Creating the Dream

My Recent Creations-- HATS!

2011-01-01T14:59:00.000-05:00

My crafting has been very limited since I moved to Colorado. I don't have many of my materials or supplies, so I have been focusing on refining my crochet skills. I have made hat after hat after hat in the last 3 weeks. Too bad I only have 1 head to wear them on! There are way more than I know what to do with!!

Beret style hat

Beanie with felted flower

Teen-Adult size hat

Beanie with shell pattern

warm hat with ear flaps

Warm and fuzzy hat with earflaps

Thick and warm Beanie

Adult hat with ear flaps

Child's hat with flower

And that's only half of them!!

Let me know what you think!

Whale Pillow

2010-11-29T17:56:00.000-05:00

I made this pillow last night when there was nothing good on tv to watch! The dimensions are 10" x 16". I googled a picture of an illustrated whale to do and found this....later I found out that its the Twitter icon that comes up when theres an error...oh well! Still cute!

I didn't take step by step pictures because I thought it was pretty straight forward.

Supplies:
- Pink Flannel pillow background fabric for front and back
- Fuzzy white fabric for whale
- pink fabric that doesn't ravel very easily for birds
- 2 different blue fabrics that also don't ravel very easily for waves
- twine for ropes holding the whale

Sew on the waves one layer at a time -- light blue, then dark blue...or whatever colors you're using!

When you are sewing on the whale, sew on the twine at the same time by tucking it under the white fabric to hide the ends. Before you sew on the birds, use a whip stitch to hand sew on the twine. It helped to place the birds where I wanted them to be first so that I could position the rope correctly.

I used a zig zag stitch for the whale because I used a fabric that raveled pretty easily. This will ensure that the fabric doesn't unravel when the pillow is being used later on. I also decided to use the zig zag stitch on the birds as more of a decorative stitch. Also, with the zig zag stitch it doesn't have to be exact, so it made sewing on the tiny birds much easier.

Owl Pillow

2010-11-14T12:17:00.000-05:00

Supplies:

fabric- large pieces to cover the pillow and small pieces for owl
piping
pillow
sewing machine (or needle and thread)

I first found an inspiration image to base my owl off of. I googled illustrations of owls and found this one:

1. Begin by cutting out the basic shapes of your owl. It helps to lay down a piece of fabric that is the same size as your pillow so that you can cut out shapes that will be the right size.

2. Now that you have all your pieces together, you can start adding the details. I cut out lots of little feather shaped pieces of fabric to use for the wings. I varied the fabrics to add texture.

To attach the feathers to the wing, first lay out the bottom layer. You will build on top of this so that you hide your stitches.

Using the sewing machine, I sewed the feathers on using brown thread to further hide the stitches.

Continue to layer on the feathers until you finish the whole wing.

3. Now that you have the wings finished, continue cutting out the pieces for the eyes, forehead piece, beak, and talons. Sew on the eyes and forehead to the face. Sew the two stomach layers together. Leave the rest of the pieces loose and sew them on when you are attaching them to the pillow.

4. Measure our the front and back squares that will cover the pillow. Make sure to add room for seam allowance. Center the owl on the front square and use pins to secure. Use the sewing machine to attach. Work from the bottom up--- sew the wings on, then sew the body on top of the wings, sew the neck on to cover your stitches where the body and wings attached..etc. This way, fewer of your stitches will be seen and the owl will look seamless.

5. When the owl is attached, you can sew the pillow together. Have the right sides facing and sew around 3 of the edges completely. On the last edge, ( I chose to make it one of the small edges) sew only 1/3 way down. Turn the case right side out and stuff the pillow in. Hand stitch the rest of the pillow closed.

6. I chose to add piping to the pillows edges. Pin the piping between the 2 sides of the pillow case and sew together. Piping isn't necessary though and definitely makes this sewing task harder.

Stick Candle Holder

2010-11-09T15:28:00.000-05:00

This is a great candle holder for any occasion, but especially for the upcoming holidays. It might be just what your table needs for the perfect Thanksgiving or Christmas presentation!

