New look for designed by Diana!

I had been toying with a new look for designed by Diana for a while now. I loved my previous logo, but I felt it was too much about the aprons. Though I still love my retro aprons, I feel that I've expanded to so many other things. I didn't want to be boxed in as the apron girl, when I'm also the baking girl, and the running girl.

Thankfully with FL Blog Con looming, it gave me the jump start I needed to get moving with a design overhaul for designed by Diana.

I know I wanted something clean and simple, just highlighting designed by Diana. I've been on a green kick lately, and I love me some grey, so I went out hunting.

Luckily Danielle over at Sometimes Sweet had recently redone her blog with one of the templates from 17th Avenue Designs. I visited their site after seeing Danielle's clean simple new layout and fell in love. This is exactly the kind of things I was looking for. And installing this template would be a LOT easier than trying to figure this all out myself, as I had in the past.

I went over to the site, found a great template and a few add-ons that I knew would make my site feel more me. I'm loving the result!

How do you like the new designed by Diana?

(NOTE: I was not compensated for this nor did I receive my template for free. I just really loved it.)

Little projects... a wallet

I had the urge to sew this week, so I decided to whip myself up a new wallet. I originally wanted to make the dress I mentioned in the patterns post last week, but that pattern was sold out at my JoAnn's. I remembered that I had bought some fabric a few weeks ago to make myself a new wallet so it was time to finally get it done.

As you can see my old wallet has seen better days. I made both from my D wallet pattern. I love this pattern because it gives you so much storage in a compact size. Plus it was the first pattern that I really made myself from scratch, so it holds a special place for me.

As you can see, my old wallet had seen better days. I tend to run my wallets into the ground. That's what's great about making my own, as soon as one wears out I can just make myself a new one.

If you want to see more of my wallets, you can always check out the store. I will be adding more wallets soon. I always forget how easy they are to whip up until I make one.

How big is your wallet?

Back to the machine: custom apron order

I have been getting a few orders on the store lately. One is currently traveling around the globe and will be arriving in Norway soon. The other was a custom order. I love doing custom orders. It's great to take one of my ideas and adapt it to meet someone's ideas perfectly.

These girls aprons were all inspired by the Kids Everyday Pretty apron on the far right. I know matchy-matchy is so passé, but I really love the coordinating aprons. I can't wait to see them on their new little owners.

I have another custom order in the works (for some handbags, my first sewing love) and hope to show those off soon. Remember, if you ever need a special item sewn up for any occasion or just because, let me know and shoot me an email. I love to work with people to make things!

I'm in the Miami Herald

Guess who's in the Miami Herald today? None other than yours truly!

 

I was interviewed for an article on Miami Etsians a few weeks back and totally forgot about it. It's a great way to start of the holiday shopping season.

Check out the article and read all about it.

Odd Duck 2012

Yesterday was Odd Duck Bazaar. This year they changed locations from the previous years and it was held at the Hollywood Central Preforming Arts Center.

There were over 80 vendors this year. Some were located inside and there were more located outside. It was a really great mix of vendors at the show there was a little bit of everything.

We were on the inside. Here's my booth. I had aprons for the whole family this year and had lots of aprons that were good for little boys or girls and for the big boys and girls too.

 

You know I had to do a retro look for the show, and Mom and I went for a "Rosie the Riveter" look this time. I have no idea why everyone thought we were trying to look like Lucy. Maybe the red hair threw them off.

 
I debuted my new reversible fabric headbands at the show. (This is the mysterious item you may have seen in this weeks WIP.) I think they looked pretty cute. The other side of the headbands were a solid color fabric, so you have more options wearing them. I came back home with a lot less of these. I hope to have them on the store soon.

It was really great seeing all my crafty friends and scooping up some of their goodies (I came home with a vintage purse from Fab Finds and Designs and some delicious Strawberry Margarita Jam from Our Lady of Perpetual Pickles).

A huge thanks to everyone that came out today and shopped with me and the other great vendors. I hope to hear back from a few of you for your custom orders!

Featured in the New Times

That's right, yours truly is featured in the Miami New Times culture blog, The Cultist!

I was named one of five Miami Etsy Artists to watch. Check out the article here.

This was a total shock and surprise, but a great way to start out the new year!!

5, 4, 3, 2, 1 things about me!

While 2011 is wrapping up, I'm taking Craft:'s call to share my 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 things. So here goes:

One Project You Are Particularly Proud Of

Without a doubt Handmade Miami! I never thought I'd be part of starting a craft group here in Miami, but I'm so glad I did. I still can't believe that in under 2 years it has turned into what it has become. It's given me the chance to teach my craft and learn from so many others. Plus I've met some great people and have made some truly awesome friends. Crafty friends are awesome, they just get you!


