Inspiration Book

When I took the perfumes class with Lori, she talked about keeping a notebook of all the perfumes you've made and what you think of them, etc. etc....

And I don't make a lot of perfumes, but I do make a lot of other things, so I decided to put everything in a small "inspiration" book.

So this is where I keep things I want to try, make, or whatever. And also comments about what I think once an item is made. Here's a glimpse of a couple pages where I found a couple items of clothings I want to try to sew/knit:

San Francisco Bead and Design Show

This is something fun Nick and I did a few weekends back :) We got a postcard in the mail that got us in to the Show for free, so we just got to see all the pretty things. There were a couple things that I thought were worth mentioning: one I couldn't find a card for, but she did cool enamel flowers on bracelets and hair pins, and watch part necklaces and bracelets. Very pretty :)

2. Elemental Adornments. The bird houses and journal necklaces are sooo pretty. I would get in one a heartbeat! If I could afford it :/

3. Fabric into Jewels. This was a super cool shop where the artist builds her pendants out of cloth and beads, soaks them in a glue, and then when they dry slices them into beads. It makes for some very beautiful pieces!

New Bag

At the Coarsegold Peddler's Fair on Labor Day weekend (another adventure while with Mom) I made eyes at Mr. Nicholas and he bought me this beautiful treasure:

Isn't it great? Not only is it a great pattern on the outside:

It's also a great pattern on the inside! Plus it's handmade! I pretty much love it :)

Card for Daddy

So this shows you how behind I am on posting my crafts: Here is my Father's Day Card! But this could be used for pretty much any holiday, I promise.

I gathered four colors of construction paper (two neutrals and two colors), markers, scissors, an envelope, and some "extras" (yarn, a sea shell, some buttons, a cool tag, and a little heart left over from Valentine's Day).

My first step was to cut the neutral colored construction paper to the size of the envelope. I made sure to leave myself a little room, since I intended the card to be pretty thick. Then I cut the two colored papers a tad smaller than the neutrals.

 

I made several of each of these so that I would be sure to have plenty of extras if I needed them. (P.S. See my Cup Cozy? It's a love thing :) )

After they were cut, I glued (just with a plain glue stick) one piece of colored construction paper onto each piece of neutral. I decided to keep the colors consistent, so all the greens are glued to white, and the yellows to black.

 

I had a couple pieces of colored paper left over, so I set them aside. Then I made my "Title Page." I wanted this to be the first page my Daddy saw.

This could be an introduction to a list, like I did here, or the beginning of a story, or even just a name or title, which would leave you with a lot more freedom inside the card. As you can see, I added a small embellishment by stitching over the first letter.

On the next page, I listed my first reason, added another embellishment (buttons this time) and then connected it to the first page, like so:

  

I kept adding pages, punching holes in the top and bottom and tying them together, to get a longer card.

 

On the last panel, I went ahead and added a real letter that was less playful.

 

And then I folded the whole thing accordion-style, so that only the title page was showing:

And tucked it into the envelope.

 

Remember the remaining sheets of colored paper? I used one to create a "Yay for Daddies" tag on the back:

And I glued the last one on the front of the envelope to make it less plain and boring :)

I'm pretty happy with how it turned out-- especially because my Daddy liked it!

Wine Bottle Candle Holders (A Picture Update)

 

Previous post here :)

Fixed Found Shirt

Remember the shirt I found on the ground? Well I got around to fixing it. Here's what it looked like before:

 

Clearly I'm not too happy about how it looks. The first step was to change the collar:

I think just folding back the collar is a good way to make it look younger, without ruining the integrity of the piece (it still has an old-fashioned vibe, without being old-fashioned).

 

I like to use a contrasting thread, but that's just me. While the first half was simple, the second half required that I remove some buttons.

 

Then I matched the fold and sewed that side down, too.

 

The next step is to fix the sleeves. I thought maybe the best thing would be to take out the shoulder pads, but they're not the normal removable ones I'm used to:

 

So instead I just decided to make the sleeves short. My options were traditional short sleeves, or cap sleeves.

  I decided to start with short sleeves, and then change them if I wasn't happy with the look.

 

I cut out the extra sleeve:

 

And tried it on.

 

Much better! I made the other side the same, finished the edges:

 

( note that there are better ways to do this), and cut off the excess:

 

And now it's a wearable top :)

Found Blouse

I found this blouse on the ground (yes, the ground) and here you can see it folded in how I think I'm going to change it so that it is younger-looking:

 

I will update when it is finished :)

Wine Bottle Candle Holders

I have always, always wanted to set up tapers in wine bottles so that the bottle is eventually covered in dripping wax. So now that I have my own place, I've set some up! (Yes, I have really only bought two bottles of wine since I've moved here. Shocking, right?)

