Houndstooth Quilting...

I saw this amazing houndstooth baby quilt over at annilygreen's blog the other day and haven't stopped thinking about it:


It totally reminds me of the glamorous bathrobe katharine hepburn wears in adam's rib - but blown up and flat. Since that one wall hanging I made my mom many years ago for mother's day is the full extent of my quilting history this blanket might be out of my sewing capabilities, but V and Co does sell a pattern for it (making it much more likely this would be a successful project)! Also since a baby sized quilt would be pretty useless for my baby free existence let's double its size and make it a lap quilt! Perfect! Maybe in a nice dark grey and olive for a neutral yet stunning addition to my living room? Wonderful! Ok mom! This is what you can make me for my birthday! You've got four months to go! What do you think? Anyone up for the houndstooth challenge?

monday morning crafting

After my all too exhausting weekend I decided to whip up a quick craft this past monday. After finishing it I realized what a gigantic mess I'd made and thought I'd take a picture of it. Can you guess what my craft was?


No? I'll give you some hints - it involved the only pink yarn I could find (cotton stuff), some crafting tools smuggled across the border, and my new fantastically wonderful "recommended by the arthritis association" crafting scissors! Still guessing? Ok - probably not at this point...I'm not very sneaky and my crafts are fairly predictable...but here is another hint just in case:


So the cotton threw the texture off a bit.....but I'm sure you guessed it by now! Pom poms on sticks!


Hooray! A lovely pink bouquet of pom pom flowers for lindsay's bday! Perfectly matching her cute craft room in her fabulous apartment and certainly not at all saying "you've hit your mid 20's!" I've been wanting to make pom poms with my clover pom pom makers ever since I got them after xmas but boy craft show completely hogged all my spare time (darn that show!) I had plans to pom it up on the 27th (the day after the show was over and the day before lindsay's bday) but apparently my body would only let me sleep that day so they had to wait for monday. My verdicts on the craft project (list time!):

1) clover pom pom makers are the bomb (do people still say that?)

2) making cotton pom poms is sort of odd...they totally look like bath mat pom poms to me...

3) my new spring loaded crafting scissors are amazing on the hands! The arthritis association didn't lie - those babies are worth the investment!

4) I don't think our landlords have ever pruned the unruly trees in our front yard - making them ideal pom pom stem candidates!

and

5) I'm still totally in love with pom poms!

Yay! What a fun project and I'm glad you played along with my guessing (ok - lame attempt at guessing) game! What do you think? Are you going to make a pom bouquet? OoOOo! What should our next pom pom project be?

Fabulous Finds! Spring Recap!

After two days of much needed rest I am finally back home from the craft show and back to blogging! Just in time to share how the big craft show went with all of you! Hooray! I tried really hard to learn from my mistakes from the fabulous finds november show and come prepared for the spring sale!

The first thing I knew to bring loads of? Business cards! I ran out much too quickly at the last show and since my other goal for this event was to network more - cards are a must! I even got to use my snazzy new card holder my sister send me in the mail. Isn't it fun?:


Yay! I also knew this time to stock up on a variety of goods and to bring loads of change (especially loonies and toonies) in my change box! Talk about preparation! Once fraser and I got to the winery friday morning we had just enough time to unload, unpack, and set up! Rio once again was a most fantastic craft show host with the tables all laid out and organized for us to go! All I had to do was figure out how I was going to arrange it all and get selling! I even got to use an extra wine barrel as an extension on my table (which was perfect since I ended up having so much product to display). Take a peek at how my table ended up looking:


Ok, so it is pretty similar to my november set up (link), but that added barrel was handy. It was also great to bring my little ikea mirror from my bedroom so people could hold up the earrings to help them decide on a pair! Turns out all those crafty business books came in handy since I made sure to go through their craft show check lists before attending and had all the tricks and tools of the trade down. What's that? You need tape, scissors, and extra signage? Just take a peek in my tote - I've got it all! Yay!

