Treasury Feature Patels

Here's a lovely treasury my pink urchin earrings are featured in. Thanks OmMama ;)

Happy Treasure Hunting

- Cerise

Eyes, Legs, and Feet, Oh My!

Okay, I'm finally going to share my super treasures I got a couple weekends ago from the fabulous Daisy Drygoods . Last year I started getting interested in old dolls. Honestly, they kind of creep me out, especially the really old ones. But I bought a few dolls and might even do a few mail-order/online doll making classes. And then I found the mecca of doll parts. Glass eyes are my favorite treasure I found. There were lots of legs, ceramic and composite materials, and some arms and torsos too. There was even an awesome little kewpie doll but his sweet little arm was busted off so he didn't get to come home with me.

Here is a picture of some of my awesome goodies I got. Not sure what I'm going to do with them yet. I wish I had gotten more glass eyes for Halloween.

Need some doll parts? If you can't get by Daisy Drygoods in Arcata, California, check out the following Etsy sites. But watch out, I've drooled all over listings eying all the wonderful doll parts!

Altered Paradise

Happy Steiler

Creative ARTifacts

Happy Doll Hunting!

Cerise : )

Favorite Arcata Crafty Stores

A late arrival back to Corvallis on Sunday left me way to beat to post yesterday, but I did play with some of my new treasures that were found during my journey. Now that I am somewhat rested, here are some of my favorite stores in Arcata for getting crafty supplies, though this doesn't include all of them!

First stop after coffee and doughnuts on Friday was Daisy Drygoods on the H Street side of the Arcata Plaza, my all-time favorite store. I could have spent many hours and many dollars in this antique and vintage supply store. It's like a typical dry goods store from a long-ago era that was unearthed after being forgotten for a while. Not only do they have some fun antique and

vintage nick-knacks and clothing, they have all sorts of fabric, yarn, doll parts, buttons, ribbon, sewing machine parts, hat making supplies, and so much more. I was excited to learn that they have an Etsy page that will be up and running soon. Hooray!! My favorite find was a painted fabric doll leg. The weirdest find I took home were glass doll eyes. Oh why oh why didn't I get more!

They are ever so unique. Weirdest find I did not take home: the three-faced doll in a fuzzy hooded jumper whose head spins to reveal different faces. Super creepy but really neat! (You can see it in the picture of doll parts.) There were also ceramic legs and arms of all sorts, mostly large pairs. Down in the bottom of the leg bin was a baggy with three little appendages that just had to come home with me. I wasn't really in a fabric mood and I was feeling a bit rushed, but now I'm regretting not spending more time in Daisy Drygood's fabrics.

They have wonderful old fabrics and flour sacks that would be splendid for so many projects. I still have some fabric bits I got there forever ago that I love. Though I wish I could have spent longer perusing, I'm very excited about my doll part finds.

My next stop was Fabric Temptations on the other side of the Plaza. (Find them on Facebook here.) I went in to check out their fat quarters but I was still not feeling very fabric-excited so I didn't stay long. They have a great selection of fabrics, yarn, buttons (I have a really awesome Apatosaurus button from there), ribbon, trims, and books so be sure to check them out if you are ever passing through Arcata. Hopefully I will be craving fabric or yarn next time I go through!

Happy Supply Hunting,

Cerise : )

P.S.

A great big THANK YOU! to Rose at Daisy Drygoods for setting up a pick-up for the doll leg since I was overwhelmed and insane and brought up an unintended arm. I'm very happy for my leg!!

Valentine Giveaway!!!

Long time no post!! It's been a busy week over here. Unfortunately it's not due to being super crafty. Sometimes boring responsibilities get in the way of all the fun stuff. C'est la vie. But good news, we are coming back to you with a giveaway!! To celebrate the month of love, hearts, and all that other gushy sweet stuff we are giving away heart terrariums! Check out more pictures on Cerise's Etsy site (sorry, that awesome little gnome is not included).

You have two chances to be entered. You will get one entry for leaving a comment below and another entry by reposting this blog (please leave your link in the comments section). And it gets better! Two winners will be picked (at random of course!), one winner receiving a small heart terrarium and a second winner receiving a large heart terrarium. You have until Saturday so get those comments rolling!

Good Luck!
Cerise : )

Spring Is A Brewin'!

I had a little extra time off this afternoon so I decided to get started on a recent idea for spring. I picked up some great milk glass stemmed glasses this weekend and ran out and found a few more fun milk glass and tea cup containers from my two favorite thrift stores (sadly slim pickin's around here). Then the kitchen went from clean to a hot, crafty mess in a matter of seconds. These are a fun spring decoration and are also a great place marker and gift for a party (I am definitely making some for my garden party thisyear). I was inspired by Paper + Craft but I wanted to add a found look and make my creations more gardeny so I added bugs. To keep this exciting, I didn't want to giveaway what these will look like when they are completed so stay tuned for the full details when I get something on those sticks. Can you guess what they might be??

