Cartwheels In My Mind

Cath Kidston.

Living in England has blossomed into a bright flower of new world experiences on every level... including fashion/crafts/home decor/handbags/fabrics/ accessories/baby ideas/florally things. For those of you that just said Caaawho-da-whada need this post more than anyone. Cath Kidston has EVERYTHING I just mentioned in the above sentence. I discovered Cath not long after I made my way across the pond. Her products are the bee's knees. In other words, the macaroni to my cheese... the chocolate to my brownie... the glue to my craft... 

 Isn't she darling?!? I like to think that we would be friends in real life. Describing Cath Kidston to the people who don't live in England would be like saying she's the Vera Bradley of the UK but WAY more awesome...  and even though I don't really care for Vera, that's the only way I can think to describe her {no offense... sorry for all of you that love her! Don't judge me}. 

OKay, GET ON WITH IT ALREADY...Are you ready to see a preview of her products? Get your credit cards out and ready...

Fabrics... Can I just say: O.M.G!!! You will love them too. Promise. Just look at a few of these samples. I want all of them. 

And who can forget all the other awesome accessories that I can manage talking myself into why I NEED each and every one of them. 

Are you drooling all over your monitor yet?!? Just wait until you go into the actual store.. CATH YOU ARE THE CUTEST! Currently, on my wish list is... really expensive cute towels and an iphone case. Did I mention that the case has a London scene on it?!?! Um... yes please.

Random Fact about e: I hate waking up early... Seriously. Earliest i wake up on a weekday is 10. 

Shout Outs:

American Cath: HERE

British Cath: HERE

hair love.

Hiya lovelies. Today is all about hair. If you are like me then you don't ever have time to fix it. OKay, well that might be a lie... I do have the time to fix it but most days I don't really care enough to do anything about it. For this reason I LOVE headbands... 

This project is so easy. All you do is sew the strectchy thread at the end both fabric ends... POOF! You're done. For real. How easy is that?!? 

Handmade gift : headbands

  
 

The countdown is on and you still need a few stocking stuffers or a simple gift?  We've gotcha covered.

Here is a rockin' little idea that will just take a few minutes of creativity but will be a great handmade gift.  All you need are some stretch elastic headbands, ribbon, felt scraps, a hot glue gun and some flowers.  I got my headbands at Target.  The ribbon & flowers I had in my scrapbooking supply stash that often doesn't get used for scrapbooking.  So this project was a perfect way to use up some of those supplies.  Some of the ribbon is from Hobby Lobby and the rose ribbon is from American Crafts.  Flowers are from Prima, often found in the scrapbooking section of most craft stores.

American Crafts has this great rosette ribbon that's pretty sheer.  So lovely!  Simply handstitch the ribbon onto a handband, tacking it on here and there, for a super simple & fast headband.

 

For these next several headbands , I used Prima Flowers and some felt.  I cut out two felt circles that would fit the back of each flower.  One circle is hot glued onto the headband.  The other circle is hot glued to the back of the flower.  Then I just hot glue the circles together, sandwiching the headband in the middle to create a good solid base.  I have a photo of the back of the flower below.

 
 I used the same method here on these Prima Flowers.  Just a felt sandwich with the headband glued inside and the flower glued on top!

 

These headbands with the ribbon and beads were a bit more time intensive but still only took about 15 minutes each.  That tells you how fast and easy the others were!  First I cut a felt circle about the size that I wanted to flower to be.  Then I applied hot glue a little at a time, starting on the outside of the felt circle, glueing the ribbon a little at a time in a spiral shape toward the inside of the felt circle to create the flower.  I used a toothpick to help me glue the edges of the ribbon easily without burning my fingers.  There's no real science to this.  It's just glue as you go and it'll turn out just perfect in its own way!  Then you can hot glue beads in the middle or handstitch a few sequins if you'd like.

 

And there ya go.  A little preview of the felt sandwich on the back of the flowers.

Seriously so simple, I'm telling ya!  Fast and easy and a great way to create a few last minute handmade & thoughtful gifts to share! 

Enjoy!
Merry Christmas!

Digital frames from Andie Smith Designs. 

25 Days Of Christmas...A Vintage Banner For The Tree.

Happy Friday, everyone! I hope you are all having a fabulous week! We, in typical Ametewee disaster-prone fashion, have been dealing with an exploded garbage disposal and all the stuff that comes with it. But looking on the bright side, I didn't have to do dishes for a week so when I wasn't calling the people to come fix it I was able to get a little extra Christmas shopping and fit in a tiny bit of art. :D 

SO...today I wanted to share a fun Christmas project that I did to add a little vintage/handmade appeal to our sad little empty Christmas tree...a vintage fabric banner.

When I started the project, I fully intended to use some of the new funky fabric I have picked up over the past few months, but when I was going through my fabric cases I came across this little hand-stitched quilt that I bought a couple years ago when Amy and I were on one of our many antique shop runs. I had intended from the first second that I saw it to use it for a project where I could keep it intact, but when I saw it the day I was working on the banner, I just knew it would be perfect for what I was trying to do with this tree project. And after the first few chops I didn't mind cutting it apart. :)

To make the little banner pieces, I cut little diamonds from the fabric quilt by folding the fabric in half to make them each exactly match up when I folded them and attached them to the piece of twine I used. 

