pictures in june.

this weekend was really great. mine and zach's friend from college, danielle, came up for the weekend to spend some much needed time with us. we had a fun time exploring fayetteville all day saturday. we began by stopping by the farmers market which  i absolutely love. there's tons of people, lots of live folk-y music, beautiful flowers, colorful fruits, precious furry friends, and other fun, cheery things. after the farmers market we hit up target, chick-fil-a, the mall, and hobby lobby. the perfect combination for a lovely saturday!

zach and i have been working on our wedding website lately. the only problem was that we had very few pictures taken together that would be worthy of going on our site. so, saturday evening we ventured out to have danielle take a few pictures of us to use. 

having pictures taken of me is just not my thing. i love having photographs around and i enjoy taking pictures of others, but having mine taken is just not one of my favorite things. back in the fall i won tickets to see taylor swift off of twitter so zach and i got to go watch her concert in little rock. afterwards we talked about how it was a good performance but she seemed a little awkward...like she didn't know what to do with her arms or something. well taylor, i feel your pain. that's exactly how i felt during these photos: awkward and unsure of what to do with myself. 

but the good news is that i think we got a couple of good shots to put on our site and our "for real" engagement pictures aren't until this fall. maybe by then i'll get over my picture anxiety!

although the site isn't completely done, you can visit our site here:

http://www.projectwedding.com/ourwedding/zachandchelseaswedding/ 

ps- i've got lots of projects ready to finally be placed in the shop! check back later this week for the opening of the shop!

facelift!

notice anything different? or should i say notice that everything is different here now! zach has been working over the passed two days to give this blog a complete facelift...i love it! i decided that since the focus of this blog has shifted to all of the crafting and sewing associated with the knotted needle, it was appropriate to rename this blog to fit. "faith and compromise", the original name of this blog, came from a song from matt wertz. there was no big meaning behind the name, just the fact that i liked the song and the lyrics. while i still enjoy matt wertz, i thought that it was time for a little blog revamp. and i must say, i'm loving it! we're working on more changes so keep checking back.

and in memorandum of the old name, a tribute by matt wertz:

enjoy the new view!

favorites.

if you haven't visited the you are my fave blog, you probably should jet on over there. it's definitely one of my faves and when i saw that the following was listed as a favorite of the day, i was pretty excited. 

chelsea flower show 

i definitely think i need this to hang above my sewing area. what are the chances zach might let me hang this in our future living room? hah. 

another favorite that i ran across while blog surfing was the pleated poppy. if you visit her site, you'll soon see that lindsey is creative and inspiring. i instantly fell in love with this top that she so bravely made:

so, i bet you can guess where this is heading. yes, i'm venturing on to clothing and am going to attempt to re-create this shirt. the smart thing for me to do would be to buy a pattern for this shirt, follow it, and come out with a cute shirt like lindsey's. but, i'm going to do it the hard way without a pattern and see how it goes. yes, i'm cheap, lazy, and just really ready to dive into this project. let's hope i don't go crazy before it's all said and done!

tagged.

getting this little etsy shop together has been a longer process than i thought. i've been working on different projects to place in my shop but i haven't made the plunge to actually list them. zach and i have been talking and decided that my little blog here needs a little revamping. hopefully in the coming days you might see some improvements to my little corner here.

one fun little thing that i have been working on for my shop are tags for all of my products.

i know that these sweet little tags will more than likely end up in trashcans, but i think they are a cute addition. even to a trashcan. 

old shirt, new look.

this afternoon i was browsing through some of my favorite blogs and i kept finding myself running into a pattern: embellished t-shirts. now, when i think of embellished t-shirts, i think of a twelve year old that has gotten ahold of a bottle of tulip paint and a bedazzeler and gone to town on a denim jacket. that's not the type of embellishments i was swooning over on these blogs...i'm talking about fun, cute embellishments that create a new look to an old t-shirt.

after getting a little inspiration from blog-land, i rummaged through my closet and found a few old t-shirts that i decided to embellish upon.