Happy Crafting!

Cerise : )

Re-Purposed Terrariums

Going with the theme of red leading up to Valentine's Day, I thought it would be appropriate to make more terrariums. Only these ones are in bigger, re-purposed jars! The lids are covered with a wonderful dark red felt and they include the fabulous German moss and vintage German mushrooms like the tiny ones you saw back in December. These ones were slightly easier to make since I could get my fingers into the jar, but they were definitely no less fun! These would make a great gift for a friend for Valentine's day or a little something to put on a self to remind you that spring will soon be here. You can even put a little critter in the jar (preferably not living though...). Hope you enjoy them as much as I do!

Happy Crafting!

Cerise : )

Love Terrarium

Looking for a gift for you Valentine this year? Check out my new heart terrariums on Etsy. Get a big one or a little one or both! They are hand crafted with wonderful glass corked heart jars layered with cork and German moss. And to make these terrariums perfect, little mushrooms "growing" out of the substrate (yes, the wonderful little vintage German mushrooms you've seen before!) Brighten up your Valentine's day or even your own little special nook with a sweet heart terrarium. Check out the new re-purposed jar terrariums too! Don't miss out, these are going to go fast!!

Happy Crafting!

Cerise : )

Holiday Giveaway!

You know you want these fabulous little vintage mushrooms! They are from Meyer Imports, a fabulous company with little mushrooms, tiny creatures, and amazing glitter. The largest ones are watte (spun cotton) with plaster caps and the smaller ones are all plaster. All you have to do is be a follower of the blog (look to the right of this post to subscribe) and leave a comment below (international entries welcome!). But not just any comment silly! Tell us your favorite holiday/winter tradition. A winner will be chosen at random and notified. All comments much be left by 9 pm PST (lucky you East Coasties!).

Good Luck!

Cerise : )

Baby Terrariums

My baby terrariums! Bigger than the little bitty terrariums, these get to have bigger mushrooms! The bigger ones are wonderful spun cotton, or watte, with ceramic caps. I will be making the lids decorative as baby food jar lids are not particularly attractive. My first one has my favorite little ceramic fox mini. He looks very happy to frolic amongst the mushrooms. I hope to have a few baby terrariums up on my Etsy site soon. These make great holiday gifts and will fit in a stocking and are sure to put a smile on any face so order soon to get it by Christmas!

Happy Crafting!

Cerise : )

Dragon Tie Belt Picture!

After however long it's been...toooooo long...here is a picture of the dragon tie belt. All upcycled materials! Unfortunately the camera is thrown off by the shimmer of the gold dragons and can't manage a great picture, but hopefully you get the idea. I'll be holding down the blog fort while mum is in Denver. More to come soon...
Happy Crafting,
Cerise : )

Dragon Tie Belt

A while back my dad gave Dale all his cubicle-era ties he didn't want anymore. One of the ties that ended up in the bunch was my favorite tie from my childhood (next to the Yellow Submarine one of course). I decided to sneak that one off the tie rack and make a belt out of it using some vintage hook buckles I purchased off Gingham Girl's Etsy site. I don't like the belts made by just using the original shape. I wanted a belt that would go through my belt loops but still be noticeable as a tie. I ended up ripping the seam on the back of the tie and trimming the inside support down to the smallest width. Then I pinned it to the support and painfully sewed wiggle designs with my Brother sewing machine in gold metallic thread. This tool FOREVER and my thread broke every few minutes. I had to adjust my tension over and over again and that still didn't help. The thread bunched up really badly in many areas on the back side of the tie/belt. At least only the decorative gold wiggle stitching is visible, not the out of control bunches of thread. I attached the very long belt to the right dragon and began figuring out how to make the belt adjustable without buying more materials. I decided to use buttons. I have a wonderful vintage candy tin full of old buttons from Merry Sunshine on Etsy. I plucked out a card of gold buttons to match the dragon. I tried out the metallic thread for the button holes but threw out the idea on the first break of the thread and used yellow instead. My button holes came out great! I think it might even be the first time I've actually made real button holes for buttons. I sewed on the buttons and though they are evenly spaced, they do not match up with the button holes. I might resew them but two at a time will button in, enough to hold the belt on the needed size. I have three more vintage hook buckles and some thrift store ties for belts. There will definitely be some changes in the second belt but overall this was a really fun project and came out pretty neat. I can't wait to wear it!
Happy Crafting,
Cerise : )

Thrist Store Finds...

