Textured Ball Garland

Love. Completely, totally, in love with this garland. I can, in fact, have this much of an emotional attachment to an inanimate object.  Oh yes.

This is a product of the genesis of me brainstorming ideas for my Etsy shop.  I am struggling with transitioning from being  a crafter who lives with the imperfections that come with handmade things and suddenly making them for someone to buy.  With like, money. It is terrifying to say the least.  But I have wanted to come up with something of my own design, totally me, and exemplifies my type of crafting.

 

This garland began with me experimenting with texture. I am drawn to anything with textures that evoke comfort, casual elegance, and depth. I love the juxtaposition of fine china on a distressed table or silver candlesticks on a rustic mantel. It is so peaceful and calming to my often preoccupied soul.  Looking at things like this and living with them is like a sanctuary of peace for me. So I set out to do just that with my one of my favorite things to make: Garlands.

I made each individual ball shape unique.  I experimented with linen, yarn, and satin creating beautiful rosette spirals, colorful stripes, and shabby textures. It is pure loveliness to me.

 

I wanted this garland to be classy and more grown up without being fussy.  Casual; not too fancy.

As you can see, the amount of photos I took depicts my intense infatuation with this garland.  I may need a garland intervention.

I  decided a rustic twine was the perfect complement to string them together and I am just so happy with the final result.  The garland measures 5 ft long and the balls can slide so you can make it as wide or close together as needed.

I sure hope you like this. I had so many of you in mind when I made it. You have all been more then fabulous spurring me on to do an Etsy shop and you helped me believe it is really possible.  Thank you so much for that. I was so nervous this project would not work out but it exceeded my expectations. Hope you enjoyed the first of many sneek peeks!  

P.S.  I have been manic crafting as I have been on deadline for the magazine; hence the crickets on this little blog.  But I got fun stuff to share coming up soon!

Tick Tock I Made a Clock

Impressed?

OK...because um...it's not real.  In fact, it is made of felt and scrap fabric. 

 FUN! FUN! FUN!

It's a practice clock for my little pre-schooler. And I have fallen in love with this cute little project and I wanted to share it with you.

Before I get into this little project of mine, let me just tell you guys why I have been kinda MIA.  We have so much stuff going on here at my TWO SHADES OF PINK household.  We are remodeling the master bathroom and this process requires way too much decision making. It's akin to removing teeth sans the Novocaine. I hate CHOICES!  I can't even decide what I want at a restaurant and usually succumb to asking the server which meal I should choose.  This usually occurs on a server's second night working there and they look at me panic stricken that they may suggest a dish that I will ultimately send back.  See?  Decision making is stressful for EVERYONE! 

Then school is starting soon for Cati.  This will require a whole other post.  It is only pre-K but she is going to school that is part homeschooling as well so I will be teaching my child.  I think I just heard that ominous du du duuuummmm sound somewhere above me. This is a terrifying prospect for me since I possess a degree in Human Resources and am only equipped with the education to hire and fire people and reiterate corporate policies. That I did like 10 years ago.  I pray my child comes out of this with more than a knowledge of business policy guidelines.

So to sum up...I have been busy. I promise I will be more consistent when life begins to die down but we shall see.

Now back to the clock.

It all started when I found this little practice clock in the $1 section at Target.  

Cute but I thought this could be soooooo much cuter! And because I have a mad obsession with all things fabric, felt, or yarn related I decided to combine these craft loves into a little project.   

But prepare yourself.  I had no idea what I was going to do which is my usual "winging it"  approach to my crafts.  But I get an idea in my head and I HAVE to see it though.  So I took pics for a little tutorial for you but not as detailed as it should be.

Wait...maybe you just yelled yippee that I finally found the ability to be concise.  Yet if I did, you would not have had to read 103 paragraphs so far when I have yet to tell you how I made this.

Moving on...

