a little sewing music

Theses are a few of my current springtime favorites :)

Create a playlist at MixPod.com

XoXo, Sara

Art You Can Hug

Art You Can Hug is currently on display at Howley's in West Palm Beach and I was lucky enough to have some of my dolls and plushie birds included. Me and the girls headed to opening night to show our support and eat delicious bacon and mac n cheese treats! We had a great time. Four of my dolls are currently dangling over the adorable felt forest creatures made by Amanda Linton (the master mind behind the Howley's art shows as well as Stitch Rock and many many more!) and an adorable bunny drawing I didn't get the artists name of :(

There are also a pair of my Love Birds cozily nestled in a basket on a different wall.

I had to give special thanks to Amanda for all she does , as i mentioned before she does ALOT for the Palm Beach art scene . To give you an idea here are a few links

With a Side of Art

With Sugar on Top

Stitch Rock

Art Rock

Sugar House Holiday Bazaar

House of Sweets Bakery

I don't know there are probably more projects she's into ! All I know is I've participated in many of her events and loved every one of them so I made Amanda a 'Me' doll and gave it to her at Howley's.

I had so much fun making her ! She seems very loved and even got a little shout out HERE on City Link's ArtMurmur blog. You may notice Amanda's 'Me' has pink & blue hair in one pic and red in another wellllll, I made Amanda's doll a few weeks before Art You Can Hug when her hair really was pink and blue then the week before I saw her she dyed her hair red ! With a little brainstorming help I improvised a red velcro hair piece, I am still shocked it came out so well ! All and all the Howley's night was fun especially with the company of some of my nearest and dearest .

(left to right: Miranda, Chrissy, Beckie, Nicole and my 'other mother' Janet)

XoXo, Sara

Odd Duck Handmade Bazaar

So I recently participated in the first annual Odd Duck Handmade Bazaar in Davie, Fl and had such a great time I thought i post a little about the day. I wish I would have taken more photos of vendors there but I suck! You can find info on the event and all its vendors at www.oddduckbazaar.com. I recommend checking it out and hope to participate in more of their events! I always love doing these South Florida shows because first of all~ I have a Super Helper named Beckie who always comes with me and all we do is laugh all day no matter what we do . It sometimes gets out of control! hehehe. The morning we left for Odd Duck I gave her a 'Me' doll that i made to look like Beckie. It looks like love to me! :)

The real question is can we really handle another Beckie ? ;)

So then there's the fun part of these crafty gatherings that's getting to meet and revisit some amazing, talented and inspirational new friends. Every year it gets better and better. I like to wonder how many years we'll all be doing these shows together. I've seen many a crafter's work evolve so much (including mine!) It's always exciting to see what new things they've come up with. In some cases I find myself stalking booths to get first dibs on they new goodies like with Brenda (and Josh) Burton of Humble Bumble B. Beckie and I have an increasingly large collection of hats and headbands made by Brenda which I will have to photograph and post about, in short we are super fans! On top of being talented Brenda and her family are so sweet and lovely I HAD to snap a pic at Odd Duck .

awwwww :)

The next pic is of some happy Whimsy shoppers and was sent to me (and possibly taken by?) a new friend Rachel DeJohn of Peace Owls and Other Lovely Things . We affectionately refer to each other as 'Forest Friend' cause we have so many things in common !

This next photo is of Renda Writer getting dolled up with my hair flowers to attempt to interview me (the WORSE interviewee ever in my opinion) for his magazine WEMERGE's youtube channel. Renda is an ambitious and funny guy with a little goal to be on the Ellen Show. Let's help support him the way he supports our local art scene by going to www.RendaWriter.com and www.theywanttoseerendawriteronellen.com ! Also you can find my interview with Renda on Wemerge Magazines Youtube Channel by clicking here.

There were so many people I encountered I wish I had photographed! Hopefully i learned my lesson. Here's a close up of our Stitch of Whimsy table...

And then things started getting wild !

XoXo, Sara

Feathers and Flowers

So thanks to my helpful and wonderful friends helping me stuff arms and legs a few weeks back I was able to make a heap of new dollies for spring and thanks to my sweet new purple camera I even shot them and successfully began updating my online shop ! Sometimes trying to be a one-woman craft machine gets overwhelming for me so getting things complete is super satisfying ! I cant even imagine how some of you out there with children make it all happen. So heres a few pics for you:D

I made this collage with me favorite photo editing site Picnik. I am certainly not the most computer-technically savvy person , more of a hands-on cut-n-paster type, but Picnik is GLORIOUS! Thats it for now~

xoxo, Sara

the goings on

First of all I am thrilled to announce that I have finally purchased a new digital camera- HOORAY ! Mine has been on the fritz for quite some time now making it very difficult for me to take nice shots of my creations therefore leaving my etsy shop empty and lonely. I got a great deal on WOOT.com , you should check out that site. Hopefully it arrives soon !
Next order of business, I'll be participating in a few events this month , one being a group art show featuring plush creatures and such. If anyone actually reads this blog and are in the West Palm Beach , Florida area you should surely attend ! I will be displaying some hand-stitched and painted dollies :)

Also, I'll be selling my goodies here

I think its gonna be a great month! I'll have lots of new projects to share with you like

Tiny gnome finger puppets and toadstool gnome homes !

that's it for now. XoXo, Sara

I heart Etsy!

here are some Etsy pretties I think I need!

Etsy Buy Handmade stitchofwhimsy

XoXo, Sara

So Very Pleased to Meet You !

For my first blog entry just wanted to introduce myself so here I am

My name is Sara Leigh :)

In a nutshell~ I am obsessed with sewing, painting and just about every other crafty business i can get my hands into! I have a website where I sell my goodies (click here to be whisked away!) and I've been meaning to start a blog for quite a long time now but could never seem to get myself together. I am going to try my hardest to keep this updated with my new creations, tutorials, websites I love, info about other crafty gals and just about anything else I feel like ! But I am only 1/2 of what makes up the Velvet Thread , be sure to stay tuned for more info on my lovely other blog-half . I will tell you she is an awesome chef , an even better baker and like a sister to me for 20+ years (despite our sometimes radical differences hehe). She's going to be in charge of all your baking/cooking needs, and good thing cause if you looked to me for all that you'd be very disappointed ! Anyhoo, I would love to post some more pics but I haven't quite figured out how to yet so if you'd like to see more of what I do please check out

www.saraleighhandbags.com

www.stitchofwhimsy.etsy.com

www.flickr.com/photos/saraleighwhimsy

Ciao for now,

Sara

The NY Cake Convention

U.S. Confection Connection held the first ever NY Cake Convention January 2-5, 2010 at the Hotel Pennsylvania.

There were in-house demonstrations and classes, a cookie/cupcake decorating area for kids, Cakes and Cupcakes that were up for challenges which were from Beginner Levels to Professional. There were also a setting of booths with vendors such as cake stands vendors and NY Cake Co.

In all, this was an adventure to size up the competition and see what we could do next year. I left feeling excited that I attended and even more excited to participate in a challenge next year. I also left slightly saddened that I hadn't submitted something - anything because I think I would've done well.

It was a really nice effort for a first try and hope that it was successful enough for next year.

Stay tuned for announcements of winners of the NY Cake Convention.http://www.cakeconvention.com/about

Keep checking back, there will be a posting of Vanilla Cardamom Cupcakes with Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting and more DIY Projects.