Home Sweet Home!

Ironcraft's challenge this time was about the home. Making a craft about the home, of a home or for the home was the call. As I received the message, I was putting the finishing touches on a bird house garden piece. Great minds do think alike!
This garden decoration is made of polymer clay and wood. The base is wood and I added the clay using a cane resembling brick and sculpting the little birds and flowers. I quite like it!

IronCraft Gets A Notion!

You guessed it, the challenge theme is notions. Now, my favorite notions of all time are buttons. I research them, read about their history, make them, collect them and for this challenge I used one in a project. For the Ironcraft challenges, I like creating things that I can use so I designed a Mother's Day card for my mother-in-law. I hope she likes it!
I used one of my own buttons, a peach faux Lucite round button. Cutting a pastel mauve card stock to size, I sewed a coordinating paper on the sides. Using embroidery floss that I braided to give it more substance I made a loop to close the card. The vintage image is from a stamp I had. I colored the image in coordinating mauve and turquoise and voila!
Now I always try to find a lesson in each challenge and this time is no different. The idea for the card came from a book called, "Button!, Button!" by Terry Taylor. She has many wonderful ideas to use the buttons up. She had another project that intrigued me as well. She called them shirt buttons cards. They are basically the old buttons cards my Mom use to buy when I was a child. My Mom showed me how to sew using them. I liked that because it meant she would let me play with them. I loved letting them run through my fingers like they were money. What inspired me though was the consistent look I could achieve with this type of display for my own buttons. I sew my buttons onto cards now but each one is of a different color and size. I think I'll design a card that would show off all my buttons in a consistent way, a branding of sorts. So, I'm off to get inspired some more and design my own signature card to display the buttons I make. Thank you IronCraft for these challenges, I'm learning so much!

It's Playtime!

Ironcraft's challenge for this time was to make a toy or to be inspired by a toy. I'm enrolled in a doll making class so I chose to make a doll. I kept thinking I had lots of time and couldn't make up my mind as to who my doll would be. Well, time does roll on and inspiration still had not come, until this week-end. I went to see a friend of mine dance. She is a wonderfully talented interpretive modern dancer and her show opened this past week-end. Her name is Lana Morton and she works in Ottawa, Ontario.
I loved the show and what stood out for me was how she used her hair as part of the choreography. She has this beautiful mane, lioness style and if that is at all possible, her hair danced along with her. It was amazing.
I decided to let her inspire my doll. I'm not professing that the doll looks like her but I experimented trying to add hair like hers. The doll, shamelessly named "Lana", sports a brownish-blond massive mane of hair, a red sweater and a crinoline white skirt, just like her namesake did on stage. I designed the doll and clothes by myself, no pattern.
I always like to think of what I learned during the Craft Iron Challenges and this time wasn't any different. I learned about shaping a doll so it will look like you want. This Lana is too small. Turning her inside out was difficult. I re-learned the lesson of not waiting until the last minute to tackle a new project. I wonder how many times I'll re-learn that lesson before it sinks in!
So, without further ado, I present to you, directly from my sewing machine, Miss Lana!

Ironcraft goes to the Iron Curtain!

Well, that expression doesn't really apply anymore so I'm showing my age but hey! I've always been fascinated by Russia, took up the language in university. It is one of my dream trips that I aspire to undertake. So, when the challenge said chose another country's craft for inspiration I went to Russia for their latest designs in handbags. Yes, I'm teaching myself to make handbags so I lean toward that kind of craft.
So, I chose a design called the Russian Rose. The one I saw was a quilted design which attracted the inspiring quilter in me so I went for it.
http://russianhandbags.blogspot.ca/2012/11/krokus-designer-leather-handbags.html
 I used a vintage style bag idea from my many books and designed my own version. I chose a black and white leopard print cotton fabric. The print choice was for my Mom. She loves animal prints and use to wear them alot. The bag is a gift for Mother's Day. It's the perfect size for when she goes to church or for her weekly shopping trips.
I examined the photo and thought that if I cut triangles of various sizes, I could sew them around a rushed circle. Well it worked! Then I added pockets to the lining and sew the bag together. What is different in this bag that I really like is the handle. It's part wristlet, part handbag. The handle fits in your hand and loops into a gusset on the entrance of the bag to close it. This way you can hold it in your hand or pass your hand through the handle onto your wrist and wear it like that.

