into matryoshka dolls

I don't know why, but I'm into Matryoshka dolls, also known as Russian nesting dolls, at the moment. I guess I should say I'm STILL into them since I wrote about them a while ago here.

They just seem so festive for the holidays to me. I found these great matryoshka doll items browsing around on Etsy:
Antique Russian nesting dolls from amberfilikins (oh darn, they're sold!)
Matryoshka doll letterpress birthday card from dutchdoor
Mother-daughter nesting doll pendant set from shoplolli
Matryoshka doll bobby pins from MelissaAbram
Kokka Japanese import matryoshka doll fabric from MoonaFabrics
Hand printed matryoshka doll kitchen towels from CuddleCanvas
Matryoshka doll baby quilt from SweetnCozy
Tiny needle felted matryoshka doll from CattaDolls

And I've been working on my own items for chirp & bloom.

I made an applique onesie and big sister tee in time for the last Clover Market of the season two weeks ago, and I think they came out pretty cute. People liked them at the show anyway, so now they are in the shop.

It was fun to finally use some of the floral ribbons from my trip to the NYC garment district and it was my first time using ink jet printable fabric sheets by Jaquard. I really wanted something realistic for the face, so I created the image in the computer and printed it out. I did a wash test and the ink ran some which wouldn't do at all. So I tried again, and heat setting it with the iron, then soaking it in salt water. That brought the color down a bit, but I like the more antique look and when washed  again, the ink didn't run. See? Even in a small business you have to do quality control testing. I'll add to that that I've tested the best way to finish the edge of ribbons and ric-rac. Between Fray-Check and singeing, singeing wins as long as the content is polyester. I use a Darice craft wood burning tool for the singeing and it works great.

Back to those printable fabric sheets- they are so cool, my daughter wanted to try them too, so we had a couple of friends over to do her craft idea here.

making a padded headboard

The attic room is finally finished! This was a project I'd been contemplating since scoring some great block printed fabric at the Galbraith & Paul sample sale in Manayunk last December.

after

This year's sale is coming up on the 3rd, so it only took me 11 months to complete the project. I call my process "turtle mode". I'm excruciatingly slow, but I do eventually finish things.

before

We use the attic room as a guest room, and it's been slightly embarrassing to send guests up there with it being on the dingy side and not pulled together. Bad leaking in the window wells prompted me to get a contractor in there to fix the damage, but a few months later it's still leaking, I'm sorry to say. Third attempt in 9 years to fix it- oh well! That's an old house for you!

My boy helped me with a fresh coat of milky white paint. Those little rollers are great for kids. The shade wasn't hugely different than before, but it was enough brighter & cleaner to make all the difference.

I use the Martha Stewart method to place pictures and the new padded headboard. I trace the frames on kraft paper, marking where the nails need to go in for the hooks. Once the templates are arranged pleasingly, you nail the hooks in right through the paper, then just tear off the paper.

Anna See prints

I got these fabulous bird block prints from Anna See on Etsy. I framed them in floating frames like she suggested so you can see the deckled edges of the paper.

The padded headboard was fairly easy to make. We cut a piece of plywood to 21"x67" which we tested over our Ikea platform bed in kraft paper to make sure of the proportion. I left it there for a few days, ok a month and a half, before I felt totally secure with it. Then I cut some 2" foam to the same size with one of those electric meat cutters (cuts like butter!). If I were to do it again, I'd go thicker with the foam- maybe 3" or more. I cut the fabric & a layer of batting 5" bigger than plywood/foam all around to allow for wrapping around the edge. To reduce bulk, I trimmed the batting from the corner.

Am I a bad mom for letting my 5year-old use the staple gun? There was no stopping him so I supervised. it's kind of nice to have two sets of hands for this, so one person can hold the fabric taut while the other staples. To get even tension, you want to start in the middle and staple top & bottom across from each other, then repeat on the sides. Work you way around alternating like this, leaving the corners for last.

The corners are a little tricky. It's like doing origami to get a nice fold there. Patience. Experiment until it looks neat. We used two flush mount hangers from our local mom-and-pop hardware store to hang the headboard. Home Depot did not have them- the bums! Even with the Martha Stewart method, hanging the headboard was a bit of a comedy of errors. Being so wide, it was really obvious if it was a little off level. There are 30 holes or so behind it from us redrilling over and over to make it right.

after again

And here it is again in 3/4 view taken with my new wide angle lens! The final touches were switching out the rice paper lights for more more functional table lamps from Target and customizing a plain white duvet cover with a linen appliqué band (pain in the butt!). Guests, you may make your reservations now!

fun with ink jet printable cotton

It's a gorgeous time of year here in northern Delaware!

With all the leaves falling, my daughter was inspired to do a craft with her friends involving leaves.

I recently discovered these nifty ink jet printable fabric sheets by Jaquard at my local sewing store, Hayes Sewing Machine Co.

