You can do it too!

 
Earlier this week customer Cammie called and inquired whether I knew someone who could sew an awning cover for her. After talking with her for a few minutes I told her to just bring it in and I'd take a look at it and I thought that with my guidance she could make this herself.

Today she brought in the fabric and the wooden frame her carpenter built for her and we tackled it together. We did some math, measuring and digging around in the basement for a few little supplies until we completed this awesome awning!
 
And we had a lot of fun doing it too. She has very little sewing experience but she was perfectly capable of "following the scalloped line" and sewed the little edging perfectly on the first try. Then we had to get "Girl Scout creative" with our staple gun with a too short cord and no working extension cord and a little more garbage picking to put it all together.

All in all a very satisfying project and now Cammie can tell all the visitors to her basement Ice Cream Parlor that "I made that!" and be deservedly proud of her achievement.

Something Wicked This Way Comes

     

Have I ever mentioned that I LOVE HALLOWEEN?
Artgirlz has such cool stuff anyway but I just fell in love with their special Halloween items. Friday after school Emma and I played with the mixed bag of black and orange felt balls in various sizes. They call them their pumpkin and spider collection. So of course I made a few of each of those! I used the teeny-tiny balls with seed beads to make eyes on the big spiders. Strong thread and a short piece of brown pipe cleaner makes a really cute pumpkin.

The Witch Kits are my favorite. (I also have two similar kits for Christmas, an elf and a tree.)

Sometimes I impress even myself

 
Last week Emma sketched out what she wanted her Halloween costume to look like. She decided she wanted to be a fairy but not a "Disney Princess Fairy". More like a Woodland Sprite kind of fairy.

She came into the store with me today and on our way we stopped at Joann's (yes, even I still shop there on occassion!) for materials. We found this metallic stretchy fabric that looked like magical tree bark or something. I added three colors (black,brown and tan) shimmery tulle and some dark olive green cotton knit and we had the makings of a Woodland Fairy costume.

Going by her vision and sketch plus a few ideas of my own this is what we came up with today. The gathered tulle and petals didn't have enough give to fit over her head so I had to come up with a way to close up an open back. I refuse to put zippers in Halloween costumes so I decided to make loops and lace up the back of the bodice with black satin ribbon. This left the problem of the "hospital gown effect" in the back of the skirt. I solved that by making one more green petal and hand sewing it to one side of the skirt and putting a hook and eye closure on the other side. She also plans to wear a pair of black stretch velvet gymnastic shorts under it on Halloween.

It was a lot of fun working together on this project and coming up with an original design. This will probably be the last Halloween costume I'll get to make for one of my girls so I had to go out with a bang!

Fall brings changes.

 
Yesterday I got another wild hair and decided to rearrange the entire store. I moved all the fabric to the front room along with the purple table. Now all the sewing things are in one room and it is more open and bright. I also redid the big table with a small fall display and the mantel with a holiday display.
   
Now the smaller room has all the other non-fabric crafts and supplies. I also managed to find room for the cutting table so I don't have to go in back to cut fabric for customers anymore.
 

I found this general MeMe this morning on my blog reading rounds.
1. Do you like blue cheese? Not really.
2. Have you ever smoked cigarettes? Yes.
3. Do you own a gun? No. You'll shoot your eye out!
4. What flavors Kool Aid was your favorite? Cherry, with a LOT of sugar in it!
5. Do you get nervous before doctor appointments? Sometimes.
6. What do you think of hotdogs? Koegel hot dogs are awesome! Wish we could get them here in IL.
7. Favorite Christmas movie? A Christmas Story (see #3)
8. What do you prefer to drink in the morning? water & tea
9. Can you do push ups? Not military style! Maybe one "girly" pushup.
10. What’s your favorite piece of jewelry? The diamond tennis bracelet Steve gave me for our 10th anniversary.
11. Favorite hobby? Making stuff, the medium depends on my current mood.
12. Do you have A.D.D.? No. Well maybe. Probably. Uh, no! Oooo! Shiney!
13. Do you wear glasses/contacts? I did for the majority of my life and was blind without them. But I got Lasik surgery a few years back and it changed my life.
14. Middle name? Anne
15. Name 3 thoughts at this exact moment?
a - I want a cup of tea.
b - Am I going to get any customers today (this week?)
c- XRT is the best radio station in Chicago.
16. Name 3 drinks you regularly drink? water, milk, vodka
17. Current worry? Will my business survive the first year? Will I?
18. Current hate right now? Hate is a strong word but I really, really, really don't like a certain VP candidate and that as a relatively conservative woman I'm expected to fall down in joy at their nomination.
19. Favorite place to be? Scotland
20. How did you bring in the New Year? Uh. I don't remember! Knowing us there was alcohol involved and making snarky comments about Ryan Seacrest.
21. Where would you like to go? Prague and back to Scotland.
22. Name three people who will complete this. No idea.
23. Do you own slippers? Yes, handknit felted clogs in two shades of purple.
24. What shirt are you wearing? I wildly patterned top from Lane Bryant I bought this summer. This is probably the last time I'll wear it. It is getting too faded. But it is comfortable!
25. Do you like sleeping on satin sheets? No.
26. Can you whistle? Yes, but I can't carry a tune.
27. Favorite color? Purple with green as a close second.
28. Would you be a pirate? A silly Johnny Depp style pirate? Yes. An evil hostage taking bandit style pirate? No.
29. What songs do you sing in the shower? I don't.
30. Favorite Girl’s Name? Regina Mulva
31. Favorite boy’s name? Charles
32. What’s in your pocket right now? lint?
33. Last thing that made you laugh? Something I read on a Ravelry board this morning.
34. What vehicle do you drive? 2001 Volvo station wagon.
35. Worst injury you’ve ever had? Deep tissue bruising on my hip from a fall.
36. Do you love where you live? I'm not sure I go as far as to say I LOVE it right now.
37. How many TVs do you have in your house? I think 6. But only 2-3 of those ever get watched.

