Cartwheels In My Mind

The House Sparrow.

Do I have any necklace lovers in the house today?!? Dude, necklaces are one of my favorite things to wear especially the long ones. The longer the better in my book. I have something special to share with you you today. My gal pal Haley Baker {who you may have read about in Cartwheels before HERE} is making it big y'all! Listen, I called it way back when she was toying with the idea. She told me, "Taylor Swift will be wearing my necklaces one day". BOOM! It happened. Not once... Not twice... but thrice! Perhaps even more than that but she's been captured on camera with it 3 times. She has just launched her Spring 2011 Collection.

The House Sparrow is 100%vintage-antique and made by me! Each piece is one-of-a-kind. From the chain to the pieces that dangle from every necklace or broach, she has given it her personal touch and stamp of approval. She enjoys going to find these lost treasures and can't wait to see you in a House Sparrow original!

 

EXTRA! EXTRA! Just in case you don't believe what I told you about TSwift just check out and see for yourself:

The name The House Sparrow captures the idea of discovering where you’re from, who you are and where you’re going.

“Even the sparrow has found a home,

and the swallow a nest for herself,

where she may have her young--a place near your altar,

O LORD Almighty, my King and my God.”

 – Psalm 84:3

Isn't that awesome?!?  Aaaaaand she sent some of her collections up to New York City. Watch out for her jewels to be spotted on FOX&friends from 7:45-800, CNN America from 8:15-9:00 and The View at 10 am!  I'm so proud of my friend and all her hard work! Keep it up, Haley! Us Cartwheelers are rooting for you!!!

You can check out more about Haley & her collections HERE.

 RANDOM FACT ABOUT HALEY&E's FRIENDSHIP: We've been best buds since the 7th grade... were room mates in two different houses and shared the SAME room both times {cheap rent, hello!?!}... carpooled to college classes together on a weekly basis... worked at the same coffee shop for 6 years... currently have the SAME profile picture on facebook.

::pRetTy in paStels::

Nothing says SPRING FEVER like a pretty garment dressed in shades of pastels. AM I RIGHT or am I right?!? I don't know about you but I loooooove pastels. Heck, I've been wearing pastels all winter long {who needs spring anyways?!?}. But, on a serious note I am DYING to break out my sandals and throw on a pretty dress. It's time to part the winter clouds and make for the warmth of spring.

{yellow banner from here}

1. modcloth. Top country classic skirt. $62.99

2. etsy. Nest Pretty Things Kate $40

3. urban outfitters.

4. modcloth.  Freshen up shower curtain in primping. $52.99

5. lulu's.  Boquet beauty dress. $30.00

6. etsy. paisley inc. $8.50

::ruffLe lOve::

Hi cartwheel loves! Lately, I've been in a ruffly-kinda-mood. And apparently, so has everyone else. Come on, who doesn't love the ruffle look?!? I mean, unless you just deliberately don't like to be girlie or you've been  diagnosed with a ruffle-phobia then there's no excuse. I'm sure this is not the case with all you lovelies out there. Just look at all the pretty ruffles.

 

 

1. urban outfitters. neapolitan waterfall ruffle duvet cover. $148

2. modcloth winter whimsy dress. $49.99

3. etsy. tweedylane $22

4. delias.  ruffled curtains. $34.50

5. anthro tea and crumpets apron £28

6. anthro. alice in autumn knitted coat. £39

7. anthro. fleur de e dinner plate £16

8.  ruffled pillow. 

Do you have the ruffle fever now???

::stRipe luSt::

A new year means new inspiration. I hope you're excited about what this year has in store for your wardrobes, walls, kitchens, bathrooms, wallets and everything else you can give a face-life too.  Whoever said stripes make you look fat OBVIOUSLY never knew how to wear them the properly {rookie!}. We're here to show you how to dress for the best {and yes, that includes you too, cutsie kitchen essentials}. This season cartwheels is all striped out! 

 

1. anthropologie. pick-a-strip bowl. $14.95

2. lemlem. split scarf. $130. {top picture found here} 

3. inaluxe. a forest of three...$35

4. modcloth. 

5. anthropologie. painter's stripe pitcher. £54.

6. livingect.  

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. 

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.