DIY Tutorial: How to make a ring display

You might remember this rather terrible photo.



And my promise for a tutorial on how to turn almost anything into a ring display.

Well, this is it.



~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Tutorial Start! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


You will need:


1x item you'd like to make into a ring display.
(In this tutorial, it's a baking tray, but anything with a bit of depth will work)


1x foam fill
You can buy bags of 4 pieces at spotlight. It will contain 2x thick, 2x thin pieces.
The thick pieces are better, but the thin ones work too.


1x piece of white felt (or any colour you want your display to be)
1x scissors
1x craft knife
1x double sided tape



Step 1: Cut the foam to size.


Optional step: If your container is deep like my baking tray, don't waste the leftovers!
Use it to stuff the bottom so you don't have a hollow base.


Step 2: Check that it fits, trim the sides.
(Sorry I was doing this in the kitchen..please don't mind the messy kitchen table!)


Step 3: Line double sided tape all down the foam.


This is how it should look like after you are done. Remove the top layer of the tape.


Step 4: Stick the felt on the top. Careful to make sure it's flat and not wrinkly!
Because my baking tray was longer than my felt pieces, I had to cut small strips to cover the edges.
Aren't those lines ugly?


Step 5: Don't like the lines? Decorate it to make it pretty then!
Lines? What lines?
Tuck the foam base back into the tray.

(Sorry no photo for this!)
Step 6: Pick up that craft knife and start cutting slits through the felt and the top of the foam.
Make sure that the slits are wide enough to hold your rings.Usually 2-3 cm is fine.

And there you have it!
Your very own ring display!

Here's the one in the tutorial in action!



You can decorate it more if you like, however I wanted mine to be recognizable as a baking tray. Hehehe.

So how was that? Easy, isn't it? You can turn almost anything with a bit of depth into a ring display this way!
My cupcake stand was slightly harder as we had to make it round, and had to punch a hole through the middle for the handle.
But the technique was exactly the same. So take a look around you, what can you use to make into a ring display?

DIY Tutorial: How to make a ring display

Waltzing through with Talent - Kelly from Vitae Clothing and Accessories

Hasn't the fortnight just gone whizzing by? It's time for our next Waltzing through with Talent!





This time I'm featuring a dear friend of mine. We met due to our interests in lolita fashion , and while her being in Adelaide means a lack of hang out time, I still know for a fact how awesome she is, and you are in for a treat as she has the cutest giveaway lined up for you!





Who are you and what do you sell?
I am Kelly, and I run Vitae Clothing and Accessories. I sell Lolita Clothing and Jewelery, Gothic Clothing and Jewelery, and the occasional Cosplay or "normal" clothing too! Recently though, its been mainly Lolita stuff.

What are your inspirations and muses?
I love the Rococo era, its one of my biggest inspirations for designs in my dresses- that and fairytales and Fantasy. My favorite tale, and one I plan to create in Ballgown-form, is the Story of SapSorrow, with her dresses, "The Sun", "The Sky", and "The Stars".





How does your creative space look like?
... It's a little cramped. I don't have a lot of room here so there's two desks with two sewing machines and a computer all jammed in, with so many bits and bobs stacked all over it! There's also two filing cabinets stacked one on top of the other, a glory box and about three suitcases full of fabric. One day, when we are in a slightly larger place, things might be a bit roomier! Haha.

Tell us a little about what makes you, you.
Well, sewing is one of my favorite pastimes, and I do it even when I am meant to be having a day off haha! But I also love to dance, and do so as often as I can. I usually do contemporary or hip-hop. I'm also a total nerd, I love video games and play them fairly often! (sometimes when I should be doing homework!)
I also study Aged Care at TAFE, and hope to study Nursing at University next year.

What are you most proud of in your crafting/art life and your personal best achievement?
The continuing and growing success of my business, Vitae, is my crowning glory :D Attending AVCon as an artist this year and selling out was a great feeling, and things have only been getting better from there. Also attending fashion shows is a highlight for me- Its great for business and so much fun!






Complete these sentences:
I love: Chocolate, Cream, and Sewing. Oh, and my partner Joel- I couldn't DO without him!
I cannot live without: Insulin! I'm a diabetic :)
I hope: A lot of things but most of all I work towards my dreams- there's no point hoping if you aren't trying too!
When I grow up : Haha. I want to Be Sailor Mars! I really did want that as a child you know. A Rock Star Sailor Mars. :D

What do you like best about the crafting/art world.
Making something from nothing. There's something special about taking the raw materials in your hands, and moulding them into the shape your minds eye sees. And when you're finished, sharing the things you've made with everyone out there.

Where can we get more goodies from you?
Well, aside from Etsy, I do direct sales and commissions through Livejournal at my sales journal there- and I hope to soon have my website vitaeclothing.net up and running! (But, I'm terrible at websites, so it has to wait!). And we also have a Facebook Page, so please do join that!