As for the sale itself, I was preparing myself for the masses of crowds the november show had and in comparison this show seemed a lot more relaxed. There were still loads of people attending but the atmosphere was less frantic. A few of the vendors were expecting a few more sales out of the show but my table did alright. I got loads of positive feedback on the packaging for my vintage cabochon flower stud earrings and they ended up being my big seller! I also sold quite a few pocket mirrors, plush microbes, pins and magnets! Hooray! Best of all at the end of the show I got to take my unsold mustaches to frock (a super cool boutique in downtown kelowna) and consign them there. Oh! And chantel from funktional (another awesome store from kelowna) is now carrying my pocket mirrors and flower studs (along with the brooches, bags, and felt feather earrings she's had since the fall)! How exciting! I love consignment selling! I heard quite a few people comment on how they bought some of my items from the shops downtown and how much they enjoy them! Oh I'm just swooning with all the positive comments!

Other fun exciting things from this show (yup, list time):

1) I was one of the three features artists in a newspaper article they published in kelowna

2) Fraser and I got to pose (with mustaches) for an article in Snap Okanagan magazine

3) My table was filmed and I got interviewed on a local tv show

4) I got to meet a blog reader who I didn't know before the show (she was the single person to claim one of my freebies)!

and

5) I once again won the vendor's choice award (and got another bottle of summerhill pyramid winery wine!)

Yay! So much fun! I was so busy with my table that I didn't get to spend a ton of time wondering around the show but from what I did see the other vedors just keep getting better! I love going to a craft show where I want to buy something from every table! Rio selects such great artisans for her sales and I'm so happy to be a part of their crafting community. My favourite table was the fabulous laser cut cuteness from ugly bunny:


I remember sarah jane (the lady behind ugly bunny) from the last show but I simply adore her new line of silk screened and laser cut items. I totally feel inspired to get printing and I really want to see if I can figure out CAD (or perhaps bribe lindsay into helping me) so I can try my hand at laser cut goods. Don't you think some of my illustrated designs would be fun in acrylic pendant/brooch form? (I certainly do)! And although I didn't manage to take a picture of all the booths I drooled over - here is a snapshot of the view behind my table:


Lovely! I also picked up a super adorable owl cushion (who I've named professor hoots and now resides with my sad bunny pillow on my stripey little couch in my living room) as well as some fun lip balm! If you're interested in taking a peek at some more shots from the show you should check out the fabulous finds group on facebook (natalie even shared a whole album of pictures there).

Once the show was over, fraser (who, by the way, was beyond wonderful helping me make magnets, break change, and keep me from crafting panic) and I packed up out goods, took a trip downtown to drop off the consignment sales and drove home! I was so exhausted from the two days of madness that I couldn't even make it through a cary grant movie and went to bed! In fact - I slept for a good 13 hours, got up for a bit, and went back down for a nap! Whew! That show totally took all the energy out of me. Now that I've had a while to rest up I am happy to be back home and am ready to take some time away from craft selling to focus on some of my own projects I've been meaning to work on. I'm also considering doing a shop and blog makeover sometime over the spring (to freshen things up and adjust my pricing so I can expand my consignment selling) but we'll see how that goes (no promises). Hey! Maybe I can even take a substantial chunk out of my giant to do list of crafty tutorials I've been blogging about! Hooray!!!

Martha's pom pom branches

About a year ago I posted a link to a fabulous tutorial showing you how to make your very own pom pom pussy willows! Lindsay and I fell in love with the project and although we haven't actually found time in the last year to execute this one - it is still pretty awesome:


To my surprise martha stewart's craft department recently did a similar project, this time by dying the pom poms! Take a peek:


How cool! I think lindsay and I will have to summon our inner resurrection fern and get dying! Now to find some branches that need to be pom'd! Just in time for lindsay's birthday too (ok, not actually in time, since it's today and I haven't started this project yet...) Happy bday linds!

Geometry for the win!

If you haven't already seen this tutorial, it is certainly one worth checking out! Geometric shapes and patterns are climbing the charts of fashion popularity and no better way to jump on the trend train then to make your very own geometic necklace! Just check out how awesome it looks:


Cool! It's a super simple project just requiring some chain, polymer clay, and a blade! I think I'll skip the glitter and maybe paint each fact of the shape a different springy colour for the ultimate in home made accessories! Heck I bet I can scrounge up all the supplies in my crafting nook too! I'll let you know how it goes...any other takers?

Fabulous Finds - Day Two!

