New Accessories Section at Etcetorize!

Yay!  I'm so excited.  I've added a whole new section to Etcetorize on Etsy....an Accessories section!

I'm loading up the shop with boho summer bags of every colour and print out there.



Botanical



Eco

  

Floral

All of the bags are either lightweight or heavy duty cotton and fully lined with two pockets inside.

Of course, they're great for anything.  Use them at the market, shopping, at the beach, for school books, carry your laptop.  You name it, it'll probably fit.  There's loads of room for all of your belongings inside.

I added 4 of them to the shop last night and 4 more will be added today, with lots more to come.  Head on over there and let me know what you think~

Do you tunic?

Here's one of my all time fav dresses that I've made.  Well, I call it a dress but maybe it's actually a tunic???

I used a great cotton linen blend fabric:

This is the pattern I used, which is still in the New Look catalogues:

The one I made above was done without the fancy schmancy detail around the neckline.  However, I made it again, and this time I did go all out:



I have honestly never realized how short this dress was
until I saw this picture!



This one was made with a light weight Batik type cotton.

It would probably be overkill to make this pattern again but I'll definitely hang onto it...just in case I change my mind~

Spoonflower

Throughout this past month I've been introducing you to fun and interesting sewing and fashion related sites that I love (You can check the other ones out here, here, and here).  I thought I'd end this month with Spoonflower .

Spoonflower is one of the coolest sites out there for designers and sewers alike.  "Spoonflower makes it possible for individuals to design, print and sell their own fabric designs."

You can have your designs printed on cotton, canvas, silk crepe de chine, twill, or cotton voile for only $18 - $32 / yard.


Sample of some fishing themed fabrics created.

I love scrolling through all of the new creations.  Some of the designs that people come up with really blow my mind!

I found this great video on their blog that shows you how you can create fabric designs with nothing more technical than a scanner:

                                

They have fun contests every week, and even if you don't design fabric you can still participate just by voting.

This is one of my current fav sites and whenever I need a little breather I jump over there and check out what's new just for fun.

Check it out and let everyone else know what you think in the comment area below.  If you've ever designed and ordered fabric I'd really love to hear how it all went for you.

Have a great week everyone.

Easiest Photo Embellishment Ever

As I've mentioned before, I'm not a scrapbooker or a card maker.  I need all the help I can get in this area of crafting.

My new Silhouette machine is helping greatly but I have a feeling it's going to take me quite awhile to figure out all of the amazing things it can do to make me look like I know my way around a scrapbook.

Here's my first card I made with my new machine:

Don't laugh.  It was a last minute thing and I didn't really know what I was doing.

     

It drives me crazy that those scallops on the sides of the photo are the wrong way but sometimes you just have to suck it up and move on.

In order to detract from my grievous error I added a little something to my photo.  Do you see it?  They're hand made photo corners.  I made mine with lace but you can use anything, like pretty ribbon or even paper or fabric.

This is the easiest thing in the world to do but I'll show you the steps anyway:

Steps:
1) Cut a small length of ribbon, paper, or whatever it is you're using. The wider your material is, the bigger your corner will be.  Here I just used a scrap of paper I had left over from my Birthday Banner project.

2) Holding your ribbon horizontal, create a mitered corner by folding the top lines of your ribbon down to meet together in the centre.  Trim the ends.

3) Dab some glue on the back of your photo in the corner and slip your ribbon over the edge.  Press down onto the glue.

Here's one with ribbon:

That's it.  It's that easy.  I love using photo corners already but sometimes your album can seem repetitive if you see the same black or clear corners on every page.  This way you can really jazz it up and add corners that match the photo.  Fun right?!?!

I'll link up at the usual spots this week.  Just check out the linky tab up top and you'll find loads more fun ideas.

Happy crafting!

Summer Dress

Here's a super cute and easy vintage style dress for you:


Funny how some silhouettes are timeless~

It's sort of that pillow case gathered neckline you see on little girl dresses, but this one's for big girls!  The pattern envelope doesn't have a date on it but I'm guessing that it's probably from the 80's.

