After posting about this button and getting all the comments on the orange bunny button I had to stop in The Paper Place while we were downtown in Toronto and replace the one I used.
Once again no clue what I’ll use it for but it’s so adorable, so I spent almost $4 on a single button.
Oh and I picked up pieces of these awesome ribbons.
I was asked recently by My Girl Thursday to share my sources for the fun fabrics I have. She says she has the bug now, if you kind of sort of like fabric I’d leave now because you’ll be totally addicted to hoarding it after this post. Almost all of mine comes from Etsy shops so I’ll share some of my favs with you. Sometimes I just do a search for scraps, but my brain gets confused with number crunching the prices and shipping combos and I usually head back to the stores I know.
I’m addicted to cutesy Japanese prints. Boqinana has great stuff. It’s so hard not to fill my cart with ribbon after ribbon after ribbon. This store is also full of some great fabrics.
This and That from Japan . . . well the store name says it all. Sadly on vacation at the time of posting this but check back, it’s totally worth it. They carry great fabrics, supplies and craft books. Pages and pages of awesome I tell you!
The Hey Day Shop has fun fabrics and usually has a selection of scrap packs to choose from.
I’ve ordered from The Dainty Squid’s destash store before, not sure if it’s still up and running.
The only place I’ve been able to find fun Japanese fabrics in person is at Quilt A Bag in Markham, which is only good to know if you live nearish to there. The ladies are lovely and they carry a lot of Japanese craft books and supplies for projects, coin purse frames, handles, cute ribbons, Japanese craft books. They attend the Creativ Festival in October and carry a lot of great kits with everything you need to finish the project.
I’ve ordered vintage fabrics from Pink Fawn Designs before. While it’s pretty easy to find vintage linens if you go thrifting you can expand your collection, handy if you have a certain project in mind, and not have to use the entire sheet you bought on the one project.
Starlit Nest has packs sorted by designers, themes and even offers a big ole flat rate box deal. Shop 4 Craft has some great wooden buttons, if I’m just in the mood for buttons I go there if I have a hankering for fabric I’ll hit one of the shops that carries fabric AND buttons and get all splurgey.
For snaps I go to Cowgirl Snaps. When I found this shop I thoguht that the pictures must be tweaked adn there’s not way the colours could be that vibrant but when they arrived they were amazing. The colours are great and there are options for mixing and matching.
On my wish list are these great fun scraps. Sometimes, being in Canada, it’s hard to find scraps worth purchasing because shipping can get ridiculous. Someday I’ll splurge on these teeny bits of loveliness.
I’ve been clearing my work area and I plan on kicking butt on all these half finished projects cluttering up my space. While I was going that I came across a bunch of neglected, unloved supplies. Perfectly good things but I haven’t used them in ages or probably won’t get to using them.
I had the idea of doing a giveaway but then I thought maybe other people are having the same problem and we could set up a swap. I’ve got some things that came as freebies with Etsy orders, or items from other swaps, cute sticky notes, stickers and of course ribbon, fabric and buttons that I’ll probably never get to using!
Sooooo anyone want to play along? Sign up below until Wednesday January 11th. I’ll match us up (open internationally unless you tell me otherwise) and email partners so you can work out addresses and such. I suppose the contents should cost about $10-$15 but I’m hoping we can all just share some neglected creative stuff and pass it on to someone who may be inspired. Of course you can also include a handmade by you item, I know I will.
I was also hoping this post will distract from the fact that I haven’t completed a CreateAlong project in a while . . . next week I’ll reveal all my neglected projects, I promise!
Posted in repurposing, scraps
Tagged crafting, fabric, happy mail, ribbon, scraps, supplies, swap
You know I don’t really need yet another creative thing to do but they’re always so fun and cute. Keyka Lou posted this great ribbon the other day which of course sent me off clicking to Etsy to see what it’s all about.
While I was admiring all the pretty chevron ribbons I had a lightbulb moment. I’m going to wrap all my gifts pretty simply, kraft paper or bags or boxes and then go all out making them look great with twine, ribbon, doilies and other such embellishments. That way the items are reusable, repurposable or biodegradable.
Allow me to share some of my fav items and shops that will help me, and you if you want to play, with this challenge. Click images to be whisked away to shops!
I’ve ordered a set of these already to make my own envelopes out of various papers.
You can order a printable PDF file for these vintage linen inspired cards.
Hoboville has the cutest rubber stamps I have ever seen! A great option for making your own printed wrapping paper.
Thriftypyg has some great ephemiria items that would jazz up some plain kraft paper nicely. Check out these cute stamps.
I’ve got some of these stashed away downstairs, no clue what I’m going to use them for but they are ridiculously sweet.
Baker’s twine is pretty easy to find on Etsy but these little mushroom spools are extra super cute.
