Adventures in creating

Excitement in the air

2011-08-18T09:41:00.003-04:00

After the birth of my son I returned to work full-time and have largely ignored my Etsy shop and crafting and this blog. Shame shame!
I have thought a lot about it though and have an exciting new product launch coming up. I'm aiming for early September but I may need to wait for some packaging first.

Having been away for so long I started to poke around for resources and what's new in the handmade world and blogisphere. Wow I can't beleive I just found BlogHer.com now! How amazing is this site and the women who run it? It's going to take weeks just to comb through everything...so much to read and learn. They also have a handmade conference coming up. I soooo wish I could go but I don't think the funds are there to travel plus pay the fees...I checked and it's a 16 hr drive from Toronto to St. Paul :(
I'll have to just read about it in all the great blogs from the attendees and live vicariously.

Been away too long

2010-08-19T20:58:00.004-04:00

Well it's been way too long since I've posted, I see my last post was March 31st. On April 4th my beautiful baby boy was born so I got a little tied up. Number two is definitely harder than #1 but just as rewarding of course. I've been so tired I barely stay up after the two kids are in bed. Just starting to feel like the fog is lifting.

So...this is my commitment to myself to get back at it. I have tons of boy things to make, one day he'll be able to read my blog like we go read microfiche at the library now and say "hey what's the deal mom, you make all these kewl things for sis and nothing for me?!"

Here's where I've been spending my time or rather who.

2010-03-31T11:16:00.005-04:00

I've seen similar holders on the net and thought they were a great idea. Here is one that I made for our new baby boy. This version requires some sewing but is super simple. Having said that if anyone doesn't sew I'm always up for custom orders of these. They are so fun to make and you can do so many different embellisments, just email me at jennifer@papayastudio.ca for more info.

Depending on your fabric and bracket choice this should cost you no more than about $20. If you’re looking for great fabric you can also try your local FabricLand but there are also great resources online. One of my favourite new shops is Pink Panda http://www.pinkpandafabrics.com/ the bonus is that they are a Canadian site and they offer FREE shipping within Canada.

Tools you will need:
Scissors
Iron and ironing board
Measuring tape
Double rod bracket (Lowes, Sears or other hardward stores)
Wood dowel, one ½” one ¼ “ ( Lowes, HomeDepot or another hardware store. * note, that double bracket you choose may call for a different size of dowel so purchase your bracket first)
1 metre or less of a fabric of your choice

The holder I made here is fairly small it only holds one layer of books and only two at that. You can however make this longer and wider to hold more depending on your bracket choices. Once you have your brackets and dowels use some pins to figure out just how big you want it to be and test out with a light book or two.

For this holder I cut two peices of fabric 25" x 18". With right sides together I sewed together with a 1/4" seam allowance and left a 1" opening to turn it inside out. Trim seams and clip corners then turn and iron. I topstiched all around which also closed in my 1" opening for the turning.

Using two peices ensures there is only nice fabric showing even on the inside. If you don't care about the inside of the holder you could just sew a hem all around one peice of fabric to hide your edges.

Next you need to make the loop for the dowel. I would insert your dowel first to ensure it will fit then a simple straight stitch to finish it off.

That's it! This hold is so functional and cute I can't beleive it. Adding great embelishments is fun too with appliques of animals or letters and ribbons or other items such as buttons.

Upcycle ~ jeans to girls fashion jacket

2010-02-25T12:46:00.008-05:00

So when you're 8 months pregnant and can't sleep at 3am, why not tackle one of those random projects you've had on the to do list for a while? Yup I started this project at 3am and worked on it until about 7am. It was the first time I'd tried it so I'm sure subsequent ones will take less time.

For this I used a used pair of men's size 34 jeans from Value Village, as well as a 1/2 yard of Amy Butler yellow full moon polka dot. Thread and 2 button snaps. What came out of it? A size 3/4T bolero jacket for a little fashionista. * Note that the sizing is fairly forgiving too as this fits my 26 months old.

The pattern for this jacket is from Leila and Ben who have fabulous patterns if you've never checked them out before.

Starting with a pair of used and washed jeans I laid out the pattern trying to use the existing seams. The pattern pieces are 2 x sleeves on the fold, back panel on the fold, two front panels in a mirror image and the collar in a mirror image. The first thing I wanted to show was the well worn cuffs and used these for the sleeve cuffs.

