All that Glitters, Indeed.

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Oh Hey!  Wanna see what happens when I wake up at 3:30am and can't get back to sleep?  This, amongst other things:

Oh yeah, that's a string of sequins wrapped around the wreath.  And yes, that's glitter on those felt flowers.  Put there myself around 5am using spray adhesive, dollar tree glitter and a good lean over the toilet.  Won't J Chen be surprised!  My hands are covered (read glued) in glitter as well.  Should bode well for my professional career at Corporate America, USA.

I didn't intend on this wreath going all Ke$ha, (OMG, LOVE HER!) it just happened.  I can't explain it.  But you know what?  I kinda LOVE it.  I might have to keep this for myself.... You see, I'm currently gearing up for a bunch of craft shows, and I'm not sure that this would sell?  Like, it's CLEARLY fabulous, but likely only to crazies like myself. We R who we R.  :-)  (another Ke$ha ref, just in case you weren't up on her crazy!)

a little glitter shot for you--you're welcome.

Ah yes, a face only a mother could love.

Oh yeah, and if you don't hate this bad B, leave me a comment, ok?  :-)

Have the best day ever!

Big (throw some GLITTER make it rain) Smile,

Custom Cushions--my first real sewing project.

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Warning--this is NOT a tutorial.  Please, I barely got through this myself!  It's very doubtful I could teach it....

So here's the thing about me--I'm not great at saying no.  Especially to friends.  Especially to friends that help me out all the time.  So when Amanda asked me if I could make some cushions for the salon's two pedicure chairs, I immediately said yes, sure, of course. Of course I can make custom cushions that require a real sewing machine, the basic knowhow to operate said real sewing machine, multiple trips to the fabric store, self confidence, and well, hours of my time doing something I know nothing about.  WAAHHHH!!!! 

But whatevs, Imma survivor, I'm not gon give up!

So, I went to the fabric store and searched for the prefect fabric to match her super awesome pedicure bowls:

Amanda picked my favorite fabric of the 4 (we're so in sync!), the bottom left one.

Now, here is where I MUST give the sweet lady at Field's Fabric a little shout out:  Sweet Lady, thank you for saving my ASS!  I took in the foam cushions and told her about my project.  She straight up took out a piece of paper and made cuts to show me how to work the corners.  Seriously, without her, I would have wrapped these Bs like a present!  I used that 3 inch diagram like my life was dependent on it the entire time.

Bacon loved the fabric too!  He's such a helper :)

GO MICHIGAN STATE!

The cushions needed to be 28x18 and 4 inches high.  The closest I could come was 22x22 at 4 inches high.  So meant cutting and pasting these guys:

picked up at hobbit lobbit

Next I just cut, placed and measured the best I could.  Again--NOT a tutorial!

Man, I love this fabric!

Well, my easy bake oven sewing machine broke in the middle of my nervous breakdown the project so I borrowed my friend Lila's.  All I can say is WOW, it's all about the machine!  Once I had a "good" machine, I literally flew through the last cushion (then went back and fixed the first one).  It just goes to show you that an extra $20 on a machine goes a LONG WAY.  I bought my own big girl Brother machine the other day and it's been such a great experience!

Without further ramblings ado, here are the new cushions!

the other one looks exactly the same--that's why you're only getting this one photo.

I guess that the other moral of the story would be that I'm glad that I took on the project--it always good to push yourself!  I'm no longer afraid to try sewing now--cause technically, I already did!  :)

Big (OMG, I did it!) Smile,

How to add the "Pin It" button to your blog!

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It's clear that pretty much the entire world is now obsessed with Pinterest.  And why shouldn't they be?  I mean, I'm all about digital collages, and no longer having to rip pages out of a magazine/hole punch/throw in binder/lose binder, rinse and repeat.  Ya know?

Wanna know what I love even more just as much as pinning?  Having my items pinned.  It's the best ego boost feeling seeing your own stuff, ya know, just hanging out on Pinterest.  Ooooohhhh, and another awesome thing?  Having them REPINNED! So yeah, you could say I'm a Pinterest fan.

So, you wanna know how to get the "Pin It" button the top of your post?  Hell yeah you do!  Let's go girl!

1.  Go here and see this:

Goodies indeed!

2.  Scroll down till you see this:

Pin It button for Websites--LIKE YOURS!!!!  

3.  Follow the directions girl! Add your post URL, Your Photo URL (click on your photo to open for the URL), Add a description (you know, to make it easier for your fans!).  Next, copy the code that you just created using all your info.

See, easy, right?

4.  Now, get it on your post!  Go to "edit posts":

See, edit posts :)

5.  Select "edit" on the post you want.  Then go to "edit html" and paste the code at the top of your post:

Right there, the highlighted guy!

6.  Now hit "publish" and oh baby oh, there it be!

Whoop, there it is!!!!

Girl you're done!  Way to rock that Pin it button!  Mmmmmmhhhhmmmmm.

Now be a doll and pin this post ;-)

Big (Pin This) Smile,

Birth Announcement Subway Art, using Picnik.

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Oh hey, howsabout I show you something on here today? Ya know, cause it's been a WEEK since I've hung out with you! I'm keeping with the excuse of prepping inventory for all these upcoming craft shows (that I can't stop signing up for) in October/November/December, AKA approaching-cold-as-hell months.

That's me with sweet little Gabe.
The vagina wrecker.

