Labeling your work

I know I've mentioned this before, but it's something I feel is really important when it comes to producing and finishing, lovingly, handmade items. Whether it's a piece of clothing, a home decor item or a handmade card, I think it's important to label your work in some way. Not only does it look professional, it gives you ownership of your hard work AND allows you the opportunity to express your creativity and individuality in yet another way. Labeling your work can really be an extension of the work itself.

I don't know if you know this, but my personal blog is called Hello Beatufiul. The reason I picked that title was because when I first got into the creative scene I was making bags and selling them. I wanted to create a label to sew inside the bags that would make people smile when they saw it. I wanted people to feel good and happy. About themselves. About life. I thought that opening your bag and being told 'Hello Beauftiul' would be one way to create smiles. And smiles are contageous, you know :-)

So....that leads me to the label on my new dress. With a handmade item, you don't have to see boring manufacturer's labels or suffer depressing size tags (I'm sure I'm not the only one who hates THOSE...) You have the opportunity to create a space in the back of your clothes that makes you happy.

For this dress label, I cut a square of fabric and pinked the edges with my shears. I prefer this method to hemming the edges, which can create bulk on lightweight fabric like this. I then used a ribbon printer (mine is the LabelWorks 300 by Epson) to print the phrase 'you look lovely' and sewed it to the square of fabric. This printer also prints symbols, so instead of that annoying dress size tag, I printed a little heart design and added it, vertically on a contrasting pink ribbon.

Ahh, and now my dress is complete!

What little message would YOU like to read inside your clothes? 

Tea party birthday cake

There was a birthday this week in our house (my husband's) and I made this cake for him. As you can see, I just about managed to snap a few photos before it got polished off. I'm sharing the recipe because it's so simple to make, and quick too. I decided to make this and less than 2 hours later we were eating it, still ever so slightly warm. It's a chocolate cake with chocolate chips that I adapted from a Jamie Oliver cake recipe and a butter frosting in between the layers and on the top.

Ingredients
Cake
3 tbsp cocoa powder
1 cup sugar
7 oz butter
3 eggs
1 2/3 cups self-raising flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 cup mini chocolate chips

Butter Frosting
1/2 cup butter
3 cups powdered sugar
1/4 cup milk
2 tsp vanilla extract

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and line the bases of two 8" cake tins with brown paper or parchment paper.

Mix the cocoa powder into 5 tbsp of boiling water and stir thoroughly.

In a mixer, beat the sugar and butter until light and fluffy. Add the cocoa mixture, eggs, flour and baking powder. Fold in the chocolate chips and divide the mixture evenly between the two cake tins. Bake for about 30 mins and allow to cool.

For the butter frosting, beat the butter until light and fluffy and gradually add the sugar. Slowly add the milk and vanilla extract and beat until smooth. Spread it between the two layers of cake and on the top. Add a few sprinkles to decorate.

Simple sketches to comfy cushions

Last month I had the chance to try out the new minky fabric that's available through Spoonflower and here I am belatedly sharing the project I made using it in case you missed it. I took my little girl's sketches, which were already impossibly cute if I do say so myself, and transformed them into cushions for her room. Full disclosure : they didn't ALL end up in her room. I accosted my favorite (the queen) and it's in the dining room, which is the center of our home, so I can see it every day.

A few simple steps and some very basic computer know-how can take you from this :

to this :

in very little time. I've outlined all the simple steps for you so that you can follow along and make your own. Read the full tutorial over on the Spoonflower blog here.

DIY Headboard

Spoonflower have recently added a lovely new fabric to their collection. It's called faux suede, and I had the chance to work with it for this headboard I made for our bedroom. We've lived without a headboard since buying a new bed about 18 months ago, for two reasons: 1. headboards are expensive!! We got a kingsize bed are those kingsize headboards are damn pricey 2. we never found an in-store headboard we liked. The wooden headboards we considered were too overwhelming in a room with a lot of wooden furniture already. The fabric headboards were too fancy or too plain, too tufted or  frankly, just too boring. Making your own is not only a much more economically viable option, it's a lot of fun and endlessly customizable. Ultimately, you end up with something that is completely unique.

Spoonflower's faux suede is the perfect upholstery fabric. I can't wait to tackle a few more projects like this. Rest assured, I'm scouring the local Craigslist ads for potential upholstery projects.

You can read the full tutorial of how I made ours over on the Spoonflower blog. I also used the faux suede in a couple of contrasting prints to make the front of these cushions. The print I used for the headboard is a design by Jennifer Flannigan and I can't tell you how much I love it. I notice she has a gorgeous shop full of her artwork, as well as a colorful collection of fabrics on Spoonflower.

Sewing project - Romper

Fabric from the Ipanema Collection by Birch Fabrics. Romper is the free Playsuit Pattern by Elegance & Elephants.

Life is too short not to have fun.

Read more here.

Playtime

I've been anxiously waiting to share this project I wrote for Fiskars, because honestly I love it so much! My kids do too, of course. Which makes it such a success, at least in my eyes.
This teepee was inspired by the fact that the kids and I have been reading the entire series of Little House on the Prairie books. We started with the first book - Little House in the Big Woods back in October and we've slowly been working our way through them all; I read aloud to them a couple of chapters most nights before bed. The three of us lay on our big bed and the kids can't get enough of the stories. Both my kids are very able readers but there has been something very special about sharing the experience of reading these books to them. We're not quite done. We are on Little Town on the Prairie right now and with two more books after this one to go, I have to say I'll be sad when we come to the end.
Even though they are children's books, they have given me (us) a greater understanding of the history of this county and it has tied in nicely with my son's 4th grade social studies theme this year at school too. I certainly have a better understanding of the American gung-ho, can-do attitude.
My kids want to have a 'Pioneer Summer' this summer, and we are all planning crafts, recipes, gardening and activities that will embrace the pioneer way (at least in the modern sense). My husband just bought me this book which has inspired me further.

This canvas teepee is actually very easy to sew, because I worked out all the measurements for you! You can read the full tutorial here.