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Cricut Maker: The New Dream Machine

October 6, 2017 by girlinspired Leave a Comment

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I’m not even going to tiptoe around it – Cricut released their newest machine – the Cricut Maker – and it is AWESOME!! I’ve been a Cricut fan for a long long time. YEARS! Ever since my husband bought me the very first machine that Cricut released 12 or so years ago, I’ve been hooked. With each new version, the options and ease for creating become greater! And this time, friends, the MAKER machine is beyond impressive. In fact, attending the Cricut Mountain Maker event and seeing this new machine launched into action re-sparked my passion to create all the things! I have been so busy MAKING that I haven’t even had time to stop and post about all the fun. So, today, I’m going to introduce you to the MAKER and show you just a bit of what has me so excited! I usually save the best for last, but I just can’t this time – the most exciting feature for this seamstress?? – THIS MACHINE CUTS FABRIC!! All the kinds of fabric! Leather, chiffon, quilting cotton, felt, lace, ruffles, minky, EVERYTHING! Do you know what that means? I can cut out sewing patterns!! I’ve done a lot of experimenting over the years – trying to cut fabric with my various cutting machines – and I have had some success by backing the fabric with heat’n’bond, or something like that. But what about when you want to cut fabric and NOT have an adhesive on the back of it? The new rotary blade system in this machine makes it so that I can just lay my fabric right onto the fabric cutting mat and cut it out. The genius engineers re-designed this machine from the ground up to create a true dream machine. Cricut Design Space already has tons of patterns built right into it – doll clothes, purses, handbags, hats, cosmetic totes, quilt patterns, etc. And, of course, you can upload your own designs, shapes, patterns, whatever! I get so excited by all the options, I have a hard time narrowing down what I want to create.

I have started in on a quilt pattern that was available in Design Space – having this machine cut out all the intricate pieces and telling me exactly which pieces of fabric to lay down and cut when – it makes the tedious task of piecing a quilt seem much more attainable! After printing out the project instructions straight from Design Space, I simply put each piece of fabric onto the mat, hit Go, and walked away while Cricut cut out every piece for my quilt top! An hour later, amongst running kids to and from soccer practice and making dinner and my pieces are ready to sew!

SO perfect and SO easy!!

Another neat thing about the Maker machine is that Cricut built the housing unit so that it would be compatible with future awesome tools. The knife blade is coming soon – it cuts leather and balsa wood!! My brain is exploding with ideas! There are two ports to hold the tools – the regular blade, the deep cut bade, the rotary blade, all your markers, the knife blade, AND EVEN A WASHABLE FABRIC MARKER! That’s right – it doesn’t just cut out your pattern pieces, it also marks them with all the necessary annoying marks we usually have to transfer from inconvenient paper patterns. Heavenly!!

The design is sleek and the white/silver unit coordinates with any decor. Bluetooth is built in so it communicates with my telephone, the iPad, my kids’ devices, or my computer, and I don’t have to hook up any cords or set up right next to a particular computer. My daughter is starting to use it and she can design projects right from her own phone, too.

Look at some of the idea boxes from the Cricut Maker release event! How do you not feel inspired to CREATE when you look at these projects? In the last couple weeks alone, I’ve used my Maker machine to cut out tried and true iron-on projects and vinyl projects, and I’ve decorated canvas art, new throw pillows, a t-shirt, and the list goes on and on. This machine is equipped to do all of the amazing craft tricks that my Explore is equipped to do, but the new capabilities to design sewing projects and leather projects and WOOD projects is just so freaking fantastic, I just keep this baby set up and ready to play all the time. I’ll be sharing more projects in the near future, but be sure to click over to the Cricut website to read MORE and watch the coolest videos showcasing the new Cricut MAKER!

This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of Cricut. The opinions and text are all mine.

Princess Crowns Tutorial

July 8, 2013 by girlinspired 50 Comments

One of my most favorite DIY projects EVER are the lace princess crowns I made for the girls’ birthday parties. I was pretty pleased with myself last year when I made the first set of crowns, adding color and glitter to the ideas I’d seen online. Since then, I’ve made several more crowns and after Addison’s Princess and the Popstar party a couple weeks ago, I have some updates to my original tutorial to share.

Choosing Synthetic laces vs. cotton lace – the synthetic laces seem to hold their intricate detail/shape better than the soft cotton laces, such as the vintage trims I used in the past. Look for wider designs with a lot of variation in the trim for taller crowns.

