Crooked Fence Gifts: Fun with Organza Flower Clips

Crooked Fence Gifts: Fun with Organza Flower Clips: "Summer is always a great time to play with accessories. Flower Hair Clips have become very popular. You can make them out of anything. Reall..."

Fun with Organza Flower Clips

Summer is always a great time to play with accessories. Flower Hair Clips have become very popular. You can make them out of anything. Really any sort of cloth or paper. My favorite are Organza. Organza is such a beautiful fabric, so feminine and fun. I took to You tube to watch videos on flowers. And there are a lot. Then went to my local fabric store and bought loads of Organza. A lot of people are using fake flowers from any store to make these. I wanted to make my own.  I wanted to make the flower clips that look like a real petal, which takes FIRE ! You have to heat the petals to get them to look that way. I tried to use a soldering gun, that didn't work. The fabric would catch fire or melt too much. What I found worked best for me was using a candle. It is still a little tricky, but at least you can control the burn pattern somewhat. I used 8-9 layers of petals which I heated individually. I understand some people use a heat gun, I haven't tried this yet, but will try that next.

One thing to keep in mind: Organza isn't cheap. Watch adds for Jo Ann Fabrics for sales or your local fabric store. I found it to average right around 10.00 a yard when not on sale. I tried hot gluing them first. This worked OK. I wasn't totally happy with the outcome, so I tried sewing them. I liked this much better. On the centers, I used a brass filigree piece on most of them and wired beads to the filigree first before attaching it to the flower. After that I used a piece of felt and glued on the alligator clip. I found large quantities of clips at my local beauty supply. And a smooth version I found to hold just as well as the sawed edge type. I used felt to cover the underside of the clip and to give it a nice finished look. These were a lot of fun, but take a little bit of planning. Another difficult part was cutting the organza, not an easy thing to do as it moves and is "slippery" as fabrics go. So, with a little practice they can be cut fairly easy. The layers do not need to be precise which is helpful. You will have to play with this and figure out how it works for you.

Crooked Fence Gifts: New Classes at Crooked Fence Gifts

Crooked Fence Gifts: New Classes at Crooked Fence Gifts: "Crooked Fence Gifts will start new and fun craft classes in July. The first class will be 'Paper Flower Pin or Clip' on July 2, 2011 at 4pm...."

New Classes at Crooked Fence Gifts

Crooked Fence Gifts will start new and fun craft classes in July. The first class will be "Paper Flower Pin or Clip" on July 2, 2011 at 4pm. The cost for this class is $10.00 per person. Each person can make two paper flower Clips or Pins or one of each. All supplies are included plus snacks. These flowers are fun and can be used as  accessories to your wardrobe, home decor or scrap booking. There will be a variety of prints and solid designs and colors to chose from. This will be the first of many classes. Come for fun, bring a friend. Call for more information: 360-825-2818. Crooked Fence Gifts is located in beautiful downtown Enumclaw Washington.

Crooked Fence Gifts: Creative ways to Display Your Jewelry

Crooked Fence Gifts: Creative ways to Display Your Jewelry: "Vintage Frame Jewelry Display Large Vintage Frame Jewelry Display At Crooked Fence Gifts the majority of the products we sell are han..."

Creative ways to Display Your Jewelry

Vintage Frame Jewelry Display

Large Vintage Frame Jewelry Display

At Crooked Fence Gifts the majority of the products we sell are handmade and the majority of those are original designs. Over the last year we discovered a Frame type jewelry hanger on Michaels.com. We try to keep up with trends, and with the invention of the computer that is so much easier these days. You used to have to go out on foot to see what everybody else was doing. I would say that half of our inventory is Handmade Jewelry. So we decided to make our own version of this "Frame Type Jewelry Hanger". We used Vintage frames of course, netting, gorgeous ribbon or chain for a hanger & beaded trim. This type of Jewelry Display is perfect for keeping your hook style earrings from being tangled or worse yet lost. If you decide to try to make this one just a note: we added felt to the entire back of the frame. It helps keep the netting in place as you glue and staple and will keep the frame from scuffing the wall where you hang it.

Vintage Chair Leg Jewelry Stand

Another fun design we made this year is our vintage chair leg jewelry display. We cut the legs off of an old chair that had good looking legs. We made a base out of other scrap wood and bored a hole into it so the leg would fit snuggly inside added some wood glue and put a screw up through the bottom. Using my dremel I drilled some holes the same size as my L hooks (Lowe's or Home Depot) which is what the jewelry would hang on. Then some sanding and paint or whatever finish you are trying to achieve. Now we are ready to put our hooks in. Keeping them close to the top of the leg for necklaces and in the middle for bracelets. We added felt to the bottom to allow it to sit on any surface. Crooked Fence is already working on another type of jewelry stand for 2011. It will be coming soon !

Beware of Shopping at Dollar Stores !

It is easy to forget about product quality when times are tough and we all need to save money. Not always the safe way to go. I ran across a video on comcast.net about the dollar stores and what is safe to buy there and what isn't. I cant believe they are just talking about this now. I noticed years ago and wanted to take it a step farther on something they didn't address.
You can visit www.comcast.net to see the video. See more at www.earlyshow.cbsnews.com.
They talk about the products they carry that are "knock - offs" of other products. They look the same, but aren't. They are products that are made in other countries with their standards, not ours. They don't go through FDA or any other agency here in our country. The FDA found the tooth pastes to be hazardous, and this toothpaste is still for sale in some of the stores. They suggest that ANY item you might stick in your mouth or put on your body, you should not buy unless it is a name brand. This list includes: Food items, Medicines, Toothpaste, make up, creams, soap, etc.. They also noted that cleaning products that cost less at the dollar store are diluted versions of the products.
Also they mentioned Christmas lights and extension cords. Basically any electrical items. And besides you can find lights at most retail outlets on sale throughout the holiday season. Most important the UL code on products need to be on the lights themselves not just the box. And the code needs to be in a circle.
Also, batteries, they wont last, they may leak.
Lastly: Toys and dollar store jewelry: millions of items have been recalled because of  LEAD content and choking hazards. Please beware when purchasing items for your children.

My issue with the dollar store besides all of the above.

When the dollar stores came along everyone thought it was a fine idea. I have been making and selling my own products for the better part of twenty years now. As the dollar stores came out and became more and more prevalent, the craft malls and stores where you could buy handmade goods became less and less. I know that people need to save money and that it probably seems like you are getting a lot more for your money when you buy ten items for ten dollars at a dollar store and only one item for ten dollars in a shop that offers handmade goods. But, what about quality ? How long do the dollar store items really last ? Better yet, what are they made out of ? Lastly, where do they come from ?
Like it or not, the more we buy local the better our country will be. If we keep buying imported items, we wont have any local manufactures available.
With the way our economy has been going we need to buy local to keep more jobs available here. If there isn't a demand for products that are made here, there wont be companies here making them.
You wouldn't believe how hard it is to find some items available in the USA. So many companies have closed down that used to manufacture items.
I believe things come and go and this will turn around. That is why I am persistent in my business venture even in this economy.
Good luck to all the businesses out there trying to make a go of it ! And good luck to all of the people who continue to pursue making handmade goods.
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