twitterday: changing the look

I love simplicity in design, so for a while, i didn't have a problem with a super basic look for my Twitter page. But then I realized that maybe it needed a little something. I mean, I wouldn't leave my blog with only a little photo of me, and nothing else to say what this is is all about, right? Right.

So I looked for a tutorial on how to create and add a custom background. I found this one, and it was just what I needed! Here's what I ended up with:

The strip of pattern goes all the way down the edge, and I love it!

But maybe you don't want something only in the top corner. Maybe you want a pattern that covers the entire background? I've been wanting to create some fresh new patterns, and maybe you have some ideas?

Leave me a comment with some patterns and colors you'd like to be able to add to your Twitter or blog background, and next week, I might just have some here for you to download. Really!

5, 4, 3, 2, 1 things about you

Remember how I shared my 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 things, and then Andee did the same? As did a few more of you? Well, Craft has made a little graphic so that everyone can join in the fun! Go get your badge, and start sharing more about you and what you do!

your favorite post in july

July is almost done, and at this time, I've seen a lot of blogs that share their favorite posts from the past month. My favorite post from July is probably my felt yo-yo necklace, closely followed by this one. The first was fun to make and wear, and the second was dear to my heart.

How about you? Do you have a blog? I've love it if you choose a favorite post from July and share the link here!

signature colors

One of my goals for the year was to create a signature color palette. Back in February, I chose colors, and have been working primarily within those 23 colors. But when it came to choosing floss colors, I never actually decided on the shades that I wanted to be using.

Yesterday my sister and I sorted through all of my floss, and found the colors that were just right. I'm proud to say that when I imported the photos and placed my color samples (from February) over them, they are a near perfect match! I think I've gotten to know these shades!

This is what each grouping of colors looks like, along with their DMC numbers:

share day: sponsor giveaway

This month for Share Day, we're doing one big giveaway. There are nine prizes, and they'll all go to one very lucky winner! The prizes are related to the story of the Nightingale, with music, a little imitation and inspiration, and of course plenty of beauty.

To show thanks to my generous sponsors please make sure you visit each of their blogs and leave a comment. You might even find some new friends to follow!


Hello everyone! This is Sara over from the split stitch, and I am happy to be here today to participate in the giveaway. Since the theme of this month had to do with both birds and music, I figured my "Birdy Lullaby" pattern would be a perfect fit ... see a mama (or daddy) bird singing to her babies. As you transfer this pattern you can add or subtract babies from the little nest to make it extra special. The pattern comes in PDf format ... perfect to save and print whenever you want.

Good Luck to everyone, and why don't you pop on over to the split stitch where we are always talking about embroidery, sewing and paper crafts?

Sara :)


This is Tara of Sew Tara! I'm giving away this Daydreaming cozy for the sharing post. **Banana bread not included** It was inspired by my Caffeinating cozy. I guess I inspired myself!


Hi, I'm Annie! Inspired by this month's story, darling you boutique [dyb♥sf] will be giving away an earring holder featuring the nightingale. He sits patiently and curiously perched on the corner waiting to come home to the lucky winner! I'd love for you to visit my blog Olive Juice, and "like" my Facebook page.


Hello! This is Anita from Sew, Vintage, So Fun! In keeping with the Nightingale theme and the authentic vs imitation question, Mollie asked that our Share Day themes be music related, or have something to do with imitating. How about both?! Since we all love embroidery here so much, I decided on a music themed embroidery giveaway!

What I have for you this month is all from my stash of Sublime Stitching goodies. After all, if we are going to imitate someone's embroidery, who better then the awesome Jenny Hart? {If you took Mollie's embroidery class this summer, you got to read an interview that Mollie did with Jenny, and the comments by the many fans of the work of both of these embroidery artists.} I use a lot of patterns for my embroidery, because while I have talent with a needle and thread, my pencil to paper work leaves something to be desired. If you feel the same, you will love this Rock n' Roll pattern transfer sheet, tote bag to stitch on, and 7 skeins of Prescia floss to stitch with.

And if you would be interested in another similar giveaway, visit my blog 'Sew, Vintage, So fun!', where I write about what I'm working on and what inspires me (almost) every day. Good luck!


This is Rachelle from No Mark at All. The winner will receive their choice of one 5x5 mounted print from my shop. (A $20 value)


Hi, I'm Jessica from Funky Finds and I'm giving away a Funky Finds tote bag and key chain!

Funky Finds has lots of services available to indie artisans, so be sure to check them out. For those interested in opening a shop, I'm offering 3 months free when you mention Wild Olive!


Hello everyone! My name is Isabela and I am the set of (rather busy) hands behind Ooh Leela! Ooh Leela! is all about cute (and hand embroidered) dish towels, as well as some very unique coffee sleeves! I also have blog, where I share projects I am working on and things that are going on in my life. You may also find me here and here.

I participated in handmade gift exchange earlier this month and when I saw these, it was pretty much love at first sight. And when Mollie told us the theme for this month's sponsor giveaway was "an imitation of something else", I would these would be perfect! One lucky winner will win a set of 2 hand embroidered coasters! Perfect for these hot summer days, don't cha think?