I saw a similar candle holder in a boutique in Savannah, Georgia. Of course, I'm all about looking at how things are made and doing it myself, so I did just that. It was a lot easier than I ever expected and now you can do it too!

Supplies:

- sticks from outside

- glass tea candle holders ( 99 cents at Michaels)

- hot glue gun with extra glue sticks

Step 1: Lay out sticks to form the base of the candle holder. It helps to line up the glasses next to the base to make sure its long and wide enough. Once you have the base measured out, hot glue the sticks to each other.

Step 2: Make the structure for the ends next. I've found that it's easiest to make an X-shape with 2 sticks on the ends. The X-shape is strong and you can easily glue other sticks to it.

Step 3: Place the glasses on top of the base now so that you can space them out evenly and create boxes with sticks around the glasses. Create separators between the glasses with sticks and then build them up.

Step 4: From here, you really just have to build up the sides and ends with sticks.

Tips:

For glasses that don't want to stay up straight, use a curved stick to brace it.

BE SPARING WITH YOUR HOTE GLUE!!! It's a pain to have to pick all the glue strands off when you're done and you won't be happy with your project if you have a bunch of hot glue balls oozing off your sticks!

Easy Fondant Cake

2010-11-09T12:44:00.001-05:00

As I've said in earlier posts, I am huge fan of stumbleupon.com. One of my recent stumbles was a blog posting about how to make marshmallow fondant. It looked pretty easy and I've wanted to try working with fondant before, so I gave it a shot. This being my first fondant cake, I'm pretty impressed at how great it turned out!

Supplies:
-marshmallows (I used 1 full bag)
-powdered sugar (1- 2lb bag)
- food coloring
- flavor extract ( I used vanilla and peppermint)
- food coloring
- stick of butter
- cake mix (I used a Betty Crocker cake from a box to keep things simple)
- rolling pin
- cookie cutter

Step 1:

Begin by making the marshmallow fondant. You can follow the recipe on this blog or you can follow my instructions which are only slightly different.

1. In a microwave safe bowl, add about 1/3 of the marshmallows in the bag. This will make enough fondant to cover one tier of the cake.

2. Add a bit of water to the bowl...Only about a 2 tablespoons. Enough to get the marshmallows slightly wet when you mix it around. If you are adding a flavor extract, this is the time to add it. I used about 2 teaspoons. If you add the extract, use less water.

3. Microwave the marshmallows for 20-30 seconds until they are puffed up. You should be able to see the shape of the original marshmallow only slightly.

4. Grease a wooden spoon with butter and mix the melted marshmallows. When you have a smooth consistency, you can add food coloring to create your desired color. Keep in mind that you will be adding a lot of powdered sugar which will lighten the color a good bit, so make it darker than you want.

5. (This color made the pink that I used in my cake.) Begin folding in powdered sugar about 1/3 cup at a time until it gets thick enough for you to knead with your hands.

6. Knead fondant with powdered sugar until it is stiff enough that it won't stick to your hands. You will know you've added too much powdered sugar when the fondant starts to crumble. If this happens, knead in some butter to bring it back to a smooth texture.

...and you have FONDANT!!

Store fondant in a greased ziplock bag in the fridge until you are ready to use it on a cake. Fondant can be frozen for future projects too.

Step 2: Make cakes!

1. I used a Betty Crocker cake from a box instead of making one from scratch. I put half of the batter in a 7" circular pan and the other half in a 9" circular pan.

2. When cakes are finished baking, let cool and remove from pan. If you grease the pans very, very well before baking, the cakes should just fall out of the pan with no problem. When the cakes are completely cool, wrap tightly in saran wrap and put in the fridge over night.

Step 3: Beautify your cake!

1. Warm up your fondant balls by holding them in your hands. Sprinkle the counter with powdered sugar. Roll fondant out into a flat, even sheet. Flip the fondant over so that you roll out both sides multiple times so that the roller doesn't start getting stuck to the fondant. I tended to have trouble removing the fondant from the counter whenever I wanted to flip it over, so I used a spatula to remove it from the counter first.

