Pumpkin Patch!

Yay. Fun times at the Pumpkin Patch. If you live in the Los Angeles or especially the Orange County area you should really go check out Tanaka Farms in Irvine. They have an awesome “U-pick” pumpkin patch set up right now and they have year round “U-pick” veggies.

So invigorating pulling those veggies right out of the soil. Mmmm.

I am actually at this very moment enjoying a little soup I brewed up using the veggies I picked yesterday plus a little chicken, broth, rosemary, celery seed and some other seasonings. I simmered it for a long time and wow. So good. The carrots are like melt in your mouth soft. YUM. Kind of proud of myself actually ;)

It’s been a lovely weekend. Don’t want it to end. Matt has been enjoying some Oktoberfest beers and I have been sipping on mimosas and coffee most of the day. Oh AND I got an awesome mirror for the livingroom at Goodwill today!

Anyway. Enjoy the photos. A lot of fun can be had editing and putting filters on the photos with Photoscape. Which is a free download by the way ;)

View of the patch. It’s actually even bigger than this, I just couldn’t get it all in one photo :)



This is Harvey, our pick of the patch. Isn’t he handsome? I felt he deserved photo editing and framing :)



A close up of the veggies we picked. Baby onions, carrots, green beans and radishes. See the soil?



Me holding the veggies after picking them.  This photo was supposed to be more background, less me- but that’s what happens when you hand your camera over to the husband ;)



The end :)

Being busy is Lovely

I’m writing via Windows Live Writer- testing it out to see what it is all about as I have heard great things about it!

Feels good so far ;)

It’s that lovely time of year where Etsy sales pick up! I love it.

I made my 36th sale yesterday, which isn’t a lot by any means but it is still exciting!

So, as of yet I really don’t have a set, uniform way of preparing or packaging the items that I sell.

I sort of use each sale as an opportunity to get creative and come up with packaging for that particular sale.

So a week or so ago I sold this “View of Earth from Space” pendant (the 2nd one of this model I have sold this year!) and I decided to sew up a little muslin bag (I don’t use a certain pattern or anything, I just sort of wing it) and lately I have been obsessed with hand stamping fabric. It’s way fun. You should try it.

Also- I love getting to use my custom shop stamp, made earlier this year by BlossomStamps on Etsy.

I recently got the funky tree stamp (used on the muslin bag) during one of my (waaay too often) runs to the craft store.

 

Anyway. Just thought I would share this idea with the rest of you, since I know many of you are Etsy sellers yourselves and you just might be looking for something new to do when packaging up your goodies!

Time for sleep. Going to a concert at the Hollywood Bowl tomorrow night with the husband to see LCD Soundsystem, Hot Chip, and Sleigh Bells. Yay.

A night alone...

It's night #1 without Matt (he is working the screenwriting expo put on by the mag he works for) and I've cleaned out our closet! You can get a lot of stuff done when you have no one to distract you.

The most awesome part is that I took like 3 or 4 shirts that I haven't worn in a while because I just didn't find them to be very flattering or interesting and cut them up to redesign them. I can't wait to come up with a tutorial and post in a blog for everyone!

More good news, yesterday and today I sold the same pair of shoe clips on Etsy! Both buyers were from Australia. I love that! I might not get to go there anytime soon, but I like knowing that something I've made does. I guess I should be jealous of the shoe clips?

What do you think? I love them- I made my own pair and wear them almost everyday.

They are so fun to wear!

They have this magical way of making you feel daintily adorable ;)

They are pictured here in comfy flats, but they also look great on heels!

They are for sale in my Etsy shop for $14!

Better get to work making the pair I sold tonight!!

Autum is in the air...

As I'm sitting here watching Jon Stewart rip on that idiot Rick Sanchez, I thought I might as well blog.  I find the Daily Show to be quite inspiring and think that it should be required watching by all Americans :)

(the last batch of "fancy" brooches I sent my mother in law a few weeks ago)

I've been getting down and dirty with crafting lately and I couldn't be happier. My "fancy" brooches are selling quite well at my mother in laws' boutique which is so exciting. I need to start expanding and try to get into boutiques here locally in Los Angeles, anyone have any tips or advice on approaching boutiques?

(a closer look)

Matt will be staying at the Hilton waaaay over near LAX starting this Thursday night  for the screenwriting expo put on by the magazine he works for, so while he is gone, though I will miss him dearly and will probably get scared during the night (what? you can be 28 and afraid of the dark, right?) I plan on doing a serious organization project as well as serious crafting. I am going to stay with him Saturday night though atleast.

I did a much needed photo shoot yesterday on some pieces I've made lately that I've just been too busy with the fancy brooches to list in my Etsy shop but I've finally gotten a few listed last night and today. Yay.

My Autum Leaf Hair Clip or Brooch, availabe here in my Etsy shop.

And as a brooch :)

I'll post some of the other ones tomorrow perhaps. Way sleepy right now. Goodnight!

yay for RED

How awesome, my retro red and white shoe clips were featured in a lovely red themed treasury on Etsy.

I made them with the fabric from a vintage blouse and added a little white tulle ;)

These are listed here in my Etsy shop but I'll have to make my own pair. I got some awesome vintage flats at Goodwill yesterday that these will look fantastic on. They also look great on these vintage heels!

I'm so glad shoe clips are part of my life now. As of this moment I'm declaring them the greatest accessory. So there! Whats your favorite accessory?

Sentimental Stitches

I made this hair clip for my little sister's birthday. Her birthday was on the 7th but shhh whatever.

I was trying out new techniques- which by the way this weekend I got crazy with some new carnation style fabric flowers- photos to come soon!

