Lilac Saloon

Best of April

 

I know that it's definitely nothing new to say that time really flies by, but for REAL now with April I swear I just didn't have enough time to do all of the things I wanted to do!!  My little monthly recap will hopefully help me remember what happened and remind me to not worry so hard about getting a billion things done every day.  

 

SHARED

A video of me, cutting felt for 45 minutes in high speed!

A sneak peek into my studio as I work on embroidering wedding vows.

A video of me cutting petals (at high speed of course!) for an order of Wallflowers.

 

MADE

Handmade bias tape from vintage seersucker fabric.

Award ribbons for my friend (a high school art teacher) to use in the art show she is putting on at the school!  So proud of her.  I made 28 big fancy awesome 'horse show style' ribbons out of white and kraft paper and wool felt.

 

FINISHED

Wallflowers for Brooke

Wallflowers and an embroidery for Sarah

Hand embroidered wedding vows for Eric & Audrey

 

BOUGHT

Fleur de Sel Caramel from Have It Sweet (that was my March "Pay it Forward")

Felted Wool from Three Sheep Studio

 

CELEBRATED

Felt Heart Confetti being beautifully featured in a Brandon Kidd engagement shoot.

Evan, getting an Internship!!  This is a big deal because he needs it to get his diploma next year and also because they typically hire the Interns to be full-time once they graduate.  If you were reading this blog last year, you will remember that this was the whole reason that we moved to Iowa and that I started Lilac Saloon!

You can reminisce - since it is the ONE YEAR anniversary...

• about the BIG News announcement of quitting our jobs
• how I felt on my last day of work
• my exit interview day of closure
• and my first impressions of little Estherville!

 

IN THE WORKS

A special deal over at Oh, Hello Friend!

A brand new style of bouquet that I freakin' love!

A new set of hand embroidered wedding vows (AFRICA inspired! hello awesome.)

Vow Embroidery for Eric & Audrey

I shared a sneak peek video of my process for embroidering wedding vows earlier in the month.  The vows took me 60 hours in total to create!  Phew.  I finished them a while ago but I haven't yet shared the photos, so, here they are!

I watched sooo many Netflix shows and movies while working on this project.  I think it was a healthy mix of My So-Called Life, Intervention, The Duggars (and however many kids and counting), random kids cartoons like Ni Hao Kai-Lan (so cute!) and a few documentaries that weren't very good.  Hehe.  Which means I learned, in 60 hours, about drug addiction, child rearing and a little Mandarin - I'm so versatile!

Hand embroidering wedding vows has been my biggest challenge and also has been the most rewarding!

 That is usually the case, isn't it?  What have you done lately that is challenging and rewarding?

Etsy Favorite: Three Sheep Studio

This month in my little 'pay-it-forward' project, I wanted to buy something fun, crafty and inspiring.  I had Rose's amazing Three Sheep Studio shop in my favorites for so long now that it was about time I buy something!  

A couple months ago I even had her send me some little swatches in the mail so I could feel the difference between her felted wool and my wool felt.  She is so nice!  Rose hand-dyes and hand-felts all of these woolens!  That is pretty awesome, right?

I ordered one of the "Penny Packs" so that I could have a little bit of a lot of different colors and patterns.  For maximum amount of fun - ya know! :)

As much as I totally love plaids (omg look at that purple one) I am the most in love with how GORGEOUS these pastel solids are!  These colors are just TOOOO perfect!

I am already planning projects with these and I'm really excited to dig in!

Please stop over and visit Three Sheep Studio on Etsy and check out the beautiful woolens!

Custom Order for Sarah

I just shipped out a custom order for a friend from college!  It was so fun to work on something for someone that I know and love.  Sarah wanted flowers for her Tiffany Blue living room that would hang over her white fireplace.  We decided on Heather Grey with white centers.  I can't wait to see photos of them in her home!

For their bedroom, Sarah also ordered a custom "You & Me" embroidery.
I really love how their names look together too - James & Sarah.  So sweet :) 

I am always so inspired by custom orders and have so much fun working on them!

xoxo

Let me know if you want to work on something custom for your home, too!  Contact Me to get started!

Make Something! Handmade Bias Tape

I saw a great looking tutorial for handmade bias tape the other day on Bitter Purl and I was so intrigued by the technique that I just had to try it right away.  I saw it and then literally ran straight to my fabric bins to rummage for the perfect scrap piece to practice on.

IT. WAS. SO. EASY.

I used about 1/2 yard of this vintage seersucker fabric that I've been holding onto since last summer...I think it knew it was destined to become bias tape.

It makes A LOT.

I also instantly had to sew it onto something just to see how it would look.  I was picturing it sewn onto a grey sweater but I only had one and it wouldn't work with the design.  This white one was my next best option and it worked out perfectly!

