Je peux coudre 1

Translation: I can sew.

Clarification: I can sew simple things.

Recently I sewed a simple white tunic top with ruffles. The ruffles were pretty easy. Making and sewing bias tape was a new experience, but it wasn't too hard. Hardest part about it was attempting to turn the ties without a tube turner. I tried using a small knitting needle, but it went through the fabric. Long story short, I actually didn't want the ties super long... yes, I'm sticking with that story... and they're kind of stuffed at the ends without being turned fully. All in all I'm quite happy with the results. And it all started with raiding my mom's fabric stash... and she has a stash... but you can make such pretty things with it... I'm in the process of building my own :)

It's been raining for like, I don't know, two weeks? But lately it's been actually feeling like spring- it actually got to 70F today. And it was so sunny it was kind of hard for me to get decent pictures, especially wearing white and being so pale... but I tried... and then I tried editing so you could see the ruffle details and such. Needless to say, the lighting's a little off. Hope they're decent enough :)

When I left this morning it was still a little chilly so this is how I styled it- with a chambray button down that's a discard from my mom. Not sure of the exact year it's from... but it could be vintage (20yrs old). Love taking something old and making it new again :)

This is the pattern I used to make the tunic.

I also styled it with my wisteria branch bangles- made from actual branches that I selected from clippings destined for the green waste bin. I hand cut and formed them and allowed them to dry for several weeks. Then I wrapped embroidery floss around and hot glued the ends and added a charm; it says "mother earth".


Linked up here:

De Young Museum Trip in SF

On Tuesday I had the opportunity to go to San Francisco with my mom and some of her friends. We went to the De Young Fine Arts Museum for a special exhibit called the Bouquets to Arts. Basically it was a huge collection of floral arrangement pieces that were inspired by or based on existing pieces in the museum.

First off, I loved getting to go to SF. Granted we didn't have time to walk around- we all took a huge bus and only had 4 hours there- but even just looking out the window on the bus, I love all the architecture in the city, especially the Victorians.

This house looked so tiny compared to the others. Even the door to the gate looks so short.

Even though the main focus was the flowers, I couldn't help but marvel at some of the regular paintings. Especially the abstracts. Some of my faves:

Untitled XX (1977) by Willem de Kooning and Untitled (1949) by Mark Rothko



Rover's Garden Grows (1991) by Dale Chihuly and Italo Scanga; Ultramarine Stemmed Form with Orange (Persian Scenes) (1988) by Dale Chihuly

 I originally was just marvelling at the top half of Rover's Garden Grows... only after a moment did I even notice the bottom half... with Rover.

Here is one of the paintings next to it's accompanying floral arrangement. Love the colors.

And now, onto the flowers.

Not only were there conventional "arrangements" of flowers, but even things like a dog, a chair, and a dress either made out of or adorned with flowers. Such creativity! And so short-lived- as they are real flowers, the exhibit was only open for four days.




I love the bright colors... and random, but I'm pretty sure that fabric is from Ikea.




Even the space between exhibits is gorgeous.



On the way out, I found my fave pic of all, as my mom was telling me we had to get back to the bus. Can you guess what my favorite flower is? So bright and happy :)

P.S. can you tell I had fun experimenting with Picasa collages?

New items in the shop

Posted some new items in my etsy shop. Thought I'd give you a look here too :)

This ribbon tie necklace is definitely one of my faves! It can be worn long or short and grey is one of my favorite neutrals right now :)


So please head on over to the shop and see if something strikes your fancy!

Desk cleanup and organization

So one of the blogs that I absolutely love is I Heart Organizing. Jen's pictures are always gorgeous, her posts are always interesting, and her personality totally shines through in her writing. Her organizing and makeover posts, truly inspiring. Afterall, she does <3 organizing.

Inspired by her projects, I decided one of my own was in order, starting exactly where I'm sitting now.
My desk.
Was a complete mess.
It was a dumping ground for stuff, some of it not even mine... so a massive cleanout was definitely in order.

After assessing what I had, what had a different home, and what I actually needed to use in this space/what I actually wanted to look at, here are the results!

Inside the orange box I stashed all my electronics accessories- headphones, extra speakers, external hard drive, chargers, cords, etc.



I decided to turn the magnetic white board into an inspiration board with magazine cutouts of outfits and accessory ideas, etc.



A decorated soup can for pencil storage... and a daffodil to brighten the day- picked a few days ago as a first sign of spring... and it's raining outside today.

And of course, we love a good before and after :)

Dad's Finished BDay Gifts

As promised, here are the finished pictures of my Dad's birthday gifts.

The sunset photo cork coasters:

 And the wine cork picture holder:

This photo I used to demonstrate is very special to me. This is me as a little girl with my kitty Tabitha. We got her when I was 6 years old. Or I should say, she picked me when I was 6 years old. I was in first grade and one of the teacher's cat had had kittens. They had our class sit cross-legged in a circle and brought a kitten in to the center. She immediately came straight to me and curled up in my lap, kneading her paws on my tights. My teacher made me push her off so the other kids could get a chance to pet the kitty who was then named Goldy. I knew immediately that I had to have her, and eventually I was able to bring Tabitha home.

She lived a long and I hope happy life of 17 years and passed away on May 7, 2010. She was like a best friend, sister, and daughter all wrapped up into one and I miss her every day. She will always be my baby kitten and I only hope she is able to find some peace. Je t'adore toujours Tabitha Sue.

Le Début

So, my first post and here goes.
I decided to start this blog for 3 main purposes.

1) To promote my new Etsy shop BellesdeMichelle featuring handmade jewelry and accessories, hand knitted cowls/scarves, etc. I love creating new things and if you don't see exactly what you're looking for, or if you want something in a different color, pattern, etc. please let me know- I'd love to create a custom item for you!
         visit http://bellesdemichelle.etsy.com

2) as a way to connect with the blogging world, instead of just drooling over the ridiculously long list of blogs I love looking at all day... or night

and 3) as a way to document and share various craft projects, thoughts, and pretty things that catch my eye

As a way to start it off, I thought I'd share a few pics of the gifts I made for my Dad's recent birthday. I find that guys, my father in particular are especially hard to find gifts for that they will like or actually use. Women tend to appreciate the pretty stuff for their art and beauty, jewelry to dress up an outfit, or accessories to accentuate a home. Men, on the other hand are much more practical, less aesthetic.

I decided to focus on things my father loves- wine and sunsets. He loves watching the sunset so much we even have a sunset patio to enjoy in the evenings. He also loves to document them and take countless photos. And wine... he loves it... and has saved I believe every wine cork he has ever encountered... needless to say, there was lots of materials at my disposal- and I love to upcycle and give something a new life!
    
I went on his computer and found some gorgeous sunset photos and modpodged them onto coasters I cut out of sheets of cork. Wow, I put on like half a bottle of the stuff and sanded a few times in between several layers, but I think they came out nicely, and definitely a solid layer on top of the photos :)

I also made picture holders out of wine corks by carving them out and hot gluing them together.

I'll try to get some finished pictures of the coasters and the picture holder with an actual picture in it. It's hard to tell with guys, but I think he liked them :)