Hartford Craft Company

Turtle Power

2016-02-23T19:18:00.000-08:00

Happy Tuesday. Hope you all had an amazing Monday and your week is off to a productive start. By productive I mean that it goes so fast that it’s Friday before you know it. LOL. Before I start on what I intended on posting about, can I say that we have this new bed with a base that inclines and it’s amazing! I am currently sitting in bed with my bed inclined upright perfect position for typing on a laptop, makes me feel a lot older than I am but did I say it’s amazing???? To be fair we have a bed where the top and bottom incline due to my husbands’ bad back but I’m loving the benefits.

So a post ago I told you that I was planning on making as many gifts as I can to not only save money but to utilize my craft skills and endless craft supplies that I keep amassing. Well I’ve stuck to my goal and learned two new things about myself. One, I enjoy painting, well I consider it more like doodling. I’m no Picasso but just using a paint brush to fill in outlines or just to be creative is pretty relaxing. The second thing is that I enjoy working with paper. You may not know this but I’m pretty new to the paper game. I learned how to sew in high school and always felt comfortable with fabric, but paper was a new arena for me other than making basic cards. Now I’m creating paper wall art and layering paper for dimension… I know mind blown. LOL We’ll talk about that in another post because todays post is all about NINJA TURTLES. I can see the awe in your face. Although my son is pretty young to be into Ninja Turtles, his 3 year old almost 4 year old brain loves them. His best friend loves them as well so I decided to make something for both of them using their favorite characters.

Enter my Brother ScanNCut2. I purchased this machine mid last year after conducting a lot of research on cutters, dye cutting machines, Circuit, Silhouettes, and all the fancy machines that are out there. I chose this specific machine because I was planning on using it to cut fabric for my projects and it seemed like the best fabric cutter. I have yet to use it to cut fabric but early this year I actually plugged it in and started learning how to use the features. My favorite feature thus far, the fact that you can scan an image and then use it as a template to cut. Simply print out an outlined image from your computer and then scan it into the machine and cut it. It’s that simple. Well a little more complex than that, but still that simple. The machine also has some templates and fonts which you can use as well. (Disclaimer, Brother or any of their affiliates are not currently paying me or providing any incentive for me to write this post on their product, but I wish they would! These thoughts are my own). Ok so let’s get started.

The project, Ninja Turtle T-shirt Design. Ninja Turtle on the front. Friends name on the back with his age. Since I didn’t have any vinyl or transfer supplies I decided that I was going to just use what I had on hand which in this case was fabric paint. I completed the back of the t-shirt first. After placing a piece of cardboard in between the front and back of the shirt, I used some stencils that I had on hand and painted the name and age on the back. The next day after it was dried, I went online and found a template that I liked of a Ninja turtle face, resized it on my copier and scanned it into the ScanNCut. Once it was scanned I made some adjustments (removed some cut lines on the template). I cut the pattern out on heavy duty card stock and used it as a template to paint on the front of the shirt. To keep the template from moving around while I painted, I used adhesive roll around the edges and affixed the pattern to the t-shirt. Because it was fabric the pattern came off quite easily and this reduced bleeding. I did most of the painting while watching a pretty decent movie. Painting was so relaxing for me, I told myself I would make a few more, which I still may. I also used the same pattern to make valentines cards for my son for school. I used a heart template that was provided in the machine and resized it to my needs. My son’s teachers were so impressed, but I must say that it was a lot of friggin work gluing those small pieces. If I do a similar project in the future, I will have to think of a way to get it all done in less time with the same impact.

Ok get ready for the photo overload.

Valentines Cards for Pre-School

Button Art Turtle not made using my ScanNCut but we were talking about turtles weren't we? LOL This cute wall art with frame is now listed on my Etsy Store. HartfordCraft

Hope you enjoy my post and my favorite, the pictures! I’ll be posting more of my creations using the ScanNCut since it has come in even handier than I thought.

Thanks again for stopping by.

~Darley

Hello Cake Pop

2016-02-05T21:00:00.001-08:00

Can you believe its February already??? I can’t believe it. I had all of these plans for elaborate blog posts in 2016 but do you know what happened? I got busy with Christmas Craft orders and enjoying the holidays and quite frankly enjoyed not spending much time on the computer and social media. So it’s taken me a while to get into the groove. For those of us who post, you know how much time and effort goes into the even smallest post and for those of you who don’t believe me, it’s more work than it looks. Since we didn’t have a New Years’ update let’s talk about my plans for the year. Yes Blogging was one of them although it wasn’t my top priority. With working full time and a busy toddler and not to mention dinner and laundry, I like to spend what little spare time I have doing what I enjoy the most which is crafting. So my top goal for this year was to create which I have been doing, my second goal was to use the plethora of crafting materials that I have while learn new skills, thirdly I am trying to reduce our family spending for my long/short term goal of getting a more functional home in a better school district, so I’ve been giving out handmade gifts which helps with a few of my goals at once. (For those of you who’ve gotten handmade gifts from me, you’re welcome, save them, they will be worth millions in a few centuries. LOL) The final goal was to be more consistent with my monthly kid’s classes which I have. Overall I feel more relaxed since taking a Social Media break. In my head I know that more time in front of the PC could help me achieve my other goal of crafting full time but I also know that I am more relaxed when I take a break and spend more time outdoors or even on my couch with a needle and thread. Maybe I can craft in one of those cute refurbished trailers in my backyard filled with flowers and trees, in my next home and you can come over and create with me.

Januarys kids craft class was snowman cake pops. We had a full class of which was great. I know I don’t post pictures of the students… I have release forms but I just don’t feel comfortable… But you can always use your imagination and imagine some happy kids stuffing their faces with loads of sugary products. LOL

To make the cake pops we used the Baby Cakes Cake Pop Maker. It makes 12 evenly round cake pops at a time in only 4 minutes. I used the recipe that is included in the box for vanilla cake pops. The recipe is uses very basic ingredients so you can whip it up in a flash.

I find that a box cake mix isn’t as thick and doesn’t cook as well. Once the cake pops were baked, we let them sit for a while and used Wilton Candy Melts, Sprinkles, and candy eyes to decorate. WARNING WARNING these were sweet as hec like way too sweet, like what time are these kids getting picked up sweet, but the kids loved them. The cake pops themselves were perfect, it’s the other stuff that made it sugar tastic. I haven’t figured out how to make them less sweet, maybe use less sprinkles, but I made one for my son and threw it out immediately. Don’t worry he doesn’t know. LOL

Here’s everything that we used to make this class a success.