Yay! It's day two of my fabulous finds craft show and even though I'm away from the computer - doesn't mean I can't share some more crafty goodness with all of you! Today I thought I'd show you what I ended up whipping up for packaging. I am a strong believer that good presentation of a product can make or break a sale so I really tried to make some simple aesthetically pleasing cards to showcase my goods! What did I use to execute such a challenging task you wonder? Why some recycled brown cardstock (a staple for all my packaging needs) and some paper punches of course!:


I showed that doily punch to you a few days ago and boy was I excited to use it! Check out how wonderful it makes my vintage cabochon flower stud earrings look:


Wonderful! I think it adds a little bit of detail and interest to the earrings (which aren't really that overly exciting). The brown paper is a great neutral background to all the springy flower colours but is still a bit of contrast against my white table cloth! Perfect! I experimented with a few different card designs for the earrings and ended up with the asymmetrically folded design. That way they stand up nicely on their own and I could throw a little description and url on the back:


At this point (I'm writing this on thursday) I'm not totally sure how I will set these up on my table but I have a few hours after we arrive to figure it out. In my experience, trying to plan things out to every last detail isn't the best option for me since 1) it generally causes me to panic and 2) I usually end up changing my mind when I get to setting things up in person. I am loving how the flower stud cards are looking though and I do have an awful lot of them:


I also used the doily punch to make a few cards to put some cabochon rings on. Rings are a particularly difficult item to display and put price tags on so I just made a little tube of paper with the design punched out of the top. I only have a handful of rings for sale since I didn't really intend on selling them but had a few supplies left over after making some rings for myself a few years ago. I figure since I'm not wearing them I might as well bring them to the show! Take a gander:


Onto the felt flower hair accessory packaging! For these I decided to go with the super simple rounded corner punch. The doily design seemed like too much detail that sort of stole the attention away from the felt flowers I wanted to pop. I really wanted to put the hair pieces on cards to make them look a little more substantial and (conveniently) add my shop url for potential consignment deals with any leftovers after the show. Check out the final packaging:


Hooray! I'm so pleased with them! I really enjoy trying to figure out neat ways to package items! It's totally yet another reason why I love making and selling crafts!

And if you're coming to the craft show today don't forget to get your freebie! I made little "thanks for reading my blog" presents for the first ten customers to ask for them. Take a peek:


I have a feeling that ten was a little optimistic for the giveaway (since I can only actually think of two people who read my blog and are attending the show) but I am ever hopeful! I appreciate all my readers and if I run out of the free items I've brought back up supplies to meet the demand! Hope to see you there! And if you can't attend (or even if you are) I'd love to know what you think of my packaging! Yay!

Fabulous Finds - Day One!

Happy friday! While you are busy celebrating the end of the week and start of the weekend I am busy packing up the car and driving to kelowna for day one of the spring fabulous finds craft show! We're open 4 - 9 pm tonight at the wonderful summerhill winery so if you're in the area I highly suggest taking a gander at all the amazing vendors (while sipping on some delicious orangic wines)! Instead of doing a big list of all the products I've whipped up for the show I've decided to summarize my handcrafted goods with a montage:


Woo! What a ton of work! Wish me luck! I'll be back on sunday to potentially reveal how it went (assuming I'm not overly exhausted saturday night)! Yay!

And don't forget - the first ten people to come find me and say you're a blog reader get a scientific culture freebie! Hooray!

cozy up with embroidery

Well looks like the big day is quickly approaching (aka tomorrow! oh my!) so I thought I'd share one more product with you before I pack up my storage totes in preparation for the trip to kelowna. After evaluating all of my crafts for the show I feel I have the low price point items covered. Come to think of it, pretty much all my crafty goods are a bargain with an assortment of items under $10! Even though as a buyer I think this is a great thing, as a crafty business it isn't exactly the best practice. In attempt to craft a few higher priced items I decided to remake a few tea cozies for the sale. With my limited time and supplies (our only local fabric store is moving and the shelves are sparse) I decided to make three cozies in the three designs I had for my last show. Take a peek at recreated flowers, love robots, and tea loving yeti:


Hooray! I really love how the tea cozies turned out! So cute and practical! What else could you ask for? I know! A cozy option for non tea drinkers! Can you guess what these are?


