Presents for the girls

I haven't been blogging much, but I do still make things.With the holidays approaching, here are some of the goodies I've been making for the girls:

 



Lily loves Star Wars and her birthday is right before Xmas. Since she already has jedi robes and a lightsaber, I made her an R2D2 leotard (accompanied by R2D2 ornament)

The girls tend to have everything they want/need but every little girl loves playing dress up, right?

For the diva, Emma Rose, I chose fabric fit for a princess with a sequined tiara. Most of her favorite dresses seem to be black and red so I just went with it.

Lily loves purple, so I made her a purple fairy tutu with flowers for her hair

Violet is all about giraffes so I made her a tutu that would reflect her unique style

I also gave some ornament a go. Pretty happy with them, to be honest.

Fall is Coming!!!

Summer is tourist season and I don't get time to post much, or craft much, but here are some things I've accomplished lately:



My sister is getting married!!! I altered her wedding dress and made the bridesmaid's dresses and also those cute organza flowers i was telling you about:

Now you know I wouldn't put a picture of my sister in her dress online before the wedding. Unless of course it was a hilarious picture of her stuck in her dress when i altered it too small...bwahahahahaha!

The bridesmaid's dresses are champagne colored multi-wear dresses with a green sash and organza flowers. i generally prefer a halter.

I finally unpacked the last of the moving boxes (8 months isn't that bad, right?) and painted the basement stairs a bright orange(the rest of the basement is a more mellow orange. okay, actually they're the same orange, but the basement walls are that orange mixed in primer form and the stairs are that orange just in paint form). I also added a tree, because it's my studio and I like trees...

I recently added my Mayor of Munchkintown figurine to that little shelf and the colors are really fun together

My Aunt Tammy gave me one of my grandmothers chairs that was salvaged from a fire. I reupholstered it to match the couch!

I decided to try and bring the Halloween crowd into my shop. I painted some new glasses, streamlined my Geekery glass to JUST my Zombie Plan glass (because it's the only one that sells), took some better photos, and added a Halloween tag. It's been favorited 5 times since I did that 2 days ago.

"Witches Brew", "Zombie Plan", and "Black Widow"

And this is just a little something I'm working on. I bought this rusty orange colored satin a long time ago, because I just thought it was beautiful. I'm planning on rouching the back of the skirt with elastic thread and making a halter dress (i look good in halters. lol) That belt is a new one Bob bought me for my birthday- they look stunning together, yes?

None of it is actually sewn yet, this is just the draping on my new dress form)

I have some plans for a couple of hooded fall ponchos like what i made last year (black and white houndstooth with orange lining- i'm really into orange right now)

July 2012: Steampunk Earrings & Other Things

It's been awhile since I posted. I've been having allergic reactions for a month straight and spent 3 weeks on steroids, and I'm on a special allergy elimination diet right now- none of which is fun- but I'm starting to balance out and that means I can focus on other things- like being creative. One of my recent projects has been playing with gears for steampunk earrings and I think they're pretty darn cute!

This pair is my favorite

This was my first pair. I'm not sure how I feel about the jump rings

This pair is really fun and I loved the addition of color, but they're a little long for my own tastes- will probably end up on etsy.

I also helped my sister with a bunch of green-tone organza flowers for her wedding. They're really easy, you just cut out circles, melt the edges with a lighter or candle and pile them together.

I made this white/ivory one just so I could put a picture on the blog. The green ones are cuter.

 I also made my first romper. Rompers aren't necessarily the best silhouette for my body type, but they're so comfy and convenient in the summer. I bought this orange fabric ages ago and it came out really cute.

I also got an early birthday present that I am SO PSYCHED about- a dress form! I already had a dress form, but it's adjustable which makes it really difficult to pin and even at its smallest settings, it doesn't get down to my size or proportions. My new dress form IS my size and proportion and I'm pretty excited about that. I think I'm going to name it Penelope.

Multiwear Dress

For my sister's wedding, she made all of her bridesmaids champagne multiwear dresses as their dress. With summer here, and them being so easy to make, i popped out a few. I made a pink, a red, and a green.




Basically, you cut a hole in the middle of a square or circle of knit fabric and sew two 8-10" wide "straps" (~45-60" long rectangular panels) to it, adding a facing (a 2" wide rectangular tube the size of your waist) if you don't want the raw edge to show in the back. A small 1"-2" overlap of the panels in the center (where your boobs will be) is convenient.

Tips & Tricks

-This dress works better with lightweight super stretchy knits that have lots of give.

-Fabric comes folded in half lengthwise on the bolt. To find a square, fold it in half crosswise and then fold it at a diagonal. If the raw edges all line up with each other, it's a square. To make it a circle, measure the straight folded side (it usually comes out to be ~24") and mark the circle at intervals of 24" from the point with pins and cut. Leave it folded and cut the waist hole. For my 26" waist, the radius of the waist hole is ~2.5". Knits stretch so it doesn't have to be horribly accurate.

-Knits stretch. To keep the waist snugly fit, i stitched a piece of elastic to the length of the facing.

Spring!

Blogger temporarily made the blog incompatible with internet explorer so i haven't posted in awhile.

My little sister got married!!! I made her a dress, which ended up not being quite what she wanted, (too many ruffles), but thought I'd share on here anyway to show some of what I've been doing with my time:

I also recovered my couch cushions, as after 3 years, the vinyl was cracking. It was really difficult to do since the back cushions are actually all sewn into a panel and mounted into the frame so i kind of had to take the couch apart. I'm really happy with the fabric choice/pattern.

