Archive for the ‘handmade’ Category
Okay. I am a fabric girl. And I suspect that you are too.
I collect piles of textiles. I have bins and bins of fabric from my grandmother and thrift stores, and fabric stores, and Etsy, and..well, you get the point. But the (kind of) weird thing is…dun, dun, dun…I don’t sew!
I know, weird, right?
So what do I do with all this fabric I stash in the closets and under the bed? Well, I use it for projects that don’t involve sewing of course, like the bunting from our wedding (yep, that was a no sew project).
But as much fabric as I have on hand, one of the types that I haven’t really tried out is oilcloth. I don’t really know why because it seems quite practical + it’s shiny and fun and easy to clean (bonus!). So I am thinking about giving it a try. And if and when I ever learn to sew, I will be picking up this book, Sewing with Oilcloth, from Kelly McCants…
Is this cover amazing or what?
I HAVE TO learn how to make that chalk runner at the top of this post from the book because I am pretty sure those cream puffs will just magically appear if I do. Yum!
If you are already a sewer, you are one step ahead of me. So kudos to you. And you can get a little sneak peek into Sewing with Oilcloth right here to see if it tickles your fancy.
Kelly has a really awesome selection of oilcloth as well, hence the name of her shop, Oilcloth Addict. So it’s pretty much one-stop shopping. What’s not to like?
Saturday night I arrived back at home after a full week (well Tuesday night through Saturday) in Salt Lake City for Altitude Summit. It was super fun and I met some really great people. But it feels good to be home too – it was an exhausting week (but in a good way). Everyone I talked to on the last day kept saying how tired they were, myself included.
I didn’t take as many photos as I thought I would. But I know almost everyone who went is going to post a recap, so I’m sure you’ll see plenty of photographs (this is a super good place to start for Alt recaps – fellow Seattle blogger Melanie put together a pinboard of all the recap articles + there are 100s of pictures on the Alt flickr stream too).
Anyway, here’s how it all went down from my point of view…
(above image) Awesome window display that I saw on the first day. In a lot of ways I feel like Alt is a monster (the conference is huge- as in 500 attendees huge). But it’s a monster that is totally adorable and cuddly and I just want to give it a big hug. Much like this window display.
On Wednesday night, Danni and I went to a yummy dinner at Ruth’s Chris thanks to the lovely folks at HP. Later on that night, I went to a Blog Brunch meet up and then found out that there was a drive by shooting at one of the other Alt dinners earlier in the evening?! So weird! Luckily, no one was hurt.
The next day, the panels started and they were good. But the keynotes were great – Ben from Pinterest was awesome (and I am sure you’ll hear that a lot if you read other people’s recaps). He is a charismatic guy, but he’s really smart too, which makes for an interesting speaker. My favorite panels from Thursday + Friday were Blog to Book, Growing your Readership, Kickstarting your Next Project, and Building a Personal Brand.
I had a few take-aways from pretty much every panel I attended, but one of the themes I heard over and over again was this idea of investing in your business (time, money, etc – whatever investment means to you – just taking what you do more seriously and treating it professionally).
Lillian (left) + me chatting with Piper (who was just outside the photo) before one of the panels. *picture by Justin Hackworth via Alt’s flickr page
Art prints to be released by Minted in March. Aren’t these great? Can’t wait for them to launch in a couple of months. Love that mountain print in the middle.
Here’s the Method smilebooth from one of the Friday parties. After a few drinks, somehow Kate and I ended up taking the largest piece of cake possible back to our room and scarfing it down. It was fun. You know I love cake.
(back row) Kate, me, Zoe (front row) Margot, Sarah, Meg
Fun Friday night party hosted by Uppercase + Squarespace . All the parties were great, but I couldn’t get good pictures of the others.
Swag! Lots of amazing free stuff. I actually barely crammed everything in to my suitcase at the end of the week. But it was all for you, I promise because I am thinking about doing a giveaway with some of the awesome goodies I snagged. What do you think? Would you be interested in a giveaway?
And finally, I ended up with the most gorgeous stack of business cards on the planet. On the planet I tell you! I lost a few along the way. AKA all of the cards I collected on the last day, but I still have a great stash. *I’ll be posting more photos of my favorite business cards from the conference next week because they are so good, they deserve their own post.
Overall, I really loved the conference and was so glad to have been able to meet some new (wonderful) ladies and catch up with old friends. Next year, I hope to see you there. And I also hope that will have the wardrobe to keep up with all the stylish ladies and gents that will be attending. 
I saw so many cute girls at Alt this year wearing just simple jeans and a t-shirt with awesome (colorful) accessories, and (of course) they looked amazing. I’m not one to shy away from color, but I usually wear bright skirts and dresses and then tone down the accessories. So I have lots of gold and silver. But sometimes I feel a bit overdressed for a skirt or dress + just want to break out my oh-so-comfy t-shirts.
So right after I got home on Saturday night, I jumped on the computer and started looking for brightly colored necklaces to change things up + make my black t-shirts a little more stylish. Which is what brought me to Simply A Circle. All the earrings and necklaces in Chrysa’s collection have vibrant colors and a flirty combination of textures with the crochet elements. Super fun! What do you think?
Curious to know…Are you a jeans + a t-shirt kind of gal?
If you haven’t noticed (and I’m sure you have) pyrite is everywhere and for good reason. Pyrite, also known as “fools gold” has a rough, organic charm that’s incredibly versatile. With so many amazing handmade options, how does one choose?
