Natalie's Creations

It all started with a quite large item that I needed to wrap for a bridal shower… I refused to buy 386647123476 rolls of wrapping papers so I thought about personalizing a large piece of plain white paper to make it more meaningful. 

With a bunch of colored calligraphy pens, I started writing. My husband was watching me, he asked: “Are you sure of the spelling?” :-) Wouldn’t it be a disaster? of course I was sure!

Here is how it looked when finished

and here was me presenting my gift to be bride to be…

I used the same idea on a Christmas gift and it also turned out pretty cute!

Are you tired of all the gift wrapping ideas yet? :-)

I have just discovered this product, the Turbie Twist at my local drug store. I loved the idea because up until recently , I always wrapped a big towel over my head after the shower. I would go on to do other things before taking the towel off and let my hair air-dry or the towel would fall off on it own, many times. My neck would get tired from the weight of the towel, blah blah blah…:-) This is different, it stays nicely and securely on my head and because the towel is small, my neck would never get tired. The Turbie Twist is $6.99 at my drug store. 

So, because I can’t get enough of it, I tried making more…:)

Here is the template I created.

I used an old towel for this project, it’s already been used and washed many times so it’s perfectly soft and very absorbant.

I folded the towel in half, lengthwise and traced the pattern on to the towel

Took it to the machine and sewed along the marked line. I used black thread here so you can see but matching thread would be nice :-) oh,… and don’t forget to insert an elastic into the indicated spot. I actually used one of my elastic hair bands. The one where you get like a million in a pack at the drug store.  

Then I trimmed the excess away

All that left was to turn it inside out and we’re done :-)

Here is now you use it!  

I think this would make great Christmas gift. Try it!

Hey guys! 

I found this awesome tutorial from this blog a while back and finally got a chance to try it out for myself. If you check out Erin’s post, it has an excellent step by step instruction with pictures but I took my pictures anyways. Here they are…

I used Erin’s pattern. You should too if you want to make this. They’re perfect!

I skipped the topstitching at the end because I happened to like the way it looks without it.

If you haven’t noticed, I used my scrap fabric that’s left from this reupholstery project. I had to piece together a bunch of pieces to make the circles but it came out great anyways :-)

This would make great hand-made holiday gift, don’t you think!?

You have seen one of these right?

I’m gonna show you how to make them. They’re really fun to make!

Cut out fabric circles in different sizes like this: 

Start with one circle and use it as a guide to cut the next one just slightly bigger. They don’t need to be perfect…at all. Just have fun!

They should be able to nestle within each other like this when you stack them up:

Next, you need an open flame to slightly melt the edge of the fabric circles. Be careful while working on this step. You can use a lighter but I didn’t want to hold it so I used a candle. 

Hold the fabric circle close to the flame, and allow the edge to melt just a little bit. This step is different for each type of fabric you use. You should do a test run with a piece of scrap fabric to find out how it reacts to heat. Too much heat will burn off your fabric and too little will not show the effect. We’re looking for the edge of the fabric to curl up a little bit to create a small cup…

(You can always trim your wick to create just the right amount of flame for your project). 

Repeat the same step to all the “petals” and stack them up to create the flower. To attach all the layers together, you can sew using a needle and thread or a hot glue gun or, puncture a hole through all the layers and use a brad to hold them all together which is what I did here. 

You can use these to embellish your scrapbook page, attach them to hair clips, head bands, create a bridal head piece, make a fascinator, use it as a brooch, attach it to a waist belt…the possibilities are endless :-)

I used the matching flower to embellish my cosmetic bag here, and I used a contrast color flower to update my zipper pouch here for a fun, surprising look.

If you make these, be sure to share pics! 

Enjoy!

I have one more project with these flowers…for now :) I still have some left to make more stuff with. Check out my earrings and rings that I made together with this bracelet.

Let’s see…how so I explain to you? I took some wire, double it up, and made a circle by wrapping it around a bottle. Then, bended it back and ford to make some loops. These loops will act like a surface for me to attach the flowers.

Next, I used some butcher’s twine to wrap around my wire structure for a softer look.

Attached the flowers using super glue. Notice the twine was still attaching…

…because I used it to add some glass beads for pop of colors and added interest.

Done.

I’m gonna rock this one with some summer dresses for sure! I love how it turned out, do you? So fun, so playful and cute!

Saw this awesome project…

Using the pattern from Joel Dewberry’s Book: Sewn Spaces and putting my scraps left over from this project (T-shirt reconstruction inspired by Ruffled one-shoulder Express dress) to work.

I made this little buddy…I mean birdie

I went ahead and stuffed his wings was well…some how, he came out all chubby but pretty cute :-)

I might have gone a little crazy decorating him with all my pins but it was fun.

My hubbie and I call him Gil and when he’s not helping me sew, he’s sitting next to Hubbie’s laptop to keep him company.

Enjoy!

Happy Birthday my friend! I’m so glad you’re BD in now and not later when we’re already apart! :-( I will miss you so very much!

You better keep in touch! You know what I will do if you don’t!

Can’t wait for ice cream time with you later! ;-)

I’m thankful that there’s only one more week of school. One more week of Basic Sciences. One more week of Antigua…

One more week until Brooklyn. One more week till back to life in NY. One more week until friends and family…

One more week.

What can actually keep me calm while studying for big big big Shelf exam? Taking on another challenge that helps me use the other side of my brain!

Check out the 100th EtsyInspired Challenge here

My chosen inspiration:

My very own interpretation:

It’s not a weekend for us medical school students but I hope it’s a real weekend for everyone else! Have a good one :-)

I got a call from my grandma in law the other day wishing me luck on my exams, asking me how I was and also making sure I ate :-D. Besides reading my every blog post, she always makes me feel so cared for and loved. I can’t wait to come home and eat her awesome food :-P

I wanna learn Russian. Any suggestion on what program I should use?

I have 2 exams on Wednesday and they’re worth 38% of the whole course. Right now, I’m thankful for the Antiguan Carnival. “What in the world?” you’d ask. But you see, The Antiguan Carnival is a big celebration for the locals here. So our school is closed for 2 days. That gives me 2 extra days to study. Boy, I don’t even want to think about what would happen if I don’t have these 2 days. Anyways…

Hope you enjoy the card. I love the little birdie. It makes me smile.

Have a great week everyone!

I got an idea :)

I have a few thank you cards to share with you all so every time I share one with you, I’ll tell you a few things that I’m thankful for at the moment…whatever pops in my head :-). In return, you tell me what you’re thankful for as well. Deal?

Here goes…

I’m thankful for the fact that my quest of completing my MD degree is almost half way through. This means moving back to NY, living with hubby, being closer to family and old friends, getting used to NY all over again. I’m so excited!

I’m thankful for my med school friends. The people who laughed and cried with me through the ups and downs of the roller coaster ride called med school. We were destined to be at the same place at the same time to get through the same challenge together.

I’m thankful that I’ll get to see my husband in a few days.

I’m thankful for this delicious bowl of cereal and milk right in front of me right now :D

Your turn…

For this card, I felt like playing around with inchies, using different type of pattern papers from the same collection and arranging them again and again until they look right to me. I used foam tape to pop some of them off of the card to create some interest.

Disclaimer: This process helps calm me down so now I can go study again for my upcoming 7 exams left for this semester. Yay! Wish me luck!

Have a wonderful weekend!