Ahem...Ahem...I have an announcement

It's HERE!  I started my own Etsy Shop to sell my creations.  For the last 3 months I have been studying and learning about how Etsy works and preparing my first 10 items for sell.  I was pushing to get things up and running quickly so I am beginning with digital downloads first but I hope to expand to selling printed items and mailing them out.  Here is a link to my shop:
Creative Cache Shop

I also hope to get requests for more designs.  And I have an email just for my business:  michellecreativecache@gmail.com

My husband helped me get some things to streamline my work.  Check out my fancy work station with a glass tabletop desk.  When I get a pencil sketch close to the way I like it, I find it much more efficient to trace with the ink.

The chair was an amazing find at the local thrift shop.  Totally a blessing from the Lord.  I just felt like going on a particular afternoon and was led to check the furniture section and there it was for $15.  It curves well to support my back and it is a major bonus that it matches the wood tones in my bedroom so well!

My husband I had just painted the kids rooms and built new bunk beds for our growing boys.  The old beds were both toddlers and on their last legs.  Rather than throw them away he made a quick shelf to go above my desk so I could have my art supplies easily accessible.  He offered to trim it down more but I decided to go with it for now and decide later if we want to make any changes.  For now it fills my needs just fine.

Also I wanted to get better scans and be able to scan full sizes for the larger work.  So we shopped around and found a brand new laser printer/scanner/copier that can scan up to 1200 dpi and size 11X17.  It can even print size 11X17.  So I am now looking for quality ledger paper so I can print the Believe in God and Trust in the Lord pieces in all their beautiful glory at full size.

I found that 1200 DPI is a huge file size for the artwork I am doing so it makes more sense to follow the standard of most Etsy shop sellers and use 600 DPI.  I saw a big difference in the quality of the scans compared to my old printer.  So I started with making COLOR versions of some of the pieces from my free printables page.  These are all posted in my CreativeCacheShop on Etsy.  And I would love to take requests for new work so please email me with your desires for new designs.  I have some ideas that I have been working on so I will be updating frequently with new work.  And I also will be making a black and white bundle of some of the new art work and the old artwork with my better quality scanner in case people want to print and color it themselves.  Thank you for reading and please share my post!

PS.  Here is the link again since my friend suggested I add it to the end of the post:  Creative Cache Shop

Soap Dispenser Cover

Let It Snow!

(So what if I did this in 2009 and I am finally finishing and posting it in January of 2011. Better late than never right?)

So after a fun Thanksgiving, what am I in the mood for? Christmas Decorating of course! Last year I was pretty tired as we were expecting our second bundle of joy and I focused mainly on displays in our curio cabinet and the living room. I felt like Christmas ended in our hallway though and determined to extend the decorating to more areas the next year. So this year I started thinking about the bathroom. I had plenty of random decorations that I had been gifted and as I noticed a snow man theme coming out of them I felt a desire to make my soap dispenser match. So out came the christmas fabrics from quilts and tree skirts past.

I decided to use the blue with the snowflake pattern. For the finish I made a bow with a center and six sides out of a white sheer wired ribbon. I looked online to see who else had ever suggested such a brilliant idea before and the only one I found was crocheted. So now you too can copy my idea. Here is the tutorial. I chose this method for a more fitted look, but I can probably come up with an easier one that requires no sewing at all. (Maybe for Valentines day)

Materials used for this project: Fabric, elastic band, thread, sewing machine, safety pin, and ribbon held in place with a single straight pin.

I just used a rough measurement but if you want a better ruffle add a little more fabric to the top. (The triangle you see is what I decided to add on, I could have made it extend farther for more ruffle.) I used the piece of paper to varify the approximate height and circumfrence needed.

I folded the fabric over and created a casing for the elastic. The elastic is thin so I only needed about a quarter inch to slide it through. I use a safety pin to help slide the elastic through and then I pinned the ends in place so I could sew down the side. Turn it inside out and cover your soap dispenser!

I added the ribbon as an extra touch. You can make a bow by starting with the center loop. Then make your next loop angled so it comes back underneath and repeat on the other sides. You can make a bow as big as you like. I just did the six loops arranged around the center one to keep it simple and small--like a snowflake.

I measured the right amount of elastic by wrapping the elastic around and holding it without stretching it.

The fabric is longer than the elastic so it will gather. If you don't have elastic you could probably use a simple ribbon but you would want it to be much longer than the fabric and make a bow. (Maybe I will do that for the Valentine version)

To slide the elastic through you fix a safety pin on one end and start sliding the safety pin through. When the tail of your elastic gets to the end you started on make sure you fix it in place so it stops sliding through.

Now that I have the elastic in place I pin together sides with the wrong side of the fabric out. (That way my seam is on the inside of the fabric)

Add a little hand sewing to hide the extra flap of fabric.

Presto! Now you have a soap dispenser to match your decorations for the holiday season.

Make a bow could be another tutorial, but I will describe it here and see if that helps. You start with the center loop. Then curve your next loop so it makes a point on one side, make sure the ribbon crosses back under the center loop. Each time you will make three points as you guide the ribbon around. Just continue adding pointed loops until you like the size of your bow. I used a straight pin to fix this bow in place because I didn't need to make it permanent. A stapler works as well.