Etsy Shop: Pear's Palette NOW LIVE!!

Hi all!  I just REopened my Etsy Shop!  http://www.etsy.com/people/PearsPalette

Please check out all the cool new things I have available!  I had first started my shop back in 2009 but quickly lost steam.  I love to paint but as it was then, I didn't know what to do first.  Since then I have been a fanatic about reading creative blogs and learning How Tos for handmade businesses!  Since then I have helped encourage others to make the first leaps toward successful businesses.  The whole while I have been learning from others, taking notes (quite literally) and biding my time while I find the perfect items that give me the pleasure to make, but also that are economical!  I've enjoyed making my new products and I'm pretty excited about where this can go in the future!

Here's a few of my products: 

Dark Blue Star Bobby Pins

Pink Bear Bobby Pins

Light Blue and Purple Star Bead Barrette

Light Blue and Sparkle Blue Star Bead Barrette

Orange, Yellow, White Button Barrette

 In the future here I hope to be adding some Mixed Media paintings.  I had a vision of painted canvas with beads, and so I made it happen!  Those will be posted soon, as well as some new ideas I am working on.  I love painting, but I tend to be a perfectionist and some paintings take more time!  Good for everyone right?

You can find more information here at my Facebook page (brand new): http://www.facebook.com/pages/Pears-Palette/211004365621624?sk=info

My YouTube (currently blank...will update): http://www.youtube.com/user/PearsPalette?feature=mhee

My Graphic Design: http://sites.google.com/site/christinapertz/

My Pinterest: http://pinterest.com/christinapertz/

My Etsy: http://www.etsy.com/people/PearsPalette

Crowdtap Sample Share: Old Navy Jeans!

I belong to an online group called Crowdtap.  Please read more information about it here: Crowdtap  One of the great things about it, you give your opinion, answer questions, participate in discussions, and then you raise money for charities.  I picked the Nature Conservatory.  There are about 5 options, all good choices of course!  :)

Another perk is participating in targeted discussions, some of my faves are to talk about Old Navy products.  I was recently approved to join an Old Navy Sample Share, basically I was mailed a coupon, 1 for me 1 for a friend, for a FREE pair of JEANS!!!  And so I/we headed to Old Navy to do some shopping!  I brought my sister along, but I do not have photos with her to share.  Both of us are rather shy to be taking glamor shot photos in a store!  So I tried on my own!

I'm posting the photos after the links!  I also went back, and got another pair!  I couldn't help myself!

I picked up the Sweetheart Skinny in the dark wash: Sweetheart Skinny

It fits great.  I will have to find photos showing me wearing my pretty flats with them!  I can't wait to find a pair of boots to go with them for the winter!

I went back for the Rock Star Super Skinny in black.  I thought I would need the Long size because the first time I tried it on they were too short.  Well this time they were just perfect!  Rock Star Super Skinny

Be on the lookout for me wearing these jeans in the future!  I was in Chicago for a few days and wore the Rock Stars out to a bar, but failed to get a photo.  I will try to remake the look for your guys!

These are my silver flats, my faves and now they go fantastic with my new skinny jeans!!!

Yes, this is me posing.  Trying to show off how good these skinny's fit me!  They feel so great on too!

This is supposed to be my "recreated" photo.  This is basically what I was wearing when I was at the bar.  Minus a different tank.  I'll try that out later and maybe post again!

I cut my head off on purpose, the face I was making was not pretty!  But like before, these jeans fit like a comfy glove!

Sorry its dark, the flash and light were on!

 Hopefully this is making you all want to go shop at Old Navy!  I know I want to go back, their tanks were on clearance when I was there last!

Almost Been a Month!

Since I've really made anything!  I'm working on some new projects right now.  My sister has a CriCut machine and we just scored CLEARANCE $19.99 cartridges!!!  So that was really exciting and I decided I would make my own Christmas cards....of course last year I happened to actually buy some after the holidays when they were cheap.  Maybe I will cut those up to use with the CriCut!

I've been throwing around the idea of actually stocking up my inventory and doing a craft show.  I thought, how hard could it be to stock up 100 items by November?!  Probably not hard if I could just settle on an item that I want to make!  My head is so ADD with crafting ideas, I haven't come up with 1 or even 2 ideas that are quick to make and aren't super pricey either.  I can't profit on these items if it takes me a few days (or weeks) and my supplies are expensive!  Michael's Crafts had a big sale plus a 15% everything including sale items, this past Sunday.  So I stocked up on paper and I've already used some of them to make an anniversary card for my sister and brother-in-law.  I was in a rush and using her CriCut before she got home from work, so I don't have photos to post!  But when I go over there next, I will take some pics to share here!

Winter Wonderland Cartridge

Wall Decor Cartridge

Upcycled Hair Barrette

For the past few days I've been simmering on an idea to use buttons and old hair accessories to make a new hair barrette.  Finally I decided to just dig in, I knew I'd feel better once finished!

Ingredients:
Misc buttons, beads, hair accessories
Hot glue gun
blank barrettes or other hair clips

Here is the before/after photo.  I have multiple blank hair clips just sitting around, so its easy to show you what it used to be -nothing!  I'm sure at one point it held a ribbon and we eventually just ripped that off.

