Catch UP

It has been a few days since I have had the time to sit and do this. Between a birthday ( my 27th) a ton of paper writing for school, other family members birthdays (Happy Birthday to my sweet niece Gracie!) as well as a death in the family (RIP to my uncle who we sadly lost to cancer), my time has been very limited........
Projects on the other hand have been plentiful. One thing that is guaranteed in my life is that I use creativity as an outlet for everything. Its my escape... my home away from home and a way for me to gather my thoughts.
Recently my creativity has been focused on doing a multitude of tasks that are side jobs so to say. To help create a vision of my world outside of being a mother and wife 1st and foremost, my life is hectic but organized into what must be done here and now (School) and squeezing in the free-will and the future (business-minded) when and where it seems to go. I try not to ever push things, my thoughts are they will happen as they are planned no matter what I do to change them, so I sit back and enjoy the ride.
The best way for me to sum up the ride over my "blog-break" I will show you what I have been up to lately in the craft room.

UPDATES
The first thing I want to update is the "Weekender Project". I have been doing a trial and error run with fancy stitching but after a few I decided I liked the basic stitch the best and continued my mission to create a patchwork pattern from the leather swatches.
I used spray adhesive to attach the set of swatches in layers (starting with the bottom layer first) I began to stitch using a 3.5 SPI on a basic straight stitch setting and worked my way around each square individually. After the bottom layer was finished I continued with the second layer and stitched them down. Finishing with the 2  center diagonal pieces.

Now the pieces are attached to a backing I have to decide what to do next. So this is to be continued......


ILLUSTRATION
Another Project I have been dilgently working to complete is my fashion illustrations for my Thesis. I had to develop 7 dress designs that would work for the 5 different sustainable theories I am designing for. This is not an easy feat because there are difficult requirements for two of the theories and I had to combine them in a creative way that each could be fulfilled. After each of these designs are printed on posters I will hang them up for public evaluation. In one week I will know which design will be chosen for my final dress design. To give you an idea of what its been like to designs these dresses I will tell you that this is only 7 of the probably 15 or so that I had originally designed. (There were some changes made to my process and it resulted in the redesign of several dresses.)  I am thrilled with my designs and what the pen tablet has done for my creativity in illustration. Now if I could just get a pen tablet sketchbook that is on the go I would be a design machine!!! But for now its strictly when necessary and here are the results of my latest attempts on designing for the bridal industry.

FREE TIME
Then there are the side jobs: typically these are projects that present themselves sporadically and often are quick jobs or sequence jobs (those which require multiple steps to complete) the latest opportunity to turn trash to treasure was after I atlered a new dress. The problem was the dress was too long and because it is made of jersey I can cut the hem and not worry about it fraying. (the rolling edge usually common when this is done is fine because of the style of the dress.
Here is the dress (after cutting) just to see what the  recycle project was made from:

 *too cute but also too long before!

After I sew all the strips in circles I plan to create a necklace from them. Like I said a sequence project so this will too be continued!!!

I hope you enjoy and check back soon for updates to the projects!!

Back in the Day

A close friend of mine had asked me a while back, to make him a fancy tie. After searching through a ton of photos on the web I finally found a style that he liked. I knew somewhat how to make a tie but wanted to know if it was easier to buy. After several unsuccessful journeys to the local fabric stores for patterns. I decided to make my own. This project turned out very well. So well in fact my own husband ( a true redneck at heart) said he would wear one! This is very funny because he wears a cowboy hat not an Victorian style Ascot Tie! But that doesn't mean I wouldn't make him wear one! Anyways back to the original project. The gentleman acquiring the tie loves to be flashy and this type of accessory is very fitting. I hope he enjoys it and maybe the next time we are out on the town (I'll catch a snapshot to post). For now here is the fun! ENJOY!

The Pattern I created using neck measurements and the DIY info from here.

The cut pieces. A very nice Olive Green, Black and Royal Purple Plaid. 

(one side had interfacing applied to help keep the care maintenance down)

The Sewn Product.

Up-close of final product.

So the website I mentioned above for the pattern-making also provided a wonderful detailed instruction of how to tie one of these as well. Here is the instructions>

And for the Final Look>

On Betty (my Mannequin).

This was fun and for only $2 .16 I helped a friend get a custom tie only he would sport!

And to boot I made a project in one day! Maybe more styles will spawn from this idea.

Keeping Up

Okay so I know I promised a project a day...I have been busy with my grad class this week so yesterdays project has been on hold. In the mean time I have been putting in a few bows here in there to take my mind off the paper writing! I do have a weekend project in the making and will finish soon.(I hope!) But for now just a peek at the bows and the weekend project. Enjoy!

