Tag Archives: Do it yourself

Etsy Feature Friday – The Gorgeous designs of Lauren Kemp

Posted on August 24, 2012 | Leave a comment


I just discovered the beautiful DIYed designs of Lauren Kemp on Etsy. Truth be told I found her through Uncovet and searched her out to find her shop and low and behold there she was on Etsy!

These are some of my favorite designs of hers that I seriously can’t get enough of and wish they’d jump into my closet right now! Her simple cuts and fun hand painted/stitched embellishments have really inspired me to get out the ol’ needle and thread and try my hand at some of that gorgeous embroidery work. Although it will have to wait till after Urban Craft is over as I am swamped with last minute projects leading up to the big day!

First up to bat:

Look at the gorgeous back on this one:

Fun elbow pads are always a + in my book:

This one is hand painted, love the color:

Similar embroidery design as the first image, but boy do I love the cut of this shirt:

Images from her shop, Lauren D Kemp :1 || 2 || 3 || 4 || 5 || 6

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Posted in Etsy, Inspiration

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Urban Craft Market September 1st

Posted on August 20, 2012 | Leave a comment

It’s official: Clever Plumage will be at the next Urban Craft Market on September 1st at the Great Canadian Theater Company (GCTC) in Ottawa!

All you locals and wonderfuls come find me there, I will de debuting my new fall pieces and all my new logos and branding. It’s going to be a lot of fun!

Urbancraftmarket.com

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Posted in Clever Plumage

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Meet Lucky Jackson

Posted on June 26, 2012 | Leave a comment



Yay! Happy Tuesday everyone and let’s welcome the lovely Lucky to the blog. I had the awesome pleasure of meeting this lovely lady at a little clothes swap a month or two back and Lucky kindly gave me a ride back to where I was staying!
On the way we chatted about Etsy and craft-fairs and well I just had to check this lady out! Incredible! My mind was blown by her talent and I am just so excited to share her awesomeness! Watch out there are some serious skillz showcased here on the blog today!

My name is Lucky Jackson. I am a artist and illustrator currently working on a project where I embroider a new piece of artwork every day for the next year.

http://365luckydays.blogspot.ca/

I am currently selling some of the patterns from the 365 Project in my Etsy shop and lots of new patterns are coming soon!

I have been making things for as long as I can remember. I have a fondness for the rain as it means I can stay inside all day and make crafts. I am a huge culture vulture and love everything to do with the arts.

Long Live Indoor recess!

3 things you’ve learned about yourself from crafting?

To not rush things. Take your time and enjoy the process. It’s no fun if it’s no fun.
The more you make things the better they get.
It makes me incredibly happy.

3 things you’ve learned from being your own boss?

I am a horrible, over demanding boss.
Time management is extremely important.
You need to take a break once and a while and relax (I am working on this one).

Embroidery of Lucky embroidering.

3 ways you stay inspired?

My kids are a huge inspiration. They have the most incredible imaginations.
Notice the little things. The small details that make you happy.
Using a journal to jot down ideas, always. I have tons of these journals and revisit them when the well is dry.

3 things you enjoy the most about what you do?

Getting to be a kid again. Pretty much my days are full of Arts and Crafts.
Art and Craft shows and fairs. It’s the highlight of my year being able to show people my work in person.

Meeting new people in the craft community. I have been overwhelmed by the amount of support and encouragement that I have received.

3 of your favorite items currently in your shop?

Boot Love Embroidery Pattern

Guitar Girl Embroidery Pattern

Book Love Embroidery Pattern

3 words of wisdom for others starting out in selling their crafts on Etsy or online?

Do something different and be unique.
Don’t compare yourself to others. (tough but true)
Do what you love, being and artist/crafter is a tough racket and you really have to have a passion for what you are making. It always shows in your work.

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Posted in Handmade Month Project

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25 Before 26 – A Years worth of Goals

Posted on May 10, 2012 | 2 Comments

I decided to make my first ever __ before __ list this year (insert age you are and age you will be). I love setting goals and challenges for myself and I’ve always been good at short-term goals, just need to get better at the long-term. So here’s my little list of 25 things I want to do before I turn 26 next year.

I even left it in all of its messy glory as I felt I might be cheating rewriting it till it looked perfect, plus it’s just a list. Please forgive my spelling mistakes as hopefully they are not a reflection of my character. (:

I also forgot to edit these photos before uploading them. Ehhh, oh well. These were taken using the manual settings on our new camera with natural lighting. I am still learning. Today has been one of the busiest days of my life and writing this list and taking these photos was one of the finer, relaxed points of my morning.

That’s right, I’m lefty. Gazing out over brass snails into the black walnut tree.

Enjoying some savory un-roast sunflower seeds and raisins with a spot of tea to re-energize before moving on with my day.

My hope is that I can realistically complete most of the goals on this list in a years time. I am thinking of grouping them into long-term and short-term and then breaking the short-term into monthly to fit with my current goals and make the list a little less daunting. I tried to think realistically, but also challenge myself to go further.

It will be exciting to see a year from now what I was able to do and what might take me a bit more time. No harm in that, it’s all experience, gain, and learning.

Have you ever created a list like this? Been successful? If you’d like to, let me know what you think in the comments below.

 

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Posted in About me

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Tutorial Round Up – March 31 2012

Posted on March 30, 2012 | 7 Comments

Whooo! This sure is a long awaited post. I just love crafty tutorials and love searching out new and amazing designs and projects around the blogosphere. It’s quite exhilarating.

Remember you can click through the images to the tutorials.

