Sewing Night, Episode Two

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Despite all the drama this past week, we had a very successful Sewing Night Wednesday.  The ladies and I made little ruffled wristlets and they turned out ADORABLE.

 

 

I think four girls is the limit for Sewing Night.  It looks like I’ve crammed my own little sweatshop in my kitchen.  You can’t see it in the picture, but there’s a kid-sized table and chairs in the bay window – maybe I could squeeze two very small friends back there?

 

 

Look at those ruffling skills!  Keep in mind this is only the SECOND sewing lesson for these girls – didn’t they do great?  We’ve decided Megan could fit her baby in her “wristlet” when he or she arrives next month.

 

 

So I’m still having a lot of issues with this stupid tooth and have had to step up to the serious painkillers, which means I’ve certainly not had the normal amount of brainpower the past few days.  Hopefully I’ll be back to my usual self next week, because I want to tell you all about our latest Uncommon Craft Society of Indianapolis meeting!

 

Do you guys craft with buddies?  Tell me about it!  And how are you all feeling about the new blog header?  I love fabric all lined up in a row – makes me feel like I have my own little fabric shop!

Tutorial! Super Easy Embellished Tray

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My monthly Craft Night got cancelled last week after I had already bought my supplies.  I really wanted to make an embellished tray, so you guys get a tutorial and we can have our own virtual Craft Night!  I am by no means a Mod Podge expert (unlike Amy or Emily), but I do love the stuff.

First up, you'll need some supplies.  I bought everything at Michael's.

• A plain wooden tray (this was about $4 in the unfinished wood section)
• A can of spray paint (more on this later)
• Mod Podge
• Paintbrush
• Fancy paper (the paper I used was heavier weight, like cardstock - did you guys know there's Amy Butler paper?!  You scrapbookers have the coolest stuff!)
• Scissors
• Spray sealer (optional)

1.  Spray paint your wooden tray so it's nice and even.  I knew I was going to cover the inside bottom part with paper, so I didn't worry about spraying that too well.  I used Krylon spray paint for this and it took three coats for it to look good.  In my opinion, the Krylon paint doesn't hold a candle to the Valspar spray paint, which I used for my craft fair signs.  The Valspar paint covers so much better and is glossier.  Moral of the story - get the Valspar if you can.  My Michael's didn't have it, but I bought Valspar spray paint at Home Depot last time.

2.  Let the tray dry, then pick your paper - I picked two prints from this pack of 12 x 12 Amy Butler paper.  The inside of my tray is about 13" wide, so I'm using one main print then adding a stripe border.  To cut the main paper to size, line up the edge of the paper on one long edge of the tray.  Holding that in place, push the paper against the opposite long edge to make a crease, just like in the picture.  Then, take the paper out of the tray and cut along the crease. 

3.  Paint a layer of Mod Podge on the tray bottom - don't be stingy, but don't glob it on or it just makes a mess.  Lay your cut piece of paper in the middle of the tray bottom and smooth out any bubbles.

4.  Next up - the border.  The stripes made it super easy for me to cut even strips of paper to make the border - they're all 1 1/4" wide and I just cut along a stripe.  You may want to use a paper cutter like this one to make nice even cuts, or use a ruler and draw your straight lines before cutting.  Cut 4 strips, all the same width.  Add another layer of Mod Podge on each long edge of the tray bottom and press on two of the border strips as shown.  Smooth them out like you did with the main paper.

5.  Use the same method you used with the main paper to cut the short-side border strips to the right size - just lay them in the tray where they go and crease where they need cut.  Trim them down, paint some Mod Podge on the short sides where the border goes, and glue 'em on.

6.  Paint on a nice, even layer of Mod Podge over the entire tray bottom.  You can see in this picture how sometimes the paper gets a little bumpy and uneven - don't worry, it usually smooths out as it dries.  Let it dry and add another coat for good measure.

7.  All done!  Now aren't you proud of yourself?

I decided to spray mine with a clear sealer because with two kids in the house, durability is pretty high on my priority list.  I also am not great at painting Mod Podge evenly, so it covers up my brush strokes a little bit.

If you make one, I'd love to see pictures! 