It's hard to find smaller sizes of patterns in the vintage bins so I scooped this one up as soon as I saw it.

The fabric is once again some horrible polyester stuff I had, but it's not too slinky, and it actually falls quite nicely.

neckline:

I love that it has pockets! (That's an easy addition you can add to any skirt or dress if you want)

Mine is a little shorter than the picture on the pattern envelope and the skirt isn't as full.  I think I did that on purpose to fit it onto the fabric and to suit my frame better.

This is one of my favourite sundresses and I usually get some nice compliments whenever I wear it.  If a Maxi Dress isn't your thing give this style a go.  A little simplicity can go a long way~

On This Day in Fashion

Another great website that I've stumbled across:



This is such a fun website.  On This Day in Fashion is an "online blogazine that offers daily doses of fashion happenings from both today and the past".  There's a daily post that tells you who's who in the fashion world that is getting another year older and celebrating a birthday.

Here's an example from last week:
Fabulous Fashion Birthdays for June 13

People in fashion born on June 13:

Lucy Christiana, Lady Duff Gordon, British designer, 1863
Mary Kate Olsen, American actress and designer; 1986
Ashley Olsen, American actress and designer; 1986 Read More »

 

 

 

(I have to admit...I like those girls~)

 

My favourites are the loads and loads of posts on movie style (cinemode) and the wonderful stories behind the fashion.

For example, when you click on the link about Audrey Hepburn's little black dress in Breakfast at Tiffany's ...

...what you're really going to read about is the fascinating relationship between Givenchy and Edith Head and how this movie changed the reigning Dior "New Look" silhouette that was so popular to something much more sleek and gamine.

In the stories section I can't even decide which story to feature because they're all so fascinating!  There's everything from little known facts about famous designers, models, and photographers to those whose names we've unfortunately forgotten.

 

You will get lost in this website.  My goal is to read one article a day but I guarantee you, once you start, it's hard to stop~

Etcetorized!

Head over to Kadie's blog Seven Alive .





She's been Etcetorized and wrote a lovely post to prove it~

Thank you Kadie!

Summer Drink Umbrella - ella - ella - ellas

What's the best way to dress up a summer drink and make you feel like you're somewhere other than your backyard???   Turn up the Rhianna and add an umbrella to your glass!

Kidding, you can skip the Rhianna but a little drink umbrella never hurt anyone.  And to top it off, it's a super fast craft that helps you use up those pieces of scrap paper you know you've been saving for who knows what.

Depending on how many you're going to make, this will take you about 5 minutes, if that.  Even less if you  have a fancy dance cutting machine (like I do!!!!!)

Here's what you need:

Nix the glue gun, I didn't need it after all~

I'm going to do this the old fashioned way so that you guys don't think I've become a Silhouette snob.

Steps:
1) Use a circle template (or a tin can) and trace circles onto the back of your paper.  I used a 2.5"circle but you can make them as big or as small as you want.

2) Cut out your circles.

3) Mark the centre of your circle and draw a small pie shape to the outer edge.  You can also just wing it and go straight to cutting if you're confident.

4) Cut out the pie shape.

5) Dab some glue onto one edge of the circle where the pie shape came out of and press down the other side on top.

 6) I thought I would need a little dab of hot glue for this next step but you really don't.  Just take a toothpick and stab it through the point at the top.

Voila!

Now, if I were Martha Stewart I'd probably be adding handmade vintage lace to the edges or something crazy like that but instead I  just made some slightly more fancy dancy ones with a scalloped edge with my new Silhouette machine~

And of course, I can't let you out of here without this:

                            


Have a great weekend everyone!!

Check out the linky parties for more fun ideas, and don't forget, if you've hit the follow button on the side bar, you can add your blog button on the "Follow My Friends" tab for free.  Check out the last bloggy friend feature here.