What you need:

Fabric and Felt

Jelly Roll fabric or strips of fabric (Your choice for width and sizes)

Ribbon, yarn, buttons, embroidery floss, etc

Eyelets and eyelet kit

Polyfill

Here is the fabric I used in all of its un-ironed glory.  

I picked two fabrics for the front and back of the clock, a felt piece for the face of the clock and a coordinating fabric from a jelly roll and to put between the front and back to make it more dimensional. 

I traced around a large bowl for the two large circles and then used a smaller plate for the face. 

The ribbon is to tie the hands of the clock together. And before I go on...I used all fabric and stuff from my stash.  I am a big believer to use what you have.

I first started off by sewing the jelly roll fabric around the edge, right sides facing each other.  And yes, I used a SEWING MACHINE. I know.  Shocking. The heavenly angels in charge of sewing grace smiled upon me and allowed me to complete this project and then the machine stopped working. I can't get into it or the machine will come to its demise if I dwell on it.  Apparently I am like a sewing Cinderella and had a time limit to this wonderful accomplishment of mine.  I mean you do remember the bean bags right? (I used the same fabric too)

I took the jelly roll and cut it in half lengthwise to give me the length I needed to make it around the circle and sewed those two pieces together lining it up with the fabric.

And you get this.

I made the clock hands using adhesive backed, stiffened felt.  I just placed the fabric I wanted and free cut the hands to my liking.  USE FRAY CHECK!  Totally forgot until later.

I wanted the hands to work smoothly so I used eyelets with an eyelet kit. I also put an eyelet through the face of the clock.  I did all of this before sewing the face to the front fabric.  Follow directions on your package for the eyelets. 

By the way.Not sure why my hammer got in this picture.  I never used it. Hmmmm...

Then I made the face of the clock where I used my creativity.  I made each number unique using what I had in my stash.  Yarn, embroidery floss, ribbon, patterned felt, buttons, and little pom poms.  Get as creative as you want.  I really wanted to spell out numbers like two or ten but I figured that was not best for my preschooler.  Way too confusing but totally cute idea to use later. I threaded the ribbon through the face and two hands from the back to the front. I tied a bow in the center ensuring the hands would move smoothly. 

I sewed the face to the front of the clock.

I then sewed the other circle with right sides facing and then turned it inside out, stuffed it, and sewed it the rest of the way closed.

 Here is the edge of the clock.  Now let's talk about my over exuberance stuffing this thing with polyfill.  I did not want it to look all chunky like this but apparently I do not know when to say when.  

And I kid you not, I sat on it to flatten it. It worked.  I mean, you have to get creative even with your methodology, right?

Now my Cati has a fun clock to learn how to tell time with.  Maybe you could even make it into a pillow? Or actually make it into a working clock?  I so would use it and hang it in my kitchen. It would be kinda funky and fun. 

Hope you liked my felty and fab clock.  I will be linking up to some crafty parties this week to put a little bloggy pizazz into my week. As usual, thank you for coming here to visit my little blog.  You guys make me so happy!

Simple Chairback Covers Made From Placemats

When we first moved into our house, I was not sure if I wanted bar stools at the little bar area of the counter. But a friend of mine was having a yard sale and selling these chairs that were her mom's...

I knew  I could breathe some new life in them and decided to paint them white.  I would have left the seats alone but I have too many things already that have that white and wood look so I committed and made them all white.

These chairs are really sturdy but the country look of the back of them is not really the look I am going for.  Since power tools are out, I decided to cover them up a bit.  My first thought was using a kitchen towel or cloth napkin because I was looking for a no sew project.  But they proved to be kind of big until I realized a placemat was a good size to work with.

 I found these at Pier 1 on clearance and since they had the color of my kitchen in them, I grabbed them up.  I also figure I can make a few sets of these if I grow tired of this one.

 I needed to fold it over to give it a clean look and to fit the back of the chair. 

I stitched it closed on the bottom.

 They had this cute ball fringe on them but I had to cut them off on one side for this to work.

