Friday Frida Favs: Frida Kahlo Gift to Emily

To celebrate the success of Emily and my first Viva La Frida Swap in 2016, through Bee Creative Swaps, I made Emily a Frida Kahlo skull embroidery hoop, a pair of spool earrings, and I purchased a Diego and Frida t-shirt from Etsy. I had been wanting to make Emily the embroidery hoop for some time and this was the perfect occasion to finally get off my butt and get it done. Plus, during this time my daughter was in bed by 6:30 pm and I had some time to sit outside, relax, and embroider before the sun went down. 

I love Day of the Dead and Mexican themed fabric and I own a decent stash of Day of the Dead skull fabric. This particular Day of the Dead fabric is one of my favorite and I have used it for many projects. I embroidered the skull to look like Frida with flowers in her hair, her unibrow, and wearing her hand shaped earrings that we a gift from Picasso. I decided to add the hand with the banner because I had seen this in one of Frida’s paintings. I embroidered, “Viva La Frida” on the banner which is also the name of our Frida swap. Below are some progress pictures I took while making the Frida embroidery hoop.

In 2016, Emily was sewing a lot. She was making dolls, quilts, etc. The girl was on a roll. I thought the spool earrings were the perfect extra gift to send her. I made them in her favorite color, purple.

The Diego and Frida t-shirt was actually purchased from one of the Etsy sellers I had figured on “My Frida Wish List on Etsy” blog post in 2016. You can check out this year Frida Wish List on Etsy by clicking here. The seller is Mis Noples Art. I own a Diego and Frida t-shirt just like this one but in a darker shade and I wanted Emily to have one too. 

I always like to include a letter with packages I send, especially swap packages. I usually tell the recipient to open the letter last since in it I describe why I made or purchased what they received from me. Emily and I are a team. We work together to run Bee Creative Swaps. I consider us the two Fridas this is why I drew a doodle of two Fridas on the envelope I sent her. 

This Frida inspired package is the perfect example of what you can send your swap partner if you sign up for our Viva La Frida Swap. It has a mixture of handmade and purchased Frida goodies. I made the hoop inspired by Frida and purchased an item that helped support a small independent business, which we highly recommend when you plan to purchase Frida inspired items. However, you can send your partner a package that includes all handmade goodies or just purchased Frida Kahlo inspired goodies because Emily and I know life can get crazy at times and you may not have time to create something.

If you would like to see what other Viva La Frida Swap participants sent/received last year, check out our Instagram account here or our Bee Creative Swap Facebook page here. Better yet, if you want to join us in this years Viva La Frida swap click here to sign up. 

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What I Made For the Children's Lit Craft Swap: Narnia Edition

The #childrenlitcraftswap is a craft swap I joined on Instagram. My partner was Katie and she happened to be the host of the swap too. Katie received her package yesterday so I thought I would share my progress pictures of the The Chronicles of Narnia inspired goodies I made for her. When I received Katie's information and read that one of her favorite children's classics is Narnia among others, I knew I wanted to paint a wooden wall decoration based on the first place Lucy and Mr. Tumnus first met, in a wintery forest landscape under a street lamp. I knew I was heading in the right direction when she posted a picture of Mr. Tumnus on her IG account and mentioned that he is one of her favorites. The Narnia wall decor ended up being my favorite art piece I made for this swap, it took the longest to complete, and was my big project for the swap. I also included an Aslan themed bookmark as another Narnia inspired goodie.

I was good at taking many pictures along the way so be prepared to view many pictures.

This was my first check in picture for the #childrenslitcraftswap. I doodled a few Lucy and Mr. Tumnus characters on voting advertising material and took out some of the supplies I planned to used. I ended up changing the unfinished wooden plaque to a more rectangle shaped one because it looked more like the Narnia closet. 

This is a screen shot of my hidden Pinterest board, to give me some inspiration for this project. 

I sketched the clothes pins first.

 I painted the sides of the unfinished wooden plaque and then painted the Narnia characters. I painted Mr. Tumnus legs three times because I wasn't happy with the way it they were turning out. 

I made Mr. Tumnus' ears and his signature burgundy scarf out of felt. His package is made out of a mounting square, wrapped in wrapping paper, and tied with embroidery thread. 

 

I sketched the wintery forest landscape with trees and a street light. I ended up re-drawing the street light before I began painting the background.

I painted the background a little each day. One night I stayed until 3am because I mixed my own paint and knew it would be difficult to remix the exact color I was using again. I tend to do my best work at night. I sealed everything that I painted with two coats. 

This is what I wrote behind the wooden plaque with an oil based pen that way Katie will always remember who made this art piece for her.

After gluing Lucy and Mr. Tumnus to their background, this project was completed!

As you can see, I put more detail into Mr. Tumnus than Lucy. Other can making his dimensional ears, scarf, and package, I also painted his horns and his little umbrella. 

After remembering that I owned some Narnia trailer film I decided to make Katie a bookmark out of it. 

I went through the whole trailer one night looking for the perfect scene she would like. You may be asking yourself how I got this trailer. Well, I worked for a movie theatre company for 10 years. I met my husband working there. The Narnia film actually belonged to him and he gave me the okay to use it. 

