Sweaters, Flowers, and a Duck

First I want to show off Sarah's fabric flowers that she made using my tutorial! Aren't they gorgeous! You should go check out her blog and see more pictures of them (and her adorable baby!)

Next, on the subject of wool sweaters...wow, did I find an awesome resource for you!! Go, check out Kris' site, she has a blog where she features great recycled wool projects AND she sells wool sweaters at her shop! Too cool.

And now for the duck. I have had this unfinished wooden duck decoy sitting around my house for a long time. I just could never figure out what do with her, I wanted what ever I did to be special and different. Well, my current obsession with recycling wool sweaters sparked my creativity and I created this sweet little lady. She will be on sale at the Handmade Holiday Show here in Richmond an if no one snaps her up then she's on to the Rock and Shop Market in Raleigh, NC and if no one gets her there...then you all can have a shot at her (sorry that was a bad pun!)

(Can you believe this pic was taken with my iphone! Not bad, eh?!)

So, remember last year?...

Last year I was lucky enough to win Design Sponge's DIY contest with my Suitcase Pet Bed design. I just listed two new beds on the etsy site! Hershey and Nixon wouldn't stay out of them as you can see! And as always you can find instructions to make your own bed here.

Get ready, its coming!

I have tons of new stuff to list! It can be a slow process, a lot slower than I like, so it should all be up by tomorrow evening. But here is one item to tide you over...

Rock & Shop!

I just got accepted into this show! Its the Rock & Shop Vintage Market and I am so excited! They say its:

"A hip indoor flea-market featuring a fashion show, a juried selection of local and national designers selling eco-friendly repurposed and vintage fashion, jewelry and furniture. Live music by the bands Lonnie Walker and Mount Weather."

Its at the Cotton Room in the Golden Belt which apparently is a brand new space. Its on October 17th from 1-5 and costs $3 at the door.

If you live ANYWHERE near here I would LOVE to see you! I will have dog/pet beds, wreaths and lots of other great repurposed vintage items!

Classy Halloween

I just listed a new wreath! This one measures 10 inches in diameter and is made of recycled felted wool sweaters.

And here is a photo of my 6th month old Nora just because she's cute. You know you just want to squish those cheeks!

Fabric Flowers Tutorial

Well, this is my first big tutorial so please be patient with me and I hope you can all understand it and follow along. I thought up these flowers last year and I love making them. They are quick and super easy and the possibilities are endless!

I am someone who hates to be told there is only one way to do something. I like options! So, when I say "fabric scraps" or "buttons" you could use fancy fabric, corduroy, denim, etc. or for buttons you can use some wool circles, wool balls, a fabric covered buttons, etc. As they say on PBS kids "let your imagination RUN WILD!" So, let's collect our supplies...

1. Fabric scraps

2. Heavy Duty Iron-On Adhesive (I like this stuff the best for this project, you need it to be heavy duty to help give your fabric stiffness and body)

3. Buttons

4. Floral Wire

(not pictured)

5. Your trusty sewing machine

6. Thread (matching, contrasting, etc.)

7. Disappearing fabric pen (water-soluble, erasable, etc.)

7. Your handy dandy iron and ironing board

8. Sharp scissors (not your kitchen scissors like I use because I am too scared to go get my nice scissors for fear of waking my sleeping 6 month old daughter who is sleeping in my sewing room, do as I say not as I do)

9. Hot glue (preferably low temp, we don't want to burn your fingers!)

Step 1: Cut out 2 squares of fabric and 1 piece of iron-on adhesive all large enough for each of your flower pieces. Make sure your piece of adhesive is just slightly smaller than your fabric or else you will probably get some adhesive stuck to your iron and we don't want that.

Step 2: Following your manufacturers directions, iron on the adhesive to the wrong side of your fabric. Peel off the paper from your adhesive and iron the two fabrics, wrong sides together.

Step 3: Draw your flower shapes with your disappearing fabric pen. You can see my shapes above if squint your eyes they are hard to see. I like to use a large flower and a small inner flower shape to add dimension. Also, draw out your leaves. I like to connect the two leaves together when I draw them so its easier to attach to the floral wire in the end. Don't cut these out! I know you thought that was the next step, didn't you?

Step 4: Sew around the lines your drew on your fabric. I like to use a small satin stitch but you could use any stitch you like...remember you have options!