So instead I used buttons we had around the house:

Which I sorted yesterday and as you can see, had a few set out in a row trying to decide what I wanted to do.  I'm also thinking of fancying up my flip flops with some buttons or old earrings.  (Process to come!)  So thats why I have so many laid out and grouped by color.

I also went through old hair accessories:

These are no doubt from when my sister and I were in grade school and used to wear the hair ties that you looped over with beads, because most of these have the loop on the back of them.  I just cut off the loop with my specialty kitchen shears (any store similar to Walmart should have them, they cut through bone!), and that worked really well.  Just be careful of flying pieces!

So basically all I did was plan out how I wanted the beads to look, them hot glued them one by one!  I think it looks super cute and I can't wait to pair it was a cute summer dress!  Its a pink monkey and pink banana! :-)

Restyled Mod Podge Fabric Purse

I love to go to garage sales.  Ever since I started following pages like Mod Podge Rocks! I've been really interested in trying some of the projects featured there.  The first big project I have tried is to remake a leather purse, and Mod Podge fabric to it for a whole new style!  I think I did a great job of it!  Please read on for my photos and my process :)

Here is the blog that inspired this project: Scissors & Spatulas for the tutorial.

Ingredients:

Buttons, brads, hair beads, etc.

Inexpensive garage sale purse (75 cents!) or other purse you no longer use

fabric scraps to cover outside or a medium/large size cotton shirt to cut up (I used garage sale tank, $1)

buttons or beads to accessorize  (see photo)

coordinating fabrics to accessorize

hot glue gun

decoupage glue or Mod Podge Matte ( I used Matte) or Fabric

Process:

First take your purse and line it up with the fabric.  I cut up a size Medium sleeveless shirt, however it looked like a large.  Cut off all seams, for me this was the bust because it was pleated.  Lay it out flat.  Its ok to iron the fabric at this point if you'd like no wrinkles.  Personally, I found after I decoupaged it the wrinkles disappeared.

Cut out the fabric and leave 1-2 inches for folding over.  Once you use decoupage, the ends will not fray.  I will admit, I'm not much for measuring, so I was missing some sections and had to double up cut strips in a few places, but not anything too noticeable.  If it bothers you, depending on the type of bag you are using, leave extra fabric along the sides for tucking in.

Traced flap and then cut along the blue line.

Next I cut a piece to fit my inner flap, but I used an old pair of jeans instead.  I have never worked with jean material before, but once decoupaged it became darker, scratchier, and stiff.  At the crease it does not stick well and I may have to re-glue that spot with hot glue.

I glued the jean down first, however depending on the how you want the seams to look, you may want to glue the outter fabric on, then the jean on top.  Check out my other photos before you make that decision.

After cutting and gluing it to the purse flap, I decoupaged the top of it to seal it down.  The Mod Podge dries clear, but in this case, it dried the jeans darker.

I also needed to cut the hole for the snap.  Next time, and I post the photos next to each other, use a razor or craft knife AFTER you glue it down.  Much easier and a cleaner cut!

Cut after glued, with craft knife.

Cut before glued, with scissors.

After I did the flap and once the fabric was all cut, I mocked it up.  This is my plan.  Its a thinner purse, but I misjudged the widening creases, extra fabric on the sides would have been better.  The black pieces are felt and the whitish strips are extra scraps from Fat Quarters.  

Mock up with other fabrics.

Next, glue down the fabric and pull it tightly around the purse.  I started with the "front" non-flap part.  Then I flipped it over, applied Mod Podge to a thin-medium consistency, and flattened the fabric along the entire length through the flap.  Pull tightly and smooth out with your hands to remove bubbles or wrinkles in the fabric.  Should dry fairly quickly.  Once mostly dry (or fully, your choice) continue to fold over the edges and glue down.  Check out how to do corners if you're looking for a cleaner look.

Curve along flap.

Corner of flap.

Inside "creases"

 The "creases", this was the hard part and where I didn't measure correctly!  Measure twice, cut once!  Obviously I didn't listen to that!  But still, it turned out well.  Once I figured that out, it was still fairly easy to push it in there and glue it down.

Spools to help dry decoupage glue.

This is how I let it dry, by placing to spools of thread inside to keep it open.  It was a little stiff once it dried, but since then its been perfectly fine!  And it looks so cute!

Handmade "rosettes" for front flap.

Here is my finished product of the "rosettes" that I made with strips of fabric that I folded tightly, before wrapping into circles.  Use a hot glue gun CAREFULLY to secure the fabric together as you circle.  I burnt myself twice, painfully!  So please use extra caution, get help if you need it!

And HERE is the finished product!  An adorable purse/clutch for me to take out!  Also, look how much I can stuff in there?!  I showed my sister and she thought it was so small!  Well, I don't carry much more than my phone and chapstick in my purse (usually several chapsticks/lip gloss!) so this is big enough for me! :)

I hope you enjoyed this little project and I definitely plan to do this again on other types of purses.  I may photograph and show that as well, depending on how different it is.

Look forward to more decoupage projects or other upcycles!  Or other cute crafts I find!

Thanks for tuning in!

Hello everyone!  Thanks for finding me, and welcome to the very first post on my blog Me and My Crafts.  I hope you enjoy my findings and the processes I go through while I recycle, upcycle, and just plain refinish things!  I love to craft and I'm really excited to share my crafting journey with you!  Feel free to check out my projects and share some feedback!