How to : One of the most beautiful paper snowflake ever!

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Last year, my friend Lychee found an online tutorial to make this beautiful winter//Christmas decoration. This year we tried to find the instructions again and they were gone :( So we decided to do our own “How to” for this project. Note that in the end the snowflake is pretty big.

What's up!?!

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Tonight, small snowflakes were dancing in the sky and they made me think of the last time we spoke... which was way TOO long ago! Well, time flies and a lot of things happened since our launch party last summer!

First, your overwhelming response to our little project of handmade products was such that we had to take a couple of weeks to restock our inventory! So thank you :)

Then, summer became autumn and we listed only one new product : a fabric pinback button we named "Midnight Snack", featuring design pattern in shades of purple and violet. This products is currently available through our online shop here.


Now autumn is slowly becoming winter and Lychee designed two pretty pretty cards for the holidays season. These two lovely cards are available in our shop here.

That's it for tonight. We hope to hear from you soon.

EtsyQ - December Giveaway!

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We are proud member of the EtsyQ Team and seven members of thisTeam have generously agreed to give one of their creations for this giveaway! The winner will receive an entirely handmade gift-package worth $215!

To enter the giveaway contest, just visit the EtsyQ blog and follow the simple steps described there!

En Français : Que ce passe-t-il?!?

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ce soir j'ai vu des flocons tourbillonner dans le ciel et ça m'a fait pensé que ça faisait VRAIMENT trop longtemps que nous avions fait notre party de lancement estival!

Que s'est-il passé pour Carotte&Lychee depuis cette soirée magique? Hé bien, votre enthousiasme et votre réponse à notre petit projet a été telle que nous avons dû passé quelques semaines à refaire notre inventaire!

L'été est ensuite devenu l'automne et, nous avons listé un nouveau macaron du nom de "midnight snack" dans les tons hautement tendance de mauve. Il est actuellement disponible via notre site à l'adresse suivante.



L'automne fait tranquillement place à l'hiver et nous avons pour vous deux chouettes modèles de cartes de souhait pour le temps des fêtes. Les deux cartes sont actuellement en vente dans notre boutique à l'adresse suivante.

Finalement, nous sommes maintenant membre de la très dynamique équipe EtsyQ qui organise un SUPER tirage d'un prix d'une valeur de 215$. Il suffit simplement de laisser un commentaire sur le blogue de l'équipe pour participer. Tous les détails sont ici : http://team-etsyq.blogspot.com/2008/10/grand-tirage-de-dcembre-great-december.html

My first ATC!

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I was not familiar with Artist Trading Card until Lychee introduces me to this world. But what is ATC? According to Wikipedia, "Artist Trading Cards are individual art miniatures which pass hand to hand. They are 2.5 by 3.5 inch size (64 x 89 mm), same as baseball cards and collectible card games. There are, however, certain conventions usually observed by those who make and trade these cards, such as the expectation that they be traded, not sold, and that they be created as unique works or small limited editions of prints."

We’ve decided to twist the rules a little bit and GIVE an ATC to the first person that will buy one of our three dolls we are working on right now.

So I made my first ATC and I really enjoy it! It was a mix of pastel and back ink on Vellum Bristol paper acid free, 300 Series, 100 lb. I even volunteer to make the two other we are aiming to produce! I even joint Flickr Groups to trade some cards in the future. I’ll keep you posted with my work in this area soon.

Project : pumpkin carving

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I’m not really good at pumkin carving. I really wish I was! Some people a true artist in the pumpkin carving department like Scott Cummins or Nathan Wesling.

I’m not even close to be close to them! So this year I found this perfect project for me on the Martha Stewart Website!

Basically what you need to do is to be able to cut simple forms and then pin some of your drawing inside! What a clever way to make a nice, funny looking pumpkin!


Happy Halloween!

Ian's Shoelace site

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Ok, I did not think that was possible... but this guy build a site with 34 different ways to lace you shoes! That really opens a LOT of possibilities!

Thank you Daniella for sharing this site with me! :)

My quest for black and white stripes fabric in San Francisco

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Even tough I did not find what I was looking for, my visit to the San Francisco fabrics store called Brittex was a nice experience. I was looking for a fabric with small black and white stripes and I could not find any :(

Furthermore, there were some cool fabrics but since I'm only sewing dolls and small things, I don't need that much So I end up buying only two pieces of fabrics. But there were so many cool patterns. I wish that every fabric store would have an area for crafter with small piece of fabrics at bargain price!

I have so many “in case” ribbon at home already and I was on the mission of finding black & white small stripes fabric but the ribbon section was definitively my favourite part of the store. The choice was overwhelming! I end up buying nothing there. But if I could I would have buy everything!

Ribbons ribbons and more ribbons!!!!!

The buttons section was also really huge and colourful. I could have spent hours looking at them and convincing myself not to eat one! They look like candy to me!

My Autumn Button

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It's already fall... YAY! I used to hate the season. But not anymore! I have found a way to enjoy it: accessories! This may sound silly to some but I love leg warmers and beanies so much that at one point during the summer, I wished it was colder so that I could sport them...

Fall is also great because we get to feature my favourite fabric button from our shop, My Autumn Button. It was the first fabric button I ever assembled (before the birth of Carotte & Lychee!) and to this day, I find its colours and retro-like pattern to be the most charming..!


With the leaves changing colours, Caroline and I thought it would be a good time to take new photos of My Autumn Button. And this post is dedicated to my personal favourites :)

Happy Autumn!

