Past Project Friday

Every Friday I will be posting some sort of crafty project that I have completed in the past.  It could be anything from baking, to sewing, needlecrafts, art, decorating, etc.

This is a pretty recent project that I finished just a couple of weeks ago.  Like I said earlier,  I'm not really feeling the Innocent Crush line - but I do have quite a weakness for the woodcut prints.  You might be seeing a project coming up where I use this print again in the home dec weight.  Also, have you seen Jamie's recovered chair?  I seriously did some major shrieking when I saw that post.  That's what's in store for my couch sometime down the road.

Anyway, back to the pillows.  Pretty simple, 26" with purple piping (oh how I love adding piping to everything now that I've conquered my fear of it), and a simple tuft in the middle, topped with a covered button.  Buttons that I've had to resew three times now since my toddler has gotten so good at ripping them off.

backed in Kona Coal

I actually made my own pillow forms for this too, because I could not justify paying $40 each at Joann's.  Heck, even if I used a coupon, it's still way more than I wanted to pay.  So I basically just bought two 32oz bags of fiberfill ($4.80 each w/a coupon) and stuffed them into some simple muslin cases that I cut and sewed myself.  They're definitely a bit more lumpy than true pillow forms, but the tufting really helps to compress everything down.  And Phoebe has been dragging them around and jumping on them for weeks and hasn't noticed a difference.

Past Project Friday

Every Friday I will be posting some sort of crafty project that I have completed in the past.  It could be anything from baking, to sewing, needlecrafts art, decorating, etc.

Today's past project Friday goes back to 2008 - when I actually had time to sit and hand sculpt two dozen fondant puppy dogs.

As usual, I went completely overboard when the customer only asked for simple puppy dog faces.

Even though I offer reasonable quotes and work to stay within the customer's budget, I have a hard time scaling back on execution and labor.  I want to put forth my best work - regardless of the price charged.  So usually my profits end up covering my expenses and I get screwed for my time.  But it's all about doing what you love, right?

I'm not going to tell you how long these guys took to make.

But I'm sure they made the six year old birthday girl incredibly happy.  She requested the pink poodle :)

Past Project Friday

Every Friday I will be posting some sort of crafty project that I have completed in the past.  It could be anything from baking, to sewing, needlecrafts art, decorating, etc.

This was our version of the month-to-month baby portrait.  The numbers are simply fabric backed with fusible webbing that I ironed onto the onesie. 

As you can see, I didn't quite have my act together during month one (it was about 8pm before I remembered to do this), but it definitely shows the reality of being a new mom!

And here she is now at 1 1/2 after taste-testing momma's cream cheese frosting.

Past Project Friday

Every Friday I will be posting some sort of crafty project that I have completed in the past.  It could be anything from baking, to sewing, needlecrafts art, decorating, etc.

This was the first project I made after Phoebe was born.  I went two months without any sewing while I adjusted to motherhood, sleepless nights, and everything else that goes along with becoming a first time parent. 

My parents came up for the weekend to spend time with their new grandaughter and I pretty much locked myself in my studio for the day, save for feeding the baby every couple of hours.

I finished the entire thing - embroidery and all - that day.

It felt amazing to be sewing again.

This book is still a big hit, and I'm proud to say that Phoebe does know all of her colors.



Tutorial is from here.  I added an extra page to include a couple of extra colors.

Past Project Friday

Every Friday I will be posting some sort of crafty project that I have completed in the past.  It could be anything from baking, to sewing, needlecrafts, art, decorating, etc.

Short and sweet today folks.  This is a cake that I made for my aunt and uncle's 50th wedding anniversary.  It was modeled after a cake from the book Confetti Cakes.

I'll be back later this weekend with some toddler Valentine making!

Past Project Friday

Every Friday I will be posting some sort of crafty project that I have completed in the past.  It could be anything from baking, to sewing, needlecrafts, art, decorating, etc.

So back in the day (okay, 3 years ago) someone posted this embroidery pattern on CuteOverload.  I went ahead and stitched the pattern and turned it into this sweet little market tote.

I sent a photo of the completed project back to CuteOverload and they ended up posting it up on their site.  I opened up an Etsy shop purely for the purpose of selling this bag - which I did in a mere 10 minutes of the post going up.  I ended up making 4 more bags and sold 3 of them before closing down shop.


Have you ever tried to explain Caturday to someone who's never heard of it?  People would ask what I was working on and they'd stare blankly at me as I jarbled on about lolcats and icanhascheezburger.

Anyways, I recently found that last Caturday bag while unpacking and decided to go ahead and relist it in my Etsy shop.  