Still stumpted? Here's an even bigger hint:


Yay! French press cozies for the coffee lover! I've been wanting to experiment with press covers for some time now and figured I'd test the waters for them at this upcoming show. I only made two of them (making them extra limited edition) in the flower and love robot designs. I really wanted to embroider some new designs I've been brainstorming but after a stressed out discussion with fraser we decided last minute isn't a great time to start trying new patterns that may not work out (way to reason with me fraser!). Now hopefully those two ladies from the last show who wanted me to make coffee press covers for them show up and snag these! If not they may be appearing on etsy. I'm also not entirely sure about pricing for these yet? What do you think? Any suggestions?

Oh! Special news for any of you planning to attend the fabulous finds show this weekend - I've whipped up some little freebies for you blog readers! The first ten people to come find my table and tell me how much you enjoy my blog (well...I hope you enjoy it...) will get an appreciatory present! Hooray! See you then!

scientific culture...and leslie

Since my sister Kate is hurriedly doing her “I swore it wouldn’t happen but then it did” last minute prep for the Fabulous Finds show, I offered to write a blog post for her to take some of the pressure off. I recently made the Peppermint Bath Soak according to the instructions Kate blogged about here. The instructions were beyond simple, and I do love a good soak in the tub, so I set out to my local health food store to stock up on the supplies.

As it turns out, even in Northen BC there are tonnes of different essential oils available for purchase, so instead of sticking to just plain peppermint, I ended up buying lemongrass, spearmint, wintergreen, eucalyptus and rosemary as well! So many exciting choices! I also bought a bag of super potent organic peppermint leaf tea, the remains of which will make it into the teapot instead of the bath.


With my ingredients assembled, I dove right into production. The instructions from the spotted fox basically say, “Mix everything together,” so the only thing I really had to worry about was the proportion of Epsom salts to essential oil. After pouring, dripping, stirring, de-clumping and adding more oil, I settled upon a mixture that looked and smelled just right. On a side note, if you don’t want your house to smell like peppermint for a few days, you might want to skip this project. Finally I added the tea leaves and poured some into a cute little jar. Take a look at the super easy process:


Adorable! Who wouldn’t want something like this as a gift? Spice it up with a decorative lid, and you’re good to go! Since I intend to use all these salts for myself, I ended up pouring the whole bowl back into the Epsom salts bag. It may be less adorable, but it’s living under the counter in my bathroom, so I don’t mind!

The different essential oils added an element of creativity and really inspired me to look at how scents can affect us. The peppermint/spearmint blend is energizing and perfect for after a workout. The lemongrass reminds me of mosquito repellant, so maybe I’ll try it before I venture out onto the trails near my home during bug season. The best for us this week has been the wintergreen blend, with a hint of eucalyptus and rosemary. We’ve been fighting colds, and this delicious scent aids decongestion while helping your aching muscles. I even put some of the same oil blend into an aromatherapy candle diffuser and scented the whole house. So clean and refreshing! And reminiscent of Wint-O-Green lifesavers… Mom’s favourite flavour, second only to Clove. Yum!

All in all, this project was easy and fun. If you’ve got 10 minutes to spare, you can save yourself some money by making your own bath salts instead of buying them, and wrap up some cute presents for a friend or two while you’re at it!

all the preparation!

As many of you may recall, after a mad last minute rush for my last big craft show I swore off crafting procrastination and promised myself I would be prepared for my next show a good week in advance! Well...that was a great idea in theory...but it didn't really turn out how I'd like it to. It is a mere three days until the big show (which I hope you are all coming to if you can) and I'm still tying together all the finishing pieces! I am much better off than I have been for previous shows (thanks to my hardcore crafting every spare moment since january) but I have learned one very important thing - you can never really be fully prepared for a craft sale! I've come to the sad realization that I cannot predict the future and actually have no idea how to be completely prepared for the unknown! What an unrealistic goal I set for myself. Alas. But let's focus on the positive here - I have managed to whip up a huge assortment of handcrafted goodies and will have a well stocked table for the spring sale! Hooray! Let's take a peek at a few felt items I made this past week:

1.) felt flower brooches! I originally made a few of these for xmas presents back in '09 and had such overwhelmingly positive feedback that I decided to break them into craft shows too! I whipped up 20 of these babies back in april for my very first craft show and...they didn't sell at all. Seriously - I think I sold a total of three over the last year. Rats. At my last fabulous finds show I ended up consignment selling all of my carefully handcrafted brooches to the super awesome shop funktional. I figured it was a good idea to whip up a new batch of these brooches since (list time):

a) brooches are back! And this time I'm not the only one saying it for the last two years. They are popping up all over the place and are totally due for a fashion comeback!

b) it's spring! and spring is all about pops of colour and flowers!

and

c) the super trendy kelowna shoppers will have spotted my felt brooches at funktional and will want to get the crafter direct sale price for these babies!

