up for grabs!

Just wanted to let you know that The Apronista is running a giveaway this week in which this apron is the prize! All you have to do is head over there and there are three ways to get your name in from her site. Good luck everyone!

Also, just a reminder that today is the last day of the September giveaway on my Facebook page. All you have to do is become a fan and I will enter your name in a draw for a custom handbag. Each month after that you will be automatically entered in a draw just for being a fan! Fun times. I will post the winner for this contest tommorrow – stay tuned!

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etsy favourites

Because I need to kill time like a hole in the head. But here you go anyways….my favourite five this week, inspired by the season.

First up, I LOVE these little owls.   Apparently so does Stella, who just peeked over my shoulder. She wants you to know owls say “HOO HOO”.

I am SO in love with this little fall ensemble. I have yet to attempt a coat, and I am in awe of people who can do it this well.

Next up is this coffee table, which I am coveting very much. I think his work is some of the most unique furniture that I have seen in awhile.

I also am smitten with this sweet pottery ring. I think the bird’s nest is just adorable.

 

And the final pick on my list today is everything in this shop. I would love to put this in my living room. (Are you listening anniversary fairy?) 

I am being summoned by “the Boss” so I better run. She is singing and keeps saying “Hear that? Hear that mom?” after every phrase she sings. It is just as awesome in person.

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second chances

I was looking back through my photos tonight and thought I would share my top 10 ways to re-purpose clothing items into other items.  I have been working with recycled fabrics more and more, and I love the process of changing something into something else. I find it much more creative and challenging because each piece has different elements to work with, and each piece is a different process of designing and creating. Here are my ten favourite transformation processes.

1.  Adult Sweaters into Baby Pants

 

I make a LOT of these and they all come out so differently depending on the type of sweater. I have used all kinds of sweaters, all sizes, colours, textures and the one thing in common is how cute they look on those little baby legs. I love to put them under dresses and skirts, but they are really adorable on their own too.

2. Adult Sweater into Baby Romper

This project needs a very specific type of sweater, but when it works, it doesn’t get much cuter. Total seams: 3 plus sewing on the straps.

3. Adult shirt into Baby Dress

I have found this process works well with lots of women’s button up shirts. Basically, you just make everything smaller and take out the collar. Easy peasy.

4. Adult Skirt into Toddler Dress

For this dress, I used a light cotton skirt that had a lining. I added in pleats across the front and back until it was the right size, cut in arm holes and added shoulder ties.

5. Kid’s Skirt into Baby Dress

 

For this dress I used a kid’s skirt and just added a yoke to the top. Sometimes you need to take the skirt in at the sides, or shorten it, but this is a super easy project and works well with lots of different kinds of skirts.

6. Mini Skirt into Handbag

  

This is also a really easy upcycle. Take out any zippers, sew the bottom closed, and add in a lining and handles. I especially like to use skirts with pockets and pleats.

7. Skirt into Half Apron

The options for these are ENDLESS. Basic process involves cutting up the back, adding ties, adding pockets and embellishing. I have had a lot of fun with these.

8. Sundress into Full Apron

This is also an easy flip with lots of room to add creative touches. Sundresses with pockets in them are my favourites!

9. Skirt into Smock

This is a really fun process as well. I just add ties in the back and a halter tie at the neckline and then whatever embellishments I feel led to. These are my go to style of apron for everyday.

10. Skirt into Full Apron

This works really well with a fuller poufy skirt. I just made the bodice and added it to the skirt, cut the skirt up the back and added ties.

I hope this list inspires you to experiment with some recycling projects of your own! It was fun to look back over some of the things I have made. Now I need to start working on ten more ideas!

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my weekend so far

So far this weekend has involved the following:

-hearing Stella say ” I wove you mommy” for the first time. Up until now she has “woved” pizza, various songs, parties and horses but not me. So it was nice to hear.

- falling in love with U2 again. For the millionth time.

- buying veggies at the Farmer’s Market. Dancing with Stella to the live music. Being the only people dancing. Carrying Stella to the car kicking and screaming because she wanted to keep dancing. Sigh.

- endless talking about and visiting “the big digger” that is in our driveway for the weekend while we work on a retaining wall project. (We meaning Will.)

- dinner out last night for Will’s birthday and Stella “cleaning” every surface she could reach with baby wipes. Also, Stella LICKING the bathroom counter at the restaurant and my subsequent gagging.

- a baby shower for some friends with good food, conversation and a horde of little girls. Seriously…6 families and no little boys. Crazy. But fun for Stella.

- not working. For a change.

- playing at the park with one of Stella’s little buddies and her mama. Enjoying the conversations two year olds have with each other and conversation with a good friend.

- grocery shopping trip. Not especially exciting, but I gave Stella two little pumpkins and she immediately decided we needed a “daddy one too”. So we came home with three little pumpkins. Also, at the checkout Stella informed me “I be bossy! I tell you!”.

- tacos for dinner. Only mentioned because Stella broke up a taco chip into tiny pieces, held up a miniscule piece and said “its a baby triangle”. Then held the chip up to her ear like she was cuddling it.

- Stella informing me that she made a “play do party”. I have no idea what that means, but she was very excited.

I’ll keep you posted on the rest of the weekend. I can’t believe it is only halfway through!

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oo la la

A few weeks ago I asked the lovely Tineke to do a little fashion shoot for me, and these are some of the shots we ended up with. It was a lot of fun to not be taking the pictures for a change, and to see my work from someone else’e perspective.  

 

If you are interested there are more shots here.

I took some new dresses and hats into Bo Peep today (for you locals) and I will be taking some winter hats in later this week as well. I better be getting back to work…I am planning a handbag update at The Breeze on Friday and I have a lot more to get done before then! It might be a late night. Again.