And I apologize for the bare bones nature of my shop, I've really only used it to sell those couple of items.  I've been wanting to get it up and running lately, but I really need to sit down and think about what I want to focus on selling.  My difficulty with crafting is that I like to jump from crocheting to quilting to cake decorating to apparel sewing to scrapbooking, etc. etc.  It's hard for me to settle down and focus on just one medium.  

Well, baby's in bed and I've got the night to myself!  Heading down to the studio to cut out the pieces for a new duvet cover.  Enjoy your weekend and Happy Caturday! 

Past Project Friday

Every Friday I will be posting some sort of crafty project that I have completed in the past.  It could be anything from baking, to sewing, needlecrafts, art, decorating, etc.

I made these mittens three years ago using a tutorial from Sew, Mama, Sew that currently doesn't seem to be working.  But I basically just traced my hand, adding on a very generous seam allowance.  I used this for the outer fabric and lined the inside with fleece.  I also sewed some elastic to the wrist in the lining, so they don't slip off.  They are incredibly cozy.

The vintage, crocheted trim I picked up from a garage sale.  I haven't seen these babies since the move, but I'm hoping to find them soon since Michigan has been COLD lately!  Hope you all are staying warm - have a cozy weekend!

 

Past Project Friday

Every Friday I will be posting some sort of crafty project that I have completed in the past.  It could be anything from baking, to sewing, needlecrafts, art, decorating, etc.

I am a huge fan of all those cake shows - Ace of Cakes, Cake Boss, Cake Challenge, etc; and while they provide me with tons of inspiration, they have definitely upped the stakes for us small time cake decorators.  Gone are the days where a simple sheet cake with some piped flowers will suffice for a little girls birthday, everything has to be custom and everything has to be sculpted.  

So sometimes I cringe during that initial phone call where the client tells me what they want.  On this occasion it was.... a dragon cake.  Or more specifically, "my kid really likes that red toothless dragon from that new dragon movie that came out last week".  Okay.  So I spend hours online trying to find said dragon, and trying to figure out how I'm going to create this three dimensional dragon out of cake.  

Then I have to get it past the stage where I tell the client the price and they freak out on me.  Honestly, I make all of my frosting, filling, and cake by scratch - made to order, come up with my own designs, and do all of the work with my own two hands while a toddler hangs on me the whole time crying "up! up! up!".  And the amount of time I spend on some of these cakes easily adds up to at least 15-20 hours.  Since I don't consider myself a "professional" and don't take on tons of jobs (for my own sanity), I charge considerably less than a custom bakery and think that my prices are very reasonable - but I can't do this for free, people - my time is worth something!    

Anyway, the next step in my process is where I freak out about how exactly I'm going to pull this whole thing together.  This time I wandered around the house for a couple of days saying "Dragons are hard!"  Whenever we find ourselves in a difficult situation, my husband still uses that one. 

Finally I just motor through and get to work.  Sometimes it's just easier to do it than think about it.

This guy sits atop a two tiered 12" & 9" cake.  He is hand sculpted out of rice cereal treats and covered in fondant.  All of the scales and details are fondant as well, except for the wings which are gumpaste.  I was pretty pleased with him in the end.

I hope you have a great weekend!  I'll be back Monday with some updated studio pictures.  The room is painted and we just got done installing the carpet!

Past Project Friday

Every Friday I will be posting some sort of crafty project that I have completed in the past.  It could be anything from baking, to sewing, needlecrafts, art, decorating, etc.

This weeks Past Project Friday comes from last Easter.  Phoebe's lambie was made using Rashida's pattern from her book, I Love Patchwork.  I really can't express how much I love this little lamb - I seriously thought about keeping her for myself, but she deserves to be loved and squeezed and cuddled and fed grilled cheese by my little lambie.



I just can't resist that gummy smile :)

Past Project Friday

Every Friday I will be posting some sort of crafty project that I have completed in the past.  It could be anything from baking, to sewing, needlecrafts, art, decorating, etc.

This is a wedding cake that I made this past summer for Kate, a very dear friend of mine.

Kate was one of those rare, wonderful clients who just told me to "Go for it!" and come up with whatever my little heart desired.  The nice part is that Kate and I have very similar tastes, follow many of the same blogs, fabric designers, etc., so I know that if I created something that I loved, she was bound to love it too.

And she did :)

Past Project Friday

Every Friday I will be posting some sort of crafty project that I have completed in the past.  It could be anything from baking, to sewing, needlecrafts, art, decorating, etc.

I know it's not Friday yet - but hey, with my busy toddler, I have to post when I have the time! 

