Full Circle

The friendship/camp bracelet trend is everywhere right now.  I've been somewhat obsessively working on a few of my own little twists on the trend, and frantically trying to get them posted in my shop.  I love mixing mediums and materials, so macrame mixed with all of the other styles of jewelry that I've worked on in the past is just what I've been looking for to get my creative juices flowing.

So yesterday in the midst of all of my mad designing and knotting, I suddenly realized that I am 7 again.  At around that age I bought a Klutz book that had instructions for bunches different types of friendship bracelets.  I got a bit stuck making stripes.  I was 7 after all, and had only just figured out how to braid.  But once I FINALLY figured out the chevron pattern, I was a bracelet making machine.

At the same time in my second grade class, my awesome teacher set up a whole little main street economy.  We worked in pairs at assigned stores.  I specifically remember the bakery (which was obviously the best), but I sold magazines, which was pretty definitely the most boring station.  So...I'm sure you already know where this is headed...my friend Valerie and I opened a jewelry business, where we sold top quality friendship bracelets.  I don't remember how popular our shop was, but I do know that it was WAY better than magazines.

I've come full circle.  Here I am at, 24 pursuing my dream at 7.  How could I have forgotten my macrame dreams!  So glad I found them again.  

Flower Hairpiece Tutorial

One of the great things about this project is that it has a lot of room for creativity and experimentation without necessitating any fore-knowledge.  If you know how to wield some scissors and a glue gun, you are already on your way to creating flower hairpieces.  It's a great way to play with colors and use a variety of different materials.

You'll need:

1. Fake Flowers- the ones I used are made of thick paper (I got them from AC Moore)

2. Glue gun

3. Alligator hair clips

4. Scissors

5. Felt

6. Odds and ends (Sequins, sharpies, a matchless earring, and tulle.  In other pieces I have used buttons and ribbon.)

Cut a piece of felt as your anchor for the flowers.  I have found that a kidney shape works well.  The anchor should be 3-4 inches long and 1-2 inches at the widest point.  These are of course just suggestions, if you want to make more of a statement go BIGGER!

Choose flowers that go well together and arrange them on top of the felt anchor.  Do your best to cover all of the felt.  Try to layer the flowers on top of each other to create depth.  Place sequins and buttons over the flowers, until you are reasonably pleased with the result.  I find that it isn't necessary to reach perfection before gluing.  It's often easier to place one or two flowers, and work around them.

I started gluing on the largest side of the kidney shape, with one two layered flowers, and moved to the other side, gluing a few flowers at a time.

To create some height, I used tulle.  I wanted to replace the height usually achieved with feathers with a more animal friendly alternative.  To create the tulle accent, cut out a circle of tulle, about 4 inches across.  Cut a pie piece out of the circle that is 1-2 inches around the "crust."  With the remaining circle fold the tulle accordion style, flattening out the fan shape.  Put a dot of glue on the tulle underneath the flower petals, then press the "handle" of the fan into the glue.  Spread the fan out, and glue the edges down on the felt, underneath the petals.

I placed glue dots on the tulle fan, and after they dried, colored the glue dots with a sharpie.  An alternative is to glue sequins or beads on the tulle fan.  You can also glue a ribbon bow as an accent.  After placing the finishing touches on the hairpiece flip it over.

Place a stripe of glue on the back side of the hairpiece, and stick the alligator clip down on it.

Carefully open the clip, being careful not to unstick the bottom.  Put another stripe of glue, and place a piece of felt in between the two sides of the clip.  Let the clip close, after the glue dries trim around the edges of the new piece of felt.

When you put the hairpiece up to your head, you will notice that one side sticks up because of the hinge.  To fix this, place a bit of glue near the hinge, and carefully bend the felt around the clip.  Hold this in place for a few seconds until it dries to make the clip rounded.

You now have a beautiful cruelty-free hairpiece.  Enjoy, and add a little pizzazz to your next outfit!