Baby Cakes Cake Pop Maker

Kitchen Aid Stand Mixer Glass Bowl

Wilton Candy Melt, White

Wilton White Sparkling Sugar Sprinkles

Pic of my students work… well what remained after I told them they could eat them. Each student made 2 cake pops one to eat and the other to take home or not, I let them decide.

Feel free to make some of these yourself just hold off on some of the sugar. If you are in my area and want to contact me about classes leave a note below.

~Darley

Life is a Holiday Hustle

2015-11-29T20:16:00.000-08:00

Happy Holidays fellow craft lovers. I’ve been busy dreaming up Christmas Crafts and working on Christmas orders only to realize that Christmas is only a few weeks away which means I need to increase my speed to get things done in time. I am working diligently to come up with that one Brilliant idea that will make it possible for me to spend my days crafting instead of sitting in front of a computer working with numbers, but until then its nights and weekends of creative endeavors for this girl along with tackling my Christmas list like the rest of you. On a side note one of my favorite crafters Lia Griffith just created a super cute and free Christmas list printable, so check it out.

Mason Jar gift set that I am working on with my crafting partner Evelyn.

Over a month ago I went to a Blogger event where a fellow Blogger was surprised to hear that I sew and said that she thought it was a dying art. It kinda stung a little and was unexpected so my response was something bordering fashion designers or something. I can’t fully recall what I said, but I can tell you it was not a compelling argument since I was so caught off guard. I was going to tell you guys that I’ve come up with a good comeback if someone else says it but I haven’t even thought of something other than “Etsy begs to differ!” lol.

Outside of craft life I will be speaking at a “work” event about MSNBC sponsored “Know your value” conference that I attended sometime in October in Boston, MA. One reoccurring, underlying theme that I took from the conference was that women have so many responsibilities, way more than men do, and are stressed out. As we are unable to get rid of most of our responsibilities or outsource due to finances, it is important for women to come up with a method that works for them in order to help them feel less stressed. One of the speakers in the conference spoke about her priorities and how she accomplishes things. She created a list of sorts with a line with responsibilities placed above the line and below the line to differentiate things that she will and will not do or make a priority. One item on the low priority scale is attending her kids’ PTA. Instead, her spouse attends because the cost of her attending outweighed the benefits of her attending. The other items that would have to be sacrificed just to say that she was there outweighed the benefits. She was fully confident that her spouse would be able to ask the questions that she would and that he would represent their child’s best interest. Some of you might be outraged about a mom deciding not to attend a PTA, but we women tend to judge each other on so many levels that just don’t make any darn sense. We have emotional thoughts about a mom consciously not attending a PTA meeting but at the same time are exhausted and can barely function and wish we could make conscious decisions that are against the norm which would greatly benefit our lives….. Would it make a difference if I said that the speaker who said she wouldn’t attend the meetings was a scientist and worked many hours similar to a highly compensated male executive who would probably never be at a PTA or make it to any family dinners? Probably. But hey, who am I to judge. .

Unless you are independently wealthy and feel like you’ve got it all under control all of the time then it may not be that important to be open minded. For the rest of us what I took from the conference is that it sometimes pays to think differently and look at other alternatives to solving life’s complexities. Many women are doing things the same way and getting the same results. The term Work-life Balance which was adopted by so many employers has been thrown to the wayside as it is almost impossible in 99.99 percent of workplaces, and replaced with words about prioritizing your work day to make it the most productive. All of the responsibilities at home do not go away. Neither does dinner, soccer practice, tutoring, or anything else that has to get completed in the day. So what do you do to keep on top of things other than using Pinterest and Instagram to help reduce your stress level and momentarily bring you to your happy place? I know it’s not just me. LOL I don’t have the answer either but I will say that you should be open minded. When you come into contact with other women who are doing things differently than you are it is to your benefit to at least listen. You may get something out of it, you may not but don’t just immediately judge. Frowning isn’t good for your face and negative thoughts aren’t good for your brain or health.

What are your thoughts? Do you have any tips to share?

Disclaimer. No one is paying me for any of this. Just sharing with you.

If you are looking for more pics of my projects follow me on Instagram @hartfordcraft

Thanks for stopping by.

~Darley

What I've Been Up to

2015-11-05T21:08:00.001-08:00

Hello there. Can you believe it’s already November?? For those of us in New England this is probably one of the warmest November’s ever. Going outside with just a sweater on is generally unheard-of however this year we have been granted our wish of delaying the cold weather meanwhile having fear in the back of our minds that winter will last long when it does come and be extremely horrible (insert concern face emoji lol).

Since my last blog post I have been very busy working on doll bedding for my Etsy shop as well as some other small projects for Hartford Craft itself which you can see below. I also created some cute and easy Halloween treat bags for some of my sons’ friends and also held a Halloween class where we made cute treat bags out of felt. This was my very first class since the summer and was also my very first class that I had a boy in attendance, and to my surprise he caught on quicker than the girls and did not have the same technical issues the girls generally have where they bring the needle around their entire item instead of going back to front through the space that they are sewing. That being said, I have to retract my comments on how I do not think boys will pay attention in my class, however I do rather enjoy my classes being full of pink and girly stuff.

My focus for the rest of the year is to schedule a couple more kids’ classes, adult classes, and private mommy and me classes for girls 5 and up along with adding more items to my Etsy store. A couple weeks ago I received an unexpected message from an old co-worker who also follows me on Instagram asking if I could make some doll diapers for her daughter. My answer was yes of course and it was so much fun! I really enjoy making them and am currently working on completing her order as well as some additional orders that I received after sharing the pictures of what I created. I really feel blessed that others like what I create and want me to create items for them and their loved ones. I’m not going give details on how I created items today however if you have a question on one or all of the items please leave a message in the comments. Otherwise please enjoy the photo overload and enjoy your weekend. If you want to see more pics of what I am working on don't forget to follow me on Instagram @Hartfordcraft

Barbie Blanket with 2 Pillows/ Hartfordcraft on Etsy

Halloween Kids Class

Halloween Treat Bags/ Made with Ziploc Bag

Cardboard and Scrapbook paper kitchen back splash

Doll Diapers and Wipes/ Hartfordcraft on Etsy

Thanks again for stopping by!

