He knows what we need...

Philippians 4:19 "And this same God who takes care of me will supply all your needs from his glorious riches, which have been given to us in Christ Jesus."

It never ceases to amaze me the way that God gives me exactly what I need at any given time. I have been blessed with a growing business that has kept me busy since I went full time as a WAHM. In fact, the weeks have come to the point where I'm working every day during Little E's naptime to keep caught up (and I am so grateful for that). Until this week. Sales have really slowed, and I have no doubt that God gave me this downtime to renew and refresh and remember creativity FOR MYSELF.

It's been so long since I've just created for me. Not to post a tutorial. Not to sell. Not to give to someone else. Just creating freely without taking pictures every step along the way. I have been so annoyed at myself lately for feeling like every craft I do I have to photograph instead of just enjoying the process.

So that's what I did a few days this week. Sure, there was some creative time where I made OOAK pieces for the website, but yesterday was entirely about being creative to bless my family and myself. I woke up and made the family cranberry-orange scones. While Little E was napping I made a bag for myself from vintage fabric that my grandma gave me.

I made banana bread and a skirt. It was an absolutely wonderful, relaxing, creative, somewhat selfish day. And I think that's exactly what I needed.

I'm refreshed and ready to create beautiful pieces again for friends & strangers to enjoy. I'm ready to bless others with the gift God has given me through creativity. I'm so grateful for the lack of business God gave me the past few days. But now I'm ready to work (and I'm going to TODAY)!

A few items of business:
~ I've posted a ton of new items this week, you can see them all here
~ I have sponsor spots left for September - sign up now and you'll get the last week of August for free!
~ I would LOVE to have some guest posters again on the blog - if you have a craft you'd like to share please contact me for a possible guest spot.
~ In order to make room for new items, I've clearanced out a bunch of stamped items. Some have just one left in stock so be sure to check on your favorites!

New in Shop: Bloomies

While in the airplane flying to New Hampshire I had LOTS of time to sew bloomies! I have seven new ones to show you and these are great because UPick what you want them to be: a pin or a headband!

Side note: I do have a fabulous new "line" of items for next week. It's not a Fall line, just a compilation of many new ideas going around in my head that all came to be at the same time. They don't all fit together, but they are all new and are all FABULOUS. I can't wait to show them to you! Three were photographed today and the others have to be made this weekend. I hope you're having a great week!!

You asked, I listened {new tulle headbands}

I posted this set of changeable flowers that I made for my hairdresser on Facebook & Twitter and you guys loved it! Many of you asked if I was going to have them for sale in the shop and after a quick trip to Hobby Lobby today I've decided to offer them. As soon as I posted them 4 were snatched up, but I still have 9 more available.

They are beautiful tulle with fun feathers & buttons and are all changeable on the black headband. Flowers are handsewn and are all 2" in size - a great addition to any outfit! Add some fun to your wardrobe with flirty feathers and fun tulle! I wish I could take a picture of these on because they're so adorable in the hair, but since they're one of a kind these pictures will have to do. Check them out in the shop, I'm not sure how many (if any) more I'll be making!

Tuesday Tutorial: Tulle Flower & Feather Headband

After making a yellow and black headband for my friend Shelly to wear to the pool I knew I needed something fabulous to wear with mine so I made this sweet thang...

Feathers, tulle and a crystal button. Can't go wrong!
Want to make your own? Let me show you how:

1. cut about 30-35 2" circles out of tulle and 2 out of felt. Make the felt slightly smaller than the tulle.
2. taking 3-4 tulle circles, fold them in half and then in half again. Sew them to the felt circle, using 4 to complete the circle.
3. row 1 is finished, good job!
4. repeat this with row 2, starting between the quarters on row 1 so that you can cover up the lines that show the felt below.

5. I didn't want mine to be too poofy, so I took 3 tulle circles and laid them on top of my flower (don't fold these 3) and sewed them down. this helps the tulle to lay down and not stick up as much.
6. add a pretty button.
7. hot glue on some feathers.
8. hot glue the flower to the headband and cover with the second piece of felt.

