Mommy & Me Buttercup Bag
One of my good friends Laura just had her 30th birthday and her husband threw her a surprise party. She’s great at appreciating handmade items and I wanted to make something for her. She also has an adorable two year old daughter who needs some fun presents from me!
Because I’m active in a lot of online communities, I noticed that a lot of people have been making this ridiculously cute and easy purse called the Buttercup Bag. (follow the link to get the pattern for yourself from it’s designer “Made by Rae”).
This is an amazing and versatile pattern as you really can customize it however you see fit. I decided to make Laura and her daughter matching Buttercup bags.
For Laura’s I used the regular sized pattern, for her daughter’s I reduced the pattern by 85%. Laura tells me that they have “matching purse day” which is a great compliment and thrills me.
I used a heavy cotton from IKEA for the out part of the purse, here’s a closeup of that.
This is one of my favorite IKEA prints, so pretty without being overly “cutesy”.
The Buttercup Bag is getting a good internet following, make sure to check out the Flickr group for inspiration!
2 comments October 5, 2009
My Quilt
Well, first of all I’m a better crafter than blogger. I think we all know that now and that’s a dig at my blogging skills not a compliment to my crafting skills.
As of late, I have been obsessed with super cute crafting supplies from Japan. Thanks to the internet these have become available and I have been buying it up! A few months ago, I came across one of my now favorite sites. Superbuzzy. Superbuzzy specializes in imported craft supplies and every experience I’ve had with the store has been amazing; fast shipping, personal notes and even candy thrown in!
I purchased what is known to quilters as a “charm pack” which is a variety of fabrics, cut into 5 inch squares. Yardage wise this is expensive but the variety of fabrics that you get is amazing. Each of Superbuzzy’s charm packs had a total of 30 squares but the more common charm packs (made by Moda) have 40.
Early August I was looking at the squares and just started sewing them together. Then I would stack them, cut a weird angle and sew them back together creating a block filled with fabrics at all different angles.
Even if you hold the quilt in front of you, most people think that the blocks are printed this way. Not so! The other neat thing to note here is that every single fabric was a floral print. Not so “old lady”, eh?
When it was time for sashing (the green fabric around the blocks) I went with a vibrant green with tiny leaves, abstractly representing the leaves and stems of flowers.
Now to get super “mother earth goddess” on you, I chose a blue water droplet print to represent the rain that waters the flowers.
Are you rolling your eyes? I’m totally rolling my eyes and I’m the one who is writing this!
Here is the quilt in it’s glory.
(click the picture to be taken to a HUGE version if you’d like to see details!)
I’m very, very proud of this quilt. This is the first time in a very long time where I’ve trusted my creative instincts and really made an effort on not second guessing myself so much. The results paid off and I’m taking this as a valuable lesson. This quilt has become sentimental to me, I see it as turning point in my abilities and a marker in the journey of creativity.
OK to get even more disgustingly mushy, while making this I really thought a lot about the people in my life and how their love has nurtured me in ways that I didn’t think possible. I think this quilt might be a physical manifestation of the love I’ve received.
And this is where I’ll be ending the Lifetime movie segment of this post.
There are two blogs that I really, really used as resources that I wanted to point out.
1. Oh, Fransson! was my major resource and inspiration. Everything that you will need information wise is here. The probability of me writing her a craft love letter in the future is high.
2. Hello, My Name is Heather is where I learned how to bind my quilt. She provides a great tutorial!
Now that I have my first machine embroidered quilt under my belt, I’m ready to buy up the fabric stores and lock myself in my craft room!
2 comments September 28, 2009
The Best Wedding Shower or Baby Shower Favor Ever
I am so blessed to have a really tight knit circle of friends that are really and truly “there” for me when I need them. When I got married a few years back they all went out of their way to make my wedding shower and wedding day so special, so of course I wanted to reciprocate when it was their turn.
And wouldn’t you know that 2 of my 3 bridesmaids decided to have special occasions at about the same time! ARGH! Laura was getting married in May and Kristin was due with her first baby in mid-summer but she lives out of town and we needed to factor in some “safe” travel time! No one needs to give birth on a plane!
May was shower month, it wasn’t actually too horrible just tons of list making and thinking and planning. I’m also so lucky to have a Mom who *loves* hosting things like this so she really lent a huge hand.
I had the perfect shower favor in mind for both that I got from the Soap Queen blog (excellent, excellent blog!) but I altered it a little bit. Her recipe is for bath bombs (bombs fizz in the water) and I changed mine to solid bubble bath (crumble under running water for bubbles!). I didn’t go with the bath bombs because we’re in St. Louis which can really be known for it’s humidity and a batch of 50 ruined favors would make me go ape shit crazy. Seriously.