~Darley

Quick Organizing

2015-10-12T18:32:00.002-07:00

Basement under step storage.

The thing about being organized is that it’s continuous. You get organized and have a space for everything and then you have too much of everything and then you have to purge, and there you are, back at the beginning. This is what happened to my under stair storage space in the basement. It was a form of “organized” in the beginning. It held all of my boxes and some toys in boxes that we needed to get rid of. Some of the boxes had a specific use, the boxes that the wine glasses came with in case I rented them out or had to bring them to an event, the boxes for my parfait glasses also had the same purpose. There were also some boxes from USPS for when I mailed out items that I sold on eBay or wherever I posted items for sale and other boxes for who knows what. I did use some of the boxes for their intended purposes at some point, but I haven’t listed anything on eBay in years but the boxes just kept accumulating as we purchased items for our now toddler son, as I ordered items from Amazon…..

My first intention was to get some custom shelves built by my husband and all of these other grandiose ideas that are extremely difficult to implement when your toddler is trying to keep the tape measure hostage. In the middle of my dream rant about the possibilities reality hit in the form of my husband, who told me that he wouldn’t help me until I emptied out the space. So I had no choice but to start working on clearing it out.

I made 4 piles.

1. Boxes to be broken down and recycled - 90% of the items

2. Boxes that I would like to keep - One box full of boxes

3. Items to be sold - Play mat/ large toy

4. Items to keep and be relocated - Nothing (surprise/surprise) lol

Check out the empty space. Unfinished but still filled with possibilities.

All of the boxes to be recycled were broken down and cut up immediately and placed in our giant recycling bin. Next we took some measurements and we made our way to Home Depot after we went to Once Upon a Child to sell our toys for pennies on the dollar. But at least we got rid of the stuff that was junking up our basement.

I originally wanted some metal wire shelving or the metal shelving with wood shelves however none of them came in the dimensions that I needed to fit snugly in the stair area. My intention was to slide the shelving into the stairs with no access to the back of the stairs. This changed after we placed the shelf in and saw that placing it against the wall offered more storage space and access. I can’t believe how much space I now have and I even have room for more items. YEAH!!!!!!

Check it out!!! I know what you are thinking. You want to go into your storage space and do the same thing right? No you were just admiring the bird cages. LOL Those were used in the 50^th Birthday Party that we recently decorated for (Bird Cage Centerpiece).

Thanks for joining me on my mini organizing journey. This was definitely one of the smaller organizing projects that I have undertaken with the biggest impact. I almost went into the other back area (yes there is more stuff) and brought over some other miscellaneous glass votive holders and candle holders to put on the shelf but instead I decided to just bask in the glory of completing the project.

Let me know what you think. Do you have a mini organizing project to share? Do you live in my area and need my help?

~Darley

Its Party Time

2015-10-09T20:19:00.000-07:00

Hola Readers.

I hope you all have had an amazing week and a great start to your weekend. Last weekend we had the fun task of doing decor for a 50th Birthday Party in the colors Royal Blue and Gold for my clients boyfriend. There were definitely some initial challenges, one being that we were approached by the client 4 days before the event and saw the space 2 days before, the second was that our client wanted the head table to not have breakable items as half of the guests who would be sitting there were children. Surprisingly in such a short time frame I was able to get an amazing baker to create the 50 plus cupcakes that we needed and I styled below, as well as partnering up with another very talented crafter, Evelyn to create the banner for the head table. My design partner Margo and I hit up the favorites JoAnn Fabrics and Michaels and then Party City in search for the items that we needed to decorate the table along with any and items that said 50 on them. Although in my head I would think that 50 was a milestone and would be quite common however the party store only had items that referred to a 50^th Anniversary. Needless to say we purchased the only item that would work (confetti that said 50) and then created additional labels and tags ourselves. I will apologize in advance for the photo overload although I am sure that most of you enjoy viewing a lot of photos. LOL I will also try to give some good details on the DIY’s that we did. Many of the items that we wanted to use in our decor would have been completely over our clients budget if we purchased pre-made, and given the limited timeline, we did not have time to shop around so Margo and I used our crafty magic and created a memorable event.

In order to get the gold backdrop underneath the cupcakes, we used regular cake sheets and wrapped them in Gold Foil Wrapping Paper made by Wilton. I thought it was a bit pricey at around $10 however it did the trick and created the look that we were going for. In hindsight it was somewhat reasonable……..maybe…… LOL You will notice the table also has these amazing Gold Flameless Tealights from Michaels, which we used in other areas of the event. Many venues in my area are no longer allowing actual flames which leaves you to using flameless candles in order to get that glow. The flameless tealight candles are way more expensive than their flamed counterpart, however nothing can replace the ambiance that flickering lights create. This to say if you are planning on booking an event check with the venue first to make sure you won’t have to dish out 4 times what you intended to purchase flameless candles. It sounds like a no brainer but there’s something going on in CT and I haven’t been able to put my hand on it… LOL BTW the cupcakes were DELICIOUS! Although I am an amazing baker myself, when you are doing so many items in an event, carving out the amount of time that it takes to bake a great product from beginning to end with different flavors and decorations is almost impossible. It is better for me to pay a vendor and focus on making the finished product look amazing when presented.

Paper Napkin Rings

Did your eyes elude you or did you already know? In keeping with disposable items as much as we could and with the limited budget I created napkin rings using a punch and some beautiful gold crafting paper. I came up with this idea on a whim, no Pinterest or anything else and I definitely think it is something I would use again, especially in a kids party just to create a chic look without all of the fuss of hoping and praying that the kids don’t lose or break valuable items.