The collar was cut from the side seam, the back panel from the area just below the back pocket. There may be more ways to play with using the existing jeans seams in the back panel but this was the first attempt at it. Front panels were cut from front and back of upper leg.

For the lining I used a scrap piece of Amy Butler lotus fabric in a nice yellow and grey that I think goes great with the denim. I did not make a lining sleeve for this as I didn't want to mess with the existing cuff on the sleeve. Instead I serged around the armholes and left the arms with no lining when I attached the two together.

The sewing was taken straight from the Leila and Ben instructions, omitting the lining sleeve. Before sewing the lining to the outer fabric I also reused the small change pocket from the jeans. Using a stitch ripper I removed it and sewed it onto the front panel. I tried playing with using the back jean pocket but it was just too large.

I used two silver snap to finish it off and it's done!

More room accessories

2010-02-11T09:13:00.006-05:00

We're now at the last two items I made for my daughters 'big girl' room. These are total accessories and for fun. Again I think I could have done a dozen different things with the items but this is what I chose; birdy brush holder and a butterfly arrangement.

Tools: Bird or other wooden base unit, craft paint, Modgepodge or other craft glue, sheet of scrapbook paper

First the birdy holder. I bought a wooden bird box (would you call it a box? ...anyhow) it was purchased from Michael's for less than $5 and then I dressed it up.
First I painted it. I used the craft paint also available at Michael's for cheap and it seems to cover it just fine.
After it dried I got out my trusty bottle of ModgePodge and covered the front of the bird liberally but not too thick.
I then took my sheet of scrapbook paper and pressed it against the flat front of the bird.
Wait for it to dry then take an exacto knife or similarly sharp edge and trim off the excess scrapbook paper to be left with a beautiful printed bird.

I'm using this right now to keep her hairbrush in. I think I might find some more holders that can be used for hair ties or other little things and give the little bird some friends :)

Next project is the butterfly arrangement

My original plan was to make a butterfly mobile but I changed my mind at the last minute. I still think it would make a great mobile.
I purchased these beautiful butterflies from an Etsy store BeachCottageStudio they cost under $10 and are so cute. If anyone has a scrapbook cutter these would also be easy to make at home with a butterfly template. However, since I am without one I simply purchased.

Tools: paper butterflies, florist wire, floral oasis, container, faux flowers, glue gun.

First I took florist wire and painted them an off-white with craft paint. I just thought this would look nicer than the bare metal.
Once dry I took out my trusty glue gun and started glueing the little insects to the wire. I put one on each side to make it look more full from all angles.
The container was an old one I had hanging around the house but anything could be used really. I stuffed it with dry oasis and some faux flowers then added the wires with butterflies.
Voila!

Curtains and pillows

2010-02-03T14:48:00.006-05:00

The next two projects for the 'big girl' room include the curtains to keep out the light for naps...and for when the morning sun actually starts coming up early again (oh how I wish that was now) as well as the decorative pillows. Both were super easy and fun.

Curtains

The curtains started as an inexpensive Ikea set, I think I paid about $9.99 for the set. They were in a dark brown and were very long but ready to trim. I actually didn't choose these curtains specifically for my daughters room, they were what we had hanging in there as the spare bedroom. In an effort to save some money and not buy new I simply revamped them a little.

Tools: scissors, sewing machine, tape measure, 2 yards of fabric and the original curtains of course.

I measured down from the top of the curtain to where I wanted the new fabric band to be and marked and cut it for both curtains.

Then cut the two fabric bands in the height I wanted (about 25 inches) plus followed the width of the curtains leaving about an inch extra on either side to finish the edges. Putting right sides together I sewed the band to the bottom of the pre-made curtain where I had cut it. After both sides were done I took the bottom of the Ikea curtains and sewed them to the bottom of my band, right sides together. I wrapped the band around the back and sewed the seam then measured where to hem them. That was it curtains were hung after that.
Now I didn't serge or hide my raw edges in the back. I figured I wouldn't be washing these too often, something I may regret later not sure.

Two Decorative Pillows

These are great little additions to the bedroom and I'll likely make more and change up the look once in a while. Making an applique that your little one really adores is great, my daughter was obsessed with owls for a while, she also loves Dora but I'm not going there :)

Tools: 14 x 14 pillow form, 1/2 yard of fabric (you can use the same for front and back or switch it up), HeatBond or another double layer adhesive for the applique. Any other embellishments you may want.

