Continuity

I think that continuity with your gifts to your little can turn a simple/basic gift, into a really 'wow' gift. I'm going to use the gifts my big gave to me as an example of using the same palate through all of the gifts.

I told her that I liked purple, solid colors (no patterns) and that's about it. And she ran with it. The main colors she used were a dark purple, light purple and gold. If you are going to use more than four colors, I think using one accent color per item is best and then for a couple items here use accent color 1 and a few items there use accent color 2.

My crate, pin box and 'hope' sign were only the 3 main colors, using mostly solid dark purple and middle stripes of the other colors. My letters were the light purple and twine. My paddle was dark and light purple, gold, wood and twine. My ribbon board was light purple and gold.

Notice how if there is a variant of the three color combination, it was picked up somewhere else. There was twine in at least two items.

When I made gifts for my little, since I used sparkle spray paint once, I found a way to use it in another item to make it look part of the same collection. Using the same paints in all of your crafting is the easiest way to make a set of gifts look part of the same collection and a lot more professional.

Take care and do good,
Sarah

My Fabulous Skirt

So ignore the 'me' in the photo and just look at my skirt. I still want to alter the waistline to a more natural waist and not at my hips. There's also a cute bow that the picture doesn't show well. I'm still proud and I got an A.

Take care and do good,
Sarah

Sparkle Letters

For my little I wanted to make her cute wall letters and I wanted them to be a delta and gamma, not a DG. My own letters had twine wrapped around the bottom edge and I liked that. My little has a sparkly personality so I grabbed some spray glitter and went to work.

I spray painted the letters with the glitter spray which was a little different than the normal spray paint I'm used to. It was tricky getting an even coverage so I had to let it dry and put on two coats. I also paid attention to spraying the edges.

I had left over white fabric from her T-shirt and so I layered it over half of the letters. I had to cut the inside corners to allow the fabric to lay flat. I hot glued the fabric on the back. It took a lot because the fabric didn't adhere well.

I've attached a photo of mid-process step when I was making sure I had enough fabric. It was the only picture I took because of my crafting fail.

Take care and do good,
Sarah

I Made a Skirt

As I've mentioned before, I'm in a costume design class. For our final project we had to take a pattern from the store and make it. I chose a pencil skirt with peplum and bow. I had a bit of a stumble with the back vent and how to insert the zipper when it came to it, but overall, I'm pretty darn happy with myself.

I've joked with my sisters that have seen my progress that I'm going to model the skirt around. They think I'm joking. Haha, jokes on you sisters. I am. I'm mega proud and I have to model it in class anyway so before I leave for class I plan on walking through the hallways saying, "Look at me sisters. Like my skirt? Oh ya - I MADE IT." Again, I'm really proud of what I've done in this class.

I'll post a picture of my complete outfit tomorrow but before that I'll include the instructions for how to insert a zipper. I think my teacher explained it really well for a person who has never done it before.

Baste stitch (the longest/loosest stitch you can make, it's not permanent) the seam closed (I overlapped my seam 1/8 inch)
Glue or hand stitch the zipper, having the zipper teeth following the baste stitch (the glue comes out with washing)
Using a zipper foot (it means change the metal foot on the machine so it has room for the zipper), stitch the zipper to the fabric
Using a seam ripper (you can buy them individually or they sometimes come in emery kits) remove the baste stitch

As my teacher makes sure my class knows, good pressing is good sewing - so iron afterward.

Take care and do good,
Sarah

My Little's Decoration

Well Initiation has come and gone and my little got her paddle. At first I didn't know how to decorate her paddle because mine was so awesome. My paddle is wrapped in fabric with twine wrapped around the end. I wouldn't even know how to start remaking it.

So I started with a coat of paint on my little's paddle. Then I added some other paint for definition. I positioned the crest, sparkle anchor and sparkle whale that way I could stencil in her name. When I was done with the second coats of paint I took a step back to see what else it needed. I had some small stick-on pearls that I thought about adding to the top and bottom but I quickly realized it'd be prettier all around the paddle. I felt like a jeweler setting stones because I used tweezers to take it off the plastic and stick it on the wood.

The paddle still needed something else. I had extra pearls and I had seen Braille done on other paddles so I decided to write her name in Braille using the pearls. I was finally happy with what I had made.

When I gave her the paddle she was really happy and liked it which made me feel great as her big.
Now I have to start making her a Christmas present....

Take care and do good,

Sarah

Greek Letters from Pinterest

Here are some of my favorite letter designs that I've seen on Pinterest. Even though they're my favorites, I will probably never make them because of the time and skill it takes. But they're so cute!

