Log Cabin Pillow...Finished!

As promised, here is my finished log cabin pillow for Urban Creatures. I love how it turned out. I couldn't be happier. I think my favorite detail is the pink zipper in the back. 

There was a little debate on whether I would keep this one for myself or list it on our Etsy store. Listing it won! I recently added it to our store. If interested click here.

Ciao for now,

Figgy

Summer Jewelry Trends

As we are getting ready for Summer I thought I would do something a little different. This post is all about Summer jewelry trends. Since I'm a big supporter of the Etsy community I figured that was the perfect place to do my research and gather my examples.

So, here we go!

Trend #1: Antique Inspired

What's old is new again! Watch for delicate carvings and antiqued metals. I really like antique brass. This trend can be found in all types of jewelry and accessories.

pink flower and brass necklace by My Lavaliere

http://www.etsy.com/shop/mylavaliere

camera locket necklace by The Cranberry Cricket

http://www.etsy.com/shop/thecranberrycricket

Trend #2: Stacked Jewelry

Whether rings, necklaces, or bracelets, its all about stacking them. It's even fun to stack totally unrelated items. Especially with bracelets. Try stacking a wood bracelet with a metal or even a pretty lacquered colored one. Me, I would stack all three!

stacked bubble rings by Studio METHODE

http://www.etsy.com/shop/StudioMETHODE

vintage beads bangle bracelets by persnickety vintage

http://www.etsy.com/shop/persnicketyvintage

Trend #3: Feathers

Feathers are everywhere! Inspiration for a lot of these pieces come from Native American style and culture. I like how many designers have then added modern elements like gold or leather.

gold feather necklace by euthenia

http://www.etsy.com/shop/euthenia

leather feather earrings by Linda Lu Designs

http://www.etsy.com/shop/lindalu

Trend #4: Oversized Statement Pieces

The idea of these pieces is that you only need one piece of jewelry to accessorize your entire outfit.

 chunky rainbow bracelet from yours truly:)

www.urbancreatures.etsy.com

dandelion yellow oversized cluster ring

by Forty Four Oranges

http://www.etsy.com/shop/FortyfourOranges

I hope you enjoyed my little trend report. I think I may do more. I always have fun browsing all the great Etsy shops and it gives me a chance to promote other great handmade items. 

Ciao for now,

Figgy

Latest Treasury

Just had to share my latest Etsy treasury. Urban Creatures is part of Team EcoEtsy and they have a weekly treasury contest. The winner gets their treasury posted on Team EcoEtsy's blog.

My inspiration was summer and my favorite color at the moment yellow!

Here's the link:

http://www.etsy.com/treasury/4de074b3d61f6d91d3a6aef2/sunshine-is-the-color-of-summer?index=0

Wish me luck!!!

Ciao for now,
Figgy

Braided Beauties

This week, Urban Creatures was very fortunate to be included in one of Etsy's daily email blasts. Featured was one of our chunky, braided bracelets. It was quite an honor to be shown and the response was more than we could have hoped for. Thank you Etsy!

With the high of this excitement we got the bug to make more. Here are few newbies that we added to our store over the last couple of days. Our bracelets are quite a statement piece and an easy way to dress up any Summer outfit. They have anywhere from 15 to 24 of our t-shirt strands and measure approximately 1 inch wide. Because they are made from t-shirts, they are stretchy so they are one size fits all.

http://www.etsy.com/listing/74976503/white-and-red-chunky-braided-bracelet

http://www.etsy.com/listing/74926733/taupe-and-blue-chunky-braided-bracelet

http://www.etsy.com/listing/74815646/aqua-taupe-pink-and-orange-chunky

Ciao for now,

Figgy

New Urban Creature Design

We at Urban Creatures are always trying to come up with nifty, little ideas for products we can make with our left over t-shirt scraps. Recently, we have created some hair clips, ponytail holders, and even baby headbands.

Now I have a new pillow idea that I am pretty excited about. The front is from a log cabin quilt design. All of the pieces are our repurposed t-shirt scraps. I fused some interfacing to the strips so once the pillow is completed and functional it will not loose its shape. It is entirely made from cotton jersey.

Of course, this is just the front. I think I will complete the pillow by adding a light, heather gray to the border and the back. This pillow will have a 14x14 pillow insert and I will use a coordinating zipper for the back. Maybe in the pink, orange, or blue. I want it to be fun and vibrant!

I'm hoping to finish this soon and will definitely post pics of the finished product.

Ciao for now,
Figgy

P.S. I'm playing with the layout and design of my blog. I definitely need a better heading. If anybody can suggest some sites that could be useful for designing a blog please let me know;)

Monday Morning

I'm having the most unexpected, lovely Monday morning. Upon checking the blogs I follow I noticed it is Sew Mama Sew giveaway day. Follow the link and you will see a list of all the blogs that are participating in this fun event. Each blog is giving something special away. Some are giving away fabric, some patterns, and some are giving away handcrafted creations.

I do have to warn you, the list is quite long. So, grab a cup of coffee and start browsing. The contests are open until Wednesday, May 25th so you should be able to tackle most if not all of them.

Enjoy!

Ciao for now,
Figgy

Baby Craft Fun

This weekend a few of us had the honor of putting on a baby "sprinkle" for one of my best friends Mariah. We called it a sprinkle because this is her second child so this time she got a sprinkle of gifts instead of a shower of gifts.

I had the honor, along with my lovely partner Carla, of putting the diaper cake together. There are many ways to construct these. I prefer the fanned version. It is quicker to put together and when the time comes for the diapers to be used it is very easy for the mother to take it apart. 

The ribbons were very easy to find. I knew I wanted my base color to be purple so I started with a solid purple ribbon. I then needed a print. Once I found my print I then needed a few accent ribbons to pull it all together. 

Now I couldn't just have ribbons on the cake. I needed something else. I roamed both Joann's and Michael's looking for the that finishing touch. I found nothing! So, it was all left up to me. 

I had received a link to a blog from a crafty girl who makes pom poms out of t-shirts. Given that I have a ton of tees because of Urban Creatures I thought that would be perfect. Luckily, I had a tee for every color on the cake. I was set. I had my idea.

I started making my pom pom and to my dismay it just did not work. I needed smaller pom poms and because I tried to reduce the size they kept falling apart. Oh no! What to do. So, I played with it a little and then started to see that from these pieces I could make flowers.

As Carla and I were making these cool little flowers for the cake we thought these would be a great accessory for Urban Creatures. 

After a little tweaking we have come up with the perfect flower accessory. Still, all made from old t-shirts. These are all brooches and will be debuted in our Etsy store this week. Aren't they cool?!?!

We will also use these flowers to make hair clips. Stay tuned;)

Well, after all this rambling I still haven't gotten the chance to talk about what I made for Mariah's gift. So, my next post will be all about the gift.

Ciao for now,

Figgy