2. I chose to make the first layer of my cake white. So I rolled out a piece that was large enough to cover the top and sides of the 9" cake. Drape the fondant over the cake and smooth it down around the sides. Use a knife to cut off the extra fondant around the base of the cake.

3. To add the pink stripes to the base, I rolled out the pink fondant. Using a knife, I cut out the stripes. I found that the easiest way to get fondant to adhere to fondant was to slightly wet the back of it. So, with your finger slightly dampen the back of the fondant stripes and then adhere them to the white. Because the top tier will cover the middle of the cake, the stripes don't have to go all the way across. This will save fondant.

4. I decided to make the top tier green, so I rolled out a piece of fondant large enough to cover the top, sides and part of the bottom of the cake. I didn't want any cake to show through between the gap of the top and bottom tiers. Slightly dampen the fondant on the bottom side of the cake so that it will adhere to the base nicely.

5. Now you can embellish the cake however you want. I knew I wanted it to be Christmas themed, so I decided to make snowflakes and a snowman.

To make the snowman, I just rolled balls of white fondant. To hold the balls together I used toothpicks. Keep part of the toothpicks sticking out the bottom so you can push them into the cake to keep the snow man standing up.

Using a cookie cutter shaped as a snowflake, I cut out multiple snowflake shapes.

Wet the snowflakes slightly so that they will stick to the green. Adhere them to the green fondant.

When that is done, you can add the snowman as the finishing touch!

And now you have a professional looking cake! Change up the colors and shapes for any holiday or party!!

Comment to let me know what you think or if you have any questions!

Jazz up an old Sweatshirt!

2010-11-05T23:17:00.003-04:00

I'm definitely a sweatshirt and sweatpants kind of girl. But that doesn't mean I'm not a cute sweatshirt and sweatpants kind of girl!

I was browsing an art supply store in Savannah this past weekend and came across the cutest book of iron on illustrations. My first project I decided to use this book for was to jazz up my favorite old blue sweatshirt. It's my favorite sweatshirt for just lounging around the house, but I still should look cute lounging!

Supplies:
-Iron-on decals
-shirt, sweatshirt, pants, etc
-iron

1. I began by cutting out the illustrations I wanted to use. I decided to embellish only the pocket on my sweatshirt. I figured out the perfect arrangement of the illustrations. Keep in mind, to iron them on, you have to turn them over, so the pictures will be mirrored when you finish.

2. Iron on the decals only a few at a time. I discovered that once some of them were ironed on, that I actually needed more illustrations or that some needed to be in different spots on the pocket. Make sure not to have the steam turned on on the iron and use the setting for cotton. Hold firmly for 30 seconds.

3. Let the decals cool down a bit before trying to remove the paper. Remove the paper slowly so that you don't rip the image. Sometimes you may have to iron them a little longer.

4. Iron on the rest of the illustrations a few at time, making sure not to overlap the iron and decals already ironed onto the fabric.

And you're finished! The quickest and easiest way to put some life into a boring old sweatshirt!

My first Terrarium

2010-10-25T23:29:00.000-04:00

So, with not much to do while I'm waiting around to start my new job, I've been using the site stumbleupon.com a lot. I "stumbled" across some creative terrariums and decided to give it a try. I didn't want to start too crazy or involved on my first one just in case it was more than I wanted to invest in time and money.

This is the terrarium I "stumbled upon." I loved the idea of using a lightbulb but I decided to use something a little easier for my first time. I chose to build mine in a flower vase.

The materials I used for this project are:
- Sand
- Ballast rocks
- Lichen and moss
- Plastic Animals
- Sculpey polymer clay
- glass flower vase
- soil

I began my terrarium by first layering the sand and ballast. I wanted there to be a pretty layering of the materials at the bottom. I covered that with potting soil, then red clay, then another layer of soil that I packed down with my hands. At this point, I wasn't really sure what I wanted to do for the top layer. I chose one of the plastic animals for inspiration. I chose a giraffe so I knew I needed to work with varying heights to complement the height of the animal. I made a path with the lichen varying the green and brown and added some seashells. From there though, I had no idea what to do.

