Craft Book Month Blog Hop

It's Craft Book Month and sweet Lindsay from Craft Buds asked me to participate again.

Last year, I fell in love with a book another blogger featured--Hoop-La by Kirsty Neale so I knew this year I wanted to feature something from it since this blog hop is where I first heard of the book.  It's a great book filled with "100 things to do with Embroidery Hoops" including tooth fairy pillows, bird mobiles, mixed media designs and actual embroidery designs.  Kirsty does a great job of explaining each project with helpful hints into the craft involved and cutesy ideas with each design.

With fall not too far away (I hope!!), I chose the apple hoop (pg. 18) to make to add to my fall decorating.

Awhile back my sewing room was a total mess bit messy and I accidentally stepped on and broke a wooden embroidery hoop that had fallen out of my embroidery supplies bag.  No worries, the only injury was to the hoop.  :)

I couldn't bear to throw it away though, so I saved it to make hoop art with at a later date.  Perfect for this project!  I heavily glued the hoop back together since I was going to cover it anyway and it wouldn't affect my project and set it aside to dry.

Usually I find inspiration in craft books, but don't necessarily copy straight from them.  I'll find something I like and use that as a starting point, but I loved that the book apple used both green and red buttons.  My kids are very specific about their favorite kind of apples, so I thought it would be cute to use both green and red, with a touch of yellow thrown in too.

I used both vintage and cheapy plastic buttons from Walmart on this project and found they worked together perfectly.  On a side note, I think this would be so fun to do with kids, using glue instead of needle and thread.  It's the kindergarten teacher coming out in me again--all that sorting and fine motor skill action.  lol

At any rate,  traced the pattern from the book onto my chosen background fabric and started laying out buttons until I was happy with the design.  Then I basted them down with some regular school glue to keep my design intact while I started sewing.

You can see here if you look closely that I didn't necessarily stay in my template lines--going for a more abstract apple to fit my buttons.  You can see the stem and leaf outlines as well.

I did sew each button down, but you could just use glue.  I like the extra hand-made touch the sewing gives and it didn't take long at all.  After I finished, I thought the bare spaces could use a little something so I added a few more buttons on a second layer to help.

Then I glued down small pieces of felt for the stem and leaf and the apple art was done.  But I still needed to cover that glued edge and make the hoop a little prettier so dug out some old red Homespun Yarn I've been hoarding and quickly wrapped the outer hoop.

And voila--done in no time at all.  It honestly took me longer to decide on a project and gather my supplies than it did to make this cute hoop that's a small, homey addition to my fall decorating.  I do think I'll go back and embroider some text, but haven't decided for sure what I'd like to write.  I'm thinking something in cursive to go with the flowy background--maybe just apples, maybe apples written in different languages...  Ideas??

I've teamed up with some fabulous bloggers who will be showing off their projects made from craft books, all month long!

Monday 9/1: Fabric Mutt / Lindsay Sews

Tuesday 9/2: Rae Gun Ramblings / Craftside

Wednesday 9/3: The Feisty Redhead / The Fabric Studio

Thursday 9/4: Marci Girl Designs / Small Town Stitcher

Friday 9/5: LRstitched / A Prairie Sunrise

Monday 9/8: Hopeful Threads / sewVery

Tuesday 9/9: 13 Spools / Lisa Liza Lou

Wednesday 9/10: Stitch This! / My Sewcial Hour

Thursday 9/11: The Littlest Thistle / Fabric Seeds

Friday 9/12: Sew Sweetness / Clover + Violet

Monday 9/15: Inspire Me Grey / amylouwho

Link Up

The girls at Craft Buds want to see what you're making too, so they're hosting a giveaway this month. Link up your craft book project at Craft Buds from your blog, instagram or Flickr account, and enter to win prizes. To participate in the month-long contest, just link up any project you've made from a pattern in a craft book. That easy! You'll tell us a little about the book, the project, how you personalized it, etc. Winners will be announced on Wednesday, October, 1!

Rules

1) One entry per person.

2) Your craft book project must have been completed in 2014.

3) Create a new blog post, instagram or Flickr photo (dated September 1, 2014 or later) and link back to Craft Buds/Craft Book Month in your post or photo description (tag #craftbookmonth for instagram). In your post or photo description, make sure to list the craft book you used and provide a link if possible.

4) All winners chosen via Random.org. Some prizes available to international winners, so please join us!

Visit Craft Buds and link up your craft book project during the window of Sept 1-30 and you'll automatically be entered to win some fantastic prizes from the Craft Book Month sponsors!