Hooray! Take a peek at the fabulous fresh spring colours they're available in:


Yay! But not to worry - I made a whole slew of flowers (in loads of colours) just in case they are a giant hit:


2) felt flower hair clips! I hinted about these last tuesday and luckily they turned even better than I was expecting! I really wanted to have a few items that were more spring and summer appropriate than all the tweed bags I had for my last show and figured wool felt hair clips were it! After all, I think they are awesome (always a good place to start right?) and I just bought a ton of wool felt squares from etsy (which, by the way, was an absolutely fantastic experience I totally recommend to any felt crafters)! Bring on the stacked felt flowers:


Here's a peek at the back of the clip too (notice my sneaky snap clip concealing) :


Hooray! And (of course) I made a ton of hair clips in an assortment of fun colours:


Woo! Now to figure out how much to price them at! What do you think?

3) felt flower hairbands! When I was looking for hair clips to use for my felt flowers I impulse bought a package of elastic hairbands and after watching 3 hours of petticoat junction followed by countless hours of elvis (can you believe I own 10 elvis movies?) I thought I'd whip up some higher price point hair accessories just in case they are a hit. Take a looksie:


What do you think? Certainly a springy bold accessory for the fashion forward right! As always I made an assortment to chose from:


I had a ton of fun making all the felt flower goodies and I really hope I get a good reaction for them at the show! I figure if they are a flop I will just have to become well known around town as "that girl who has 31 felt flower hair clips and 8 flower hairbands"! Perfect plan right?

Whew! I can't believe how much product I whipped up this past week! Now I just need to figure out how I want to showcase the items at my table and work on packaging! Oh and pricing! What do you think I should sell them for?

Make your own: pop rocks!

My best buddy jim is all about the random internet findings. He often thrills me with tales of randomness and I was particularly excited about a "make your own pop rocks tutorial" he was telling me about. I had to investigate it for myself:


Cool! I mean who doesn't love pop rocks! They're like an experiment and a candy - all in one! I was all stoked to try to whip up a batch until I realized that I can't find citric acid crystals anywhere in town...looks like I will put this tutorial on the back burner for the time being. Oh, and while I'm at it I think I'll hit the sev and pick up some candy...mmm....

30

Today is my dear sister's 30th birthday and instead of a regular blog post I've decided to make one dedicated to her! Okay...that and I don't have a huge amount of time allotted to writing blog posts while I am frantically crafting up a storm. So let's celebrate 30 years of leslie with 5 fun facts about my sis:

1) Leslie is fun to dress up and go dancing with...or just dress up and pose for pictures!


2) Leslie loves agates!


3) Leslie makes super awesome yarn crafts!


4) Leslie is a great kitchen dancing companion!


and 5) Leslie has one cute baby!


Hehehe! Ok - so by "fun facts" I really meant "five facts that I had pictures supporting on my computer", but that was fun wasn't it? Happy bday les!

Date Stamp Fun!

Nothing lets you mark a date quite like the fun date stamp wrapping paper from paper, plate and plane. All you need is a stamp (which you can totally get at numerous dollar stores), some plain butcher paper and a little imagination. Looks at the fun designs they came up with:


What a great idea! And wonderful for people like me who don't own anything but xmas wrapping. Heck - throw a pom pom in there and you've got a work of art! Maybe I'll even break down and actually do this one too. After all march does have some important birthdays in it! Maybe I can trick leslie into thinking I remembered getting her a gift in time by stamping her bday on their even though she won't get it until weeks after the big day...oops...I guess if she reads this the gig is up. Alas. Belated birthday presents are in this year right?

Oh and in other news - make sure you take a look at the moon tonight! Jim informed me that it will be the closest to earth all year and should be full and spectacular to see. It will probably also cause crazy high tides and unfortunate seismic activity...but it should look neat! Happy moon gazing!

