lilly cakes

Thursday, February 24, 2011

Tomorrow is the big day! The day that my friend Christie and I are attending the Marie Market Soiree. Last week I posted the shoes that I made to wear to the event. Today I finished Christie's pair and I wanted to share as I promised I would. It was a little challenging at first because Christie wears a size 9 and she doesn't wear heels and she wanted pink shoes! So I searched thrift stores and ebay high and low with no luck so I ended up buying a pair of white ballet flats on clearance at Walmart and painted them pink :) Then I used ribbon, lace, feathers and vintage buttons to embellish them. They were the most fun to create. I think I might have a new shoe embellishing obsession. Hope ya'll are having a great week and I will be back early next week to report on all the lovelies that I see at the market. ~Molly

Saturday, February 12, 2011

Valentine Fortune Flower

To make this little pretty I gathered supplies from around my house: an old vanilla extract bottle, vintage buttons, crochet thread, vintage lace, card stock and brown ink. I removed the label from the bottle and cleaned it out with warm soapy water. I printed out the phrases on off white card stock, cut them out and inked the edges to give them an aged look. Then, I threaded a chenille stem through the shank of my button and twisted it to form a stem. I glued a smaller button to the center of the larger one and then glued the petals to the back of the large button with a glue gun. I decorated the bottle with crochet thread, vintage lace and ric rac. I slipped the flower into the "vase" and voila. A new valentine decoration with an old feel. Hope you are having a LOVEly weekend. ~Molly

Tuesday, February 1, 2011

Felt Valentine Wrist Corsage

My daughter is obsessed with "The Nutcracker". She watched the Macauly Calkin / New York City Ballet version about a million times. Well during the "Stalbaum party" scene all the girls get wrist corsages and Lilly loves this part. So I thought I would make her her own to wear for Valentine's Day. It was so simple and turned out so cute, I want to share with you how I put it together. I think they would make great gifts or party favors.

What you will need:

-a piece of ribbon about 18 inches long (this fit my 4 year old with extra for a bow) -a rectangle of felt (mine is 3.5" x 1.5")

-two flower shapes with 4 petals cut from felt, one is slightly larger than the other (I cut them free hand) The larger one is about 3" and the smaller one is 2.5" across.

-a strip of felt about 8", straight along one long side and wavy on the other long side

-two leaves about 1.5" long

-glue gun (this is what I used for mine, tacky glue (great for kids to use when making this project) or red thread for sewing together

step 1: glue or sew ribbon across the felt rectangle

step 2: glue or sew large set of petals on top of the center of the ribbon

step 3: glue or sew smaller set of petals on top of larger petals with the smaller set between the larger ones

step 4: roll strip of wavy felt with bumps facing up and flat side down. This will form the center of the rose. Tack with needle and thread on the bottom of the bud or just glue down on top of

of the small set of petals.

step 5: glue or stitch leaves under petals

Finally, tie on your little girl's wrist in a sweet bow!

Hope you enjoy!

Saturday, January 29, 2011

Happy Gasparilla!

Today is Gasparilla Day here in Tampa. Last week I posted a wreath I made to celebrate and wrote about the children's Gasparilla parade (it is always the Saturdy before Gasparilla).

On Gasparilla Day a friend of mine always hosts a super fun Gasparilla party and she lives just 2 blocks from the bay (where the invasion and parade take place) so it's very exciting and a perfect place for a pirate party. She decks her house out in pirate decor and it always looks so great. So I thought I would make her a little something to add to her collection of Gasparilla decor...

(click on image to enlarge)

If you're interested in making some vintage inspired pirate art, you can find some great images here.

Hope ya'll have a great weekend! ~Molly

Thursday, January 20, 2011

Ahoy Matey!

It's that time of year again. Time for Jose' Gaspar to invade Tampa. It's Gasparilla time! Here in Tampa Gasparilla is a big deal. Sort of like our version of Mardi Gras. This weekend is the children's pirate parade and next weekend is the parade for grown-ups. All the houses near the bay adorn their doors with Gasparilla wreathes and Jolly Roger flags. A large pirate ship sails into the bay and fires cannons to start the invasion. Floats carrying pirates drive along Bayshore Boulevard, which lines the bay and beads are tossed to screaming children and adults alike. I can't wait! I'm excited too because the weather here is supposed to be perfect for the event, high in the mid 60's and blue skies. I love this time of year in Florida. Here is my Gasparilla wreath I made this year for our door...