redrougeread

Meow meow

la fleur — Fri, 04 Nov 2011 17:02:40 +0000

Forgive the long break, I was taking some time and getting to know my daughter. Crazily enough, I have learned that its really hard to blog and craft with an newborn!
I finally started crafting again a 2 weeks ago, inspired by making my little one’s Halloween costume. I had found these cute Babylegs with cats on them and decided that she would be a cat. Luckily Carters made a black cat onesie this year, so I just needed to make the ears and tail.
For her ears I crocheted a head band in black and crocheted on some triangles for the ears. I then crocheted a long tail with a button hole, so it could go around her waist and be pulled through. I’m really into baby accessories without fasteners right now.
The result was a very cute kitty:

Please note: if you attempt a similar costume, please do not leave your baby unattended wearing headband ears or tail belt.

I think I love Pinterest

la fleur — Mon, 22 Aug 2011 19:50:48 +0000

thought I’d share my boards. I’m new to Pinterest so I don’t have a lot up yet but I am having the best time adding to my boards and following others.
some of my recent favorites:
http://pinterest.com/redrougeread/

Mini Mobile

la fleur — Sun, 21 Aug 2011 19:17:31 +0000

The two yellow birds that I made didn’t quite go with my friend’s color scheme. So I made another bird from my favorite Hawaiian fabric to go with them, added two little hearts, and hung them all from a little branch.
Et viola! A mini bird mobile for my baby’s first sleeping/diapering area (in our room). I am not sure what height I want it at yet so the strings aren’t tied off, but you get the idea. I think it goes really well with my vintage sheet curtains and a painting by my Grandma. The painting is supposed to be my mom as a girl. It used to hang in my room when I was little. I’ve always loved it.

Little Birds

la fleur — Fri, 19 Aug 2011 21:15:20 +0000

A friend of mine liked the mobile that I made for my new niece, and asked that I make some birds for her sister’s nursery. She is going to put the mobile together herself, which i think will add a special touch. I had the best time making the birds though!
The theme was green and blue, and I love the bright summery feel to the blended fabric patterns.

Okra or Weed?

la fleur — Thu, 18 Aug 2011 22:30:00 +0000

It seems that some people have a hard time telling the difference between an okra plant and a plant that is a bit more smoke-able. Click below for this hilarious article.

From the Regretsy Forums | Regretsy.

Drawing Dragons

la fleur — Wed, 17 Aug 2011 18:59:55 +0000

I love hand making birthday cards. Actually I just love making cards for any occasion. But especially kid’s birthday cards. For my dragon loving nephew, I pulled out my drawing skills, and made him this dragon card.

I do have a secret weapon:
Ed Emberley’s Drawing Book of Animals.
I have no idea where I found this book or when. I feel like I’ve had it in my art box forever. Its great though. Easy instructions on drawing a variety of animals. Vintage style. Love it!

Wednesday Farmer’s Market

la fleur — Wed, 17 Aug 2011 10:12:07 +0000

Its been awhile since I’ve shared photos of my bounty from the Carrboro Farmer’s Market. I go each week and always manage to spend all of my money! This week was a bit nostalgic. All the vendors have been watching my belly grow all summer. Every week, they comment on how it’ll be any day now. Today, I was agreeing. Maybe this baby will be on time, come on Monday, and I’ll be back shopping for fresh veggies by the next week. I can be optimistic, right?
I do love that in a small town, you can see the same people week after week, and watch their lives change bit by bit. Makes me feel part the bigger moving picture of life.

This week’s bounty:

Handmade Rug by Me!

la fleur — Mon, 25 Jul 2011 18:35:30 +0000

So, I’ve been really bad at blogging lately. There’s been a lot of new changes going on in my world. In addition to having an online vintage store and an Etsy store for my own creations, I have also been creating for a someone new. And that new person will have a cute nursery room in our house that we’ve been setting up just for her. Being a crafty person, I wanted her nursery to have pieces in it that I made myself just for her. I thought I would start with something that was a bit funky but simple and functional.

So my first project was crocheting a rug out of strips of t-shirts. I had been collecting t-shirts to make a rug for a couple of years, but never got around to it. Needing a rug for the nursery inspired me to get cracking on it.

It ended up taking 15 t-shirts and about 10 more t-shirt pieces that I had cut up for other projects, but my rug is done! I crocheted it in what was supposed to be an oval but ended up more round. It took about 3 weeks of my free time, and I love it!

I admit that it’s a bit lumpy, and curled up on the ends at first, so I sprayed it with a water bottle and used heavy books wrapped in plastic bags to weight it down for about a week. Now, it’s a bit of bright fun in the room and goes great with our turquoise walls and white crib!

If you would like to try your own “rag” rug from t-shirts, the tutorial I used is found here at www.craftystylish.com.

The finished look:

spring t-shirt dresses

la fleur — Mon, 09 May 2011 20:14:15 +0000

I always have this huge pile of old t-shirts and other tops that just don’t quite fit with lots of plans about what I am going to do with them.

I am really happy to say that I finally made a few dresses! These were created by using a top from my pile and the bottom of a t-shirt.

I premiered them at the OCAM craft market this past weekend. which was tons of fun.
Here are the results. :)

Birds on a Branch Mobile

la fleur — Fri, 06 May 2011 18:22:45 +0000

My baby sister is expecting a little girl at the end of May, and I recently created this mobile for her nursery.
I used the Wendy the Bird pattern from Lollichops, but scaled it down almost half-size. The fabrics come from the leftover fabric collections of my Grandma, Mom and me. My favorite fabric is the one to the left of the Pink Bird. It came from my Grandma’s scraps, and has a lovely vintage quality to it. My mom seems to remember every piece of fabric she has sewed with, and was able to tell my sister what each of her fabrics were made into originally. Since she has 4 daughters, they were mostly dresses! It was nostalgic and sweet to be reminded of the dresses we once wore and loved.

Before I added the flowers. The birds are hung with cream cotton crochet yarn.

The branch came from my woodsy yard, and I got the idea for the flowers from my Martha Stewart Encyclopedia of Crafts book. The stamens were a bit difficult to find, so I ended up ordering them online. To make the flower petals, I used cotton scrap fabric. The type of fabric does matter, it needs to be a thin cotton, and you need to make sure you give it a good soaking in Stiffy liquid stiffener or you won’t be able to punch it. I let mine dry overnight, and then used a hydrangea flower punch to punch out the flowers. It is really fun when you get it all right and the cute fabric flowers fall onto your desk from your quick working punch!

To add the stamen, I punched a small hole in the center of each flower with a micro punch and then got imaginative with my stamen combinations. They need a dab of rubber cement or other strong non-toxic glue to keep them in place. To affix them to the branch, I used my hot glue gun. I did trim down the stamen so they wouldn’t be visible.

The flowers are affixed with hot glue on top of and below the branch.

The hooks and rings I used to hang the Mobile were created from green floral wire. If you are not comfortable with creating your own loops and hooks, you can use small eye screws. The string is cotton crochet yarn in cream.

Overall, it seems like a lot of work, but most of the hard work is making the first piece of anything. Once you get the hang of each component, the creating goes quickly!

Baby's view of the mobile.