Barrette Holder Tutorial

                I made heart barrettes for my daughters for the upcoming Valentine's Day. Having two little girls means having a lot of hair accessories. Especially barrettes, because once you start making them - you can't stop! :).
               Than I thought that it would be great to have something to clip them onto for storage. Like a holder. Like a Barrette Holder :).

              Here is my tutorial on how to make a barrette holder. You can hang it in the bathroom  ( close to hair brushes ) or on the door of the kid's closet.


 
Materials needed:
felt ( red, pink, cream )
1/2" wide grossgrain ribbon ( pink ), about 21"
DMC embroidery floss in red and pink
white thread
needle

This tutorial show how to make a Heart Barrette Holder, but you can choose any theme you want.

1. Make 3 heart patterns: large, medium and small. My measurements: 3,5", 2", 1" ( in the widest part of the heart ). Cut out one large heart, two medium hearts and two small hearts.

2. Pin the large heart pattern onto the cream felt, the medium heart pattern onto the pink felt and the small heart pattern onto the red felt. Cut the hearts out. ( I had a little help in drawing the heart patterns:) ).

3. Place the medium heart on top of the large heart. Thread the red DMC floss onto the needle. You can separate the embroidery floss into two groups of 3 threads each and use one group. Embellish the edge of the pink heart with the red floss ( just like on the picture), sewing through both hearts. This way you sew them together.

Sew the small red heart onto the pink and cream hearts with a smallest stitch possible ( so it is quite invisible). You can make more stitches in the back.

Thread the pink floss and embellish the cream large heart's edge.

5. Thread the needle with your regular white sewing thread. Place one of the small red hearts on top of the medium pink heart. Match the grossgrain ribbon to the back of your big heart. Sew it all together.

6. Place the small heart on top of the middle size heart and embellish the edge sewing the two hearts together.  ( just like with the large and medium hearts).

7. Attach the end of your pink ribbon to the back of the medium cream heart and sew it on.

8. Make a hanging loop from a small piece of ribbon - see picture:

9. Hang the holder and clip the barrettes on! One more way to get organized this year :)

This tutorial is linked to:

Winter Storm in Kansas

                My New Year's resolution was to cut down on sugar this year. I love baking and have a very sweet tooth and I probably use too much sugar in my coffee and tea. So I decided to cut down on it. I put only one teaspoon of sugar ( and try not to make it heaping:) ) and use apple sauce over cereal. My husband doesn't like sweets so no problem for him. My daughters don't seem to mind less sugar either.


                I used to bake cookies as soon as the previous batch was gone. With the Valentine's Day, our Anniversary and our daughter's second birthday coming up - I wanted to wait with baking till then.

                But then....... this awful winter storm hit Kansas and we were stuck in the house for 3 days. SO... We decided to make cookies. ( Ok, I decided:) ). Just a little sweetness in this dreadful weather.


                 We went for a healthier version - oatmeal cookies. I stuck to my resolution and used less sugar. I skipped the brown sugar and used only 3/4 of a cup of white sugar.

                  I have to say we really enjoyed them and didn't mind less sugar in them at all :)

Infinity Scarf Fashion

  I was looking for an inexpensive knit jersey, having a circle aka infinity scarf in mind.  I found a brown remnant of it on sale in Joann's. It was perfect for my scarf idea, because it didn't even require cutting. I just stitched the ends together and done!

 Maybe the color is not exciting ( like honeysuckle :) ), but it goes with so many accessories and outfits.

 The other great thing about this scarf is that you can wear it few different ways.

1. long

2. doubled around your neck

3. as a wrap covering your arms

4. as a wrap covering your chest

5. hooded cowl

You can add a flower brooch or a long necklace and change the mood in a jiffy!

It truly is an Infinity Scarf :).

I hope you enjoyed my little fashion show:).

Artfire Collection

    My felt poppy headband is featured in Artfire collection curated by peacebirdstudio.
It is a wonderful collection of truly warm and cozy items. Great for Fall!

Fallin for You

Curated By: peacebirdstudio

ArtFire.com

Handmade Jewelry

Thank you, peacebirdstudio!

Turtle Cheesecake

   Last week, my Husband and I went to a theater. Once in a while we can spoil ourselves to a date night :). The play was called "Arsenic and Old Lace". It was good, but there was something far better :) The dessert during the intermission! :D Turtle Cheesecake. It was so good! I am quite the baker, you could say, so of course I wanted to replicate the cake right away. And I did :)

 

Feature Me Tuesday with SONIA KUMAR

        I can't even begin to tell you how excited I am for this Tuesday's feature:))
        I present you my very favorite artist from Etsy and beyond. I saw her pieces for the first time in beading magazines. Then I found her shop on Etsy.

       Everybody, meet Sonia Kumar. The artist behind Catchalljewelry .

       Sonia makes wire wrapped jewelry inspired by Indian and South American cultures. I asked Sonia a few questions and here is what she told me:

1. Tell me a little about yourself.

    Hi, my name is Sonia and I live in New Jersey with my parents and my older brother. I'm a senior in high-school so when I'm not making jewelry I'm studying!

2. Where do you get your inspiration?

        I get my inspiration from ethnic and tribal jewelry from around the world. I use a lot of Indian and South American motifs in my jewelry as well.

3. When did you start contributing to the beading magazines?

       I started contributing to beading magazines around two years ago. When I submitted my jewelry I didn't expect anything to come from it, I just wanted to see what the submission process was. I was extremely surprised when I found out that the magazines accepted my jewelry. I didn't realize that my jewelry was actually good!

4. How did you find Etsy?

        I found Etsy around four years ago through deviantart. After I started submitting to the magazines I decided that it was time I got myself an Etsy shop. I realized that my jewelry was good enough so I didn't have to be afraid of failure.

5. What is your favorite part of the creating process?

    My favorite part of the creation process is creating! I love playing with the wire and bending it into different shapes. Nothing beats the feeling of actually using your hands to make something.

6. How would you describe your style? Where does it come from?

    My jewelry style is very bold and bright, which is the opposite of my own style! I'm usually in a hoodie and jeans; I never wear really bold jewelry... so, I really have no idea where my jewelry style came from!

7. What is the best piece of advice you can give other artists?

    Hmmm, advice giving is hard! I think it is important to constantly practice your craft and learn new techniques. It gets monotonous if you keep doing the same thing over and over again, so try new things once in a while =)

You can see Sonia's Etsy store here http://www.etsy.com/shop/catchalljewelry .
Thank you, Sonia, for participating in my Feature Me Tuesday blog post. It was fun!

Friday Blog Hop!

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Have a wonderful Friday!