7/31/2011

Seller Spotlight


During A Fair to Remember I was going around looking at all the cute booths and checking out everyone's handmade goods and one booth in particular caught my eye: Colortree Clothing.



Something about the booth just made me smile - the combination of the adorable animals, hand-stitched with care onto lovely little onesies for babies, the nice layout, the great colors and fabrics was awesome.



And Haley, the woman behind the work, was stitching behind the table and putting forward a friendly and welcoming attitude. She is awesome, her products are awesome, so therefore anyone who supposrts her is awesome by association, right?  ^_~

7/28/2011

A wonderful fair to remember...

I am happy to report that the craft fair I did this past weekend was a success! Not to mention a super fun time too. As always, the owls were the best seller, but the cake bunting sold well too which made me really really happy! I have a lot of work to do getting the stuff that is left up on my etsy shop, which I am committed to finishing as soon as possible. I will do little posts when I get a chunk of new products listed. So without further ado, here are some of my favorite pics I took at A Fair to Remember, and the rest, along with higher-res versions of these, can be found on my flickr set, here.

Firstly, I made some "special edition" owl pincushions for this fair. Meet my little baker's-dozen-strong army of Hipster Owls. They're so underground, you've probably never heard of them. Lol. I don't quite know where this idea came from, but I have a profound love for the hipster style and some of the culture, so I decided to pay homage to the counter culture I love so well:


They are all in plaid fabrics, most of them vintage, and they all have the same pins, which took me for-freaking-ever to hand-draw each one (13 owls x 6 pins = 78 little tiny pins). Each owl has the necessary hipster accouterments; big retro headphones, a moustache, a fixie bike, a film camera, a typewriter, and thick-rimmed glasses. I toyed with other options such as a PBR symbol or oxfords, but I am happy with what I chose:


And one other special thing about these guys is that I named them all after real-life hipsters I know. Guy, Vanessa, and even myself were immortalized in hipster owl glory, and we all sold. This one is of my new friend Alexavier, and he was by far my favorite of the bunch. He sold too.


Here is most of my half of the table:


The cake bunting was by far my favorite project I worked on for the fair, especially because Dennis helped me cut out the little flags. But almost more than the bunting itself, I am in love with the fake cake I made to display them:


We recently got some kits called "Whipple" at the toy store I where I work. They come with a bag of fake icing with a star tip and a bunch of little plastic play foods like tarts and ice cream cones to decorate, and it comes with a sheet of piping techniques. The icing reminds me of plaster once it is dry. So I just bought a refill pack and went to town. Oh, and the little sprinkles are the confetti left in my mini hole punch after the bunting was done!


Moustache Straws! I am in love with these. They took quite a while to make but they turned out so nice. You can slide the 'stache up to the top of the straw and use them as photo booth props too. Plus they are 100% biodegradable paper.


I had a whole little rack of earrings made from vintage Czech glass beads that were left over after I stopped selling them online. But while I was making these I cleaned out my stash a bit and will be listing them on my etsy shop too.


And the bird and mushroom clip ornaments from Christmas made an appearance. I don't have very many left now so I decided to put them on sale, $2.00 off the original price on all of them, so hurry over to the shop and snatch them up before they are all gone!


So here is our whole booth, and the lovely miss Aubrey Hebert who I had the pleasure of spending the day with as we hocked our wares:


She is the ultimate queen of cuteness, and everything she makes draws coos of "Oh how cuuuuute!" from everyone, especially me. One of her best sellers were her little decorative Bento Bears:


And she was selling the most amazing original watercolor paintings, and when I saw the little hipster boy one (His pet piggy has a moustache too... Squee!), I knew I had to have it. She fell in love with one of my loop scarves and we did a little trade.


And she did a bunch of hand-painted gift boxes which were so amazingly cute! The bunny tea one is in my possession now. She will be listing what is left on her etsy shop soon too!


Along with Aubrey, my friend Heideh contributed some beautiful crocheted coffee cozies (with a brilliant little rib at the top so it is comfy to hold), and reversible fabric headbands (also super comfy) to the table.


Here is one of our fellow vendors enjoying the cozy he traded a bar of the most delicious-smelling cinnamon spice soap to me for. His company is called Metaphor Organic and all of their soaps are vegan and use only the finest ingredients, all made by two guys with a passion for their lovely soaps. Check them out!


We had the pleasure of getting a spot right next to where the band was playing, and they were a-maze-ing! They are called Ash Reiter, and their sound has a lovely, fun, retro feel. Aubrey bought the CD and I bought an EP, and we were total nerds and and had the whole band sign them lol. They are playing again August 3rd at Cafe Van Kleef here in Oakland and I am SO there!



