Little Sewing Projects

Spring is here which means it's wedding season!  My friend Liz is getting married at the end of April so I've been having fun helping her out with a couple of little D.I.Y. projects.  There were some scraps of fabric left over from the centerpiece decorations, so I sewed up a little ring bearer pillow for her nephew and a dog collar for her pup, Stella.  Roo was kind enough to model for me this morning, but I can't wait to see Stella in her new digs on the big wedding day!  Hope y'all are having a great week ♥

Before & After Button and Brooch Art

My future Sis-in-law and I went to a local Antique shop this past weekend and found some really cool stuff.  I saw this funky frame for only $4 and knew I had to have it!  I wasn't so crazy about the floral print that it came with but I figured I could probably come up with something to spruce it up.  Then I remembered this post on design sponge about turning your notions into art!  I had some great buttons from my last Quilt Market trip and an old brooch I had been holding onto for the right project.  I took some green paint and covered up the flowers, dry brushed some brown paint around the edge, distressed with sandpaper, then hot glued the brooch and buttons into place.  Voila!  A fun little piece that ended up costing about $15!

Oh, and the beautiful "Dreams" print in the center of the wall is from thewheatfield.  Her work is gorgeous!  I bought the frame for 1/2 off at Hobby Lobby (about $19) and added the turquoise paint and distressed finish to go with the rest of my decor- another inexpensive project that is super easy to do!

Happy Crafting,
Genevieve ♥

How to Know If You've Been on the Front Page of Etsy

If you are a seller on Etsy and have a sudden jump in people that "heart" your shop or sell a more-than-usual amount of items in one day, chances are you've recently been on the front page.  There used to be a Flickr group that cataloged the front page screenshots but it looks like it's no longer around.  I did a little googling this afternoon and found The Vault.  You can type in your shop name and if you have been on the front page since last March it will show you the date you were featured as well as other items your piece was shown with.  For me this seems like a good way to do market research and see which items people are the most drawn to, so if you have an Etsy shop you might want to check it out!

P.S.- If you are a seller on Etsy, how are you feeling about it these days?  I feel like it's slowing down a little and have heard about a lot of people closing shop lately...  Curious about your thoughts on this...

Happy Saturday!

Look at what I scored for less than $20 while I was antiquing today with my future Sis-in-law!  3 super cute bird plates and some floral art.  I'm not to fond of the floral art but loved the frame, so stay tuned for an upcoming before/after!  I have something really cool in mind...  Oh, and did I mention that today was the first time my future Sis-in-law had ever been Antiquing?!  She loved it and definitely has the thrifting bug now I think!  We had a great time and she found some really cool treasures too..  Hope y'all are having a great weekend!

P.S.- for all of you Athens peeps we went to Weekend A'Fair at Charmar (on the Eastside).  I had heard of Charmar the Flower Shop but had no idea the Antique Shop even existed back there!  Lots of great bargains, so check it out...

Just Because

Little legs by Laura Amiss


Pretty chandelier pic by It's Great To Be Home


Magical Rainy Day Ship by Ann Wood
(Click on pictures to see original flickr posts)


Laura Veirs July Flame

Oh Snap! Lisa Frank!

Look at what I found in an old box today!  Lisa Frank stationery from when I was a kid!  I looooooved Lisa Frank- especially her stickers.  Wish I still had some of those left too!  Did you guys ever have "sticker clubs" where you traded stickers or was that just me and my nerdy friends?  Man, that brings me back!  I remember looking at artists like Lisa Frank and Mary Engelbreit when I was younger and knowing that I just had to be an artist when I "grew up" ♥

Before & After Tote Bag

My brother is getting married this May and I'm so excited!  I'm also in a friend's wedding in April, so that means between now and May I have a wedding shower to go to pretty much every weekend from here on out.  This past weekend was no exception.  I had purchased a gift for my brother and future-sister-in-law's shower that was on Saturday and was thinking I had some tote bag samples at the house to put their gift in.  (When I was working full time for a gift company, tote bags were my all-time favorite product to design and I got to keep boxes and boxes of my samples- turns out they got packed up and put into storage...)  Good thing I saved the shopping bag from American Eagle the other week.  I added a little scrapbook paper, a button, some hot glue gun action and voila!  Instant gift tote for less than $1!  Not to mention it's "green," right?  So, save those shopping bags for last minute gift wrap!  Craft on, Sistas...

P.S.- forgot to mention earlier that I used the Martha Stewart Scallop Blade Rotary Cutter for the paper edges.  I absolutely love this tool and you can find one here (the handle and straight blade come separately)

My Liberty of London Loot!