 

I'll post more pictures as it gets more awesome!

P.S. It's troubling how few tapers are marked as either drip-less or not. This is something that should be clearly marked, right?!

More new clothes

This is another of the skirts I got from my Mom. I love wearing patterned skirts with solid tops. I mean, I think the look is nice, but other than that I just love patterned skirts. This one is especially cool; those strips aren't printed on the fabric-- they're just zig zag stitching in various tightnesses and widths to create cool stripes. I thought about doing it with my new sewing machine for about five seconds...and then realized I do not have the patience for that! But it would be fun for a little while :)

New Clothes

My Mom cleaned her closet out of the things she doesn't really like anymore, which resulted in me getting a few "new" things!

 

I don't know why, but I love wearing my Mom's clothes. They're so professional and pretty, and I think everything mixes into my wardrobe really well. The dress is what I got from her in this outfit; the belt, sweater, necklace, and leggings were already mine (although I'm pretty sure she made me the necklace, too). 

I think another reason I like pieces that weren't originally mine is because it gives me the chance to try new fashions and ideas that I wouldn't have bought myself. 

This dress seems a little 90's doesn't it? I always thought I didn't like 90's clothes because that's what I wore when I was a kid...but I really like this dress, so maybe I was wrong!

The Ball

Guess what I forgot?! Finished dress photos :)

See previous posts through this link.

Greyhounds

I wanted to do a post about the Greyhound rescue dogs, because I really like that they save these dogs that would otherwise just be put down. I think Nick and I plan on adopting one some day; My Aunt used to have one, and he was pretty awesome :)

Up Your ear

I've seen these earrings a lot, and I think they're super pretty, so I thought I'd share. The only bad thing about earrings is that they react pretty badly with my skin, so I can't really wear them. What's nice about this company is that they sell several kinds of earrings that don't require piercings. Pretty cool, huh?

Rewind

So today, how about some cool jewelry? His website is pretty sparse, but it's well worth spending a few minutes on. We saw his work at Big Hat Days and I just thought it was fantastic.

Scentsy

So there was lots of cool things at Big Hat Days in Clovis when we went, and this is one of the things that I thought was pretty interesting. These little clay pots are warmed by a light bulb, which melts the scented wax-- but the wax never gets hot or anything. Pretty cool, huh?

Cool Push Pins

 

Aren't the pins I bought for my hand-made wine cork boards pretty? Well guess what-- they're not really meant for cork boards. They're upholstery nails! We were at OSH picking up hinges for the tortilla maker, and my brother noticed these hanging with the boring ones. Lucky, lucky me :)

Doors

 

I absolutely love doors. I think they can be so extraordinarily pretty, and not just to close off the front of your house! I have two major ideas that I would like to use doors for some time in the future; I want to use one as a dining room table, and make it smooth buy pouring resin over it; I would also like to use three doors with heavy duty hinges to make a sort of folding screen. I think this would be especially cool with screen doors to use in a garden (like for vines) but also with shutters for indoors (to soften a corner or separate a space) or with regular wooden doors for outdoors to separate a space. 

All of these doors are from Harmony.

Harmony

I think Harmony is such a sweet place. It's super quiet, it has a couple great shops (glass blowing and ceramics) and the patio area is very beautiful. If I ever remember, I'm going to come here for a picnic some time!!

Morro Bay Yard Sales

So you know how much I love yard sales and street fairs! I wanted to introduce you to a great event that I attended a couple weekends back with my Mom, Step Dad, Step Brother, and Brother; the Morrow Bay Yard Sale Weekend. There were over a hundred listed sales, plus bunches that were unlisted. We all got some great stuff-- I bought (pictured) around 1000 yards of acryllic yarn, several pair of knitting needles, some yarn sewing needles, and a wireless router, all for less than 15 $! The event is annual, so check the calendar for updates!

Tortillas

So my brother was just in Mexico and while he was there he say these tortilla makers for sale. But instead of buying one, he decided he would rather make one.

So once we came up with the finished press, we then had to find out how to make tortillas! We used an online recipe, and were generally happy with the results we got.However, we were a little disappointed by the fact that our tortillas shriveled up as soon as we pulled them out of the press. After all the work building the thing, it turned out it was a lot easier to make the tortillas using a rolling pin. However, I found online that you may be able to get around the shriveling by using unbleached flour, so maybe try that!And it's fairly good to note, that it took a LOT of practice to get pretty tortillas!! So don't give up after the first one :)