shirt number 1: the ugly yellow shirt-

i have always really hated this shirt. BUT it was cheap and i really like yellow, so i bought it thinking i could always just wear it under a cardigan. i added a row of fabric flowers around the collar to add something to this not-so-wonderful t-shirt. 

better, huh?

t-shirt number 2: the gray-stained t-shirt-

i use to really love this shirt. it's soft and super comfy, but a little incident with some bleach gave this shirt a nice pink blotch right in the middle of the shirt. so, i decided try a little experiment with this shirt. i soaked it in bleach for a few minutes thinking that it would turn white. wrong! it turned a pale shade of yellow...even better!

i really liked how the seams stayed gray on the shirt. of course i couldn't just leave the shirt like this, so i made a fun little flower to add onto the side of the shirt. 

t-shirt number 3: the simple tank top-

like most girls, i have lots of these cheap tank tops in nearly every color floating around my closet. i found an adorable tutorial (i can't remember the site that i found it on, but i'll keep looking and post it later!) that gives an ordinary tank top a nautical twist. the tutorial used a navy blue tank top but the first tank that i came across in my closet was this gray one so i went with it. 

to "embellish" this simple tank i added ruffles around the collar and a tie right at the neckline. 

ta-da!

after this evening i feel like i almost have a new wardrobe! what a great way to turn old shirts into a new creations. 

order up.

whew! between work, beginning my online summer class, dinners with friends, visiting family, and taking care of my mom who recently had hand surgery, i haven't had much time to create very many new projects or post pictures of what i have made this week. 

last week i received my first order! my sweet friend amanda contacted me and placed an order for two bags: one for herself and one for a friend that is getting married soon. i was so excited to get started on this project!

i met with amanda last week so that she could pick out the colors for her bags. she picked out the cutest color combos! 

thanks amanda! i hope you enjoy carrying and giving these bags away as much as i enjoyed making them!

last weekend zach and i ran across some old wooden windows. i have big plans today to redo one of them and turn it into a bulletin board frame to place above my sewing area. 

hopefully i'll have a cute new bulletin board to share with you next time!

necklaces, headbands, etc.

i've been trying to savor the passed few days because come monday, it's back to the working world. i love my summer job because it is extremely flexible, laid-back, and fun. BUT, it doesn't provide me with a sewing machine so i felt like i better get as much done as possible while i still can. 

yesterday i found an old fake-pearl necklace that was extremely long. i don't think i have ever worn it, so i decided to do a little snipping and sewing to create a new look out of the necklace. 

i had my sister lindsey model one of the necklaces for me. she really didn't want to me post this picture...but i just think she looks too cute, so i couldn't resist! shhh!

other projects that i've been working on:

headbands:

journals:

bags:

i have a few little details to add to this bag before it's completely finished, but it's almost there!

i have a feeling that even though i'll be working, i'll still make time for these little projects. 

ps- the etsy store is almost up! hip-hip-hooray!

covered in burlap.

so maybe my recent obsession with burlap has gotten a little out of hand. i just really love the look of burlap and it is so versatile for the types of projects that i have been working on. i loved the little clutch that i previously posted about so i decided to try a couple of variations of it. here is one using a fabric that i instantly fell in love with.

last night i was looking at my keyring and noticed that my little pouch that i keep my student id, gym card, etc was looking a little din-gy. what better way to spruce it up than with a little burlap and a cute little flower?!

i woke up this morning and saw a pile of burlap projects. and i love each and every one of them. 

i've decided to take the plunge and create my very own etsy shop. it's called "the knotted needle". i don't have anything listen yet and zach is working on making me a banner for the top of the shop. i'm so excited to get started with this!

ps- if i personally know you or you are in the northwest arkansas area and you want to buy something from my store or something that you have seen on here, email me at theknottedneedle@gmail.com. that way you don't have to deal with shipping and handling costs and can customize what you want exactly.