Also, about a month ago, I finally figured out the look for our bedroom:

The support beams in the middle of our room can't come out, so figuring out how to incorporate them took some thought. I filled them with vases of twigs and lights which is soooooo much cuter than the curtains i had up before.

In other news...I've been doing a lot of gardening, and I made my first crepe cake this week. yum!

A Windchime

So I spent an hour cutting out copper buttterflies one night. I spent time stringing them together and making a windchime. I'm so proud of it!

Fairy Wings Tutorial

Supplies:
-12g-14g wire. preferrably galvanized steel, but some aluminum ones will work too



Assuming you read this blog on a regular basis, you'll remember that i had a problem on my first pair of wings with the aluminum wire being too soft. I made the second pair of wings out of a different brand of aluminum wire (pictured) which is harder and holds its shape better than the other brand i had.

 -Fabric (for the purpose of this tutorial, i use sheer woven synthetics)
-Tacky Glue
-A Lighter (preferrably the kind you use for candles, not the kind that burn your fingers if you hold them too long)
-Glitter paint

How to:

Step 1- Choose your design. It helps to make a paper or cardboard pattern

This is a pattern for some kid's wings

Step 2- Form your wire frames for each wing segment

Step 3-coat both sides of the wire frames in tacky glue

Step 4- Lay the glue covered frame on fabric, and fold it over so it's sandwiched and sticking

Step 5- Cut out the wing segments

Step 6- Use a lighter to melt the extra fabric around the frame

Step 7-Paint glittery patterns and melt any holes you'd like to add.

My holes aren't great on the purple set because i used a high-powered grill lighter and it wasn't cooperating. You may want to use a match for the internal holes. It helps to cut them out, stick the lighter up through and then carefully melt.

Step 8-Attach tops to bottoms and then the two halves. I like clear electrical tape for this


In this picture, I had the bottom halves upside down. Whoops!

Step 9- Add a sturdy u-shape loop of wire to the center joint and wrap sharp edges with electrical tape(like the white wings at the top of the page). This will keep the wings from flopping if you want straps, and add something to shove down the back of a corset if you don't want straps.

Step 10- Wrap the center joint with ribbon, or conceal by gluing flowers. Position wings. Add ribbon straps if desired.

Cascarones (confetti eggs) Tutorial

In the clearance section after Halloween 2010 I found cartons of halloween painted eggs filled with confetti for throwing and I loved them. There is no better way to egg a house (My guests and I egged my own house at my Halloween party). I've never seen the eggs for sale before, but they're so much fun that I've made them several times for fun (I crunched one over a friend's head at his going away party). Each egg holds 1-2 tablespoons of confetti and is great for exploding on awnings, headsmashing, or crunching down the collar of a shirt.

You need:

•  eggs
• glue (i like mod podge for this)
•  tissue paper
• confetti (i like the cheap foil kind they sell at party city)
• A sharp knife (i like a pointy little paring knife)
• A paint brush





Step 1: Dye your eggs





Step 2: Stab into the bottom of your egg and make a quarter sized hole in the shell



Step 3: Dump out the inside of the egg (yum breakfast) and rinse the inside. Leave the eggs hole-side-down to dry overnight



Step 4: Fill with confetti (This process is messy)

 

Step 5: Paint glue around the edges of the hole. At a square of tissue paper and paint the edge down with glue to seal the confetti inside

 Step 6: Have an egg fight!!!

Logos and re-design

The look for my logo keeps changing and evolving, and while I love the steampunk flair you see in the banner, it doesn't translate as well to logos and labeling, so I changed it up a bit!

I'm really quite proud of it and bought stickers to label stuff with, use it as my avatar on webpages, and used it to customize some magnets (which fyi I've been throwing in as a freebie with every order) What do you think? Is it me?

Redneck Wineglasses

I know I haven't been updating this much since "The Big Move". I've sold some wineglasses, some hairflowers, and still manage to sell a copper pen every 1-2 weeks (to tell the truth I'm starting to get downright sick of making that copper pen. lol). My sister asked me to make some redneck wineglasses for picnicking, and they really are cute:

I know they're kitschy, and a little different from what I normally do, but I've found I really do enjoy them. They're pretty and feel special without the breakable-worries that go along with your good crystal. My sister wanted them because mason jar lids are water-tight which means they're great for picknicking. These are really easy to make and are available on my etsy store if you're interested in your own set!

Happy New Year!

It's been a few weeks since my last post, so here's the scoop:

WE BOUGHT A HOUSE!!!

Signed January 6th, went on a cruise 7th-15th, came home, ripped out carpets, sanded floors, stained floors, knocked out a wall, installed a new ceiling light, moved many many boxes, unpacked many many boxes.

At some point in there I painted and mailed a pair of glasses for a friend. Glasses shattered in transit. This is the first time one of my pieces has arrived broken and I'm not happy about it. Will be re-painting/re-mailing soon.

The etsy store has been in vacation mode for the entire month of January (and the week of xmas). I've had several requests for things while moving and now that most of my studio has moved and been unpacked to a point where I can create things, it's back online! Shop away, and don't be afraid to ask for custom pieces!

Also, I've started Honey's Fence Fund, so if you're in the mood for a housewarming gift, we are $6000 away from fence-age. http://www.gofundme.com/dtqgk