It's the little things that make me happy!

I got home from my "real" job today to find that I have been included on not just one, but two (!!!) Etsy treasury lists!!! It completely turned my day around! Now if I could only make a showcase, that would make my month!

I'll be posting more items in my Etsy shop in the next few days and Christmas is starting to inch closer! Take a look, and remember I do custom work as well!

Leaves of Love Etsy Shop

<3 A

Wedding Fashions: Part 3

You've now seen 2 posts of jewelry fun! The wedding has happened and was amazing! I am so happy for the lovely T & her D! Now that the festivities are over, I've got the last piece of the puzzle to share. All beautiful jewelry has to come in a beautiful package!

I had a super easy plan to acquire some mustard yellow boxes, tie them up with black ribbon and be done with it. Until Michael's thwarted this plan and lied about their stock of mustard yellow gift boxes. Suddenly, I had a project!

 The raw materials, post the most depressing Michael's trip ever.

 Cutting the felt was my first step. Mostly because it was the easiest and I was already tired. The felt will be placed inside the boxes. I didn't want to use black, as the necklaces were black and I couldn't find a matching yellow. This dark-ish gray ended up working amazingly well.

 The next step was covering these ugly, naked boxes!!!!

 An Elmer's glue stick and some cardstock was all I needed to get these covered. All of the box bottoms were covered in black. (see above) All of the box bottoms were covered in mustard yellow with some cute, textured polka dots.  (see below)

 Ahhh!!! And then I ran into measuring issues. I could have fixed these, but I did not plan my time well enough to recut. :-(

Then came the BEDAZZLING!!! This was actually a super easy process. I got some scrapbooking gems. They were pre-shaped and on a sticker! Perfect! I just started cutting the sticker portion to make a unique shape for each box. 

Here's a close up of the job of the felt. I cut diagonal lines to hold the chain behind and keep the pendant perfectly placed.

Halfway done!!!!

10 bridesmaid boxes in the bag! And each with it's own little twist. I was really proud with how these turned out. The color is a little off thanks to the lighting at 3am, but these are a darker mustard yellow and were a perfect match to the bride's colors.

 Finally! The brides box! This was the hardest box. I first covered both the top and bottom in the same yellow cardstock. Then I covered the top in a translucent plastic paper with gorgeous, ornate, black designs. This paper was killer!!! The glue I had was not nearly strong enough to hold it tight, so I ended up pulling out the super glue to get the corners to agree with me. 

Once I got all the paper to stick I put the finishing touches. I chose not to use the gray felt, since some of the boxes came with the cotton, so I stuck with that for the bride. I just wanted the tone of the opening of the box to be pure and clean. I think I pulled that off. *fingers crossed*

 Close ups!!!!

 Finished!!! 11 boxes total. 6.5 hours. And a bride who loved the end result.

I'm going to brag a bit and admit that I am super proud of this last minute DIY!

Oh! And a bonus shot of the adorable broken ring bearer who happens to belong to me! 

(He likes to pose when he's all dressed up!)

Next up will be an update of my current crochet project! Stay tuned! 

<3 A

Wedding Fashions: Part 2

In case you missed the last post, I am currently working on wedding jewelry for a friend of mine. I left off before after a fun afternoon of watching paint dry. 

Literally. I had to keep checking on the chains to make sure they didn't get stuck while drying. It was exciting. I Promise!

On to the next step! First up, finishing the Bridesmaids necklaces! Once all the chains were dry I was able to start the assembly line of necklaces for the bridesmaids.

These are the adorable pedants that the bride, T, picked out. I think they are classy, but still have a bit of edge. I actually already had one of these in my stash in a different metal when she showed me what she had picked out. Great minds!

Step 1: Lay out all the pieces!

It was a pretty simple project. I had the pedants, the newly black chain, some black jumps rings, and some dark gunmetal silver lobster claps.  I just opened the jump rings to attach the chain to the clasp and ended up with necklaces just waiting for pendants. 

All I had to do was slip those pretty little bows on the chain!

10 bridesmaid necklaces? Check!

Next it was onto the main event! The necklace for the bride. T was pretty clear with what she wanted. She had the same pendant picked out, but hers was in silver with rhinestones, and she wanted three strands of pearls. That was my direction, nice and clear, while still leaving room for creativity. I don't have any pictures of the beading process, but this is what I came up with.

 Before I put the crimp beads on to finish, because as you can see, my bead clamps are still on the ends!

Close up of T's pedant. I'm glad that I used I larger sized pearl to keep the pendant in place. I really like the look of them peaking out through the bow!

The final product!

As it was getting dark by the time I finished T's, I couldn't really get any good looking long shots of T's necklace. (I really hate the flash look on jewelry!)

I was so happy to be able to do this for her and the best part is that she loves it!!! Keep checking back because I will get some action shots of these pieces in use on the wedding day! Just 2 weeks to go!

<3 A

Wedding Fashions: Part 1

Happy Thursday/Friday!

I teased in my first post that I would start sharing my current project and today starts the first in a series to fulfill that promise! I have a close friend getting married soon (2 weeks! eekkkk!!), who asked me if would make the necklaces for herself and her bridesmaids for her wedding. I immediately said yes and am now hard at work!

Working on commission pieces is always a little difficult because you have to shift your creative vision. It's not something that I'm used to or completely comfortable with, but you can't  grow if you aren't challenged. I'm also very lucky that my friend, T, had a pretty clear idea of what she was looking for. She is absolutely obsessed with bows and really wanted that to be a focus. She even did research herself and found some pendants that she loved.

 For the bridesmaids she chose a black rhinestone bow pendant (pictures of that tomorrow in Part 2!) and wanted them on a black chain. I'm always nervous ordering online for a planned event, so I decided to stick to local stores to look for chain. Every single black chain I found was huge! Grossly chunky! It was terrible.

 My proactive decision was to paint!!!

 And that's exactly what I did this afternoon!

Of course, I'm not a professional spray painter, so a wooden post on my patio became my drying station. My biggest fear in painting chain was that it would get stuck together and become one solid mess. I found that I avoided most of that by not spray painting it flat and letting it dry hanging.

I really love this chain in the silver. It's something that is light, but also draws the eye to it's subtle texture with the differing links. I love it even more in black!!! If only Michael's would sell it that way! 

That's all for Part 1. Check back tomorrow for Part 2 and see the Bridesmaids finished product!!!

<3 A

ETSY

I posted new pieces in my Etsy shop tonight! Take a look.

www.etsy.com/shop/atcat26

<3 A

Joining the blogging world!

Hello!!!

Welcome to the brand new Leaves of Love blog!!!

If you come here not knowing me, allow me to introduce myself!

I am Alicia. I am a newly single mother of the most annoying amazing 4 year old boy! I am a not so closeted nerd and I am a crafter!!! Currently I focus on handmade jewelry and crochet and I plan to share it here with all of you!!!

Recently, I've realized that I not only love sharing what I've created with those around, but I LOVE sharing the process. I constantly find myself explaining my design process to those who show any interest with my work. So, in order to save my friends and family from the boredom of my rambling in person, I'm taking it to the blog!!!

I can't wait to start sharing and I am even more excited to connect and find other inspirational creative people out there!!!

<3 A