It's been a LOOOOONG time once again! And again, I can blame school and work. Over spring break, I had my first field geology experience in the Mojave Preserve and it was a blast. Last week was spring camp at the Fleet, and this week I have no excuse really for not posting anything. I have been crafting this past week and created some eco-friendly dry snack bags (more on that later), discovered a new craft (also more on that later), and am finishing a dragon tie belt project (once again, more on that later). During my lunch break yesterday I went to my favorite thrift store in North Park and hit the jack pot on seam binding, biased tapes, piping, twill tape, and other sewing goodies. I did forget to grab the cute little oval embroidery hoop but maybe it will be there next time. The seam binding was the perfect find for my eco-friendly snack bags and was a much cheaper buy than the craft store and is using (almost) upcycled materials.
One of the other goodies is a sewing machine light bulb that fits my Singer Featherweight.
Ironically enough, the light just now blew on the Singer Featherweight. Good thing I got one at the thrift store. Let's hope it works so I can finish my dragon tie belt. That is (hopefully) going to be my next post.
Happy Crafting,
Cerise : )

P.S.
I started this post from end to beginning out of my humor for the blown light bulb. The new light bulb won't fit in my machine!!! So so sad. Off to the craft store after all!

Habitarium No. 2

I am now scrambling to get holiday crafts and gifts done since work is slow and my craft "chores" are aplenty. Today I completed my second habitarium with a winter evergreen on a snowy hill. I like how this one came out and I cannot wait to finish my third one I am working on. The snowman is thus far quite adorable though he needs some cute little stick arms. San Diego lacks much foresty area but I know I will find some little snowman arms somewhere.
I am working on shnazzing up some paper stars with layer upon layer of silver glitter. These were leftover from last year. Apparently I never finished them but I am determined to get my holiday crafts done this year. Maybe my mom and I will finally finish that little Santa we've been working on for the past three or four years (how long has it been?). Check back for more habitariums and holiday crafts. I am almost done with a pair of festive arm warmers I knitted!
Happy crafting,
Cerise : )

Habitariums

I just thought to call them habitariums while uploading the pictures for editing. It's done!!! The long awaited "habijar" has turned out better than I had hoped and I finally found a use for a few of my small, nifty, vintage wooden thread spools. The base is secured to the inside of the metal vintage jelly jar lid and the little amanitas, moss, and snail are secured to the "grass" base. All the felt peices are hand-stitched and the amanita tops are secured to vintage wooden spool stalks, complete with little felt veils. I decided last minute to add the moss and am very happy with the look of it. I will be making more habitariums the next couple of weeks and posting them on my Etsy site so look out for these great holiday gifts (you can get them for yourself, I won't tell!). I started making an evergreen tree for habitarium number two but it is a little too large for the jar so I think I will have to think smaller (a very hard thing to do!). So instead it is mearly a snowy little tree. I'm going to make bigger ones to match these and they will definitely also be in my Etsy store.
Happy crafting, Cerise : )

Buffet of Bow Ties

While visiting my parents in Humboldt, I noticed a couple old, mouldy looking boxes of vintage sewing patterns. Mom planned to take them to Daisy Dry Goods (one of my all time favorite stores!) on the Arcata Plaza to see if they would buy them. I thought to take a look to see if any of the patterns interested me before we too them in. Some were cute, some a bit creepy (clown costumes!), and some just silly (many of the men were very similar looking their female photo op. partner). All of them were must to small for my lady hips. But in the midst of all the funny 70s patterns was a bow tie package. Tie-yourself designs, pre-tied, clip-ons. At least the man really looked like a man. I snatched that one up and stuffed it into my luggage bag to later try out when I was back in my sewing pad in San Diego. A couple days ago I pulled out the pattern to start on a project for an alchemy request for a red bow tie. Now, not only is the red cotton fabric and its interfacing cut out, there are many funky and holiday-inspired bow tie wannabe cutouts all over my sewing table (and beyond). I thought, I might as well make a bunch since I have the pattern ad try to sell some in the boutique. So far I have all the pieces (save some interfacing parts) ready to be sewn together. I can't wait to attempt tying them for the Etsy pictures. My fiancé has volunteered himself and his fedora as the model. I hope other people enjoy my funky and a bit tacky taste in men's fashion. I know I would definitely done a tacky tie to a holiday party just for kicks if not for a nice conversation piece. My next task: cumberbunds. I just know I'll get a custom order from a holiday barbershop quartet group for some Frosty bow ties and matching cumberbunds.
Happy crafting,
Cerise : )