Oh, and before I forget, I belong to the Etsy Angels team on Etsy. We work together to raise money for awesome charities 4-6 times a year. This month we are raising funds forLove for Malacia Babies and I am donating 25% of all sales proceeds to this worthy non-profit organization.


Hi, I'm Janee of Yellow Bird, Yellow Beard! I'd like to giveaway one of my new Vintage Music Sheet garlands.


This is Amy of Lemon and Raspberry! Imitation is not only the 'highest form of flattery' but can be an entirely valid method of learning. Think about all those art students who study Van Gogh and Picasso before setting off on their own. Or acting students assigned to visit the theater to see how professionals do the work.

In this same vein, the Better Blog Content Workbook looks at successful methods of creating and maintaining solid blog content week after week.

The whole workbook clocks in nearly 100 pages of targeted info and specific steps to help you create better blog content.

For more details and a full table of contents please visit : http://lemonandraspberry.com/shop/products/better-blog-content/

Can you believe all of these great prizes? Are you ready to enter? Did you visit everyone?

To enter, leave your name and a way to contact you (it's really important if you want to win!). Make sure you've left a comment on each of these blogs (on any post...just let them know you visited!).

The giveaway will remain open until 11PM CST on July 31. One winner will be randomly chosen, and announced on Monday, August 1. Good luck!

share day: 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 things with andee

Hi all! I'm so excited to be sharing with you today.  If we haven't met yet, my name is Andee and I'm visiting today from Bearing Fruit. This is a month chock full of inspirations. I thought it would be fun

to share a post inspired by Mollie's 5,4,3,2,1 things. So here goes....

One project you are particularly proud of

1.  My purple ruffle dress, which I have recently named The Barbara Dress. I'm super proud of this because I made it entirely without a pattern.  And the ruffles (which are now my favorite part) came out of need,to cover a too tight bodice (it still fit, but was way way too va va voom for me, if ya know what I mean)  

Ruffles to the rescue, right?  I love how out of not wanting to lose the dress, I was pushed creatively to make something work and that's the very something that makes the dress so special!

Two mistakes you've made in the past

1.  Letting my concern for what others think of me get in the way of being myself.
2.  Trusting myself instead of trusting God.  (Thank goodness for forgiveness & grace!) 

Three things that make your work unique

1.  Everything I make is made with love.  

2.  Everything, or just about everything I make is soft to the touch.

3.  I tend to work within the same palette of pink, blue, lavender, green, and yellow. There's an occasional orange or red, but I'm all about the tender hues.

Four tools you love to use

1.  sewing machine

2.  printed fabric

3.  my new camera (canon eos rebel t3)

4.  scrapbook paper

5.  thread

Five inspirations

1. Jesus

2. Walking, whether I'm in nature, or on fun adventures through the city...just walkin' around being inspired by all I see!

3. The power of love to change hearts and move mountains.

4. Too many awesome creative women out there who blog to even name names, I'm supposed to only write five here!  So I'm gonna say the 'craft community' is an endless source of inspiration.

5.  Those who are bold in their faith and move in a way that is both humble and impassioned.

Thanks so much for having me over, Mollie!  

Happy inspirations!

xo

Andee

share day: big news!

Once a month, we have something that we call Share Day. It's when I turn things over to my sponsors so that they can share some fun things with you. There will be a few posts today (including a huge giveaway!), but I'm so happy to start out with some big news from Talia!

Lovely Wild Olive Readers, I have something exciting to tell you all! Well, the picture says it all I guess! I'm undertaking my most creative project yet—making a person! My husband and I are pretty excited, and it's SO good to finally share the news with you all. :-)

Talia

In addition to this new...well...addition, Talia has a new blog name and design! Be sure to stop by Number 19!

print: popcorn lists

Yesterday was a rough day for me. I won't go into details right now, but it resulted in not a lot of work getting done. I love my lists, and things just didn't get crossed off as I had hoped. Still, in the midst of it, I worked on a project for church (the Awana Fun Fair is coming soon!) and pulled out my On the Midway patterns for inspiration.

It seemed a good time to make a quick little printable, with some popcorn. So...

Fun Fair Artwork + Slow Progress = Pop To It! Printable Popcorn Lists

It all works out, right? These lists are tall & skinny, with 4 on a page. Kind of like a bookmark. Download and maybe you'll do better than I did in getting things done!

make: color chains

On Saturday, I wrote about describing moods with colors...specifically embroidery floss colors. I loved the idea so much that I wanted a way to wear the colors that I'm feeling.

These chains of color aren't really a new idea, but I took these ribbon necklaces and this necklace that my sister bought, and made it my own. You can too, because they are so easy to make...you'll want them in all of your favorite floss colors!

The chain is fairly fine (I've used a couple sizes) and I buy in it long lengths (60+") so I can cut it into several necklaces.

Cut a piece of floss that is about 8 inches longer than your chain. Tie the floss onto one end of the chain with a really good double knot. You may want to secure it with a dab of glue/sealer.

