Vibrancy

Inspired by the colors in this gorgeous pillowcase from TinyStitches, pictured top left, kisforkitty, showcases a collection of red, hot pink and avocado green items from Kansas City Etsy Team Member Shops.

Ensure a Bright Orange Halloween

Check out this awesome treasury curated by KCEtsy Team Member mamahootdesigns. It's full of great accessories sure to make for a playful Halloween weekend. I love the mix of everyday and holiday items ... individually and collectively they make for a whimsical Halloween collection from the team. Click on over to Etsy and let them, and mamahootdesigns, know your thoughts on this collection - everyone loves comments!

Buttercups and Honeysuckle

Custom Name with Billy Button Flowers by shawnanonna
Pair of Honey Blossom handmade Lampwork Beads by HoneyBearBeads
Big Yellow Flowers Wallet/Cardholder by DumbKidDesigns
Honeysuckle Jasmine Candle by ajscountrycottage

Spring Blooms

Vibrant Nature Prints by CallaghanArtGallery
Clover on Jute Table Runner by SouthHouseBoutique
Custom Pennant Banner by somethingfromcassie
Poppy Illustration by shawnanonna
Ranunculus Flower Gocco Print by AprilMarieMai
Cool and Crisp Black & White Fine Art Photograph by emcphoto

Tuesday Tutorial: Butterfly WallFlower

This week's tutorial is done by Kris of CollageContessa. Kris is an experimental artist who loves to use lots of different mediums and techniques - collage, painting, fabric, stamps, paper, metal, ephemera and anything else I can get my hands on to create one of a kind altered art. In this tutorial we get to watch Kris as she experiments and plays with this pile of beautiful papers and makes a wallflower to welcome spring.

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Just for fun I thought I'd try to take pictures while creating something from scratch. You never know what you might make or where the creativity will lead you. Sometimes the work sucks! But this time I enjoyed what I made. Perfect for spring. (All images used in this project are from Altered Pages. See the kit section.)

1. If you're like me and hate to waste anything, you'll understand why all my extra paint on a palette ends up randomly swiped on scrap papers. This way I have a stack of them to use in future projects. Using scraps or painted papers like these, cut out leaf or petal shapes.

2. I even used lace scraps. Next, lay them out on a piece of paper and using india or other watery ink to draw all over them with the dropper or a calligraphy pen set.



3. Take a scrap of felt or fabric and cut 3 circles: 3 1/4", 2 1/4" and 2". Lining the petals around the largest circle, zigzag sew the petals to the felt.


4. Do this again with the medium circle. After both are complete, take strips of a dictionary page and layer them in a circle on top of the middle circle. Layer this sandwich on top of the large circle and sew through all layers.

5. Take the small circle and layer with a transparent image. Here I used a transparent Altered Pages butterfly. Sew 4 even lines (in pie sections) through the small circle and image. Then, take butterfly circle, lay on top of the sandwiched flower piece circles and sew around the edge of the small circle to connect the layers perfectly.

6. Turn over the whole piece and handstitch a length of sheer ribbon to the back as a hanger for your new flower!


This is a perfect little decoration to hang on your door to welcome spring.

With some of the leftover petals and images, I created a pretty card that says 'believe' written with the calligraphy pen.


I also made a few little cards that can be given away as a gift card set or used to sent little notes to friends. I then tied them up in a bundle with butcher's thread.

All these items can be found in Kris's Etsy Shop. You can purchase a kit of the images used in this project from Altered Pages in their kit shop. Have fun creating! I'd love to see if you make this, using the tutorial.

Learn more about Kris and her creative process on her blog - Collage Contessa

Ring, Ring

1. Sterling Silver and Citrine Ring, SilverTrove
2. Always in Bloom Flower Ring, thefunkyfelter
3. Fallen Leaves Ring, SouthHouseBoutique
4. Lothlorien Elven Forest Ring, Thyme2dream

Contributed by TinyStitches.

Countdown to Christmas: KCEtsy Team's Great Giveaway! WEEK NINE: Win a Sparkle Flower Power magnet set Sparkle Book from Anne B. Vinyl!

WEEK NINE: Win one Sparkle Flower Power (set of four vinyl magnets) and one Sparkle Book (Vinyl Composition Book Cover) in the mini composition book size from Anne Hollond at Anne B. Vinyl!

Says Anne, "I've been sewing with various vinyl fabrics for the past 10 years. I started on a whim, after seeing a segment on Martha Stewart's television show about oilcloth placemats. After I made the placemats, I couldn't stop thinking about what else I could make with this amazing fabric, and I discovered other vinyl fabrics that were also incredibly appealing. I still can't stop! My inspiration comes from all over. I tend to just be in a constant state of viewing the world through a vinyl lens. I'm always jotting down ideas for things that I think would look fabulous in vinyl, or things that are already made of vinyl but aren't made of cool vinyl! (That's how the pocket protectors came about.) I'm also very lucky -- and very grateful -- to have so many people (especially on Etsy) approach me with ideas. I've currently got several fun projects in the works based on these ideas. One of them, in an amusing full-circle way, is a set of placemats!"

Anne notes that it's hard for her to pick a favorite item. "So many of them have interesting and sentimental back-stories. In a general sense, I'm particularly fond of the appliqued designs. They're very challenging, because the sewing is slow and the margin for error is tiny, but I really enjoy the challenge and the end result. I'm also very proud of my collaborative projects with Christy Schneider at The Petite Press - Project Nerd Power, Project Sip-in-Style, and Project Sup-in-Style."

TO ENTER THIS CONTEST AND WIN the SPARKLE FLOWER POWER magnet set and SPARKLE BOOK mini composition book, simply visit Anne's Etsy Shop annebvinyl.etsy.com and choose your favorite item in the shop, then post a comment about your favorite item here. BE SURE TO INCLUDE contact information (your e-mail) in your post, so we can notify you if you win. For an EXTRA ENTRY, become a follower of this blog, and BE SURE TO POST A SEPARATE COMMENT letting us know you've done so. For yet a THIRD entry, Tweet on Twitter or blog about this contest on your own blog, including a link to this blog, and BE SURE TO POST A SEPARATE COMMENT letting us know. Include in your comment a link to your post! Contest closes at 11:59 p.m. Central Time on Sunday, Oct. 18, 2009. Monday Oct. 19, a winner will be randomly drawn from eligible entrants and notified by e-mail, and the winner's name will also be posted here. Winner has one week to contact Anne to claim his/her prize. Contest open to U.S. residents. Keep checking here for our weekly drawings, and good luck to you!

This week's winner is DOTTY JANE! Congratulations!

Take Time to Smell the ...

1. Knit Flower Pin (Stir Designs)
2. English Garden Lampwork Pair (angelfireartglass)
3. Funky Flower Hair Pin (thefunkyfelter)
4. Happy and Orange 4x6 matted print (Sylvia C.)
5. CHERISH Me Collage Magnetic Frame (collagecontessa)
6. Flower Pop Headband (StirExcess)
7. Cosmos II fine art print (LitteBirdPhoto)
8. Spring Garden Locket (JewlLi)

Find more "flower inspired" work by KCEtsy Artists here.

* Written by TinyStitches.