Fun Table Signs

Head Table

Table Center Pieces and Decor

Additional DIY items were spray painting the round votive holders with gold sparkle spray paint. This was 75% less expensive than the designer votive holders which had a similar look. We also wrapped gold ribbon on some of the votive holders because someone may have not bought enough spray paint, someone possibly me, but I am happy with the final result and having two different styles. Each table had three balloons which we blew up at the event with a disposable helium tank. This was at least $30-$40 less expensive than having the party place blow them up. Other than the price the main reason we decided to blow them up ourselves is because we didn't want to have to go through the hassle of picking up balloons and fighting to get them into your car and then getting angry as one gets away after you spent all of that money on them and then you cant see through your back window... Oh is that just me? That hasn't happened to you? Well if it hasn't then it will. Sorry in advance. The center pieces are decorative bird cages, with craft foam and coordinating artificial flowers.
I will tell you that after this event I realized that it is way way less stressful having others help you (people who are professionals at a specific task) than if you try to do everything yourself. If you are working with processionals, most of the time you don't have to worry about the end product not meeting your expectations. I will definitely work with the two ladies that I worked with on this event in future events if the opportunity arises. Although I am a crafter I am probably even better at delegating and think I fit nicely in the event planner role.

Thanks for stopping by and I look forward to sharing my future events with you!
If there is an item in any of the photos that you have a question on that I did not mention please feel free to write a Comment and I will provide you with an answer.

Darley~

Octopus Hair Clip/ From Thought to Creation

2015-09-20T19:26:00.001-07:00

Last week I was talking to a coworker about her adorable 2 year old and she told me that her princess who likes mermaids and trolls, was extremely upset because they were reading the story “Good Night Mermaids” and she didn’t have an octopus hair clip to put in her hair like the Mermaid in the story. My response without even thinking about it was… well I can make her one out of felt. After a couple seconds of searching on Google, we came across a cute clip that was being sold on Etsy which I copied and pasted into a word document and resized based on the size that I thought I would need for the clip. I then printed it and used it as my rough template. (I really tried to find the image for this post however 15 minutes later I still couldn’t find it…. Sorry guys). I could have easily sewed it on the sewing machine but I actually prefer hand sewing as I can a.) complete projects while I watch TV and b.) it’s very relaxing for me. Since this was a very small project that I was doing for free for a 2 year old who wouldn’t judge me, I decided to just use items that I had in my studio.

Here’s the Final Product:

Item Listing:

Scrap piece of felt –cut out a front and back

Star shaped button- to add to the bow on top

Black yarn- which I used to make the eyes

Black thread- which I used to make the eyelashes

Purple Yarn- which I used to make the mouth

And finally

Pink Yarn- which I used to decorate the bow and sewed around the octopus

I did all of this with an embroidery needle and a hand sewing needle for the eyelashes.

My coworker loved it and commented on how impressive it was that I was able to go from concept to octopus hair clip in such a short period of time. When designing the back of the clip where the hair pin would go, I just created a small stitch where the hair pin can easily be added and removed in case her little one wanted to just play with her new octopus friend without getting hurt. My coworker though this was even more ingenious….. I wonder if she will show up at my desk with Starbucks one of these days. Lol

Now on to my next little project Halloween Sewing… My Journey Doll now renamed Aziza is trying to come up with some ideas for her Halloween Costume meanwhile I am trying to come up with a simple costume idea for my 3 year old son who is currently a super fan of the show Paw Patrol. Maybe she can write down some of the ideas for his costume in her handmade notepad made from card stock, printer paper, a scalloped punch, and flower shaped brad.

In reviewing my archives I found some Halloween projects from last year to either refresh your memory or share with you for the first time.

Pillow Case turned Pocahontas Costume

Now that was an unexpected but awesome project. My friend came up with the idea but was having trouble making the cuts for the arms and the head/neck. She planned on using glue to attach everything on but then I took over the project added some felt, cut some fringe, and sewed everything on. It came out better than I could have imagined.. I would’ve modeled it but I think the pillowcase was an odd size or something so I couldn’t get it that far over my head LOL.

Cat Headband Kids Craft Class

Original Blog Post

Do you have any Halloween Crafts planned? Any ideas for Aziza’s Costume?

~Darley

Monster Hand Puppets

2015-09-07T19:43:00.001-07:00

Hola! Hope you all had an awesome holiday weekend for those of you in the United States. I definitely enjoyed having an extra day of rest as it is always appreciated.

While trying to find a cute gift to make for my sons soon to be 3 year old friends Birthday Party, I came across the cutest monster pillows. I liked the monster theme but really wanted something that I could just lounge around and complete, and decided to create some toddler sized hand puppets. One was for my son Dylan's friend the other for the friends cutie little sister and the guy in the middle with the tie was for Dylan. When I originally came up with the idea, I envisioned a one eyed version like below. But after looking at the pic and sleeping on it, I decided that the puppets would be more toddler friendly if they had a second eye, and I couldn't be happier. The best part about this craft.... I sat on my couch watching a movie as I completed the first one, was on the deck with the family when I completed the second one and the third and final one Mr. D was finished off on my drive to the Birthday Party. Being a passenger definitely has many benefits and this is one of them. Yes I was able to thread a needle and sew as my husband was driving. The ride actually seemed much quicker than the half hour that it took to get there which was awesome.

Just the other day I was thinking that I needed to find a hobby that was really relaxing like reading fun fiction books. Although crafting is relaxing its really hard to just lounge around completing projects... well most of the projects that I work with... but then after hand sewing these babies I realized that doing little hand sewing projects and maybe even doing some crochet (more than the two stitches that I know) would be a great way to both relax and complete little projects. Now I really have to spend some time with my crocheting friends to get me on my way with some Barbie and American Girl Doll Blankets.

Now tell me, do you think you could thread a needle, multiple times and do some hand sewing while riding around in a car? You can be honest or even try it and let me know.

Have a great Tuesday.

Darley~

Girls Just Wanna Have Fun

2015-08-29T06:00:00.000-07:00

Earlier this month I had the chance to work on a 9th Birthday Tea Party with my new partner in crime Evelyn and it was sooo much funnn! I'm totally missing all the awesome pictures of the stuff that the mom put together like the cute tea cups and saucers, the hat craft with feathers, the amazing finger foods... because I was so focused on the stuff that I made. LOL

Now lets check out the cupcakes together. Well more like everything on the outside of the cupcake. I founds a template online for the wrappers and just used craft paper and some scrapbook scissors to add the cute edges. I then cut ribbon and made the tiny bows and added a rhinestone with hot glue. A little double sided tape and the rest was history. The cupcakes are on a cupcake stand that I own and you can rent if you are in the local area. They are sitting on the cutest paper doilies. Next up, I created a design and printed out some water bottle labels. The labels are Avery and you can go on their website and either use a preexisting pattern or edit your own to get just what you are looking for. The third pic shows how Evelyn set up some of the items on the cutest cart that she got for FREE yes you heard me. She had her husband paint it and it looked amazing. The zippered pouches on the cart were hand sewn at the Hartford Craft Studio over many days and nights...... (next time i'm outsourcing) LOL. I really enjoyed coming up with the design and being able to offer varying zippered pouches to the girls for that sense of individuality. Evelyn loaded the pouches with lip gloss, nail polish, and other girl essentials which made both the girls and their moms very very happy. I am planning on holding a couple mother/daughter private sessions to teach how to make the zippered pouch because it is way to intensive for my group classes and hope you all sign up.

