Pleated Clutches

Lately I have been using my sewing machine A LOT. So much that it is kind of driving my fiance crazy-- his office space is about 7 feet away from my loud vintage 1960's sewing machine. Unfortunately for him, the noise is not going to go away because I have a new found obsession.

For the past couple of days I have been working on creating my own pattern for a wristlet. I love having a small pouchy bag to grab-and-go with just my phone, keys, and cards. All of my previous attempts were a little bit too small -- a tight fit for my phone with no room for lip gloss. Then, I decided to use a 7 inch zipper I had lying around from a previous to make a longer version of my clutch and BINGO something adorable was born!

I had this little red tree print (I think leftover from a fat quarter) and decided to pleat the front and make a strap with the leftover fabric. This is the one I have been carrying.

 Well, after making one for myself I was totally hooked! I went fabric shopping yesterday with my mother-in-law-to-be and while we were looking for decor fabric to cover some chairs in her house (going to be super cute, btw) I picked up several awesome patterns in the fat quarter and remnants sections! I picked some coordinating zippers and started sewing as soon as I got home.

Of course my new clutches all have pleats because I'm totally hooked on putting pleats into prints at the moment. This morning I finished the fourth one and got them all photographed and listed in my etsy shop.

Check out the finished products:

I love this color combo! Bikes with plaid-- so cute!

It's hard to tell because of the print but this blue floral is pleated too.

I can imagine making a million different things out of this orange sherbet anchor print. Love it!

This one is the jumbo version. The only aqua zipper I could find to go with this fabric was a 10 inch, so I made a bigger clutch.

I'm really happy with how these came out. If they're successful they will be my first machine sewn item to sell in the shop. Staying inside and sewing is one way to get through this heatwave. It's 102 here in Indy right now, yikes!

Summer fun

I know it's been months since I last made a blog post and that is down right shameful but I have been super busy! The end of the school year was very stressful and I completely cleaned out my classroom because I've decided not to renew my teaching contract for next year after all. I'm looking around for an art job where I will be working with older students.

In other news I am off for summer and have been busy with projects! I sold a lot of handmade goodies at a local neighborhood flea market where I set up a stand and I an planning to update my etsy shop and approach some local boutiques to see if they would like to carry my items.

Here is my latest project. I got a cute picnic basket from the flea market and I have transformed it into a traveling sales case. I plan to bring this cutie with me to some local shops to show my wares around next week

New Friends

I stayed up a little late last night working on a new set of paintings. I ended up with a set of four little forest friends.

Mr. Fox

Badger

Barn Owl

Raccoon





 I'm already thinking about more animals to add to the series. These little guys were lots of fun to paint-- this more simplified style is new for me and I'm really happy with how they came out.

I'll be making some prints of these for my shop ASAP :)

Watercolors

I had some down time while I was off for President's Day on Monday and I got some painting done. I never took painting classes in college but I've always enjoyed watercolors. The first one is based on my friend and her two pugs. The second one is a painting version of the sketch I posted last week.  

I'm really happy that I have been getting back into drawing and painting. Don't get me wrong-- I love crafting, sewing, and knitting, but it's been nice to create some art outside of the examples I draw for my students :)

Sketchbook

While I was out sick yesterday I decided to pick up a book and start drawing. It was the first time using my new handmade journal. The thick, fiberous, handmade paper is really awesome but it's so soft that it won't take much erasing to wear a hole in it. I made a few sketches with colored pencil. It was really nice and relaxing to take some time to just draw.

Here are a few of the doodles I made yesterday.

I'm not sure if the meditative drawing session helped but I'm feeling much better today :)

This last drawing is my favorite-- I love drawing cartoony portraits of my sweetie (any boy with a mole is obviousy supposed to be him). If I get some spare time I'll probably turn my drawings into watercolor paintings!



Giveaway Winner

Thank you so much to everyone who entered my first blog giveaway!

The winner is

MJD's Mommy

Congrats! I will be shipping your prints to you this week.

Watercolor Prints - GIVEAWAY

Win a set of woodland art prints!

I recently made some prints of three of my watercolor paintings. Each of the paintings has a woodland animal theme and a quirky saying to go with it. The paintings were a lot of fun to make and I am really happy with how the prints came out. Each print measures 4x6 and was printed using archival inks on archival photo paper.

I am hosting my first blog giveaway to draw some attention to my etsy shop. You have a chance to win the whole set of prints!

You're Foxy

Partners in Crime

Oh Deer!



HOW TO ENTER:

Just go check out my etsy shop and leave a comment on this post telling me what your fave item is.

On February 10th, one lucky commenter will be win this set of prints. I'll be shipping them out just in time for Valentine's Day!

Bloglovin :)

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Busy Busy Break

Today is the last day before I have to go back to work and while I'm not looking forward to waking up early I am looking forward to seeing my students. Winter break has been two weeks of projects for me!

As an early birthday present, my mom helped me track down a "new" sewing machine on craig's list this December. We found a really nice lady who fixes up old metal machines and sells them. I ended up falling in love with a vintage Singer 337 (from 1965). We only paid $30 for it and it works really nicely.

The little owl and the flowers were cut out of a kleenex box. The beautiful artwork that was on the tissue box is by Cori Dantini.

Here are a couple of the things that I have created with the machine so far:

I made my mom a funky monkey out of a pair of old socks as a thank you for the machine.

I made this turtle for my sweetie. He keeps trying teasing our dog with it and I'm sure that we will find it in pieces one of these days.

I used some fabric scraps to make this cute little zippered pouch for my friend Lauren. I based it off of a tutorial from Noodlehead.

This is my first attempt at quilting! This post helped me firgure out how to do a chevron pattern using square pieces. The fabric i used is actually reporpused bedsheets. (Also note the handmade pillow with a bird that matches the chair I reupholstered in my previous post). I just turned 25 and Colin says I'm already acting like a granny, but I think he's ok with it ;).

I've also been updating my shop.

This little owl needs a good home. He was lots of fun to stitch :)

I also created some printable valentines. Only $3 in my shop.

I'm looking forward to Valentine's Day and thinking about lessons to do with my students for the rest of the school year.