I just loooove the look of a sweetly simple running stitch.  So cozy and cared for.  And a little frayed edge helps cozy it up, too.

Are you inspired?  I really have to give it up for Bitter Purl for writing out and photographing that technique for us all to try.  I think it was one of the best "instant gratification" projects I've done in a while!  

It took maybe 1/2 hour (max) to make that giant roll of bias tape.  I could probably do it even faster now that I get how to make it without having to run back and forth to the laptop to read the directions.  Go ahead and try it out if you've got a little bit of fabric and a half hour to spare!!

Wallflowers for Brooke

Remember the cutting felt video and the cutting petals video?

I was making these flowers!

Brooke contacted me on Etsy to see if I could make some Wallflowers for her office.  The room has medium grey walls and two gorgeous orange and yellow flower paintings hanging prominently.

These flowers are going to look so dramatic off of the grey backdrop!  I'm crossing my fingers that she sends me a photo so we can see how they look!

Here's a peek at the backs of the flowers, too.  I give them lots of TLC!

Thanks Brooke!  I had a blast making these and hope that you LOVE them!

Also, now I've got lots-n-lots of orange felt scraps leftover... which means that you'll be seeing orange hearts sprinkled into the Felt Heart Confetti!

Sneak Peek! Cutting Petals

Earlier, I shared with you a peek into my felt-cutting process.  But that was just part of it!  I've got some more to show you.  This is another 45 minutes of cutting (but in just 45 seconds!  wheee!)...

 

Cutting Petals from Megan Van Sipe on Vimeo.

 

Do you like these little behind-the-scenes videos?  Should I do more videos like this?

Sneak Peek! Hand Embroidered Vows

Remember those wedding vows that I'm working on embroidering by hand?

I wanted to share with you a little peek...

 

Hand Embroidered Wedding Vows from Megan Van Sipe on Vimeo.

Embroidering wedding vows takes quite a long time...but how long does it really take? This video shows a peek into the process. It's 20 minutes of stitching sped up really fast! How many words can I stitch in 20 minutes? Watch and see!

Brandon Kidd + Felt Heart Confetti

I was so surprised to find out that one of my favorite faaavorite photographers, Brandon Kidd, used my Felt Heart Confetti in his engagement photoshoot with Michelle & Ryan (who are absolutely adorable!).  I was squeeeee-ing with excitement when Michelle emailed me to show me the photos!

Brandon's work is amazing and I am soooo honored to have my work featured so beautifully in his portrayal of Michelle & Ryan's love.  It honestly makes me so, so happy :)

Please stop by Brandon Kidd and show some comment love!

- Like Brandon Kidd on Facebook

- Follow Brandon Kidd on Twitter 

I also want to mention Green Wedding Shoes who blogged about Michelle & Ryan and shared their photos, too!

Etsy Favorite: Have It Sweet

Following along my path to Etsy righteousness, here is my purchase of the month!  This time, I went with something edible.  Food, on Etsy?  At first I was weirded out by the thought, I admit, but NOW I AM A TRUE BELIEVER.

I chose the Fleur de Sel caramel by Have It Sweet.

 

You know...sometimes the packaging is so cute that it hurts to open it up and ruin everything.  But I knew that really really good stuff was waiting inside.

I might also have to admit that when I tried it, I saw the clouds open up and light shine through the windows while trumpets played.  And then I hid both bars away from my husband so that I could have it all to myself.  And then I felt guilty and took them back out and let him try some too.

And we ate it all in...well...a couple days.

It was not hard to do.

If you're looking for a really good gift for someone or most importantly for yourself, I now swear by this stuff because it is just genious.

Please head over to Have It Sweet on Etsy and try it for yourself!!

 

 

Sneak Peek! Cutting Felt

I've got a video for you!

Cutting Felt from Megan Van Sipe on Vimeo.

A fast-forward look into my studio while I'm cutting felt for an order of Wallflowers! This is 45 minutes of cutting, sped up into about 3.5 minutes. Enjoy the show!

In The Works

I haven't been blogging much lately due to the fact that I'm keeping super busy!  I'm in the middle of quite a few custom orders (yay) and they have been soaking up all of my waking hours.  Don't worry...I'm still leaving room in the day to enjoy the slightly warmer weather and begin new overly ambitious projects.  Naturally.

What do I have in the works?

a custom wedding vow embroidery that is going to take about 60 hours to complete

2 custom sets of wallflowers

a custom name embroidery

a big order of wedding flowers

a special deal in the works over at Oh, Hello Friend (EXCITING)

a cool feature of one of my pieces in a publication that I am excited to be able to share with you

planning a fashion photo shoot with another photographer and our local thrift shop (model recruiting! hello, estherville?  any models out there??  *crickets*)

 

So please excuse my silence here and there.  I swear, I'm doing things! I'll share photos as things start to get rolling!!