Adventures in Making a Crown, Part 1 :Create:

I’ll be honest. I thought crown-making was going to be much easier than it has been. Granted, it hasn’t really been all to difficult…There have just been some unforeseen issues.

I purchased my crochet lace on Fabric.com which has an AMAZING shipping turnaround. I ordered several colors…

You can see there…brown, black, lime, white, pink and turquoise.

Lesson #1: Next time, I will just buy a neutral color – white maybe – and spray paint each crown separately. I would say paint them with acrylic paint but the spray paint is SO MUCH EASIER!

Plus, you can get different shades of (lets say) pink for different crowns by using different shades of spray paint (obvious I know) but it is harder to come by different pink shades of crochet lace unless you are a lace ninja… you can always use the spray paint for other projects  too so nothing ever goes to waste!

Lesson #2: Next time, I will try lightly ironing the lace out before applying the fabric stiffener. I know it make seem pointless because you are just going to crumble it up in the bowl anyways but I would just dip the fabric in the bowl and wipe off the access between my thumb and pointer finger to try and keep the fabric as flat as possible.

 

Next, measure and trim. I cut all of mine 15” and ended up needing to trim more off of each end due to fraying so they ended up around 14” each. It was a perfect fit for my 7 year old daughter’s head!

Gather your supplies – Grab your Stiffy! hahahahaha – yeah I know, I’m 12 again. Come on though, the company set me up by naming it that!

Now, pour…

Soak…

Saturate…

Squeeze out excess…

and Lay out…

See that white splotchy-ness on the black?

Yeah, that totally goes away once the stiffener dries!

I set mine out on a cookie sheet covered in wax paper…

And flipped them about 3 times over the next hour to prevent the stiffener from clogging up the lace holes…

Then just left them to dry overnight.

 

Part 2 (the fun part) coming soon!

<3

Morgan

And it starts with a cupcake flag :Create:

My first post ever.
Well I’ll just jump right into it…
I made the decision to begin my own business. I have been craving my own business for the past couple months but I never really thought it would be possible. I figured that it would cost too much money (which I don’t have) so I just wrote it off as a dream for when I win the lottery (any day now)
Then it hit me one day…JUST DO IT.
And I did.
I started my business, Katy & Liv.


Named after my gorgeous daughters – I picked a girly name because originally I was only planning on selling my handmade hair bows and headbands. Then when I got the crazy idea to expanding into party décor and favors, I was still hell-bent on the name Katy & Liv. I put my supply order in, told a few friends and Shazam! I am a business owner.

While I am waiting for my hair bow supplies, I decided to get busy making one of my favorite things ever…Cupcake flags. They are such a cute, easy way to decorate a cupcake, birthday cake, donut cake…any kind of cake for any kind of event!
I have made 2 types of Cupcake Flags – Washi tape and card stock. I love the card stock for a few reasons:

1) Since washi tape has adhesive on the back, it is easy to get caught up in the “OMG my tape is sticking to itself” dance – even though washi tape will separate easier than other kinds of tape, it is still a royal pain in the ass!
2)Washi tape is more expensive than card stock and I’m a lady on a tight budget!
3)I can think of one million other ways to decorate with washi!

All you need to make your own flags are:

Scissors

Cardstock (Decorate, solid color, whatever your heart desires!)

Toothpicks

Craft glue

Then get busy!

First, Cut your card stock strips! I measured mine at 2.5” long and just over .5” high.

Then fold, fold, fold!

Lay your cardstock flat and apply a ‘delicately generous” swirl of glue. I say it that way because I cannot STAND an over usage of glue that leaves its all over my fingertips!

Play your toothpick in the fold of the cardstock and close your sides together. Press firmly and line up your corners…also make sure the toothpick is lined up straight coming out of the cardstock.

Cut a triangle out of the end of your flag…perfection is NOT the key here. I love a nice, unique look to each flag…gives it that true homemade look!

Then repeat a couple hundred times until you have your desired quantity! BAM!

I just love how customizable they are! You could have them for every possible event you could think of and if you are like me, there is ALWAYS a reason for cupcakes!

Have a good night!!
xoxo,
Morgan