New fabric collection by Liberty of London

Lesleys A Tana Lawn fabric
Liberty of London is a design house based in London with a history dating back to 1875. They are a design house and also sell fabric in addition to products.  Their product is described as being cutting edge, savvy and avant-garde.  To the shopper they are probably most well known for their classic ditsy floral prints.  Pictured above is a print in Tana Lawn fabric which is a silky light weight cotton perfect for dresses, quilts and hair accessories. Liberty has branched out into many new categories; apparel, accessories,  stationery, lighting, home and more.

Peacock journal

 Two that are very exciting to me as a designer are their new line of quilting weight fabrics, the Bloomsbury collection and their collaboration with Nike.  

Nike featuring Liberty
The new Lifestyle Collection called Bloomsbury, consists of 11 prints in 5 colorways. These are retro, kitchsy, fun, and colorful! A perfect weight for dresses, totes,  aprons, quilts, table cloths, curtains and so much more.  The Bloomsbury collection is inspired by the historic district in London.  Rich in cultural history and home to the British Museum, the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts and the University of London.  This is an eclectic mix inspired by the abundance of flowers and plants in the area.

Beautiful!





If you are a designer or crafter definitely make a point of checking out these new fabrics. I think I will be making some aprons and dresses for my nieces with these bright, happy prints!

Happy Sewing!
Tracey

www.traceytoole.etsy.com
www.traceytoole.blogspot.com

5 Fun DIY Home Decor Ideas

In the next month or so, my roommate and I will be moving apartments.  Even though apartment-hunting can be kind of a nightmare here in NYC, I am excited about having a brand new space to decorate.  Lately, I've been pinning several fun and fairly easy DIY home decor ideas and I wanted to share some of my favorites here. I think any of these items would add such a sweet, personal touch to your home!






Tell me: Would you try any of these?

By Nnenna of star-crossed smile





Nordea Soaperie to the Operating Room, STAT!!

I participate in Craft Shows just about every weekend of the year. Of course, during the Winter months, most shows are indoors. But, once April comes around, it is pretty much outdoor shows until November.

One thing I cannot work without is my trusty 10x10 Canopy tent. It protects me and my products from the rain, sun, and most other outside forces. In 2009, I purchased a quality tent for around $300, and it has served me well all of these years. A couple of months ago, I was rushing to leave a show, and I couldn't get the tent to close easily. I forced it closed, and broke one of the bars. I discovered this error the next weekend when I opened it up and saw the broken bar. I had to hold the pieces together with bunjie cords, but it was very unstable. The next weekend, I broke another bar by not being careful when opening up the tent. I started to panic because buying another tent was out of the question (no money in the budget.)

Another vendor friend of mine suggested trying to get parts to fix the tent, instead of buying a brand new one. I am not sure why I didn't think of it, and promptly went online to check things out. Sure enough, the company did offer replacement parts! So, I placed my order for two new bars ($28 including shipping) and prepared to operate!

I am not really a fix it type of person, so I was a little nervous armed with only a screwdriver and high hopes. I happened to get around to fixing the tent on a really hot afternoon in June. The screws were a bit stubborn, but I was able to remove the broken bars and attach the new ones!

I am happy to report, that the surgery was a success! I opened up the tent two days later, and everything was fine. I am writing all of this to let other crafters know that when buying a tent, make sure you get one from a company that offers replacement parts! It will save you a lot of money in case you need to operate too.

Happy Crafting!

Nordea
nordeasoaperie

Make Your Own Lip Balm!


First, I would like to be honest…I am OBSESSED with lip balm. I have quite a number of them strewn about my apartment. There is one in all of my handbags, and I collect at least 5 of them from various pockets on laundry day.

Everyone asks me if it is difficult to make lip balm, and the answer is no. You can make a lip balm with just three ingredients! Making a lip balm that feels nice on the lips, goes on smoothly, etc. can take a bit of work. My formula took about 2 years and many, many trials before I was happy with it.

If you love lip balms like I do, then I am happy to help you get started!

The basic formula for a lip balm is 1/3 hard oils (oils/butters that remain solid at room temperature.) 1/3 soft oils (oils that remain liquid at room temperature) and 1/3 wax.

Some examples:
Hard Oils: Shea butter, Cocoa butter, Kokum butter, Mowrah butter, palm oil.

Soft Oils: Olive oil, Canola oil, Almond oil, Avocado oil, Grapeseed oil.

Waxes: Beeswax, Soy wax, Candelilla wax, Carnauba wax.

Creating a recipe by properly weighing your ingredients can avoid a lot of confusion down the road. A tablespoon of olive oil will not weigh the same as a tablespoon of beeswax, so weighing ingredients as you add them will help create an accurate recipe. This will help when making changes and taking notes. You can find basic kitchen scales at your local hardware store, supermarket, etc.

So, you will need your soft oil, hard oil, wax, a small saucepan (preferably one with a pouring lip,) a scale, pipettes, lip balm tubes, rubber bands, a clean plastic container w/a lid, popsicle sticks, toothpicks, and flavor oil (optional.)