And here are the lovely ladies that invited me to sell at this sweet little fair in the first place, Abi and Jo of The Bird and the Butcher, along with their wonderful vintage goods:

And my happiest moments were of course when my friends came out. Thanks to everyone for supporting me, it means so much. (P.S. Kerri, you absolutely made my day and the fudge was amazing!)




Just wonderful. It happens every month in the warmer weather, so I hope to do it again soon. Thanks everyone!

7/26/2011

How-Tuesday #22!

For this How-Tuesday I want to showcase this one totally awesome recipe/video I found via www.honestlywtf.com:


Beet cake from tiger in a jar on Vimeo.

I. Seriously. Love. This.

7/22/2011

The Craft Fair Cometh...

One final reminder to all my friends in the area who want to come to the fair:


Sunday, July 24th from 11:00 a.m. till 6 p.m.
Jack Kerouac Alley, Next door to City Lights Booksellers
With handmade lovelies from Chase Clark, Aubrey Hebert, and Heideh Farahmand-Thomason
Mention you read this blog and receive 25% off all Oh the Cuteness! items!

Also check out my Pinterest board with all the bits and bobs that inspired this particular fairs worth of items here.

7/19/2011

How-Tuesday #21 and a Winner!

Hi all! I almost forgot it was Tuesday, time for another great bunch of how-to's. But first, I would like to congratulate everythingbut, as she is the winner of my book giveaway form last week's post! She is one of the authors over at the Fabricworm blog, and they are always having fabric giveaways and posting tons of great stuff so be sure to check them out! And now on to the tutorials... This week I have an owl apple cozy, newspaper seedling pots, and maple sticky buns!


Look at how freaking cute that is! Look at it! And bonus, there is a matching book bag pattern too! From Crochet Today, go get the pattern here.


These are such a fantastic idea! Little seed starters made from folded newspaper - biodegradable, eco-friendly, and inexpensive, what's not to love? Find out how to fold them here.


Oh man do I love sticky buns. This recipe sounds great, and her entire bog is stuffed with marvelous recipes. Check it out here.

7/07/2011

Upcoming Craft Fair and a Giveaway!

Hi all! I have been invited to sell at a little local craft fair in San Francisco on July 24th:


It is held in Jack Kerouac Alley, right next door to City Lights Booksellers, and it sounds like a really fun mix of vintage, craft, and food vendors. I will be sharing my table with the talented Miss Aubrey Hebert, and she will be selling little original watercolors starting at $10, and other little works of art too! Click on the picture above to check out the fair's website and get more information. If you happen to come by and tell me that you read my blog I will give you 25% off!

I have been in the mood to do paper crafts lately, and I recently purchased the book Handmade Weddings from Chronicle Books, and it is so wonderful - great color palettes, projects, and tons of ideas that can be used for way more than just weddings. For the craft fair I am making owls (of course), but they will be special ones (you will get to see them soon), and possibly loop scarves and fabric flower hair clips/brooches. The rest will be paper crafts, including bunting cake toppers, mini notebooks, and moustache straws, which I was working on last night:


In celebration of my paper-crafty mood I have a copy of The Art of Paper Jewelry by Marthe Le Van to give away! There are so many amazing how-to's in this book, and I love the fine art features as well. To enter the contest all you have to do is leave a comment here, and you will get another chance to win if you mouse over to my sidebar and Like my Oh the Cuteness! Facebook page. I have been meaning to set it up for some time now, but you need to get 25 likes to get the simple url to give out to people. I will announce the winner in one week, good luck!

7/06/2011

An Inspiring Vacation.

I recently got to visit my parents in my home town for Fathers Day weekend, and I had a lovely time. My family always makes me feel better about, well, everything. This particular trip was really great because I got a lot of encouragement when it comes to attaining my goals for the future. Oh, and some feather hair extensions, lol.


My lovely  sister always does my hair when I go to visit, and she always makes me feel fabulous! If anyone down on the central coast is looking for a great hair stylist I suggest you look her up. Aura at Salon 544. I mean, look at how cute she is! She is a genius when it comes to hair and a color specialist too. I would look like such a derp if it wasn't for her lol.