Look at that cutie - she wears this headband so much better than me. She's such a girly girl! I do like the way the headband looks with my curly hair, but alas it will NEVER look like this at the pool!

Happy creating {and swimming!}

Tuesday Tutorial: Lavender Sachet

Have you harvested your lavender yet? I need to cut mine down some more. My first batch has dried out and I removed all of the stems so I'm ready to make a sachet for my drawer. Wanna make one too? Here are just a few easy steps and in 10 minutes or less you will have your very own lavender sachet!

cut a piece of fabric 5x5" - you'll need two squares

right sides together, sew a 1/2" seam along three edges.

clip your bottom two corners

turn inside out and be sure to poke out your corners.

fill with your lavender. this is the amount from my harvest 2 weeks ago.

it'll only be about 1/2 full but that's okay!

turn in your open edge 1/2"

sew the open edge shut with a seam the width of your presser foot. shake the
lavender down to the bottom and sew along each edge, shaking the
lavender each time.

done! super easy and quick project so you'll have great-smelling drawers.
when you squeeze the sachet it releases the oil, in turn releasing the scent.

Don't forget that you can get 15% off on all bracelets through tonight by using the coupon code "wrist15".

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& 

Shirt Refashion: Daisy Fuentes Tunic

The other day while looking for fabric to make a skirt I found this dress. (excuse my face, I was multitasking by taking pictures while I was on the phone. now you know what I look like when I talk on the phone)

I thought that I had already cut a chunk out of it but when I looked at it I realized that I hadn't. I loved this dress and wore it like a shirt but my man-shoulders were apparently too large for the armholes. One day when I stretched just the wrong way, I heard tearing on the sleeve. There were quite a few of these tears so it was either use the fabric for scrap or do what I did...

I seam-ripped the sleeves and made it a sleeveless dress. I turned over the fabric twice and sewed around the openings. I paired it with my black leggings and wore it to church on Sunday. I love it without the sleeves.

I wore it with my Layers of my Heart necklace with an add-on briolette. And this (below) is what happens when I have hubby do the photoshoot. He loves to take so many pictures that I get some great outtakes (and some shots that will never go on the blog).

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Shirt Refashion: H&M $5 Shirt

On black Friday my mom and I went shopping for Christmas gifts in the wee hours of the morning (actually, we started at midnight and shopped all night, thanks to the fact that I wanted to get a Dyson on the cheap). We went to the mall and stopped in H&M and of course I found myself a cute $5 shirt.

However, when I tried it on it looked like this...

WOWZA! Good thing it was only $5 because it sat in the bag for 6 months. I finally decided to take a stab at refashioning it to make it a little more flattering. I used three strips of elastic, pulled it all the way out and did a zig-zag stitch.

From the front it looked great; from the back not so much...

What happened there? It turns out that when I sewed the middle elastic I also sewed through a bottom portion of the shirt. Oops! Thank God for the invention of seam rippers! Try #2 came out like this...

Better! And way better from the front. I'm still not 100% on the back but the front is more important to me anyway. It's thin and perfect for one of those chilly summer days!

Wearing my Limited Edition Enjoy the Ride Necklace

This is my first real try at refashioning an item of clothing...have you taken a stab at it with anything in your wardrobe??

One-Yard Wonders, part deux

Remember this bag from the wonderful book, One-Yard Wonders? Well, I've decided to tackle another project from the book! I seriously love this hat that hubby got me for Christmas:

I wear it at least once a week (usually 2-3) - whenever I don't feel like blow drying my hair. I throw it in a messy bun/ponytail thing and it looks really cool. Anyway (sorry, got off track) - there was a cute hat in the book and I decided to give it a try. I used upholstery fabric in brown that frays like crazy (super frustrating) but it was totally worth it for the finalized hat. The instructions weren't 100% clear in finishing the hat, but after seam ripping the top it turned out like this...

LOVE it! I can't wait to add a cute flower or two {or three} to make it look even better. I might even have to make more of these in other colors. Another successful sewing project - I love this book!

I'm wearing the hat today (like as I type!!) but alas, w/o one of these cute pins.
But you can get one of your very own in the shop!