Designing with Roo

We're changing a few things around the ajoeynamedroo shop.  First, as you can see here, some of our design elements.  "Roo" is making appearances everywhere; the blog, the banner, even the products.  Mitchell, my helpful and talented boyfriend has been hard at work updating everything!  The labels are on their way out 1 by 1.  Here's our first one, Free Love:

It's amazing how invested we've become in the new labels.  They feel like our babies.  So much arguing, compromise, and embarrassingly tears (mine) went into them.  When I saw the actual printed labels, I couldn't stop gushing.  Just like any proud parent, I can't imagine anything more beautiful.

Also expect some changes in our lotion scents in the near future.  We're keeping similar themes, but using mixtures of essential oils to achieve our delicious scents.  Can't wait for our new order of supplies to come in so we can get started!

Look out for our new scent combos in the next few days.

Ecofriendly Giftwrapping

As far as I'm concerned, the way a gift is presented is half the beauty of giving or receiving a package.  In past years, I've done traditional wrapping paper with bows and ribbons, but this year I wanted to do something different.  I wanted to use materials I already had instead of buying new rolls of expensive paper.  

I used old, brown paper grocery bags as the wrapping paper.  The plain paper is a great background for beautiful embellishments.  I made delicate tissue paper and fabric rosettes with silver glitter centers -   they were super easy and look gorgeous against the brown paper. 

Instructions:

To make your rosettes, you will need:

Fabric scissors

Tissue paper

Fabric Scraps (tulle and lace would look lovely too)

Glue Gun

Glitter or small beads

Step 1:  Cut small (1-2 inch) circles from the fabric and tissue paper. 

Step 2:  Place a small drop of glue in the center of a tissue paper and pinch the circle together to create folds.

Step 3:  Layer 3-4 circles on top of one another, pinching each one to create folds and gluing it to the next.  

Step 4:  Place a small drop of Elmer's glue in the middle of the flower.  Shake on some glitter, or glue a small bead in the center.

You're done!  Glue or tape flowers to your packages.

Happy crafting!.love.Rachel

Local is the New Black

Spend your dollars wisely.  Skip the lines at Walmart and Best Buy, and shop at small businesses in your community instead.  Our family has never been big on Black Friday shopping, but this year, we decided to head to downtown Asheville for some serious shopping.  Asheville has its own campaign to promote local, independent businesses called

more info

Today on Asheville Grown's facebook page, I saw this breakdown of where your dollars go when you shop at a local business versus a chain.  I like the idea of thinking local first - I definitely shop at chain stores and with online retailers, but I try to shop locally when I can.

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With this spirit of local shopping in mind, we headed to downtown Asheville.  We ended up only making it up and down Lexington, and it took us about two and a half hours with a brief stop for some delicious Indian fare at Mela - recommended by the New York Times and voted best Indian restaurant in Western North Carolina 6 years running.


I picked up all sorts of things, including some new sunglasses at Hip Replacements.
...and how lovely is this coat (also from Hip Replacements) - she reminds me of a modernized Red Riding Hood.

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I picked up several goodies at Virtue, including a handknitted head wrap, knit leggings, a basic long sleeve shirt, and a hot pink flutter dress (also available in teal and black).  They had some great sales going on, and the store was packed.  

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warm knit leggings from Virtue $12.95

Knitted Flower Head Wrap from Virtue $10.36 (on sale)

I found this burgandy faux leather bag from a thrift store for $6 (on sale).  It's the perfect size for my MacBook.  It came from ReinVintage in the Biltmore Square Mall.  

Thrifted Faux Leather Bag $6

We also found a big barrel full of head scarves for $3 each at Instant Karma on Lexington.  Lovely!

In honor of Small Business Saturday,  we're offering a coupon code to our site, ajoeynamedroo.  Use code SMBIZDAYYAY for 15% off your entire order!  As you can see, the money will go right back into our community.  Happy shopping!

.love.

Rachel