Hey Jute, Don’t Make it Sad…

I had extra jute cord from the burlap ring bearer pillow, and I got “the itch” to create a wreath. I’ve NEVER made my own wreath before, but it was something I totally wanted to try.

So, for under $10, I made this jute/burlap/ivory tulle wreath.  I made it in EMac’s colors hoping she’d like it as a wedding shower gift.

I will probably never make a burlap flower again because most of it ended up on my jeans…and in my nose…and on my socks…and in my carpeting. My new, spiffy Dyson will have a good workout this week.

This week I got a new free motion quilting foot for my sewing machine…more projects to come!

Today I made my first wreath!

burlap makes me queasy

Hello party people in the hizzy.   I’ve been neglecting the blog, but I have not stopped creating.   It’s mid August and since I’m a teacher I’m cherishing the last few days of freedom that I have left.  How am I spending my precious time?

By being sick. Husband and I have managed to get the flu…in summer.  It’s totally lame.

And, it’s not as bad as the death-swine flu, but it’s not pretty either.  While trying to keep liquids in my stomach (that’s as far as I’ll go, for all of our sakes), I also managed to make JSal’s bridal shower invites and her sunflower topiary decorations.  I’ll post pictures of those later.  That would require me to stumble downstairs and take photos…that is a post-nap activity for sure.

Today I did finish EMac’s rustic ring bearer pillow.  She loves burlap and wants to do more decor with burlap, so I bought a yard of the stuff from Joann fabric.  I have learned one very important thing about burlap- it smells.  Now, it could definitely be because I’m sick and nauseous, but I could only work on the pillow in short increments.  I did make the lace flower and I thought that turned out well too.  The jute cord on the bottom is where you can put the rings on and tie them up before little nephew walks down the aisle.   I do hope that she likes it.

Here’s a pic!

new flower, take 2

EMac didn’t like the first flower- she actually didn’t think it was made of fabric and since she’s going for more of a rustic wedding, she sent me to this blog:

http://alyashcreations.blogspot.com/2010/05/see-it-again-saturday-little-lace.html

So I need to wrap my lace a little tighter, but here is my trial creation in her pale pink and pewter-

you can call me flower if you want to, i don’t mind

My friend and former co-worker, EMac, just announced her engagement to a breakdancer she met in Texas.  (Did you follow that? Should I throw in that she’s from Chicago and he’s originally from Minnesota?  Where did he learn hip hop culture? Not in Minnesota, doncha know!)

But, yet again, I digress.

I love this friend and I volunteered to help her with crafty wedding things.  What was I thinking?   She actually took me up on the offer so now I commit.   They will be having their wedding reception Thanksgiving weekend this year (3.5 months…bring it on) in an adorable barn setting.   She wants rustic wedding with a lot of burlap.  (More on burlap later).

I will be trying to help with bridesmaids jewelry, flower girl hair flowers, perhaps mason jar decor and whatever else she can think of!

Last night I started with the flower girl flowers for their hair.  Now, EMac’s color pallet is a pewter grey, pale rose with ivory accents…and burlap.  The flower girls will be wearing ivory with hints of tulle and lace, so here is my first fabric flower for their hair.

 

Emacs flower- 1

I used pewter/silver lace as the bottom layer and then layered ivory organza with pale, pink organza with a pink pearl.  I’m not sure I truly love the three colors together.   I think to do this again I may do the pewter lace and just the pink organza…and either an ivory pearl (to tie into the ivory dresses) or a little bling-ity bling with rhinestone.

Here is a close up of the layers of the flower.

 

I’ll keep working- we’ll see what the bride says.

 

I’m JAM- and today I made a new fabric flower!

Aren’t you supposed to tie dye things at summer camp?

I have a confession- I’m 32 years old, and up until this summer, I have never tie dyed anything.  Not one bandana in Girl Scouts.  Not one pillowcase in my Presbyterian youth group.  And most definitely not a shirt at band camp.

I felt as though I had missed out on a crafty/cultural rite of passage.  So, this summer I decided to tie dye some onesies.  They were horrible failures.  Fast forward to this weekend, August 2011, where my good friend, KJ, will be doing the Susan G Komen 3 day walk to end breast cancer.  This is the first time she’s done something like this and a lot of us are super jazzed for her.  We’re so jazzed, in fact, that Husband and I, along with other friends and relations will be going to the closing ceremonies at Soldier Field on Sunday.  I have never been to something like this, but I was pretty sure that we should all go in matching t-shirts.

One of our dearly beloved friends, Captain Dandy, has known KJ and Husband for years.  The good Captain had made a nice contribution to the fund-raising for the walk, and he had also agreed to wear one of our silly shirts.   Now, Captain Dandy is a man’s man- he plays and coaches rugby for crying out loud, and I was pretty sure that I couldn’t get away with just puffy painting a tshirt for our cheering section.  I did already have to try to convince him that we had to wear pink which was a difficult task unto itself.   The conversation regarding shirt color went like this…no really, I cut and pasted it from our online chat:
Me: Yours will be a pink shirt most likely and I  think it has a fun logo on it
Cap’n Dan: Pink? Arggg. Is everybody wearing pink??
Me: Yes.
Cap’n Dan: I dont care if everybody is doing it.  But not black, black would not be good in August in Chicago–too hot!
Me: grey? white? green? You’d be the weirdo wearing green…but i think you’re ok with that.  Or there’s always red? You can say your red is a dark pink!
Cap’n Dan: Ill do the same as the group. What ever that is.
Me:  Then pucker up for PINK.
Dan: make mine tye-dye!! Hehehe

Husband is making the design that will go on the front that shows Captain Dandy giving a grin and a thumbs up and the text says: “Cap’n Dandy Supports Lady Tata’s”.   (That’s KJ’s team name, instead of Lady GaGA, it’s Lady TaTa.”   However, dan gave me a great idea- I’ll try to make the pink a little less girly and TIE DYE the shirts!  (It’s still girly, I’m not going to lie about that.)

So last night I accordion folded my shirts and dunked them in pink dye.  Learning from my former onsies tie dye mistakes, I used GOOD gloves that wouldn’t crack immediately leaving my hands a red and seemingly bloody mess.  (Yes, I was getting comments on my hand color for days.)    The shirts have been rinsed, washed and I will probably wash them one more time before husband irons on his design, but they turned out MUCH better than the onesies did!  This is what I made today.

I made a blog!

I have always wanted to start a blog.  I wanted to have my own voice drifting out on the world wide web where I could pretend to be a verbal rock star, and know that in reality only 9 people are reading your page and let’s be honest, they are already your beloved family and friends.

The biggest problem was deciding what to blog on.  I do a lot of things, but those blogs have been written.   I was told to blog about what interests me.    I’m a creative, crafty person.  I love making things with my hands and creating useful, beautiful art/objects.    Why Homemade Jam?   J.A.M are my initials and all of my “stuff” is made by me in house.

Today, I made a blog.