Two Mistakes You've Made in the Past
1. Doing the wrong kind of craft shows. I've signed up for tons and some are great and some are not. Now, after all of the experience of doing so many, I can tell which ones are a good fit for me. Without doing the bad shows I would never know what the good ones are though.
2. I gave myself a lovely cut along my thigh while rotary cutting on my bed and accidentally leaving the blade open. I didn't even notice til I saw blood. Thankfully, it wasn't too bad (and I didn't bleed on the fabric). I've learned now to always close the rotary cutter between cuts!!

Three Things That Make Your Work Unique

 1. The retro vibe

2. Bright colors and fun prints

3. Great quality. I make my stuff to be as good or better than store bought.

Four Tools You Love to Use

1. my sewing machine, "Sewphia"

 2. rotary cutter

 

3. my bias tape maker! best machine ever

4. a sharpened dowel (for turning out straps)

Five Inspirations

1. The show Mad Men. The awesome 60s fashions are just amazing... and I can't get enough of Joan, Peggy or Don Draper!

2. Fabric. I have an entirely too huge stash of it just waiting to be worked on. When I see a cool print I just have to have it.

3. Pinterest. I've become a pinning queen. I have an entire board dedicated to "crafty tutorials I will complete one day."

4. Blogs. I read all kinds of blogs: fashion, food, craft, makeup, just general, but they all inspire me. Seeing what others are doing and/or making really inspires me to get out there and do it too.

5. Old pictures. I have tons of old pics of the family. These pics are awesome real-life inspiration. The fashions and hairstyles are so amazing.

 

So that's my 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 things...  Grab the button and add your 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 to your blog too!

Making labels

Lots of my crafty friends ask me how I make the labels that I put on everything I make. It's actually pretty easy to make them yourself. So since I'm making more labels to continue making all of my stock for the Craft Carnival, I thought I'd show you how I do it.

I have a file already set up where I can print 36 labels on one sheet. I set it up in photoshop to make the labels about 1" x 2". My labels are just my company logo and my website address underneath it. This way if you lose the business card I include in most orders, you can see the site on your actual items.

I use pritable fabric to make the labels. This is the brand I use, you can find it at JoAnn's. I usually get it with a coupon, so I think it comes out to about $3-4 for a pack of 6 sheets (which comes out to like 1 cent per label). There are different types of fabric you can choose from, but I like to get the cotton poplin. Since I work with mostly cotton, I like that it's the same as what the rest of the material is. And the poplin isn't thick, so it doesn't create bulk where the label is sewn on.

Next all you have to do is put it in your printer and print. You don't have to change it to be the mirror image (like you do with iron on transfers). I don't even change the paper settings. The one thing you have to pay attention to, is to make sure you are printing on the fabric side of the sheet. There is one side of the sheet that is paper and the other side it fabric, so just make sure you are printing on the fabric side.

Now that they're printed, you can peel them off of the backing paper. (If you have a different brand, just follow the manufacturer's instructions). At this point my instructions have me rinse the fabric under water until it runs clear. This is just to get the extra ink off of the surface. I never have to rinse for too long. Then you have to dry the fabric sheet. I start my drying by placing the sheet between some towels, and then finish off the drying with an iron--cause I'm impatient like that.

After your label sheet is all dry you can start cutting them out. I like to use a ruler and rotary cutter, cause it makes it so easy to get the whole sheet cut out pretty fast. 

Now here's one of my secrets. Since the fabric is woven and will start to fray, I seal all of the edges with fray check. The fray check keeps the fraying at a minimum and dries clear, so you can't even tell it's there. This is the most time consuming part of the process, since you have to fray check all four sides of the label. But just sit back and watch some TV and you'll be done in no time. When I'm done applying the fray check, I also lay the labels out flat to dry. If you stack them all up when the fray check is still wet, the edges will dry together, and then you have to pull them apart. It won't take too long for the fray check to dry on these.

When you're all done, you'll have a little stack of your own labels ready to be sewn into everything you make. It really gives your handmade items a little polish to have your labels sewn into them. And making them yourself is way less expensive than having those custom labels printed.

I hope this helps all you crafty business people out there. And even if you are just making a gift, having your name in there lets the person know that you're the one that made it. I think it's a great little touch to include one on everything you make. Do you put labels in the things that you make?

Odd Duck Bazaar 2011

Now that my internet is back, I can finally tell you about the great show I did last weekend. It was the second annual Odd Duck Bazaar hosted by the Hollywood Craft Mafia. This was a great show that I attended last year, and am so happy to have been a vendor this year.

