Anxious for spring this year for some reason (and I don’t typically get anxious for spring). These colours and fabulous finds will have to satisfy for now:
1. Paper twine by PaperPhine
2. Fabric covered thumbtacks by amooma
3. Watercolor and pen illustration by JessicaIllustration
4. Butterfly collection printable set by michellekirsch (a fellow Etsy Alberta Street Team member)
2. Fabric covered thumbtacks by amooma
I so very much want to make a spring wreath like this one to hang on our front door! The door feels naked since I took our Christmas wreath off. The cute thing about this one is the use of fabric yo-yos and buttons to create the flowers. I do love the the bits of jute twine incorporated as well. I probably wouldn’t do fabric covered buttons for my own. Also, it seems like you could easily do this on a foam wreath form instead of a narrow embroidery hoop if you’d like a bit more substantial wreath.
Happy first day of Spring!
Source: craftionary.blogspot.com via Sarah on Pinterest
Over a month ago now (almost two…seriously behind on posts) I had the honor of hosting a Pinterst party. I was so excited for it! Gave me something awesome to look forward to. It was also a great excuse to scour Pinterest for new recipes & party ideas. The theme for the party was “spring”, so I decided to go with lemon flavored treats, fresh fruit and flowers. Here’s what I put together:
Flower cookies with a no-egg-white royal icing and brush embroidery (a very amateur attempt at cookie decorating… need more practice)
Flower pot fruit cups with button toothpicks, my own invention, inspired from ideas found here.
Lemon feta dip, so tasty on crispy crackers and I’m sure would work well as a dip for veggies too.
As with previous Pinterest parties, guests brought a craft project along to work on. Keeping with the “Spring” theme, I made Sam’s roller derby onesie in preparation for the season opener.
Christine was using her knifty knitter to work on a pretty purple scarf.
Ellen was crocheting a lovely, and oh-so-fine, spring scarf. Her patience with that particular project is amazing! That wool and I would have parted ways long ago.
After finishing up a couple more tag blankets, Shauna began braided together strips of fabric to make a necklace or headband or both. So muh fun! And the colours were so springy! Probably inspired by this.
And Jan was working on this lovely spring wreath made from a foam wreath form, yarn and felt flowers (which she also made). Jan has an entire Pinterest board dedicated to wreaths!
That was our night of craftiness. A good time indeed! And now it’s almost time to start planning the next Pinterest Party. (One day I’ll catch up on posts. Probably. Eventually.)
Wishing you a very lovely first day of Spring! Of course in Calgary Spring always feels like one of the shorter seasons. Sometimes I miss living in Vancouver just because of the spring season they get each year with actual flowers and pretty blossoming trees. Oh the cherry trees and grape hyacinths! Anyway here’s a bit of spring for Calgarians to enjoy… a bouquet of floral pins. I made this as a birthday card for a friend, so she would have some pretty pins to wear. The fabric flowers can simply be unpinned from the card. And of course I had to add some buttons leaves!
The organizers, Jenna and Chandler Herbut, did an awesome job promoting the show, so a special thanks to them for doing a great job with that!
The flip side of all this positive happiness, is the hard truth that I sadly didn’t have anywhere near the number of sales that I had expected. Many of the vendors were disappointed with this too. It certainly makes it difficult to attend these shows, if you can barely make the table cost back, and I was sharing a booth. Certainly slow sales were not the case with all the vendors and I’m happy that some folks did so well. Which just makes me reflect even more. Is it the show? Is it the Calgary craft scene? Is it simply this year? Is my product line not fitting with the customers? Are my prices all wrong? Should I use different fabrics?
Wishing you all a lovely, sunny Monday!
PS – Both Stuf’d and Nik Naks are fellow team members.
Yet another PS – Make sure all you Canadian folk get out to the polls today and vote in the federal election!! Exercise your democratic right in peace and please don’t turn an apathetic cheek towards this day.
It must be Saturday because the city is getting slammed with more snow. Feels like most of our snow storms this year have arrived on weekends. We’re expecting 10-15cm or more of snow (that’s 4-6 inches for our American friends).
So I’m doing the most sensible thing and trying to stay indoors. There’s plenty of entertainment at home these days. Especially since my mother-in-law, Judy, dropped off the first load of her yarn inventory. Yep, that’s right, her yarn inventory. I’m currently looking at 8 garbage bags of yarn. It’s kinda like yarn heaven in the dining room right now. With more bags on the way (once the snow stops), I really need to get a good handle on what type of yarns there are, which means whipping out the spreadsheets and doing inventory. FUN! No really, I like spreadsheets, so this could be a very fun weekend. Plus, touching all that beautiful yarn is like an at-home therapy session. Oh the possibilities of things to be made!
So needless to say, Bubblegum Sass may very well turn into a bit of a yarn business. I’m sure hubby is hoping I can sell some of it. Though we have plenty of room in the basement, I think the idea of being surrounded by bags of yarn is a throwback to his childhood. I’m sure when we got married, he had no idea that I would eventually become a yarn junkie. He was familiar with my sewing habit, but I didn’t take up crochet until a few years ago. He’s a patient sweetie though and knows just how much I love and NEED to craft.
Here’s hoping that wherever you find yourself this weekend, it doesn’t involve snow storms or car accidents or slipping on sidewalks.
P.S. – I’m headed to a concert with my friend, Shauna, tomorrow night. She recently introduced me to the music of Steven Curtis Chapman, which I am loving right now. Yes, he’s a Christian musician, so maybe he won’t appeal to everyone, but I’ve definitely reached a place where I need, want, and very much enjoy that in my life. So look him up in iTunes if you’re interested.
