Sunday, February 28, 2016

Spring Time Sun and Some Fabric Shopping

Picked up some after Valentine's Day roses! They were slightly past it but still lasted a week or so. These were on the bathroom window ledge. I used the flower head girls with their eyes closed so we could pee without being watched.....


We swung by Fabricland yesterday to see the fantastic deals. Noticed that everything there seemed to be in Mercedes and Spencer's wedding colours. Wanted to buy bolts of everything! Restrained myself and purchased enough to make a few spring cleaning aprons instead.


Look how SOFT!!!!


All nude tones!
Gorgeous!
Want them all....


We've had some sunny days. Cool outside, but sure is sunny...


Even had a spring cleaning weekend. Sorted baby clothes and cleaned closets.
Can't wait until we get picnicking weather back, 


Sunday, February 14, 2016

Embedded Fimo Rose Nails

I'm so in LOVE with my new mini STAEDTLER Fimo rose nails!
I wanted to share them with all of you for Valentine's Day. They would be awesome wedding nails. Or spring nails, or summer nails..... Or you could make little red roses and have darker green foliage and make Christmas nails!!!


I kept them short and almond shape. 



I used white stiletto tips as a base. I prepped my nails and cleaned them. Then I buffed them up and glued on the tips.


I cut the tips back about two thirds and rounded off the ends to make an almond shape. 


I based the nails in a coat of builder gel and sat a rose on the smile line of each french tip before curing in the UV lamp.


I floated gel around and over each nail embedding the roses. I made sure not to leave any large air bubbles around the flower or leaves. It took a few coats before I had the roses covered. I filed the nails smooth and buffed them.


I made little curly dots on my thumb and ring fingers with white nail polish and then top coated.



These are pretty great. They totally remind me of old resin paperweights..... Is that a good thing for fingernails to remind you of?  Oh well...  I like 'em. Hope you do too.
Now I'll have to try out the molds and see what I can come up with using them!

If you aren't a nail tech, don't despair! You can make the tiny roses and take them to a nail salon and have a pro apply them for you!

Happy Valentine's Day!



Saturday, February 13, 2016

Teeny Tiny Roses... and a Mold.

I've been thinking about making teensy roses for ages now. I day dream about them while I'm working away on other things. I doodle them in the margins of order lists at my day job. I make swirly rose shapes in the soap bubbles in my dishwater... 
I'm pretty excited to finally have made these.

Here's how they came to be... What they'll be used for will come later.


They really are tiny! Most are about a half centimeter.


I'm using my favorite clay.... STAEDTLER Fimo!
I had a white, a pink and a green.
I made five gradients of pink by mixing less and less colour into the white clay.
I also paled out the light green by mixing that with white clay too.


I rolled each clay shade out into roughly 2 mm thick worms.


I cut off a bit of the darkest pink and rolled it into a ball.
I flattened the ball onto a sub-straight, I'm using a dowel here because I want the finished roses to have a curved base,
I used a pointed tool to push a hole into the center of the flattened disc of clay forming a donut shape.


Continue to make tiny balls of clay keeping the colours gradient as you work,
Push a hole in each flattened disc. Each new colour ball should fit inside the previous.


I made tiny little leaves from teardrop shaped green clay. I flattened the center vein of each leaf using a pointed tool.


I like the rose with the lightest colour on the outside a bit more than I like the dark on the outside. I'll use both though to give a bit of variety.


Here's my bit of dowel filled with tiny blooms. I really do like them and can't wait until I can use them in a design.


I've made a mold of the flowers so I can reproduce them easily and quickly. This'll be fun to play with later too!


Saturday, February 6, 2016

Finally... Time For Sewing!!!

I have most of today to do with as I please....
and Please.... I'd like to sew!

We let Lily choose from a few of my vintage patterns and gave her free rein in my fabric stash. Here's what she chose! Her very first design choices. 


The edges are left over from the kitchen curtains, but they match the dotty cotton just enough.


The dress is all done! Now on to the bloomers! Maybe we'll even get a matchy headband in too.
So nice to have a bit of free time. I've missed playing.

Friday, February 5, 2016

Goodness in the Mail

 I love getting packages in the mail. It's like a mini birthday, even if the contents aren't mine.

Looks like we're planning a wedding!!!
So very, very, very (ok, I'll stop. You get the point.) EXCITED!!!


These two are perfect together. 
Can't wait to see how much we can create on our own for this amazing couple of kids and their day.