Overall I really enjoy working on Birthday Parties. And even more I love to see the look on the kids faces when everything comes together.

Can't wait to share my next party items with you. Lets get them booked Evelyn.

~Darley

I know I know But I'm Back Now

2015-08-25T19:10:00.003-07:00

Hello Friends.

Hope you all had a great summer! I spent my summer working on projects and having fun, ofcourse. I usually take the summer off from classes but somehow also took a break from Blogging. I do vow for the millionth time to keep up on my Blogging and continue to share cute craft projects with you (I'm giving you a big smile). I am also working on a second Blog.. I know I can barely keep up with this one... but I want to keep Hartford Craft solely for my crafting and craft classes and plan on having a second Blog where I can be completely honest and talk about the other things that are going on in my life. In my head I'd like to think that this Blog is a place that even my young students can come to and see what I am working on so I don't want to pollute it with "old people problems" lol. (More info to come on the new Blog once everything has been updated.)

I hope that you all have had a great summer! I know that some of you celebrated milestones, some of you had babies (very very cute ones), some of you spent a lot of time with friends and family, and others spent a lot of time indoors with the AC on keeping cool. LOL No matter how you spent your summer I hope that you did not spend any part of it wishing that it was over because if you did......then I'll blame you if we have a rough winter (I'm in New England so winter is definitely coming).

So here are a couple things that happened in the last couple of months. I still have more to share with you so the pictures and posts will be coming (I promise!)

18 Inch Doll Bedding/ American Girl/ Journey Dolls

Ladies Craft Night/ Crochet Bracelets with my friend Kristine

Kids Key Chain Class hosted at a Local Church

I definitely had a lot of fun working on these projects and cant wait to share my other projects with you. If you want see more up to date, minute by minute, projects, Follow me on Instagram

Enjoy the rest of your Hump Day

~Darley

New Classes

2015-06-16T20:56:00.000-07:00

Hello there! Hope you had a great weekend. I started off my weekend with a super fun Ladies Night lined zippered pouch class which lead me to offering a new class. Mother/ Daughter sewing, YEAH!!! I'm not going to go through how great it is for girls to work on a craft with their mom and how sad I am that I don't have a daughter to craft with.....or will I lol. My age recommendation is at least 7 years old up through teens. Since I design my class to be very low pressure and simplify many of the steps, it's just what families need to unwind. I'm starting off by offering the Zippered Pouch Class but will be posting other classes and am open to suggestions and requests.

Here's a pic from the last Ladies Night class. Due to the small size I was able to give the ladies instructions on how to use the machine and know that they left the class not only with a cute pouch but with more confidence around a sewing machine than they expected.

Thanks for checking out the Blog!!! If you are interested in scheduling a class send me an inquiry on the Class Registration Page. Invite a friend and their child for a fun small group class.

Have a great week.

Darley

More No Sew Doll Dresses

2015-06-16T20:54:00.001-07:00

My Journey doll is back modeling her new clothes from our old clothes. Chavonne is modeling a sporty strapless top and a cute skirt. Both from my sons old long sleeve shirt. I used the top of the sleeve to make the shirt. You can see the image on the bottom right. In order to get the tie finish in the front just cut a slit down the front of the shirt, knot and tuck.

For the second dress, I used the other sleeve to make a tube dress. The shirt was created by cutting one of my old snagged shirts. I will admit that there is a stitch in the back but it is a very basic beginner stitch.. everything else has remained unfinished. The key to ensuring that this does not unravel is making sure that you cut below the current stitches.

I hope that I have inspired you to create something new from something old!!!

If you do create someting, don't forget to share.

Enjoy your day!

Darley~

Getting Carded for Fathers Day

2015-06-16T20:42:00.000-07:00

Hello there.

I recently had my Fathers Day kids class and it was amazing! Unfortunately I will not be posting the pics until next week, only because the dads haven't seen the cards yet. To come up with the class design, I first spent some time on my favorite app Pinterest of course. Once I found a basic idea that I liked, I visited the site and used the template from Stamp n Design, I adjusted the size of the template and sat with my good friend Jan from 2gurlzllc. to come up with my actual simplified class idea. I really enjoyed creating with her not only because she is really funny but because she is an experienced paper crafter and stamper, which is something that I am now getting into. My final card design is below along with a little something for Grandpa. The funny thing about the class is that some of the girls didn't seem to enjoy the class as much as usual. I did find out why.... they weren't allowed to use pink or anything related to pink lol. I definitely had to remind them that the card was for their Dad and not for themselves. Sounds simple, but when your usual go to is a shade of pink it is a bit difficult. The good news is once they saw the final product they were extremely proud and happy with their projects.

Did you create something for Father's Day? I'd love to hear about it! Feel like creating a card similar to this one, visit the blog listed above and have some fun.

If you are in my area don't forget to check out our upcoming adults class Class Schedule

Enjoy your day!

Darley~

No Sew Doll Dress

2015-05-22T13:04:00.000-07:00

Happy Friday!!! I hope you all get to enjoy the long weekend. But before you go off to start your exciting plans heres an easy DIY Doll Dress Tutorial modeled by my Journey Doll Chavonne.

These dresses were made using two sleeves from a long sleeved thermal type shirt from Old Navy (Medium Size). I loved the pattern but hated the fabric which felt itchy on my sensitive skin. As you can or can not see, the shirt was snagged in the middle probably from washing or regular wear. I figured it would be of better use if worn by Chavonne instead of being discarded.

