Yellow Leather Purse with Convertible Strap

I have been busting at the seams to share this one....

She is finally finished up and ready to share with the world....

This is the first bag completely made by me start to finish.

 The other two were pretty much my husband's idea and I did different parts of the project but this one is all mine....

This is how it all started...

I had an idea for a smaller bag that would be more like a large wallet or clutch so I started sketching it out in my trusty sketch pad....

You can see I changed the position of the center piece just a little bit once I actually constructed the bag....

From there I drew up a pattern/template on tag board and then cut out my leather pieces....

 I wanted to be able to wear it at different lengths...

short, tucked under my arm

 And long, about hip length so I can be hands free...

 You can also run the strap under the flap for a third length that's somewhere in between...

 Since I am the lucky wearer of all our prototypes, I wanted to go bold on the color.  
 I already have tan (my other two bags here and here) 
so Sunshine Yellow (Eco Flo from Tandy Leather) is the color I went with. 

Now we have Evening Blue and Scarlet as well...

Another post is coming on colors...

I would LOVE to make another one of these in two tone....

I think it would look killer with the body of the bag in natural and then the middle section in the dark navy or the tan color....
OR I could just design another bag and try it in two tone :)

Thin Yellow Initial Bracelet

 This thin bracelet is only 1/4" wide....

with a sterling silver bar hand stitched to the leather with waxed linen thread...

And dyed "Sunshine Yellow"

 I'm a "color" kind of girl...

neutrals are great, but colors are just too much fun to pass up...

 It dawned on me that I need to use our blog as a way to show more views of the pieces we decide to sell on Etsy.

  I snagged my husband to take some photos of me wearing it since it's a little difficult to photograph yourself wearing something...

 especially with the 50mm lens....

I chose to stamp a single, small letter but it could be custom made to suit you...
I'm working on a new handbag too...
I cannot wait to share this one.  
Been working on it for awhile now since I created the drawing in my sketch pad....

Leather Couple's bracelet

 We made a trip to Tandy leather to buy some supplies we wanted to try with our Etsy goods...

 My new dye color is this dandelion yellow...

oooo & ahhhh right????

It's actually called "Sunshine Yellow"

 And I bought a couple of these cool clasps that snap down like a watch band closure....

love these too so far.

I'll be testing out the macaroni prototype to see how they hold up.  

A little 1/4" x 1/2" sterling silver plate with our initials stamped on it...

Handstitched on with some waxed linen thread...

The possiblities are endless....

Boy Mom

 This is how I know I'm a boy mom....

 I'm babysitting the baby toad I caught while mowing.

My little son LOVES all creatures....

talks to them and wants to take care of them.

He has such a tender heart....

 He set up a whole little habitat for him to jump around in including a little swimming pool and a diving board...

which oddly enough Toady seems to be enjoying...

Now my job is to babysit Toady---

To make sure the chickens don't eat him of course....

Chickens

Oh our crazy chickens....

They are getting big &

this group is pretty nutty....

 So they fit right in around here....

every evening the newer group of chicks tries to roost in our hedge...

 So while our two grown chickens go right into the coop and settle on the roosting bar; they are still bullying the smaller ones around some.

My husband goes out every evening after we put the kids to bed and gets all 9 of them down one at a time....

This innocent looking, fluffy cheeked Americana leads the pack and settles on a nice, sturdy limb by herself..

the rest of them try to follow by piling on top of each other on another branch...

which slowly sinks towards the ground. 

They are a riot to watch....

But we're hoping they outgrow they're roosting in the hedge

How to Reupholster a Chair FINISHED

 Here she is in all her finished glory....
To see all the steps of how I did it you can visit these other posts I did along the way....

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

Part 5

 Her owner dropped off the trim to me last week and actually already came and picked her up....

 The trim covers up all the staples and raw edge of the fabric 
 I usually end up trimming off a little more fabric in a few places to make sure it all gets hidden.....

 I am happy with how she turned out and more importantly her owner is happy with her!

 I even have a few photos of her in her "real" home at the end of the post....

 I was waiting until we had our Father's Day celebration to finish up the photos to post...

 This is her final home....

With a cozy bee pillow she looks right at home....
Always a big sigh when it's all wrapped up and done....

and I already have my next slipcover project in my basement...

For Sale in our Booth

Went to check on our booth at the Peddler's Mall today...

(booth #15 aisle #2)

We recently added a blue, Costco stool with the pull out steps...

We sold our big Reynold's factory cart this past week-end so I knew it needed to be checked since we had piled stuff up on top of that...
Some repurposed keys make a nice little key rack or jewelry organizer...

So far it's been a learning experience...some things you think will sell right away are still there and some things I thought would sit there for awhile sold right away....

This cast iron pulley would make an incredible light fixture....

It's still fun to buy things that catch your eye

...the little kids' chalkboard/pegboard case sitting in the chair still has all the parts with it.

I love that....some little kids played with that and it's still here with all those little tiny pieces....

I can't resist good pyrex...

we have more of these...

The cookie press still has all the attachments for making decorative shaped cookies...

Love the little kids' table and chair set with a chalkboard top...

and the little turquiose drawer pull (upside down on the left) holds the chalk.

How to Reupholster a Chair part 5

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

This is the final piece of upholstering.  

I am making sure the squares on the seat line up with the squares on the front and back of the upper seat.  This is what I was talking about back when I was cutting out the fabric in Part 3....

And, depending on your fabric pattern, why you might need more fabric than you think....

Then I staple one or two times at the center front and center back...you should see a little bit of a crease in the fabric.  

Almost like you have pulled it too tight.  If it's smooth at this step the fabric will be too loose when you're done....
It's great to work with someone else for the pulling and stapling....

This is how I cut out around the arms.  You can try to use your old fabric as a pattern but I've found it's easier just to cut this out once I've got the fabric on the chair.

This usually involves me snipping a little then pulling it down where I want it to go and checking it then resnipping a little more and checking again...

Until I get it how I want it and it's all laying flat

This is the post at the back of the seat.  I usually stop cutting about 1-2" from the post.  This is just like clipping your curves while sewing.  If you sew you know that helps ease the fabric around corners and curves without it puckering up...

Since you have corners where there will be a pleat at the end anyways, start in the middle and staple out towards each corner.  Pulling/smoothing down towards the front and out towards the side at the same time.

Do the same on the sides.  After getting the arms/posts clipped I put one staple in the center of each side.  Then each arm is a stopping point, so work your way from that center staple out towards each arm...

Here she is all stapled and trimmed....

Here's the back all finished up and trimmed....

And here she is--  I'm just waiting on the trim to glue on over the staples/edge and she'll be ready to go back home in her new fabric.....