So, here is the batch I made for Laura’s wedding shower:
Pretty cute, eh? I was really proud of them!
Here’s a link to the receipie that I used for the “cake” part.
For the “frosting” I used the Soap Queen’s recipe listed on the link at the top of this post.
Here are the baby themed one’s I gave away at Kristin’s shower:
How lucky was I that Kristin was having a boy and that Laura’s favorite color is blue? Believe me, being able to color all that icing the same saved me some major work!
I also wanted to share with you some tricks that I learned from making these!
- I scented mine with a butter cream frosting scent that I purchased from Bramble Berry. If you’re making a big batch to give away try to go with a universally liked scent. Almost anything in the vanilla family is a safe bet!
- Purchase more Sodium Lauryl Sulfate than you think you’ll need! I couldn’t find this locally so I bought it from Bramble Berry as well, I didn’t want to mess up a batch and not have enough materials on hand!
- When working with Sodium Lauryl Sulfate you must be in a well ventilated area and wear proper protection. This stuff flies in the air and will give you a horrible, horrible coughing fit.
- You also must include instructions with every single cupcake that you hand out that this is not food and how to properly use it. How horrible would you feel if someone’s Grandma bit into this? Once again include instructions, word of mouth doesn’t cut it!
- To mold these, I used Wilton’s silicone baking cups and packed them like I was packing brown sugar into a measuring cup. The flexible molds made it super easy to gently unmold each cupcake.
- Let each unmolded cupcake dry for at least 24 hours before icing. I put mine on a cookie rack on a cookie sheet in the oven. (Cold oven and gave proper warning to everyone to not turn on the oven.)
- Go to your local party store to get cute toppers so you can theme each cupcake. Oriental Trading online is also a great resource!
- Please don’t put all this work into these and not properly wrap them. A piece of cellophane and a pretty ribbon is all you need! It’s always the details that send everyone over the edge!
- Try to buy your Cream of Tartar from the dollar store as it was the most expensive ingredient.
The best compliment I received regarding these was when one of the guests pulled me aside and asked if I would be interested in making some for an upcoming wedding shower that she was hosting!
Let me know if you have any comments or questions and please, please, please let me know if you make these. I’d love to link them and show them off!
2 comments August 10, 2009
I Have Big Ideas
Well, this is going to be something new; I’m going to talk about my crafty intentions instead of a crafty project.
Long story short, my husband and I purchased our first home in November. It’s been great, we really love our home and have been enjoying the slow but satisfying journey of putting our stamp on it. We are on the verge of finishing our kitchen which has been painted and outfitted with new appliances, counter tops and cabinets. We’re about to install a back splash and make the surprisingly difficult decision regarding hardware.
The hall bathroom might be the next candidate for some color (the whole house was painted in a very neutral beige that was great in the beginning but now I look at our walls and yawn) as I’ve been stalking this gorgeous shower curtain and will hopefully be purchasing it this week.
The one area of our home that is in desperate, desperate need for some love is our bedroom. It’s painted in the boring beige and it literally has nothing decorative in it, it’s purely functional. I keep looking at comforters online and in stores and nothing has really excited me. I’ve decided that once I figure out the bed covering, I’ll use that as the foundation for styling the room.
So, I’ve had horrible luck in finding something so it’s come to the time where I’ve decided to make something. I already have a nice down comforter, so I’ll make a duvet cover for it. As far as bedding goes, a duvet is a simple thing to make as it’s really only two large pieces of fabric sewn together. Once the duvet is made, coordinating pillows and curtains can follow. Easy! (Isn’t it funny how I’m saying the project is easy before I even start it?)
I’ve decided to make things a little more complicated to really bring home that “one of a kind” feeling. Here is a MS Paint version of what I plan to make.
1. Instead of searching for and purchasing yards and yards of fabric patterns that I like, I’m going to purchase bleached cotton to dye from Dharma Trading Co. Because I need a lot of yardage (duvet, pillows, curtains) and I need a decent quality, this fabric and the appropriate amount of dye will be the most cost effective way to go.
2. To create an interesting pattern on the blocks, I’m going to screen print a pattern on fabric and then add a few details of embroidery here and there. For the screen printing portion, I have my heart set on purchasing a Yudu, one of those new fangled screen printing machines. (Side note! Every purchase from my Etsy shop goes toward the Yudu! Go and buy!).
3. I have not come up with the pattern that I’m screenprinting yet. Hell, I haven’t even decided on what colors I’m going to use! to dye the fabrics!