I ended up finding the perfect scene which shows Lucy and Aslan together. Supplies wise, I had everything to make the bookmark but decided to order a lion charm to attach to the tassel. That night I also printed out an online newspaper article written about my local zoo because the African lion that was used to animate the character of Aslan is a resident there. Isn't that way cool!?! 

 The day the lion charm finally arrived I took out my jewelry tools I attached it to the bookmark's tassel.

 

I included the zoo article with the completed bookmark. At the last minute, I decided to include 38 individual film slices from the trailer as well.  Each film slice had a picture of either Lucy, Edmund, Susan, or Peter. The film slices are for Katie's 6th grade class who are currently reading The Chronicles of Narnia. 

I hope you enjoyed seeing the Narnia edition of what I made for my #chrildrenslitcraftswap partner Katie. I'm relieved that what I had in mind for my big swap project turned out even better than what I had imagined. I'm glad to say Katie loved her #childrenslitcraftswap package from me and today Katie's 6th grade students made their own bookmarks with the Narnia film slices I sent them with quotes from the movie. 

Disney Pixar Short Film Swap Part 2: Feast Magnets & Brooch

I had as much fun making the Feast inspired brooch and magnets as I did making the Winston hoop, for the #disneypixarshortfilmswap I participated in.

Here are a few photos I took while making the Winston brooch.

                                                                        My sketch. 

Coloring Winston on the shrink paper with Sharpies. 

Winston and dog bowl colored and ready to be baked.

Assembly time. I made three Boston Terriers and two bowls because I keep messing up. My first Winston rolled onto itself and got stuck while in the oven because I didn't put parchment paper over it. My husband unstuck it. Now I have an extra Winston to make myself a brooch, whenever I get around to it.

Brooch completed and so adorable!

Winston and his favorite food:

I actually didn't plan on making pearler bead magnets until I saw a Fast Food Perler Bead Kit at Michael's and realized they would go perfect with the Winston theme. Those little beads can become quite addicting. They remind me of cross stitching. A week later, I went back for more pearler beads to make the dog. 

This is what the package looked like when I shipped it. This is one of my favorite swap packages I have made and shipped. 

I'm currently signed up for three swaps, a Halloween swap with an previous swap partner, a Bee Creative Stocking Swap through Instagram, and an ornament swap. I have no idea were I find the time to be creative but it forces me to try new things and I enjoy brightening someone else's day.

I hope you enjoyed taking a look at my swap gift making process for the Disney Pixar short film swap.  If you want me to continue sharing progress pictures of future craft swap, let me know.

Disney Pixar Short Film Swap Part 1: Winson Hoop

Lately, I have been of participating in a few craft swaps, outside the ones from Bee Creative Swaps that I co-host. #disneypixarshortfilmswap, through Instagram, is the most current swap I completed. In this swap, I had to make a medium and small craft and include some extra goodies based on my partner's favorite Pixar shorts. Her favorite short and character is the adorable Boston Terrier dog named Winston in short Feast. As you can see from the picture below I based my whole swap package on it. I really enjoyed making the hoop, pearler bead magnets, and shrinky dink brooch all inspired by Feast. My partner got her package a few days ago and she absolutely loved everything she received and so did her dogs. I honestly wanted to keep everything for myself, but I knew they would be loved and treasured at their new home.

Here are my progress pictures of the Winston hoop I created:

My inspiration came from the Pixar short film Feast, but also from these pictures.

I always start with a sketch. 

Using my sketch as a pattern and cutting out my felt pieces. 

Embroidery work on felt dog.

Gluing the pieces together.

Working on the collar.

Gluing felt dog and collar onto hoop. 

Finished attaching dog tag to hoop. 

Sewed snack buttons (I got the buttons on BitsyNest, a shop on Etsy. Michael's use to have them but they don't stock them anymore) and glued background fabric to hoop.

Covered the back of the hoop with felt and embroidered my initials and date, which I always do, and the hashtag for the swap. 

The completed hoop!

Keep an eye out for Disney Pixar Short Film Swap Part 2 post, where I will share progress pictures of the snack food magnets and Winston brooch. 

Bee Creative Stocking Swap

Now, that Viva La Frida Craft Swap has come to an end, Emily and I, from Bee Creative Swaps are at it again. This time we are bringing the holiday spirit out a little early with  “Bee Creative Stocking Swap!” You don’t sew? No worries! You can buy an already pre-made stocking and decorate it based on your partner’s likes. For full details and to sign up CLICK HERE!

I will be posting inspirational do it yourself stocking ideas on my blog each Sunday, until July 28. The Sunday posts will be called, “Sunday Stocking Special.” Scheduled posts themes are as follows: 

August 14: DIY No Sew and Tradition Stockings 
August 21: DIY Non Traditional Stockings
August 28: Decorating Stocking Ideas

The Sunday Stocking Special posts are meant to get your creative juices flowing and give you some out of the box ideas on how you might like your own stocking made. And, maybe be the little push to motivate those who are still unsure if they want to participate to sign up.

Sign ups are open until August 31st and shipping deadline is November 1st.

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