Craft Night and My Etsy Shop

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Craft Night was Wednesday night and we made cute little headbands inspired by this headband by Ann Taylor plus another beaded one that has disappeared from their website.  They turned out so cute!  I'm debating posting a tutorial next week on both, so if you want to make your own, let me know and I'll work on it.  But watch out - if you make a cute one, Julie will try to steal it. :)

The flower ones are made from either a cut-up t-shirt (like Hillary's sweet IU one below) or some fake silk fabric from JoAnn's like mine above.  They were fun and easy - I think everyone ended up making at least two.  So far, we've just been making accessories at Craft Night, so next month I think we're going to branch out to some home decor. 

 

I started uploading stuff to the shop!  It takes a while, but I'm getting quicker, and I think it will just get easier.  I'm thinking I can kind of re-use descriptions, just making a few tweaks for each listing, and the picture-taking won't be such a debacle in the future.

Setting up shipping policies was such an ordeal.  I followed the advice from this post for international shipping and just used the USPS site for domestic shipping rates.  I had planned on just using Priority Mail, but I realized it is NOT cost effective for small items.  I can save my customers a lot of money by shipping smaller stuff via First Class Mail, but it does require a trip to the Post Office.  I figure it's not set in stone and if my shipping rates don't work out I can change them.

By the way, does free shipping on additional items make you more likely to purchase more stuff?  I'm throwing around the idea of offering free domestic shipping on additional items but I'm wondering if it's worthwhile.

I'm offering a special deal in the shop to Facebook Fans and blog followers for the Grand Opening next week, so stay tuned.  You can Like bobaloo! on Facebook or follow the blog right there on the left sidebar!

Calm after the storm

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This past week has just been ridiculously hectic!  First up was Craft Night with the ladies on Thursday.  We made these adorable bib necklaces.  Since I had already made one for myself (I have it on in my profile picture) I made one for Bridget that is so cute I want to puke. 

Next up was Bridget's 3rd birthday party on Saturday.  Every year I tell myself I'm not going to go over the top with the food and decorations, and every year I get myself in over my head.  Everything turned out great and it was totally worth the effort.  I mentioned before that I decided at the last minute that B needed a Sleeping Beauty dress for the party.  I am SO GLAD I made it because she was just thrilled.  Princess Barbies have now overtaken our house thanks to all our friends and family.

For the past few years I've entered clothes and food into our local State Fair.  This year, I entered seven items of clothing (including my favorite jeans, which I'm sad to lose for a month while they're at the fair) that were all due this weekend.  In the hectic rush to finish a jacket for B, I forgot to take pictures.  I promise I'll share what earns me a ribbon when I get everything back.

On top of these two deadlines, I had the opportunity to present some of my accessories to Miranda, the owner of the Irvington Iris Tea Room.  Unfortunately, I didn't have anything made, so I had to whip a few things up so I could meet with her after the party on Saturday.  Everything turned out well, and some of my stuff will be in her shop when it opens later this summer!  It's the first time something I've made is going to be out there for people to buy, so I'm really excited.

Due to all this craziness I've barely made any business headway.  Luckily this week is nice and quiet, so today is the start of a mad creative blitz so I can amp up my inventory.  I really want to make some sort of catalog of products, plus I need some marketing materials.  I have about fifty to-do lists lurking around my house - hopefully I can cross some things off soon!

Craft Night - Shoe Makeovers!

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Once a month I host a craft night for a group of girls at my house.  Last night, our project was making over a pair of shoes (see the awesome tutorial at Grosgrain).  Everyone's shoes turned out just adorable.  Here are mine - aren't they so stinking cute?  I think my couch is destined to have pillows out of this fabric.

I really like hosting craft night.  First, it's an excuse to be around the girls and have some adult interaction.  Second, it's so much fun to see people who thought they weren't crafty make something that they love.  We did learn a few things from last night:

• Have snacks around.  These shoes took about 3 hours and everyone was getting HUNGRY.
• Have plenty of scissors and glue guns.  Some of the time was spent waiting for tools.
• Crank up the air conditioning!

On the business front, I made up a new style of tutu the other night.  I'm selling at my first craft show in September, so I'm trying to nail down a few styles to make in multiple sizes.  I know how crazy little girls are about princesses, so I was going for the princess vibe on this one.  I'll bribe Bridget to model it so I can get some pictures up.

Handmade Marketplace is still hanging out on the end table, unread, and I've made zero progress on my business plan.  I think I'll have a little extra time today so I'm pretty sure I'll be able to get to readin'.  I also starting reading the biz ladies series on design*sponge. It's so helpful and I definitely recommend checking out (not just the series, but the whole site - it's AWESOME).  It's crazy how many great creative blogs are out there - I have to stop subscribing to blogs or my Google Reader is going to explode.