round up: friendship bracelets

I've been poking around on pinterest and etsy I've found a ton of super cute friendship bracelets. Do you remember making them as a kid? I know I do. I had a stock pile of them. I think at one point I even sold them. I've been pouring over tutorials and pretty inspirations to remember how to make them. I thought I'd share some with you guys.

Tutorials:
Friendship Necklace
Friendship Braclet
Video Tutorials

Beautiful Inspirations:
KalisteBracelets
LauraElysha


I'm considering organizing a friendship bracelet swap. Anyone up for it? ^_^

DIY Round Up: Hello Baby!

With having a three year old and a new baby there isn’t really much time in my life to craft. That makes me kind of sad because I really do love to make new things. I love searching around and finding tutorials I’d love to try, they tend to just stack up in my favorites tab and I never actually get to work on them.

I’m going to try and live vicariously through you! I created a list of some of the tutorials I’m dying to try but just don’t have the time right now. If you do make any of these lovelies I definitely want to know what it!

{Pamplemousse1983} Maryam always has really cute and super easy tutorials. I’d love to make a little headband for Carolina.

{The Doe or the Deer} Okay, so this one really isn’t really for “baby” but I think it would be a super cute nursery décor idea!

{Janae Hardy via A Beautiful Mess} Hm, yeah these little shoes are just way to adorable and perfect for Arizona weather.

{Janae Hardy via A Beautiful Mess} I had to put another one of her tutorials on this list because this dress looks so easy to make and it so cute. We all know my challenges with the sewing machine!

{Create Loves} I love the musical modile we have now but I adore the look and feel of a DIY modile.

I really hope I get to try these out soon. Please, do share if you make any!

Lots of love!

journey to etsy: photography.

Well if you've looked for any kind of advice on Etsy one of the first things you'll hear about is having good photographs. There are a ton of people out there that have online shops, and as much as we would hope to be unique, a lot of them are selling the same exact thing. So, what is going to draw a customer to your shop over others? Photographs.

I'm not going to lie; I'm not an avid online shopper. I like to see, touch, and even smell what I'm going to be buying before I buy it. So I want to make sure my photos highlight my products as much as possible for an online shopper. You'd think for a photography major that this would be easy, not so much. I'm still just learning, and I'm a perfectionist when it comes to my photos. Thanks to some advice from two other wonderful bloggers and Etsy seller; Ashley and Chrissy, I decided just to go with it. I'm going to roll with what I've got and just keep perfecting my photos as I go. I can't hurt to change things up and relist on Etsy right?

Etsy Shop Photo Preview.





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I also discovered two tutorials that I think are really going to help me the next time around.
Ashley from After Nine to Five recommend that I build a lightbox for my photos. I think this is going to be really useful and I'm going to be taking tips from her tutorial over on her blog. {Thanks again!!!}

Maryam from Pamplemousse! also did a great blog guest post on how to Etsy photography. The tutorial is over at The Art of Staying Up All Night and it is really helpful.

Well, I guess that's that! If you have any advice or know of any good tutorials on photographing products please let me know! Or, if you want any advice or critique, I'm still learning but I can help some, right? I can't help it, I love to help!

Now, go take some pictures! ^_^

Adventures in Craftiness: Spring DIY Round Up

Well, hello all! For the next few days I may not be around as much. I’m super excited about one of our good friends from Pittsburgh coming into town to visit us! Being able to hang out and talk to someone who is over the age of three years old all day is going to be great! Not to mention I missed her ^_^. So we will more than likely be gallivanting around the Phoenix area, due to this I probably won’t be posting all weekend, oops. I’m hoping to at least get my homework done (I probably should have done all of this in advance but I’m a slacker.) So, to keep you entertained while I’m gone I comprised a list of some spring type DIY tutorials from some of my favorite blogs. I’ve wanted to make these for quite some time but haven’t gotten the chance. If you get a chance to make any of these lovelies I’d love to see your creations! Hopefully that will give me some inspiration to make them myself.

First, lets start with the lovely Samantha at Argyle Owl.

I love this picture clothes line tutorial, it's adorable!


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Someone (and I can't for the life of me remember who) posted this DIY link on twitter and it's so cute!

You can make your very own cloud modile at Crafted Love! I want to make one for Aurora's room, I think she's love it!

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Since I'm in baby mode I love Maryam's cheap screenprinting tutorial at Pamplemousse!.

If I don't end up making one, I might just have to buy one from her lovely etsy shop.

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When talking about great blogs, with great tutorials I have to bring up A Beautiful Mess. Viviana did a great blog tutorial that I've been wanting to make for months!