Friday Find: frank and gertrude forest

This week's find is etsy's frank and gertrude forest who wonderfully combine my love for hand drawn illustrations and woodsy goods. Their shop sells an assortment of paper goods as well as some charming shrink plastic accessories. Take a peek at a few I'm drooling over:


I think the bear products are my favourites but their perpetual calender would be awesome to help you keep track of important dates and birthdays! So much fun! They also really make me want to make my own illustrated shrink plastic earrings and brooches (I'll add that to my list of post craft show to do's). What is your favourite item?

Spring has sprung!

I feel like spring is taking its sweet time arriving this year. After being rudely interrupted by the "spring forward" daylight savings time change (which tragically cut an entire hour of crafting away from me) the other day I was convinced that it was prematurely getting me excited for warmer weather! After all, there is still snow on the mountains and we keep getting cold snaps. Ick! But apparently my front flower bed is getting ready for spring since the bulbs I planted in the fall are peeking up:


Oh lovely! I actually had a pretty hard time getting a picture that didn't show the plethora of awful weeds that garden has. I redid the entire bed when we moved in and thought I had the dreaded grass and morning glory under control. No such luck. Tons of the plants I put in don't seem to have made it through the winter and instead the garden is covered with weeds! Ack! I'll have to put a few more hours into trying to get it back to par after my craft show. I'm also sort of thinking I will just buy a ton of sweet pea and nasturtium seeds to take over the bed and (hopefully) drown out/conceal all the blasted weeds. Eugh. And if it wasn't obvious that my green thumb isn't fully developed check out my balding ficus bob:


Hahaha. I think that plants looks so pathetic (especially compared to how lush he was when I got him - link). He was originally over by the door until I found out ficus's don't tolerate cold bursts or change that well. As soon as our xmas tree came down I put him in the corner with the blinds cracked for ample filtered sunlight. He lost leaves like crazy for quite and while and now that fraser and I mist him twice a day and I feed him my leftover tea he seems to be on the mend. I only found two leaves that had fallen off this week and there are even wee ones sprouting up:


Hooray! Hopefully the mystery bulbs mom gave me survive long enough to bloom and I can officially declare my plant woes behind me! Any other gardeners out there? How about indoor plant enthusiasts? Any tips for me and balding bob?

If only I had too much time on my hands...

My sister linked me to this video a few weeks ago and I just had to share it with you:

It mostly makes me really want to live in a house with fun wallpaper and a hot pink tiger head framed on the wall...maybe one day. In the meantime - enjoy your wednesday!

even more crafty preparation!

My preparations continue for my big craft show on the 25th and 26th and even though I told myself I'd get everything done early, I am (as always) feeling the last minute rush! I always find it difficult to try to decide how much product to make and bring with me. On the one hand I don't have an enormous amount of time/supplies/space on my table for a huge amount of items but on the other I want to have enough to keep my customers happy (and maybe even make a smidge of a profit)! One item that was really popular at my last fabulous finds show was my embroidered coffee sleeves (in fact I sold out) and even though I whined about the idea of remaking them (they are so much work) I thought I'd compromise with myself and remake a handful of them! Take a peek:


Oh wonderful coffee sleeves! You are so adorable! I waffled over throwing some new designs I've been brainstorming in there but with my time crunch I decided to go with old faithful (meaning flowers, caffeine, and love robots)! I really like how the sleeves are quirky, unique, useful and let me showcase my handcrafted felt embroidering skills. They are also a nice mid level priced item perfect for the mid level buyer! I'm also working on making some higher level felt embroidered/sewn items but I'll show those to you once they're done. Oh! And I've also picked up a few supplies for a few new items I've decided to make for the show - can you guess what they're going to be?


Okay - pretty easy guess. Hair clips and hair bands don't really leave much up to the imagination but I'm hoping they will turn out really well (and be a wonderful spring hit!). I also really wanted to show off my doily paper edge punch I got. I am so excited to work that into my packaging and really make this craft sale a nice fresh spring version of my table from the winter sale! Woo! Now to get back to work...and if you aren't sure about attending and are in the area - check out the facebook page for more details and I'll see you there (I hope)!