Boulevard Designs

Merging this blog with Wallypop

Sarah — Sun, 10 Oct 2010 17:25:39 +0000

I’ll be merging this blog with my Wallypop blog by the end of the year. I’m finding that I just don’t have the time to do with this blog what I had planned. It’s become much more just a blog of project I’m working on, and much less of a blog about crafting and creating in general.

And that’s fine, but if that’s all it is, then it might as well be part of Wallypop, right? Right!

So if you’re not already, go ahead and subscribe to the Wallypop blog. It’s hosted at Wordpress.

And then when you type in Boulevarddesigns.com, it’ll just take you (for the time being) straight to the Etsy store.

I’m giving you a bit of notice on this, I probably won’t make the actual transition for a month or two.

Tie Dye for Us!

Sarah — Sun, 03 Oct 2010 02:10:51 +0000

I also made some tie dye for us. I love how the grocery tote turned out, and my Tshirt is pretty cool, too, though I didn’t really realize that the thread in the seams was poly and, thus, would not dye.

Tie Dye Diapers

Sarah — Thu, 30 Sep 2010 02:10:49 +0000

I recently dyed another batch of prefold diapers. These are all infant size, and will be listed either over at Etsy or at Wallypop. If you want them before they’re listed, just shoot me an email!

New Baby Shoes, to be listed soon at Etsy

Sarah — Thu, 16 Sep 2010 05:54:37 +0000

Mold Making

Sarah — Sat, 04 Sep 2010 12:48:40 +0000

OK, this was so fun. I’m going to order more mold making goodies and start scouring the planet for fun things to make. I already have a few ideas.

The first thing I did was firmly affix the original to the bottom of my tray. I sealed it around all of the edges with modeling clay. Then I also sealed along the bottom of the tray, since the joint between the walls and the bottom of the tray was not tight.

I followed the instructions that came with the mold making stuff to mix up the silicone and apply it. I didn’t take any pictures during this part - I was trying to work quickly, measure accurately, and not let either very curious child make a mess. But here’s what it looked like after I finished pouring in the silicone.

Four hours later…

Of course, I could not resist making a quick bar of soap, so I remelted some leftover soap pieces I had from a different project.

The melted soap was all full of air bubbles, and so the resulting soap is a little messy.

So - I’m so excited! Han Solo in Carbonite soap, chocolates, and candies!!

Vintage Fabric Conversion App for iPhone

Sarah — Fri, 03 Sep 2010 04:04:29 +0000

Over at Sew Retro, Janice shared information about her new iPhone application - a vintage fabric converter. When you’re shopping for fabric for your vintage patterns, are you ever stymied by the fabric width options on the back of the envelope? You end up purchasing too much fabric as you try to guess how much fabric you need in our modern width of 44 inches, when the pattern calls for 1.75 yards of 39 inch wide fabric? While no conversion can be perfect, this iPhone app looks promising! Read more about it over at her blog.

Blue Glass Jars

Sarah — Tue, 31 Aug 2010 02:10:18 +0000

Fellow crafty Iowa blogger, Failed Feminist, found some awesome blue glass canning jars at a garage sale this morning. Super jealous!

Apron Sewing Class at Prairieland Herbs

Sarah — Sun, 29 Aug 2010 04:44:37 +0000

Abby and I had a great time at today’s apron sewing class. We didn’t use patterns, we used sheets for fabric, and we started with four students who had very little experience sewing. Three of them didn’t even know how to use their machines. Two hours later, they all had perfectly functional and adorable aprons.

Cutting out the pieces and ironing them.

Pinning.

Sewing

Aren’t they great??

Looking for Christmas gift inspiration.

Sarah — Sun, 29 Aug 2010 04:01:22 +0000

How about this for my mother in law - a cat lover.

Sarah — Wed, 11 Aug 2010 16:52:35 +0000

The current Craft Hope project is to sew pillowcases for ConKerr Cancer. “ConKerr Cancer was established two years ago to put smiles upon the faces of terminally ill children in the hospital. They provide bright and cheery handmade pillowcases for these children. They have succeeded in delivering 225,000 pillowcases up to this date. They have a goal of providing a beautiful pillowcase for every seriously ill child in North America by 2012.”

When I was 12, I was diagnosed with ITP, which is a blood clotting disorder. The only doctors in town who could treat it happened to also be pediatric oncologists (at that time, there were no pediatric hematologists who weren’t also oncologists). So, any time I was admitted to the hospital, I would be placed with the pediatric oncology patients, most of whom were much younger than I.

For a number of years, I couldn’t even really talk about cancer, cancer in children, etc. - it was just too much to deal with, when I could place actual faces and personalities with the nameless, faceless stories and statistics. I still chuckle whenever I think of one of my first roommates in the hospital. She loved movies and hoped her hair would grow back long and straight and blonde. (She was Black.) The nurses bought her a baseball hat with a long blonde ponytail coming out the back.

Anyway, this project was right up my alley. Pillowcases are easy enough to fit into my cramped fall schedule, and kids with cancer are near and dear to my heart.

This is only six pillowcases, but it’s pretty much depleted my current inventory of cottons. I don’t have very many cotton pieces that are large enough for a pillowcase! But I used some of my favorite prints - the Pez prints, John Deere, and Bugs Bunny. I hope the kids like them.

I’ve contacted the Iowa coordinator for ConKerr Cancer and will be mailing these off as soon as she lets me know where to send them!