I ventured outside in my backyard to see what I could find. I picked up a few berries from a bush and dug up a small piece of monkey grass. The monkey grass would be the height I needed to complement the giraffe and the berries added a new texture.

After all that, I still wasn't satisfied. The giraffe seemed out of place because everything else in the terrarium was so natural. I whipped out my sculpley polymer clay and began making lots of tiny toadstools. I knew from how hard it was to try to get the giraffe to stay standing up inside the vase that I would need to do something with the toadstools to make them stick into the ground. The easiest solution I found was to put toothpicks through the center of the mushroom. The sculpey held onto the wood nicely and toothpicks go through the oven well. These were the finishing touch to my first terrarium.

This really isn't a true terrarium since there isn't a lid to the vase and I didn't use the charcoal and I'm not really growing any plants or moss. But this is a really nice, no-hassle, decorative piece.

I obviously plan on making some more since I have so many left over mushrooms and plastic animals. I just purchased a glass jar with a lid, so I think I'll try a terrarium with moss next. I'll keep you posted!!

Tell me what you think!

An Unfocused Craft Binge

2010-09-29T23:28:00.001-04:00

So I've been crafting like crazy these last few weeks that I've been home. I guess there's really not much else to do until December when my job starts. I haven't been able to focus on one particular project at all. I just bounce from belts to knitting (my newest craze) to felting to halloween costume-creating. It feel really good to be productive even if it's just making 5 knitted headbands in 2 days. I'm really interested in expanding my skill set to more fiber arts. I'm interested to see what I can create by combining what I already know with sewing to felting and knitting. I'm not really sure where I'm going yet but I do have a few ideas that I want to try out. Maybe a knitted belt? Who knows...

knitting + felting = cute ski headband!

a few of the headbands I've made so far! Some are lined with fleece to make them even warmer for the cold mountain air.

I'm busy preparing for a belt show this coming weekend (St. Thomas Aquinas Church @ 1400 Suther Road, Charlotte NC, Oct. 2, 9am-2pm). I've been cranking out my fall and winter line and trying to get everything onto the website. I'm really excited about some of the great new fabrics that I've found for this season! I have a couple of shows planned before Christmas and am considering doing another home show since last years was so much fun.

Here is a little snapshot of my life. Many of you have seen where the magic happens (aka: my mom's dining room), but I bet lots of you think I have some fabulous sewing room in my house where I've set up my belt-making factory. But, oh no, this is it!!

Berry Pie

2010-06-25T11:32:00.000-04:00

This is a quick and easy recipe for a berry pie with a twist!

Ingredients

frozen or fresh berries: 4 cups

sugar: 1 cup

white bread

Over low heat, melt the sugar and berries together until completely mixed together. Adjust ingredient quantities according to personal desire.

While the berries are cooking, line a bowl large enough to hold all the berries with saran wrap. Then, cut the crust off of 5 or 6 slices of white bread. Dip the bread in the berry juice.

Lay the bread in the bowl covering all the edges and with the juice side of the bread facing out. Then ladle the berries into the bread bowl you've created, but leave the juice behind. Use the remaining juice to dip more bread in. This bread will be used to cover the top of the pie.

The final result should look like this.

Cover the pie with more saran wrap. Place a plate over the pie to create weight to smoosh the pie down. Put a can or something of similar weight on top of the plate to add more weight.

Refrigerate for 6-8 hours.

Turn the bowl over so that the rounded part of the pie is the top when read to serve.

Slice and enjoy!

Mounted Hippo

2010-06-22T20:57:00.000-04:00

This is a recent project I was working on, a cute mounted hippo on an oak plaque. I used a pattern from a Simplicity stuffed animal pattern but only created the head and feet. After the body parts were stuffed and embellished, I mounted them on the board with glue. Once mounted, you can hang it on the wall or over a mantle. They look really cute in groups!

This is a cute little elephant that I've been working on. The ears in the process of drying right now. To get them to stay sticking up, I used Aileen's fabric stiffener and formed them in the shape I want.

My kitchen after a hard days work!