Let’s start with 1oz olive oil, 1oz cocoa butter, 1 oz beeswax…

In the saucepan, melt all three ingredients on the stove over low heat. Mix well (I like to use popsicle sticks to stir,) remove the pan from heat and leave it to harden up. You can place the pan in the fridge to speed things up. Once it hardens up, scoop a bit off with a toothpick and try it out. If you want to add more olive oil, melt everything again on the stove, mix in (and take notes!) a bit more olive oil (maybe 1/2oz,) wait for the mixture to harden up, and try it again. It may take a few trials, but once you get the consistency that you are happy with, then you are ready to pour the balm into tubes.

Pour the mixture into the plastic container, leaving 1oz in the pan. Set the plastic container to the side. Lip balm mix can harden pretty quickly, so if you need to, place the saucepan back on the stove and melt again. Keep a close watch on the pan to prevent any scorching! Once melted, remove the pan again, wait a few minutes, then and add any flavor oils. If you are adding flavor, using your pipette, measure out 1/2ml and add to the 1oz mix in the pan.

1oz of lip balm mixture will fill 6 standard lip balm tubes. Take the 6 tubes, and gather them together with a rubber band. This will keep them steady and upright, making it easy to pour the ingredients in the tube. Slow and steady wins the race! Take your time and carefully pour the mix into the tubes. Don’t try to move the tubes, and leave them to harden up. Later on, you can clean up any spills with rubbing alcohol and paper towels. If the mix hardens up before you finish pouring all six tubes, just put the pan back on the stove, melt again, and continue.

The most important thing is to keep track of how much additional oils/wax you used. Let’s say you added an additional 1/2oz olive oil and 1/4oz cocoa butter. Now you know that your final formula would be 1.5oz olive oil, 1.25oz cocoa butter, and 1oz beeswax.

Of course, you still have more lip balm mix in the container, this will be the final lip balm base. Place the lid on the container, and store in your craft cabinet. When you are ready to make more balms, just scoop out 1oz, melt in the saucepan, add your flavor oil, and pour your balms…that’s it!

You can label the tubes with a permanent marker, or print a label on paper, cut to size, and attach it to the tubes using clear packing tape.

You can pick up some ingredients from the supermarket or health food store. Or, here is a site with just about everything you need to get started: From Nature With Love

You can make your balm with many different ingredient combinations, so have fun and experiment. Just make sure you keep proper notes, so if you come up with a winner, you will be able to make it again. You can use a combination of oils too, so let’s say you want your 1/3 liquid oils to include grapeseed oil, olive oil, avocado oil, and almond oil? Instead of using 1oz olive oil, you can start with 1/4oz of each. The possibilities are endless, so enjoy making your lip balms!

Nordea
nordeasoaperie

Unexpected color. Summer Sultry Sassy

Walking thru the streets of New York City is always inspirational.  In my opinion we have the best window displays.  The other day I saw a window at Kate Spade that totally caught my eye. A beautiful magenta, luxurious shade of purple dress. Personally, I am not a magenta, royal purple kind of gal  but this color made me stop. Maybe it's also the combination of the purple with the orange, red and brown. It got me thinking, this is a great color to wear for summer. Normally you see this color around Christmas and the holiday season in satins, silks and velvets. So I did a little virtual designing.




This fabric

Magenta linen from global weave from Purlsoho.com

Now that I found fabric in magenta I need a pattern. This is how I work. Fabric draws me in. I picked up the Built By Wendy Dresses book. There are quite a few patterns in the running: GI Jane, Two Tone Tunic, Parachute Dress or Shooting Star. You choose. You my readers, fellow artists, designers, crafters etc....  Which one should I attack?
I will be posting my thoughts and progress of the dress making process so be gentle on your selection. 



My disclaimer is that by trade I am a menswear designer and I do teach sewing but I am by no means a dress maker.

 In the meantime how about some more magenta?

Anne Davis on etsy

Belt J.Crew

The Kerrigan Dress at Kate Spade. Adorable with a drapey, poofy skirt and belted waist, split neck line but slightly out of my price range. I can look. :)
Or make one just like it. 
Don't forget to vote on which dress I should make!

Tracey
http://www.traceytoole.etsy.com/



Sending Out Christmas Cards

This time of the year I get that spoof Christmas song in my head based on the 12 Days of Christmas. You know it...the 12 Pains of Christmas. The Fourth thing at Christmas that's such a pain to most people is sending Christmas cards.

What? Why?! Obviously as a stationery maker, I look forward to sending AND receiving holiday cards, but I can understand...it's one more thing to do & an easy one to leave to the last minute. So! Here are some quick ways to get them done - all great cards that you can print at home!

Printable Christmas Card - Bird Wreath Greeting with Personalization Option


 


Last Chance Printable Christmas Cards DIY Digital File Deer Reindeer Antlers Woodland



Custom Printable Christmas Card Design


Sending Smiles :: Holiday Photo Cards

The above screen shot is of THIS treasury I did a few weeks ago. All of the items featured are photo holiday cards that you can print yourself. That's what I'm doing! Well, that's what I'm doing in the sense that I am taking my thumbdrive to CVS up the street & getting 5 x 7 prints made. Want to see??

{design by me, photo by NewNew member Kelley Gudahl}

Now all you need are envelopes! Hope your holidays are Merry & Bright!

Kerry