Thread the floss through a needle, and begin weaving it through the chain. For this one, I've gone every other link, but you can alter this.

When you get to the other end, tie a double knot as before. Connect the two ends of the chain with a clasp. If the necklace is long enough to slip over your head, you can also just use a jump ring.

I made a few more colors...these ones are woven every three links.



Wear them individually or stack them up as my sweet sister is modeling here. So far, I haven't given her any...after all, she did buy that amazing necklace and didn't even think of me!

Speaking of my sister, she's been making these bracelets from this tutorial. Instead of the waxed linen cord, she's been using pearl cotton with great success. It's cheaper and comes in tons of colors...and I have a lot of it around here. Well, I used to...Anna has raided my stash!

twitterday: a hashtag project

Last Twitterday, I started asking about tagging tweets. This week, we're going to start something fun with our tags. If you're not on Twitter, I've done some checking, and you can participate too!

I'm in a color mood right now. As in, I'm thinking a lot about colors that I like...especially embroidery floss colors, because, well, you know me. Often I get so attached to a particular shade of floss that start to feel the color, and the color describes my mood or emotion. Does this sound silly? Perhaps.

But here's my thought. What if I wasn't the only one to do this? What if all of my embroidery floss loving blog friends shared their moods with floss colors too?

Here's how it works: Choose your floss mood color, then tweet it with the hashtag #flossmood. Example:

Today my #flossmood is DMC 3328!

-or-

Ugh. I'm feeling rather DMC 998 #flossmood

You can also use this tag on or in a blog post, or you can leave it here in a comment. This isn't a common phrase/tag, so we'll be able to find it easily.

This isn't restricted to DMC colors, but those are what I tend to have around. And one of the things that I like most about this is that we all get to look and see what color it is that you're feeling! (You can find the DMC color cards here.)

Come back on Monday, because I'll have the first of a few projects for expressing your #flossmood in real life!

Are you ready? What's your #flossmood?

the end of another class

Tomorrow is the last day of my online class, The Embroidery Project: All in the Details. I'm a little sad that it's over, and a little relieved too, because now there's more time to be working on the next things that will be coming along (I've gotten a wee bit backed up on ideas!).

The last five weeks have been lots of fun, and I'm so proud of all of the work that I've seen from those who signed up. It takes time to make all of the projects, so I'm sure that there will be more completed project photos showing up in the Wild Olive Flickr pool. For now, I wanted to show off a few of my favorites!





Click the images to get to each photostream/blog. Also be sure to check out these: Project Mat, Halloween Wreath, and Bunting.

Haven't they been making some great stuff! And to all my students, congratulations on making it through, and keep on stitching!

in the mood for floss colors

When I get in the mood to start picking color combos for embroidery floss, it's difficult to stop. There are so many options, and I love the process so much. Getting the color right for the photos is tricky, and after that, I find it hard to give the groupings good names. They always sound cheesy (the photos are named for the combo), but I suppose that's okay.

In the coming days and weeks, there will be more frequent color-related posts because...well, because I feel like it! Hopefully you're in a colorful mood too!



None of these are for a particular project, but I'll probably come back to them some time.

Which one is your favorite?

mechanical bird

This post started as one thing, changed, changed again, and is now something entirely different. It all has had to do with the mechanical nightingale that is in this month's story, and is featured on the July desktop.

Anyway, in my searches, I discovered the band, Mechanical Bird. I've not listened to everything yet (which means I can't vouch for the appropriateness of its content), but what I've heard, I like. You can listen to their album, Songs for Perchers, above (if you're on the blog...not in a reader) or on Bandcamp, and there are even a couple songs that you can download for free! Enjoy!

(Also found in my searches was this creamer. So cute!)

going postal

When the weather gets hot like this, I have a tendency to want to go postal, but I do my best to keep it under control. But this isn't about any of that.

This is to let you know that there's a little giveaway (and discount code!) over on Making Notes on Paper! Go check it out and you could win some Teeny Tiny Commemoratives from me!

vintage craft: handprints

It has been a while since I've shared a vintage craft post, but today I have a good one for you! My favorite vintage things are the ones with family history. They mean so much more, right? Well, here's what my grandpa recently found and gave to my family.




A handprint that I made when I was two years old! It's made from bread clay (I think?), and it seems that whoever helped me make it didn't know how to spell my name. But that doesn't matter, it's still really special. Cracked and all. I like that with things like this, you want to see how your hand has grown.


My mom did the same thing when she unwrapped her handprint from kindergarten, which was in the same package! Hers is in plaster, and obviously is much fancier than mine. I love it.

My mom keeps thinking that there isn't really any reason to keep these (especially now that I've taken pictures), and maybe she's right. But they are terribly wonderful...



A week or so ago, some of my younger brothers and sisters also made some handprints. Theirs are in concrete, and they had so much fun working on them! I loved the reactions to the feeling of sinking your hand into the wet cement. Good times! And someday they can share their vintage craft with the world!