So, there’s my prelimary battle plan of the start of the bedroom. I didn’t even touch upon the refinishing of the 100+ year old chiffarobe that I inherited and was told that I would be killed if I ever lost possession of.
2 comments July 28, 2009
Using my Stash
Instead of just hoarding my pretties, I’ve finally decided to make some things with them. Today I made some pendants using my vintage beads and buttons.
Here’s the group shot:
And here are some different angles of each one:
3 comments July 26, 2009
Etsy Picks July 22, 2009
Pretty Maids One – PDF Embroidery Pattern by loopsies
I actually purchased these a few months ago with every intention to at least create one. Unfortunately, I have even transferred one of these sweet dollies on to fabric. Shame on me. After ordering these, the PDF was in my inbox in about an hour, you can’t beat such amazing service. I am a huge fan of embroidery patterns that allow you to really get creative with customization like these. Can you imagine a whole quilt of these sweeties?! Make sure to check out her shop for set 2 & 3.
Bird Measuring Spoons by beehivekitchenware
When I first saw these, I IM’ed my husband and said that I was pretty sure I would die if I don’t have these in our new kitchen. I don’t own them yet but I still thinking death will be imminent without these. The funniest thing is that I actually am not a fan of birds in general but I do love all the cute bird imagery that’s out there. These spoons come with the mounting rack so they are actually functional art.
I am a huge fan of yellena’s style and would love to get a series of her prints for my living room. I really like how she can really capture a fresh, delicate feeling but use intense, saturated colors. I am a huge fan of color and am always trying to straddle that line of using as much as I can without looking like I live in a circus tent.
Add comment July 22, 2009
I’ve Made a Post Like This Before
Wow, it’s been months and I have a whole list of excuses as to why I haven’t posted.
I could list them off for you but the main one was that I really wanted to focus on a complete site redo and well, you can tell that didn’t happen. Time passed, life happened and that goal sort of slipped away. Of course the goal of this blog is to provide good content but I really wanted a better looking site. Ah well, not happening at this moment. Hopefully in the future, sooner than later.
I also need to stress that I never, ever stop crafting. I will always have one project that isn’t completed and now I have a great backlog of posts to write about.
For example:
1. In the month of May I threw a wedding shower and a baby shower for two of my closest friends. I made similar favors for both; solid bubble bath in the shape of cupcakes. They turned out a lot better than I had hoped! I’ll share my sources for the recipes and do a complete tutorial.
2. My husband and I are about to complete a total kitchen makeover and I have a lot of great before and after photos. I want all of your input regarding decorating!
3. I’ve started working on the Babette Blanket that I’ve talked about before. This is an amazing project; it’s super easy as long as you can keep at it. The intial investment was a little daunting for me, I purchased 17 skeins of different colors.
4. I’m in the middle of 2 quilts! One is pretty close to getting it’s binding!
5. Speaking of quilts, I just finished a Mini Art Quilt on Craftster. I loved what I gave and loved what I received.
6. I dove into the world of lino-cutting. So fun!
Ok, that’s all for now. I just wanted to reach out and say, “Hey, I’m still around and I’ll try better.” 
Add comment July 17, 2009
Small Projects for a Relaxing Weekend
One of my best friends gave me the book Creepy Cute Crochet; Zombies, Ninjas, Robots and More! as a birthday gift and I put it to good use this weekend.
Corporate Zombie
and the Ninja
I crocheted the Zombie first but like the Ninja better because it looks cleaner. I think I might have screwed up the head on the Zombie because it looks a little screwy. Hrm.
I also had some gorgeous Noro Kureyon Sock Yarn hanging around that I had no plans for so I used two strands at once and made this pouch for my new iPhone. (SQUEAL!)
Here’s the front:
And here’s the back:
I love Noro yarn, you couldn’t even imagine how pretty this is in real life!
6 comments February 8, 2009
You Make Great Things, You Receive Great Things
Here is the gorgeous pincushion that I received from my craft swap partner Anary!
Add comment February 6, 2009
The Project I Had to Wait a Month to Share
My wait is finally over!
I actually finished this about a month ago. It was for a Craftster swap where we had to make a pincushion for our partners, I had to wait until she received it so I wouldn’t ruin the surprise!. I knew I wanted to make something blue, covered in cherry blossoms as my partner had something similar wisted. I decided to splurge on some real wool blend felt for this project and headed off to the fabric store.
The fabric store had an array of the ugliest color’s known to man. I figured I could buy white felt and color it with Sharpie’s to get the colors I wanted.