All you will need for this project is a long sleeved shirt made from a stretchy fabric, and a pair of scissors. For the second dress I used some already embellished tulle type material on elastic that I purchased from the fabric store months ago with no project in mind, however you can use ribbon, a piece of edging from the shirt, or any material that you may have to make a belt.

1. Begin by cutting off one sleeve as shown below. The cuff on my shirt was pretty long so I folded it over after sliding the dress on my doll. I then cut off the bottom the dress right above Chavonne's knees.

2. Cut off the end of the cuff on the other shirt sleeve. On my shirt there was no stitching on the end so when I opened up the fabric it was pretty wide. I just tucked the raw edges inside.

And you are all done! Yes that easy.

For Dress two. You will be using the top side of the sleeve that was cut off of Dress 1. When you open up the dress and put the seem in the middle and flip the fabric upside down you will have a dress like in the 3rd pic with a cute fish tail. Simply add a belt and you are all done.

I hope you try this super easy, cost efficent project this weekend. As I go through my winter clothing that will not be worn next year I will be coming up with little porojects to share with you all.

Thanks for stopping by and have a great weekend.

If you do happen to make your own dress be sure to post it or tag me on your Instagram!

~Darley

Mothers DayCards

2015-05-19T21:14:00.001-07:00

Hello there. Hope all the moms enjoyed Mother's Day and are still getting the awesome treatment from their children and loved ones. For Mother's Day I held a kids class where we created cards and decorated tiny pots which held Cilantro seeds that my little helper planted me. I originally asked the moms to provide me with pictures of the kids but later thought the cards would be even more personal if they included pictures of the mom and their child. Since most of us do not have great pics on hand and definitely don't have them printed, I took pics of the moms and their daughters when they dropped them off for the class and printed them out on my home printer directly from my phone (thank you blue tooth/wifi). The kids cards were so beautiful and filled with love! I also created a couple cards using some of the materials from my kids class. Someone keep me from spending even more money at Michael's LOL. Here are some cards that I made and managed to sell (Yeah Me!) and a picture of the super cute plant holder.

Both of these cards are designed to have a pic added to the top.

I've already decided that our Fathers Day card will be more like a booklet... Hope the moms aren't too offended but we always have to one up ourselves on every craft right? I know you share the same sentiment. LOLThanks again for stopping by.Darley~

Ladies Night class- Wall Art

2015-05-10T19:21:00.000-07:00

Hi there.

So happy to announce that my second ladies night class was a success! I had a completely different group of ladies from the first class but they were just as hilarious. Trust me there's nothing like crafting and laughing and having wine. The idea for this class started with Margo wanting to do wall art on canvas. She wanted to stencil the words live, laugh, love. You should already have that phrase drilled into your head by now. Michael's had canvases on sale so I said lets do it. I've done stenciling before and tried steciling with acrylic paint for my first demo and decided that it would be too messy and time consuming. I may have also had a mishap where I didn't pay attention to my spacing and didn't have enough room for the last letter of the word that I was creating but I'm not going to admit to that lol. Since the steciling was out I had to come up with plan B which is where I came up with the felt flower. I couldn't actually find a tutorial with a template so I had to come up with my own plan, and all of the ones I saw used hot glue guns on the petals which wouldn't work if I had 9 women trying to do it all at once and the risk of burning fingers....so I came up with a mostly basic sewing and minimal glue gun method.

The ladies definitely had a lot of fun and so did I!

Can't wait to see you at my next Ladies Night Class.

Darley~

Getting Organized For Spring

2015-04-19T18:35:00.001-07:00

Happy Monday.
I hope that you all had a great weekend! I definitely enjoyed mine. The cold crappy New England weather has finally disappeared and SPRING IS HERE! As you can tell I'm very excited. Overall I enjoy organizing and am always looking for ways to get more organized but now that the weather will be beautiful and I will be spending more time outdoors (my toddler insists on living outside), it is even more essential that I am very organized and focused during the week so that my weekends are free. During Easter weekend I began my office re-organization by moving the furniture around and making some decorative changes which I will share on another post when everything is finished. The main reason for the change was not only so that I can stare at the window while I "worked" but because I didn't feel like the previous layout was functional and allowed me to be my best.

One issue I was having was the pileup of magazines as they came in, so I came up with the solution below. Well I saw something similar on Pinterest or somewhere and decided it would work great for me, and it has been! Now when the new magazines come in, I just put them in the magazine holder and am able to easily access them when I finally get a moment to read one. By the way there are more magazines in there since I took this picture. Sigh....

I also decided to get rid of my big bulky calendar and wanted to have one on a clipboard. I founds these cute Free Printables on ThirtyHandmadeDays I also found a cute Blog template on the same site which I am planning on trying. I've printed out a couple others, but you know how it is. Even though something is a great idea, it doesn't mean it will work for you. But I will give it a try. The website also has may other templates that are useful for everyday life budgeting, organizing, and such so I do encourage you to check it out.

Staples Clipboards transformed by just adding a cute burlap sticker.

Hope you have a great day and thanks for stopping by!

Darley

Fabulous Paper Doll Class

2015-03-17T19:39:00.004-07:00

Card stock and felt is a guaranteed good time! Isn't it??? LOL

While enjoying my usual Pinterest surfing I came across the cutest Paper Doll from Handmadecharlotte so I read her instructions, and reached out to a friend to get the Brads, purchased some yarn and tried it out. I'd like to first add the disclaimer that 95% of the time when I see a new craft I only have to attempt it once and am able to execute... the hair on the girl paper doll.... not so much with this craft. The brads worked as shown below but it was a bit more complex than what I wanted for my class...

HandmadeCharlotte

So I went back to the drawing board to figure out how to accomplish a similar look, that my students age 7 and up can accomplish on their own. First I printed out the template on different color card stock and cut them out myself since little fingers are not as good at cutting out smaller pieces and it would give my students more time to be creative. I also created hair templates for them that were to scale so that they could easily use them on the dolls and spend the time designing the clothing. The body parts were glued together by my students and they were provided with an outline of their doll which they used to sketch the clothing before they began cutting and gluing. The end results were more adorable than I expected!!!!!

Here's my paper doll.

