My Beaded Jewelry Consignment at Raspberry Junction

I moved my jewelry  to a cove space at Raspberry Junction   in Niantic, Conneticut.
A business that is just starting out and still has room for talented crafters.
My daughter helped me set up the space. I think it came out great what do you think?

 

 

Ikea Hack From Comforter to Slip Cover and Head Board

My daughter is a college student with a limited budget but we wanted to make her apartment stylish.

She had bought the sofa bed last year for her bed, this year she wanted to buy the bed and move the sofa bed into the living room.  Ikea doesn't offer a slipcover for her sofabed, so we had to think hard what we wanted to do. 

We made several trips to our local Ikea in New Haven to take measurements and make notes on what would work best. Because her school is over 1000 miles away I would need to either find room in the car for a sewing machine or buy one there. I was happy to see that Ikea offered an affordable machine.

Check out my review of the sewing machine here.

We decided on the king sized comforter with pillow covers in purple as it had the largest surface. At $39.99 it was a great price.

Here is the sofa bed and bed for the hack.

  

So I laid out the comforter on the sofa bed and carefully pinned where I would cut it. (measure twice cut once) I only had one chance to get it right so it took awhile. I mitered the front corners and used the nice binded edge for the front.

I opened up the seams and removed the zippers on the pillow covers and joined them with some scraps from the comforter. I left the pipping to give it great detail. Also the top piece is the contrasting color as the comforter is reversible. 

I used cardboard and foam to pad the headboard the cover slips right on and looks great.

My Etsy Shop is Getting Ready for Valentine's Day

Maybe it is a bit early. But I have started beading for Valentine's Day.

I did a beading demo at Raspberry Junction on Sunday. 

It took me awhile to decide what to bead. I decided that the hearts cuff was a good choice.

I also need to make more of the net heart necklaces.

 I have several variations of that.

Ribbon Storage

Just a quick note on my storage war. I buy ribbons that catch my eye. they end up in the bins that I store beads in. Then they come unwound and get all over. Or even worse roll out of the closet when I an trying to quickly find something.
I am kind of a hoarder of containers. I hate to throw them out. I might need them. A while ago when my daughter was home for the summer I bought her kind of expensive salad greens that came in a plastic container. It was there in the closet where I stashed it and I thought the ribbons should go in there.
So there they are nice and neat but easy to see.

New Christmas Ornaments

My latest project is to make Christmas Ornaments to sell in the Holly Berry Court at Raspberry Junction in Niantic, CT. If you are in the area check it out. They have 100% American Made Handmade Crafts.
My ornaments start with a white cotton fabric backed with wonderunder and stitch and tear stabilizer. I then used a rotary cutter to cut the shapes. I have 2 sizes. 2 inches and 1inch.

 

Then there are 2 choices I can bead the 3 sides first or stitch them together first. Here is the small one during the stitching.

 

Here is a photo of the larger one beaded before joining the sides.

Here is the large one beaded and joined.
I still have to decide how to add the fringe and loop.
I hope you like them. Please let me know in the comments below.

 

My Seashore Embroidery Hoop Art in my Etsy Shop

My newest addition to my shop is another Beach scene in a mixed media.

I used buttons and stones for the jetty.

I like the crab in the sea grass too.
And the high tide line on the beach with the egg casing. Have you ever opened one of those? They are full of tiny seashells.
On the dunes is a wind fence and the sea birds have taken wing.
I hope you like it. Let me know what you would like to see in the next one.

Crafting Space at Raspberry Junction

Renting space at Raspberry Junction in Niantic has been my latest endeavor. I did an artisan show one weekend in June. At that time the idea of a craft  mall with completely hand made USA products was proposed. It was exactly what I was searching for.
The jewelry spaces are in locked display cases and the employees are happy to show you any piece of jewelry you would like to touch.

A lot of the spaces were taken when I got there, but I was the first to set up. I had cataloged and tagged my pieces at home so I only needed to add my vendor # and check them off the list.
 Getting them in just the right arrangement of course took quite sometime.
I would like to think I picked some great pieces to display. I hope to change it up regularly to keep interest.

I can't wait to go back and see all the other crafts that will be displayed. The Grand opening is October 4th at 10am.
click here for directions.