Projects Galore!

Yesterday I mentioned that working on some projects recently for Ruffles and Lace has been keeping me super busy, well today I finally have some time to share some of the finished projects with you. My friend Isabel and I recently started Ruffles and Lace as a side venture, since we both love crafting and had been looking for a change it was the perfect fit! So instead of blabbing on and on about the business, I'll just let the pictures do the talking.

This is the 18" Yellow Rosette Pillow. The rosettes are all handmade as is the pillow. They are also made out of the same fabric as the pillow, however since the fabric is only patterned on one side it gives the rosettes a slight rustic/vintage look- which I love!

The middle pillow in this picture is a 12" Blue Rosette Pillow. Again, the rosettes are handmade along with the rest of the pillow. I can't remember if I've posted pics of the other two pillows or not (and since I'm too lazy to go back and look)... The White Ruffle Pillow is also 12" and the Pink Ruffle Pillow is 12"x14".

This fabulous little teacup bird feeder is probably one of my favorite items! I made four of them last week and this one is my absolute fav. The wooden rung is sanded, painted, and distressed then adorned with an oh so precious teacup that is accented with little pink flowers to match the paint. Bird seed will fit perfectly inside the cup as well as around the saucer, or you can fill the cup with water- or buy two and do both! :)

Isabel and I have some other exciting things in the works and will hopefully be getting that squared away soon, and then I will most definitely be posting about it!

xoxo,
kris



Pillows!

How is it already Monday? This weekend seemed to fly by.. I think we should have Mondays off just to recover from the weekend. Saturday was pretty busy with doing Caitlyn's hair in the morning (she had Protocal that night, which is basically prom). I love curling and styling hair, guess I missed my calling haha. I then went straight from Candy's house to Heather and Ryan's for Miss Ellie's Frist Birthday Party! They had it setup so cute and of course I forgot to take pictures. She is such a ham! That girl knows how to work the crowd. It was great weather for sitting outside and enjoying the day with friends/family. I was really excited to give Ellie the tutu I made (you can see pics in the previous post) along with one of my all time favorite childhood boos, Dr. Seuss' The Lorax. I think that's where my strong desire to recycle as a child came from haha. One of the grandparents gave her a little wading pool so after cake and gifts she got in there and played for a while, it was too cute. I was super stoked to see Melissa, whom I never get to see! It's always fun catching up with old friends. :)

Now for Sunday, I spent most of the day working on sewing projects. I wanted to finish off 4 pillows, however the second fabric I was working with didn't want to cooperate very well so it took A LOT longer to finish it than the first one. Soooo, I still have 2 more to make. They're not too hard, if you know how to sew and have some patience. They will definitely be staples in the craft business with Isabel so let me know if you are interested or have a particular color/shape in mind and we can work something out.

Here's the first one. I did more sctructured ruffles on this one, giving it a more sophisticated, classic look. I think it turned out pretty well for that category.

For this next one I was thinking more along the lines of a nursery or spare room used for readind/lounging, you get the idea, so I did more ruffles and placed them much tighter together. Basically it's a little more playfull/whimsical rather than structured. I love the look of the ruffles on this one :)

It's a little hard to tell from the pictures, but the white pillow is square and the pink is a rectangle. The rectangle shape looks great in person with the ruffles. Here's a side by side so you can see the difference, kind of.

Hope everyone had a great weekend. I'm definitely in need of more sleep and will probably be a going to bed and an unreasonably early time tonight like a grandma!

xoxo,
kris

Spring Time!

Spring is officially here! I absolutely love the cold weather, however, I truely love this time of year when the days are longer and you just want to accomplish so much more in the day. Which brings me to the main topic for today, crafts! For a while now I've been contemplating starting an Etsy page and selling items I've created that route, but for some reason or another I've just never sat down and actually did it. Well, after much deliberation and "soul searching" I've come to the conclusion that Etsy is just not for me. I do want to sell my crafts, just through a different means is all. One of my oldest and dearest friends, Isabel, and I have decided to venture into this craft selling business together. At the moment we are just cranking out some items to sell and/or display through craft shows/fairs and of course this 'ol world wild internet web. So, if you know of any craft shows in the area that you think we might like to participate in, feel free to shout it out!

Here are a couple items I worked on last weekend.

This is my Ruffle Wreath with white and pink flowers. I still have a few touches to finish up, but it's basically done. I'll be making several more Ruffle Wreaths with different themes, so be sure to check back for more pics!

This is my take on a cherry blossom branch, this was the first one. I'm sure I'll be making more of these and varying the technique and/or colors and such.