Pretty Tape has a great selection of . . . pretty washi tape and loads of other great packaging accessories.
Some of my favourite shops for packaging supplies are Paper & Parcel , California Craft and of course I couldn’t have made it this far without Knot & Bow.
Spent some time just before the holidays shopping for myself, as I’m sure many of you did. I’ve become addicted to checking Etsy’s front page a few times a day, sometimes even before it’s had a chance to change. I’ve also been in many treasuries lately which has led me clicking around the handmade heaven that is Etsy. Here are some things that arrived last week.
These lovely fabric ribbons from boqinana. The fabric was just bonus!
Fun fabric and ribbon from DoodooShop. I have plans for that air mail ribbon, I’ve been busting with excitement waiting for it to arrive so I can start the project.
These arrived a while ago and I just didn’t get to posting about them yet. Fabric scraps from starlitnest. She apologized for a delay in shipping, which I hadn’t really noticed, and said she added some extra fabric to the mix to make it up to me. Isn’t it bad enough I have my own stash of scraps but I have to keep buying other people’s!?
I also have some pretty masking tapes coming from kimamaya. Should be here shortly. It was probably evil of me to be ordering ‘just because’ things during the holiday shipping rush. Ooops.
While wandering Queen street we spotted some ribbon through a store window and figured, as crafty gals, it might be a fun store. So we went it and couldn’t believe it. Mokuba is an entire store of ribbon!! Lace, trim, ribbon, ruffles, frilly stuff . . . it was crazy. It’s a huge normal store sized store just full of shelves and rolls and bins of ribbon!
Strangely enough I didn’t actually need anything but I did wander through and snap some pictures on my phone.
Posted in embroidery, fun finds, neat spaces, other crafts, sewing
I’ve been working on taggie blankies the last few days. For a change of scenery last night I made some crayon cosies instead, THEN I cut fabric for more taggie blankies. Hoping tomorrow to get the ribbons pinned on, possibly on my lunch hour at work, so I can sew them together tomorrow night.
I really like the brown one, it’s a Heidi Grace fabric from Joann’s. The white cuddly stuff on the back is soooo soft. I might have to make myself a king sized taggie blankie for our bed!
It’s been a great week for mail here, and it’s only Wednesday!! This came yesterday, my order from Dainty Squid.
Then this came today, my first package of Happy Mail. I gotta say I was pretty impressed with my fun stuff form Elisa. I was really surprised when I took my package for her to the post office and found out it was going to be $13 to send a package across our wonderful home and native land! But with all the cool stuff she sent, and the smile my gifts will put on her face it’s all worth it!
Theeeeennnn I went to see my photographer friend, Joanna today, and she brought us back some ribbon from her trip to the states. I was all hyped to order this stuff when I found out about it, $2.95 a bag?! tons of colours and fun selections?! $19.99 to ship to Canada?!!?! nevermind. Since she was heading to the states to visit we sent 4 bags to her Mom’s which she then was kind enough to squeeze into her luggage for the trip home.
I dumped it all out and divided it into wide and thin ribbons and cut TONS of pieces to make taggie blankets. A lot of it is polka dot and so fun and nice vibrant colours.
Ok I am going to attempt to go to bed, this will be the earliest in I don’t know how long. I’ve been creating into the wee hours, or my brain keeps me up with thoughts connected to creating! My friend and I are making a run for the border tomorrow for some shopping, for all that stuff no one will ship to us poor Canadians, so I need my rest!
Well I managed to get some time to myself today and was a mad sewing . . . machine? I made 3 taggie blankies, and I must say working with that soft wonderful minky stuff is a bit of a pain. Then I made my son a shirt. I’ve had the plain white one sitting there for ages and ages. Since I was in a taggie sort of mood I whipped up a taggie steggie!
This was the last taggie blankie I made and words cannot describe how totally soft and wonderful the white fuzzy side feels! Plus the fun bright retro fabric is pretty cool too.
Got a few things lined up to work on while watching a movie. Let the productivity continue!
The night I managed to get 4 projects done this was the second one, a baby lap taggie blanket. I made these for my son about 4 years ago before he was born and I’ve been making them since to give as baby gifts. They’re the perfect size for in the stroller or car seat. Something to keep their legs a little bit warm, or out of the sun, and it has fun tags to play with.
I really like the cute little marbel print on this one. In the past I’ve used fleece for the inside, this was the first time I tried that super soft minky stuff. It was a bit of a pain to work with but it is waaay nicer to touch.
I was at a baby shower yesterday and along with the adorably cute baby girl clothes I shopped for I added in a pink taggie blankie I had made. I was flattered when it was the only gift passed around the room and everyone ‘ooohhh’ed and ‘ahhhh’ed over it.
