A week or two ago I had a post with guinea pig inspired etsy creations in honor of my sick guinea pig Hamish. You’ll all be happy to know he is feeling much better!
While he was sick we had an x-ray taken and the Doctor had just sent them through to us today. I thought it was so interesting I had to share
I feel like I need to get this framed in some kind of funky way…
He has long curly hair and you can see it faintly all round his body. It’s amazing how much smaller he is without his hair. He’s also super relaxed in this photo and has his legs kicked out to the side. That massive fat belly is apparently quite normal for a guinea pig, although it looks uncomfortable to me! And that cute little Phantom tail
I know, it’s not craft related, but how often do you see inside a guinea pig?
At the moment I feel like a bit of a tool as I am blogging from a café. But there are things to be done!
Above is a beautiful video from New Zealand to promote books. I am a collector of pop-up books and while this might not be a traditional pop-up book…it is pages coming to life!
Leopard Sparkle Camera Wristlet by Megnificent Made
Coming over the next few weeks in stages are some new camera wristlets for sale at Megnificent Made. First up is this saucy little leopard print bag. The bag is a beautiful brown leopard print with gold satin lining and a brown sequined strap from the Project Runway Notions line. There are two of these little bags available so get on over to Megnificent Made and check them out!
About two weeks ago I set up a contest for the Megnificent Made readers. Readers submitted ideas on how to turn my grandfather’s shirts into a keepsake.
There were a lot of great ideas! You can check them out at the original post here.
Lexy Lou suggested an idea from the Amanda Blake Soule’s book “Handmade home”. The fabric was used to make hot water bottle covers as well as rice sacks. I love this idea, especially in the midst of a cold January!
Lexy Lou has won an item of her choice from the Megnificent Made Etsy store!
Pink Floral Camera Wristlet by Megnificent Made
Thanks to everyone for their submissions and keep an eye to the blog as I already have and idea for the next Megnificent Made contest.
I’ve gotten very much over the past few weeks into sewing clothes. It’s not something I have ever really done before but in the weeks since new years I have sewn two skirts, two dresses and a pair of pants. I’m currently in the middle of making aprons for my mom and I. I will be posting those soon!
I am a firm believer that if you hand make your clothes it should cost less than buying them ready made. Unfortunately this is not usually the case! I find that patterns are quite expensive and once you add in the price of fabric and notions you’re well over retail clothing stores. The best bet is to never…ever…ever ever…pay full price for a pattern. If you’re lucky you get a great deal on beautiful fabric as well and then you have not only something you’re proud to say you made yourself but also you’ve saved money by DIY economics.
I have scoured the internet for free patterns and for some reason I find a lot of of them are in languages other than English. As much as I am getting a hold of making clothes, I still think the wording of an English pattern is even somewhat difficult to translate. I won’t be attempting to Babel fish a pattern anytime soon.
For those of you into fashion design and sewing, I have to say one of my favorite new blogs is the Selfish Seamstress. Not only is she a talented seamstress and a bit of a fashion designer herself, She is a very clever writer and a joy to read. I have downloaded all of her patterns and have already made her “Coffee Date Dress” twice. She has generously offered her pattern for download at BurdaStyle as well as on her download’s page on her blog.
Coffee Date Dress by Selfish Seamstress
BurdaStyle is kind enough to offer a few patterns for free on their website which I have downloaded now just in case they decide to take them away from us cheap sewers.
Free patterns are hard to come by, and many require adjustments to your size or a translator. All of which add a fair bit of work to an already involved undertaking.
Which is why I am pointing out the INCREDIBLE discovery I had when I happened into JoAnn Fabrics today. All simplicity patterns were only 99 cents! I picked up around 20 patterns which should keep me happy for a good long while and significantly beef up my wardrobe.
Misses Dress with Jacket-Cynthia Rowley Collection
Simplicity has a lot of my favorite patterns and at a discount from $16 to $0.99 this really can’t be beat. This Cynthia Rowley dress and jacket will be one of my first to sew for sure. If you have tomorrow’s holiday off, I suggest you go shopping!
Simplicity also features the Project Runway Pattern Collection. These patterns are especially great because they allow you to mix and match trims, hems, tops and bottoms to make a lot of really beautiful outfits from just one pattern kit.