I used them to make the face on my new matryoshka doll onesie & tee. When my daughter saw me using it, she started thinking of things to scan and print out on the stuff.

Leaves work great. Once you've scanned them and printed them onto the sheets, which print just like paper, you peel off the backing and have a nice piece of fabric with your imagery on it.

We decided to make the leaves into iron-ons by applying another favorite product of mine, fusible web, to the back side. I really like Warm Company's Steam-a-Seam Lite 2. It has a waxy paper backing on both sides. Cut the web to the size of the fabric sheet, then peel off one side of the backing. Place tacky side down onto the back side of the printed sheet and iron until adhered. Now the leaves can be cut out. We left white around the edges, but you could trim right up to the edges of the leaf if you wanted to.

You could do just about anything with the iron-ons- decorate your jeans, apply to a tote bag, but we decided to make 12" x 12" pillows out of some corduroy from my stash. To make a 12" x 12" pillow we figured out we needed to cut a 25" x 13" rectangle to allow for the seam allowances and folding in half to make the front/back. To apply the iron-ons, peel off the 2nd layer of paper from the back and place on the background fabric. When arranged pleasingly, just iron.

Appliqué-aholic that I am, I had the girls stitch around the leaves as well which was good practice for pivoting and controlling the stitching. The web is great, but doesn't necessarily last forever, especially if you wash your item, so it's nice to sew them down. Speaking of washing, if you plan to wash your printed fabric, wait 24 hours, then soak it in some salt water, rinse, and allow to dry. It'll fade a little, but still be pretty and unlikely to run and fade dramatically with future washes.

After the appliquéing, sewing up the sides with 1/2" seam allowances, stuffing, and closing the last bit was a piece of cake. It was a totally doable project for 10 year-olds. I think they did a lovely job!

team spirit at the clover market!

Last Sunday was the final Clover Market of the season and my last show for the year as well. I decided not to do any Christmas shows, because if I've learned one thing after doing six shows since May it's this: shows are a lot of friggin' work! Family life is busy enough during the holidays!

a dear little customer checking out Penelope

I don't seem to have the discipline to pace myself with product production between shows. I routinely do all-nighters before each one due to insecurity. Did I make enough new stuff? Do I have enough of a certain item to make an impact? Am I just too lame for words? Once I'm there, though, and the customers start coming in, it becomes fun and feels like it's worth it. In my previous life as a designer for a clothing company in New York City, I never got to chat with customers or see their reactions first-hand. I really value the insight meeting the customers gives me and I feel less and less like I'm blindly making stuff and hoping for the best.

One of my new products: lavender sachets. Finally a use for my precious vintage tablecloth scraps- boy do I hate to waste good fabric! I'm using the lavender I brought back from Willow Pond Farm in June. Gosh. it smells good! Teacher gift anyone?

Michabella

This particular Clover Market was extra fun, not just because of the stellar fall weather. I got to pal around with several members of some of the Etsy teams I am on. Michelle of Michabella from the treasury-curating team, Curation Nation, was there with her jewelry collection. I love her pendants made from geode slices and her lucite filagree earrings. Her fool's gold pendant is on my Christmas list... honey, are you paying attention?

Beeps' Peeps

From the Etsy Kids Team, Brita of Beeps' Peeps was there. I enticed her to come to the show because Ardmore is such a family place. It seems like every other shopper there is pregnant or is pushing a stroller-

Beeps' Peeps

the perfect audience for her play mats and cheerful, kid-friendly accessories!

funretro

I was looking forward to meeting Natalie of funreto, also from Curation Nation. I cannot tell you how many times I've used her cool vintage pieces in my treasuries. I don't know how she does it, being a full-time teacher on top of running a busy Etsy shop, but she does it well.

Almanac Industries

I am such a sucker for letterpress! I met Jacob & Whitney of Almanac Industries at the Brandywine Arts Festival in Wilmington and loved their aesthetic which is masculine and vintagey..

I mentioned the Clover Market to them and they actually jumped on it and did the show. I hope to see them again next time.

youngest member of "team chirp"

My dear husband and kids have been such troopers while I've pursued this craft show adventure. I did not realize the impact it would have on them, having to endure my frenzied hysteria before each show and my neglect of household duties, not to mention the early morning set-up duties. Yay for team chirp! Now back to a normal life for a few months at least ;)

what a difference a year makes

I've been getting my etsy shop ready for the holiday season and decided to renew this cardinal coin purse that I'd allowed to expire after last Christmas. I remember thinking at the time that the picture was really awesome and that it was a good seller (I sold 5).

2010        vs.       2011

I've done a lot of product photography and editing in Photoshop since then, so I was alarmed when I renewed it and saw it next to the newer items in my shop. EGADS! What a dark, sad photo, standing out like a big ol' bruise! This is a typical newbie Etsy seller mistake and a rampant one on Ebay as well. Pictures just look more appealing brightened almost to the point of overexposure.

