Little bits of lovely

I love working on little details in our home. It's those details that make this place we live in so particular to us and not just any apartment you see on Pinterest or in a magazine (also the clutter and mess...)

I made this wreath sometime last year and its been hanging on our tv/art wall since Christmas. I purposefully made it black so I could easily change the decor on it to fit any season or holiday. But, since its me we're talking about, even easy decor changes can get procrastinated on for months.

Sunday, May 26...I finally took the Christmas colors off the wreath and added some colors to carry us through any season and match the living room. I also did this about 20 minutes before guests were scheduled arrive. Pressure inspires me...as with any procrastinator ;)

a new bloom

purple topaz & silver flower

I've been working on little odds and ends around the apartment lately.  A bigger glittery chevron piece, mantle garland, spray painting, flowers to hang and flowers to wear.  Above is the latest flower to wear.  I've been making these for decoration purposes but I really like them for adornment purposes now too!  They're a nice contrast to my ric-rac flowers which have a lot of structure.  I ordered 16 new metallic yarn colors last night and hope to make many more flowers as soon as I get the yarn in.  Get excited...I know I am :)

tinsel for your hair

Christmas!

I just love these sparkly, Christmasy, buttony flowers.  This picture reminds me of some of the old tin decorations my mom has from when she was little.  They are quite bright and sparkly in person, perfect for holiday parties and get-togethers!

I would say "buy them now!" but they're for the craft fair.  If you like these and just have to have one let me know and I can make more :)

flower work

I've been working on some new flower techniques lately.  I made the flower above out of piping.  My sister wears a lot of olive green and couldn't find ric-rac to match so I tried my hand with this.  For the most part I like it.  I think it has a more modern look to it.  I'm not thrilled that you can see the stitching that came on the piping.  On my next one I may try pulling that out once the flower is sewn in place.  In my head it will work...we'll see how it works in real life :)

The flower below is a completely new technique for me.  I made a few similar to it for a halloween wreath hanging in our apartment.  At first I thought it looked too childish.  I played around with some button combos and fell in love with the orange and aqua.  The flower still didn't seem complete.  I remembered I had all these tulle circles cut out from making my wedding bouquets.  I snipped 2 down to size and sewed them on with the buttons.  I think it gives the flower just enough sparkle!  This one actually isn't a hair pin either, it's more a brioche. I put a pin back on instead of a clip and wore it with a sweater on Sunday.  Will definitely be making more pins!

I've started making Christmas flowers for a craft fair I'm going to be selling at called Budafest.  It will be my first one!  One of my best friend's sister, Jess will be sharing a booth with me.  I've been to tons of craft shows with my mom but I've never actually sold my stuff in person.  I'm a little nervous but mostly excited! 

I plan to sell my flowers mostly.  I've already made 6 sparkly Christmas ones and have 2 more ready to sew when I get home today.  I will also be making some everyday color combos.  Aside from my flowers I plan to make some felt covered mini notebooks, maybe some reindeer nuggets (based of these cuties), and hopefully some other cute accessories.  I made some super cute garland for halloween out of yarn and store bought pom poms (glittery and plain) that I plan to reproduce in Christmas colors.  I might make some to sell as well.

Of course, anything I don't sell at the fair will be put in my etsy shop.  I hope to post some sneak peak pics of my progress during the next 2 months.  Here's hoping I don't lose steam and show up with 8 flowers and nothing else :)

new knit flowers!

I had an order for some of my knit flower hair pins last week and got a bit worried at first. I love these knit flowers but after a while they get floppy and mine tend to slip off the bobby pins. it's also hard to keep the petals looking...petally. I wanted to fulfill the order but also didn't want to sell something that I knew wouldn't hold up the way I wanted.

I sat and though for a bit then decided I'd try to sew the knit flower onto felt just like my ric rac flowers. My only worry was they might end up super bulky.

Take a look!


I love how they turned out! (I made 2, I realize I'm only posting pics of one). The felt helped keep the petal shape so nicely. When I glued the back piece of felt on with the clip I shaped it a bit to form more naturally to someone's head. I tried it on and was surprised at how NOT bulky it felt. These flowers actually have a lower profile than my ric rac flowers.



Now I need to make some more for me and to get some more color options out there. Let me know if these suit your fancy and I can get an order going! I also have some non-flower hair clip ideas in my head for those of you who just don't want a flower in your hair :)

flowers!

Here are some real pictures, finally, of my ric rac flowers! I love how flexible they can be with any color or button style. I plan to make some fun holiday flowers and some different collections of color themes. I'm already thinking earth tones, jewel tones, sparkles and maybe even rhinestones. I also have some non ric rac flowers in the planning. Hope you enjoy the pics!

ric rac

I've been making lots of ric rac flowers lately! I'm currently wearing one in my hair that I made during a lull at work this morning (pictured above). Pictures are in the camera and ready to be posted as soon as I give my sister the 2 made for her. One is a surprise and she has no idea what it looks like so naturally I can't post it on here yet....but soon!

I also plan to sell these so if you see one you like let me know and I'll get an order for you. I personally think they'd look awesome as bridesmaid hair pieces :)

what i've been up to

I've been working on a lot of projects around the house plus some other random crafting. Here are some pics form my phone...all I have right now :)

ric-rac flower making

sparkly headband knitting

chain stitching

Oh and Chuy is just perfecting being the cutest dog ever :)

new in the shop!

