New jewelry TAGS I'm so excited!

Oh I'm thrilled today! I just finished a long looong process of making individual jewelry tags for my butterfly line.


It only took so long because I don't think I have the super deluxe program to create these sorts of things. I'm not going to blame my savvy, I'm blaming the computer program, like that?

Anyways, I've always included a description tag with each necklace order I send. It says what it is, origin of the wing (since that's one of the most frequent q's), and how to care for it (this covers me when someone says hey I left it in my swimming pool and now it looks different).
They were little slips I would put into the baggie, and I was never satisfied with the look, because I know there is always a way to make it more professional looking. I always hoped people were reading them and not losing them in the box. But now they are attached!

These new tags have a hole punched into them so I can attach it to each chains clasp. AND now there's a space for me to be able to write what kind of wing you are receiving! I can just hand write that on at the time of clipping it onto the clasp (say that 10x fast).

In the photo above, I had to re-do the wing on the back of the tag, because when I printed it out, It was kind of flying in the middle. I have since made the wing sideways so its coming off the bottom of the tag.

This is great because a lot of people get these as gifts, and I send a lot to boutiques and stores. This will make it reallly easy to slap a price sticker onto the back, and keep all the info attached to the necklace. OH I'M SO HAPPY!
I think the future ones that I make will have a nice color, but Im just printing these on white cardstock on my home printer, nothing fancy. Well, fancy pour moi.

The photo above is how they started out, I had to make a mock up, print it under the template made for vhs video spines (yeah old program), fold, cut and cut and punch a hole. I know, a lot of work, but I like to do this stuff. Its really satisfying and makes everything look great.

If YOU have some fabulous tags, or tricks to share about how to make your jewelry or goods look fabulous with all its accoutrements, please DO TELL! Leave a note in the comment section with a link to your items, or blog post about your tags and I will post it here.

DIY Instructions - Babyshower Activity - How to make iron-on onesies!

How to decorate onesies for a baby shower! This tutorial is also great for embellishing baby or adult t-shirts, bibs, tote bags and anything fabric.

This is just a simple example of what you can do to make a baby shower extra special with a group activity. I like to think I channeled my inner-Martha for this one!

photo:hiding on the guest of honor behind our "shower" umbrellas.

This past week my mother and I hosted a very small surprise baby shower for my sister! The key to doing this as a group activity is having a SMALL group. I can see that doing this in a large group would be unruly and awkward and well, noone needs that many onesies. If you are having a large party, then consider doing this project as a gift item.

Our party only consisted of five women. Four plus the guest of honor. This was her second baby so it usually a smaller party, and luckily we DID have the party when we did (on Wednesday), because the baby came on Friday! The guest of honor was also able to create her own outfit for her new baby.

SUPPLIES:
COTTON ONESIES- (white and yellow) from A.C. Moore Crafts (michaels sells them too, and you can also get plain ones at target and baby stores anywhere).

BIBS (optional)- i didnt actually find any blank ones in my town. I know ikea sells them. So if you know of a place that has blank bibs please comment below.

TSHIRT(optional)

IRON-ON TRANSFER PAPER - from the craft store, you can also find it at staples & walmart. I used the one with iron-on paper for WHITE shirts. it has something to do with the background color. They also have the option for black.

SCISSORS

IRON

PIECE OF WOOD- the instructions on the iron on paper package said not to use ironing board, just wood. So i had a scrap board inthe studio that i used. My mom used the ironing board and it worked just fine though.

PENCIL- in case you want to draw out a shape first

Prep:
To make this an easy group activity, I made blocks of color using the most basic 'paint' program on my computer. I made strips of color on four sheets of paper. Another option would be to print (reverse) images of your choice on the sheets of paper, and even words.

I thought I would let my guests get creative so I just made blocks of color.

Create:

Lay out your onesie on the table, so when you lay out your paper design onto it you can move it around.

Cut the color printed iron-on paper into any shape in the world. You can cut letters, or silhouettes, polka dots, anything. If you are cutting out letters, make sure they are backwards, as you have to lay the transfer paper color-side-down to iron it.

Arrange the paper cut-outs onto the fabric.

Iron over the paper for 2 minutes on the NO STEAM setting. Just read the package directions for each manufacturer.

Let paper cool completely.

Peel away slowly. If you notice its not comoing off easy, iron again, and let cool completely.
Give to the mother-to-be! ENJOY!

DIY Instructions - How to make a ring display for craft shows!

I had a big show last week and needed a new ring display. I wanted something sturdy and with a little bit of chunk to it, so I could show off my Glitter PoP Rings.
To make your own, you can get some ideas from this tutorial. Scouting out the right box and fabric are key. You can make any kind of ring tray you want with this in mind. Mine cost me about $16 total. You can certainly buy one already made for that price, but making you own enables you to customize it to your own ring size and make it match the rest of your display more than the commercial ones.
This is my first blog tutorial, so bear with me!