I made a small version of the bag from polymer clay and attached it to the bag. I think that gives it a nice touch. So, another challenge met and enjoyed!

Fancy Feet Take Me To The Beach!

I have to say that March has just whizzed by and even if we still have way too much snow on the ground, spring is in the air. I start dreaming of gardening and flowers blooming and the summer ahead. So for Rikka's Fancy Feet Challenge I decided to make myself a beach bag. I had this lovely vinyl, kinda oilcloth fabric and decided to use my Teflon foot. I had bought the foot a while back but had never really tried it.
A Teflon foot is the same as a regular sewing machine foot but it has a Teflon backing so that vinyl-like fabric don't stick to the metal as you are sewing. I have to say it works great! I had tried to sew vinyl with a regular foot and it was a nightmare. It would stick and the fabric would bunch up. Yuck! With this Teflon foot, it was a breeze!
So the pattern is mine. I designed the bag thinking of what I'd like in a bag once the hot weather rolled around. I wanted room for towels, books and snacks. I wanted compartments for phones and wallets. I hate rooting for those things in over sized bags. I wanted a strap long enough to drape over my shoulder. Oh! And an outside pockets for car keys and water bottle. So I made my sketches and then decided what had to be done first, wrote it all down.
It worked! (I am always a little surprised I can pull this off! lol) I love my bag and the fabric has such cool colors for the summer.

 

I even sewn the sides with the WS together so as to have the edges sticking out and the insides all neat. I added binding to the sides finishing them quite neatly. This idea was inspired by this blogger who did a whole series on making bags. Great stuff. http://www.ikatbag.com/p/tutorials.html The bottom photo shows the inside pocket that runs the length of the bag. I'm proud of this creation. It'll be useful and pretty. I learned something about binding along the way. The wider the binding the easier it is to sew on the edge. I can't wait to try it at the beach!

 

IronCraft loves Peeps!

Well, I mean who doesn't. They are just so cute and totally yummy, at least if you ask my kids they are. This Iron Craft challenge had to be inspired by peeps. I decided to sculpt some from my favorite medium, polymer clay. I think they turned out quite nice. I made a Mr. and Mrs. Peeps and they make such a cute pair. I'll be glad to share the secret for the texture, you just have to ask.
So without further ado, here is my entry for the Peeps inspired challenge. Everyone take some time to rest at Easter and maybe indulge in a Peeps or two.

Ironcraft goes green!

Again, the Ironcraft Challenges are living up to their name. This time, though, I'm in early. Challenge #5 is Green, either the color or the message. I chose both and I used the unfinished project from the last challenge to tie it all up. There is a part of me that's shouting "Cheater" and then another part of me that is lifting an eyebrow with an expression of "Be quiet in the peanut gallery!"
In the last challenge, I had chosen something that took way too long to do with the time I had given myself to do it. This challenge I chose to finish that project with the guidelines given.
My Rose's Bag from the movie Titanic is green (the message) because I used my daughter's old velour top to cut the outside fabric of the bag. She's outgrown it and the top belonged to another time frame in little girl's fashion. The lining I found in my fabric stash, a lovely gold with chinese markings much like was the fashion during the time set of the movie.
It just happened to green (the color) which I thought was a message from above that what I was doing was OK. I calculated that it took about 8 hours of sewing beads on the front of the bag and on the handle. The closure button is my own creation. I just love making buttons. This one just fit perfectly.

Once again I want to thank Kat for putting on the Ironcraft Challenges. I am learning so much. I've learned that I can design a bag without a pattern. I also have learned to be in total awe at the patience bead sewers have to make the beautiful things they do and that it is not something I'm all that good at. I've learned a bit more about the era of the Titanic movie and what the women used for bags, what was chic for them. I could go on and am so grateful for all these lessons but mostly I'm grateful that I can now say "Be quiet!" to that voice in my head that tells me I shouldn't do this or not that way. I've learned to trust my own voice just a little more.
Thanks.