Saturate the trim in fabric stiffener, swipe off excess with your fingers, lay the lace flat to dry in a straight line on waxed paper. Turn several times to ensure all of the holes in the lace are clear of excess stiffener.
This is an excellent summertime project (particularly here in the dry heat of CA – not sure how humidity effects drying time). I was able to add stiffener, dry out the lace, paint, and glitter the crowns all within about a half a day. When I made them previously in January, it took several days. After each step, I set the lace outside to dry – temperature was about 90 degrees that day.
Apply one coat of acrylic paint to both sides in the same color as the glitter you’d like to apply. Allow to dry.
To add glitter: choose a very fine glitter – this makes all the difference. This glitter from Martha Stewart Crafts worked a million times better than anything else I’ve tried.

Use a foam brush to apply a thin layer of Mod Podge over the painted lace. Sprinkle with glitter. Shake off excess glitter. Set out to dry (this doesn’t take long). Flip over. Apply a layer of glitter to the other side.

Immediately overlap and hot glue the ends of the lace together to form a circle. Use this tip to dry the crown into the perfect circular shape. Set outside to dry for several hours or overnight.
Store crowns the same way you dried them. I have mine all stacked on one take-out container after the next.

Super cute, right? I love these crowns!!! And I love knowing that I can make them in a snap in this hot weather! Have you made one yet?

For more details and pictured instructions, you can see my original tutorial here.

More Princess and the Popstar Party Details

Lace Princess Crowns - DIY

DIY Disco Ball Pinata

Princess and the PopStar Birthday Party

Princess Dress Sewing Pattern for Girls

Microphone Craft Party Activity

The Edelweiss Dress in Polka Dots and Peach

June 21, 2013 by girlinspired 16 Comments

Brace yourself. I’m about to go overboard on the pictures again. How many is too many do you think? I always wonder that when I’m editing pictures – “if this wasn’t my child, would I still think it’s the cutest picture and must be included?” Today Addie is modeling my version of the Edelweiss Dress, another darling Hey June pattern.

The story of how this particular dress came to be is….interesting. I pondered over fabric combos on this one for quite a while. I really have to shop from the fabrics in front of me and literally hold them in place where they’ll go before I figure out if I like a combo or not. So, I finally paired up this white and gray polka dot with the solid coral/peach and then had the brilliant idea to use eyelet lace instead of the ruffle for the sleeve. So, I cut out all my pattern pieces, decide to add the contrast band on the bottom of the skirt there and then I start constructing the lace/ruffle pieces. I get them all prepped and start sewing everything when I realize – it wasn’t my brilliant idea to use the eyelet at all. I was totally in the middle of straight up copying Jessica’s adorable “When We Were Young Striped Dress.” With Jess’ blessing, though, I treaded on, still loving the eyelet with the lightness of the gray dot and the summery pop of peach. Of course, I didn’t have enough eyelet, so my straps are a little shorter than they should be. And I miscalculated (even after checking myself three times) and cut the skirt too short. I finished the dress not knowing if it would even button across Addie’s back. It was just one of those days when I probably shouldn’t have been in the sewing room at all. BUT! It did fit Addie and actually looks pretty flippin’ adorable. Since it was short, I pulled out some knit bloomers that have eyelet on the bottom and I couldn’t be happier with the vintage-y look.

I have nothing but love for the pattern itself. The Edelweiss pattern was just as clear and understandable as I found the Narita Dress Pattern. I love the way that Adrianna puts together her patterns and uses illustrations for the step by step instructions – makes it so easy to follow.

I really, really love the back details of this dress, especially. The way the straps fall on the outside of the shoulder blades and the low cut of the back bodice are so pretty and feminine.

I also love how the skirt of the dress/tunic has just the right amount of body. It puffs out just enough and twirls a bit, but doesn’t overwhelm the little people with too much fabric.

The little model was being really sassy for this photo shoot – she had a lot of her own ideas about where and how she would stand or sit. A lot of her ideas were different than mine. It turned out good though, as long as you’re not tired of my weeds in the background of all the blog pictures. hahaha!

You can see a whole bunch more renditions of the Edelweiss Dress and Top by following along the Hey June pattern tour over at Crafterhours. Also, be sure to check out Kristin’s cute woodland dress from yesterday and Shauna’s gorgeous blue top here.

Now, go get yourself an Edelweiss Dress Pattern and start sewing! Bonus is that you get to sing “Edelweiss” to yourself and anyone that will listen the whole time you’re sewing…

Bubble Pocket Shorts Cuteness

June 17, 2013 by girlinspired 27 Comments

I am pretty darn excited to share today’s project with you – these adorable little shorts that I made from the Elegance and Elephants Bubble Pocket Shorts pattern.