 

 

Some of the ideas that I've gotten from these are actually fairly simple. A good coat of paint and a splash of color of bling can make cute letters. I would love to make blackboard letters and then draw on them with colored chalk. The rose letters I think would be mega cute with tiny cream rose buds on 4 inch letters, perfect for setting on a desk.

The cutest, but will probably never happen, letters are what I call the knitted letters. I love how homey they look and the possibilities are endless for what yarn color you use.

Anyway big/little reveal went great and my little loved all her gifts (I was so busy making them I forgot to take pictures for the how to #CraftingFail).

Take care and do good,
Sarah

Source: I planned on adding links to the how-to pages...but like a complete fail I exited out and couldn't find them again, sorry!

A Dream Girl's Dream Catcher

I decided to make a dream catcher for me (or my potential little). I went to my local craft store and bought light brown suede lacing, brown waxed linen (or nylon) string, a metal (or wooden) hoop, beads and some feathers.

Taking the hoop, wrap the suede lacing around. Tie a knot or use craft glue to keep the end at one spot of the hoop. Keep the lace flat and as close as possible. Because 2 yards isn't enough for a 6" hoop, I had to buy another 2 yards. Start the knot on the inside of an existing knot, on top of the lacing that's already woven around then knot by the other knot. This creates a hanging loop for the dream catcher as a whole. You can also knot side by side with a previous knot and continue the wrapping to the other knot. A let the glue set for a few hours before starting on the stringing process.

Take the waxed string and tie a knot near the knot at the top. Then swoop it to the right a few inches and tie a knot on the inside of the hoop. After you get the first row of loops around the hoop, you can add beads as you loop (you can also knot) around the first row of loops. If you don't knot it, take the string with a bead over the first loop and then over the string with the bead to stop beads from sliding around too much. This is where you have fun!

To tie it off, take the string after your last loop and tie a double knot. With the waxed linen string you can press it together and the wax helps the string stick to each other.

To add a feather, take a cut piece of string and tie a knot at the base. Loop the string through the feather's hole and bring the string to the back to tie in a double knot. Cut off the excess string.

Now you can hang it!

Take care and do good,

Sarah

Source: http://www.wikihow.com/Make-a-Dreamcatcher

A Stitch in the Chain and RECRUITMENT TIME!

During a bored weekend I looked at some scrap pieces of fabric and blue thread that I had for some anther cross stitch project. The piece of aqua? light blue? fabric barely fit in my wire hoop but I got it to work. I started out with an anchor. Since I didn't have a fabric with distinct holes like I'm used too, I chose to stitch in what I call 'free hand,' which is just long singular stitches, not crossed.

I used 3 pieces of the darker blue thread for the anchor. I had to pause and think about how thick I wanted the anchor to be but I figured it out quickly. Looking at a single layer can help you determine how think you want it. After the base of the anchor I made the round top which was hard to do since I was working with straight lines. Then I added the top line, making note of the length to keep it even. I used the thread lines on the fabric to keep my lines straight though they were hard to count. I knew I'd have a hard time making a rounded points, so I made them go straight out from the base.

Using 3 pieces of the lighter blue thread, I tried to create a winding rope through the top hole and around the anchor. I found some white thread and used 1 strand to cross over the light blue rope. This added a nice look to the rope and gave a true nautical feel. Taking a strand of dark blue, light blue, and white I used this mixed color to create the waves at the top. I wish I could have done a better job with this element but straight lines don't make waves. Lastly I took 2 pieces of the light blue thread and make ∆ Γ to the left of the anchor. (I lost my picture and then I lost my anchor so I couldn't even retake the picture.)

I also recently found a website that had a lot of good tutorials and information called Needle 'n Thread. I also found a needlework shop in my town, which is just going to be dangerous, and am looking at their supplier which is Hoffman Distributing Company. There are a few anchor and nautical ideas that I'm thinking about getting.

From The Sunflower Seed, they had an Ichabod (my school mascot) and that's my current project. I also purchased letter patterns and plan to do a "Delta Gamma on the top and bottom of that fabric.
                                                                Alpha Kappa."

Another craft idea I've been thinking about is to get a white canvas board, light blue paint and dark blue paint. I have some Martha Stewart stencils that have a lot of nautical shapes which I'd do in a random order with the light blue paint. Then over the shapes I'd put "A champion in her absence and her friend always" since it's one of my favorite quotes. :)

Well it's recruitment time again and the crafts will start rolling out. I plan to do more sewing related gifts (that is if I get a little) due to the fact I'm in a costume design class. I snagged my mom's sewing machine and plan to become a stitching fool. My French seam is pretty good if I do say so myself - which I do say so.

Take care and do good,
Sarah