Round Top Flea Market - My Home Away from Home

I made it through 3 days of the spring Round Top flea market unscathed and with some pretty amazing scores. Today I give you my bi-annual pictorial roundup to rub the awesomeness of the whole thing in the faces of those who didn't make it and remind those who did of all the glory.



Clowns are always a popular flea market theme. My friend Karly tried to talk me into the child's table and chair set in the top picture, but alas I am holding out for something that matches my existing patio furniture a bit better.



Tallulah enjoyed her 2nd trip to Round Top (3rd if in-utero counts). One day she stayed home with daddy, another day she spent with grandma (not my mom duh she was with me shopping all 3 days) and then one day she spent shopping like a champ. I even got her a new rocking horse.





I always score lots of goodies for craft projects at Round Top. The two wall paper sample books made my heart go pitter patter, I might make myself some new canisters. I have a few top secret plans in mind for the knitting needles and tin cups and plates. The coffee canister and vitamin powder can will soon be converted into planters.




Just in time for Easter I found a few new welcome additions to my collection. The little pink bunny that says 'Small Wonder' made me giggle.


Speaking of adding to my collections I found a few Fisher Price goodies including this little circus train.




One of my fave stops at Round Top is Clutter (and chipotle egg salad at Sack Lunch, yum!). I love the clever Barkcloth fabric display, maybe I'll do something like this with some of the wallpaper samples in my new books.





I love craft spotting at flea markets. I have a thing for vintage craft projects like the little owl. The rebar was a new spin on the bottle tree. I wanted some of those recycled metal flowers for my yard. If the molds for the doll heads had not been so pricey they would have been mine.





It's not too late to snag some of these treasures for yourself, Round Top goes through this coming Sunday. If you can't make it this weekend pencil in the first weekend of October. I'll see ya then.

I Love to Create - Easter Egg Mosaic Earrings

Here comes Peter Cottontail, hopping down the bunny trail. You know what that means, time to put on your Easter craft thinking caps. In a random stroke of luck I recently discovered a vintage Easter crafts idea book from PAAS full of egg inspiration. One of my favorite projects was an eggshell mosaic lamp. A lamp seemed like a whole lot of eggs, but a pair of earrings was totally doable. Today for I Love to Create let's make Easter wearable.


SUPPLIES
Eggs
Plain Earrings
Aleene's Tacky Glue
Easter Egg Dye
Pot
Water
Stove
Mugs


DYE EASTER EGGS
Come on you know you are going to dye eggs anyway. Make a quiche, egg salad or omelet and get crafty with the dyed shells. First I hardboiled my eggs. You can find egg dying kits at most grocery stores. Dye your eggs following the instructions on the package, I opted for hot pink and lime green.



PEEL YOUR EGGS
Once your eggs are dyed peel the shells. I broke my shells up into pieces. I started my drawing a large circle in the center of my earrings with Tacky Glue. I filled the circle in with pink eggshells. I found the best method was to start with a layer of larger egg shells and then add smaller pieces where there are blank spaces. Once the glue had started to dry a bit I went back over the circle with more Tacky Glue to act as a protective coat and anchor down all my pieces.

After I did the pink circle I went back and filled in the rest of the earring with green eggshell.


EGGSTRA-SPECIAL EARRINGS
Once you are done you have a pair of earrings so cute you could wear them any day of the year, not just Easter.

P.S. I was compensated for this post by I Love to Create

Austin Adventures - Star of Texas Rodeo Roundup!!!

Well I didn't get to see any Mutton Bustin' or Whiplash the monkey riding dog, but the rodeo was buckets of fun anyway. I'm seriously considering going back tomorrow night sans Tallulah to see The Doobie Brothers. If Michael McDonald was singing with them there would be no question about it. Anyway back to the rodeo. I took a few pictures to show you everything in it's full glory.


Here we are at the gates, 3 exclamation points really hammers home the message of Let's Rodeo!!! Tallulah is sporting one of her two cowgirl hats I packed. Learn how to make your own version right here.


