Floral Hair Clip Frenzy

Little did I know that making floral hair clips could consume my entire evening, or that 2 of 3 would be purchased before finished my morning coffee.

My very first clip, and it's MINE all MINE!

But I'm excited to share a few photos of my evening.

Jean claimed this clip first, beating Lora to the punch

Claimed by Nicole

This floral clip is still available for sale, in my etsy store

The one clip that is left can be found here: http://www.etsy.com/listing/71194578/summer-fireworks-red-yellow-blue-floral Looks like I'll be making many more clips next week!

New Ideas, Overflowing Inspiration

I've been spinning like a madwoman for the past several weeks, and now suddenly I have the urge to weave. The first idea bouncing around in my head is to learn the fundamentals of Backstrap Weaving. This site in particular, Backstrap Weaving by Laverne Waddington, just sends my brain into over-time with inspiration and excitement. She's truly a master of weaving, story-telling, and inspirational photography.

There was a post I read about making circular rugs from t-shirt scraps on a hula-hoop frame. Suddenly I feel like going home, cutting up all the t-shirts I'll never wear, and weaving or crocheting rag rugs. I can easily picture that turning into an investment in some good fabric dyes, to supplement the colors already found in my t-shirt stash.

http://familyfun.go.com/crafts/hula-hoop-rug-995304/

Hula Hoop Rug
by Nicole Blasenak Shapiro From FamilyFun Magazine

I've also been itching to spend more evenings making floral hair clips, both to increase my own stash to wear while dancing and to sell on etsy and at dance events. And speaking of dance, I'm finally well-stocked on skirts and hip belts, so I really want to sew several pairs of pants for my costume closet. And then I want to embroidery and stitch together fancy hip belts and tassel belts.


How about you? What projects are lurking in your brain, inspiring you to get into creative production mode?

Hair Clips with Flowers

I made this hair clip for Lorissa, in time for our Belly-dance Hafla a few weeks ago. She wore it to our dance class Thursday, so that I could take a nice photo.

A single hair clip with multiple flowers, using:
Fabric and paper flowers, hot glue, sewing thread, craft gem

(Zoom in on a Full-sized photo here)

Bulky Goth St. Paddy's Day

Some quick photos of new yarn that I spun for myself: a Bulky yarn for a St. Patrick's day party at a Goth club with a Tribal belly dance troupe. I'll be wearing this in my hair tonight.

The yarn has been separated into two ponytail holders and will be worn in my hair tonight.

Black natural merino wool blended with bits of naturally dyed wool, dyed wool locks,
sari silk threads, and wool blends with firestar sparkle threads

Extremely bulky 2-ply yarn. Some thick/thin variation, the largest sections are almost 3/4-inch thick.

More photos: http://www.cayswann.com/v/Projects/2011/crafty_projects/?g2_page=4

Photographing the "Red Dirt Girl" silk

At the Fiber Frolic (http://griffindyeworks.com), a close friend decided to have a "trunk sale" to sell off some of her spinning fibers stash, rather than hoard it and never spin it. I picked up tons of great bargains from her, and started working on the silk right away.

The custom dye lot was named "Red Dirt Girl" and in honor of the artisan who did the dyeing, I've continued to call the yarn by this name. On my way to lunch, I took a few pictures of my current progress. I will post full statistics later, but this yarn already has a buyer. I suppose I'm just teasing you with beautiful yarn that you cannot purchase... but it is very pretty.

Silk, 2-ply, hand-spun on a drop-spindle, "red dirt girl" colorway

Three bumps of silk are spun and plied, last one is on the spindle

More photos here: http://www.cayswann.com/v/Projects/2011/etsy_yarn/

That's all. I just wanted to share some pretty photos with you.