And finally, I made this tutu for Miss E's 1st birthday party this coming weekend. I used four different shades of tulle and ribbon to tie at the top. I can't wait to see her in it!
I can't wait for this weekend to get back to work on my crafts! I have a huge project I'm working Sunday, hopefully I can get all four pieces completed by Monday, so I can post pics soon. I also ordered my own Cricut. I used to go to Candy's and share with her but with the new job hours it makes it rather difficult. But now that I have my own we can have a Cricut party ;) I'm going to get a table Friday after work and set it up in the "craft room" where the sewing machine is set up as well.

I'm just so excited to get going with this adventure, and see where it takes us!

xoxo,
kris

More Craftiness!

I had so much fan making the pillows in the previous post for Jo and her hubs that I've been in super crafty mode! I've been contemplating creating an Etsy page and selling my stuff, and I still haven't decided on that one yet...

Etsy is a huge step and requires either a large stockpile or a super speedy creation process - that is IF you get any orders. I've come to realize that the site is basically overstocked with a lot of the same stuff. Don't get me wrong, I love Etsy and will continue to check it out, but I'm worried that it would be rather hard to break into that arena. Possibly the equivalent of selling Mary Kay in a small town where 30 people already sell it kind of thing. Soooo, in light of my realizing this, I'm making baby steps and taking aim and buyers through this here blog, facebook, twitter, and good 'ol fashioned word of mouth from those people I like to call friends.

Hopefully you've already seen the pillow in the previous post, if not, UH scroll down and check'er out!

Sticking with the crafty theme, I need to add some pics from a baby gift I made and sold to a friend back in July. If you'll recall, way back in April I made this mobile for my friend Amy and her lovely baby Everleigh.

Doesn't Miss Caitlyn make an excellent Vanna White?

This is the mobile (along with a couple outfits) all packaged up, ready for the shower! I just loved the super cute basket that Candy let me use to wrap it all up in :)


Along these same lines, Amanda wanted a mobile for her gift at a shower in July so I made another one. She also brought me some baby fabric she picked out and made a couple burp cloths with the material. I made this mobile a bit different. I used the same size butterflies (as opposed to varying sizes like the previous pics) and also added some "crystal jewels" at the bottom of each strand for extra weight since the butterflies were smaller. I really like how this one turned out too!

These was taken at about 9pm, so the lighting in the house was pretty terrible. The only shots I could get to make the butterflies pop were in front of the ugly beautiful brown door here.

I was trying to show the little sparkling jewels in this one. Eh, maybe it kind of sorta worked haha!

Since the mobiles are rather hard to transport, I worked gift wrapping into the price and had it all packaged up for Amanda the night before the shower.

Here's everything all ready to go. The shower color was pink, so since I hate adore the color pink that's what I wrapped the goodies up in!

Anyone that might be interested in ordering a mobile, burp cloth, or pillow feel free to contact me! There will be varying pillow options coming soon, so keep checking back for updated pics of the pillows you'll be able to buy.  I have numerous color available for mobiles and can do varying options other than butterflies. The pricing obviously varies depending on what you're looking for so just let me know what you would like and I can get a price to you. For those of you who do not live locally, I can ship items to you as well!

You can leave a comment with inquiries, email me at klg2525 AT yahoo DOT com, facebook me, send a tweet, call or text, send a smoke signal, a message in a bottle...

Basically what I'm getting at is feel free to contact me in any manor you are able to!

As I finish the projects I'm currently working on, I will post pics of those as well. Until then, spread the word - I'd love to get some of my stuff out there!

Hope you're having a great week. Happy Hump Day!

xoxo,
kris

Project Reveal.

Remember when I told you about a project I was going to be working on and gave absolutely not details about it? Well, I finished it last weekend and delivered it last night, so I can now tell you about!

One of my oldest and dearest friends Jo, and her cooler than cool hubby, relocated to a much closer area - which is Ah-Mazing! I wanted to do something nice for them to commemorate the occasion and was having trouble deciding what to do. I didn't want to purchase any decorative accent pieces (ie wall hangings or vases etc) since the hubs is an artist and has decorated their space in a fairly rad manner. The obvious place to go from there would be a plant, eh BORING! Having visited several weeks ago and got a feel for the colors and decor I decided my best bet would be to make something. I settled on decorative pillows since I knew Jo had been looking for some. However, since I didn't want her to purchase any before I could complete the project and get it to her, I had to tell her I was making pillows. I know, I know it kind of ruined the surprise, but I didn't show her the fabric or anything so there was still somewhat of a shock value.

The first step was finding some super awesome material. I searched for several hours at numerous stores one day and ended up actually buying some upholstery fabric at Hobby Lobby of all places.

Before I share the photo let me just say, I seem to be relying a lot on my iphone camera rather than actually taking out my real camera.

Therefore, I apologize for the less than stellar quality/lighting/angles/overall goodness.

Here's the fabric, straight outta the shopping bag.