Craft Book Month Blog Hop--My Fall Patchwork Pillow

Hello to any new readers!  I'm Kelli and welcome to my little corner of the world.  I was so excited when Lindsay asked me to participate in this blog hop.  I have a small stack of crafty books just waiting for an excuse to make something out of them!

I chose to work out of the book Pretty in Patchwork Holidays by John Q. Adams.

 I bought this book last year and then promptly got busy and forgot to make anything out of it.  Not this year, my friends.  This book is filled with great projects that are both cute and fun to decorate your home with.

I chose to make the Holiday Surprise Reverse Applique Pillow by Angela Mitchell who is a star in her own right.  She's got such a great sense of style that I was sold at once.

photo found here

Only one problem--it's not even pretending to be time for Christmas decorations.  I mean, it's 91 degrees here in Florida this afternoon.  And I wanted something I could enjoy now!

So, I took Angela's pillow and modified it.  I changed the Christmas tree template to a leaf and I changed the green patchwork to more fall colors.

I love it!

I'd done reverse applique before and it really is quite a simple concept, but the results are stunning!  If you've never done reverse applique, you layer your base fabric over your design (in this case the patchwork) and then after sewing your desired shape, you cut away the base fabric to reveal your design.

I keep a scrap bag with just 2.5" squares and strips in it, so I dug through it to find scraps that screamed fall to me.  Originally, I added a few more colors in but my helpful husband guided me toward more yellows and oranges.  He wasn't a fan of the turquoise at all, but I think it makes the other colors pop so well and being perfectly honest--it's my favorite color so I try to add it in any place I can.  ;)

I mean, it's going on my couch, right??  Why not add in something special?

I only have one problem with this pillow...now I want more!  I want to line my couch with fall-inspired pillows!!  This little beauty needs some friends.  He's so lonely down there on the end of the couch by himself.

So I'm off to dig through the scrap bag again to make him some friends.  But rest assured, come winter, I'll be making this pillow again only using Angela's Christmas tree design...finally!

The girls over at Craft Buds are spreading the Craft Book love this month featuring different bloggers each day and offering prizes for anyone who links up a project made from a craft book this year!

Blog Hop

Week One

Monday 9/2: Fabric Mutt / LRstitched

Tuesday 9/3: Stitch This! The Martingale Blog / Stitched in Color


Wednesday 9/4: Fabric Seeds / Pile O Fabric

Thursday 9/5: The Feisty Redhead / Rae Gun Ramblings

Friday 9/6: Sew-Fantastic / Clover + Violet

Saturday 9/7: A Prairie Sunrise / Small Town Stitcher

Week Two

Monday 9/9: Hopeful Threads / Go To Sew

Tuesday 9/10: The Sewing Rabbit / Sewing Mama RaeAnna

Wednesday 9/11: Marci Girl Designs / imagine gnats

Thursday 9/12: Sew Sweetness / amylouwhosews

Friday 9/13: Lindsay Sews / 13 Spools

 Saturday 9/14: Inspire Me Grey / Angela Yosten 

Week Three
Monday 9/16: Sew Very / Craftside
Tuesday 9/17: The Littlest Thistle / CraftFoxes

9/1-9/30: Link up your craft book project at Craft Buds from your blog or Flickr account, and enter to win prizes. Winners will be announced on Tuesday, October, 1!

To participate in the month-long contest, just link up any project you've made from a pattern in a craft book. That easy! You'll tell us a little about the book, the project, how you personalized it, etc.

Rules

1) One entry per person. 

2) Your craft book project must have been completed in 2013. 

3) Create a new blog post or Flickr photo (dated September 1, 2013 or later) and link back to Craft Buds/Craft Book Month in your post or photo description. In your post or photo description, make sure to list the craft book you used and provide a link if possible.

4) All winners chosen via Random.org. Some prizes available to international winners, so please join us!

Prizes

Visit Craft Buds and link up your craft book project during the window of Sept 1-30 and you'll automatically be entered to win some fantastic prizes from the Craft Book Month sponsors!



No time to make a project? You can also follow Craft Buds all month long for your chance to comment and win some new sewing and quilting books for your library.

 

Guest Post for Jenny

This is the post I did for Jenny over at her Sew Crafty Christmas Event.  If you clicked over yesterday, this is just a repeat of that.  I just wanted to share it here for everyone who didn't and so I have it in my archives.  Happy Monday everyone!

When Jenny asked me to be a part of her Sew Crafty Christmas event I thought I'd show y'all a craft I do with my children every year at Christmas.  It's easy and there are about a million different tutorials for versions of this on the web.  But, I'm going to show you this most basic version and you can take it from there.  My kids are 5 and 7 and we've been doing this together for a few years.  Emma, my 7-year-old can pretty much do it on her own now, but Oren, my 5-year-old still needed guidance. So it is definitely a craft you and your kids can grow into and make a tradition.