THE BOWS

This one is one of my favs. So colorful!

And one for a Sassy Frass!

I would like to sell some of these before I run out of room to store them!! I can't help myself though, I see the ribbon- it says to me: Make Me A Bow! And the next thing I know I am looping away!!

THE WEEKENDER 

I am constantly finding random things like these leather swatches. I thought they might make something fun, like keychain accessories if they were decorated. But the down fall is they have an ugly "info" label glued to the back. So, I tried to remove it but was unsuccessful and it left a lot of the paper residue behind, very tacky even at its best. I am into the checkered type pattern they create when they are aligned so I created this design on some canvas backing. I started by spray glueing them to the backing fabric and that is as far as I have gotten. I have no particular end result in mind, maybe a few studs to cover the holes, some stitching to tack them down and then I will decide what to do with it. For now its just a work in progress. 

Back to Basics

To complete my master's degree I am constructing sustainable wedding gowns. I have five theories that I plan to design these gowns around. My goal is to develop around 25 different designs to fill the 5 theories. (IE: 5 gowns for each theory) So I purchased a pen tablet in order to save myself from drawing each by hand, plus I know the industry uses this type of device a lot and I think its fun to learn new technology. I started using the pen tablet to design my signature for documents, created my logo and business card images, fooled around with doodles just to get used to the device. Now I have started to use the pen tablet for the reasons why I bought it> to draw my fashion sketches. Well that leads me to this post. After making a sleeve for the tablet (the first thing I did before I even set it up on my computer; thats the designer in me or maybe the OCD of everything has a place and everything in its place. I don't know) Anyways, I created my first fashion design for my thesis today and it feels great! I hope you enjoy this simple but pretty dress. 

One more in the making...

So this is a project I have been meaning to do since I interned at the world famous Eskimo Joe's Print Shop (making the smile seen around the world on all those tshirts!) This has been my dream for as long as I can remember. If you know me well then you know that my life and wardrobe revolve mainly around jeans and a tshirt (Hello I am a country girl in a city lifestyle! what do you expect?!) My goal in life is to open my very own t-shirt print shop. This dream is becoming a reality this year, hopefully. All I can say is it is a lot easier to make shirts when you know what you want to print on them. I have had this logo for about 5 years now and I am loving that I actually decided to go with a similar business name so I can use this for my logo. I would love to sign my name like this but that will have to wait until there are people interested in my signature again. (I say 'again" because long story short I was a racecar driver in my past and did a lot of winning and signing for fans! A story that I love to tell and shock people with but to lengthy to fit here, besides thats the past and this is my now and my future!)
So here it is the first public display of my logo. This is my trial sample so its not the best nor is it on anything special. But it is a start and like I said before, that's all I need. Now I just hope it doesn't end up on every piece in my wardrobe!! I will post more pictures when I get more designs applied. Enjoy!

Spring Fling!

Today was all about cheering myself up with flowers galore, all because the snow is coming again! Not to fun. (PS: there are way more ready to be attached to clips, just need more clips. The snow has put away the 100 I already bought.) I am excited to have all this inventory ready for sale regardless if I don't have a place to sell them yet. So on a brighter side this is what I made today! Enjoy!

A Project A Day> (keeps the craft room healthy!!)

This is becoming a habit and I just started. After telling my friends I better post stuff for them to view. My goal this week is just as I said > A project a day. Todays project> A bow holder for my shop (which I will set up soon and fill everyone in on where to go!) But for now this is my latest creation. Check back later for the rest of the week's projects!! Enjoy!

The Final Product > A Bow Holder

SNOW DAZE

This past week has been a challenge to stay warm and sane. The 20+" of snow that we received helped my crafting endeavors. Also I managed to start and complete several projects. I believe the wise investment of a crafting table helped it along though. Lately my projects have been concentrated on things that I would like to eventually sell in a shop.  Enjoy!

The bows are for my kiddo who's not a real girly girl so that's why they are kept simple. (also for the cost!)

I made these from scraps I had lying around the good ol' craft room.

Here We Go>>

This is the start up of something. A start is all I usually need to accomplish something great!! This is where that is sure to go!!
I look forward to channeling some creative energy outward and let others be inspired to create a life that they want. I am a firm believer that if you want it, go get it and thats what I am here to do! I love being able to showoff what I am into at the moment (because it is typically just a moment before I am onto the next something). This is a way for me to share how I am getting started on building my business and expanding my creativity.
Thanks for stopping in and exploring with me! Hope to see you again!!