After a few minutes of coloring and my hand aching (I was never a good colorer) I gave up on the Sharpie idea. I then decided to use artist’s chalks which turned out to be an amazing idea as not only could I color the felt quite quickly, I could also achieve a gradient effect.
As you can see, I used gradients all over this thing. Each (handcut I might add!) flower has a dark pink chalk round the rim, a light pink ring in the middle and was left blank to give it a white center. The bottom was done in a sky blue, the top and top rim in a green, one circle in the sky blue again and a circle of a blue green color. The butterfly is yellow and green.
The flowers were individually sewn on and each flower has 3-5 french knots as the center.
Mr. Butterfly was added to fill up a bit of space and because I wanted an excuse to throw a dash of a different color. Stuffing his wings with polyfill was a pain in the ass.
I sewed him on the side of the pincushion, but now that I think about it, I should have attached a pin back so he could be repositioned.
As a last minute detail, I added a few Swarovski beads to add a little sparkle all around it.
The pin cushion was all stitched in blanket stitch and before closing it up, I glued a think piece of cardboard to the bottom piece inside to it would be stable. This was a very good move as the felt expanded with all the stuffing!
I received the most wonderful email from my partner telling me how much she loved it. I really loved making this and told her that I think this might be the best thing that I’ve ever sent out in a Craftster swap.
3 comments February 4, 2009
My Pin Cushion Addiction…
(I think I keep making them because I keep picturing my “work in progress” craft studio and the lovely pin cushion that I would like to have in there!)
Added to my Etsy Store this afternoon…
A checker board pin cushion,
A sweet green and blue pin cushion,
and some fancy straight pins,
2 comments January 18, 2009
I’ve Finally Put Something in My Etsy Store
Ever since participating in a Craftster pincushion swap, I’ve been addicted to making pincushions. I decided to throw it out on my store to see what happens.
It’s all hand stitched out of a wool blend felt that I hand colored. I think the end result is so nice, it was such a joy to make.
Inspiration hit and I even made some straight pins that look like fancy gemstones.
1 comment January 11, 2009
Holy Crap, I Made Bread!!!
Hot damn!
OK I’m crafty, we all know that but I’m not that experienced in the kitchen. I’m OK in the kitchen, I can follow a recipe as long as it’s not too hard and the kitchen’s I’ve lived with in the past ten years have been about the size of a cubicle. Of course the size of a kitchen shouldn’t be an issue as long as you have the basic tools (stove, fridge) but it’s just so uninspiring when you can barely turn around in your space.
Anyway, I’ve been wanting to try to make bread for a long time and decided to start out with some inspiration from Not Martha and her experience with the No Knead Bread Recipe.
It’s very few ingredients (that are really inexpensive) and as long as you have the right pot and the timing correct it should be a success. The catch to this bread? It needs to rise for 18-20 hours, timing is everything here!
Here’s my first loaf just out of the oven.
I totally burned my hand getting it out of the oven because I was excited, I now have a blister. Fabulous.
We’re having it for dinner tonight with my homemade turkey chili that’s simmering on the stove as I type! Isn’t it pretty?
5 comments January 1, 2009
Dorkin’ Out
I’m sure that I picked up this phrase from some movie or television show, but to me “Dorking Out” is when you get childishly excited over something that to the normal person is silly or stupid.
For Christmas, my Mom (who totally understands what makes me dork out) bought me an origami kit that makes Japanese dolls. I’m willing to bet that the kit was for a child, maybe a tweener but it was filled with pretty papers and pretty decent instructions and the whole thing made me quite happy.
I’m also pretty sure that this gift was put under the tree for me because my husband is really good at origami, hence a recent Facebook update of his that stated “More bacon for the origami king!” (Mom rewarded him with bacon when he helped me out with a confusing fold and yelled out “More bacon for the origami king!” as she served him his prize.)
I even added more dorkiness to the situation with another present from her; Martha Stewart’s 24 pack of glitter. I’ve never really had much of a use for glitter as I’m into fabric, thread and yarn but I’ve always wanted to use glitter on something, I just never really had a use for it. If you’re looking for an excuse to buy glitter, just go ahead and get Martha’s assortment pack, every color is named after gemstones.
First was this lady, who needs a touch of glue on her right sleeve. Note the sapphire glitter in the middle of the flowers.
Then came an easy peasy little girl who got peridot glitter.
The third girl is my favorite so far, she was made from the prettiest papers and her hair style is the best.
There’s much more paper to play with and I think I might frame one or two of these to hang in my huge project that’s going on now; the creation of my craft studio!
3 comments December 28, 2008
Book Review!