First step was cutting two squares one that's 14 x 14 and one that's 14 x 16 and I serged the edges. You can also zigzag the edges. Why 14 x 16? Well I didn't want to do any zipper enclosures so a simple overlap on the back side did just fine.

Then the fun part, figuring out the applique pattern. Lots of ways to do this. Once you adhere the HeatBond to the back of a nice coordinating fabric or two you'll have a nice paper backing on your fabric. Then you can draw or trace any outline you like and cut it out.
I'm not a great artist so I usually do a Google search for an image I want and print that out as my guideline. This is where you really get to have fun. You can also sew on ribbons, piping or just plain shapes or squares if you prefer. I have some more examples for a customer I recently made more pillows for below.

Once you have all the decorations down you can sew the two sides together right sides facing. The two hemmed edges will need to overlap a little to hide the pillow inside. Then turn inside out and you're done.

Beauty and function

2010-01-28T10:25:00.004-05:00

Continuation with 7 things that I made for my daughter's toddler room...
My little one still has very little hair, guess that's par for the course when it's light and fine. I'm still waiting for the baby hair to grow in underneath so I'm keeping the rest of it trimmed short as I'm not a fan of the mullet look.

This project is some homemade artwork that also acts as a hair clip holder. If you wanted to make something similar for your room here's what you would need.

- canvas picture (stretched canvas over wooden frame) just a few bucks at Michael's
- scrapbook paper of your choice
- craft paint or whatever else you may have handy
- embellishments
- ModgePodge or similar glue
- 5" or so of nice ribbon
- staple gun and staples

I took the canvas and painted a light blue as the background colour. I then cut out shapes from the scrapbook paper, I decided to go with simple shapes as I'm not a very creative scrapbook. If anyone has a fancy scrapbook cutter you could make some really wonderful scenes! I used the ModgePodge to stick the cutouts on the canvas and added my stickers(embellishments). Finally I turned the canvas over and stapled the ribbon to the wood frame to hang down.

That's it. I'm sure people can think of so many creative ways to make even nicer pictures than I did. I may change up the scene once in a while when I'm feeling creative, and have time ( right..). If you have that you've made and would like to share please post it here!

An 'A' for effort

2010-01-20T12:44:00.007-05:00

Last week I showed you a sneak peak of my daughters' new room and this week I want to dive into a couple of the things I used in the decor.

The handmade quilt and the wall decals

First the quilt. I have a complete new appreciation for all of you that quilt on a regular basis and do it well. This quilt is not going to win any awards but it was made with love, so that counts for something right? In my normal way of cutting corners where I could, here's where I did:

- squares were precut and purcahsed from The Fabric Square Shop in Amy Butler prints
-batting, well instead of using quilting batting I bought a double sized duvet from IKEA and used that. I saw a few benefits to this:

-I wouldn't have to be as careful with the actual quilting as the quilt should hold it's shape on it's own
-The price was right at only $7.99
-It is fully washable

It likely took me about a month off and on to get going on the quilt. Laying out the squares and peicing together. In the end some of the edges aren't quite square as I did the 'pattern' (if you can call it that) by hand. I used a pink cotton fabric for the backing and some nice blue bias tape for the binding. Viola. I like how it turned out and if I ever get up the courage to make another one I would like use the same type of materials again :)

Now for the wall decals. I used 3 different suppliers on used them in 3 areas of the room

1. beside her bed
2. above her bookshelf
3. on her dresser

I purchased the two wall decals from Etsy from Empressive Designs and Six under a tree. The 3rd set was purchaed from my local Michaels store.

In general I'd say these were easy to apply. One word of warning is to pay attention to decals that have lots of small peices that aren't joined. For example the little orange flowers on the custom peice were all induvidual petals they weren't joined, so getting them off the backing and onto the wall was a little more tedious then I would have liked. In all I still did all the decals in under 2 hours.

The decals on the dresser were an attempt to make it look less adult like and more kid like. Since they can be safely removed later we can always reuse the dresser if she outgrows it or we change it up when she's older too.

That's all for this week hope it gave someone a few ideas. Next week I'll give some details on the clip holder/wall art I made...stay tuned.

