Beauty & the Beast - Part One (The Fun, Artsy Part)

Well if you are friends with me on Instagram, you know exactly what I'm talking about. Yup, I drank THE kool-aid, I made an Amy Butler Weekender bag. Let me preface that I did not originally intend to.. Okay, here's what happened..

I used to live in Arizona and that's where I was first introduced to the mega fabulous Crafty Chica. I fell in love with her style, her confidence, and her desire to inspire. She is such an amazing artist and inspirational, positive Latina role model for my two ankle biters. I have followed her success and am so happy to watch her make it national and with a craft line of her own.

This past month I had the opportunity to work with one of her craft products - flocked decals. Not boring ol' traditional puppies and teddy bears, but really awesome designs that you will want to go crazy with. And I went crazy all right!

I ironed on the flocked decals to white linen - I knew I wanted a canvas-ish base to work off of. For the sacred heart, I used watered down acrylic paints to bring it to life. You could of course use fabric paints or even the Crafty Chica's fabric pens!

For the muertos couple, I really wanted to enjoy some mixed media flavor.. lots of paint with lots of hand embroidery.

There is SO much embroidery that is hard to highlight in the pictures. If you are going to Sewing Summit in a few weeks, come get a closer look! The flocked decal was perfect for this mixed media project. It provided yummy texture and a fabulous base for painting.

Needless to say, quite a few hours went into working on the decals. I didn't want to just frame it, I wanted to enjoy this all the time. With Sewing Summit around the corner, I thought it would be fabulous to create The Weekender bag and include this as the highlight.

And I do have lots to say about the actual construction of the bag.. which I will give you later this week in Part Two.. Until then Click here to see if a Michaels store in your area is carrying the Crafty Chica line.

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I received this complimentary product from CraftyChica.com as part of the Crafty Chica Design Team, 

 and was asked to share an original DIY project.

Paulie the Peacock..and yes the Yudu post is coming..

I know what you were thinking. My blog didn't have enough craziness to it and I should add one more area of crafty art. Awesome! Me too! 

And I know some of you have heard about this Yudu tutorial coming.. and it is. It's totally not sponsored by anyone and I'm a bit pokey with it right now because I want this to be comprehensive and really helpful. I thought I had all my ducks in a row, but then I had some late night discoveries.. OK, I promise the tutorial is coming, but for now can I show you some fun & successful screen printed projects??

This is Paulie the Peacock. He is my own little drawn creation and he is screen printed on my Yudu. I have a  little crush on him. Which one is your favorite? I love him bare on muslin, but he was also sooo much fun to paint as well.

Later this week, you will be able to buy him in my Etsy store. I will have him available as a DIY sewing kit - boxed with front & back fabric, and you can choose to paint him or not. He will also be sold as a ready made softie. I think he would be a super fun project for kiddos to paint. He's like a giant coloring book just waiting for some colorful feathers.

Here is the backside of the painted Paulie. I loved this fabric's colors and peacockiness (is that a word, it should be..)

And here is bare Paulie's back.. Mmm.. love me some Moda fabric!

Win Fabric!!

Get your attention??

We all know how I love Riley Blake fabric..

and I especially love fabric designed by the Quilted Fish!!

Today I'm sponsoring a "Sugar & Spice" Fat quarter bundle giveaway

at Sumo's Sweet Stuff !!

Super easy to enter!!

Good luck

Hooked on The Quilted Fish

This past year when I went to Quilt Market, I was knocked out by The Quilted Fish's booth. I bought a TON of patterns and basically just wanted to move in! I was more than a little thrilled when I found out that Amanda, the brainchild of The Quilted Fish, was in my creative guild. She is sooo sweet and hasn't placed a restraining order on me even though I probably have emailed her more than her own mom. I just adore her designs would *love* to learn from her. THEN I found out she also designed fabric for one of my most favorite companies, Riley Blake. And sure enough, when I checked out my fabric studio I had TONS from her line..

Last night she threw a party launching her new line, Delighted. And yes it is *delightful*! The colors are cheerful and bright. I have tons of ideas and can't wait to get my hands on it! Oh and the party? Shear delight...

Cozy little entrance into the party

Check out that garland! Love it - great idea for scraps..

Sweet packages of Delightful fabric for everyone!

The focus pieces in the room were shut the door fabulous!

Don't you just want to dive in and play?!

And the yummies were soo good!

Creamy soups, toasted cheese sandwiches, cupcakes, and cookies!!

Win fabric? Yes,please!

More fabric fun!

And a peek of what's to come..

Amanda rocks!

Loving that truck!

I may have to paper piece an auto design soon..

Glamping!

Don't mind me while I curl up and relax..

THE Quilted Fish!

Yummy candies.. It's possible I had a few scoops of Swedish fish..

I tried to convince Amanda that she didn't want to lug all that

fabric back home..

Super adorable centerpieces..

A photobooth with Quilted Fish photo props!

Make & takes galore...

More fabric inspiration..

There I am with some of my friends & fellow fabric hoarders..

P.S. My hair looked SO much cuter in person, oy...

A dollhouse dolled up with Delighted!

More photos of some amazing, creative people ..

We were also the last people to leave..

Sorry Amanda, it was too much fun!!

What can I say? Drooling over fabric, fun make & takes, candy, yummy food, and awesome friends that share the love..

Amanda, you & your line are truly..yes, delightful..