So this is the very first gingerbread house that I ever made - 3 years ago back in 2007.  Ever since we were little, my sister and I would make something similar to a gingerbread house; my dad built us each a wooden house base which we would cover in frosting and graham crackers and then decorate with candy.  It was always the kick-off to the holiday season for us, spending hours and hours working on these houses while we listened to Christmas music.  When we were finished, we would set them on the dining room buffet and they would give off a wonderful sugary smell for the whole season.

Once I started cake decorating, I felt that I should take it up a notch and actually bake and construct my own house out of actual gingerbread.  The house went up relatively quickly (with the help of a free pattern I found online) and was much easier to put together than I thought it would be - I don't think there was even any swearing involved!

I actually had so much fun making this that I ended up building two of them the next year - one for my parents house and one for mine.  The unfortunate part is that one of my cats has quite a sweet tooth and ended up licking off all of the "snow" that covered the ground and the roof.

Hopefully I'll have some pictures to show you later in the season once I make this year's gingerbread house.  I've got to make up for last year when I didn't make a darn thing - but I blame the then 4 month old baby who refused to sleep.

Past Project Friday

Every Friday I will be posting some sort of crafty project that I have completed in the past.  It could be anything from baking, to sewing, needlecrafts, art, decorating, etc.

This was my first crafting project after having Phoebe.  And I don't mean that I got home from the hospital and jumped on the sewing machine - I probably went a good three months without making a darn thing.  This book was on my to-do list of things to finish before the baby arrives, but I just got too big and too tired to do much of anything near the end. 

I wish I could take credit for the amazing idea, but I took my inspiration from here.

It took me about a day to make, in between feedings and naps; but it would have taken me a heck of a lot longer if grandma and grandpa weren't there to fawn all over the baby.

Phoebe loved looking at this book from a very early age, and still does.  She has certain little things that she likes to point out on all of the different pages - bunnies, ducks, flowers, etc.

And hopefully it will jump start her love of fabric :)

Past Project Friday

Every Friday I will be posting some sort of crafty project that I have completed in the past.  It could be anything from baking, to sewing, needlecrafts, art, decorating, etc.

There's been a lot of quilting posts going on here lately, so I figured I'd change it up a bit with some cupcakes.

These were made about two or three years ago for a nine year old girl's birthday. 

I believe that the mom basically just told me "cupcakes with flowers", and kind of let me go crazy.  Oh, how I love the clients that let go of all control and trust that you'll come up with something fantastic.  They don't come along very often.

All of these were hand piped using an Italian meringue buttercream.  

Past Project Friday

Every Friday I will be posting some sort of crafty project that I have completed in the past.  It could be anything from baking, to sewing, needlecrafts, art, decorating, etc.

This patchwork kitchen rug was made shortly after moving into our apartment in June of 2009.  The kitchen is my favorite place in the home and where I spend most of my time. Since we are renting, I can't do anything about the cabinets, flooring, or appliances, so I try to add some personal character wherever I can. 

Much to my husband's chagrin, I feel the need to paint every single room before we move into a place.  I just don't like living with white walls and I seriously spend hours comparing paint chips before I finally decide on the winners.  I find it incredibly thrilling. 

We orginally painted the kitchen a much lighter shade of green that I decided was entirely too neon-esque, so one day while my husband was at work I repainted the entire thing in it's current color (which is appearing a bit darker in the photo than it actually is).  I think that the memory of being seven months pregnant and standing on the stove to paint the space above the cabinets will be a memory that will always stick with me.   

 I made the rug shortly after, pulling out fabrics in shades of green, tan, and grey that I had on-hand.  I even surprised myself by using some of my most coveted fabric - the olive green Heather Ross field of flowers print - because I knew that this rug was going to get filthy, stained, and worn out.  It definitely is all of those three things now, but I'd rather be able to see my favorite fabrics being used throughout my home than just sitting on a shelf.

Past Project Friday

Every Friday I will be posting some sort of crafty project that I have completed in the past.  It could be anything from baking, to sewing, needlecrafts, art, decorating, etc.

 

These baby pants were made for my dear friend Lisa upon the arrival of her new baby, Peter.

 

I had absolutely no experience in sewing clothes whatsoever, so I basically traced a pair of baby pants that I had received for a shower gift (I was pregnant myself at that time) as a pattern.  Unfortunately I didn't stop to think that the pants I traced were knit, and these were a woven cotton.  No stretch whatsoever.  I think they might have fit him for about a day.

Luckily his momma is a pretty amazing sewer, so I don't think Peter went pantless for very long.