Cartwheels and Pearls

           This post probably should have been posted a long time ago. Like back in April. That was two months ago.... whoops. I was looking through my old posts and saw this draft. It's about time I share :)

        Ever seen their stuff? Well, go check it out! briar.claire has got some of the cutest stuff ever! I was lucky enough to win a $50 gift certificate to their etsy shop. I can't tell you how hard it was to pick what I wanted. They sent me an email saying my stuff would be shipped on the 13th. April 13th. Well sure enough, two days later, a little box arrived in the mail. A lot quicker than I expected!

Isn't it so cute? I just had to take a picture of it. My sister was mad because she just couldn't wait to tear it open!
 She was not posing to my satisfaction so here's the only one of her wearing them.
 Like the Easter decorations in the background? As I said. This post is two months late.

 I also got about 4 or 5 other cute little headbands and hair clips. I just didn't take pictures of them. and I lost my camera. and I'm on vacation without my headbands. and so you can just go check them out yourself.

briar.claire also has a blog. Go check 'em out! Lots of awesome giveaways over there!

This post was inspired by Anthropologie inspired hair bow Anthropologie inspired hair bows at Sew Home Grown. She made ADORABLE little hairbows to slip into easter baskets last minute. They're perfect for that. I started to make one from her tutorial but when I got to this stage:
CONFESSION TIME: I don't actually know how to wind a bobbin. Is that sad? I've been shown how to loads of times and I just can't remember how to.

Anyway, instead of folding it inside out and sewing it, I just did a stitch all the way around and then proceed to twist it and then wind the wire around the center.

I decided I didn't like it.
I took a little strip and stitched a line right down the middle... or close to it and then glued it around the middle.



I hot glued it onto a bobby pin and wallah! I looks like a piece of crap in that picture. Yuck.
Here's it in my hair. Trust me, it looks a lot better in person. I love the little pink stitching. No one can really see it. But still... It's just all dainty and shabby and cute. I love it.

I've been DYING to make some flowers for my shoes! Except I was cursed with some nice n' wide feet so I rarely ever fit into flats! My little sister on the other hand got my mom's skinny feet. She loves flats so I plan on raiding her shoes and adding some flowers. At Diary of a Preppy Mom, I found a GREAT tutorial to make some shoe flowers. I never thought of doing it that way at all. I was going to add some flowers to this pair of shoes:

Well, I found a sort of an abstract flower tutorial at Hey Jen Renee. It's not really abstract, but every single flower is different and they look flowerish but not over powering flowery. It's hard to explain... Anyway, I made one from her tutorial! I completely freehanded my petals... I actually didn't even draw them out. I just started cutting and they turned out good enough for me.
I haven't attached it to anything yet so I had to hold it in my hair for pictures!

Ignore the awkward pose in this one! I only had a sports bra under a see through white shirt ( uh oh!) and no make up AND my hair was a complete MESS! So I wasn't at my finest... but I love the flower! I do like her flowers a little better, but hey, practice makes perfect!

I also tried my hand at making those fabric yo yo's I've been eyeing for forever! I loosely pinned it onto the same shirt and I love it! The fabric was some old pajama bottoms that were turned into rags that I saved to make into a flower! Goodness I'm awesome at taking extremely awkward pictures aren't I?
And last but not least of yesterday's creations... a rolled rose for a little girl who's birthday is coming up! Her favorite color is purple but all my purple material wouldn't work for the type of flower I wanted to make, so I settled for a purpley-pink. Ignore the huge glue glob on there. It's now GONE.

And sorry about all the bad pictures! iphoto won't open on my mac anymore so I have to import all my pictures from my camera onto another computer which I HATE to edit them on. So that means you guys get to deal with lovely photo booth pictures when I'm too lazy to switch to another computer! YAY.

I will now proceed to search my closet for plain tops that need some "help." My sister's closet better watch out! IT'S NEXT!

I've tended to stay away from making bows. Why? No reason. Well it's probably my fabric to ribbon ratio which is extremely steep. With a withering wallet, I tend to like very cheap crafts from materials I have on hand. When my grandma died, we got all her sewing supplies. That means lace, rik-rak, buttons, thread, and more. Well, We've never had a use for the lace until now. I found a very cute tutorial at Kitty Cats and Airplanes. It's sooooo easy!
Since I've not yet mastered the art of taking pictures of myself and there was no other available human models to use, I used my dog. She didn't really know what was going on, but she did a good job!





Modeling is hard work!

No I'm not one of those crazy pet owners who have their dogs wear bows and dress them up. No offense to anyone who does do that though...
I'm linking up here and here and here

I don't know what else to call this, but I love it!
This was popular a few weeks ago and quite a few posts circulated around blogland about it. Here is my own creation!


I was going to use a baby blue, but when I opened the can I got a nice surprise!




The nice glossy rustoleum I chose to use gets EVERYWHERE. My hands were BLACK. After it had seeped into my skin a little, I felt like a gorilla...




It was soooo tempting!

Anyway, these things are SOOOO simple to make! You just paint a base coat, let it dry, and then squirt some paint at one end and sort of tap it until it drips and then let it dry standing up. The only time consuming thing was waiting for the paint to dry. 

I'm linking up here and here

Yes, it IS possible! And so is everything else when you put your mind to it....
Anyway... I saw this great tutorial at K.I.S.S. on how to turn those old too small, ripped, snagged tights into beautiful flowers! Here's my take on them. I think they're just a tad too big. Next time I try this, I think I might not use such a big section of tights. Love them either way, though!





The dog proved to be a better headband model than my sister...



I was browsing though some blogs and I came upon a post at You Seriously Made That!?
It was a tutorial for her Knotted Headband that she made. I fell in love!
I was very disappointed with the yarn selection I had available, so I was stuck with a plain creamy color. Blah. The only ribbon I could find was a dark maroon which looks nice with the cream, but barely shows up in my hair!

Yes! Every hot glue gun lover's dream! No sew flowers! For your headbands, belts, shoes, hair clips, etc.
Here's a tutorial for you! This time I've actually included pictures! I LOVE taking pictures... but taking ones of me actually doing something is quite awkward let me tell you!
Here's one I made, not too proud of it though:
Materials: 

• Glue gun
• Circular Object (Yes I did use a shot glass...)
• Scissors
• Felt (You'll only need one small circle per flower)
• Assorted Fabrics
• Marking Tool (I just used a white crayon)
• Optional: Something to attach it to like a clip, headband, pair of shoes, etc. (I used the pearl strand above... yes fake of course!)

1. Trace around your circle. Anything from a bottle to a toilet paper roll with do. You'll need around 10 depending on how big your circles are and how thick the material is. Your circles don't need to be perfect, but rounder edges look better. You'll also need a circle out of the felt of around the same side, it doesn't have to be perfect either.