We're going to make some fabric-covered Christmas trees!

 

You'll need styrofoam cones (of any size, we like to mix it up), fabric cut into small squares and rectangles (I just hack away...bigger shapes fill the tree faster, little ones give you more control), decoupage glue (we use Mod-Podge mixed with some water) and a paint brush.  I'd also recommend some newspaper so you don't glue the trees to your table, but that's up to you.  ;)
And here we go:

1.  Lay out all of your supplies and start gluing.  I usually put a little glue on the tree, stick the piece of fabric down and then dab a little glue right over the fabric.  Then you can just overlap pieces until the tree is covered!

This little tree is in progress.  See how you just glue down the pieces on top of each other?   That way you make sure to cover everywhere.

2.  Now for that pesky top...there are two ways to conquer this.  You can start here so that the folded-over edges will be covered, but it can be tricky for little fingers to keep the edges smooth, or you can end with the top piece.  I've done both.  For these trees, I glued down the top for them.  The key is to make snips along the fabric that overhangs the top flat area.  Then these snipped pieces can be folded over and arranged to lay flatter.

Here I started with the top and glued it down well before going down the sides.

3.  What I love about this craft is that it doesn't require perfection.  This is a craft you are making with your kids and (from a distance at least!) they'll look just as good if they're perfectly flat or a little bumpy.  Now, if you're a perfectionist, you can certainly make these yourself and they'll look great.  In our little "forest" there are some I've made with the kids and some I've made alone.  I choose to let the happy memories of time spent together haze out all of those bumpy-edged trees from years past.  :)

4.  But fabric is not your only medium to work with.  We've also made yarn-covered trees

and tissue-paper trees.

And really, the sky is the limit here.  I've seen these trees made with ruffled fabric, scrunched up balls of tissue paper, sequins, etc.  You could use newspaper or sheet music for a vintage look.  You could use pins with jeweled heads or beads to be ornaments on your trees.  I mean, what I'm showing you is just the first step...where you go from here can be all you!

Thanks again to Jenny for letting me come over and hang out today!  I wish each of you the very Merriest Christmas and a happy heart this holiday season.  Now get to gluing you up some Christmas trees and start your own Christmas forest filled with memories of time spent together!!

One okay skirt to one super cute shirt

This is the blog post I did for Jenny during her Refashion Series.  I thought I'd repost it here, both to have it in my archives and in case anyone didn't click over.  School starts tomorrow for Emma and on Tuesday for Oren...so hopefully I'll get some sewing in this week, but Oren only goes the one day this first week, so my leech may prevent me from getting much done...  ;)  Hope everyone is having a great Sunday!!

When Jenny asked me to be a part of this refashion series, I decided that whatever I made had to come from my closet.  I considered a couple of things, had a craft-fail that will soon be re-refashioned into something else, (that was Emma's lunchbox) and finally settled on this skirt right here.  As you can see in the picture, it's not bad.  It fits fine, it looks fine, it's just not WOW!  But...I'm turning it into a WOW and with minimal changing, so I could always change it back if I wanted to...even better!!

But what to do with it??  I searched refashions online for inspiration and saw this:  

Found here

And I had my answer.  I didn't even read through the tutorial, although that was just fine because when I looked back, I realized it was a link to another tutorial in French.  ;)

So here's what I did:

1.  Find a skirt at least knee length, the longer the skirt the more options you have for styling.  It needs to have side seams.  This is a cheap, polyester knit from Walmart of all places, so fabric doesn't matter.

2.  Put the skirt on inside out and flip the hem up to your shoulders to see how it will fit as a top.  The skirt's waistband becomes the bubble hem of your new top.  My skirt had a large knit waistband and it's super comfortable, but I imagine a fastened band would be fine if it feels fine to you.  You'll need to adjust the side seams to accomodate your arms, so decide how big you want the "sleeves" to be.
    On my skirt, I went for a sleeveless look, so I just left the hem intact as my shoulder seams and neckline.  then I ripped out the side seams for 8 inches.  Once I made sure I liked that look, I just quickly sewed down the already folded edges to hem up the armholes.  By using the long skirt, it gave the neckline a neat cowl-effect as well.

3.  Now here's the last step:  See how I had a kick pleat in the back of the skirt?  Well, that was a little too low in the back for me...I don't want everyone to see how I fasten my bra, so I just pinned the pleat closed a little higher and sewed along the hemline to hide the stitching.  That way the design element of the open back is still there, but I'm only showing what I'm comfortable with.  ;)

5.  And you're done.  Cute, right?  But here's the best part:  Because my skirt was mid-calf length originally, I have the option of wearing this shirt in different lengths!  I can wear it to bubble at my natural waist, 

at a drop-waist length, like a tunic,

and...as a cute dress!  