Step 5: Now you get to cut out your shapes! Here's a tip: always cut towards the insides of corners even if it means you have to turn over your shape. This will help you have nice sharp corners. FYI, my leaves look funky because I used a variegated thread on them. I don't know if its my favorite look now that I've done it but oh, well lesson learned.

Step 6: (click on picture to see it larger if you need to) Make a flat spiral with the end of your floral wire and poke it through the center of your largest flower and hot glue it down. I like to pull the flower into my hand like you see in the picture while the glue is cooling because it adds a little bit of dimension to the flower, try it you'll see what I mean.

Step 7: Glue on the smaller inner flower if you have one. Then glue on your button. If you happen to be anti-hot glue you can also do these two steps with needle and thread, sewing it all together. I tried this but I find my flower doesn't have enough body and my stitches are too loose. If you want that "sewed together" look then its smart to sew the button to your small inner flower and glue that to the large flower. Then you'll trick everyone and they will think you sewed the whole thing. Tricky!

Step 8: Glue on your leaves. I use the tiniest drop of hot glue (yet another reason to use low temp) and pinch my leaves onto the floral wire like you see in the picture.

Viola!

Your done! I hope you enjoyed this tutorial and I hope it wasn't as "clear as mud." Oh, I almost forgot...I like to display these in a small vase and use rice to help hold them up in their vase so they don't all flop over to one side.

If you make a flower using this tutorial please add it to my flickr group!

Spiffy-ing up the vintage!

I have started to really enjoy "spiffy-ing" up vintage items. I love the mix of vintage and modern day design. Old silver jewelry box with a tacky and gross red polyester/plastic lining...yuck! Old silver jewelry box with gorgeous lavender cotton fabric lining...GORGEOUS!

I also am loving frame purses and coin purses at the moment. This purse had a horrible crocheted bag with nasty polyester lining that was falling apart and really could not have been pretty even when it was brand new. So, I ripped that sucker off and using my skills from FIT I made a new bag using felted wool sweaters (my other favorite). I also recycled some flowers from the neck of an old cardigan, scrunched them together and viola! a hydrangea.

Check out more photos of each item in the shop!

New Wreath!

This wreath is 16 inches...check it out!

Etsy Finds Friday!

Romantic Purple Rose $36 by Decorate the Diva

On the Flip Side Reversible Skirt Pattern PDF $8 by The Long Thread

Crocheted Copper Wire Basket, Multicolored $40 by Xanadu2You

Giraffe Rattle $10 by Bundled

Tropical Flower Inspired Crochet Red Lace Scarf Cowl Scarflette Neckwarmer $35 by Vital Temptations

Personalized Wooden Teething Ring $17 by Stones of Healing

Water Fun!

We went to the Stony Point Mall's fountain the other day and had so much fun. We took a picnic despite the sign telling us not to. Oh, well. We had TONS of fun. I can't wait til Nora is able to run around in the fountain next year.

Wreaths

I am starting to make and sell these gorgeous wreaths. Well, at least I think they are gorgeous, I hope you do too! They are made from recycled felted wool sweaters. I have tons of wonderful colors that I will be using so keep checking back as fall starts to think about arriving. Or maybe I am the one thinking about arriving, since summer just seemed to arrive here in Richmond. Yuck.

Hiatus...over!

Well, my self-imposed hiatus is over! Baby Nora is here and I think I have a handle on mommy-ing two little ones...I think. Nora was born March 17 and has finally reached "happy baby" status. She was a rough one in the beginning! Colic was her first, middle, and last name. Big sister Miriam is pretty cool with it all we think. She has her moments like we all do. For example, my mom came to take care of them this past weekend while we went to a wedding and Miriam decided she would hit her sister. Well, she fessed up to it after my mom asked why Nora was crying..."I hit her." Lovely. 

The etsy shop is officially open again! Check it out! And hey, while you're at it become a fan on facebook! There will be more products to come...

meme meme!

saw this one word meme on allsorts; one of my favorite crafty blogs

Where is your mobile phone? purse
Where is your significant other? floor
Your hair colour? brown
Your mother? missed
Your father? dear
Your favourite thing? mommy-ing
Your dream last night? forgotten
Your dream goal? published
The room you're in? cozy
Your hobby? creating
Your fear? embarrassment
Where do you want to be in 6 years? solvent
Where were you last night? here
What you're not? boring
One of your wish-list items? iphone
Where you grew up? Georgia
The last thing you did? eat
What are you wearing? clothes
Your TV? on
Your pets? small
Your computer? mac
Your mood? unsure
Missing someone? Mom
Your car? small
Something you're not wearing? socks
Favourite shop? target
Your summer? ordinary
Love someone? absolutely
Your favourite colour? green
When is the last time you laughed? afternoon
When is the last time you cried? yesterday

join in if you like!

