[ the. cutest. thing. ever. ]

HAVE YOU EVER come across something so awesome that you just can't wait to blog about it?? Well, this weekend while we were out walking, we did...

If you're a knitter and are looking for a few supplies, then Winnie's Wool Wagon is here!

Whether it's wool you're looking for, a new pattern or some cute buttons to finish off your project, Winnie's got it in her adorable little truck. Just pop open the "canopy" and she's open for business!

Even the lights are adorned with little eyelashes!

Winnie's Wool Wagon officially wins my award for cutest thing ever. Can you imagine taking part in a craft fair with this little cutie? I want one.

lisa

[ art in parks ]

ONE OF the highlights of our trip back was being able to visit a couple of outdoor art shows. Some of you might remember this back in 2010...

Yup, that was my booth at the Muskoka Arts & Crafts Summer Show {read about it here}. So much fun and I really hope I can do it again someday! 

So you can imagine how excited I was to learn that we would be in Muskoka on the weekend of this year's show...

It was fun to see some familiar faces and some new artists this time too. I find these events so inspiring and they make me want to get busy creating!

So what did I buy? Well, it was difficult not to go crazy but I decided to limit myself to a new painting {I've been trying to build up a bit of an art collection of original works and these art shows are an excellent place to do so. This cheerful original is by Marlene Bulas...

But as luck would have it, this wasn't the only outdoor art show we visited! We happened to be in Oakville, Ontario for their annual Art in the Park show as well. Much smaller in scale but so many beautiful works of art...

And you guessed it ~ I bought a painting! This one is by Robin Mitchell...

I'm so thrilled with my 2 new acquisitions {doesn't that sound fancy?} 

Have you been to any fun summer events this year?

lisa

[ charming lucky jackson ]

ONE OF THE best things about taking part in the big Muskoka Arts & Crafts Show is meeting all the other artists that create the most interesting and original pieces. I stumbled upon a booth by Lucky Jackson who is from Peterborough, Ontario, not too far from where I am.

The cheerfulness of her booth, with colourful floral bunting and her amazing art pieces is what drew me in (sorry, I didn't get a shot of it!). But the best part of Jennifer's (Lucky's) work is that she uses vintage sheets and pillowcases to create the most charming layered pieces with hand embroidery, screen printing, wood veneer and hand painting.  I knew that one of her pieces would be going home with me - they were all just too happy to pass up!

I chose this one - I love the fabrics and the charming cotton lace trim along the hem of her skirt. And the embroidery hoop frame is the finishing touch! If you're looking to add a bit of happy vintage retro art to your space, take a peek at her Etsy shop. 

[ craft booth prep - finale! ]

SO TODAY was day 1 of the show and so far it's been a great success! After some heavy rain last night, I was relieved to find my booth intact (the weights held it well). So all I had to do was put up my sign, and fill in with stock.

I decided to create a fabric panel as a backdrop to my sign since most of my back wall was going to be blank (there was space behind my table for 2 chairs). I stapled some fabric I had on-hand to a 2"x2" frame which was tall enough to tuck in under the roof frame to hold it in place. Then the sign was hung with wire from the roof frame as well. It really helped to fill in all that blank white space and made the sign stand out.

I ended up having to open the back corner of the tent wall just for some air flow since it was so hot with the sun shining directly at the booth. When there was a breeze, some gusts were enough to blow bags off the shelves so the little display easels had to be wired onto the shelf units to keep them in place. Luckily the shelves were wire mesh so it was easy to feed wire through the holes. I also used cable ties to attach the shelf units together and wired them to the tent poles to keep them from blowing over (or onto people!)

A mirror leaning on one of the fabric-covered wine crates on the table made it easy to see how a bag would look when worn. I put a few heavy items behind the crate to keep it from shifting.

I grouped the Vintage Series bags together and arranged most of the other bags by colour to make it easier on the eye and tried to keep the display to mostly 2 bags per shelf so each one could be easily viewed.

The old window frame is working well for the floral brooches. It was simply wired to the shelf units through the mesh in behind it. The brooch tags are hung with paperclips through the mesh.

My dressform mannequin stands outside of my booth to display a bag and brooch and can be seen from a distance. I occasionally switch up the bag that she displays.

All in all, I'm pretty thrilled with how it all turned out and got quite a few lovely comments on it. I'm looking forward to the rest of the show this weekend and am praying for no rain!

lisa

[ craft booth prep - part 2 ]

A HUGE PART of preparing for a show is deciding how to display all the items in the most attractive and simple way while keeping costs low. Having never done an outdoor show, I already had to purchase my Caravan canopy (which I picked up at Costco for $199) so I wanted to create a pretty display without spending a ton of money. With handbags, they can be hung from grid walls but I decided on shelving since they are easily picked up and make an attractive display. A trip to IKEA was in order! I chose Lerberg shelves which were lightweight, easy to assemble and each shelf unit was $20!! (a huge deciding factor!) I decided my booth layout would need 6 shelf units in total. This was cheaper than buying wood to build something myself.

My first thought was to preassemble them at home and then transport them to the park but decided it would be just as easy to bring them in their original packaging and assemble them on-site (and good thing since the vehicle was WAY too full to handle them preassembled). 

I picked up some wooden wine crates from the liquor store so that I could build up some height on my table to display smaller items. I'll cover them with the same fabric as my tablecloth. They work perfectly and they were free!

Remember the old wooden window screen I bought at Habitat for $3? I gave it a coat of grey paint and it will display my flower brooches.