 

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more than the sum of it’s parts

Number of passengers: 2

Number of hours driving: 6

Number of times this was demanded from the back seat : Eleventy billion.

Number of toys I remembered to bring with us: 0

Number of emergency trips to the nearest town (an hour away) to get some toys: 1

Number of random bear statues in that town: 1

Number of days without Daddy: 4

Number of tantrums: 4, including one at 2 am, and one because she fell asleep in the car and missed the waterfall.

Number of days without indoor plumbing: 3

Number of gallons of water hand pumped: 58

Number of play-dough sessions: 1372

Number of times we did the same puzzle: 358

Number of rocks thrown in the lake: Lost track after 567

Number of blueberries that made it back to the cabin: Not many.

Number of blueberry filled diapers: 1 XL

Number of times I heard “I carry you!” (meaning “carry me”)  and saw this face: 27

Number of traumatizing experiences with sparklers: 1

Number of very helpful MIL’s: 1

Number of times I had to laugh at my kid and how cute she was: 2938457586

I guess it was worth it.

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busy bee

Hi! Welcome to my blog if you are new here. I have noticed some new people stopping by thanks to the Apronista and my pal Swistle.  Nice to have you here!!!

The creative juices have been flowing this week, and I finally got a chance to take some pictures today and get some new items listed in my shop. My favorite new piece (which I have to say in advance, I just can’t sell) is this little romper set made from a sweater I found last week. It was a deep V neck sweater, which meant all I had to do to make the shorts was sew ONE seam. Then I made the top using the tie that came with the sweater as straps, and the bottom edge of the sweater became the top edge of the romper. 3 seams later, I have a little shirt. I absolutely LOVE the way this looks on Stella – it is almost too small but I just have to keep it. Sorry.  ** Will just walked by and said it looks like lederhosen. HA! I still love it.*

Another experiment this week was turning this shirt into a dress.

This is what I ended up with:

I had to try and put the inserts in more than once, and they came out in the end a little goofy. Also, the sleeves are a bit too long for how small the bodice is. It works on Stella only because she is super skinny and tall, but I will definitely have to work on my sizing. I consider this a sample, and will either keep it or give it away, but it was a good learning experience, and hopefully the next shirt I tackle will come out a bit better. If any of you super sewers have any tips for those kind of insets, (I am not even sure what they are technically called) I am all ears. I love the look of the two fabrics together though, and the puffed sleeves kill me.

I was able to do a bit of a photo shoot with Stella today, but only because I had gummi bears, and then only for a very short time. I didn’t think the gummies had much sugar in them – they were the “organic” natural kind (like that somehow makes them better for her – I know!)  and I didn’t give her many, but by the end of the shoot she was running crazy circles around this little park, and would only run away from me. The last three pairs of pants I tried to get photos of, all I could get was shots of the back. Crazy monkey. This was the end result of the gummi bears – streaking through the park yelling ” I wike to move it move it!” I guess gummi bear bribery isn’t really the best option. Sigh.  Any other ideas?

 

I did manage to get enough shots to do a little shop update though.

                

These, and some others are all in the shop.

** I wanted to mention to my local buddies that if you want to buy something through my online shop, I will refund the shipping and drop it off somewhere or you can pick it up from me. **

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just for fun

I made this little doll and quilt for a sweet little friend’s birthday and it was so much fun to craft …for fun. I love what I do, but it is so nice to make something for the pure joy of giving it to someone else. I need to make room in my life to do that more often. It is the most rewarding kind of crafting. If I could do that all the time I would be in crafting heaven.

I had the most fun making the quilt. It feels so good to use up so many tiny scraps that I love but that are too small for anything but quilts. It has been a long time since I have done a little quilt and it was a nice change from what I have been doing. I used a really soft minky on the back and put a layer of flannel in between the top and the minky. I didn’t have enough of any one fabric to make the binding so I patched it and I think it turned out in the end. I am so thankful to the chicken for this tutorial. Now I use this technique all. the. time.

So now I am back to the regular stuff…this week’s schedule includes lots of sweater pants, some bags and some aprons. I am hoping to do an online shop update this week as well. I will keep you posted!

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5 favorites

It has been a little while since I shared some Etsy favorites with you and I am in need of a little break from sewing so here we go. I think this week I will share some of my favorite crafty recyclers since I am a recycler myself.

First up, this broken plate ring is just fantastic. I love it when people use things in such a way that you can’t tell that it is recycled. This would definitely be in heavy rotation on my hand if I had it. I am tempted.

Next up are these belt buckles from MaxineDear. The graphic is a vintage children’s book cover. I gave one of these for a Christmas gift last year and the quality of the metalwork is really really good too.

 

I am also really digging this felted sweater pillow. I use a lot of sweaters but I don’t do a lot of felting. I this would look great on my couch.

On the topic of felting, I LOVE these little houses by eikothefelter. I think they are absolutely adorable.

And number five on my list this week is these sweater skirts by handmade pretties. I have been making pants for a long time, but I would have never thought of doing skirts. I think these are pretty funky! I love seeing what other crafters make with the same kind of materials that I work with. It is really neat to see how differently they approach it and how different the results are.

Well, back to work for me. Hope you are all having a wonderful weekend!

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join the club

Hi all! Two posts in one day …will you look at me go. I just wanted to mention that I have started an email newsletter mailing list. I am planning to send out monthly craft projects and coupons in the newsletter so you will want to sign up!!! Just enter your name and email in the sign up  boxes here. I promise never to use your email for anything other than the newsletter and I promise not to spam you. Pinky swear promise! I just want to stay in touch!!

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