First, I had to decide how many rings I wanted it to hold. I estimated about 40 or 50 each, as I have about 100 + rings.

Supplies:
-trays (mine were $7.00 with a coupon)
-foam , just larger than your tray (mine were $7.99, but look at the thrift shop, or take apart your own chair!)
-opaque fabric, twice the size of your foam (the first one I used was too sheer and showed the green foam through it, and I had to find some more opaque fabric)


Tools:
-scissors
-box cutter
-marker
-ruler, or any stick to stuff fabric down (hand works too)


I found some bamboo house ware trays at Bed Bath & Beyond. They are stacking, and these would have been great if I could have had a little less foam, then I could have set up the rings at home and just stack them and bring it to the show. But I wanted the rings to sit right at the brim for easy viewing. Plan this when purchasing your foam. How thick do YOU need your foam to be?



Above:
I bought two trays. The green foam is from Joanns fabric, and is for seat cushions. They had all sorts of thicknesses and densities. I got one that had a big of heft to it, so that the rings would stay in the tray. If it is too floppy, your rings wont have anything to grab them, so go for dense.


Above:

Lay your tray over the foam, and score a line where you will cut it. I used the outside of the box to measure, knowing that I need a tight fit. If the foam is larger than the box, when I put it in the box it will expand and stay put. I did this all by eye and just winged it.

Above:

Cutting was satisfying..it made a nice clean line. Snip snip! But the foam was a bit thick so I found myself cutting twice over every line. I had to be careful not to shred it, but it was easy.

Above:

Stuff the foam in to check the size. if its tooooo big, just snip again. Mine had to be stuffed into it, which is what I wanted. I don't want it to move AT ALL.

Above:

I then set my intended rings onto the top to see how far apart they needed to sit. I have large rings, that needed a lot of space. I marked with a sharpee where I would need to cut.

Take the foam out of the box again and cut on the lines!

Note: I thought I would just need to kind of slice halfway down the foam, but decided to cut the foam completely at each black line. So I marked the foam #1-#12 so I could put the puzzle back together after cutting them. Once I sliced completely through, I stacked and stuffed the foam back into the box. There was a lot of finagling and wiggling to get it to stuff back in and look neat and tidy. Just work it in.

Next, lay the fabric on top. I found the center of the fabric by folding it in half, and stuck the middle into the middle foam crease. This helped me evenly distribute the cloth.

Above: I had to cram the fabric into the sides with a ruler and my fingers and lots of tug-o-war. So dont be afraid to really get in there. I had to do it twice on each ring box, take the fabric out and put it back in to get it to look nice. Make sure you get the fabric ALL THE WAY DOWN to the bottom so that it doesn't come out when people are trying on rings.

You can see that this was my first try, and you can still see the green through the fabric. I switched it out the next day with a velour sort of fabric. This felt nice to touch and made the rings look a lot more refined as well.

Here's my final product! This is what it looked like at the craft show (boy what a messy table). I think I will go back and get a few more trays. They had smaller ones and I think I want a small tray for each of my fused glass rings with different prices. I also had a lot of foam left over to do this again. This was an easy project that didn't require any glue. I love that!

edit: here's a new photo. I also use the larger box to hold cuff bracelets and matching rings.

edit: some people have been asking where to find the rings (thanks!) - I make them myself and sell them in my online Etsy shop. www.popko.etsy.com

It's time to RELAX!

I'm so happy this year that we actually have a fireplace to decorate!

It's very cute, and I love all things that can be made into extra special events, like sitting on the floor. A fireplace surely makes that a much more special occasion. This is our first fire of the season, only because we kept forgetting that we had a fireplace. Yes, it is in the main room, front and center, but oh, I know there is no excuse. We don't have a tree this year, due to space, but this more than makes up for it. When I wake up and see this I feel like its time to celebrate, and when its night I feel warm and cuddly.

The decor:

The garland was on sale 70% off this weekend, thats the benefit of decorating late in the season! The glittery glass ornaments were a gift last year, and they are very special and will always be featured in my Holiday decor as long as I don't break them. They are so big and fragile they scare me. The stockings were decorated by each of us, decorating the others. The cute doll on the mantle is a doll my mother made named 'pepper'- she's the one opening the etsy shop called SewSoft, once she gets back from Prague...right mom? And the wonderful painting on the mantle is a permanent fixture, and is also very special to me. It was painted by Johns grandmother and was a gift to our new family. It's not only an heirloom, but incredibly

beautiful to look at everyday.