New room for a little/big girl -7 ideas for a toddler room

2010-01-12T10:46:00.007-05:00

With baby #2 on the way I've been thinking and planning about moving my 2 year old into her new room. It was a big step as it was not just a move from a crib to a bed but also a whole new environment. New decor, furniture, different side of the house. I was nervous about how she'd take to it but so far all is well. She woke up a few times in the first week, likely wondering where the heck she was. Now two weeks in she's back to sleeping through the night. Yeah!

I had so many great ideas for her room but as always time and money play a factor. We pushed the move date back twice as we just didn't get around to things as planned but it's finally done and I wanted to share it with you.

Most furniture was bought from Ikea, bed, bookcase and dresser then I added my finishing touches. There are about 7 things that I made for the room that I'll share here over the next few weeks and hopefully it can provide some inspiration for others.

-Quilt - my first attempt at one. It won't win any awards but she loves it
-Hair clip holder/picture
-Wall decals
-Butterfly bouquet
-Curtains
-Bird accessory holder
-Decorative pillows

Stay tuned for more details on a couple of these items each week with some tips and tricks.

BTW the great dress my daughter is wearing is from a local mom to me, her store is Blue Calla, you should check her out!

Snails and puppy dog tails

2009-11-17T13:36:00.003-05:00

So we now know that baby #2 is a boy - yeah :) We'll have one of each, which is great! Now the problem, it's seems like there's so much more variety and fabric for girls clothes now I'm on the hunt for boys clothing options. Maybe this will inspire me to make some new peices. I have a cap and and a tie pattern from Leila and Ben which has great modern kids patterns but I need to find more. I made the cap for a friend in the summer in a great modern seersucker plaid fabric.

I suppose it's an opportunity to create some of my own as well for the clothing peices I just can't find on my own. All of my friends with boys say there is defintiely a lack of good boys styles out there but it's always hard for them to articulate just what exactly they're looking for. They'll just know it when they see it I guess.

Holidays, new patterns and new jacket

2009-11-05T09:18:00.003-05:00

Well my brain has started to take me into holiday season already. I don't want to put up any decorations until after my daughters birthday on the 6th as I'd like to keep a clear separation between Christmas and her birthday. But...that doesn't mean I can't be ready for right after that.
I want to create a nice skirt, blouse and jacket for Christmas I just bought a great new pattern from WholeGrainBaby for their reversable swing coat and can't wait to make one!
I also bought a nice pattern for a comfy yoga outfit from a fellow Toronto company HeidiandFinn I think I'm going to want one in my size too!

I have one new listing for the Jitterbug Jacket a great bolero style jacket that is great over short or long sleeves and dresses up or down. I'd like to take it to another level and add more embelishments, that's another project I'm working on. I would love to try felting, I've been reading about it and watching uTube videos so I'll dive in one day soon :-)

Fall vacation and studio tour

2009-09-17T09:21:00.002-04:00

Well I'm getting ready for a week at the cottage. I LOVE fall up there. I can't wait for a fire at night to take the chill off and warm cups of soup and tea. Plus it's the annual Studio Tour weekend up there so I'm looking forward to being completely inspired by the fabulous artists that live and work up in the beautiful north full-time.

I'm currently working on a personal project, my daughters bedroom for her 2nd brithday. I'm making curtains and pillows and a quilt, I may also try a floor cushion or two. Now that she has a baby brother or sister on the way she needs to move into her 'big girl' room and get settled. I hope she likes it :)

Fall is here!

2009-08-31T14:37:00.004-04:00

There is nothing that invigorates me more than the first few crisp days of fall. It makes me want to run away to the woods, light a fire, warm up some tea and wrap myself up in a cozy blanket to just stare at the nature outside. What can I say I absolutely love fall! The family has a weeks vacation up at the cottage in a few weeks so it should be perfect fall weather and I don't think I've ever been this excited to get up there. Hopefully I'll find lots of inspiration up there, we plan to do little day trip and will likely visit other artisans and parks.

So since I'm on the fall kick I should share some of my photos of fall items from my photo shoot. I absolutely love how they turned out, now I just need some more buyers! :)

http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=7221894

Free swatches from Spoonflower

2009-08-18T09:48:00.002-04:00

So Spoonflower http://www.spoonflower.com is having a free swatch day on Aug 20th. It's on my calendar and I'm ready and waiting.