A little bokeh goes a long way too. That's the blurriness in the background that you can get if you open your aperture up a lot. I'm lucky enough to own a lens for my DSLR camera that has a 1.8 aperture (smaller numbers mean bigger when it comes to apertures), so I set my camera on aperture priority at 2- 2.5 and shoot away. If you have a point & shoot, there is usually a macro setting that you can use for coseups of your item that can help achieve a little bokeh also. If the background is too in focus, you can work around it by moving your item farther away from whatever background you are shooting against.

Hopefully this year since I've retaken the photo, my little cardinal purse will be even more popular...

clover market, october 2011

beautiful customers

I don't know if it's the name of the show, or just random luck, but this past Sunday was my third show at the Clover Market in Ardmore, PA and the weather was perfect, yet again! I'm still getting over the nasty cold contracted at Crafty Bastards, so the warm sunny day was a welcome change. I signed up to do all three fall Clover shows, so there is one left on Sunday, November 6th. I really look forward to outfitting my young friends in person. Aren't  these tweenies the sweetest?

As always, there were original and nicely displayed items out the whazoo. From Christine Shirley, hair pins made from vintage earrings.

Paige Sullivan, owner of Christine Shirley, has such good taste and a knack for display- and she should, since she also works at Anthropologie.

Next to my shabby chic booth was Kaye Rachelle showing modern screen-printed pillows, table linens, and wall organizers. There is such variety at this show! The show founder & organizer, Janet Long, is also an interior designer and curates the show with an eclectic eye, everything pleasing.

Fresh Vintage was back, but this time instead of the Tastycake truck, owner Colleen Allison arrived with the coolest old camper recently scored on Ebay.

It did double duty as a the biggest display prop ever and the mode of transport for all of her 1940's & thereabouts wares.

This is definitely the place to come for vintage home accents (sorry, I don't know who this display belonged to) as well as original handmade gifts. People, if it's not vintage or antique, it's HANDMADE here. I had to clarify that a few times with people who thought my things were mass-produced.

November 6 is your last chance to come out before spring 2012...

crafty bastards 2011

Well, I'm back from the Crafty Bastards show in Washington DC and oh, what a day it was!

I'd been compulsively checking the weather all week, and it was looking good, then BAM! The day before, the forecast changed from clear to showers. And cold. Not ideal, but after being anointed at the Art Star show in Philadelphia this spring, I wasn't going to let some dreary weather stop me. Fortunately the rain paused for us during set-up and take-down, but basically it drizzled the whole time and was in the low 50's F and breezy. That gets cold when you are sitting for 7 hours! At least I had my Mom there to keep me company and make me button up my coat.

I was pleasantly surprised by the crowd that came out. I was expecting a ghost town kind of day, but it was downright crowded. It is such a beloved show in the Adams Morgan area of DC, that the people I asked said they wouldn't miss it for anything.

My new mannequin, Penelope, enjoyed her time in my display bassinet. Pardon the fuzzy photos which were taken with my phone and might have had raindrops on the lens.

I tried something new and played a CD of birds chirping to get people in the mood. The doggies loved it.

We were in a fun section of the show near the local roller derby team who were arm wrestling with people for $1 and whooping it up.

We were also near the Young & Crafty vendors, a new thing this year at the show. There were 6 kids' booths with some really cute stuff. I felt bad for them that they didn't get a nice sunny day for their first show. They all looked a little cold & miserable.

I loved their shop names ;) For being mostly under the age of 13, they all did a remarkable job.

Here is Jenny Nelson of Home Sweet, also from Delaware. She had a ton of new hand block-printed patterns this time. She is definitely one to watch- this year she even made an appearance on the Nate Berkus Show!

A highlight of the day was when Tara Gentile visited my booth and bought a onesie. I recognized her right away from her blog, which I have followed for some time. It was neat to get to chat with her and see that she puts her money where her mouth is and supports handmade business. She was there helping out her friend, jewelry designer Megan Auman whose blog, Crafting an MBA, I also follow. I consider them the premier craft business bloggers out there and was a little starstruck to get to meet them in person.

Since I was busy in the booth, my husband got to do the gift shopping for the kids, and I think he did a really good job. For techno-savvy Ben, he found this great little robot t-shirt from redrocketfarm. I think he was getting into the idea of buying directly from the artist.

And for my suddenly tween Emma who is turning out to not be much of a girly-girl: owl print pillowcases from bark decor.

Mom sneaked away to buzz around the show and came back these cards from Katherine Watson. We have the same taste I guess, because I'd bought some of Katherine's cards at the Bust Magazine Craftacular last December.

Goodbye DC! I hope we get to come back again next year...