Gift

My friend, Sasha, gave me this perfect little clutch for my birthday a couple of weeks ago. Of course, she made it! I just love everything about it: my favorite color, felt, velvet leaves, vintage button and pretty lining. It was wrapped beautifully, too. I only wish I had a photo.

Sasha is the best at wrapping gifts in a pretty and unique way, with a vintage twist.

These photos aren't the best, as I snapped them quickly upon arriving to work this morning. But you get the picture.

Thanks so much, Sasha! :D

Etsian of the Week: TheWindyHill

It's been a while since I've done an Etsy post, so why not start up again by featuring my mom's new shoppe? Before starting out on Etsy, she sold quality, handmade clothing for Himstedts, as did I. You can still buy a few of her ensembles here {KinderCottageKeepsakes}, as well as see past creations.

Her new venture on Etsy is made up mostly of handmade, anime-style, felt dolls. We have decided they are so weird that they're pretty cute! She also sells upcycled rings made with vintage earrings and buttons, plus fabric covered button earrings. So stop by and look around. She'll have new items up soon! :)

www.TheWindyHill.etsy.com

Velvet Strawberries.....the finished product

Hello there! I'm finally back to blogging after my long absence, which I have no good reason for, except that I haven't been in the blogging mood. ;-) I have been productive, though. I've been busy with a new job at a local boutique, sewing a Dorothy (Wizard of Oz) dress for an old doll-collecting client, and dabbling here and there with random Etsy experiments.

My most productive Etsy experiment (so far) has been my vintage-copycat velvet strawberries (shown in my previous post). But this experiment has actually come to completion, and made it's way to my shoppe! This seems to be a rarity for me and my big ideas. ;-) So, I'd like to share a few more photos of the finished products: 6 different styles made from 4 different velvets and 3 styles of seed bead. These would be so cute hanging from a purse, made into a keychain (as my good friend Sasha suggested), adorning a hat or tied up with a sprig of velvet leaves and blossoms and attached to a brown, paper-wrapped package. The possibilities are endless, and I think, adorable!

~*~Velvet Strawberry Goodness~*~

I LOVE velvet! Velvet fabric, velvet dresses, velvet jackets, velvet hats, velvet ribbon and velvet strawberries (to name just a few). ;)

I've been thinking a lot about velvet leaves and strawberries off and on........as the urge for them comes and goes. One day I might be thinking about making a hat. And, "oh, velvet strawberries would look delicious on a hat!". Or I might be searching Etsy and happen upon a vintage bag with velvet strawberries. "Oh, how pretty. I should make something like that." So, recently I noticed these lovelies on Etsy at WispsGathering Beauty. I really, really love them, but I thought, "Why pay for these when I can make them myself?"

Enter my first attempt at velvet strawberry making!

I really love the way this one turned out. I used a piece of GORGEOUS (the prettiest I've seen) crushed pink velvet that I'd been hoarding for quite some time. I had originally gotten it to make a jacket for a doll, but since I'm more into little random oddities these days, I figured it would never end up as a jacket anyway.

The strawberry greens are made of wool felt, since I was afraid that green velvet might fray and look messy. Besides, felt is so easy to work with and I think it looks really nice paired with the velvet.

Most of the velvet strawberries I see out there have white seeds, but I prefer the black, as they're closer to the color of the real thing. I am running very low on the black seed beads, though, so the following strawberries might have to conform to the trends. ;)

I hope you enjoyed viewing my lovely strawberry. :) I enjoyed making it and love the outcome so much, that I've cut out 24+ more strawberries that will hopefully make their way to my shoppe in the near future. Wish me luck, as I never seem to finish what I start. ;) This time will be different............

ps. I'm still loving those vintage strawberries..........I may just crack............ ;)

odds & ends

Just a few snippets of what's been going on this week: some odds & ends that don't fit anywhere!

The last package I wrapped up for Etsy: a single red rose.

Front of the tag --

Adorable bird cardstock - came from a scrapbook paper stack that I bought at work

Umbrella tag - handmade by me using my own stamp and Sculpey rubber clay

Bottom half of tag - snipped from a second-hand book

Back of the tag

A disgusting spider! If you're shrinking back from the computer in horror, don't worry.....I did the same thing when I first saw this photo! Somehow this spidey looks a lot worse on the computer, illuminated by the camera flash, than it did when I was kneeling a couple of inches from it in the dim evening light. There was a pane of glass between me and the spider, or else you would NEVER have caught me so close!

Last but not least: a lovely little treasury that was featured on Etsy today: Such sweet colors: http://www.etsy.com/treasury_list_west.php?room_id=67486

Happy Tuesday!

3/11/09

After MUCH deliberating, I have finally chosen a frame for the purse that I'm planning to make. The tutorial below really fueled my inspiration to make a matching bag for my felt hat............so here is the beginning of the project. It hasn't even been shipped yet, but hopefully my beautiful frame will arrive by next week!

Purse frame purchased from: 3Dpatternpaper.etsy