Happy Love Day!

Happy Valentine's Day, friends!

Alexander Girard's 1967 "International Heart" says love in 16 languages. :)

Barney the whale.

I'm slowly getting more adventurous with my sewing projects, and I'm really having fun with it! Months ago I saw this pin of a fabric whale on Pinterest and thought it was the sweetest. The original pin source is in Finnish, but there were some helpful photographs of the steps. So, last December, armed with some fabric and a little time, I decided to dive in and get started making one for my niece for Christmas!



I used a oatmeal fabric for the underside and a vintage deep blue cotton for the rest of the body, fins, and tail. I sketched out some rough pattern shapes on tracing paper, knowing I'd probably make a few adjustments here and there while I was sewing. Once I had all of the pieces assembled I tweaked the seams here and there to get the proportions too look right.





I didn't have any big black beads for the eyes, so I embroidered the oatmeal fabric using blue thread and added a small black bead to the center. I wanted to give this guy a little extra character, so I sewed on silver, gold, and pink sequins for barnacles! Too cute! After that, all that was left to do was to stuff it up and sew it closed. Once the first whale was done, I knew my heart would break giving him away, so I made another one for myself to keep.



Here he is! I named him Barney after all of his bling-bling barnacles. :)

Keeping busy.

I've lived in my current apartment for almost a year now, and all of a sudden I have this nagging desire to paint my living room. The room has one large north-east facing window under a deep porch overhang. Needless to say, it doesn't get much light, and the builders-grade white/beige just looks drab and dingy. The walls haven't been painted in (I'm guessing) about 10 years anyway, so a paint job is definitely overdue. So I'm going to zip over to Home Depot over the weekend and get a couple samples to try out. I read that paints with yellow undertones can help to warm up rooms with little natural light, so those are the paint chips that I selected to try out.

I taped them up on the wall last weekend and so far this color, Glidden's Gold Coast White (marked on the photo) is my favorite. It's crazy because looks like a light taupe when it's up on the wall, not at all like it looked in daylight and it really changes throughout the day. It's amazing what light can do to colors.

And now I'm sitting here wondering how I'll unload and move my 6' tall bookcase. Hmm, I'll have to figure it out. No turning back now!

DIY: Origami winged heart cupcake toppers

I think my favorite memories of Valentine's Day were from when I was a kid in elementary school. Not only did we get to make our own mail boxes for all the valentines we'd get (so fun), but we usually had a ton of desserts to feast on at the end of the day. What kid doesn't love a sugar rush? These origami heart cupcake toppers are not only fun to make, they remind me of those festive love-themed treats that I enjoyed at school as a kid.

Here's what you'll need:

• Origami paper. 2 3/4" squares worked well with mini cupcakes. Increase the paper size for standard cupcakes
• Toothpicks
• Bone folder, if you have one
• Low-heat hot glue gun

I learned the origami heart technique from this YouTube video. I took photos of each step to help you with the process, but make sure to watch the video if you're confused by any of the transitions. It may be worthwhile to try the technique with a larger piece of paper first to better understand the folds. Let's get started!

With the pattern or color down, fold the paper square in half, both ways, and unfold. Fold one side of sheet to the center and crease. Flip over. Fold top corner of each side of sheet to the center line. Flip over. Fold each side of the paper to the center line, and unfold. Flip over. Flip the top layer of paper up and flatten (see the video for more detail). Fold bottom section up to meet crease line. Flip the inside flaps out to form the wings. Fold this flap up, in half, and crease.

The next few steps form fan-type folds in the wings, folding each area you just created in half. It can be tricky to get narrow folds in with such a small piece of paper, so use your bone folder to reinforce the creases. Fold each corner of the top of the hearts down and to the center. Fold the heart tops down. Crimp the center of the wings with your fingernail, and flatten and spread out the wing ends.

Flip over. You're done with your winged heart!


To attach to the toothpick, flip over, add a dab of hot glue to the top of the toothpick, and scoot it under the wings. I added a weight to the top of the hearts and toothpicks while the glue dried, to ensure that they dried flat.


Make a bunch! Add your handmade toppers to a batch of mini cupcakes and they're ready to go to your next Valentine's Day party!

Happy weekend!

Happy weekend, friends! January just flew by, didn't it? I'm working on a few new DIY projects for the blog and a few new products for my Etsy shops so I've been keeping myself busy!

I recently bought a 50mm lens for my DSLR and I've been having a lot of fun trying it out in different settings. It's really great for low-light detail shots like these that I snapped of my mini tulips as they turn translucent and drop their petals. 





I took all of these photos in the evening with light from a single lamp. I love the detail the lens captures and the soft bokeh effect it gives to the background. I'll definitely be spending more time getting to know this lens, but so far I'm loving it! Have a wonderful weekend!