If you would like to work on this with your little one be prepared to do the prep work before you sit down with him or her. You should print out the template from HandmadeCharlotte and cut out the body parts. Align the legs and hands where you think they will be permanently placed and trace the doll on plain white paper with a pencil. Make a couple copies because you will need to use one to sketch out the hair and then another to sketch out the outfit with your child. Since the sketch is to scale you can cut out the clothing and hair sketches and use them as your template to cut out the clothing. If you are planning this craft with a small child, I highly advise that you have templates prepared ahead of time so that they will not lose interest. I used felt instead of fabric since its so affordable (between 0.30 to .99 cents a sheet) and easy for children and adults to work with. If you have scrap fabric from old clothes hanging around, they can be used as well. Glitter glue can be used to embellish clothing, along with buttons. Standard Elmers school glue is perfect for this craft so no need to go out and get some expensive glue.

All in all I am so glad that I found this craft as well as how happy the little dolls made my students. Most of the students opted for me to glue the dolls onto card stock since they will not be playing with her and can easily tape her to their wall.

I hope you try this craft with your little one, someone elses little one...or just by yourself one evening. LOL

Thanks again for stopping by.

~Darley

Cake Talk - Ladies Cake Pop Fun-Venture

2015-03-15T21:09:00.000-07:00

I've been asked so many times, when am I going to have an adults class and I finally did it and it was so much fun!!!! My goal was 8 ladies, 1 couldn't make it but I still ended up with 9. The class took place on a Friday evening, with food and craft supplies provided for a small fee. Ladies brought their own wine and a very good attitude (which was probably because of the wine) lol, but either way the class was just what I wanted. Very relaxing pace, no pressure crafting, good food, and lots of laughs. My partner in crime Margo, who has her own event planning business in Trinidad and Tobago made the most delicious baked chicken breast which was so moist, along with wheat pasta mixed with pesto and some other ingredients. I "cooked" garlic bread and the most amazing asian sesame salad (prepackaged for my enjoyment by Dole).

Of course there was some prep work before the class. My two main crafts were the wine glass charms that you see below along with the cute baby food jars, turned cake pop holders. Here's how we created them.

Wine Glass Charms- Pre-shaped cork, ribbon, letter stickers, and a hole punch. Punch a hole towards the top of the cork shape, place the sticker for the first initial of the persons name, and tie a piece of ribbon to the glass in a cute bow. Just that simple. When the class was over the ladies wanted to take their wine glass charms home with them and tied them around their cake pop holder. Very clever of them.

Cake Pop Holder- When my son was eating baby food I decided to start saving the jars for upcoming craft projects although I had no idea what projects they would be. They were already washed and the labels removed however there was still some residual glue. I used Goo Gone which does a great job of removing all of the extra glue. I would recommend using dawn to soak and wash the jars after you have used the strong chemical since the jars will be near food. After having my kids craft class earlier this month, and creating something similar, I decided to create a holder that was a bit more "finished" for the ladies. To complete this you will need baby food jars, foam, burlap ribbon, tissue paper, and a glue gun. I was able to get the ribbon, foam(comes in a pack of 4), and the tissue paper from the Dollar Tree for $1. Such a great find. So I began by 1. Cutting the ribbon a little longer than the width of the jar. This is so that when I get to the ending I will have enough ribbon left to fold it over and have a neater edge. 2. I then glued down a straight line around the edge and a little glue around the sides. Once I brought the ribbon all the way around, I folded the edge and glued this down as well. 3. The foam comes in a set of 4 or 5 and is way larger than you need for this project. You only need a fairly small piece that can be inserted into the jar. One foam piece should be cut roughly into 4's and then each piece in half again. 4. Stack up 4 pieces of tissue paper in whatever color variations that you would like and cut the sheet into even 4's. Align the tissue pieces so that no corners are on top of each other. You can then place the piece of foam into the middle of the tissue and crunch it around. The entire thing should then be placed into the center of the jar.

I am the hand model on top and Margo is on the bottom.

Mini Cupcake Tins work great for cooling the cake pops.

Ladies Having Fun

Cake pops ready to be bagged and sent home.

For this class we used the Bella Cake Pop Maker, Wilton Candy Melts, melted chocolate chips and sprinkles. Cake pop batter was mixed right in class while the ladies sipped their wine and they only had to bake for 3 minutes per batch so we were able to complete the 4 batches in no time. While the pops were cooling we enjoyed our meal with more wine and then went to work on beautifying these babies.

Overall probably the most fun I've had teaching a class!!!! Even the ladies who weren't sure about coming because they do not consider themselves to be crafty had an amazing time.

Thanks again Ladies for coming and I hope to see you at my next class. If you are interested in booking a private event for adults or kids send me a message through the Class Registration Link.

See April Ladies Night/Cake Talk Class

See April Kids Class

~Darley

Valentine's Day for Boys

2015-02-11T18:59:00.001-08:00

Hi there. I'm always being asked why I don't do craft classes for boys and I usually respond by saying that I have a toddler/boy and a teenage stepson and from experience I know that they are not as able to maintain the level of focus that girls do when it comes to crafting. My other reason is that girls crafts are soooo cute and abundant. ❤️❤️❤️❤️ Well this Valentine's week I was given the challenge of creating a card box for a kindergarten boy to bring to school. He also had to bring invitations for the 18 students in his class. At first I was thinking "Why is this a big deal? Can't we just throw something together?" But then I had a chat with a super crafty friend of mine who was making a Thomas the Train inspired card box for her son. It was beautiful!!! Multiple boxes put together to look like a train. The boxes were wrapped in blue wrapping paper to have the right look, printouts of the eyes... You get the idea. So I thought about what my client would like and remembered that he likes cars. I enlisted the help of one of my favorite assistants (my husband) who cut and shaped a cardboard box into a car shape with a sunroof opening for the cards to be inserted. The clients mom and I then hot glued different pieces of both card stock and heavy duty scrapbook paper and some stickers, and this is what we came up with.

We then used my favorite Martha Stewart Amazon cutter for the entire project and even used it to cut our post card shaped pieces which we used as the Valentine's Cards. My little client was so excited that he couldn't wait to write on his Valentine's cards and bring his card box to school.

Now that I've completed this project and really enjoyed it, I'm becoming more open to introducing a boys craft class...or I can just craft for boys. Lol

Let me know what you think.

Darley~

Barbie Blankets sew adorable...........

