Wee Winged Ones: March 2016

Saturday, March 12, 2016

Wonderful Whites Etsy Treasury

I did some typing of descriptive into the Ode to White page on this blog this morning. Here are some wonderful white visuals from Etsy. It is so great to be able to shop at home. =)

Tuesday, March 8, 2016

Embellished Goodwill Thrift Store Jacket DIY

This has been my project today. I decided that the jacket I bought at Goodwill for $18 a few months ago that has been hanging in my closet either needed to be given away, or actually do with it what I intended.

When I found it on the rack, the color was unusual, but I imagined what it might look like with a little embellishment. It also fit and was like new.

As it hung in my closet, I thought of a little crewel embroidery piece on black wool I found framed for $1 at a thrift fundraiser at work. I was not sure what I was going to actually do with it at the time, but I had already taken it out of the framed, washed it and laid it flat to dry.

That embroidered piece made its way to the coat and was draped over the shoulder for a few more months. After thinking about how I wanted to add it to the coat for quite some time, today it seemed to tell me it was now or never.

Believe me I have tried other little project ideas, and there are some that do not turn out. However, this time I think I actually created something I will wear and enjoy doing it. You can see on the picture of the back shoulder in the lower left, that it is far from perfect. But for myself, the collar will be down anyway.

Here are some tips if you want to to something like this yourself:

• Unlined jackets/coats are basically a must. It is hard enough to maneuver the big coat around the sewing machine. It might be next to impossible if you had to work under lining too.

• Lay it out first, as least as much as you can. It will help you decide which parts of the trim you want on the top and bottom as you layer it. (Trim end work best hidden, as many fray easily.)

• The long vertical lines of trim can be difficult to get straight, particularly if you are working with a woven trim that stretches. I finally got out a yard stick and sharpie marker and literally drew a black line right on the jacket.

• There is always hand embroidery or some more stitching you can add if you feel like to made a boo boo. It is amazing what you can cover up.

Pampering Pink Picks on Etsy

Etsy Pink Picks Treasury

Yesterday I worked on some words associated with pink for the ODE TO PINK color journal page on this blog. That got me in the mood for pink.

By the way, did you know that some mobiles specified for babies and be really neat in other living areas too. We have one above our sofa, and I love to look at it when I am laying down.

Sunday, March 6, 2016

Oh, What a Beautiful Morning...

...Oh what a beautiful day...I've got a wonderful feeling!

Here are a few of my favorites on Etsy this sunshiny morning.

Friday, March 4, 2016

All for the Love of Blue

Etsy Treasury - All for the Love of Blue

I forgot how much I loved to do this! When I had my Ode to Blue blog, its sole purpose was to create groupings of blue things I liked on Etsy. Maybe this post is a resurrection of sorts of that old blog. And, now I can do it with any color I want. =)

When Form Follows Function

After and Before

Growing up with a dad who was an architect and a mother who was an interior designer, the phrase "form follows function" is a rule I heard and find myself referring to often. Though the phrase was coined by architect, Louis Sullivan, it can be applied to many forms of design--including blog design.

In my quest today to figure out how to list the words for each of the "odes" in the color journal I am starting, I decided the best way to compile them on this blog is not necessarily the most visually appealing. Maybe I will be able to think of a way to make the lists "prettier" but for now...

As the lists lengthen, the need to figure out a way to catch repeated words seemed to have precedence over how visually appealing the words looked on the page. The only way I could figure out how to catch the duplicates was to alphabetize them. And the only way I could figure out how to alphabetize them is putting them into a bulleted list in Microsoft Word. Transferring that list to this blog also transfers some of the unwelcome formatting code from Microsoft Word, but I think it is the best way to do it.

Does this sound like I am trying to rationalize that this works, even if it bugs me that it does not look like I want it to? The answer is, yes. If anyone has a simple solution, I am open for suggestions!

A Color Journal for Etsy Sellers

This is how my Wee Winged Ones Facebook page (where I would post ideas and the process of those I purse) turned into a blog.

I ran across the Color Thesaurus project by Ingrid Sundberg and thought how useful it would be to have something of the sort for those who sell on Etsy, including myself. Writing titles, descriptions, and tags for the items we list in our shops, can be, at times, frustrating. Sometimes the creative juices flow, and other times I seem to hit a brick wall.

That is when I thought how great it would be to have a color journal of sorts to record descriptive words for colors that might help me and others write Etsy copy.

My first stab at something of the sort was the binder you see pictured above. With the help of printing out sections of Ingrid's Color Thesaurus, I now have a beginning tab page for each color. On the pages after each color, I will simply add words and phrases related to that color as they come to me.

Because I know something like this might be helpful for other, and maybe kinda fun too, I am going to record those descriptive words here on this blog. Each color will have a specific blog page--namely an "ode". Those pages are listed on the right-hand column of this blog.

If you would like to contribute, go to the Wee Winged Ones Facebook page, find the post for the color, and add your comment.

Wee Winged Ones Aliases

So...who am I? That question has many answers, which I will not go into in this post. But if you are wondering who is behind all of this, I will give you a little introduction.

This is me: