Burlesque Pasties

Here’s how! With your typical grade school compass, cut two circles out of a thin sheet of craft foam (approximately 4″ in diameter). Next, cut a line to the center of each and overlap the edges to form a small cone. Use hot glue to secure the shape. Gather sequins, tassels, jewels and other adornments and start gluing!

If you decide to put your dainty decorations to work, try theater Spirit Gum (found at any costume shop for around $5) or dig into your makeup bag for eyelash glue, which, I’m told, works just as well to secure the decorations.

Hand Made Pasties Adorned with Sequins and Tassels

See more photos on Flickr!

Amazing Abstract Paper Flowers

Sweetest Paper Rose

Check out the original baby shower post and see more examples of inspiration on our Flickr photo stream.

Liz Clechenko

Elaine Goddard

Liz Clechenko

Ashley Throckmorton

See more photos here – And let us know if you’d like to host a party of your own!

The Final Piece

You’ll need 10 lovely beads (I was fond of the bright turquoise color with gold accents and found a similar bead made from Czech glass.), 11 pieces of chain (each about 5 inches long), accent beads for either side of the selected bead and 10 cuts of wire (plus one extra piece or clasp to bring the ends together).

My Grandmother’s Necklace with Retro Plastic Beads

Prepare the 10 beaded adornments using needle-nosed pliers to create nice loops on each side. Once prepared, link the beads to the chain sections until the entire piece is completed.

For more detailed photos of the process, Check out our Flickr album.

A Closeup of the Final Project

If you have questions or are interested in purchasing this piece. Let us know!

See more photos!

Each year, in the cherub-filled hours of morning, our family would stumble out of bed and down the stairs to find a glorious table set with fresh linens, China plates, crystal wine glasses and polished silver glittering in the candlelight.

Decorative platters and milk glass pedestals were stacked high with over-sized muffins and doughnuts. Paper doilies centered our plates, scents of sugar filled the air and rich red cranberry juice filled our glasses. For thirty minutes, once a year, I couldn’t help but feel like royalty.

This year, I hope to extend this opulent scene to local Austinites as The Lead Chandelier hosts its first craft party (Top Shelf Crafts). For those of you in the area interested in the event, please let us know and we’ll happily send you an invitation. For those out-of-towners, do not fear. Top Shelf Crafts will be scheduling online craft parties later on in 2010!

Until then, enjoy the goodies I’ve begun to gather for the event. And see more Valentines party photos here!

Antique Velvet Hearts

Perfect Satin Bows

Retro Cast Plastic Flower

I’ve placed my order. And in a few short days, two sets of Bluebird feet, a Dove bill and accompanying feet and one adorable pair of Mini Duck feet will come parading into my life.

And with this long awaited order, I’ve also impulsively purchased a couple tiny little birdcages to go with my bout of inspiration. Here are some others that I might add to the list. (Find even more photos here.)

Byzantine Iron Decorative Birdcage from Save On Crafts

Antiqued Iron Decorative Birdcage from Save On Crafts

Small Brass Decorative Birdcage on Etsy

I’m not entirely sure what the end result will be, but I have some ideas. Do you?

My twin sister’s with bun and I’ve been charged with throwing a baby shower that is neither boring nor lame. Impossible? Well, maybe. But I think I can do it with a little alcohol and a lot of craftiness.

I’m currently crushing hard on two amazing shops, Emersonmade and Simple Silhouettes. They are my source of inspiration as I grapple with this beast. Take a breath, you’re about to fall in love.

Hand Made Flowers from Emersonmade

Lusty Uses of Pink from Simple Sillhouettes

See more examples of inspiration. And please PLEASE send me your ideas!

Ever since I was a child I’ve horded miniature relics and idolized dioramas (see: my adventures in an overstocked basement.) Whether creating tiny scenes on a shelf or in a shoe box, there’s something amazing about how the fractioned scale invites you in. In college, I satiated this fascination with an undying admiration for David Levinthal’s early works – specifically, Wild West and Hitler Moves East. But it wasn’t until I saw Blackface in Houston a few years ago that I began to appreciate placing all attention on the object itself and allowing each toy’s history to visually unfold.

Bright Puppy

Like many TLC projects, both design and history have their place. These bright photographs are no exception.

To create your own images, place your object in the middle of a light box (Porta Trace makes a great one for less than $40.) (Or, at $15, the Fado lamp from Ikea is a fantastic alternative.)