Isn't Kelly adorable? Here's what she has lined up for you!

Kelly makes the most adorable polymer clay cupcakes and such and today she's made us some for earrings!





So how do you win this?

Here's how to win:

For 1 entry: Follow Kelly's Blog either through your feed reader or via the Google Friends Application. Please leave a comment saying you have done so /are already following. This step is compulsory.

For 1 entry: Follow My Blog either through your feed reader or via the Google Friends Application. Please leave a comment saying you have done so /are already following.

For 5 entries: Purchase anything from Kelly's Shop - Aetas Vitae

For additional entries (worth 1 each), you can:

- Blog about this entry. Remember to leave a seperate comment with the linkback.
- Tweet about thhis entry. Remember to leave a seperate comment with your twitter name.
- Add Kelly's shop to your fave list

This giveaway will end 30th November 2009, 10am Melbourne time. The winner will be announced on the following Waltzing through with Talent post.

So why wait? Get cracking and you could be that lucky winner!



Would you like to be considered for this feature? Send me an email at petite.valse (at)gmail.com and tell me why you'd like to be in the feature!






We also have a winner from our previous giveaway from Sanchia from Little Red Wagon Kids!



Congratulations to Nandine from Please, please go to sleep!
Please get in touch with me with your contact details and we'll send you your prize asap!

Waltzing through with Talent - Kelly from Vitae Clothing and Accessories

Yarraville Market: A report

And with that, today's market is over!

I definitely enjoyed today's market, and I loved how intimate it felt. I was also really lucky as one of my friends came down to hang out with me behind the table and we even managed to sneak away for a milkshake and pie.

I met a few interesting ladies today and had a lovely chat with another stallholder who's an artist. Sarah from Billyboy and Mia came to visit me at my table as well, and it's always lovely when internet friends meet in real life! I love being able to put faces to names, it's rather like.... 'aha, you actually do exist! I'm not going crazy!'

I'd love to go back to Yarraville Markets if possible. I think the venue's just lovely!

Anyhow, here's some photos of my table today... There are still things I'm changing and things I meant to do but ran out of time to.. so the next version of my table should hopefully be much more attractive than this one!









My newest ring display, yes that's a baking tray! Also note the quirky stop sign rings. Hehehe.



It was tiring, but absolutely amazing. How about you? How did your Sunday go?

Yarraville Market: A report

My Creative Space + Market tomorrow!

Tomorrow is market day again, and I'm really looking forward to it now that it's the night before.

Have a look at the ear studs I've been working on:





They will be available online later on next week... well what doesn't disappear at the market anyhow. But I do hope many of them will go home with new owners tomorrow! I do so like seeing them go off to new homes..

More table shots after tomorrow, I've added a few more things. I'll also post up that ring display tutorial very soon, and there's a new Waltzing through with Talent to look forward to on Monday!

If you haven't joined our latest giveaway, there's still time to do so now!!

Remember, if you are in the area tomorrow, I'd love to see you! So hop on over!





Please do say hi if you come, and introduce yourself! I don't bite, I promise!

My Creative Space + Market tomorrow!

Little Waltz - Craft stall setup

Northside was more than a month ago now and even as we speak, the next one is creeping up on us later this month.

I was originally going to go for the Daylesford Christmas Craft Market on that day, but accidentally forgot to send in my application form..... whoops.
It turned out that it was just as well since I need to attend a children's music concert the same day, so I wouldn't be able to do the duck in-duck out thing I'm planning to do on the 28th of November!

I did promise pictures of my craft stall from Northside Makers, so this will the post about it. Are you ready?

Let's start with my concept sketch. I really do fail at drawing, so please excuse the rather shoddy sketch.





At the side is an incomplete list of things I should be displaying on my table.

I loved the idea of bunting so was considering getting custom buntings made with my name on it.
The brown piece with red Vs on them were meant for necklaces, the blue cards on the laundry line for earrings and the suitcase (my vintage one!) would have been filled with prepackaged brooches. Namely my raincloud/lightning/sunny day brooches. And the orange bowls by it were meant to stand for the lace bowls I had made up for the table.

I then spoke to a friend of mine who is a brilliant engineer. He's rather handy with his hands and does rather amazing work. As a result of that, he made me the basic wooden stand for my table, with a few changes:





This was the beginning of the stand. It's semi-permanent, there are screws we tighten once it's on the table to make it permanent and not collapse randomly. We did have to change the idea of the laundry lines for earrings: The wooden frame by itself wasn't stable enough, so he had to add a mesh. Technically I could still have done the laundry line thing, but I wasn't fond of the idea of the mesh showing up behind the earrings.

Once the base of the stand had been made up, I hopped down to Bunnings and got myself a can of paint:





And started to paint it all white. Thankfully, the weather was fantastic during that week of September school holidays, so it all dried in record time. And while that was drying, I ran along and got myself some signage:



Scrapbooking letters that I painted black!


