Camera Strap Covers

I recently compiled some pics of fabrics I have that could be used to make camera strap covers.  I picked up some new colors recently - pinks & purples.... pretty gorgeous!

Any interest in getting a camera strap cover in any of these fabric combinations?  Contact me!!!!

Florida State University Wreath

I am a tried and true fan of the Pac-12 (GO COUGS!) but I certainly am not one to turn down the opportunity to make something university related.... although I do tend to feel nauseous if I have to make anything Washington Huskies themed.  Bleh.  (all in fun!!!)

Recently a Mom at my daughter's school asked that I make a FSU themed wreath for a girlfriend of hers who had a birthday coming up.  I was happy to!

Here is the wreath that she'll be giving her friend:

MOPS Plunge Centerpieces

Source: mops.org

Have you heard of MOPS?  Are you or were you in a MOPS group yourself?  Is MOPS not the most awesome group ever?  If you've never heard of MOPS, click on the link and check it out.... MOPS stands for Mothers of Pre-School Children and it's a wonderful mom support group.  I've been involved the past few years - my oldest was only 3 months old when I first attended in small town Washington state and it was one of the first things I researched when we moved to Jacksonville last year.  This year I'm even a table leader which basically means I get to communicate information about upcoming meetings and going-ons to the nine lovely ladies that sit at my table twice a month at our meetings and be a support for them should they need some.  

I feel pretty honored to be around some really great Moms and women!

Once I had volunteered to be a table leader this year I also volunteered to use my crafty skills to put together the table centerpieces.  Each year there is a theme and this year's theme is "Plunge:  Live like your life depended on it" (1 Peter: 4-8).  Going with that theme I tried to think of what Plunge meant to me or what it made me think of - immediately a swimming pool came to mind and thankfully - I found some cute ideas on Pinterest to help me out.  

Source: Etsy

Source: Wedding Wire

In the end it was my Mom who helped me come up with the final idea:

Here's what I did to make this piece (well, two pieces):

INGREDIENTS:

Glass Fish Bowls - 6 inch bowls purchased at JoAnne's

Turquoise Paper Crinkles purchased at Party City

Styrofoam (inside of glass bowls to anchor sticks) - already on hand

Styrofoam Wreath Form - 10 inch form purchased at JoAnne's

Red Fuzzy Yarn - JoAnne's, White Yarn - already in my stash, Taupe multi-colored yarn - also in my stash

Bamboo Skewers - on hand (from kebab nights of the past)

Blue Cardstock

Navy Blue Sharpie marker

Martha Stewart Glitter Glue - from my craft closet but can be purchased here

Hot Glue gun and glue sticks

First off I wrapped the styrofoam wreath form in white yarn.  Then, I wrapped over that with the red fuzzy yarn - trying to replicate a life saver.  Then I added just one strand of the taupe multi-colored yarn and wrapped it loosely so it looked like the rope that you'd use to throw the life ring overboard.  :)

Moving on to the splash, water droplets and swimmer:

I painted the bamboo skewers white then meticulously (not so much) 

cut out a trillion water droplets of varying shades of blue cardstock.  To add dimension I glued two together then added each Mom's name to a droplet.  (This was so they could find which table they were at on the first day!)  I used my mad Sorority bubble lettering skills - don't they look nice?  To get the splash just right I found an image via Google and copied it.  Each of the water droplets and the splash is enhanced with some awesome Martha Stewart Glitter Glue!  The swimmer was so much fun!  I ended up finding this image:  

 

which is a coloring book page!  I increased the printing size to about 200% and then I printed it onto white cardstock.  Then I cut off the 'girls rule!!!' (although since there's only Moms in our group, I suppose I could've kept it) and then colored with actual crayola crayons to fill in the swimmer then added some more flashy glitter glue:

(obviously my daughter had been coloring on my nice white crafting table before I took this picture)

look at all those ladies in their sparkly swim costumes!

Then I put it all together!  The small pieces of styrofoam went into the glass bowls, then I stuffed in enough to paper crinkles to cover the styrofoam (for the most part - see it peeking out in that photos) and the meticulously shoved all the skewers into the styrofoam - hoping I got each lady into the correct 'bowl' for their corresponding table assignment!  

Twice a month these babies are set out on the table - life ring first and then the glass bowl and it's parts in the middle.  They look cute but I've noticed the height is a little much.... sometimes it's hard to have a conversation with the person across the table from you.  :(  Maybe next time cut those skewers down shorter?!  

What did your MOPS group do for your table centerpieces this year?

Custom Business Banners

A couple years back I branched out and set up a booth at a holiday bazaar outside of my town.  Up until that time I'd only done a couple of Holiday bazaars locally and the Farmer's Market so I was really excited about seeing if my particular sewn items would go over in a different demographic!  I ended up at a Holiday Bazaar held at a high school in my husband's home town - we were there already for Thanksgiving so it was a great excuse to set up shop there.  The bazaar itself was the biggest one I'd done - probably 100+ booths?  Not big to a lot of people's standards but we were living in a pretty small town then so it sure felt big!  I did ok that day - I of course was SURE I'd sell out of everything but that didn't happen.  ;)  I was more than prepared though and had lots of cute stuff to set out.

Just a couple booths down from me at the bazaar was a really nice woman named Kyle who was selling the most decadent and amazing smelling lotions and soaps with a company called Dolce Mia.  The products were awesome - the packing was great and the labels - very vintage and right up my alley.  Oh my.... there was one Hula Girl Pikake lotion, so amazing!  It smelled just like Hawaii and I was in LOVE!

Source:  Dolce Mia Pikake Lotion

Another great lotion:  Mango Tangerine Lotion

Source: Dolce Mia

They also have other great gift items - placements (like below), clocks, albums, growth charts and more!

Source: Dolce Mia

Kyle was great - she ended up buying a garland and a brooch from me and I ended up with some of that lovely Pikake lotion.  :)  Nothing like spending all your profits, right?

Kyle and I kept in touch through our Facebook fan pages and recently she contacted me to make some personalized garland/bunting for her business.  We worked via email - writing back and forth to come up with ideas.  She went to a local store (Craft Warehouse) and found some fat quarters of fabric and some trim that she liked and then mailed it to me.

I had a great time coming up with ideas for this garland!  I looked to Etsy and Pinterest for inspiration and came up with a great idea to incorporate some of the ribbon and trim that Kyle sent me.  My one concern was making sure the lettering showed up on the fabrics - I ended up picking fabrics that weren't as 'busy' and used stencils to hand paint the business name on.  Here's a peek at how the first set looked all painted:

And here's a peek at the final outcome for the aqua/yellow garland:

Kyle ended sending me a lot of fabric so I created a couple of extra smaller garlands that she could incorporate into her booth in other places.

These are just scraps of the fabrics tied onto some aqua ric rack!  :)  So simple but so cute!

And now here's a look at the fall/winter fabric garland:

I used the more traditional pennant shape for this one - and a different font for the letters!

I am really loving the addition of the baker's twine and jute rope tied in between each pennant!

I used the extra fabric to make another plain garland too:

I did hear from Kyle once she got everything that she was REALLY happy with how it all turned out!
This little note was from her via my Facebook fan page:

"LOVE the two garlands that you made for me! Just received them and they are so cute - and I know that they will add so much to my display! Also thank you for the extra smaller garlands - I love them all! Thank you, Amy :)"

Are you interested in something custom for your business?  Contact me via email:  pursewna@gmail.com or via Etsy:  www.pursewna.etsy.com.