so cheap to make that they'd be great additions to parties. Say...Alice in Wonderland?
October 27, 2010
{cowboy birthday part 1: invitations}
This is the first post in a series dedicated to the cowboy themed birthday party. A friend of mine mentioned that she is thinking about doing a western/cowboy theme for her son's first birthday, and I couldn't help but do some digging into some fun themed party items. Hopefully this gets the ideas flowing, so here we go! First off we'll do invitations. Here are the top three I liked:
Fun stuff huh? My fav is number 3. I think its the faux bois background {I just love anything faux bois}. Next up I'll be sharing my finds for items related to food, yum!
October 26, 2010
{"e is for ella"- making my own jewelry}
So at my weekly MOPS {"mothers of preschoolers"} group we do a craft and this week we made necklaces. We also had the option of buying our own metal stamping kit, and we all know I couldn't pass that offer up! We stamped metal washers from the hardware store and while that was fun, it wasn't enough for me. I swung by my local bead shop and got a few metal stamping rounds made for jewelry {I rarely wear jewelry from the hardware store these days :) }.
I already had a small "E" charm necklace that I wear representing Ella, and decided to marry the two together. So, I went stamping away with Ella June's name. {*Stamping on metal takes a little practice, so if you do try it make sure you do a few trial runs before stamping on your good charms and disks.} Then I attached the stamped round and "E" charm to a jump ring and the chain.
It turned out so well that as soon as I shared it among friends I had several requests for other personalized ones. Metal stamping is really great fun, not to mention a good stress reliever.
If you're interested in metal stamping check out the Beaducation website. They have video tutorials that are really helpful, and an amazing selection of metal stamping tools.
October 25, 2010
{camera strap cover & gifts}
On my list of 'to dos' has been sewing up a camera strap cover for my trusty Nikon. This is a great project to do for the avid picture taker in the family {hm...think Christmas gift?}, or if you happen to have an amazing photographer friend who needs a little something for her camera. Well what do you know, I happen to have exactly that {the photographer friend that is}. Since these take no time at all to make in addition to sewing up one for my little camera, I made one for her as well.
The great thing about camera strap covers is that they are a very easy project {think beginner sewer}, take no time at all to do, and the impact is big. They really do make your camera look nicer. Speaking of cameras, please excuse the picture below, it was taken with my iPhone as I couldn't figure out how to take a picture of the camera strap while it was attached to me/the camera, without me being in the picture, and seeing as I didn't put any makeup on today, there was no way I was going to be in the picture.
The long teal and pink one is for Brooke at Harmony Hill Photography. The premise of the whole thing is pretty simple, but if you're looking for a tutorial there is a very easy to follow one here. I only put fusible fleece on one side of the strap as to cut down on bulk. Like the tutorial I also made mine reversible, with two different patterns, one on each side. You can play around with this basic idea a lot, adding a ruffle ribbon, patchwork the top {a great way to get rid of extra scraps of fabric}, add ribbons and trims down the middle, the options are endless.
Here it is all packaged up and ready to be mailed out to her. I hope she enjoys it!
October 22, 2010
{happy birthday love!}
Happy Birthday!
Today is my husbands birthday. We'll be eating sushi, going out for ice cream by the beach, and loving on our baby girl. I'm so thankful to have married my best friend! Thank you for putting up with all my sewing messes, working hard for our family so I can be a stay at home mom, for being a great dad, and loving me so much! Happy birthday baby, I love you!
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