Things are just so crazy in my world at the moment I can hardly catch my breath. Between closing on our first home and working there just isn’t enough time to catch my breath.
My sweet husband and I though have made a point to have a few dates here and there though and my favorite date has got to be dinner and the bookstore. In all honesty, I rarely ever buy the fancy craft books from the bookstore, I pet and inspect them and then order them off of Amazon (almost always cheaper!). Two weeks ago I found a book that I had to have at that very moment.
I love felt food, I’ve never made it but I love it. I have a crafty LiveJournal friend who has made some seriously cute felt food. I’ve also been in the market to purchase some of that luxurious 100% wool felt instead of using cheap acrylic.
Look at what you can make. THIS IS MADE OUT OF FELT, PEOPLE!
Are you dying of cuteness? I am!
Of course, I haven’t made a single darn thing out of it yet. I haven’t even ordered my fancy felt but I will say, this book is worth every single penny just for the pictures alone.
In the back are detailed instructions and patterns to make everything. Fabulous. This is one for everyone’s craft book library.
1 comment November 6, 2008
Dutch Russian
Over the weekend, I caught a nasty cold. Lucky for me, I was off all weekend so I parked my butt on the couch, watched some movies and stitched.
And then I stitched some more. And then I kept on stitching.
My favorite cloth to stitch on is a piece of an Aunt Martha pillowcase. The fabric is stiff and has almost no stretch. I couldn’t imagine using it for a pillowcase, let alone putting it anywhere next to the skin (maybe after a 1000 washes?).
I started stitching this little sweetie Saturday afternoon and finished her Sunday night. She was made with DMC satin floss (LOVE!), one tiny vintage button and a handful of glass seed beads to add a hint of glimmer.
After I was done with the embroidery, I sewed a piece of 100% wool felt to the back and then added some ric-rac to a piece of bias tape for a hanger.
She’ll be hanging on the door of my craft studio when we move into our new house (in only two weeks!).
4 comments October 20, 2008
Embroidery on the Go!
I believe that knitting is probably the number one portable craft, but my protable craft of choice is embroidery.
It’s probably not that most intelligent choice, you need lots of sharp things like tiny needles and tiny scissors, but I have a small case that carries everything I need.
Because I work two jobs, I like to carry around my projects for that boring lunch hour or if I get a short break where I need to be quiet for a few moments. I recently finished 2 tea towels and then spent last Sunday night putting a little trim on each one and backing them with a coordinating fabric.
Both of my tea towels came from Sublime Stitching, as I agree with a lot of the girls over at Craftster, they have the best texture to stitch on.
I stitched this one because I was looking for an excuse to use that bobble trim that I kept seeing at Joann’s Fabric. The pattern is from Sublime Stitching but part of Jenny’s Artist Series, this one was designed by Lisa Petrucci.
Because I work two jobs, I like to carry around my projects for that boring lunch hour or if I get a short break where I need to be quiet for a few moments. I recently finished 2 tea towels and then spent last Sunday night putting a little trim on each one and backing them with a coordinating fabric.
I backed this one with a predominatley orange batik fabric that had tiny but vibrant bits of yellow throughout.
You can kind of see the texture of the towels in this last picture. See how I got that grid effect in the puppy’s fur? That’s due to the texture of the towel, it’s almost comparable to a looser cross stitch fabric called Aida cloth.
This mermaid towel was a crafty feeling I had last week and I needed a project to keep my hands busy. I had iron on the pattern month ago but never went any further.
Her tail and the gold flecks in her hair were done with DMC’s satin floss, which is one of my favorite threads to use when I have to fill in larger spaces. The satin floss seems to be able to fill in more quickly, that might be my mind doing tricks on me though. The large ric-rac was an afterthough, sort of the top of the waves in the ocean.
This one was also backed with a batick fabric, it has a blue-ish green bubbly texture; it felt very “under the sea”.
I wish I could have gotten a better picture of the texture of the starfish. He es done all in french knots, so he’s got a swirly texture.
No matter what, there will always be wrinkles around her tail *sigh*
The bubbles were done in a very light blue with a touch of iridescent blending filament. Very bubbly and shiny.
2 comments July 16, 2008
Sorry.
I’m sorry…I really am and have no excuse for my extended absence.
I have an offering though, how about a picture of my new kitten?
3 comments July 8, 2008
The Holga and Diana Went to The Park…
click on each picture to be taken to my Flickr so you can see the full size
At the Botanical Gardens, this is right at the entrance to the Japanese Gardens. Such a beautiful place.
A mosaic statue of a person praying.
A close up of some flowers, there’s something very dreamy about it.
1 comment June 2, 2008