 Pretty Patchy Paper lanterns by Lola Nova….1. These ‘Pretty Patchy Paper Lanterns’ are made using scrap fabric and card stock. I love how versatile the project can be depending on what scraps you have lying around. Tutorial and images via: Lola Nova
 2. Aren’t these painted camera straps great? I am in need of a new camera strap for my old Nikon and I this DIY is really inspiring me to make my own! Tutorial and images via: Design Love Fest

3. These cloud lights are incredible! They are made with a paper lanter, cotton batting, and flameless candles. I would love to make something like this to put over our guest bed or a reading knook. So whimsical; and everyone knows I love whimsy. Tutorial via: Wedding Nigh Image Via: Alexis Mires Flickr
4. Call me a sucker for everything tacky, but I love this necklace display made with faux antlers and silk flowers mounted on a reclaimed pallet. Tutorial and Images found via: A Beautiful Mess

5. Kinsey’s sandal revamp where she adds a simple leather fringe. Tutorial and image via: Sincerely Kinsey

6. I am a sucker for macrame. and love the neon cording against the white bowl. I have a ton of vases left over from our wedding and lots of black cording. I’ve got to make some of these to complete my dream of a hanging garden in our living room. Tutorial and image via: Refinery 29 Love that site.

Notice a trend? (:

Well besides the sandals – I just threw those in there because I am dreaming of warmer weather.

I really want to work on pulling my living room together this weekend. It’s in need of some real TLC and a spring make over! Do you have any projects big or small planned for the weekend? Any crafty plans? I am definitely making some time this weekend to get my craft on!

I hope you have a fun Friday night and beautiful weekend!
Hillery

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Posted in DIY, How tos or Tutorials, Tutorial Round Ups

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Weekend Project – DIY Showcase

Posted on March 9, 2012 | 3 Comments

This is an incredible project that was just posted by Meg Allen Cole on Craftzine this afternoon. This is a perfect weekend project and I think it would make a fantastic group projects as well.

A long time fan of Meg’s blog and her youtube decor videos, I was especially impressed by the finished piece in this video, seen in the photo above. This geometric sculpture is made entirely our of paper and is simple and straight forward. Meg gives great instructions and all you need is some card stock, scissors, a glue stick, and Meg provides the template. The finished product is a visually stunning, masterpiece to hang on any wall. I am totally thinking this might just be THE project for that daunting, giant space above our stairs entry way. The real beauty of this project is you can choose any color scheme you like pastels, gray tones, warm and exotic. As well you can make this piece as large or as small as your heart desires.

This week is actually a super exciting time for Meg as she is finally getting to live one of her dreams, meeting Martha Stewart. And better than that she’s actually going to be on the Martha Show next week on the Hallmark channel. If you love Martha, you are going to love Meg.

Watch the video below and be sure to check out her channel on youtube: Meg Allen Cole Crafts. She will blow you away with her awesomeness.

Sources for this post: 1|2

On an important side note.

Sorry for the hiatus. I had to do some soul searching and take a little time. I will be spending this weekend without my blog as I plan to focus on the hubs, celebrating our one year wedding anniversary, and getting more than a little Etsy work done. I’ll be back on Tuesday with aN Etsy Repurpose Round up and don’t forget to stop by a little later in the week for the next installment of my ‘Eating Alone’ mini series and hopefully a little surprise.

Until then have a beautiful, beautiful weekend.

Hillery

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Posted in DIY, How tos or Tutorials

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Weekend tutorials to tied your over

Posted on March 3, 2012 | 6 Comments

Okay so I couldn’t stay away, I had to share some of the tutorials that came across my path this week.

Aren’t these tights adorable. I found them over on Pineneedle collective and that is just the cutest little blog with tons of great tutorials. On a side note: I  love the trend going around right now on revamping your old shoes with fabric and especially the fabric she chose for her old brougues in this other tutorial.

I love love love hidden spaces in books and have been meaning to make one for a million years. So when Kinsey mentioned on her blog Sincerely, Kinsey using it as a jewelry box. I thought how I really oughta make one now seeing how I need some place to hide my jewelry away from our young Ms. Kitty.

Isn’t this heartbeat necklace awesome? You can check out how to make your own over on the ISpy DIY Blog. Another amazing blog btw for incredible fashion DIYs. Jamie is pretty much a genius.

I hope you have a safe weekend with all that bad weather out there around the States, stay safe, and have a lovely time making something beautiful!

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Posted in DIY, Tutorial Round Ups

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Friday Tutorial Round Up

Posted on February 24, 2012 | 2 Comments

All this going out and volunteering has really given me the time to take a look at my lack luster wardrobe. My closet used to be full of awesome items, but I have either lost or misplaced things while moving around in the last few years.

This weeks tutorial round up is all about repurposing your wardrobe and there are some real goodies in the mix. I do hope you find these inspirational and enjoyable. Remember you can simply click on the photograph to be taken to the tutorial or right click to open in another window.

This lovely dress, made by Sarah of JaynSarah, is made from a skirt! She even tells you to how you can make her necklace.

I love making quick skirts with elastic waist bands and over on A Pair and a Spare Geneva shows you a little down of how she made this lovely silk maxi, she also links to her full tutorial for the same skirt in black sheer. You could of course use any fabric that drapes well. I made a similar skirt this week from a table cloth.

Lizzie from Cotton and Curls, a fantastic blog where she show you how to resize everything, shows you how to get loose and add a pretty fabric panel to a tight fitting tee. Isn’t that just darling?

Elsie over at a beautiful mess has come out with another stunning outfit make over this week with this horse printed dress tutorial.

The lovely Chantilly over at My girl Thursday always has fantastic ideas when it comes to repurposing your wardrobe and your home. Here she shows you how to add a little love to those old holy jeans.

I hope you have a beautiful and fun filled weekend. I am about to have to go run errands in this ridiculous unexpected snow.

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Posted in Tutorial Round Ups

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