If you can't tell, it's black with a kind of tan-ish pattern. The pattern itself is actually flowers, but I love them because they look like starbursts :)

After talking to Jo and telling her my plan, she mentioned that she really needed pillows for her bedroom too. Since her bedding is dark, I decided to make the pillows larger than previously planned so she could use them in either the living room or bedroom.

First things first, I laid out the fabric and cut it into 4 matching panels (each measuring 21"x 21"). I then pinned the edges, right sides together. I reeeeeally need to purchase a serger - hopefully soon! But, since I don't have one yet, I did a double seem for extra strength (hence the 21", the pillow itself is 20"). I also backstitched on every corner to ensure major stability. I left about 3" open on one side of each pillow, this is where I will turn it right side out.

Here's what they looked like at this point. (They look brown because they're inside out!)

Before turning the material right side out, I pressed open the seems so the pillow would have better shape once stuffed. So, once they're pressed open, turn the fabric right side out by carefully pulling it through the 3" opening.

They should now look like this!

Now, comes the fun part. Stuffing. Fiberfill. Yay. Since these bad boys were rather large, I had to use 3 16 lbs bags of fiberfill on each pillow. It actually took me longer to stuff the pillows than it did to complete the entire previous section! It's not as bad as it sounds, just tedious. I planted myself on the coffee table and watched some baseball while stuffing and stuffing and stuffing.

Did I mention it took 3 bags for each pillow?

No? Ok, just checking.

Once they pillows are nice and plush with fiberfill, it's time to close up the 3" opening with a good 'ol needle and thread. I actually went over the opening twice to ensure stability, especially since I did a double hem on the rest of the edges.

Here's the finished product!

Again, I've become a horrible picture taker and forgot to get a shot of both pillows together.

I had a ton of fun making these for Jo and the Hubs and already decided on my next project! You'll have to wait and see for that one as well because I'm thinking of gifting it too ;)

Hope you've all had a great week and are planning a super awesome weekend! I'm heading to watch Candy's daughter cheer at a high school football game tonight. LOVE the Friday night lights - can't wait for some fall weather to go with it! :)

xoxo,
kris

Craft Hour

I know, I know, it has been quite a while since my last post; but I've been busy! ;)

What have I been busy doing, you may ask? Well, there's the obvious work, family, life, etc. However, last week was spent gathering material and working on a craft project. My friend, Amy, had a baby shower today and at first I was stumped as to what to give her and little Miss E. So, when looking for great gift ideas, what's a girl to do? Check out the Pottery Barn website of course! They have the cutest baby/kid stuff! I love the Pottery Barn look in general, but their children's items are just fabulous!

I found the perfect item, only to discover that it was backordered until JUNE. Did I mention the shower was today, March 27th? I'm no quitter though, so I kept perusing their website and found another item that I fell completely in love with! But alas, it was backordered as well. Have you realized how awesome Pottery Barn Kids is yet? This time however, I decided (along with some influencing from my friend Candy) to duplicate this amazing gift. If you can't tell from the pictures, it's a giant butterfly mobile. Knowing there was no way in hell I was going to cut out 50+ butterflies, we found (thanks to Candy) someone who owns a Cricut. If you have no idea what these awesome machines are, check them out here http://www.cricut.com/. Once we received the butterfly cutouts, it was just a matter of assembling everything together. A big thanks to Candy for assisting with this task!

The picture on the right was after stage one, it's basically just the butterflies hanging from the hoop. The picture on the left, was the completed mobile. Amy's nursery is gray and soft pink so I decided to use soft pink tulle to hang the mobile from the ceiling. The picture on the far right is the entire gift all wrapped up and ready to go. I felt kind of weird giving an entirely homemade gift at a baby shower, so I also bought two little outfits for Miss E (which turned out to both have butterflies on, totally not planned!). Candy had a black basket at her house, so I painted it white and wrapped it all up with more pink tulle. As many of you know, I absolutely hate pink! However, for this project it wasn't so bad, especially since pink wasn't the focal point, the mobile was.

I can honestly say, this mobile was the most fun baby shower gift I've ever done. I think it is going to look fabulous in Everleigh's room, I hope she and Amy both like it! :)

I also made a little something to send to another friend of mine who had her baby last week. Although, this gift is not near as big or extensive, it is equally special! I can't post pictures since it hasn't been mailed yet and I don't want Heather or Ryan to see Miss Ellie's gift before it arrives. I'm hoping to get one last thing for it this week and get it in the mail by the end of the week!

There could possibly be more crafty updates in the near future. I'm contemplating a few ideas and with a little inspiration from Amy and her craftiness we shall see what happens! Check out her awesome ideas/creations for sale over at http://thefingerprintsoflife.blogspot.com/.

Ps. I know the pictures are loaded on here in a rather haphazard way, I haven't quite got the hang of that yet. But you can still see them, so that's all that really matters. ;)