Heidi was so sweet to donate this pattern for me to use as part of the Shorts on the Line sewalong hosted by imagine gnats and small + friendly.

I made the shorts in a size 3/4 and they fit Addie perfectly – she is falling right between sizes now, overlapping between a 3T and a 4T for most clothes. I made the shorts on a Saturday morning – the instructions were straightforward and the construction came together smoothly and quickly. I used a chambray for the main fabric, which I picked up last week on a quick trip to Stonemountain and Daughter in Berkeley. The fabric fits perfectly with this style of shorts and Addie agrees that they turned out super cute!! Don’t you just love those fun, perfectly sized bubble pockets?

My favorite feature could be the contrasting band on the inside waist – I couldn’t resist throwing black and white polka dots in there!

The pattern itself was simple to follow and very clear – I highly recommend it. You can create a very polished looking garment and the pattern provides all the instructions and tips you’ll need to pull it off without a hitch.

Now…let’s take a minute to admire my budding supermodel here. I pulled her out back at my mom’s house just before dinner the other evening. Her hair was kind of stringy, wavy from playing in the pool all day and she was in a really good mood. If every photo shoot went this smoothly – well….I’d be out of wall space trying to frame every picture. I got a few of the goofy expression pictures, but mostly just the sweetest little face you’ve ever seen. Oh, I could just eat her up!

So, she’s standing up on this little bench in the garden and the sunlight is filtering over the house behind her and into my lens for some yummy pictures (maybe not the best for seeing the shorts, but we already had those…) And then I ask Addie, if she were a supermodel, what would her signature pose be, so without skipping a beat, she gives me this pose….

and this…

Times like that – it’s hard to stop taking pictures. I think the pretty, little shorts may have put her in just the mood to give me all the pictures I could handle. Thanks for humoring me with the showing off. Please check out all of the shorts that others are sharing throughout the Shorts on the Line series and as part of the sew-along. Here’s the full schedule:

6/10 – Petit a Petit and Family and Shwin & Shwin

6/11 – Delia Creates and Buzzmills

6/12 – Cirque du Bebe and Sanae Ishida

6/13 – Fake It While You Make It and elsie marley

6/14 – No Big Dill and Max California and Designs by Sessa

6/17 – girl inspired and Casa Crafty

6/18 – Frances Suzanne and Caila Made

6/19 – Made by Rae and Craftstorming

6/20 – Noodlehead and emmyloubeedoo

6/21 – Siestas & Sewing and Made with Moxie

6/24 – imagine gnats and small + friendly

Shopping in the Los Angeles Fabric District

June 13, 2013 by girlinspired 22 Comments

Hello!! I’m slowly recovering from the end of the school year and Addie’s birthday, coupled with returning from the most overwhelming and wonderful fabric shopping weekend ever! How are you? I finally got all of my bags from Fabric Weekend unpacked, my fabric mostly washed, and all of it stashed someplace other than on top of my sewing table. I have yet to cut into any of it, but I’m pretty happy just looking and petting! I’m excited to share some pictures and report on the weekend a bit while it’s still fresh. If you haven’t ever been shopping in the Los Angeles fabric district, maybe this will give you a few ideas or pointers should you go! I should also add that, although I carried my camera all the way to L.A., I didn’t pull it out a single time, so I have a lot of phone pics and they’re mostly all of fabric. But I swear I was with so many wonderful, talented ladies who share a love of fabric, sewing, and blogging. The social aspects of the weekend were completely incredible and inspiring!

We started off our weekend at FIDM – the Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising – in downtown L.A. where we were treated to a tour of the campus. There were so many displays to look at and classrooms to drool over. I found myself plotting out how we could move to Southern California and I could go back to school for Fashion Design. Ahhh, it was so cool. We also popped in to the Scholarship Store on campus where I picked up some really fun fabric for $1-2/yard. Great start to the weekend!

After FIDM, we headed to Michael Levine, which is the heart of the fabric district, I think. The owner, Larry, gave us a spectacular tour of the warehouses and they.were.amazing. Floor to ceiling warehouse floors with aisles and aisles of fabric. Michael Levine also provided a lunch for us and fun goody bags – I felt so honored to be part of the whole experience. By the afternoon, I was totally wound up and ready to shop. I didn’t make a shopping list going in to the weekend, but I knew I was looking for three main things: a variety of knits so that I can gain more experience with knit garment-sewing, leather for who knows what, and good quality apparel fabric. I did the mad dash over to Michael Levine’s Loft for knits by the pound. At $2.50/pound, the fabric mostly comes out to about $1-2/yard and it’s a big loft of bins to dig through. I found a number of knits and also some fluffy stuff that I’ll use for party decor – tablecloths, backdrops, that sort of thing. I spent most of the rest of the afternoon in the main Michael Levine store. I bought some Liberty of London, silk, Heather Ross for Kokka cotton linen, some sweatshirt material, hand-dyed silk ribbon, the list goes on and on. Too much beautiful fabric in that store – things that I don’t have access in an actual store at home. It was amazing to see so many types of fabric in person, feel them, compare them. Awesome!