I love the colors in this piece!

Not only will this be a gift of fashion for my sis it will also be a gift of sentiment. My nephew Oliver picked the flower I used in the center piece when they were out for a visit last summer so it will be extra special for his mommy ;)

Happy (late) birthday sister!

Is it only Wednesday? Hmm.

I got off of work a little early today so to take advantage of the extra time I decided to work on some product photos. A few that had not yet been photographed and some that needed some serious re-photographing.

I just worked on these the other night- they will probably be used as center pieces for more of my brooches mentioned here. I absolutely LOVE working with the pressed flowers/leaves again. I'm almost out so I picked some more flowers and leaves to press yesterday while out on a walk :)

I had actually forgotten about this pendant I made earlier this spring I believe. Its an earth made with white, blue, and green polymer clay attached to a circular glass tile. I didn't have my new camera at the time I made it so the photos needed an upgrade!

I made this wood burning semi recently and originally attached a hair comb to the back to wear in your hair but it just didn't quite work out the way I had hoped so I removed it and experimented around a bit and ended up taking a small strip of fabric and drilling tiny screws to secure it. Quite fun actually!

Anyway now it can be more versatile:

(click this one to see it enlarged for better detail!)

And around the neck:

Goodnight!

-Julie

materializing an idea

*BE ONE OF THE FIRST 10 COMMENTERS AND YOU WILL BE ENTERED TO WIN A FREE SURPRISE GIVEAWAY!! DON'T WORRY, IT WILL BE SOMETHING GOOD. SO HURRY :)

I often have ideas that come to me that I forget about before I get a chance to create them- but when I thought of this one last night I didn't wait to put it into action.

I wanted to incorporate my earth theme by bringing back some of my pressed flowers/leaves that I originally started out working with last year. For example, this piece.

 So I had the idea to put a pressed flower behind a circular glass tile to use as the center piece of the new line of brooches I've been working on.

A close up view of the pressed flower:

I got the creme colored embroidered fabric yesterday at Joanns. I love the vintage style of it. It reminded me of the fabric that I wore as a little girl.

Me :)

It also looked great on the waist line of the interesting vintage romper I got a few months ago and finally decided to wear today!

What do ya think about the pressed flower center piece?

Cheers,

Julie

productivity

Well, it's back to work tomorrow after having 4 days off. I can't say I accomplished as much as I wanted to but I did get a few things done :)

I finally got my first batch packaged up and it's now en route to Texas to my mother in law's Boutique, The Fashion Shop.

Me displaying how one could also use one of the brooches- by pinning it to a ribbon/headband/etc.

Yesterday I worked on dissecting some of the old jewelry Matt's mom sent me recently. Really fun. Tedious but so worth it. Note the essentials. (Tissues and Iced Espresso)

This ring almost looks like it was made from the fabric of the top I was wearing.

My version of modeling rings- I hate my hands. Or my "Creepy E.T. fingers" As my little sister affectionately calls them.

One of the many brooches :)

And last but not least- me having a genuine sneeze- I was planning to just take a shot of me looking pathetic from my "allergy day" and then I sneezed. Perfectly suites the day I had yesterday. It was MISERABLE. I probably sneezed 1000 times. The reward my body gives me for cleaning and organizing the house.

Ta daaaa.

Project Time

As my craft area is becoming increasingly out of control- a serious organization is in order!

Luckily I have the next 4 days off of work while my employers are in Aspen.

Also luckily I had the idea to reuse an empty formula canister from work (I'm a nanny) to aid in my organization :)

Simple project supplies:

*1 empty canister (formula, coffee, etc...)
*scissors
*mod podge
*paint brush
*spray gloss sealer (optional)
*an old magazine, book, etc...

Steps:

*wash and remove canister label
*cut out several images and/or text
*using brush, apply mod podge to back side of images and place
them on the empty canister and canister lid
*after the mod podge has dried apply another coat of mod podge over the images or simply bring
out doors and evenly spray the canister and lid with gloss sealer
*allow to dry and then fill with whatever you please :)

Finished Project:

Oh the inspiration...

So today I received a package from my mother in law with TONS and I mean TONSSS of old jewelry for me to use!

Seriously it's like digging through a treasure chest. So many ideas floating around in my brain about how to utilize them. I've been putting things in the center of the new fabric flowers I've been working on to sell in her shop and the other day she told me she would go through her jewelry.

 A while later she texted me to say don't buy anything else and that she was sending me 10 pounds of jewels.

It's more than I could have even imagined. So many interesting old brooches and what not. Needless to say, I'm inspired. I will try to photograph it with the pieces all spread about.

It's going to take me forever to sort through it all...

Another current obsession are shoe clips.

 I can't wait to go somewhere so I can wear them.

Vintage heels really aren't the ideal shoe for a nanny to wear to work. I'm thinking a weekend brunch. Hmmm.

I can't wait to get super duper crafty this weekend. Wish me luck!!!

Oooh ahhh.

Ok so I've been completely immersed in my latest project. I'm creating a slew of brooches/hairclips/rings/shoeclips/etc. for my mother in law's boutique back in Texas.

It's a fancy sort of boutique so I've sort of upped my fanciness level a bit. Ha! Fancy isn't really my thing but making these sure the hell is a lot of fun!

I LOVE singeing the fabric- it fulfillis my inner pyro. I think I will soon post a tutorial or video of me making a piece so I can share some of my tactics with you.

I love this one- All of the fabric is vintage/upcycled (except for the lace) including the flowers in the middle- I found a huge bag of fake vintage flowers at a thrift store this weekend for $4! I love finding inspiration that way.

and as a brooch....

Yay! More to come later :)