Bright Gorilla

With a digital camera, shoot photos of your object from a high angle (above the toy) getting as close as you can while still maintaining a sharp focus. Be sure to fill your screen with the white of the lamp (lay sheets of white paper underneath your light source to provide a larger white area). Cameras that allow you to control your shutter speed and aperture settings work best (as you’re dealing with dramatic lighting situations). Expect to spend some time getting used to the lighting and take lots of photos to make sure you get a good shot. Offload your images and print! That’s it.

Got questions or interested in TLC capturing your favorite childhood relic for you? Just ask. We’re happy to help!

Read the Contest Post

Read Jana’s entry > For our wedding anniversary I wanted to give Zach something what would be a cotton but also what he would carry with him and think about me. So I bought cotton boxer shorts and cotton thread. For a few weeks before our anniversary date I secretly embroidered those boxers with his initials. I used different colors and fonts on each pair. When he received the present he was nicely surprised and touched. I know that he likes them because 4 years later I see those boxers every week in our laundry basket. It was a personal present nobody knew about until now. But what I would not do for winning the competition, when the prize is so great. I am revealing a little family secret. Merry Christmas.

Custom Photo Tree Detail

Read the runners up >

Cindy | When the holiday season comes around it is always so commercial. Green sprayed Chrismas trees not to mention the artificial ones. All the must-have electronic treats. Then a number of years ago when our small chrildren were growing up, my husband and I decided that we had had enough of all the rush-rush and commercialism of the holiday, so we decided to slow things down and help our family respect the reason and the beauty of the holiday – kind of pure it down, so to speak.

All of our children were very young, so we made the decision to keep Christmas simple. We would require each gift that was given to be handmade. Use your imagination. And the gifts we all received were beautiful, thoughtful and reflected the heart of the gifter. I will never forget that beautiful holiday. There was one gift that stands out in my mind. It was a simple small gift from my smallest child Ashley. She was only three or four years old, and what she made me was the most heart melting gift that anyone could have created. She took some paper and drew simple holiday characters with her crayons like Christmas Santas and little elves and stapled them together front and back and then stuffed them with cotton balls. These tiny little images with smiles on their faces and bright blue eyes just walked into to my heart. That is what I really remember about Christmas were those simple days and simple gifts. Why do we need to lose sight of this special day?

Custom Photo Tree Detail

Charles | Since I was very young, my sister had been doodling on anything she could get her hands on with any medium available. I remember she had a particular liking for cats. Drawing her cartoony cats over and over again they began to take shape. As she continued to draw throughout the years; she, as any great artist, began to develop her own unique style in everything she created. It was great to see her talent grow. Seemingly limitless creativity I could never hope to approach. Her favorite holiday is Thanksgiving. At which point her creative juices would start to boil over as she worked many artistic escapades at the same time. Come Christmas morning, I must admit now that the gifts I looked forward to most were from her. Always hand made, always incredibly unique.

They began simple: drawings of cats folded into Christmas cards. But as she continued to mature, her thirst to challenge her creative bounds grew. Cards, paintings, sculptures, poems, the list is as long as our Christmases were shared. Each piece I accepted and studied. Trying to understand how her brain worked. Being musically inclined myself, my understanding of artistic expression required a tuba, a trumpet, a piano, but any attempt I had ever made with ink, oil or paint yielded a laughable product.

Now my sister and I are grown. She keeps after her art while teaching elementary school in Houston. It’s now, in this magical time of year that Christmas takes on a very different meaning. The memories of waking up at 4:30 in the morning, running downstairs and looking at the gifts are just that. Memories. Just being together in the same house, under the same roof means the most to not just my parents anymore but us kids also. Cliché sayings are many things. Over-used, corny, cheesy, they can be agonizing to hear. Mostly though, they’re true. I could never understand why at every family reunion, every thanksgiving at my grandmother’s house, every birthday, my parents and their parents were most thankful for each other. For our health. These lessons seem to be reserved for the age of your first holiday away from you family. When you stray from the religious normalcy of thanksgiving at grandma’s, or Christmas in Tahiti (which would be sweet. We did not do that). I’ve felt the quiet, gripping anxiety take me suggesting that my childhood may, in fact, be coming to a close.

For these reasons, taking the time to create your own gifts for your loved ones becomes increasingly valuable. Cards are wonderful bought from a store, but how often can you look someone in the face and actually tell them how you feel? Speaking in the moment, expecting to gather the words to describe your passion, your love, your appreciation is hit or miss. And I’m betting you will miss. Humans are capable of wonderful creativity. Take a moment, dim the lights, play some music and get back in touch with what you are thankful for. My sister never spent a Christmas thinking about herself. Take the time thinking about the people in your life and dig up your best cliché garbage. I always feel so special, loved and fortunate to receive these words.

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Thanks again for all the entries. And send us pictures of your handmade gems from this season!