In all, it took me A LOT longer to photograph the steps and write up this post than it took to transform this boring skirt into something more fun and hip.  And with my seam ripper and 10 minutes I can always change it back if I need a long, black skirt!  

I encourage you to look around the web, look around your closet and see what you can change.  It's a quick and easy way to brighten your day and your look!

Guest Post--A lesson in wire wrapping

Like I mentioned yesterday, we're having a wonderful guest post today from an old friend of mine!  I'm more into the sewing side of fashion while she's into the accessorizing.  She's brought us an amazing tutorial today to get you started in jewelry making too!  AND....a giveaway!!!  I have these earrings and I love them!  Read on...


Hi Lovely Fans of Small Town Stitcher!

I am so excited to be here! Kelli and I go way back to high school and 4-H! She was the awesome sew chick and I showed market hogs (crazy I know)! We lost touch for a long time but thanks to Facebook have been reunited! Yay! We are so much alike that we even named our daughters Emma who both happen to be six! Whoa! We even lived 30 minutes away from each other for years and didn't know it until I happened to be moving away to the beach :( Boo! But, now she has a place to visit on a pristine beach! Yay!

So, a little about me! My name is Tricia and I am the face behind I Heart Rock n Roll (and my crafty things too). I am Mom to 2 great kids, Christian and Emma, and wife to Noah (or Big Daddy as I like to call him). I was blessed many times over when we moved to the beach (blessing) and got to quit my boring government job (blessing) and started crafting full-time (blessing)...do you see the trend...:)

Please come and visit me on Facebook, my blog, and Etsy store!

Now, for the tutorial I chose the basic earring. Once you master the wire-wrapping technique you can make all sorts of other jewelry so this is the best thing to learn right away! This is my first tutorial so I tried to take tons of pictures!!! Please feel free to contact me, tricia.iheartrocknroll@gmail.com, with any questions, comments, and/or suggestions you may have! I would love to hear from you!

STEP 1

• Gather your tools - you will need round-nose pliers, flat-nose pliers, and cutters (these tools are easily found at all craft stores and even Walmart).
• Gather your headpins, desired earwires, and beads - I used 1-1/2 inch headpins, leverbacks with open loop, and beads (make sure the beads you choose do not exceed half the length of the headpin). 

STEP 2

• Slide your beads on the headpin in the order desired.

STEP 3

• Using the round-nose pliers grab the headpin right above the top bead.

STEP 4

• Push the headpin away from you to a 90 degree angle.



Side view of the 90 degree angle.

STEP 5

• Keeping hold of the headpin slide the round-nose pliers to face  up (see picture) so the nose is stacked vertically. Take the headpin and pull it up, over (in one motion), and down.



Side view of this step - should look like a ?



STEP 6

• Keeping hold of the headpin slide the round-nose pliers to face back in the original position and push the headpin underneath and away from you creating a loop! :)

STEP 7

• Using the flat-nose pliers grab the loop (keeping it flat between the nose), take your other hand grabbing the tail of the headpin and wrap it around the headpin above the beads keeping it close to each revolution until you are flush with the top bead.

STEP 8

• Cut the excess tail as close to the top bead as you can. You will see a little bit of the tail left which is okay! Take the flat-nose pliers and smoosh the tail to lay flush with the wrapping.

STEP 9

• Using the flat-nose pliers open the loop on the earwire, slide your earring on and close! You are done!!!!!! :)

STEP 10

• REPEAT!

LOVE THE GATORS AS MUCH AS WE DO?

Enter to win these cute earrings! All you have to do is:

Mandatory Entries:

• Become a public follower of Small Town Stitcher's Blog (1 entry)
• Become a public follower of I Heart Rock n Roll's Blog (1 entry)
• Heart Small Town Stitcher on Etsy (1 entry)
• Heart I Heart Rock n Roll on Etsy (1 entry)

Bonus Entries:

• Blog, tweet, facebook about this giveaway (up to 3 entries)
• Like I Heart Rock n Roll on Facebook (1 entry)
• Purchase any item from I Heart Rock n Roll (3 entries)

Contest ends Friday at midnight EST! Winner announced Saturday!!!!! Go Gators!

Tricia L.
I Heart Rock n Roll (and my crafty things too)

Come be my friend on Facebook! http://www.facebook.com/tricia.iheartrocknroll.com
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Follow me on my blog! http://iheartrocknroll-tricia.blogspot.com/

Need supplies? Check out my new Etsy shop:
http://iheartsupplies.etsy.com
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