2015-01-20T19:31:00.002-08:00

Hi there. I've been super busy coming up with my upcoming class. Barbie Bedding. Honestly I was having so much fun combining colors and patterns. This would also be a great class for mothers and daughters to do together. I can't wait to see the pattern combinations that my students come up with. So here are a few of the sets that I have created.

I hope this inspires you to pull out your machine and make something lovely or if you love what I've made but would just rather look and enjoy and maybe purchase one, visit my Etsy store. https://www.etsy.com/shop/HartfordCraft

Thanks for stopping by.

Darley~

Welcome to 2015

2015-01-07T19:14:00.000-08:00

Hello friends. Happy New Year!!! I am so excited to start this new year with you. I started my year by having some friends over for Brunch (a new Annual Tradition)and have been extremely motivated ever since.

Here's a pic of some of the fun.

Let's see what I've been up to since the Brunch
1. Created a new format for the blog
2. Began writing a childrens book
3. Started prepping doll bedding for my Etsy store (Barbie and the larger 18 inch Dolls)
And most importantly
4. Began the painful process of getting my son to sleep in his own bed so that I can have more time to do all of these things. We are on day 5 with about 4 hour's worth of sleep each night but we are optimistic.

#Mission Organization~ To Do List
The #1 thing I am focusing on in order to really make this year a success is to get my To Do Lists in order. I always feel like I have a million lists all over the place and when I get spare moment to work on something I feel totally lost and don't know where to start. I actually just printed out a couple lists from some sites and will see if any of them can help me feel more together. When it comes to documents and stuff overall, I consider myself to be an organization junkie! I purchase all of the magazines, love to organize and love to help people organize.

I would love to hear about what you are planning on tackling in 2015. If you need help, let me know. Once I get myself more organized I'll be able to help you a little more. LOL

~Darley

December 2014 Sew Awesome Felt Stocking

2014-12-04T19:20:00.001-08:00

Felt Christmas Stocking

Ages 7 & Older

Fun class for those who are new to sewing as well as experienced hand sewers. In this class we will use felt to make a mini stocking as well as using beads to add embellishments.
Also a great way for moms to get some extra time to complete their Holiday Shopping.

Dates & Times

Saturday, December 13th 4:00 pm-6:30 pm

Saturday, December 20th 12:30 pm-3:00 pm

Cost: $15.00 Location: East Hartford, CT
**All materials included. Payment due at time of class.

Click here to Register .

Darley~

Zippered Pouch Tutorial

2014-11-30T19:28:00.001-08:00

Hello there. I have been working on this for a couple of weeks and am very happy that I can now present this tutorial to you. Before we start, I will tell you that I scheduled 3 hours for this class with a 15 minute snack break in between. I also precut the two pieces of fabric, folded the top edge over about 1/4 of an inch and ironed it down to maintain the position before the 2 pattern options were presented to my students. Since I had 6 girls with varying sewing skills and a helper the time I allotted was sufficient. If you are sewing with your child or by yourself 1 1/2 hours should be enough.

The great thing about this project is that it is not only super fun but it is varying enough that you can keep the attention of tweens. There is also minimal supplies needed and only very basic sewing skills if any at all.

Here's what you will need:

Fabric - Two 8 1/2" by 5 1/2"

Zipper - 7 Inch

Sewing Needle

Thread

Pins

Sewing Machine

1. Fold over the fabric 1/4 inch and iron as shown below.

2. Using two pins, pin down the fabric face up on the zipper. You will be sewing from the right side.

3. Thread the needle with a long piece of thread. You will be sewing with double thread. Tie the end and start sewing from the wrong side (so that the knot is on the inside)

4. After you have completed the initial insert of the needle, begin sewing slanted straight stitches like below with the fabric right side up. The stitches should start at the end of the zipper metal part. Once you stitch all the way down one end then go up the other end in an opposite direction from the original stitch. This will create the X pattern that you see in the 4th photo. Once you are done with this side then continue to the other side. (Face up).

5. Keep up the good work. Once you are done with both sides open the zipper half way and pin both sides together inside out. This is to keep the zipper in place when you sew the sides.

6. Ok time to sew. Using a straight stitch sew down one side be sure to reverse stitch at the beginning, sew down one side, turn and continue until you have sewn all sides. This should be around a quarter inch from the edge.

7. Use a pair of scissors to cut off the extra thread and turn your pouch right side out. Use something with a slightly pointy edge and push out the corners.

8. Great Job!!!

9. Keep Smiling!!

10. Here are some pictures of my students' work. Ages 7-10.

Thank you very much for joining me. I hope you go out right now and find a tween or teen to do this project with. Ok you can just do it by yourself. LOL

Darley ~

Thanksgiving FunCakes- Make your own

2014-11-24T19:27:00.003-08:00

Cupcakes are definitely the most fun cakes. Of course it was a lot of fun making Turkey and Owl Cupcakes. SIMPLE AND TASTY INGREDIENTS = A FUN TIME

Here's what you need to do this yourself:

Cupcakes- I baked some vanilla cupcakes from scratch.

Frosting- Most of the pics of these cupcakes that I saw online use chocolate frosting but since most of my students aren't partial to chocolate I used Betty Crocker vanilla frosting. My students were able to change the vanilla frosting into whatever color they wanted by using 4 basic colors. The frosting was used to top the cupcakes as well as "gluing" down the eyes.

Oreos- 2 to make the eyes use one of the tops to make the eyebrows and eat the other top of course. You will notice that we also used them for hats on some of the turkeys. I think it made them look like they should be on Kung Fu Panda but hey. It made us smile. LOL

KitKats- the wings of the turkey. I used 3 sticks. Just be sure to push them all the way down and not too close to the edge of the cupcake.

Marshmallows- the head of the turkey. Place more towards the front. Not in the middle.

Chocolate Chips- eyes on the owl and the nose on the turkey.

Brown Sprinkles- to create the eyes on the turkey. I just poked them into the marshmallow.

Honestly by the time we were done decorating the cupcakes we weren't hungry any more. The girls ate some of the frosting they mixed, some of the extra marshmallows, KitKats, and Oreos... I may have indulged as well. LOL

Alright now, head into your kitchen, assemble the ingredients and start decorating some cupcakes, or just sit here and think about doing the craft and search for pics on Pinterest. Mine are the cutest though. So much cuter when they are created by little hands.

Thanks for stopping by. Don't forget to tell a friend to tell a friend about my classes.

Darley~