Lots of Fun New Things!

My little 1 year old baby is walking, I'm coordinating the children's department at my new church, and I'm crafting like crazy. I'm a bit busy, but amazingly not overwhelmed. I'm taking it day by day and if I can win "Battle Nap" with my 3 year old I think everything will be OK.

I have also been having lots of fun thrifting with my friend Cindy and seeing what interesting stuff I can make out of all the odd little things I collect. First, I made a sweet little bird to live in this white birdcage I found for pennies.

Then, my sweet friend Tonya found this duck decoy that needed serious love. I hope the love has helped him, he was a very sad duck.

I also found a fiberglass/resin topiary wall plaque and dressed it up with a little felt.

A little paper mache wreath wrapped with some fabulous chunky harvest gold yarn...

(don't tell my mom, but I think harvest gold is on the way back)

I also feel the need to "rescue" old silver and pewter cups/goblets. So many possibilities! Who really drinks out of these things anyways?

Jewelry boxes, oh jewelry boxes! How I do love you! Maybe, it was the little jewelry box I had when I was a little girl that has inspired my new obsession with "prettying" them up. Dark wood and red velvet wasn't that pretty to begin with.

And lots more wreaths!! Of course, you can't forget the wool felt wreaths!

I hope you enjoy all my new little treasure! There are more to come...

Ducks

So, I am not a big fan of the "hunting" look. I don't gravitate towards hunter green, burgandy, brown, etc. It's just not my style. So, I also happen to think that duck decoys as decoration are hideous. I would much rather look at a real duck thank you very much. But, I do love ducks so I decided to "cute-ify" some duck decoys. (you like that word? I made it up) Remember awhile back I made this sweet duck...

Well, I found some more decoys!!
Before...



After!....



Much better!

This is a test!

So, I'm blogging from my iPhone! This should be interesting. I hope it works...

What I'd like to show you is a jewelry box I re-made.

I am getting excited about giving old beat up jewelry boxes a new life. This is my first wooden one. I did this one a couple months ago


But, silver ones are hard to find!!
I painted the outside, relined the inside and made a big dahlia on the top and I seriously want to keep it!






The jewelry box will be available at the "Saturday stroll" here in Richmond this Saturday, come on down and visit!


And happy FIRST birthday to my baby girl!

I need Pattern Testers!

Necktie Dachshund

Fabric Dachshund

I need 4 pattern testers! 2 for a necktie dachshund and 2 for a fabric dachshund. I have the necktie dachshund pattern finished so that is ready to go, but the fabric dachshund might be ready by this weekend. So the first 2 people to say they want the necktie version and the first two to say they want the fabric version to comment wins!

A bit of info to help you make your decision. The necktie dachshund uses an entire silk necktie, its a bit more challenging to make because its silk and you need some fusible webbing. The fabric dachshund uses about half a fat quarter's worth, no fusible webbing.

If you want to test the pattern but have questions please ask!

Thanks everyone!!

Felty Food

I was inspired by this WhipUp end of year Felty project roundup. I decided to make a sandwich! A sandwich for Miriam of course. Then I got bit by the felt food bug!

I made a few extra sandwich pieces to add a little "dagwood-ness." I made some bacon, onions, a few pickles, and a smear of mustard (that's the yellow blob on the far left). And no, I did not use fancy/pricey wool felt. (oh, how I adore that wool felt though) I used the craft store stuff. And I didn't use a pattern, you don't need one I promise! Just wing it! You can cut out green circles and call them pickles, white rings and call them onions! My daughter totally knew what they were. If it makes you feel better draw on the felt with a pencil or make a paper pattern. But, hey its just felt food...its not rocket science. You can do it! Oh, and I just used a simple whip stitch with boring old white thread.

Now, on to the PIZZA! Super simple. A beige circle, a red wavy red circle, some pink circle pepperoni, a few black O looking olives, U shaped green peppers, some grey mushrooms, and of course a bunch of simple strips of white cheese.

Then I went and made a felt landscape! Once again...just winging it! I glued a few bits like the center of some flowers and the beak on the bird. Oh, and I used one of those large stiff white pieces of felt as the background. It needs some people too.

Next I want to make little "sets" of stuff to play with on the felt board. For example I want to make a dress-up doll with shoes, clothes, hair, hats, etc. I'm also thinking about making "The Very Hungry Caterpillar." Miriam has memorized the whole book and she would love to tell the story with felt pieces. But, I want to make that set really nice and take my time. Hope you enjoy the fruits of my felt bug bite!

Closing up shop!

I am closing up the shop for the month of January, but get ready for kinds of new goodies starting in February. I have big plans for this year!! I'll write more about my plans in the coming days...get ready!! Fun stuff to come!

Baby Weight

Yes, I know this is a craft blog but I need to make this public. I am tired of this baby weight!!!! Baby #2 weight is not coming off like baby #1 did, at all. Baby #2 is 9 months and its time to kick myself in gear! I saw pictures of myself from this Christmas and I wanted to cry. So, if you have an iphone and you want to join me in my weight loss goals, check out the "loseit" app (its free!) and create a loseit.com account and find me under friends at kirstendschueler (at) gmail (dot) com. Seriously, I need the motivation! I am training for a 10K, which I did 2 years ago. I started from scratch and had never run in my life, ever. I had a great motivator, Rachel Pustilnik, she owns Stroller Strides Richmond and she just plain rocks. She even sacrificed her time for the race to run with me! I ran horribly slow but I actually ran the whole race without stopping...in the rain! So, I know I can do it again. I just have to start over. I also started watching my calories. The LoseIt app really helps me. Check it out! So, there you go, I have got to lose this baby gut. Join me!

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...