Monday 28 December 2009

STATEMENT NECKLACES

I am suddenly in love with this type of statement necklaces made using the fabric rolled roses . It seems I can't stop making them LOL. Here are a few designs available in my Etsy shop together with some matching hair accessories now. There are quite a few more to come, though.
Making these necklaces is so much fun. I love to form these cute roses and combine colours and I also love to collect beautiful vintage elements to add to these necklaces.


Here are some of them modelled so that you can have an idea about the necklaces's actual size (A huge thank you to Y and V who help modelling these necklaces for me BTW).

Here is one of my favorite necklaces so far : an ivory dream


which recently found its way to a dreamingly beautiful Etsy treasury:

This type of necklaces is sure a hit currently. It can be worn in many occassions and makes a great gift, too. So if you are interested why don't drop by my Etsy shop to have a look or to take a double advantage of worldwide free shipping and special introductory price ( Offer ends December 31st)
Don't see the colours you want? There is nothing simpler - just convo me for a custom made one. I love custom orders. You design and I make it for you, or simply let me know how you want it, I'll design something to suit your needs.
Hope everyone is having a great Holiday Season!


TESTIMONIAL

I just love it so much whenever a bride send me photos from her real wedding that I made flowers for. Here is the bridal package I made for Katie from NSW Australia :


and here are some photos she sent me recently. She said the professional taken photos are yet to come but here are some that her friend took of the wedding. I found them beautiful!









and here is what she said in her generous feedback for me in my Etsy store:

...where do I start. Lynn was absolutely amazing. throughout the entire process of customizing the bouquets to receiving the gorgeous finished package. Lynn sent me photo's every couple of days so i could see how she was doing. She was in constant contact every step of the way, when the packages arrived from the UK to Australia, they we're in perfect condition. I LOVE my wedding package, i cant wait for the wedding day so i can see it all come together.
Lynn is amazing at what she does.
extremely talented and trustworthy, you will get more than you could imagine....beautiful creations! thankyou so much Lynn....
I am so happy for her when I read her email, she said the wedding day was perfect!
Katie, thank you for your kindness and for your beautiful photos. I wish you both a wonderful new life of which you will enjoy every day every hour every minute, much love and happiness forever.

Friday 11 December 2009

Ribbon Butterfly TUTORIAL

Y0u will need:
* Hot glue and hot glue gun
* Sharp pair of scissors
* A lighter
*Cotton bandage for your fingers
* For two top wings :
- 2 x 3" length 3/8" width grosgrain ribbon
- 2 x 2" length 3/8" width grosgrain ribbon
- 2 x 1.5" length 3/8" width grosgrain ribbon
(dark blue and dark green ribbon in Pic.1)

* For bottom wings :
- 2" length 7/8" width (light blue ribbon in Pic.1)
- Scrap ribbon in yellow and black

* For the antennas : 4.5" length 3/8" width black grosgrain ribbon



STEP 1: Make the top wings : Heat seal the ends of the ribbons. Glue the 2" length 3/8" width ribbon on top of the 1.5" length 3/8" width ribbon at one end making a small corner as is shown in Pic.2. Similarly glue the 3" length 3/8" width ribbon on top of the 1.5" length 3/8" width ribbon (Pic.2)

Turn it upside down (Pic.3)


Bring back the other end of the shortest ribbon and glue to make a loop (Pic.4)



Do the same with the middle ribbon - Make another loop (Pic.5)



Make the last loop with the longest ribbon but pay attention. Pic. 6 shows the wrong way doing it.




To make the last loop when bring the other end of the ribbon back to glue you need to flip it over once to make a twist, so the inside of the ribbon will stay on top (Pic.7)



You've just make one top wing. Repeat this step to make another top wing but you need to mirror what you've done. I.e in Pic.2 the longest ribbon stay in the left hand side, now to make the other wing, you should have your longer ribbon stay in the right hand side. Pic.8 shows 2 top wings completed.


Use some hot glue to glue two wings together at the very end (just about 1/4" - Pic.9)


Pic 10 shows your two top wings from a different angle - from the bottom where you should attach the bottom wings.

STEP 2: Make the bottom wings : Use the 7/8" width ribbon and trim off the areas with white strips flowing the dotted lines, going about 3/8" t0 1/2" toward inside from each end depending on how you want it look, so play with it a bit. Make nice curves at the corners (Pic.11)

Heat seal the cuts (Pic.12)

Now make an accordian fold by folding the ribbon lengthwise in half firstly (Pic13)...

... then bring down the two edges of the ribbon (Pic.14)

Secure the fold either with hotglue or simply use your lighter to melt thr ribbon a bit at the fold and quickly use your fingers to squeeze firmly - the melted ribon will merge and secure the fold (somehow :-) and it's enough!). Now glue the bottom wings to the top wings. Pic.15 now shows the front of your butterfly upside down!

STEP 3: Add the antennas . Use the 3/8" width black ribbon
From one end, cut along the 2 edges to make 2 very thin strips on two sides, about 2.5" length. Remove the ribbon left in the middle. Heat seal your cut with the ligbhter and when the ribbon still hot try to shape the antennas the way you like while heatsealing - they can be very curly or you may want to bend them alittle bit. Again, it's personal taste. I like the the way they look in Pic.17


Now glue the other end of the black ribbon to the front of your butterfly, starting at the bottom. (Pic.18)


Pic. 19 shows the back side...
Now fold the black ribbon over and glue it to the back side the way you wrap the center of a bow but don't squeeze, leave the black rinbon long enough at the center so that it will look like the butterfly's body. Then again fold the ribbon over and glue it to the front of the butterfly, you will now have what's shown in Pic.19
STEP 4 : Finisgh it off! Use your black and yelow srap ribbons. Cut two eye-shapes out of the black ribbon , and two round ones out of the yellow ribbons. Heat seal all of them (Pic.21)
Glue the yellow on top of the black and glue both of them black/yellow each onto every bottom wing (Pic.22).

Yay! Here is your butterfly , ready to find some flowers :-). Attach it to a pin, a hair clip, a hair bow as a center, to your child's dress with flower prints, put it on your hair bow bouquet, or even a bridal bouquet... how fun!
Hope you like the tutorial (Hope it's in time for spring). If you do you might want to check my blog from time to time for other projects. I'll post a fray fabric flower tutorial soon when this xmas shopping madness is over :-)
Happy Holiday everyone!

ALL ABOUT COLOURS - EART TEAM BLOG RING -

I must at first apology. This post should have been up since yesterday, but I misjudged the time somehow, being super dizzy as I stayed up until 4am the night before last night to complete a bridal order. I am so sorry if I've broken the ring -I thought today is thursday! Brrrr!

Anyway this week, our team blog ring talks abour colours. What colours are our favorite and if it's difficult to step out of the colour comfort zone for crafting

Well I must say cannot answer the first question, that makes the secon question non applicable for me either :-) It's almost like when being asked 'what is your favorite composer, your favorite book' for me. I cannot answer those questions simply because there are so many and I cannot decide which one I love better or best! It depends on my mood, different circumstance and so on...

When I craft I start with the material and its texture and colour suggest the design. Most of the time. I guess that way it's made my life much easier with bridal custom orders. Most of the brides come to me and say : my colour scheme is this and this and this...and I want my flower/ bouquet/butonniere made of fabric/feather/ribbon etc. All of these themself would already draw a sketch in my head how I should do it.

That's to say I love all colours I don't have a comfort zone, or in other words I feel comfortable with all colour and I love to be able to bring different colours together,play with them in a colour palette which suit our needs.

Want to know how other EART team members think about colours? Continue to read our blog ring at Michelle's Charm World's blog