Velcro is a delightful invention, is it not?  I used it for my closure since I wanted to be able to remove these easily. I also used it to secure the one side I folded down. I used super duper, stickier than sticky Velcro too. 

At first, I was going to do it like this but I wanted the look to fold over so I changed it to this...

It was fun.  Hope you might be inspired to do something similar.  I will let you know what else I come up.  I have another idea to do this but I have not found the perfect placemat or material yet.
I want to do one like this pillow from Pottery Barn... 

 So ridiculously cute!  

I promise to post it when I do it. I am totally inspired.

Let me know what you think!  Your comments make me happy.  Really.  They do.

Linking to:

My Brother and I Need an Intervention

OK, OK. I have a Brother sewing machine.  

There is nothing more delightful to me than a play on words.  Remember...I am a word geek and you choose to read my silly blog...SO THERE! And I actually have 3 brothers.  And none of us need intervention. 

But I am serious.  I can not use it. I am horrified at what is produced when I attempt to use it. I actually lost sleep over my complete ineptness in all things sewing machine.

Let me back up.  My girls are having their birthday party at the end of this month.  Wait, have I told you that they have birthdays two weeks apart?  I think I have but if I have failed to tell you this, I am so sorry. They do.  So since I am FANATICAL about birthday's they must share a party or I will craft myself to an imminent death.  And I have this cute favor idea I want to do inspired by this tutorial for reverse applique bean bags.  They are so stinking cute!

Let me show the heinous creations I have made...(could I be more dramatic?)

Now don't look at these too closely.  It will look like someone who is legally blind and can not see the BIG E on the eye chart with the naked eye put these together.  

Oh wait.  

That would be me. 

True story.  When I was little and needed glasses I kept saying I could not see the biggest letter on the chart.  Me being the jokester from the womb, my mom thought I was making a funny for the nice doctor and kept saying under her breath...(quite menacingly I might add..."KNOCK IT OFF!"  Sadly, that E was a big blob of smeared ink for me.  I was telling the honest to goodness truth. 

Yet, I was wearing my contacts when I produced this...

Um, what on earth?  

It looks like I was a bit of a lead foot. And what made me think a project such as this should be my first endeavor after accomplishing only a "sort of" straight line using a sewing machine?  But I had to show you this because I still plan on giving this to little children that I assume will not be examining my sewing skills and will only delight in beaming this at someone in close proximity.  (Not it's intended use)

In this photo, one that would make any seasoned sewer proud,  the rice is spilling out where I have failed to sew a hole.  So instead of starting over, I go over and over and over it again until it looks...well, like THAT.  I basically cut the fabric underneath the circle a tad too small.  To add insult to injury, I did not pin it since I am the most impatient person and arrogantly deem that prep work is for amateurs.  Which I have gloriously proven in this magnificent piece of work. Oh, the horror.

Oh, for the love of all things crafty. If I could just stay away from the blasted fabric!!! But I must say the circle actually looks like a circle rather than a crazed, haphazard sewing frenzy. Sort of.

Do you hear the hallelujah chorus?  LISTEN! I think...I think I am actually improving!  

By golly I think she's... Alllllmost got it. 

Still went wayward onto the fabric.  I am driving myself crazy. Oh and just so you know, the original tutorial has the circles kind of messy on purpose.  And I DO like that.  But not my kind of messy.

So.  All you sewers out there. Wait...even if you at least know how to thread a machine, you must leave me a comment.  For the love of all things SEWN WELL you must give me guidance. Yes. I am begging.  

Do I just need to practice?  Am I trying something too difficult?  I admit I have not used one of these mean things in YEARS! Was that shocking?  

Do you think I should just go for it and keep going even if they are not perfect because they are still, kinda, sorta, cute?  Be honest.  I don't want to give away the favor idea yet since every parent of the kids read my blog...and I don't want this post to make them...cough cough...call in sick for the party.

Help a novice sewing girl out. Please.