I think someone with even my poor sewing skills could handle this one and I've wanted to make a little plush dool! How cute are those owls?

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Over at She Breathes Deeply, Elycia did a cute little fabric hair piece.

She has such darling designs at her Etsy Shop. It was so nice of her to share this one.

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I love seeing quest blog posts, and I hope I get the chance to do it one day. Sunshine and Carousels featured Veronica of Crack the sky for a little Valentine's Day head band tutorial.

You can also check out some of Veronica's lovely head bands at her Etsy Shop!

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One of the first blogs I ever stummbled across was Sweet Fancy by Fallon, the creator of Olive on Etsy. I just recently redicovered her DIY Wrapping Paper Wall Art that I have to give a try!

I love coming across things that you forgot about, it's like a whole new treasure!

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If you are looking for a great blog with great tutorials you need to stop by Art as Usual. Everytime I turn around she has something new and creative to try. One of the first DIYs I saw on the blog was the Collaged Wire Bird Cage.

This little guys says spring to me for sure.

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Well, that's all for now. If you have a spring inspired DIY you want to share let me know! I might just be doing a round two version. Have a great weekend everyone!

lots of love!

adventures in craftiness: spring flower pin or hair clip

I should probably be working on homework, but I’m brain doesn’t seem to function of that level in the morning, so instead I decided to work on a little tutorial. You’ve all probably seen the little flower pieces that I make, today I’m going to show you how to make a fun spring brooch. The techniques I’m using can also be translated into a hair clip or comb. It’s very simple; you probably won’t even need the steps to figure it out, but just for fun:

Supplies:An artificial flowerbuttonScrapbooking BradsScrap fabricStrong glue (E600 or a glue gun)Pin back or hair clip


Step one
Carefully take apart each piece of your flower


Step two
Take your button and push your scrapbooking brad through the two holes.



Step three
Slowly reorganize your flower slipping the pieces over the scrapbooking brad. I didn’t put the plastic pieces back into my flower this time. I felt that this flower was full enough, if you would like it to have a fuller look, put the plastic pieces back in. After your done, flatten the points to the brad.




Step four
With the flower facing down place a small amount of glue in the center. This is to add some leaves to the back for an interesting effect. You can skip this step if you’d like. You could also add ribbons or feathers at this point. Be creative and have fun with it.


Step five
Place a line of glue on the back on your flower and press your pin back onto it. Make sure the clasp is open. You would use the same idea for the hair clip, but make sure the clip stays open so you don’t glue the clip together.


Step six
Cut a small circle out of a piece of scrap fabric and press it over the back of the pin to give it a more finished look. You can do this also with the hair clip. Just insert the piece of fabric into the open clip and then place it onto the glue on the flower, this way you will keep the pieces from being glued together.


Finished!
You can pin this new beauty onto a spring jacket or your favorite bag! I decided to make my camera bag a little more girly.


If you decided to make one I’d love to see it, Please share!! Don't forget to be creative, use any size, shape, color flower, and accessories you want. Happy Crafting! ^_^

Etsy Treasury Tutorial

Making a treasury is super easy, a lot of fun, and a great way to get your name out there! Here are some easy steps to get you on your way (click on any of the images to make them larger.)

Step one:
On the Etsy main page under the “Ways to Shop” section, click on Treasury.


Step two:
Once you’ve reached the Treasury page, under Curator Tools, click on Create a List.


Step three:
Start creating your list! Enter your title, description, and tags. Don’t forget the tags, they are just as important for searching Treasuries as listings. Also on this page you will see grey squares with a small box underneath. It will say “Listing URL.”


Step four:
Open a new window and go to the page of the item you would like to use. Scroll down and on the right have side of the page you’ll see the Listed Date, Listing # and number of views. Copy the listing #, only copy the numbers!
Listing from xhochixx

Step five:
Paste the listing number into the rectangle box under the grey square and click, “OK” and your image should appear. After you fill your boxes you can do some rearranging, but watch out it can get a little tricky.


Step six:
Save and Share! Make sure all your items are where you want them placed. Complete your title, description, and tags like I mentioned above and just click Save! You’re done with your lovely new treasury!



I've made a bunch of treasuries. For a while I was going crazy over it. I got one of the front page of Etsy and I just had to try for another! If you want to see more I made you can see more examples here. Feel free to ask me any questions you need. I'm happy to help with any problems that I can with this. It's pretty simple but it's also creative and fun. Go try it! I'd love to see what you come up with! ^_^