{made it monday}

Restocking the shop with a few old favorites in new patterns this week. All of these diaper cozies have a coordinating burp set available, which makes a wonderful baby shower gift. Useful, mama-made, and super cute!

Chevron and floral diaper cozy, $10 (my favorite!)

Whale and polka dot diaper cozy, $10

Pink floral and sweet owl diaper cozy, $10

fun blue sock monkey diaper cozy, $10

pretty floral and teal diaper cozy, $10

pretty floral and teal burp cloth set, $12

bold chevron and floral diaper cozy, $10

Royal blue chevron and floral burp cloth set, $12

hanging towels with snap closure, $5 each.

made it monday {custom orders}

I'm sure you've seen by now that we LOVE to do custom work! When you get a request for custom work, it means that someone likes your skills/product enough that they trust you to make exactly what they need. For me as a crafter it provides a good challenge. It is surprising how challenging it can be sometimes, to make a customer happy! Normally when I sew I use fabrics and things that I am drawn too, when it's custom, anything goes!

The Garaging Mavens have had quite a few opportunities to do custom work, and I'd love to share them with you!

A woman contacted us and wanted some sports themed baby stuff. After a quick conversation we settled on a handful of items. I love them!

I adore these bibs!

This is one of my favorites! A friend emailed me a picture, and asked if we could make her something like it. I'm pretty sure we delivered!

This was a direct result of a request from a friend. I love it, and I'm sure she does too!

This was a fun request, a Velata themed apron for a silent auction! Here it is on the lucky bidder!

And this is just the beginning! We can do custom colors on almost every single thing we have in the shop (pillows, aprons, towels, blankies, etc.), and we can also add monograms or other types of personalization. All you have to do is ask!

We do have a small customization fee, just to help with cost of extra fabrics and things. I know that for me I sew with fabrics that I can find on sale, I love a good bargain, and sometimes when you need something specific and right away, it may not be on sale. We have tried to keep these fees as low as possible! For items $20 and under it's an additional 20% for the first item, and then 10% for each additional item. For items over $20 it's a flat $5. 

I hope the next time you need something special, you will think of us!

Summer's gone!

Wow! Whoever said time flies when you're having fun wasn't kidding! The last few weeks have been filled to the brim with out of the ordinary fun stuff. Which means all of the ordinary not-so-fun-stuff gets pushed to the back burner, and even some of the ordinary fun stuff! Not much time for crafting when there are a million other things to get done!

First we had my oldest friend (longest friend?) and her two kiddos visit us for a week. She lives in Spokane so I don't get to see her nearly enough. We realized that this year marked a pretty big milestone for us! We have been friends for half our lives. That's crazy. She has been through so much lately and I'm glad that she was able to come visit. We spent the week doing pretty much nothing, except just being together, and it was quite fabulous! We did manage to sneak a trip to IKEA in, but that was basically it. A true, relaxing vacation. Which meant I was left with loads of chores when they left. Lame.

A few days after they packed up and left town The Garaging Mavens headed to our first vendor booth at a local consignment sale. Let's just say this was great practice for further sales. Even with all my preparation, I still wasn't prepared! Next time I want to have a lot more items made, in a larger variety. We did have a great time meeting lots of new faces, talking about how we would do things differently next time, and just getting to be with one another and visit without the constant background of children's voices. It was a great weekend!

Wasn't what we originally envisioned, but I think our space turned out pretty inviting. Makes ya want to come in and SHOP!

Tuesday night after the craft fair my family and I packed up and headed to the beautiful (yet horribly humid) state of South Carolina. My husband was born and raised there and our youngest brother was getting married. It was a wonderful ceremony, and I am truly grateful we were able to be there to share in their special day. So much fun to see so many family members. Our kids have a gaggle of boy cousins right around their ages, so you know that's gonna be a crazy good time. Our kids were completely exhausted by the weekends end, and then we got to drive 16 hours back home. Yay.

Our lovebirds freshly married. Such cuties!

Now we are back to reality. With all that hoopla summer just slipped away without me realizing it. Now with no trips or guests in sight it's time to break out the chore schedules (for Mom and kids), dust off the old menu board, and try to find some semblance of routine. First order of business, clean my craft space. Ha!

Time to get cleaning. Ick.

And just like that 3 weeks slipped past. Did anyone else feel like summer just disappeared? I totally wasn't ready for it to go! I always learn to love the lazy days of summer with time, but honestly I thrive on the scheduled days of fall! And bring on the sweater weather!

made it monday

Lots of fun items headed to our shop this week. Some weeks we get in the groove and can really crank out fun items, some weeks are more slow. You will see this week we were able to make a bunch of fun new holiday and seasonal items, as well as restocking some old favorites!