My flower hair pins are now up in my etsy shop! Go look and buy lots and lots of flowers for your hair this summer :D

buttons

Fell asleep earlier while watching cartoons which in turn left me not sleepy now. I realized I hadn't made anything today (other than 2 papers and some seminary research...) so I set out to knit another flower hair pin. I also got caught up watching War Games. Now the movie's over and I have a new flower in my hair :) Both buttons are from my MeMaw. I love how the aqua one looks like it has stitches on it.

Some sneak peaks of some of the bears! I tried a few different color combos so I'm excited to show them all to yall soon :)

a birthday bouquet

My dear roommate, Alyssa, is 21 today! She too is a knitter and crafty gal so I wasn't sure what to make her as a gift. I thought for a bit and had the idea to make a little bouquet of hand sewn felt flowers.


I ran to Hobby Lobby and found the perfect vase, some yellow buttons for the flowers (i know i know, i have a lot of buttons, but i oddly don't have many yellow ones...anyways), and some olive green pipecleaners.


I got back to my apartment and sat at my sewing table and just stared at my felt for a while. I wanted to limit my color palette before I just started attacking the stack with my scissors. I decided on mostly blues, greens, and yellows. I did have purple in there too but omitted it pretty early on.


It took me a couple hours while watching something on tv that I can't remember now. I made two big flowers using blue, cobalt, and turquoise, both backed in white. The little flowers make me think of dandelions or daisies. They're yellow and gold with some white stitches. The little green sprouts fill in space and add color. Those are all random green buttons from my collection. I love how each flower and sprout each has its own personality :)


I finished in the wee hours of the morning and placed them in the little blue vase. I found a perfectly matching goldenrod ribbon and tied it around the top. I left it on the dining table with a little card for her to find when she woke up. I probably won't get to see her today but I'm glad I got wish her a happy birthday this morning with these cheery flowers.


An upside to making these is I got to practice for what I hope to make my wedding bouquet out of someday. I have a small stash of special buttons set aside just for this reason. I intend to make some more of these sweet little bouquets as gifts, maybe mothers day? Mom, forget I said that :)

If you'd like some of these for your home or to give someone special shoot me an email and we can discuss colors and I can work out a good price for you.

Ok off to brave this crazy weather and go sing!

order me!

Here's a flower hair pin I made for a girl from school. I love all the different color combos I can get with yarn and buttons (granted all three I've made have teal in them, ha). If anyone wants to order one in custom colors they're $7. I'd love to whip one up for you :) They could also look cute pinned on a purse, bag, on a sweater or anywhere else!!

viva!

Viva seems to be the theme of this post. Viva colorway in red heart yarn that is. I got two skeins of it a couple years ago to make a purse and when I started knitting it up I hated it. One of those yarns that looks great in a roll but the color scheme looks funky all knit up.


So, it just sat in a basket/bag/drawer for a while. I'd pull it out every once in a while and then shove it back. Poor thing. Then in my search for fun flowers to knit I remembered my viva. I wanted some variegated yarn for the center that would go with the sungold I was using. I pulled it out and the colors went well. I knit it up and loved it. Probably because you can just see a little swirl of the colors.


Then for some reason (I didn't want to do my homework) I thought it'd be fun to start a blanket to knit when I'm bored. It's nice to have a mindless project to knit away on while watching tv or when I'm too sleepy for increases, shaping, yo's and all that fun stuff.


The only yarns a I had a lot of was the viva and some white lion brand homespun. The white has no dye lot so I knew I could easily go buy more when this runs out...and it will. It's not the softest combo but I think it will be snuggly and will soften up once I wash it.

Ok back to knitting :)

two lips

I seriously love quick knits. I made this cute little flower tonight after band practice. I'd like to test it out with some different colors and maybe a leaf or two. I used a chopstick I had for the stem. I like the effect of the green coming out of the flower. (I know these pics are pretty craptastic and I'm hoping to get some better ones when the sun is up)

As much as I love these quick knits, I need something a bit bigger to work on. I've been wanting to start a cute little cardigan so maybe I can work on that over spring break. I'd love to make one to wear with my bridesmaids dress for after Stephanie's wedding ceremony (I get cold and the wedding is outside in early April..)

a life of color

As far back as I can remember I've always loved color. My room growing up had purple walls, blue shelves and a green door (all pastels). My first apartment had a hot pink living room and bright teal bedroom. My current bedroom is the same teal and my living room is grey with some purple accent walls. Love love love it! Even the candy canes hanging on my lamp are rainbow colors :)


I'm sure you've noticed most of my work is in an array of colors. Neutral and pale colors just don't do it for me.


Tonight I finished up a few small projects, all of which used a different color. I finished a new knit flower to wear in my hair. This one is black, a bit smaller, and has one of my vintage buttons from MeMaw in the center. I'm wearing it right now :)


I also found a bag of colorful wooden beads I got from church last year and decided to use a few of them. I crocheted a long chain stitch necklace in black yarn and hung two beads on the end. Very simple but the bold orange and pink really add something.


While admiring all the fun projects on one pretty thing i found a cute tissue holder tute. It's extremely simple. I used some yellow felt and sewed the edges with teal and lime green thread. I changed the original a bit by overlapping the opening edges a bit so the tissues would stay covered in my bag.


Such a productive evening (other than the fact that I did all this while not finishing up a project for class tomorrow, heh). Oh by the way, did yall know I sing in a praise/worship band? We played at a Disciple Now this weekend in Bastrop. I don't have pics of that but I got a pic of three of the guys setting up before our practice on Saturday. I love singing with them. (that's my david in the red shirt)