Last weekend I finished up a 3-Saturday hat making class with Wayne Wichern. Wayne is an awesome guy and I learned so much in this class. Mostly I learned that millinery aka hat making is far more work than I originally thought and far more hand sewing that I originally thought. There’s more than I can put here, but I’ll give you an idea of what we did in case you want to take a millinery course at some point.

We made three kinds of hats. The first hat, and the one requiring the most work, was a buckram form covered in fabric. Wayne went over everything from the fabric selection to the molding of the buckram to the application of the bias tape. We did everything ourselves except the molding of the top buckram (we still did the brim and the sides) because there weren’t enough hat blocks to go around (so Wayne made all of those for us although he did demonstrate how to make them).

I made mine out of green polyester speckled with gold and went for gold accents. I’m pretty happy with how it turned out. I especially like the gold lining which to me is like a secret pop! of color.

The next hat was a straw hat. Again there weren’t enough hat blocks for the class, so we picked a style and color we liked and Wayne made them for us (I think he made 40 in one week!) and we got to decorate it which has its own set of techniques. Wayne of course demonstrated how to form a straw hat on a hat block. It’s pretty cool.

I went for a very summer time look for my hat. The bow is actually made up of 3 separate pieces, not counting the part which goes around the hat. I have a skirt made of the same fabric and I think it will look super cute together.

The final “hat” we made is a fascinator which is still technically called a hat since it sits on the head. Mine actually uses a clip rather than a buckram base, but that was an option as well. Mine has a floral element. I was feeling very spring time when I took the class. My original plan was to do a fabulous Carmen Miranda-inspired fascinator, but sadly, the bananas at Michael’s were too big So, this was option 2.

All in all, I’m very glad I took the class. Learned a lot and had a fun time. I’m looking forward to trying my hand at tiny buckram hats to be used as fascinators when I have the time.

For this past Hanukkah, my husband and I were trying to stay in budget. He had mentioned wanting some casual cuff links so rather than buying some, I decided to make him some for around $5 (the resin was actually about $10 but I only used a little of it so amortized it’s about $5).

Before making his cuff links, I tested it on a ring as it’s the same process. This is a great method if you only want to make a couple of small items.

Here’s what you’ll need:

• Items to make (ring, cuff links, pendant, earrings, etc.)
• Print out of something you’d like embed (photo, logo, etc.)
• Lisa Pavelka Magic-Glos UV Resin
• Sealant (I used modge podge, but you could also use packing tape — see below)
• optional: glitter or glitter paint

I got all of my materials at Michael’s.

First off, you’ll need some way of keeping your jewelry pieces level as the resin dries. I found that the cuff links sat nicely in the holes in ribbon spools. For the ring I was able to jam it into the hole, ripping the cardboard a bit and that kept it level.

Next was to print out what I wanted under the resin. I was going for kind of a goth look for the ring and retro, old west look on the cuff links. I have a couple of versions printed in case I made it too big or too small (I wasn’t sure if my printer was printing to scale). As it turns out, it was printing to scale so my measurements were right on. The cuff links were 15 mm squares and the ring was 24 mm by 18 mm.

Cut your image out. Make sure you can’t see any white around it (unless it’s a white image, of course).

Lay it on your ring where you want it to make sure it fits.

Lay down some sealant. When I did this one, I used modge podge. I put a layer down and then stuck my paper down.

Then I painted over the paper to seal it in.

And repeat for the cuff links . . .

I learned after the fact that using a sealant like modge podge can result in cloudiness in the resin since the resin can react with the modge podge. I did notice this a little bit, but I didn’t mind it since it went the “old” look I was going for. If that’s not the look you want, the folks over at Lisa Pavelka recommend packing tape or clear contact paper.

For the ring, I wanted a little something more, so I painted a layer of sparkle paint on there. Be sure to let each layer dry before doing the next one.

I don’t have an image of the resin on the ring, but I do have the one of the cuff links. The resin requires UV light to set. Unfortunately, I was leaving for work when it was dark and returning home when it was dark so if I wanted to catch some UV light, I had to do it at work. Plus this was supposed to be a surprise so I didn’t want my husband to see me doing this. So I brought them to work and did this during my lunch hour. I got a couple of weird looks as people walked by.

But they did set nicely in about 15 minutes, although I made sure to keep them level just in case.

For the ring, I didn’t have as much UV light. I let it sit overnight and that seemed to work just fine as well. So, if you don’t have UV light, just let it sit for 24 hours as you would normal resin.

I liked the Lisa Pavelka Magic-Glos because it was somewhat viscous which made putting it inside the bevel and having it maintain a bubbled shape a bit easier.

And here’s the finished ring. You can see a little bit of the cloudiness in the middle. The finished cuff links are pictured at the start of the post.

This project has been a long time coming. I actually started it before the holidays, but then it was put on hold for holiday travel and taking up space on my desk until this weekend. And in the end, I’m quite pleased with how it came out.

I was inspired by some glitter flower hair clips that I saw on Outblush. I saw them and said to myself, “I can do that!”

I started by picking up some fake flowers at Michaels and removing them from their plastic pieces.