Next, I just folded them over the twine and then stapled them into place. I know that it would probably have looked cool if I stitched them, but A. i don't know how to use a machine, B. I was feeling too lazy to stitch them all by hand and C. I'm not a perfectionist and think the staples make it look a little more effortless. 

Once I had them all stapled, I took a few shots to share with everyone while letting Londerpants play with them for a bit...

And then I wrapped it around the tree to get the decorating process underway (there are now a few more things added to it to make it a little fuller).

And the best part? This will go perfectly with Gracie's new nursery theme (I'll start back up with sharing the process of decorating her room after Christmas) so I'm thinking that I'll be able to use it as art on one of her walls! 

And THAT, is why I like to make sure my Christmas projects aren't all about the red and green...because 1 month a year just seems like a waste to me when you are creating a project that you love. :)

P.S. I wanted to apologize for not sharing the give-aways this week like I said I would. I promise that I will still post them all...even if I have to do it after Christmas. Everyone still loves fun free stuff no matter what month it is, right?! :)

diy ruffle scarf

 
You know we all do it.  We wait until the last minute and end up having to go out and buy a gift because we waited too long to make the handmade gift we really wanted to give to that special friend or family member. 

Yep. Been there. Done that. 

But I'm here to tell ya, this is a simple and oh-so-fabulous gift that you can make in just a short time that is as good - oh wait, even BETTER - than any store bought purchase.  It's lovely, comfy and HANDMADE!!!!  Oh and did I mention inexpensive?!  You could seriously make a ton of these for just a few dollars. 

All it takes is a t-shirt - used or new, thrifted or straight from your closet - scissors, and some thread. 

"Whoohooo!!  Bring it on, " you say?!

I hear ya!

Let me tell ya though.  I rarely make anything - projects, recipes, etc. - and follow certain directions.  I just kind of jump in and go with it.  So that's how my instructions will be posted.  They may not be total perfection but they'll get the job done.

First things first.  Grab a t-shirt.  One that's too small, too big, in your giveaway pile or one you've picked up at the thrift store.  But choose one in a great color you'd love to wear around your neck.

Now you'll cut a few strips off the bottom of the t-shirt.  I cut two 6" strips out of the bottom of this shirt so I ended up with two loops of t-shirt.  Then I cut one side of each loop to make two long strips of t-shirt fabric.  Now you'll sew the two strips together at the ends to make one super long strip of fabric.

Once I had my strip ready to go, I folded the strip into thirds to get an idea of where I wanted to sew the stitching.  Then I placed a piece of masking tape on the sewing machine as my guide to help me keep my stitching straight.  Because see...this was the first time I've sewn since my 7th grade Home Ec. Class. Wow!!  I needed every little bit of help I could get.  I sewed two seams down the fabric, using a basting stitch.  I'm sure there are a million and one different ways to do this easier but this is what worked for me.  I set the stitch length long and the tension low.  I think maybe if I'd had it on a higher tension, it would've gathered and ruffled more on its own.  But this is my story and I'm sticking to it.
 

Once I had my basting stitch finished on each 1/3 section, I pulled the thread gently to gather and create the ruffles.  This was probably the most time consuming part of the project but easy, nonetheless.
 

When I had it gathered just the way I liked it, I went back over the seams with a straight stitch to hold the ruffles in place. And TA-DA... 
 

Seriously, if I can do this, YOU TOTALLY CAN!!!!!

Now I'm going to dig through every giveaway bag of shirts and dig around in my closet for some more fun fabrics to repurpose!  Can you image doing this with an old sweater?!  Whoohoo!!  Next project, HERE I COME!

Happy gifting!

 
Frames from Kitschy Digitals.

25 Days of Christmas :: Bow-tie Headband.

Hey party people! I hope you are all having a fabulous getting-close-to-Christmas-but-not-close-enough-to-panic-about-all-the-last-minute-gifts-you-still-need-to-buy/make type of day. But just in case you ARE panicking a bit...and just in case you still need something for a super special girl in your life...I'm here to help. Or at least inspire. :)

  
I am a big big fan of head-bands these days...mostly because I just think they look funky, cute and straight-up awesome...but also partly due to the fact that opening a new business has made me have to seriously cut back on the amount of hair salon visits over the past year. And let's just say it: my roots are showing 95% of the time. BUT! headbands have a tendency to cover that up...and that, my friends, is the long version of the "Cheryl Loves Headbands" story.

So moving on, I've created a tutorial through photos of how to make this super cool purple bow-tie doilie one of your own. (And you can just thank me later for the salon bill you will save because of it.)

And want to know another fun thing you can do with these when you are giving them with other gifts? Add them straight onto the gift where you would normally put a ribbon to make a unique gift-wrap option that doubles as a gift. Trust me, she'll think you are brilliant. :)

And finally, just in case the old button/flower thing didn't work for you:

What are YOU making today? Don't forget to share your handmade Christmas gifts with us through our Flickr gallery!

P.S. want to give these to someone special for Christmas but don't have the time to make one yourself? E-mail me at [email protected]. I'd be happy to make you one...or two. :) (this item will also be sold in the new Cartwheels shop...coming in 2011!)

 

SUPPLY LIST:

doillie & felt: Joann's :: button: Vintage :: flower: Making Memories :: headband: Goody (from Target)