Unfortunately I don't seem to have other progress pictures. But other than painting the frame white, I also had to figure out a way to attach a corkboard to the MDF board for the necklace. I had a lot of issues trying to find a large enough corkboard that didn't already come with its own frame, so in the end I got a pack of cork floortiles from bunnings, some liquid nails and made that into a corkboard instead. This allowed me the flexibility of cutting it down to the size I wanted it to be exactly. Though now I have a whole tube of liquid nails that I'm not quite sure what to do with. Hm.

Alright then, so after all that work.... here's how the actual booth looked like on the day! Sorry about the blurry photos.. I didn't realise that I hadn't adjusted my camera settings properly.. I think I was too distracted with other things!

I shared my table with the beautiful Kerri from Vintagesewandso, but what I'd like to show you is my side of the table.



The full view


A close up of some of the necklaces and the hairpins


Close up of the ring stand



I am quite proud of the setup, especially of the fact that most of it, had been handmade and/or thrifted. The ring stand was originally a cupcake stand that I thrifted for 10 dollars. I then obtained some foam, felt and double sided tape and made it into a ring stand. I will be doing a tutorial on that soon, so stay tune on how to make your very own ring display!

The trays and plate that the hairclips are displayed on were also thrifted and rather beautiful in their own right.

I'm not quite sure if you can see much of the earring display, but basically they are cute little heads that yet another talented friend drew for me. I enlarged them and printed them out and used them as the base for earring display: much more interesting than your normal earring stands!

The tablecloth was also thrifted .. it was originally a bedsheet! I cut it down to size, and used the remaining piece to wrap the corkboard with. Perfect fit.

So what do you think? Yay or Nay? There are many things yet that I'd still like to improve, so stay tune for my next craft table setup!

Little Waltz - Craft stall setup

My Creative Space

No, my dearest readers, I have not forgotten. I know I am yet to post the photos of my previous market table from the Northside Makers Market especially after my lengthy discussion on how my setup should be like. The photos are forthcoming, I promise!

With our next market coming up on Sunday, I've been hard at work creating more items! Have a look at today's creative space:





Aren't they adorable? They are little brooches for the little people and for those young at heart, guranteed to bring laughter and joy into your day. At a very low $2 dollars per little girl, you can pick up one for your very self if you come by and have a visit at Yarraville market! The poster is on our side bar if you'd like to have a look at the location details.

I have more that's been flying out of the creative space today but they require some more tweaking, so I'll show them tomorrow. Here's a little hint: ear studs. Whee!!

My Creative Space

Stay safe this summer. Ban the Tan!

Image by Saad K on Flickr.


It's burning up here in Melbourne! We hit a high of 35 degrees today. However it wasn't the heat that bothered me as much as the scorching sun! I had to be out driving to all the different schools I was teaching at today and the sun really made the skin sting!

So here's a few handy tips to have around this scorchy spring:

Protect yourself from the sun.

Sunscreen, sunblock, a hat.. anything you can do to help protect yourself from excessive exposure to UV radiation. Always keep a tube of sunscreen in your handbag and slap some on from time to time. Not only will it help lessen the nasty impact of the UV rays, it will also keep your skin from developing sun spots and/or aging quickly!

Drink lots of water and other fluids

Water, fruit juice, ice tea.. they all help! With the heat on the rise, we tend to sweat more as we progress through the day. Keep a constant flow of water into your body to keep yourself hydrated. The last thing we want is for you to be dehydrated which will then lead to heat exhaustion! I try to finish at least 4-5 liters of water a day. Yes, I do have to go to the washroom quite often, but it is okay to drink more than what you need but unhealthy to drink less as the human body require fluids even more than we require food.

Stay cool!

Stay indoors during midday if possible and try to keep yourself as chilled as possible. Be careful as heat exhaustion and heat strokes are very real medical conditions and will require immediate attention. Avoid dark colours as they absorb heat faster. Wear light, loose fitting clothes to help you stay cooler.

Know your body

If you are feeling ill, it's time to see the doctor! Or at least call him/her up and voice your concerns. The number of people who have passed away due to extreme heat during summer has been astoundingly high and we don't want to add to that number, do we?

And while I know that spring and summer are the perfect seasons to lay on the beach and work that perfect tan, please bear in mind that Melanoma or Skin Cancer is very real.


Why the need for this post?


Image from Sunday Herald Sun


Because 2 years ago, a friend lost her battle to Melanoma.

You can read more about Clare Oliver, her story, and her legacy on her website. But this is real. Very real.
I knew her when she was still a bouncy girl, we went out clubbing at the night clubs. I have photos, videos of her when she was still living.
I even have videos of when we were all drunk and talking all kinds of silly nonsense.

But now she's gone. Leaving behind her a very important message.

Stay safe this summer. Ban the Tan.

Stay safe this summer. Ban the Tan!