- lychee

Icons

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After hand sewing Keira's most awesomest striped leggings, I caught myself playing around with them (single finger gloves are the next big thing, I tell ya). This led to photo taking, which then led to Photoshopping...

Result: fun icons for Caro and me! Thought I'd share them ;0

- lychee

Doll making

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I've never been much of a "doll" girl, but when I saw Emily Martin's (aka the Black Apple) fabric dolls, I simply fell in love. They were not only so adorable, but also so simple to make. Caro and I actually tried out her tutorial and that's how Adele and Anne-Sophie came to be!


Caro loved the project so much she went on to make her own custom dolls that are A-D-O-R-A-B-L-E. Although Adele is mine, I must say it was Caro who put her together, and by that I mean she sewed all the little parts - I only chose the fabric and sewed the top of her head closed! For the longest time, I've told myself that I should stick to the pen - the needle wasn't made for me. But seeing Caro's pretty dolls pop up before me one after the other, just made me go, "Dang, I wanna make one too!"

I am not a spontaneous person, but I do have my moments, and once I told myself I shall make a doll, I went ahead and bought meh a nice little sewing machine the very same day (which I returned a week later because my momma said, "Why don't ya return that thang dear, I have one, just take mine!" And I love it because it's almost vintage ;-) Oh and my mommy doesn't speak like that, I don't know what got into me).

I made a few sketches of characters I could possibly turn dolls. Naturally, they all looked like the little girls I've been drawing lately: big head, wide spaced eyes, small and slightly chubby body with short arms and legs. What can I say, I can't help it :P

Once satisfied with my character, I made its pattern. I had never done anything like that before; I was both nervous and excited! It was a very cool process. Although I didn't have any real fabric, the few coloured felt sheets I had bought randomly now and then served me well. Very well in fact, as I could easily go back on my steps whenever I made a mistake.


So now I present you Keira (as Caro mentioned, naming your doll is almost the funnest part of all!):


Her legs almost gave in when I made her dance on the table, and her hands are kinda stubby, but boy do I love her ;-)

Caro and I are currently working on a little doll serie based on Keira and we'll hopefully be revealing it soon. Much much fun! Stay tuned...

-lychee

How to : Pretty (and simple!) pearl earrings

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I was seeing that type of earring a lot on Etsy and I always thought they were so pretty. When I started to analyze them, I realized they were in fact really easy to make. When you have your pearl and connector, they take no more than 15 minutes to make.

For this project, you will need:

- Two pearls
- Two connectors
- Two earring hooks
- Two jewelery nails
- A pair of cutter
- A pair of round pliers

1- Insert a jewelery nail in a pearl.

2- With your cutter, cut the nail leaving about one inch long.

3- Insert the first connector onto the nail.

4- With your round pliers, make a small loop with the end of the nail. You might need to cut the nail again because you want the end of the loop to be hidden in the hole of the connector.

5- With your round pliers, slightly open the loop of an earring hook.

6- Insert the loop of the earring in the earring hook and close the opening back with your round pliers.

7- Voilà!

8- Repeat all the steps above to make the second earring.

Special thanks to Lychee who was taking the pictures for this "How-to" post :)

- Caro AKA Carotte

I love purple

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I went in vacation in Hampton beach two weeks ago with my family and my sister’s family.

I was on grocery duty and I’ve got disrupted by a fabric store called Jo-Ann located in Seabrook.

There I felt in love with a purple fabric that I immediately bought. With Lychee, we made a new button called "Midnight snacks".

I don't want to puff too much about this but I think it turn out to be a really cool product!

- Caro AKA Carotte

Amy

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I just love making dolls but what I love the most is giving them their names. Each time I sew a new doll, I think of a name for her and it’s only when she’s finish that she is named. First there was Anne-Sophie, then Isadora and now Amy!

- Caro AKA Carotte

How to : The perfect summer/beach necklace!

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I created this necklace base on one that I saw in the book called Les bijoux . On the way, I had to modify their plan to suit my needs, so this is my “How to” for this project.

How to make the perfect beach necklace

you will need:
- 20 medium pearls
- 20 small pearls
- 7 pieces of hemp string (or any other natural looking cord – just make sure that you can slide the pearls on it!) that are 150 cm long

1- Fold 6 of the 7 strings in two and form a loop that you will tie with a knot. Make sure the loop is not too big, about one inch long.

2- Tie the 7th string at the base of the loop to consolidate your loop by making this simple knot around the loop.

3- To make the knot around the loop, insert the end of the string inside the loop.

4- Then, bring back the string towards you and insert the end of the string in the small loop the string is now making.

5- Pull the string to tie the knot (don’t pull to much. The knot must be loose a little bit.)

6- Repeat steps 3-4-5 until you have made your way around the loop.

7- When you are done, tie the string by a simple knot around the base of the loop and cut the exceeding string.


8- Slide small and medium pearls on 8 of the strings leaving 4 strings without a pearl. Try to alternate small, medium and empty strings to create an interesting pattern.

9- Leaving about 10 cm for the pearls to take their place, make a big knot with all the strings.


10- Repeat steps 8 and 9. Try to put the pearls on strings that did not have one on the previous block and keep one medium pearl to make the closing. You will do five blocks of 8 pearls and the last one will contain only 7 pearls.

11- To finish the necklace, insert a medium pearl in one of the string and make a giant knot containing the pearl. To wear the necklace, you will need to insert this knot into the loop at the other end. Finally, you can cut a little bit the exceeding strings beside the finishing pearl if you want to.



12- Voilà!

I want to say a special thanks to my daughter Elsianne, who was quietly playing while I was taking the pictures to make this “How to”.

- Caro AKA Carotte