Pumpkin PDF added

Here is a link to the downloadable pdf of the fabric pumpkins I made last Saturday. I'll also add the pattern to the Free Pattern page and to the original post.
 
pumpkin-pattern

New Products: Hemp, Spray Fabric Paint and UTEE

I was finally able to add a couple new product lines that I've had my eye on since CHA this summer.

  
First off is a selection of hemp twine and hemp jewelry making books. The panel of teens and 'tweens I had the pleasure of listening to tell us old folks what was cool with Generation Z were all about the hemp jewelry. I have large balls of twine for big projects of for those of you who want a budget friendly way to make lots of pieces for gifts. I also have variety packs that include colored hemp for special projects or for those of you who would like to try your hand at the old/new craft without investing in a lot of materials.

This seems like a good time and place to insert a little story and warning. A few years back my daughters got into making friendship bracelets out of embroidery floss and eventually, hemp twine. They had one of these big balls in a bag along with some beads in their bedroom. After a while after they had moved on to other creative pursuits (the eclectic crafter thing is hereditary!) the hemp was forgotten. Fast forward a few months when I take the dogs in for their annual exams. Heidi, the Bernese Mt. Dog, needs her teeth cleaned. I make an appointment, take her in on the appointed day and nervously wait for the vet's call. Any time a big dog like her is sedated it is scary. A few hours later I get a call from my vet. It seems that when they began the teeth cleaning she discovered a string wrapped around one of Heidi's back teeth. When she went to pull it out it wouldn't budge and fearing doing great damage she x-rayed her. Turns out the string continued down into her stomach where on the x-ray there appeared a large mass. With my okay they performed emergency abdominal surgery to remove the mass which appeared to be a large "mop-head" like clump of string. Yep, you guessed it, it was the long forgotten ball of hemp twine. Had it not gotten wrapped around her tooth it probably would have continued through her digestive system and cause irreparable damage. This episode earned Heidi the nickname, Bernese Mountain Goat and is still Dr. Dodd's favorite vet story. So if you decide to get into hemp jewelry making and have a large canine with goat-like eating habits be warned!

The next cool product I just got in is Spray Fabric Paint. I haven't had time yet this week to test it out but it looks so cool. Watch a demo video HERE Imagine being able to make fabulous looking Tie-Dye shirts without worrying about the chemicals, messy rinsing process, and time! I have individually packaged colors plus party packs that will make up to 24 T-shirts.

The last new product line that I've been looking forward to for months is UTEE (Ultra Thick Embossing Enamel) and EasyCast Resin. Both of these products can be used to make one of a kind jewelry along with lots of other cool craft projects.
  
The UTEE is a coarse powder that can be melted, poured, cut (when still warm) and used to coat paper, cardboard, metal and many other things. Suze Weinberg is the goddess of all things UTEE.
 
I made this gorgeous pendant using clear, violet and platinum UTEE by following the directions on the Amate Studios website I will be ordering more pewter jewelry blanks from Amate soon. Right now I do have the large rectangle as shown here.
 

The EasyCast resin is also really neat. It can be used to make faux glass and beads as well as used to coat or fill metal, wood or chip board findings. I have a nice selection of reusable molds that can be used with either the UTEE or the resin to make one of a kind jewelry pieces or decorative elements for collage. I haven't had time to play with these yet either but did find some awesome online tutorials:
Resin and Silver Jewelry
Cute Resin Coated Dominoes
Jennifer Perkins Video Tutorial (And hey! unlike her you won't have to go to two Big Box craft stores for your supplies, I have it all right here!)

I would love to give demos of any of these new products so if you are interested and just want to see how it's done stop in and I'll have show and tell!

Going Batty

Here is a quick and inexpensive project for making weather proof Halloween bats.
 
Using the same techniques I used to make Recycled Plastic Totes I bonded layers of black plastic garbage bags together to make a heavier "fabric". Then I just cut out bat shapes and sewed thread through them to hang them from the front porch.

(Click on any of the thumbnail pictures for a larger view.)
Step 1: 
Fold garbage bag in quarters and smooth out wrinkles.
Step 2: 
Place folded bag between layers of paper. I use a large piece of newsprint.
Step 3: 
Set iron to wool/silk setting with no steam. Iron over paper/garbage bag sandwich. Be careful to keep iron moving and apply pressure to get plastic to melt and flatten out. Keep checking progress and flip plastic over periodically to help bond both sides. If the iron is too hot or left in one place too long it can cause holes in the plastic or make it stick to the paper. Gently peal the paper from the plastic if it starts to stick.
 
The end result will be a textured thick plastic "fabric".

Step 4:   
Cut rectangle of plastic into two smaller rectangles. Using a paper template, and folding plastic in half, cut bat shape from both plastic rectangles. Download Bat Template PDF

Step 5:
Using mono-filament or black thread sew thread onto bat and hang.
 
On one bat I just sewed through the back of the "head" and on the other I sewed through both wings and connected the threads in the middle.
 

Oh Gourd!

  

Today was totally dead here in the store (too nice outside for shopping I'm guessing) so I had time to get creative. I had it in my mind this week to look for a pattern to make fabric pumpkins. I did a quick Google search the other day but didn't find anything that I really liked. So today I played around until I came up with one of my own.

I don't have time now to write up all the directions and make a proper tutorial but I will try to get to it asap next week.

Have a great weekend!
 

Bringing in the Big Gun(n)

 

My contribution to the upcoming Scarecrow related festivities in St. Charles.