Treasury Round Up - 5/19/13

It's been another couple great weeks of treasuries! Please help me thank the curators by checking out their collections and shops.

Sarah (ACatLikeCuriosity) included my Beaded Bracelet - Purple Shell in her Favours for my favourites treasury. I'm sure that everyone who viewed this collection added at least a couple of these items to their favorites, too. Check out Sarah's A Kitty Can Warm Your Heart Art Print.

Cynthia (AntiquityTravelers) included my Beaded Necklace with Ceramic Focal - When Purple Meets Champagne in her Coming up Roses treasury. Cynthia created this collection for our friend Duni who recently opened up a fabric shop on Etsy. Check out the shop here, and check out Cynthia's Red Rose Lampwork Earrings with Jade.

Margaret (SplendidLittleStars) included my Beaded Bracelet - Winter Light Blue White Rock Garden in her by the sea treasury. This collection certainly makes me want to visit a sea. Check out Margaret's SILK Scrunchie hand dyed blue.

Margaret also included my Heart Charms Set in her true love treasury. I am always a sucker for heart items, and who could resist this whimsical collection them?

Kelly and Adam (ColourScape) included my Button Bracelet - Fall Autumn Red Orange Yellow in their Autumn treasury. I'm not ready for autumn yet, but I do love this color palette. Kelly and Adam rounded up a great mix of items. Check out their Fall Trees Lit by Sunlight Photographic Fine Art 5x7 Print.

BrusselsDeLuxe included my Beaded Bracelet - Button Embellished - Purple and Red in her Purple Red Love treasury. This is such a great color combination. Check out BrusselsDeLuxe's Wish your were here earrings.

LeAnn (pasqueflower) included my Beaded Cuff Bracelet - Easter Morning Green Flowers in her Bloom! treasury. This cheerful collection is perfect for spring. Check out LeAnn's Baby Girl Bib - Bold Red Flowers on Zebra Print.

Sharla (BeadedTail) included my Beaded Bracelet - Button Embellished - Rainbow Bright Colorful Multicolored in her For Moms of Kids With and Without Fur treasury. There is something fun here for everyone. Check out Sharla's Cat Wood Silhouette and Amethyst Swarovski Crystal Niobium Earrings - Kitty Cat.

Savenna (Solandia) included my Beaded Cuff Bracelet - Strawberry Fields Forever in her Running through The Fields of June treasury. This whimsical collection is perfect for the end of spring and start of summer. Check out Savenna's Knitted Red Heart Headband.

Natasha (StalkingTheWildSnark) included my Beaded Pendant - Peyote Triangle - Red Yellow Green Blue in her It's Geometric! treasury. I'm always a sucker for collections with lots of shapes. Check out Natasha's Small Blue Celtic Knot Earrings Pearls Hypoallergenic Gold.

Brenda (hangingbyawire) included my Button Charm Bracelet - Bright Colorful Multicolored Rainbow in her Somewhere Over the Rainbow treasury. You know how much I love bright collections. This one is particularly crazy! Check out Brenda's Citrus Splash - Magnesite and Glass Pearl Necklace.

Elena (WarmingHeartsCrafts) included my Beaded Cuff Bracelet - Strawberry Fields Forever in her Strawberries are ripe... treasury. I always enjoy finding this piece in strawberry collections. You can check out her Felted coffee tea mug cozy right in the treasury.

Katie (MJSKDesigns) included my Button Dangle Earrings - Bright Colorful Multicolored Rainbow in her Ear Candy treasury. This is such a fun collection! Check out Katie's Colorful Disc Summer Children's Earrings.

I also curated my own treasury last week: Spring Romance.

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Saturday Link List: the May resource edition

Welcome to my Saturday Link List!  My resources editions primarily include resources for bloggers and crafty people with anything else that I like to throw into the mix.  Enjoy!

5 Tips for Getting Crisp Photographs from Nicole's Classes

10 Tips for Using Twitter Like a Pro from Entrepreneur

Is low self-esteem hurting your business? from Beading for Business

How to SEO Your Blog Post Series from Dukeo

Biz Ladies: Inventory Tracking 101 from Design Sponge

Top 10 Marketing Tips from Full-Time Etsy Sellers from The Etsy Blog

6 Sure-Fire Tips to Still Get Sales When Things Are Slow from Attention Getting Marketing

Shmetsy Tools - Make Etsy Shine

This is a great resource for people who curate a lot of treasuries on Etsy.