I found some great display easels at the dollar store and thought they could work well for my clutches and smaller handbags. A quick coat of white spray paint will make them blend in with my white shelving.

I purchased a 6 foot banquet table at Home Depot for about $60 and needed to make a tablecloth for it. I wanted to make one quite tailored so that I could store stuff underneath and not worry about a breeze blowing it around and exposing my stuff underneath. A white cotton dropcloth did the trick for fabric. I just measured the top, cut out the rectangle, used a juice glass to cut the curved corners and then sewed a long straight piece all the way around. A band of grey grograin ribbon ironed on with Stitch Witchery adds a nice finishing touch.

I ordered a rubber stamp on Etsy from JLMould so I could stamp my plain white bags, stamp my tags to hold my brooches and stamp my sales books. I like that everything is consistently branded (including my sign - see yesterday's post).

And probably the most important thing of all were the tent weights my hubby made for me. A gust of wind can send your canopy flying so it needs to be weighed down. He created 4 weights for me using a 10 foot length of white 4" plumbing pipe which he cut into 4 equal pieces, 8 pipe caps, 4 big eye hooks and 2 bags of concrete. Glue a pipe cap to one end of each piece of pipe. Mix the concrete in a container and fill each pipe up to the top. Insert big eye hook into wet concrete. Let dry. Cut a hole with a hole bit on a drill into the 4 remaining pipe caps. Glue one onto the top of each pipe. Done! Now just use a bungie cord to attach the weight to the top of the canopy to weigh it down at each corner.

So after getting the canopy up and all the shelves in place, it's pretty much ready. I hung up some inexpensive IKEA drapery panels at each corner just to dress things up a bit and hide my weights. Just need to place the tablecloth, hang my sign and put out the stock. Stay tuned for craft booth prep part 3 to see the final booth up and running!

lisa

[ craft booth prep - part 1 ]

THE MUSKOKA Arts & Crafts Summer Show is this Friday to Sunday and I'll be one of the 200 artisans exhibiting at the show. Things have been a little hectic around here with sewing bags and designing my booth and since this is the first time I've participated in an outdoor show, I've had to plan everything from scratch.

One of the projects I've been working on is a sign for my booth. I knew that I didn't want a simple vinyl banner and when I came across this old oval wooden frame at the Christie Antique Fair, I knew it would work perfectly for my sign.

A piece of MDF was cut to fit inside the frame and both were given a couple of coats of charcoal grey paint.

I ordered a vinyl decal to adhere to my sign from slaps on Etsy which is designed to work either indoors or even on a vehicle.

After some careful measuring and positioning, I was ready to adhere it.

After peeling off the backing, I smoothed everything down with the squeegie and could then peel back the clear masking on top to reveal the decal.

The oval was ready to place into the frame and secure it from behind. I'm pleased with how it turned out and think it's a lovely alternative to a vinyl banner. I'll likely hang it with wire and ribbon inside my booth. Stay tuned for part 2 of craft booth prep!

lisa

[ nautical cushions with french seams ]

SOUNDS FANCY, huh? Well, they're easy and here's how I made them.

It's been a little while since I finished my white slipcovers and I've been meaning to make some cute cushions for them. I found some nautical striped fabric at IKEA and 2 existing 18" cushions ready for a new life. I chose mother of pearl buttons to add a little sheen.

I bought about a metre and a quarter of fabric and realized that I could simply cut the length into one long strip for each cushion. I ended up having enough to make the 2 covers I needed, plus enough for a table runner leftover.

To finish the ends, I measured, pressed and sewed them, making sure that one was wide enough to accommodate the buttonholes, and that once folded and overlapped, the fabric would be long enough to go all the way around my pillow form.

I measured for the buttonholes and decided on their placement. {I decided not to centre the side buttons on the navy stripe like the centre button since it would space them too far apart.}

I set my machine to the buttonhole function {I started at 1, not at 2-4 as shown in the pic}

I attached my plastic buttonhole foot {this machine came with one, my other machines haven't had one but it's not necessary}. I started at the bottom pin and sewed my buttonhole all the way around. I tied off my threads.

Then I carefully opened up each buttonhole using my seam ripper and trimmed off any threads afterwards.

I folded my strip of fabric exactly how I wanted it to appear completed, with the finished ends overlapping in the centre. I made sure that it was at least 18" high to fit my pillow form {mine ended up about 18 1/2").

I made sure that the centre of the buttonhole was sitting on the stitch line of the end underneath. The stitch line was where I would be sewing on my button.

Now for the french seams!

It sounds fancy but it's not. Pin the sides together, exactly how you've just laid it out, with right side of fabric facing out.

Sew with a narrow seam allowance {1/4" or less}. If you find it too difficult to sew such a narrow seam, sew it a bit wider and trim it down afterwards.

Turn inside out and press.

With fabric still inside out, stitch again, this time with a wider seam allowance {about 1/2"}.

You now have a french seam.

Turn right side out and press. See how nice and clean everything is inside? No raw edges or mess.

Sew on buttons and insert pillow form. Done!

I love how quick these were ~ just over 2 hours for both pillow covers, even with those fancy french seams! I don't always make french seams. Sometimes I'll do some zigzag or overcast stitching to finish things off or just trim my seam allowances with pinking shears.

I love how fresh they feel on the white slipcovers and how the background colour ties in with the natural linen of our sofa. 

lisa

linking to: freckled laundry's air your laundry friday