First of all, thanks for all the kind words when I asked about what makes a good blog. My plan right now is to keep doing what I've been doing, but I will be doing it much more often! My goal is to have a new post every week day, and I'm having so much fun coming up with ideas to share. So thanks for visiting regularly, and I hope I will be able to make it worth your while!

As I mentioned before, I'm doing some serious cleaning out around here. This week I'm working on our laundry room which is just a tiny junk room, really. Now it's a little easier to walk in there without tripping over the vacuum or a pile of laundry, and I will eventually do some painting and reorganizing. While going through a cupboard the other day I came across a couple things that inspired a little craft project. I have a stack of little shopping bags, the brown paper bag kind, with the twine handle that I can never bear to throw out because they're so cute, you know? I sometimes used them for lunch bags, but since I'm not taking my lunch anywhere I thought I'd find another use for them. Of course the first thought was gift bags, but how to decorate them? Most have a big logo for the stores they came from, so that's kind of tacky. Then I found some coffee filters. Not being a coffee maker, I'm not sure where they came from, but I suspect I was saving them for some long forgotten craft project. 

So the wheels in my brain started spinning, and I thought about some other stuff I had laying around, and without buying a thing I came up with a plan. Some old book pages taped over the logos was easy enough. Then I experimented with coloring the coffee filters. I pulled out some watercolors for the pink flower, and the tea-dyed the filters for the antique-y flower. I'm not very skilled with watercolor paint, but I don't think it's possible to mess it up in this case. The filters can handle a lot of water, so I just soaked them and dabbed paint all over and blotted them with a paper towel when I was done. The tea-dyed filters were literally just soaked in pot of tea. I squeezed them out and laid them flat to dry, which only took a half hour or so. They ended up with a nice crinkly texture.

Each flower is six or seven layers, and I simply folded each filter in half and then in half again a total of four times. Each layer was then trimmed into a petal shape, each layer successively smaller than the last. The smallest layers I slashed the petals apart for a fringe-y effect. 

I stacked up all the layers and then searched through my box of beads for just the right centers for my flowers. I sewed on some pearly beads in different sizes and colors for the tea-dyed flower, going through all the layers, and did the same with some irredescent green seed beads for the pink flower. 

I cut a circle of felt for the back of each flower and cut two small slits for the pin back to go through. I covered the stitching on the back with hot glue and then also applied a line of hot glue around the edge of the felt circle before applying it to the back of the flower.

Lastly, it was just a matter of flipping the flowers over and fluffing up the front. I went layer by layer and even used a little steam from my iron to make them stand up a little more. 

Oh, and as an added touch, I used some eyelets on the bags for the pins to go through. They probably aren't necessary, but they're fun to use, so I went for it. 

I'm sure what I came up with is not entirely original, I know there was a Martha Stewart coffee filter rose project not long ago, but I like to think I put my own twist on it. And the flower is a nice bonus on top of whatever gift I might put in the bag. They are surprisingly durable and could be pinned on a lapel or a bag or maybe a hat. Next up, I think I'm going to play around with some fabric flowers. I love flowers!

Happy New Year! I have high hopes for 2012, and I'm starting it off by cleaning out and finishing off and setting goals and figuring out what I want to be when I grow up. I'll be blogging up a storm here at Hey Lucy, and I'm starting to think about all the projects I can do and tutorials I can share, and things I can make for my Etsy shop. You see, while I was on vacation I learned that I had been laid off from my job. It was a bit shocking, and it's somewhat terrifying, but I really hope to turn it into something wonderful. 

It's quite fun wake up in the morning and have the whole day to putter and create, although it is surprising how much time all those mundane little things can take. I'm working on getting into a routine, a la FlyLady, and spending a certain amount of time in my little house studio. Later this week I'll be setting up my own little home office in a corner of our tiny guest room, which will involve building a desk, among other things, and I'm excited to see how it all comes together. 

In the meantime, I've whipped up and worked on a few things that have been waiting to be done for a very long time. I've had this polka dot fabric for dog beds for months, and I sewed one up the other day. It's just a giant pillow cover with an envelope back, and I stuffed it with some of our old pillows that have seen better days and needed replacing. I made it for Bear, our 10-year-old Golden Retriever, so he won't have to lay his old bones down on the floor, but Winston was eager to try it out and model for me.

He heartily approves. Oh, and Bear likes it too.

Ages ago I had the bright idea that I would hem some cheery blue plaid cotton squares and use them as handkerchiefs. I did a cute, hand-stitched hem on one and then ran out of steam. I really have to be in the mood for hand sewing, and the mood hasn't striked (stricken?) for awhile, so I zipped the rest through the rolled-hem foot on my sewing machine and called it good. The corners are not the prettiest, but it turns out I got them done just in time, since I woke up yesterday with a scratchy throat and runny nose. I have to say, it's no fun feeling under the weather when you can't even call in sick!

There has also been much knitting this past month, but I can only give you a sneak peek of a few projects, and I will have to tell you more later. I am finally testing my design chops, and the first photo is something I am working on that I hope to finish up and write up soon! I might need a test knitter or two, so let me know if you are interested! 