I have to say sheep pupils completely freak me out. There was a livestock show for us to peruse. It was good for Tallulah to put a face to the animals we always read about in her pet and learn books.


Tallulah Fawn gets to pet a real life fawn. Where was this picture last month when I was going overboard on the fawn themed birthday party?



It's been awhile since I was this up close and personal with a longhorn.


The petting zoo was free so we went through twice. There were goats, deer, kangaroos, llamas and more. At one point a goat walked up and nibbled Tallulah's shoe right off her foot.


Not only were there all kinds of meat on a stick options, there was also my fave Creamalot. I opted for a bag of cotton candy which later disagreed with me and made me miss my needle felting class at Stitch Lab.


My favorite part of the Star of Texas rodeo was by far the picture of Tallulah riding the pony. My sister Hope had convinced me to buy an airbrushed, feather banded, circa 1984 cowboy hat at the thrift store just for our trip to the rodeo. Lord do I owe her a big thank you because when I saw that pony standing in front of a cheap fake Grand Canyon backdrop wild rodeo horses could not have kept me from getting a picture. Less than 24 hours later and you bet this bad boy is already framed and hanging on a wall.

I love to Create - El Tigre T-Shirt Applique

Two of my favorite things are tigers and hoodies, so today's I Love to Create project is about combining forces with the two of them. What was once an old T-shirt headed for Goodwill is now a fancy applique on my brand new hoodie.


SUPPLIES
T-shirt with a design
Hoodie
Tulip Fashion Graffiti Stencil
Tulip Soft Fabric Paint
Sponge Brush
Embroidery Supplies
Tulip Fashion Graffiti Dimensional Paint Taggers
Steam a Seam
Scissors
Iron
Tulip Fashion Graffiti Big Phat Markers


OLD T-SHIRTS ARE NEW AGAIN
I have so many T-shirts in my closet that either no longer fit me, have been stained or somehow managed to get holes in them. The graphics on these shirts are still as cute as when i bought them, they just need to be transfered onto something else. Like a hoodie for example, but there is nothing that says I could use these T-shirt appliques on another T-shirt, tote bag, you name it!


RAINBOW TIGER
I used a combination of Tulip Big Phat Markers and Tulip Paint Taggers to color my tiger. I was inspired by the screen printing of 1Aeon.


APPLIQUE
Once the tiger's paint had dried I cut him out using scissors. I used Steam a Seam and an iron to adhere him to the back of my hoodie. I decided the El Tigre needed a little something extra, like a crown.


STENCIL
Using a Tulip Fashion Graffiti stencil I placed the crown on my tiger. I used a sponge brush and Tulip Soft Fabric paint in black to add the crown. I allowed the stencil to dry completely.


EL TIGRE IS CROWNED
My hoodie was looking better with every step. My old T-shirt has already gone on to a better place. I could have stopped here, but I thought it might be nice to augment my crown a bit.


EMBROIDERY TIME
To give my hoodie a little something extra, not to mention hold my applique in place I decided to embroider the whole thing. I went around the edge of my tiger and accented the crown.


FROM T-SHIRT TO APPLIQUE
I heart my new hoodie and am so glad I did not have to part with my beloved Tiger T-shirt. I have several of Tallulah's onesies that she has either stained or outgrown that I plan on converting into appliques to adorn a whole new summer wardrobe with. You get way more bang for your clothes buying buck this way, not to mention it was pretty dang fun!

Take a Crafty (or Biz) Class with Me at Stitch Lab!

Hey Austin, looking for some fun crafty classes to take this spring? I have a few new ones I am teaching at Stitch Lab. I'd love to see your smiling face there.


ALTERED ART PICTURE FRAME SHRINE
Sunday, May 9, 5:00 - 8:00 PM
Have you been waiting for the perfect way to showcase your favorite photo? Why not make it a custom altered art shrine? Instructor Jennifer Perkins will bring all the kitschy and crafty supplies you need. A suitcase full of vintage postcards, wrapping paper and wallpaper. Different shrine options. Trinkets and treasures galore ranging from figurines to filigrees. Paint, decoupage, glue – all you need to bring is your special photo and your creativity.