Handmade Holiday!

I made it into the Richmond Craft Mafia's Handmade Holiday show!  They had twice as many applicants as they had space YEAH! So, mark your calendars for December 13 from 10-5! It will be at the Visual Arts Center of Richmond.  OK, so now I need to crank out the goods!!!! Lots of work to do!

too much?

so i haven't blogged in awhile! too busy i guess. don't have anything to write? no. too much to write. 

i really dislike mondays. the weekend is an excuse to nap, read, relax, etc. since you worked so hard all week. but monday, that's another story. its the beginning. everything you need to do looms in front of you. it feel like you have to do everything right now. 

my house is a disaster. the laundry pile is massive, the dishes need doing, miriam's room is a mess from unpacking after going out of town, we need milk and diapers, i need to wash/iron the curtains for our bedroom since we painted it 2 weeks ago, i have things to make for customers and for the farmer's market in september (more news about that later), unfinished projects. some marketing for another little job i have, and on top of all of that i have a job that pays actual money that i have to do during miriam's naps! 

when i didn't have a child somehow this list would have been a piece of cake, and even then i had a full time job out of the house. why is it that even though i stay at home i feel like i have no time!? i say yes too much, i commit myself to too much. but it always seems that there is a really good reason why i should commit myself to it. money seems to be the big reason. always is i guess. 

ok, no more complaining. today's schedule is: clean kitchen and do laundry while miriam naps this morn and then go to target for milk and diapers and other errands (oh, and i need gas) then home for lunch and nap. during her afternoon nap i have a bunch of work for my little job. more laundry and cleaning. then my respite is dinner with a good friend at 7! 

i think i should fill my day with music, it really motivates me. my new favorite is ADELE! 

win this quilt!

check this out! go enter to win this quilt...although i want to WIN! this would be PERECT on miriam's eventual "big girl bed" I WANT I WANT!!

they just find me...

I don't know what is going on but I just keep finding these awesome vintage sewing machines! This is #3 in the last 3 months the first one was found in a ditch, the second one a woman gave to me, and this one we saved from going to goodwill. We were in Augusta, Ga last week and my husband and his sister were on their way to Starbucks, so on the way out of his mom's neighborhood he saw a man carrying this cool machine to his car. Mike, knowing I would love it, stopped and asked him what he was planning on doing with it. The man said he was taking it to Goodwill but he would be willing to sell it to us for $15 and it worked great (he wanted the tax credit). So Mike drove back to the house, picked me up and when I showed up I was in love! Plus, the woman who lived at this house used to teach at the same school with me. So she was super happy for me to have it! I just have the best luck...

for more pictures click here

rare bird finds feature!

thank you so much amanda for the rare bird finds mention!!

an hour well well worth your time!

starting may 14 you will be able to watch "A Walk to Beautiful" online at PBS. i invite you i implore you to watch this amazing film about Ethiopian women with fistulas. a quick explanation of a fistula is a hole between the bladder and vagina and/or rectum made during a long labor. it causes constant incontinence and these women are completely ostracized and made to live alone in a hut outside of their village. no hospital will treat them. there is one hospital that is dedicated to fistulas only and the treatments are completely free. its amazing and heartbreaking and enlightening and completely uplifting. spend 50 minutes and watch this film online here and get involved. i am already planning a showing of the film to my friends and my goal is to raise $450 which is the amount it costs for one woman's complete treatment. 

watch here

50th purchase! who will it be??

i am up to 49 purchases so far at my etsy shop. so i figured that the 50th customer should get a prize! so here's the deal...free shipping! just kidding, that would be super lame if that's all you got. no, the 50th customer will get a free item from the shop (equal or lesser value, please) and free shipping (i will refund this after your purchase)! so buy that 50th item and in the comments section tell me what other item you would like! nothing like free stuff, right!? so shop away, shop shop away.... 

just for kicks...this is a photo of my grandmother from when my grandparents were dating. i think she is about 18 or 19 in this pic. isn't it awesome! (on the texas a&m campus)