12 Essential Blog Elements from Moms Make Money

26 Ideas for Your Online Business from Everyday Inspired

Create your own link list and grab a button for your post or simply spread the word on your blog.

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Did I feature your work here?  Grab a button for your blog or web site!

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Did you use one of the resources, tutorials, or recipes from my link list?  Leave me a link in the comments or send me an e-mail (randomcreative28@gmail.com) with your photos and stories.  I would love to post them here.

Stay tuned next week for the May tutorials edition!

Friday Feature: warm weather fashion

I'm taking a break from the photography features today and sharing some awesome warm weather fashion picks. Enjoy!

Stretchy Jersey Skirt . Women's Knee Length Skirts . Teal Blue A-line skirt - Catching the Dragonfly - size Medium from Zoeslollipop

Women's t-shirt - Deer and Fawn on Women's Alternative Apparel t-shirt by rctees

Vintage Size 8.5 Women's Tan Leather Platform Clogs by thisvintagething

Stretch Jersey Infinity Scarf. Coral and Oatmeal Stripe. Ready to Ship. by MiloandMolly

Feather Necklace - statement bib necklace, large, pearls, vintage inspired, antique brass by OhNostagliaDesigns

 

Cushion Green Amethyst in Sterling Silver, Mint Green and Made to Order by onegarnetgirl

Packet in Dark Shadow Gray Waxed Canvas - Ready to Ship by jennyndesign

Are you excited about warm weather fashion?

May BBA Flowers Challenge

Some of you may remember this bunny family idea that I shared earlier this spring. While I still think that it is insanely cute, it doesn't really fit with anything else in our home. I'm not sure how I decided on flowers instead. I still had a bunch of felt and paper flowers left over from last year (more on those flowers over here), which meant that this project came together really easily. And it just so happened to fit the May challenge theme.

The biggest challenge was figuring out what kind of fabric I wanted. It's very rare that I use fabric for crafting. I intentionally don't keep much of it on hand because I simply don't need to spend the time and money building a stash of material that I will hardly ever use. This meant that I had to purchase something. I eventually settled on burlap.

Materials

•  A set of embroidery hoops. I picked up a set of five in two different sizes on Etsy. I paid less than half of the retail value. If you scout a lot of thrift stores, you may be able to score a set for even less.
• Felt rectangles and buttons of your choosing for flowers and leaves in the colors. Michaels has felt rectangles for less than 30 cents each. It is time consuming to make, cut, and glue these flowers and leaves, but they are very inexpensive to make. Again, you can read more about them here.
• Fabric of your choosing for the hoop backings. I bought half a yard of burlap and used about half of it.
• Tacky glue (for the flowers)
• Nails (for hanging the hoops)

Even if you bought everything new for this project, you most likely wouldn't spend more than $30. I know that many people already have a lot of the materials on hand.

The assembly process is pretty self-explanatory. It's important to take your time stretching and cutting the fabric so you end up with evenly stretched fabric and closely cut ends. I used more tacky glue to attach the flowers to the burlap. As you will not be handling these pieces, it is not necessary to use a really strong glue like E-6000 or an epoxy.

I completely winged the hanging job and did readjust a few of the hoops in the process to get a look that I liked. I know that many people will do something much more sophisticated to get a certain aesthetic, but that's pretty much exactly how the hanging process goes around here.

I'm really happy with my little flower hoops. I've been slowly filling out one of the wall spaces in my office area of the basement, and this set is a great final touch.

One of the best aspects of this project is that there are so many ways that you can customize it. With different fabrics and colors, you could easily create a completely different aesthetic. There is no reason to feel limited to flowers either. After all, my original inspiration was the bunnies.

I used this project for the May 2013 Blogging Business Artisans Flowers Challenge. If you enjoy these types of challenges, love blogging, and are looking for a new team on Etsy, consider joining us.

Have you been working on any new home decor?