My plan was to make gold and silver ones. I was using silver paint from FolkArt. I’m not sure what was up with it but it was very watery. Either I didn’t shake it well enough or it’s just not the right paint for this project (since it’s usually a decent brand). I used Martha Stewart brand for the gold paint which was much thicker and went on quite nicely. I let the paint dry over night.

Then I flipped them over and painted the backside. I only did the gold ones since at this point I figured I’d just leave the “silver” ones purple.

By this point, the gold flowers were nice and stiff which was exactly what I wanted. Next up was adding the glitter.

My original plan was to put some glue on the flowers and sprinkle glitter over it and then seal that down. I tried that on the set of flowers above. It was a mess and I had to work really quickly.

But recently I’d seen a number of tutorials on adding glitter to shoes by mixing glitter with modge podge and I figured it could work similarly here. It did and it was so much easier.

I ended up mixing about equal parts modge podge and glitter.

It was pretty thick by the time I finished mixing it up.

Then I just gooped it on. When the modge podge dried . . . boom! Glittering flowers! I love the way they turned out. To be honest, I was so excited I really wanted to just glitter anything. I did have another project that I was in the middle of that I found a way to incorporate the glitter modge podge. But I’m currently thinking of other things that I can possibly make sparkle

Anyhow, next it was time to put them together. I just used my glue gun to do this which worked well.

First, attach a small flower to the center of a big flower. I like to offset the petals.

Next, glue a rhinestone in the middle. I tried two different colors — one very yellow (above) and one more bronze colored. I personally prefer the bronze colored one, but it’s a different look for each.

Cut a small circle of felt and slip it between your hair clip as shown.

Apply hot glue to the felt and the cip.

Press that sucker down on the back of a flower. I liked to try to line up the clip part that sticks out with a petal so that it’s not visible.

Here are the steps from start to finish.

On the sad purple ones, I just tried some edging. I stuck a pink rhinestone on one of them. I ran out of clips and wasn’t thrilled with these so I didn’t bother saving the other two.

I think they turned out quite festive and look forward to wearing them out. I only wish I’d finished them before the holidays so I could have worn them to some of the holiday parties.

A while back I showed how to make a great earring holder built out of a picture frame. Well, since making that, I’ve moved all my costumes and costume jewelry to another room (namely my art room) which doesn’t have an appropriate place on the wall to hang an earring holder. However, there is space in the closet. The original one wouldn’t work because it stuck out too far. So I set out to make some hanging earring holders that have a lower profile that I can easily hang inside a closet door. The following is a tutorial so you can do it, too.

Start out by getting some dowels. My dowels are a foot long because that was the limitation of the my closet door. They are 1/2 inch in diameter. I sanded the edges to make them somewhat rounded and smooth after I had to cut them since the dowels come in 36 inch lengths.

While I was making these, I was also using glitter and modge podge and I had some left over so I thought it would be a fun way to decorate the dowels. (Okay, to be honest, after doing glitter and modge podge I wanted to make everything glittery and this was the closest thing. I’ll link in that project once I post it. Update: the project is the glittering hair flowers) I started by painting them with a gold base. I used the Martha Stewart gold paint.

Then I painted them with my left over glitterific modge podge. Aren’t they sparkley? I love it.

Next you’ll need something to hang the earrings on. I used some white tulle that I had. It has pretty big netting so you could use something with smaller nets and be just fine.

You’ll want to cut a rectangle with the following dimensions:

• width: &ltdowel length&gt – 2 inches
• length: &ltideal length&gt + 3 inches

In my case, my dowels were 12 inches, so I my net was 10 inches wide and my ideal length was 16 inches so my net was 19 inches long.

Fold over and press 1.5 inches at either end of your net/tulle.

Sew 1 inch from the fold (or 1/2 inch from the raw edge). I found the 1/2 inch from the raw edge was easier to use as a guide because I could see through the net/tulle. I used a smaller stitch length (1.5) to make sure I caught the net properly.

Next use some applique scissors (or regular work just fine really) to cut off the excess net/tulle past the stitching. You can skip this step and leave the extra net/tulle. Or you can skip this step by folding over a little less fabric. I found it easier to just cut after I was sure I had sewn it properly.

Insert your dowels into the opening. As it turns out, the modge podge glitter business I did worked out well since it gave the dowels a roughness that prevents them from sliding around in the net/tulle casing. I have two because I was making one for gold jewelry and one for silver jewelry.

Cut some ribbon the length you want for hanging. Mine was 16 inches, for reference.

Stick a thumb tack through the end of one ribbon.

Stick that thumb tack into the center of one end of a dowel.

Press down until it is fully in the dowel. I tried to center it, but only did okay. Fortunately, this part isn’t super visible. Repeat for the other side of that dowel with the other end of the ribbon, being careful not to get any twists in your ribbon.

Hang up and enjoy! Mine are hanging using 3M hooks that remove cleanly. I like those even though they have that weird tab coming down from them.

