Creative Passage: May 2011

Tuesday, May 31, 2011

Updated Bulletin Board

My bulletin board that I made here just didn’t go with my room colors anymore, so I decided to remodel it tonight. I took the corkboard out of the frame and pried off the staples holding the fabric on the backside. The frame was made by my grandfather for my mom many years ago. I love how simple and plain it is.

And then I got busy stapling on my new fabric…with my electric staple gun. It took all of 10 minutes to remove and then replace the fabric.

and I think it looks good enough to just be art in my room! But I still needed/wanted a bulletin board. So….

I started adding my little doo dads that only mean something to me…

the sea shell I picked up in North Carolina the first time I saw the ocean when I was 23 years old, the pine cone that a friend put in my hand when I was going through a rough time in nursing school thirty some years ago.

the Beanie Baby Ladybug that my son gave me from his Happy Meal because he knew how much I loved ladybugs (even though he collected Beanie Babies) and the painted Easter egg that a patient gave me probably 15 years ago.

Here is the finished adorned product! My favorite things, my favorite sayings and of course my calendar!

And how cute is this fabric with the leaves and birds? I found it at JoAnn’s for 50% off!

I am linking to these great parties!

Ellen

Monday, May 30, 2011

Sewing for Miss Audrey

Since I made a dress for Elena for her flower girl gig, I decided to make Miss Audrey an outfit. I had a pattern that I thought was not used, so I sorted through some fabric and had Liz pick out the fabric she liked from my stash.

Once I got the pattern opened, I realized it had been used to make a extra small dress and bloomers instead of the medium or large size that Audrey needed. I had used the pattern to make Elena a flower girl dress when she was six weeks old.

So, I thought, piece of cake, I can just whiz through and add an extra 1/2 inch here and 1/4 inch there. Well, as you can see, it didn’t work out so great! It’s cute but it is huge! So now I am going to add some elastic to the back of the waist to try to snug it up a bit.

I love the little bloomers that go with it! They hit her about knee level and Audrey’s chunky little legs are so cute!

I spent very little on this dress and bloomers…had the fabric in my stash, I bought the polka dot ribbon at Wal-Mart for a few dollars, and that was it! The elastic I used was recycled from an almost new sheet that got destroyed in the washer.

I know one thing…this kiddo is a lot harder to photograph because she is always on the move!! Most pictures were a blur!

I am linking to these great parties…

Ellen

The Beautiful Flower Girl

I love to sew and I especially love to sew for little girls! My great niece Elena is going to be a flower girl in a wedding next weekend and I was asked (and gladly accepted the offer) to make her dress. Today her mom Liz and her baby sis Audrey came over to try the dress on and to be sure that we needed no further alterations.

Given that Elena loves princesses, she really does love the dress! It is definitely princess worthy!

This pattern was quite the problem. The instructions were actually wrong! I have run into that one other time and I have been sewing for 44 years (aaacckkk, how could that be?). The instructions clearly said to sew the shoulder seams together so I did, then I turned the paper over for the rest of the directions and hmmm, the picture showed the shoulder seams unsewn. And unfortunately, I had serged the seams so there was no picking it out and going back.

I sweated and swore at it, but I had to make some major changes in the way the dress was put together. I had to do a lot more hand stitching than I wanted to…but you can’t really tell and it is beautiful!

I made two of the organza flowers (one for the front of the dress and one for Elena’s hair) out of scraps from the overskirt.

This girl is so beautiful! She was my first great niece and I am quite proud of her. Actually I am very proud of all my nieces and nephews. She calls me Yaya. Her family is moving away to Kentucky (or Hamtucky as Elena says) in a few weeks. I am going to really miss the whole family so much.

I am linking to these great parties!

Ellen

Wednesday, May 25, 2011

Sew Mama Sew Giveaway Winner

Ok, this is the moment you have been waiting for…

Sue, you will get these cool felted wool items! I will mail them as soon as I get your address!

Last year I had a total number of 156 comments! I was surprised to only have 28 this year. There were a lot of shops/blogs participating though, so I guess that could be part of the reason. I know Blogger has had a glitch in folks leaving comments too. I had tried to enter several giveaways and my comment always showed up as anonymous, instead of with my name…

Anyway, congrats to Sue D and I will be emailing you to get your address!

Ellen

Sunday, May 22, 2011

Sew Mama Sew Handmade Giveaway Day

It’s that time again!

The Sew Mama Sew Giveaway starts today and ends on Wednesday May 25th!

I am giving away a collection of seven wool felt items to one lucky winner! A picture is worth a thousand words, so here are the pics of what you will receive if you win!

Here’s the breakdown: One purple and cream cupcake pincushion, three ponytail holders with navy, light blue and purple wool felt roses, one camel and grey stacked wool flower pin, one red wool poinsettia pin with a vintage earring center and last but not least, a navy wool felt headband.

Here’s a close-up of the headband…all items were made by me, from upcycled wool sweaters!

There’s enough to share with a friend or start that Christmas shopping! Or you could just keep it all for yourself!

TO ENTER:

1. Please become a follower of Creative Passage and leave me a comment that you follow. If you already follow, leave me a comment telling me so!

For extra entries:

2. Please go to my etsy shop and leave a comment here to tell me which item you love the most.

3. Like Woolen Wonders by Ellen (the shop) and Creative Passage (the blog) on Facebook and leave me a comment here telling me you did.

The winner will be announced first thing in the morning May 26th, selected by Random.org.

Sorry, I am only shipping to the United States!

Thanks for entering the Sew Mama Sew giveaway! I hope you win these handmade goodies!

Please check out my etsy shop too! Everything is 50% off, just use the code 50OFF at checkout!

Ellen

Saturday, May 21, 2011

New Wool Flower Pins

I have been wanting to make some of the flowers I have seen with 9 circles (one for the base, and the other eight folded in quarters and stuck on top of the base). I used wool felt from recycled wool sweaters and vintage buttons.

This glass button is Czech and I have about a dozen of them waiting for the perfect project.

I found two of these rhinestone buttons on a bridal veil (which I bought along with the gown for $5—classic 70s style). I thought they looked great on this dark purple plaid flower.

I haven’t found the perfect button for these two flowers. I want a small black rhinestone button for the dark grey and camel flower and not sure what would look the best with the blue plaid flower.

I put one of these flowers in spring colors on my bright spring wreath too!

I am linking to these parties…

Ellen

Bright Flowers Spring Wreath

I did a bit of planting today…I am not going all out this year like I have in the past because I hope to get the house painted and I didn’t want to move all the deck containers and plants. I love these hot pink zinnias I found today! And this wind chime is a great blue and yellow green.I have had this little grapevine wreath that needed decorating and this little spot on my bedroom wall that needed a little wreath…so today inspired by these colors I made this wreath!It is made from wool felt, some crocheted flowers, and buttons from my button bin. I cut the leaves from three colors to create a little more interest and used buttons or felted balls for the centers. The flowers are all colors, blues, yellows, pinks and purples with the green leaves. I think the pink one in the bottom right of the next picture is my favorite…it has a red button center. The wreath looks perfect in the spot I made it for! The picture on the bottom left I got from Target for $2.51 and the picture on the right is the MU campus where I graduated with my BSN a few years back. My niece Jess took that picture and it looks great in black and white!So, that is my project for the weekend. I have a ton of sewing to do and I need to do a post about the Sew Mama Sew Giveaway Day which starts May 23! Stay tuned for that post. I haven’t yet decided what I am going to give away, but will be making that decision in the next 24 hours.