He wore it!

Even though the weather was warmer today, sweet hubby still wore a blazer (and my felt flower lapel pin) to work.

Shnazzy!

DIY Felt Flower Lapel Pin / Boutonniere

It's official!  Fall is now upon us.

With cooler temperatures rolling in, Hubby, Baby Chuck, and I are changing up our wardrobes.  We're putting on long sleeve shirts and pants, no longer shaving our legs (oh wait, that's just me- tmi?), putting on shoes instead of sandals (goodbye sandal tan), and wearing jackets.

Hubby been looking forward to fall ever since we've moved back east because he loves wearing jackets to work.  As a serious lover of all things stylish, he's also hinted that he'd love some small flowers to adorn his lapel (as seen here.)  I peeked around the internet for inspiration and then set out to make him some felt flower lapel pins.      

Here are the materials I used:
- freezer paper
- good scissors
- pencil
- felt in an assortment of colors  (*See note below) 
- iron
- hot glue gun
- bobby pin(s)
- needle and thread

*Note:  I bought cheap polyester felt from the craft store.  (30 cents a piece?  You just can't beat that price.) You would definitely get a more polished look if you purchased nicer wool felt.  We initially created these pins as mockups, thinking that we'd create real ones with wool felt later on.  But, the pins came out so nice that we just decided to use them.  How long will the pins last?  Will they quickly look ratty?  I'm not sure.  Let's see what happens once hubby starts wearing them to work.

Step 1:  I created a flower pattern that was kind of Van Cleef & Arpels meets Orla Kiely.  I traced that pattern onto freezer paper and ironed it (waxy side down) to adhere the paper to my felt.  This process make it easier to cleanly cut my tiny felt shapes out.  (Special thanks to Make It Cozee for the tip!)

Step 2:  I cut out my flower shapes, circle shapes (flower centers), and square shapes (flower backs).

Step 3:  I used a hot glue gun  (it was my first time using one!!!) to glue the squares onto the flowers.  I did this so that my flowers pins would feel a bit more substantial, since I used cheapy felt.  Plus, I didn't want my stitches (step 4) to be visible. 

Step 4:  After the glue dried, I sewed a bobby pin to each square, making sure to not sew through the front of the flower.

Step 5:  I hot glued a circle to each flower to complete my little garden of felt flower lapel pins.

Here's how the pin looks on hubby's jacket.  I just slipped the bobby pin through the lapel buttonhole.  (Note:  I had to cut the hole first because it was sewn shut.)

I think the pins came out super cute and add just the right touch of whimsy.  They'll definitely spruce up hubby's work outfit.  Hmm, but why stop at just work outfits?  I bet these little guys would also look really cute as wedding boutonnieres too... don't you think? 

NY Renaissance Faire

When I was younger, I dressed up as a tree nymph for Halloween, read a lot of fantasy novels, and dabbled in Dungeons and Dragons.  This past weekend I relived my geeky past when we visited the NY Renaissance Faire.  It was fantastic seeing people in costumes and experiencing a bit of make believe and fantasy with hubby and Baby Chuck.

Crapty Fridays- T-shirt scarf (and ugly necklace)

Ok, let me just preface this post with this warning:
Warning!  This crapt ended up looking like crap.

Hubby had a t-shirt with a hole in the armpit, so instead of tossing it out (or using it as a rag), I cut it up and created a multi-strand scarf.

Step 1:  I cut the shirt across the armpit and then I cut off the bottom hem.

Step 2:  Then, I cut horizontal strips about 1inch in width.  I made sure to stop about an inch from the left seam so that I was left with connected loops.

Step 3:  I stretched the shirt.  Does this count as exercising?  (Note:  I didn't really stretch it with my foot.  This was just my way of showing it being stretched while using both hands to take a photo. )

Step 4:  My almost finished scarf- I decided not to sew a strap of fabric around all the loops  (Note:  Make sure you cut the strands about the same width in step 2.  Otherwise you end up with different size loops like I did.)

I wasn't too impressed with my resulting scarf, so I ended up cutting the loops up to create very long strands.  But what to do with them?  I fiddled and braided and ended up making this necklace:

I was trying to make something that looked a bit bohemian, but it ended up just looking... well... crapty.  Hubby said it resembled a noose.   

Ok, the scarf looked alright, but the necklace was definitely a dud.  But that's the joy of crapting!  It was bound for the trash anyway, so not to worry.  (Hmm, maybe I should have labeled this post as an anti-DIY?)

Hope you have a great weekend.  Baby Chuck and I are really looking forward to having hubby around.