8 students per class, one 3-hour class
$75 per student
Supply list provided upon enrollment


CRAFTY BUSINESS SEMINAR
Saturday, March 27, 11:00 - 3:00 PM

Sunday, April 11, 12:30 - 4:30 PM

Monday, May 24, 6:00 - 10:00 PM

Jennifer Perkins is offering an incredible opportunity to learn from her own experiences in the craft business world, sharing valuable information in her Crafty Business Seminar designed to take your casual crafting or small craft business to the next level. This hugely popular seminar is divided into three sections: Start Up, Marketing and Taking It to the Next Level.

Starting Your Crafty Business Did you know you could have your own craft business up and running in under an hour? Signing up for Etsy is that easy. Or do you think a traditional website is the right angle for you? May take a little longer, but it is not a whole lot trickier. Once you have your business all set up the next steps are letting the world know, networking and making some sales. This class will you give the run down on getting started!

Marketing Your Crafty Business The success of your business is 40% what you make and 60% how you market it. Not yet signed up for Twitter? Don’t have a blog? Not swapping swag with other crafters? You could be missing out on easy, crucial and often free ways to promote your crafty business. Whether you knit booties or solder jewelry this class will help you understand the best avenues to market your small business. (Instructor: Jennifer)

Taking Your Crafty Business to the Next Level Things are running along smoothly with your small crafty business, but you want to know what else the world has to offer. How do people get product lines, book deals and TV shows? There is no secret formula, but Jennifer Perkins has experience in all three areas and will tell you what she knows.

10 students per class, one 4-hour class
$125 per student
Supply list provided upon enrollment


CRAFTY DIVERSIFICATION
Sunday, April 4, 2:00 - 4:00 PM
Jennifer Perkins has been self employed since 2001 running her business Naughty Secretary Club. Long ago she realized the importance of diversifying your streams of crafty income. Jennifer is a writer, product tester, TV hostess, blogger, teacher, consultant – and you thought she just made a living making and selling jewelry. Are you selling online, at events and wholesale to stores? Did you know some people make a living off of their blogs? You could be getting paid to use Twitter. Ease the pressure of having to make and sell something as your only source of income and quit your day job that much sooner. From writing magazine articles to product endorsements there is more than one way to skin that finical crafty cat and you should investigate and try all of them.

10 students per class, one 2-hour class
$60 per student


WHISTLE AT WORK NECKLACE
Saturday, May 1, 9:00 - 12:00 PM
Straight from the pages of The Naughty Secretary Club: The Working Girls Guide to Handmade Jewelry make your own Whistle at Work Necklace. Learn how to use unusual objects in your jewelry, how to use a hand drill and how to wire wrap – all in one class!

Jennifer will supply everything you need to make your own version of the Whistle Work Necklace including a suitcase full of vintage beads and charms for you to choose from, a colorful array of plastic flowers and of course some wee little gnomes.

6 students per class, one 3-hour class
$60 per student
Supply list provided upon enrollment


HANDMADE HYPE
Sunday, May 23, 1:00 - 3:00 PM

Did you know if you search for the term “purse” on Etsy over 8,000 options come up? How do you make your bag/bracelet/book stand out from the rest? By creating Handmade Hype. If you don’t create you own handmade hype, who will? This 2 hour marketing intensive class will discuss techniques for creating buzz for your small business, craft event and book through various avenues such as social networking, blogging and swag. Learn what a look book is and how to use it, what advertising options are best for your business, how to get editorial coverage and more.

Jennifer Perkins is not only a jewelry designer and all around crafty lady, she also loves marketing. Naughty Secretary Club jewelry has been featured in Bust, Elle Accessories, Teen Vogue, Marie Claire and more. Her business has been profiled in The Wall Street Journal, Inc, Fortune Small Business and Indie Biz Chicks among others - all without the help of a press agent and through her own Handmade Hype.

10 students per class, one 2-hour class
$60 per student