We also ran around to some of the smaller shops in the late afternoon. It was so exciting. Everything you could possibly want is available in the fabric district – buttons, ribbon, elastic, snaps, spikes, fabric of every kind, lace trims, EVERYTHING! I bought zippers for a quarter each and spikes for some unknown project of the future. As the shops closed, I felt like I hadn’t even scratched the surface of the fabric district.

The next day, we headed to MOOD. It was a beautiful store, and again, whatever your need might be, they had it there. I spent many wavering minutes at the large racks of leather – small hydes in every color were available and pretty affordable. How to choose??? I also focused on the silk department and then just wandered down the aisles. Fabric is just so beautiful, particularly when you can see one type of fabric in, like, 50 shades of pink. haha! The salespeople were super friendly, although they didn’t seem to get excited when we sang, “Thank you, Mood,” as we left. Do you think everyone says that?

Justine, Jen, me, Jessica, Mie, Melissa, Miriam, Caila, Melissa, Leanne, Andrea, Cherie, Marissa, Merrick, Abby, Sabra, Marigold, and Bev

I went with a few of the girls back to the fabric district that afternoon and was able to pick up some really inexpensive knits ($1-3/yard) from several of the stores – I really liked Angel Fabrics, got several things I’m pretty excited about from there. And then…

Christina, Mie, Justine, Jessica, me, and Cherie

It was time for Girl’s Night Out, a quarterly event hosted by Jessica, The Sewing Rabbit. What a great event! Jess is just so amazing and committed – I could barely pack my clothes for the weekend and here Jess organized an entire dinner, complete with swag bags full of goodies, and such a good time for everyone to chat and laugh as the weekend came to an end.

I headed home with my (three) suitcases stuffed full of fabric and so many good memories. I’m so grateful to have been included. Here are some organized pictures of my haul from the weekend! I can’t wait to start playing with it all!

I want to say thank you to Andrea, Bev, and Justine, who put so much time into ensuring an amazing weekend for all of us non-locals. You girls are truly incredible! I’m also so thankful to the sponsors of the weekend, Michael Levine and Jo-Ann Fabric & Craft Store, in particular. It was a dream to see the behind the scenes at Michael Levine and have access to such a variety of gorgeous, quality fabrics. And it was also wonderful knowing that I didn’t have to haul every last sewing supply back from L.A. because I have Jo-Ann just down the hill from me at home and they have all the staples. I better get sewing now so that I can be ready for the next weekend dedicated to good friends and fabric shopping!!! Be sure to enter yesterday’s HUGE GIVEAWAY of fabric and a SERGER and I’ll leave you with my very favorite picture from the weekend…

Huge Fabric Weekend Giveaway!!

June 12, 2013 by girlinspired 6 Comments

Tomorrow, I’ll be posting loads of pictures and tidbits from my weekend of shopping in the L.A. fabric district, but today, I am SO excited to share this incredible giveaway with you all! FIVE winners – there’s fabric, there’s a Craftsy class, and you can even win a SERGER!!! Don’t miss this one, guys!

Giveaway prizes, rules & entry:

One GRAND PRIZE winner!

Brother 1034D serger! (donated by GoToPatterns.com)

Four lucky winners will receive $150 in prizes!

$50 to GoToPatterns.com

$50 to LowPriceFabric.co m

$50 for a class at Craftsy.com

Contest Rules:

Giveaway open internationally to contestants 18 years or older. Contestants must enter their email address to be added to the LowPriceFabric.com and GoToPatterns.com email newsletters to win. All prizes are awarded in the form of gift certificates. Winners responsible for paying shipping. Gift certificate value of serger is $210. Contest open from June 11, 2013 through June 20, 2013 EST. Winners will be notified within 24 hours of winning. Winners have 48 hours to claim their reward. New winners will be chosen if prizes are unclaimed. Winners will be emailed their rewards within 7 days of claiming their prize.

ONE ENTRY per person. This contest is being held on multiple blogs. Please enter only once. You will be counted only once.