First row // faceted peruvian pyrite necklace $80 by mineralogy jewelry; pyrite gold earrings by five and two $34; below-pot o gold pyrite ring $28 by nu bambu
Second row // silver stone ring $16 by nautical wheeler; natural slab nugget necklace $29 by deuce; brass triangle and pyrite earrings $28 by noble town vintage
Third row // pyrite beaded bar necklace $40 by ayofemi; pyrite nuggets long earrings $24 by black feather; pyrite cube bracelet £15.00 by the vamoose
Christina is the writer behind the design blog, Down and Out Chic. She’s a budget-friendly design huntress that’s passionate about art and the handmade movement. She adores all things striped and polka dotted and would spend most of her afternoons vintage shopping if her closet were big enough. Find her on Twitter or at D&OC.
Guest post tutorial from Lia Cecaci of I Love that Glove.
My family comes to me for anything to do with a computer, or parties. I got an email from my aunt one day asking if I could make her mom’s birthday surprise invitation. I said yes, of course, and seized the opportunity to make her something unique! We come from a huge mexican family, and this particular aunt of mine loves loves loves very spanish inspired decor. Dia day los muertos, paper flowers, bright bright colors, etc-etc. I told her I would whip something up and get back to her.
I whipped out these bad boys after searching far and wide for DIY papel picado inspiration. They were a hit, and so easy to make! I wanted to share these with the world, because although the inspiration I found was WONDERFUL, I didn’t find a whole lot. Please enjoy!
*There are two different sets of diy invitations in this post (hence the double dose). The first set of steps show how to make the papel picado invite. The second show the yarn/string invite. I did half and half for my aunts party.
Part 1) How to make the papel picado invite:
Supplies: Scissors, Tissue paper – one pack of 6 sheets was plenty for 20 cards, blank cards & envelopes, a glue stick, & a printer
Step 1: Measure! Open up your pack of tissue paper and spread it out huge. Pictured is 6 sheets and it cut smoothly. Not too thick. Measure your rectangle with your sized card. Mine was A7, (appx 5×7) but you can use any size.
Step 2: Cut out a square so you will end up with 6 sheets of tissue paper to work with!
Step 3: Bend your stack of tissue paper hamburger style. Don’t crease it! You don’t want any creases in your flags! I cut out an oval-ish shape to show the Shh though on the back. Just eyeball it – you can always cut more off!
Without opening it I bent it one more time ( no crease! ) to make the rest of the design for the flag. Doing this will make everything symmetrical. Think paper snowflakes! Open it up!!
Don’t be bummed if you messed up big time. I made 3 sets before I got this guy. The first was not so gorgeous.. the rest I either ripped, or cut through shapes. Be careful not to over cut one shape into another. You’re going to end up with a lot of confetti.
Step 4: Typeset your invite & print!
Step 5: Take your glue stick and smear one stripe across the top of the card & gently lay one piece of tissue paper across it. LOVELY. You now have a super sweet homemade papel picado card. See it flap in the wind. So wonderful.
Now it’s time to make the other invitation! Ready?
Part 2) How to make the yarn/ string Invite
Supplies: Yarn, a 1/16th hole punch, blank cards / envelopes & a printer!
Step 1: Typeset & print your invite!
Step 2: Hole punch each side, of each printed papel picado, at the printed string line.
Step 3: String it through! Cut your yarn longer than you’d think just to be safe. The 1/16th hole is small – so I suggest taping the ends of the yarn to a point to get it through easier.
Of course my aunt wanted me to make decorations for her. If you too are decorating the party you’re making the invitations for here’s a few fun tips!
-Buy extra tissue paper!!
-Make tissue paper flower bouquets! They’re fun and lovely!
-Make mini poms with the tissue paper and string them to make matching garlands! Use the same yarn as the invites to string them!
-Buy matching crepe paper – Make wild streamers, and hang them everywhere!
Like this tutorial? Help spread the word by sharing it on facebook, twitter, and stumbleupon using the handy buttons below.
About Lia. I am a 23 year old creative from Oakland, California. I love to dip my hands in a little bit of everything. But as for right now – I work in a college darkroom, I work at a portrait studio & I work for myself. (Ahh!) I craft when I have time, & I wish I had more time for it! I also recently decided I love nail polish, it’s GREAT. I’m living by myself, in my cozy one bedroom apartment that I wouldn’t trade for the world. One day I would love to own a cuddly lovey Great Dane. I am working my way towards photographing for myself full time, and I can’t wait (especially since I have so much mapped out now thanks to the pns Track This guide!! It’s great! ).
Now that the glitter + party hats have been put away from the last holiday, my mind is one-tracking it towards the next…Valentine’s Day. I am not in it for the roses and chocolates. I really don’t care for roses and I can buy myself chocolates any day (and I do). So why am I loving this greeting card holiday? For the DIY projects of course!
I’ve been busy scheming a few V-Day craft ideas lately and browsing the internet for additional projects to keep myself busy. So it seems like as good a time as any to finally get into embroidery…I mess around with a needle and thread from time to time, but nothing serious. So when I want to get crackin’, I’ll pick up a few of these DIY embroidery kits from Slipcover Your Life.
The PDF patterns are available too if you don’t need a full kit. Bonus, each pattern is just $5!
So if you’re looking for a DIY project to complete, or you just love embroidery, head over to the SYL shop on Etsy and bookmark it for later if you’re not in the shopping mood at the moment.
I’ve been wearing my hair up in a bun a lot now that I have my bangs trimmed up again. And I have been calling it my fun bun for some reason. It’s really more a utility thing than fashion, but I’d like to make more of an effort for cuteness if possible. You know, add a little more fun to my bun.
So what do you think of these hair goodies from Fresh Sewn?
Pretty cute, huh?
Oh, and Natalie does wedding bouquets too…LOVE!
Check out Fresh Sewn to see the whole collection.