So, I could use a little help. I really want to build Hey Lucy into a great site and have it be something useful, and then eventually to accept sponsors. I should probably do a formal survey, but in the meantime, I want to know what you think makes a good blog, what makes you come back every day? Tutorials? Original patterns? Links to cool stuff elsewhere? More photos of Winston? 😉 Fashion, design, crafts? One more than the other, or all three? Do you want to know about iPhone apps? Do you like to have lots to read, or just look at lots of photos? Please share! Either in the comments, or via email, if you want to keep it private (lucy (at) heylucy (dot) net). It would be most appreciated!

Here's to a fun new year!

I have been knitting lots and lots. A few things are finished, including the sweater I started in October. I love, love, love it! 

I originally wanted to find some vintage buttons, but had to settle for the wooden ones from Jo-ann. I think I'm okay with them, and I've gotten lots of compliments on them when I've worn my sweater. No one mentions the sweater, just that they like the buttons. That's okay, I love my sweater 🙂 How cute is that pocket? 

I was also in the mood for making a little something with some Malabrigo lace, and whipped up a Damson shawlette in pink.

It's so soft and light, and the pattern was nice and easy and quick. I might have even cast on another one with some Madelinetosh Tosh Merino Light in the Tern colorway. It's a nice purple-y charcoal grey.

I even took a little break from all that yummy yarn and did a little embroidery. My sister gave me some vintage embroidery patterns a long time ago, and I finally got around to using one. I'm not sure how old they are, but the transfer ironed on perfectly. What kitchen doesn't need some chicken tea towels?  

So now I'm planning some vacation and holiday knitting. I am super, super excited, because I have the whole month of December off, and for part of that time I'm going to South Africa to see my parents! So now I have to figure out what I am going to knit for the hours and hours of flight time I have ahead of me! Oh, and I should have lots of fun photos to share when I get back! 

Coming soon to an etsy shop near you. Pincushions! With ribbons! There will be some needle books too, I think.

I'll post again, when they are in the shop. 

Yay for three day weekends! I know some people might go somewhere fun, or throw a party, or go to the beach, but I was happy to just stay home and spend some time in my little house studio. It's been awhile, and I thoroughly enjoyed just puttering. Plus, now I have lots of blog fodder for the rest of the week, I can't wait to share some of the things I've been making. For now I will just tell you about some little necklaces I finished up and listed in my etsy shop. 

You might remember these from earlier this summer. I'm happy to say that I finished them and listed three on etsy. I kept one for myself, of course, and another is going to someone who I think will especially like it. 

I had all my jewelry/beading supplies out and spread all over my work table. I'm a terrible jewelry maker, but it so fun to play with the little bits and pieces. 

I kept these simple, and just hung them from a bit of leather cord. I don't wear necklaces often, but I tend to like this sort of long, silly pendent type jewelry. Pretty soon I'm going to need something to organize all these necklaces I can't stop making. I'm thinking something like this is awfully cute, and thrifty too!

I briefly mentioned a recent book purchase, Plate to Pixel, in a post earlier this month. I'm not done reading and absorbing, but I've been skimming through and one of the things I've really loved about Helene's styling is the rustic table top backgrounds she uses. I didn't see any explicit directions in the book or on her blog (although there is a brief scene of her painting some wood in this promo video), but I've got piles of old fence boards, so I made up my own version. I finally finished it this weekend, and when the skies went dark and a freak thunderstorm rolled through this afternoon, I decided to set it up on the porch and try it out. 

I painted one side a robin's egg blue that I had laying around (someday it will be an accent wall in my laundry room), and sanded the other side, so it's two backgrounds in one! I still need to work on adjusting my camera settings, I think these might be a bit too bright and over-exposed, despite the grey skies. I even started playing around with this reflector set I recently bought, it was quite a bargain! I used the diffuser disc on the photo above and directly below, but there's still some glare. I think I better go read some more, and learn how to adjust my camera better. 

Obviously, my styling and composing skills are rather lacking still, but I am going to keep practicing. In the meantime, I've got some raspberries and cream to eat. Oh, I thought you might like to see the whole background thingie: 

Here are the very technical instructions (wherein I probably don't use any of the proper woodworking terminology): I took three 6' fence boards, and sawed each in half. Then I cut a couple pieces of 1×2 boards that I also had laying around to the width of the three boards together. I sanded everything and laid three boards down, wrong side up. I put wood glue along one side of one of the 1×2 boards, and positioned it across the three boards. I tried to just nail the 1×2 to the fence boards, but the nails just wouldn't go in, so I used my smallest drill bit (1/16") to drill through them (two holes for each fence board) and then pounded the nails in. After doing this four times, my drill bit broke, so I went up to the next one, and hoped it wasn't too big. Luckily, it wasn't so I continued to add the second 1×2 to the other end. Then I placed the remaining three fence boards on top of the 1×2's, and did the same thing again, except instead of the nails going from the 1×2's into the fence boards, I went through the fence boards into the 1×2's. the nails I used had flat heads, and this is the side that I painted, so they show a little through the paint. I was going for rustic, so this doesn't bother me, but I probably could have used finishing nails and counter-sunk them and used a little wood filler to hide them. Then I painted and sanded the one side. I've left the other side naked so far, but I may stain or wax it eventually. This is so much nicer than my ugly green counter tops for taking pictures of food (and maybe other things too!).