Adorable Halloween themed hoops! 4" skull hoops {$8}, 3" spider hoop {$6}

Autumn hoops! 8.5" Give thanks {$15}, 6.5" autumn wreath {$10}

Sweet Christmas hoops, 4' ornament hoop {$8}, 12" Merry Christmas {$20}

12" Happy Halloween {$20}

4" hand embroidered, Oh, Dear! {$17}

snap closure, chenille backed, star bib {$8}

chevron and floral burp set {$12} LOVE this color combo!

Sweet silhouette extra large swaddle blankie. This one has a small stain from a crafting mishap with paint so it is discounted! {$22}

Stain is hardly noticeable unless you are looking for it! It doesn't detract from the cuteness of the blanket in the slightest, but you get a steal of a deal!

made it monday

The Garaging Mavens booth in Wishes and Dreams is having an end-of-summer blowout sale where everything is an incredible 25% off! (That's a lot for handmade goods, especially ones that are already fair priced.) All that to say, we aren't putting as many new items in the shop this week, but we still have a few new goodies to share with you. These will be added to the booth next week, but are available for online purchase today!

These little coin purses are absolutely perfect for back-to-school! A great place to tuck lunch money, or extra quarters for pencils. You can bet that my daughter is going to have one of these tucked into her backpack. Tons of colors and patterns to choose from!

tiny heart coin purse {$5}

look at this sweet stitching detail! It's the little things that make it special.

Finally another set of a favorite material pairing in the shop. Love these classic burp cloths, they make a perfect baby gift.

bold and modern burp cloth set {$12}

Here is another new addition to the booth. Cute little cork boards sets with three matching fabric covered tacks. The perfect size for lockers or that odd little space on your wall you've been looking to fill. Keep an eye out for more color combos, or request your own. This set doesn't have magnets, but future sets will have magnets hidden behind the felt layer.

2 7in. fabric covered cork boards with 3 matching fabric covered button tacks. {$12}

It's all about the finishing details. Small ribbon loop makes these ready to hang where ever you please!

And just because I can't resist, here is a little sneak peek of the upcoming holiday season. Lots of fun fall and holiday themed items will be headed to the booth starting September 1st.

holiday hoops, coming soon!

And as always, remember we LOVE to do custom work! If you see something you like, but want a different color, please feel free to email us at thegaragingmavens@gmail.com or message us on facebook via our page.

Embroidery Hoop DIY(ish)

Maybe you noticed, but we love our embroidery hoops around these parts! They are an inexpensive item, that can be used in a multitude of ways. I am always looking for new ways to use a hoop to create a custom piece of art for my home.

Today I am going to do a little DIY (and I use that term VERY loosely) to make a simple stitched embroidery hoop. You need minimal materials which makes for a cheap project! The thing you need most is time and patience.

To start you will need:

1. embroidery hoop, any size
2. embroidery floss, color of your choice, if you don't have any invest in black or a charcoal gray, very multi use.
3. scraps of fabric to embellish
4. needle

Let's begin (please keep in mind this is my first attempt at a DIY, I am kind of an off-the-cuff crafter who just makes things as I go along. Because of this I kinda forgot a few pictures. Let's pretend the pictures I do have are amazing, and the ones I forgot you don't need!)

The very first thing I did was create my picture using word (or some such program) and print it out. I forgot to get a picture of my "template" but you can see it here taped underneath my material. Once you have your picture created and all set,  you will be tracing the words you want to embroider onto your main fabric. This becomes a guide for your stitches. I love to use muslin as a background fabric because it's see through! I can trace my words very easily.

Make sure to tape the pattern and the fabric so it doesn't shift when you copy the words!

 I use a heavy duty heat and bond to adhere my pictures since it's just going on the wall and doesn't need to be stitched down. The possibilities are endless here!

Here are my words traced in pencil and I added my embellishments.

 Here is where you imagine a picture of a half stitched picture! I do a simple embroidery back stitch to make my words. Just up and down in neat stitches along your pattern. There are many tutorials online, so I won't bore you with those details here.

Now for some finishing touches, I used to leave the hoops naked, but a crafty lady I adore wrapped her hoops in fabric and I've been doing it ever since. I think it adds a special touch, and makes the final piece look that much more complete. Just tear or cut strips of fabric hot glue one end under the beginning clasp of the outer hoop and wrap. It's that simple! I don't hot glue the whole thing, just the beginning and end of each piece. Saves time, and your fingers.

just keep wrapping!

