When it is more cost effective to make your own ears

At Magic Kingdom in Florida it seemed to me every cool person had some kind of Mickey/Minnie mouse ears, or a goofy hat, or a WHOLE PRINCESS OUTFIT. (Me? Jealous much?). I investigated the cost of buying such a headpiece but at $17 for your standard ears to look like everyone else seemed a little dear. Even a nutter such as myself wouldn't find much use for them again until the next time I visited.

So I made my own.

The plan was to make two sets of "ears". A Minnie Mouse bow to be worn as above and a Christmas Bauble set of ears. These are the sorts of things I think about when waiting in queue to go on a ride! 

 I had already purchased felt squares (yes I spend time in craft centres while on holiday). I had a few twisty ties from the bread bags, a rubber band, my mini sewing kit (thanks Jenny), and a bit of ribbon from a chocolate box (yum). I stumbled over the mini baubles at Forever 21 (good for hair flowers in there) and picked up some of those snappy hair clips.

 Minnie's dots took the longest as I didn't have any glue so they needed to be stitched on, but still, quick enough.

Ta dah! Then I put my hair up in pigtails, backcombed them until I looked quite a fright and doubled the ends over. It's falling down a wee bit in this pic, but it lasted all day with a few tweaks

The Christmas themed ears were to wear on the official first Christmas party. Basically I just threaded the baubles onto two clips using a couple of twisty ties on one and a rubber band cut in half, then knotted, on the other. I was "Make Do and Creating" with what was on hand.

The ears had height because the baubles are strung together tightly, so they bunch up. I'm oddly proud of the fact that The Mad Hatter in the parade noticed them and gave me the thumbs up. It was a bit like a royal seal of approval!

 I think I'm going to do a similar thing but in smaller bunches all nestled in my hair for a Christmas dance.

Being on holiday in a hot place meant I didn't take too much real vintage. I didn't wish to be spending any of my holiday hand washing or ironing and so there are some old normal civilian t.shirts in my pics. I do apologise! In my defense I was prepared to leave these behind if I found good vintage bargains and had run out of space, which can happen in the vintage hunting mecca called the U.S.A (Universal Shop for Antiquities).

I leave you with the final pic of Sleeping Beauty's castle at midnight. Pretty huh?

Shona x

Springing up with Daisies

This last couple of weeks have been chock-a-block with work stuff, and more of the boring side of the work stuff too. So this weekend after running errands and a nice lunch I was desperate to CRAFT. It was just necessary before I could do a single other thing. Do you have that sometimes?

With the sunshine that was out I was inspired to do something about my summer wardrobe.

I decided that these lovely shoes deserved some flashing up

I got busy with some embroidered daises I have, first paying about where to put them with the help of masking tape. Then I stuck them down with a hot melt glue gun.

I was careful to stick down every petal. I tried to convince myself that it was for security but it might more because I love glue guns

How about a daisy chain around the ankle? 

I did think that it is possible that the flowers may droop without enough support, but I figure I can always iron them, being careful not to remelt the glue, and if need be, attach a piece of stiff felt behind them.

I decided I didn't want any at the toe, and I was happiest using the power of three* both on the strap and on the wedge. 

Got anything stuck on your shoes lately?

Shona x

(*Three items make up an attractive composition for decorating anything - very handy tool that)