Odd Duck was held in the Old Davie School. It's a historic building in Davie, Florida (near Ft. Lauderale) and it was a great location. There were three shopping areas, the upstairs area, a downstairs area, and outside under the tent. And then the tiki hut was where the food and DIY area was. All of the spaces had great vendors. I was in the upstairs area and had some great neighbors, Sherry from Annie's Cupboards and Tiffany from Pumpkin Pye Boutique. The upstairs room was nice and bright with all of its large windows, but best of all was air-conditioned. I really appreciated it in the South Florida springtime.

With my trusty assistant, Mom, we set up the booth. I got some new stuff for my booth set up, to go along with my new banner with the new logo on it. We hung up all the aprons and before you knew it the customers started pouring in. The line was pretty long full of customers waiting to get in. And they didn't stop coming in all afternoon!

I got a chance to walk around the show a bit to go around and see all of my crafty friends. It was so nice to see so many of them in person instead of on Facebook. As I walked around I got compliments on my hair. I did it up in some big victory rolls to get that 40s look. And even with all that humidity, my hair held up pretty well.

I do have to say that one of my favorite customers of the day was my friend Vanessa's little girl, Sophia. Sophie loved her apron and spent lots of time checking herself out in the mirror, twirling around. She was so cute! And she looked adorable in her apron, that even matched the headband she was wearing.

It was a great show and I have to give a huge thank you once again to the Hollywood Craft Mafia for putting on such a great show. I had a great time, hung out with some great people and met some great new ones too. I can't wait til next year's Odd Duck! If you are in the South Florida area, sign up to the Odd Duck newsletter to find out when next year's show will be!

The Mini ManApron

For a while now, I've been wanting to make this for my shop. An apron for the little boys out there. I have one for the big guys, and now the little guys can have cool aprons to cook and play in too!

I made my first Mini ManApron for my nephew. He rocked his apron doing crafts and making cupcakes. I made a few adjustments, and now have a great little apron for everyone!

The Mini ManApron is just that, a mini size of my ManApron. It has the super long waist ties, so you can tie up front or in the back, and a kid-sized pocket, in case your little chef needs to keep some tools handy. Most aprons I'd seen were solid colors and so boring. So just like the rest of the designed by Diana aprons, I made them in cool prints. This first one has trees on it. But keep checking the store to see what other prints are coming soon.

Though it's called the Mini ManApron, this little butcher style apron would work well for girls too. And any size kid can wear this apron, since both the neck and waist ties give plenty of room for it to fit any kid.

I'm so happy to finally have aprons for the entire family! So what do you think of the new Mini ManApron?

Stitch Rock 2010

Hey everyone! Sorry I've been away so long but it's been really busy lately. I was lucky enough to be accepted into Stitch Rock 2010. I found out about it a couple of weeks before the show, so I had to re-arrange a few things (like the Lady Grey Sew-Along) in order to get ready for it. So I sewed my heart out and last weekend (October 2nd) my mom and I headed up to Delray Beach for Stitch Rock.

This year my booth was in the outside vendor tent. The tent had about 15 vendors in it and made the inside room way roomier to get around in. It was a bit hot outside, but luckily not as bad as it had been in the previous weeks. And those first 100 show attendees that waited in the sun got the much anticipated goodie bags. And I have to tell you there was some great stuff in there this year.

So I set up my booth under the tent. My new clothes rack was almost completely full of aprons. There were half aprons and full aprons, ones for girls and women and even a few for the men. And as always, I had wallets and pouches. They are always such a hit. Plus, I had my new insulated lunchboxes with me too this year. They are so cute and perfect for taking your lunch to work or school while keeping it cool (I had no intention of that rhyming). I've gotta get working on a new lunchbox for me now.

There were lots of shoppers at Stitch Rock and I got to see lots of my crafty friends that I've met through shows like this. It's always so great to be around the crafty peeps. One of my best friends even came down from Orlando to come see the show.

While I was going around checking out the other crafters at the show, seems like mom was the hit of the afternoon. We both appear in a pic on pbpulse.com and she appeared in the New Times slideshow of Stitch Rock. Check out her cute pic taken by Monica McGivern. Seems Mom was a popular girl!

I was also super proud this year to be representing Handmade Miami! Our little group is only a few months old, but we had lots of interest in our crafter-noons and business workshops. Hopefully we'll be putting on our own show before you know it.

A huge, huge thanks has to go out to the #1 Stitch Rocker, the lady who puts on this show year after year, Amanda Linton. Thanks again for putting on a great show that really lets the indie crafter shine.

I hope to see plenty more of you at Stitch Rock next year. I hope to be there again with cool new items and more stuff for you to enjoy!