So today is the official Liberty day at Target (Bess, if you are reading this they now have the women's clothing on the racks- that is, unless they have sold out!).  It was kind of nuts, a lot of things were already gone when I got there about 10:30am.  Probably a good thing since I don't need to spend my whole paycheck in one fell swoop!  I saw a lady grabbing one of everything and throwing them in her cart like she was on Supermarket Sweep or something!  I'm just glad I got the last pair of size 7 rain boots they had- I would have been really sad not to get those.  So who got some Liberty today too?  I wanna know who really lucked out and got one of the pretty bicycles...

Day 5 (5/5 Art Challenge)

Day 5:
Photograph of my studio

So that's it folks, 5 days of the 5/5 Art Challenge is complete!  Hope y'all have a great weekend!  Tomorrow is the big day at Target so hopefully I will be back Monday with some pretty new rain boots ♥♥♥

Day 4 (5/5 Art Challenge)

Day 4: Fabric applique on pre-made bag, hand painted and hand stitched details

I must admit, the "G" on this is a little secondary to the owl, but I've had this bag planned in my head for weeks now and thought the daily challenge would be a good time to get it done!  I got the plain canvas bag for $10 yesterday and added the fabric applique last night.  I hand painted the owl on the fabric since I don't have a yudu yet, so that was probably the most time consuming part.  Sorry about the not-so-great photos- it's still raining outside so I had to take these indoors this morning.  Overall, I'm super pumped about this bag and can't wait to start using it!  Oh, and if you like my owl design, then be on the lookout for some new jewelry within the next week *hint, hint*

Day 3 (5/5 Art Challenge)

Day 3:
Pendant designed in Photoshop, mixed with copper findings and turquoise beads

Well you know I had to throw some jewelry up in this project! Had a good time making this one...  What should I do today for the challenge?  It's pretty rainy and gross outside today so maybe I will curl up on the couch and sew something.  Hmmm....

Day 2 (5/5 Art Challenge)

Day 2:
Acrylic on wood panel

I'm having so much fun with this project!  My apologies for the late post, internet has been down all day... Umm, and yes my grass is really that green this Winter (no Photoshop involved)- one perk to living in the Dirty South I guess!  See you guys tomorrow... :)

Pretty Dresses

Check out these new pretties from Urban Outfitters!  There is nothing I ♥ to wear more in the Springtime than a fun floral dress...not to mention these would look great with my old trusty boots...

Day 1 (5/5 Art Challenge)

Have you guys ever read Kal Barteski's blog?  Well if you haven't, you should!  It is jam packed of inspiration, wonderful art, cute babies and dogs- what more could you ask for?!  Kal posted an art challenge last night, and even though there are a million other things I should be doing I decided to take a little break for myself and try something different.  The challenge is to pick a subject/word/idea and create a piece for 5 days in 5 different mediums.  I picked the letter G because it's the first thing that popped into my head when I decided to bust out the ole sketch pad and doodle away while watching my new favorite show, Hoarders (holy hot mess, have you seen that show?!).  If you would like to join in the fun, you can read more about the challenge here.  Come on, it will be fun!

Birthday Weekend Recap

Some pics from the weekend :)  I'm a very lucky girl to have such great family and friends...  Hope y'all had a good weekend too!

Bloganistas 03

Thank you so much for all of the Birthday wishes!  Yesterday was an absolute blast, I will post some pics tomorrow.  Unfortunately Alice wasn't all it was cracked up to be, but we all had a great time anyway.  Here is my Bloganista post of my Bday outfit:


Necklace: Vintage Shop Downtown Athens

Dress: Lulus

Polka Dot Stockings: Target

Black Heels: Not sure, I've had them a while


See y'all tomorrow... Genevieve :)

30

Source

Buh-bye 20's, I sure will miss you!  Hello 30's, let's rock...

Today's agenda:

Breakfast with Hubs
Get my hair 'did
Check in to our room for the night
Dinner with the Fam
Cocktails
Alice!
Downtown with friends

Hope y'all have a great weekend!
XO,
Genevieve

Vintage Shoes...

...cure the Birthday Blues (kind of).  And so does this awesome necklace and Papaya journal I got downtown this past weekend.  Sometimes it's nice to treat yourself :)

A Little Alice For You...

Whimsical Alice art by Danita


Drinking glasses at Fishs Eddy


Annie Leibovitz Vogue photoshoot


Creative self portrait

Awesome pop-up book


Our Halloween costumes a few years back :)

Gearing up to see Alice In Wonderland this weekend for my birthday, who else out there is going?  I'm also trying to cope with the fact that this is my last week in my 20's.  I know, I know, it's just a number... but I'm not gonna lie, I just don't want to be 30 yet!  It just feels like time goes by faster and faster and it freaks me out.  I have heard people say that their 30's were some of their favorite years so I'm bankin' on that... Ugh, need to get out of this funk and just get over it... At least birthdays are a good excuse to get together with friends and family and have a good time, right?!