Mom and dad were happy to see me, and I grabbed these pics of them being goofballs (Which is hard because mom never used to let me take her picture, but she is so pretty!):




Anywho, mom and I went to downtown Paso for one of the days I was there and we went to our favorite shops, Birch Fabrics and Firefly. When I was a kid I wanted to open these shops in town, and of course when I decide to move away they open and seem to be doing quite well. Birch is in a lovely new location and they are starting to do their own line of fabrics. I snapped some pictures, but man, taking pictures of window displays is hard. Anyone have any tips for that? I just put them into Picnik and darkened the shadows and put a lomo filter on it. Anywho:







Super cute! And Firefly sells handmade goods and has an art gallery upstairs. I love this space and recognize a lot of etsy stuff:









And when I was in San Luis Obispo I got to stop by the new comic book shop, Dr. Cain's, which is owned by a friend of my sister. Awesome little shop, and a lot more central to downtown than Captain Nemo's:


All in all a lot of inspiration for my someday-shop. I love seeing small businesses that have awesome owners and are doing well during these hard times. I hope to join them someday!

7/05/2011

How-Tuesday #20!

Is it How-Tuesday again already? Time flies! This week I found chewy sugar cookies, a knit hat pattern, and clouds for the ceiling! Enjoy.


These sugar cookies are my favorite yet. They use brown sugar so they are really moist and chewy, almost like a chocolate chip cookie without the chips. Here is the recipe.


I love slouch beanies. It took me a while to come around, but I bought one and love it. I have been looking for a first cable pattern and this might be it. Check it out here.


Look at how cute those are! Such a simple, sweet idea. But this tutorial has a rather ingenious way to attach the fishing line to the clouds. I have to make these!

7/04/2011

15 Minute Babydoll Dress Tutorial

I am in love with baby doll dresses. They make you look like you have an hour-glass figure no matter your body type, they hide your tummy, and are so feminine and sweet. You can wear them to a fancy brunch or just to work. And its a no-brainer in the morning when I am half asleep and cannot put together an outfit to save my life. Plus they are super trendy right now, though I can't think of a time when they would be out of style. The problem I find is that so many are so gosh darned expensive for such a simple dress. Even Anthropologie has a couple, namely here and here, and both are over $100. Granted I have found a couple at Target for about $25, but I knew I could make one on the cheap in no time at all. And here she is:


Now, before you get all impressed I have to confess that I did not make this completely from scratch, but rather I made it out of one of my favorite old skirts and an old shirt:


The skirt can be seen multiple times in my self portrait challenge over on flickr, and I truly loved it, but when I lost some weight it just was not flattering on me anymore. Too big and too long, but too cool to get rid of. The shirt had never been the best fit on my figure, but I adored the button and neckline details and wore it from time to time.


I decided to put them together and make the ultimate dress, and if I hadn't been stopping every few seconds to take a picture, in total it must have taken all of 15 minutes. Wanna make one? Then grab an old skirt and shirt combo and follow me:


My skirt had a side zipper, so I decided to fit it to my waist by putting what is essentially a big pleat, or dart, in the back. (If your skirt has a back zipper, divide the excess evenly at both side seams and follow these same directions.) So, turn your skirt inside out and put it on backwards. (If you have a back zipper you can put it on frontwards.) Pull it up around your waist and gather the excess fabric until the skirt fits nicely:



Pin the excess together right where you are pinching so you will know where to sew the seam, and only pin down to the bottom of the waistband:



Then place pins in a nice even row and sew right down the middle, just to the bottom of the waist band:




Flatten out the little pleat, pin it, and tack it down with a few stitches so it won't be bulky in the end:



Now try the skirt on and make sure it fits:



And see, you cannot even tell there is a big pleat back there:



Now, you could stop here and have a nice waist-high skirt that you can wear with a lot of different tops, but I like the simplicity of a dress so I grabbed the shirt and put it on, then tucked it into the skirt, and pinned it all around. This would have been so much easier with someone to help me, but alas I was all on my own:




Now, carefully remove the dress without poking yourself, and stitch a straight seam all the way around the waist band, getting as close to the edge as possible so the top of it won't roll or fold over. 
Be sure not to sew across the zipper, as you will need to use it to get the dress on and off since the waist is so fitted. 
I actually like to start sewing at the side opposite the zipper and sew towards it, so that any excess fabric that might gather at the end will add extra give when the zipper is open.


When you finish sewing, try it on just to make sure everything fits, then trim off the bottom of the shirt, leaving about 4 inches to create a little "privacy flap" of fabric that can lay behind the zipper. So long as you are using cotton jersey you don't have to worry about hemming the cut edge. If the shirt you chose is any other material, be sure to zigzag stitch over the edge.


And feel free to embellish all you want. I added a couple of rows of red rickrack around the waistband. I don't know why more articles of clothing don't have rickrack, I just love it! 




I have a little pile of old skirts and shirts that I want to do this to now, and hopefully I will post the results soon! If anyone out there makes some of these I would absolutely love to see them!


If you have found this or any of my other free patterns useful and would like to help me keep creating them I accept PayPal donations!