I've ordered swatches from here before as I'm working on a little project that will require custom designed fabric and Spoonflower is just the place to do it.

It was super easy to do, I just uploaded a design pic and chose my fabric then a week or so later had my swatches in the mail. Now I don't know if that's cost effective for bulk orders but it lets me test out my ideas on a small scale easily.

Photo Shoot

2009-07-29T09:01:00.002-04:00

So last week I had my first professional photo shoot for kids clothes. It was fantastic!

I totally meant to bring along my camera and take behind the scenes shots but it remained in my purse as I rant around doing wardrobe changes :) We had booked an hour in a local park and the process was pretty much what I expected although very exciting. I had one 4 year old and one 18 month old, both 'borrowed' from friends. Moms came along too of course but Alana my photographer took control and got to work with pictures and poses.

It took a little while for the poor 18 month old to warm up to all the people and camera and refused to let go of her snack cup, but that's what kids are like at her age. I didn't bring my own 18 month old only because I figured I'd be too busy doing other thing to watch her and have her in the pics, and I was right. I'll be sure to use her in the future ones though!

First week of August I get to go and look at my photos and then I'll be able to share some.

TGIF

2009-07-17T14:04:00.002-04:00

So I still have my day job and have been working my butt off at night to create some fall items. I finally feel like I'm creating some things that are 'new' and 'me'. I hope others like them. I have booked a photo shoot next Wednesday to take some pics of these items to use through fall and into early winter.
I'm SO excited to see how the pics will turn out. Alana from Alana McClure Photography http://www.alanamcclurephotography.com/ has been great is getting ready for the shoot so far and I think they'll be great!

I have a 4 year old and 1 1/2 year old which I'm 'borrowing' from friends and think I'll have 2 outfits for each. I won't make everything they wear as I really need to streamline but I'm trying to come up with cohesive looks.

One look is in the browns, oranges and greens and looks like it will be big this fall. The other look will be greys and greens, I'm still working that one out.

I'll be sure to share the photo shoot experience with everyone

Too many lines

2009-07-10T13:17:00.002-04:00

For anyone that has found the fabulous Ottobre magazine out of Finland, you may know what I'm going through today. They have the most fab designs and it's packaged up so well. But...when you want to actually get in there to sew something the pattern is the daunting. There are 3-4 patterns on one sheet all in different colours and overlapping one another. Wow. I'm seriously going crosseyed looking at this. Once you get through the pattern it seems to be okay. I've made a few things already but it really takes motivation to start on the tracing.

Well I'm going to carry on and in a week :) when I'm done tracing I'll let everyone know.

Crafters ritalin?

2009-06-30T09:20:00.005-04:00

Do they have Ritalin for crafters and sewers? I think I need some. I'm all over the place with things I want to create but feel I should concentrate on just a few key things and make them really superb. But you also have to do what you love right, and when I see a new fabric and get inspired I just have to run with it. I LOVE cargo pants for myself and so have started with a new pattern for girly cargos. I'm going to play with some fabric combos and sizes now.

Right now I'm trying to find my 'voice'...that's what writers do, what do sewers do??? Find my 'stitch'? Naw, I'll work on that. Anyhow I'm obsessed lately with the Quit your day job entries on Etsy http://www.etsy.com/storque/search/tags/quit-your-day-job/ everyone on Etsy seems so much more talented than me. I figure maybe with some hard work I can be half of what some of these people are :)

Okay well off to work on my day job. Blah

A little hippy

2009-06-26T13:21:00.001-04:00

So I have a few great tank tops that just don't look right now. The 'girls' change a little after having a baby :) I didn't have the heart to throw them out so I trasnformed them, upcycled them, into little tops and dreses for Myah Papaya.

Guess I should have taken a before picture though....

First post

2009-06-19T06:40:00.002-04:00

Well at the suggestion of a few others I've started this blog. I create. I always have and get a lot of kooky ideas, some turn into actual 'things' some just hang out in my idea book. I really started creating more after the birth of my daughter as I wanted to create kewl and different things for her.

So...I'll get my butt in gear and post some pics and start posting some of my projects and ideas and see where that goes.

I wonder how many blogspots have an entry called "first post" probably thousands...how unoriginal of me.

I'm working on new fall items (yes fall as it will take a while to ramp up) for my Etsy shop
http://www.papayastudio.etsy.com/