And so, now that I have pitched JoAnn for their obviously wonderful sale. I’ll get back to sewing so I have something to show all of you.
If you have any thoughts on great ways to make sewing fashions a more affordable treat please share!
And for those of you that really like free things, Check this out!
My poor little guinea pigs in Australia are very sick and have spent the past few days visiting their doctor to figure out whats wrong. In their honor, here is some Etsy guinea pig inspiration…
Get Well Guinea Pig Rubber Stamp by RubberHedgeHog
A get well rubber stamp by RubberHedgeHog…how appropriate! Our first guinea pig died very young and we did everything we could to help him. His first vet visit was to a local vet that was not a guinea pig expert (we know better now). They took his temperature rectally as you would expect and it came back normal… after we visited a specialist we learned that the guinea pig’s temperature can’t be taken that way. Our poor pig was violated!
Guinea Pigs can Fly by MissBumbles
This little pig ornament is just too cute. MissBumbles makes a lot of really adorable needle felted goodies in her Etsy Store.
Texel Cavy Hair by CashmereBunny
This one grabbed my attention because he looks exactly like my pig Hamish who is the really sick one at the moment. His hair is just like this same colors and all. It just keeps growing and growing with lamb-like little curls. We give him hair cuts every three months or so and it completely halves him in size. His pile of fur looks like it could be our third guinea pig! I always wondered what we could do with it because it’s so so soft. We even thought in october it would be funny to have dressed our other guinea pig as Hamish for Halloween. Alas…I have no idea what to do with fur and certainly don’t know anything about spinning yarn. It does make a very beautiful skane though! Check out Cashmere bunny for some texel guinea pig yarn This little piggy is named Hazel and apparently she tolerates a hair cut quite well. Hamish does not!
Well, as you can tell I have guinea pig on the mind today. I’ll get back to showing you what I’ve been sewing soon!
My brother Aaron gave me a gift certificate to the craft store for Christmas and I spent it on fabric and patterns. I really want to take the time to learn all about following a pattern and making clothes.
This skirt is one of my first goes and while I do like it…there are a few lessons from it!
My zippers need some help.
My hem is too obvious. There has to be a better way!
The leather bit was not a part of the pattern and it was a bit ambitious for me to make things up before I had the hang of things. This is actually the second try on that. The first leather band was a bit tight so I managed to make a second with the scraps. Leather…as I should have guessed…is also not all that easy to sew with. This one fits better, and I am happy with the buttons but tearing the band off and replacing it with a slightly larger one somewhat messed up my pleats in the front. They’re not unbearable but they’re not as sharp and neat as I would like.
All and all, I have to say for a first try it’s not bad. Its wearable and I do like the look of it. There is another skirt I’ll post soon and hopefully I can really get into making clothes! I think my next project will be an off white or cream button down to go with this
Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland will be in theatres March 5th and all of the promotion for this 3D movie has me inspired. I can’t wait to see the effects in action.
I do have to point out one thing that bothers me a bit though. Don’t get me wrong, I love Johnny Depp and no one mixes better with Tim Burton and Helena Bonham Carter but…
All I see here is Elijah Wood!
Aside from that, I can’t wait to see it and I’ve no doubt it will be fantastic. On with the show! Here are some Alice in Wonderland inspired Etsy finds.
Alice in Wonderland Set by Cartbeforethehorse
Cartbeforethehorse makes some really beautiful fine folk art dolls hand made with hand painted muslin with a patina leather feel. This Alice in Wonderland set is numbered and signed by the artists and is a limited edition. The pieces are also available as separates in her store. She has some other really beautiful designs and I suggest you look into her etsy store!
Whimsical Mad Hatter Tea Party Chandelier by whimsicalcollections
WOW. Have you ever seen anything as wonderful as this? I would love a chandelier like this. I wonder if it would be difficult to make with a tin tea set? I’m not an electrician though so I had better not try it. Whimsicalcollectoins is the expert and they’ve done a wonderful job with this fantastic big of decor!
Tea Time Silhouette Recycled Vinyl Necklace by RandomPerfect
This necklace by RandomPerfect is doubly cool because aside from the great design…its made from recycled records! She has a lot of really great silhouette designs in her etsy store but I particularly like the use of the two different chains on this little tea party necklace.
All I see here is Elijah Wood!