Adventures in Dyeing

I have been wanting to do a paper pieced project with velvet for awhile now. One of the great things about that technique is you can use fabrics other than cotton since the paper gives you so much stability. I really wanted some uniquely orange dyed velvet, but wow can I tell you that is a way under filled niche. The few pieces I found were priced way beyond their value. I was pretty sure that you could not dye polyester fabric and looked into ready-to-dye velvet online. Again the price was pretty high and I have trouble waiting - patience is not my strong suit.

I was beyond thrilled when I found that Jacquard has an easy peasy way to dye nylon & polyester fabric!! They sell these packets of dye that you simply toss in a metal pot with your fabric. Here is what I did...

Here is my 100% polyester velvet panne from the local fabric chain & 1 iDye packet in Orange.

Find a metal pot that you can easily fit your fabric into.

This pot will now be your crafty pot - no more pasta in here please!!

Toss your fabric into the pot and enough water so that the fabric can swish around easily.

Toss the whole packet in - it all dissolves!

I swished it about with some chopsticks.

Turn the heat up on the stove and simmer it for about an hour.

Here it is simmering..

After an hour, I carefully placed my fabric out on the grass to dry a bit before the rinse.

Now the dye is intended for man made fabrics, but I wanted to dye

some lace and thought I'd dunk it in the pot while it cooled down outside.

Here is my delicious velvet panne after a rinse with some baby detergent!

Isn't it wonderful??

I can't wait to do some fall quilting with it.

And here is that bit of lace I dunked.

I love that it is not solid and there is only a hint of orange -

it is exactly what I was hoping to achieve!

This was so easy and I was amazed by how well the dye worked on 100% polyester! Initially I wanted to do more resist options with the velvet and I couldn't figure out how with a dye packet. If you have experience with this - I would love to hear how you did it! I personally didn't have tons of time (I did this during Baby & Kiddo's nap) and I didn't want to mess with harmful chemicals either.. so it was perfect. I may try altering the color a bit with fabric paints before I quilt it.

Hope you try this! So much fun and way easy!!

Iron Craft #14 - Postcards

For this week's challenge on Iron Craft

we were challenged to make a postcard.

(We could enter it into a swap as well!)

I decided to do a quilted postcard,

big surprise, eh?

Did you know you could mail a fabric postcard?

You most certainly can.

Though I wouldn't want it to get ruined and

I would mail it in a nice cushy envelope.

For my theme, I choose Utah - where I currently reside.

I can't say it's my "home".

I guess in my mind I'll always be a Southern California girl..

Anyways..

What do you think of when you think of Utah?

Probably not what I think of.

Your perspective changes once settle in a place.

When I think of Utah, I think of BIG landscapes.

The Salt Lake is BIG.

The mountains are BIG.

The valleys are BIG.

During the spring, we will have miles of green valleys

below snow capped mountains.

And that's what I quilted..

Hope my swap partner likes it!

Iron Craft #10 & Tutorial

This week on Iron Craft,

we were challenged to make something from a fat quarter of fabric.

Since I sit in front of my sewing machine daily,

it wasn't a huge challenge for me.

So.. I decided to try to make something with fabric that was no-sew!

I found this super cute fabric at Joann's

I knew instantly that I wanted to cut it up and make it into

a soft matching game for Isabelle.

All you need is:

fabric

felt

fabri-tac glue

Cut the fabric into individual squares (or any shape you desire)

Spread a light outline of fabri-tac glue on the fabric and paste on to felt.

(Fabri-tac is amazing! It's like a cold hot glue!!)

Once dry, use pinking shears and cut pieces off felt.

Here they are completed.

A super duper easy way to make a game for your favorite kiddo!

You can do this with fabric that has a clear repeating image.

I found another one at Joann's yesterday with cakes -

how cute would that be for a birthday party?

Sew up a little bag for the pieces and you'll have one happy camper.

LINKING UP AT TATERTOTS & JELLO

Winner of WOW #1 - Details for WOW #2

I loved the entries!

But there were only 2..

How do you choose one?

I loved both for different reasons - so Ebony and Kathleen, you both win!

Email me with the details on your custom pom pom hat!

Here is Ebony's awesome stashbusting yarn & magnet combo

I love this because when I came up with the mystery items,

what I had in mind is a magnet that my toddler could scurry off with,

but I wouldn't have to worry about her swallowing.

This is perfect!

Even if you don't have a button machine (big surprise I do..lol)

there are a number of DIY button kits on the market that you could use.

What a fun way to use those last bits of fun yarn!

Here is Kathleen's perfect dishwasher sign

Love,love,love this!

I will be making it this coming weekend!!

In our home, we have a piece of paper taped on the dishwasher when it's clean.

Go check out her awesome tutorial!!

And here is my entry:

Who Who Loves You Baby?

Love this owl applique and I thought it would be a fun magnet

to hold my toddler's artwork from preschool.

BU T IT'S HUGE!

Seriously, it measures close to 6 inches..

What to do?

This hooty owl will be perched on a super cute toddler hat in my store later this week.

And the details for WOW Week 2:

Mustaches

Yup!

The Etsy merchandising desk says they are still in for 2011..

So come on, this week get your Tom Selleck on..

It can be a photo, quilt, card, etc..

If it's crafty and stylin' some facial hair,

enter it here..

You have till next Tuesday at midnight (MTN)

The prize: 2 fat quarters from

Michael Miller Cotillion

...yummy, glittery goodness...

**We need to at least 5 entries**

So, email your crafty buddies and have them join WOW!!