I tore these strips because I wanted the shabby look of the frayed edges for this one. You could just as well cut them and you have a nice and neat fabric layer on your frame.

 Here's the back! When you are done with your picture, and the frame is wrapped it's time to get it in there nice and snug. Tighten the hoop as much as you can, gently pulling the fabric taught. Trim the excess material, leaving just enough to fold over and glue down. Using a small bead of hot glue fold over the excess material and glue it to the inside hoop. This will keep your picture in place.

 

I love to hide all my mistakes with a nice circle of felt.Cut a square bigger than your hoop. Put a small line of glue on one section of your hoop, and lay it on the felt. Working slowly and carefully finish gluing down the felt. When the glue has dried trim off the excess, trying to be sure that no felt shows in the front. 

I like to add my label too. :)

 And voila! A sweet finished product made just the way you want!

 If this is super confusing, or I missed a major step please comment with any questions! I am happy to help. I hope you will try your hand at making a special hoop, these make great gifts, and I think they look pretty sweet hanging up in almost any room of the house!

made it monday

A few old favorites, and something new and exciting are headed to the shop. I hope you enjoy these pretties as much as I do! 

Adorable mustard and purple burp cloth set {$12}

Double flannel extra large swaddle/snuggle blanket. {$25}

Double flannel extra large swaddle/snuggle blanket. {$25}

 I saved the best for last! Check out these amazing garlands! Perfect for any party, little girls room, wrapped on a Christmas tree, the possibilities are endless. Currently in three color combinations (mustard/hotpink, teal, and teal/hotpink), but keep an eye out for more choices, or contact us via Facebook or email, we would love to make a custom garland for you!

Adorable pom pom garlands! approximately 9ft, and positively jam packed with poms!

so cute!

Studio Tour {MamaBowers}

 When we were house hunting for our first home my list of wants was much larger than my list of needs. It's fun to dream of places and spaces that you can finally call your own. The first time I laid eyes on the interior of our house I knew it was "the one".

My favorite piece of furniture holds my tiny ironing board, and a few old suitcases filled with vintage sheets.

 With three living areas, one of those being a formal dining and living room, I knew it had plenty of space for our family to spread out and grow. And because we aren't really formal living or dining room people that space became the family craft space.

I adore hoop art. Each of these has a special memory or meaning, and that makes all the difference.

 We filled one half with books, cozy places to read, and plenty of crafting supplies for the kids, the other half became all mine. And it was a dream come true.

An inexpensive dresser from IKEA holds a multitude of supplies.

 I have had a lot of fun over the last 2 years turning this room into a place where I can feel inspired and where I truly love to be any chance I find the time. I love to collect things, but over the course of my life I've realized that if I have to stare at little collections everyday the clutteriness of it will drive me crazy!

This yellow dresser was listed on an estate sale website, a 40 minute drive later and she was mine. Totally worth it, she holds almost all of my fabric, though it's normally spilling out the front!

 So to keep me sane, and the rest of my house looking relatively neat, I keep all my collections on display in my room. It makes for a very happy and colorful space.

Quite possibly my most favorite corner in our whole house.

 I love being able to look around and see things given to me or made by friends, and I love to see things that I've made. It helps remind me on days when I'm feeling blocked that I do have the potential to make things, even if I feel like I will never touch my sewing machine again!

A thrifted crewel piece, a re-purposed frame, and the "map" for my Mom's queen sized quilt (my latest BIG project).

Every item has a story and a memory attached. Those are the best kinds of things. I'm definitely a sentimental person. I think that comes from moving around a lot as a child. I hold on to memories as best I can. (and it's very rarely this clean, I am a seriously messy crafter, but when it is I just want to dig in a mess it all up!)

$30 dresser took a lot of love, time (and paint), but in the end it was SO worth it. I will never tire of this piece, or of my B collection!

 All those years of having only a corner of the closet to keep my supplies, and having to lug it all out to the kitchen table to use it, only to have to clean it up before the next meal, has allowed me to be very grateful for this space I now call my own.

Using an old wooden toolbox as a catch-all makes the clutter not seem so bad. Always a few frames waiting to be painted hanging around!

I hope you are able to find a corner of your own home to call your own and create away. Even if it is just a few drawers in the closet and the kitchen table, creating is so good for the soul!