Chenyways, remember all those posts (and posts, and posts) I did about the baby shower for Leah? Sure you do!  Well, I'm thrilled to announce that Baby Boy Gabe arrived on August 27th! Clealry I ran right out to the store (at 10pm when Leah called) to buy little boy onsies and whatnot to B.Chenify, clearly AFTER asking how her vagina was feeling. Listen, I've never had a baby, I worry about these things! The answer wasn't great and I'm seriously thinking about waiting another 10 years to feel the same pain.

So I used my Sily to cut out fabric and heat transfers to make little Gabe onenies with 1. A tie  2.  A bow tie  3.  A Michigan State Block S 4.  A car.  Now, this is where I would normally show you a photo of the goods. Well I would, except I forgot to take the damn photo.  WHATEVER! Ugh.

What I did remember to take a photo of was the Subway Art that I made using Picnik.com, featuring all the birth info. So, I'll show you how to do that instead!

Now, you could make Subway Art in Photoshop or Publisher (if you have access), hell you could really even do it in Word, but I wouldn't.....You could certainly make it in the Sily but there you couldn't have it in a jpeg to have printed as a photo.

OMG, I'm annoying myself with that last paragraph. On to the "tutorial", if you can call it that...

1.  Go to Picnik.com

2.  Make an account.

3.  Upload a blank jpeg. I made mine in Microsoft Publisher cause I can't figure out photoshop to save my damn life, and then just selected sizes I wanted:  5x7, 8x10, 11x14, and saved them all individually as jpegs. You might be able to just pull from mine here:

Ok--I know you can't see it, but this is my blank 11x14 jpeg file.  Just right click to save and you'll be all set!

4.  Open the photo size jpeg you want--I used the 11x14 for my Subway Art. I usually add a little drop shadow frame so I know what I'm working with. You know, cause it's white and you can't see where it starts or stops?

See the little drop shadow I added?  Super helpful.

5.  Just start playing around. You need to give yourself time to figure how to work this program.  One you get the swing of things, you'll love it!  

Rotate text, change up fonts and colors.

6.  Just keep messing until you find what you like.  Here's my Final JPEG:

Not bad for my first try.  This child is my straight up Guinea pig :)

I sent this through Shutter Fly and had an 11x14 printed for $7.99, then framed it:

I took this in our living room, but Gabe's room is close
to the same color so I think it's gonna look awesome yo!

I'm thinking of framing one of these for myself and taking them to my craft shows for custom orders.  Fun, right?

Thanks for being awesome and stopping by!

Big (Baby Gabe is here!) Smile,

6 New Fall Wreaths!

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Girls, it's FRIDAY!!!!  OMG, yay.  YAY!  And it's perfect fall weather too boot :)

So yeah, let's talk about it.  Let's talk about some pretty fall wreaths I whipped up to take to Amanda McGrail Salon :)  I told you the other day about how she's giving me a space there ( FOR FREE!!!) and we decided to incorporate wreaths and some sunburst mirrors :)

So I made some wreaths--6 to be exact--and guess what?  Didn't use ANY yarn.  Nope, not even a little.  No yarn wreaths here.  Ok, I'm sure they'll be back......You know how much I love my yarn wreaths :)

What's you opinion on burlap?  Cause I flipping love it!  Like, hard.  Real hard.  (that's what she said!)  Chenyways, I had some scraps from a thrift store find and used all the red in the bag to make this one:

Welcome, Fall!

Then I ran out to the hobbit hobbit and picked up a couple yards of tan burlap and worked on these guys:

look at this cutie!  It's like a little 6inch donut that I want to gobble up!
What up FAT KID!?!

Added a little romantic flower to tone down the harsh burlap.

This baby got a lot of felt flower love!  

Did I mention that I love fall colors?!?

Now this one.  LOVE it.  It's simple.  Yet kinda rustic with a splash chic.

yeah....she's a pretty girl!

I did make a couple others as well.  This one I went with the traditional grapevine--not my usual style--but I like it!!!  Probably the closet to country you'll ever see this girl create ;-)

I don't know, it's a cute country wreath.  Please don't count
all the rosettes--I don't even want to know!

Now this last one I ended up keeping for myself.  Mostly cause I didn't know if anyone else would see the charm in it, or if they would think it was ugly unusual.  Let's be clear, I DO NOT create ugly.  I'm just saying...and maybe I'm over thinking it?  I think it looks great!

See, it's not ugly!  I used a damask fabric in orange and brown to wrap the wreath.

Then I added these 2 cuties--what's not to love?!?!

Alright, that's it for now my friends.  Hope I inspired you a little--if not, well, hey thanks for sticking around to read this last paragraph!  :)

Big (It's FALL!) Smile,

Busy makin things happen.

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Duh-ANG Girl, talk about blog neglect!  I'll tell you what, I've been crazy kid busy the past 2 weeks.  Not cause I'm getting my kid ready to go back to school--we're a good 5 years out from that--just crafty busy.  My friend Amanda who owns her own salon has been sweet enough to let me have a B.Cheniful space and sell my goods--soooo sweet of her!  Well good news for me, my first line I brought in sold really well and I've been working feverishly on a new fall line to replenish her.  Did I mention how awesome she is for letting me do this?  I mean, it's like an everyday craft show for me!  Too cool for school.  Fo Sho.

Here are some of the items from the fall line.  See the tutorial here to make your own!

This might be my favorite headband of the fall line!

Grey and yellow never get old!

I think the buttons really give these all just the right touch.

Doesn't this remind you of a fun fall carnival?  

So, yeah there's that.  I've also signed up for 4 craft shows this fall, so between Amanda's salon and trying to keep up stock for my upcoming shows, I've been one busy gal!  

Please don't give up on me, I'm still here!  I'm hoping to show you some more things before the week's up!  

Big (Fall Line) Smile,