There are a lot of parts of this that are optional that would let you finish this project in 15 minutes rather than 1/2 hour:

1. You don’t have to paint your dowels.
2. You don’t have fold over quite as much net/tulle if you want to eliminate the cutting step after sewing.
3. You don’t have to use the thumb tacks on the end — you can just tie the ribbon around the dowels if you like.

While I was at my parents’ place over the holidays, I wanted to do something crafty. I had bookmarked Tasha of Creation Corner‘s post on a Pointed Flower Tutorial and it seemed like the perfect quick and easy craft. My dad and I had just gone to the New Year’s Day fabric sale where I had picked up some fun fat quarters, so I decided to turn them into flowers. How awesome is my dad that he’ll let me drag him to fabric stores and better yet buy me fabric when I get there? I will tell you — pretty darn awesome.

Creation Corner’s tutorial is great with lovely photos. I highly recommend it. Here are some pics from my execution of it with notes on what I did differently.

Start by tracing out your circles. I only used 5 although the tutorial shows 6. This is because I forgot the tutorial showed 6. I would try 6 next time. I found I liked my circles on the bigger side, closer to 3″.

Cut out those circles.

Fold each circle in half.

And then in half again so it’s a quarter circle.

Gather up the rounded edge. I tried doing nice even pleats on my first tiny flower but I found it was better just to eyeball it and get as many gathers as I could. I liked the resulting flower better. Although I did prefer it when the needle entered and exited on the same side of the petal.

Repeat the above steps for all your petals, gathering them on one thread.

Squish them together and they’ll start to form a circle.

Sew the ends together and then gather them through the middle. Creation Corner didn’t do this part, but I liked the centers to touch so they weren’t visible around the button so I gathered them in the center as well.

Cover a button with some of the cutting scraps and sew it to the middle and you’re done! Enjoy your little flowers.

It’s been ages since I posted. With the holidays and an upcoming dance competition, I’ve just been swamped and barely have a moment at my computer when I’m home. But I’m currently injured so on the upside it means I have time to catch up on some of my posting.

My little brother came to visit this past weekend and decided he wanted to make candles. But of course, we couldn’t do simple melt and pour candles. It had to be the dipping taper candles. With multiple colors.

So we went to Michael’s and picked up wax, wax colorant, and wicks. We realized we needed something to dip the wicks into. Glass and plastic wouldn’t do since they’d be sitting in boiling water. We needed metal. So we went into the supermarket next door and found 20 oz Arizona cans. Perfect.

We took the cans home and used a can opener to take off the top. The first one we messed up and I removed the smooth part on the top. But the other four worked well. Leaving the smooth part is nice because then you don’t have to worry about slicing your fingers.

The biggest issue we had was getting the cans to stay in the stockpot. Since wax is lighter than water, we tried weighting them down, but we needed much more weight than we had. In the end, we just taped them down. We lined the stockpot with aluminum foil since it was nonstick and I didn’t want to scratch it, although I realize my silicon steamer would have been a better option to use. And we used aluminum foil and aluminum tape (leftover from downstairs renovation) to hold down the cans so they stayed stable.

Next we hacked off some wax from our massive block. We waaaay over bought the wax. I’ll probably use it to make Hanukkah candles later this year. We filled the cans with wax and turned the water on to boil.

Once all the wax had melted, we added the colorant blocks. We probably added much more than we needed to, but my brother wanted the colors vibrant. In fact, he wanted to use crayons originally, but I didn’t have any that I wanted to toss in.

Once the colorant was melted as well, we got to dipping. It was a pretty easy process. Just dip the wick in wax, then dip into cold water (we used the fifth arizona can for that). Repeat. It takes a little bit to build up the wax layer so have patience. Then let the candles cool. It’s easier to demonstrate than to describe it so I made a video:

When you’re done dipping (or reached your patience limit), it’s time finish the bottom.

You could either squish the candle onto the counter top to give it a flat bottom which is what my brother did. Or you could cut off the bottom which is what I did. It’s neat to look at the bottoms and all the different rings of colors.

We have a ton of wax left. I just let it cool in the Arizona cans. I’ll probably just buy some more wicks and heat it up in time to make Hanukkah candles towards the end of the year. In any case, I’m pretty happy with how they turned out. Here’s a picture of my three candles:

As you saw earlier, I made a witch costume for Minnie. It was loosely based off of Butterick 4885.

Basically I used the pattern for the base. I shortened the length and added the skirt which was just two layered ruffles.

I also added a ruffle at the neckline instead of the collar.

Finally, I made a little hat. What is a witch without her hat?

The hat base was made with Timtex and then wrapped with fabric that was glue gunned down.

There’s a circle of the liner fabric (the whole costume was lined with purple china silk) on the base of the hat which holds the elastic in place.

Since I bought all the fabric on Sunday, everything was already on sale so the whole costume cost less than $10.

This year for Halloween, Minnie was a witch. It was a quick costume I tossed together in about 3 hours including the time it took to go to the store and buy the fabric. About 2 hours of that was real sewing.

She really looked quite adorable in it despite the fact that she really didn’t like the hat and shook it off at every possible opportunity.

I’ll post some better pictures later this week.