Rolled Fabric Flower Bib Necklace

Here's another flower bib necklace I made, using strips of fabric rolled into rosettes and glued onto a felt backing.  I already had all the materials for this one in my stash, it's so satisfying not having to buy anything!

I googled "rolled fabric rosettes tutorial" and found a variety of instructions.  Most tutorials produce rosettes that show the raw fabric edge, like this from mama monster:

Very cute too but I prefer them without frayed edges, so I was just extra careful when folding my fabric stripes to keep them tucked under.

I love how it turned out!

Another bathroom mirror/iPhone photo

If you'd like to make one, here's a tutorial from Tortoise and the Hare.  Enjoy!

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Lace Flower Bib Necklace

Since attending the Auckland Art and Craft Fair, I've been itching to get my craft on...  I spotted this guest post tutorial for a lace flower bib necklace by Little Miss Momma over on Tater Tots & Jello.

It's super cute and very easy.  The first couple of flowers I made didn't turn out well though.  My lace had a raw edge instead of a nice tidy binding like the kind she used in the tutorial, so I think that's why the "petals" kind of stuck straight up like a cup instead of a flower shape.  Also, the blue pearl beads I used looked small and kind of lost.  Then I tried pleating the lace as I glued it down, and it turned out much better! 

Bathroom mirror/iPhone photo

You know you must enjoy something when you burn the crap out of your fingers every ten minutes with hot glue, but keep doing it anyway...

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DIY Holiday Gift Tutorials

This holiday season I find myself on quite a tight budget! I spent some time yesterday scouring the internet for DIY holiday gift tutorials that wouldn't break the bank. Here's what I found:

 

Book Purse Tutorial from Country Living

Map Coasters Tutorial from Martha Stewart

Teacup Candles Tutorial from Design*Sponge

Vintage Card Wallets Tutorial from Country Living

Marble Magnets Tutorial from notmartha

Cocoa Mix In A Jar (and several others) from Sunset

And a gazillion other project tutorials from Design*Sponge, that would all make lovely gifts.

Do you do DIY for the holidays?  What's your favourite DIY gift to give?

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Adding Facebook and Twitter Share Buttons To Your Blog

 I just did this, as you can see below each post, yay!  Here are the tutorials from Blogger Sentral where I found out how to do it if you would like to do it for your blog.  Easy peasy.

Adding a Facebook share button

Adding a Twitter share button

Enjoy!

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How I package my jewelry

Since I was packing up an Etsy order tonight, I thought I'd take some pictures of the process and show you the way I send out my jewelry. I've had a few nice compliments on it, though I imagine this is something that will change and evolve over time. There are so many great threads in the Etsy forums about packaging, the options are endless.

First, I pull out a page from this book, that I bought from a secondhand store. At first, it felt a bit sacrilegious to tear pages out of a poetry book, but I've desensitized to it by now...

Then, I fold the page into a little origami envelope:

Which I learned to do from this video: 

Then I put each piece of jewelry into its own plastic bag, unfold the envelope, and put a business card and the jewelry inside:

I then fold the envelopes back up, and seal the backs with an Art & Clasp label:

The finishing touch is a birds-egg blue ribbon, tied in a bow:

Finally, for mailing, I put them in bubble mailers, with an Art & Clasp address label (blurred out for the photo!):

That's it! Doesn't take long, now that I've mastered the envelope folding.  Fairly cost-efficient too!  How do you package your wares?

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Fabric Flower Tutorials

I had fun today!  After my original plans went out the window, I devoted the majority of my Saturday (after a trip to the dog park) to making fabric flowers.  I picked up a cute fabric flower headband at a Shecky's Girl's Night Out this week and it gave me inspiration.  Finally a way I can indulge my fabric arts craving without a sewing machine!

Google supplied me with a range of tutorials to choose from.  I ended up meshing this one from Pink Paper Peppermints and this one from Sew Ritzy Titzy to make the tan and cream flower and the black flower, and meshing this one from Design*Sponge with tips from this one on Still Dottie to make the red one.

I've put pin backs on all of them so I can attach them my tops and cardigans, elastic headbands, purses, etc.  I'm thinking about adding accessories to my Etsy store.  Whether this eventuates or not, it was a lot of fun and there will be many more to come!

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Sewing Tutorials

One of the crafts I really want to learn is sewing.  I have taken two classes at The Urban Craft Center (where I made a pillowcase and a clutch), but I don't have my own sewing machine so haven't gotten much further.  These tutorials are so cute and look easy enough even for me!


Little Lamb Pillows from The Purl Bee

Quilted Notecards from Made: A Creative Collection

Fabric envelope tutorial (doesn't have to be a love letter!) from LucyKate Crafts

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