Back to Etsy!

First things first, I've made a treasury on Etsy for the first time in months. It is ballet-themed, but not too childish... Enjoy!



Last Saturday, our ballet school held a "bling party" for the adults. Basically everyone brought a bit of craft supplies or just broken jewelry and beads, and we set them all out in paper plates on a huge table right in the studio. Then we fired up the glue guns! (I brought a boxful of thread and needles, of course.)

I'm sad to say that this is the first time I've ever sat and made pretty things with other women. :/  The craft groups or events around here are always 1) hipster knitters, 2) seniors at a senior centre, or 3) intended for small children.

It really was a lot of fun! If only Vancouver were more like... say, London, I could do this a lot more often.

Here is a terrible photo of the hair combs I made:

I felt like making roses that day, so they are both formed around hand-stitched satin roses. I made the blue rose out of a scrap of reptile satin left over from my Hallowe'en mermaid costume, and the mauve rose out of a bit of ribbon.






After the serious sewing part was done, I added feathers, tulle, beads, pearls, and lace with hot glue! Can you believe I haven't touched a glue gun since grade 1? Oh technology. :P

Here's one of them in my ballet bun -- but they'd work with various hairstyles (J. tested a feather haircomb our teacher made, and it held fast and looked great in her loose hair):






We stayed for about two hours, and then I had to rush off to a barbecue, so I finished this green one at home:





They are all available for sale! Full proceeds go towards the Barbara Ann Hutton School of Ballet. ;)

I also made this plush strawberry house as a "thank you" gift for the couple (and their toddler) who invited us over for said barbecue:

(Around the base is a strip of white lace that reminded me of a white picket fence!)

July Update: Ballet Recital Over!

I didn't add anything new to my Etsy shop in June, either, but of course I had a good reason:

Our annual ballet recital (my first, actually) on June 23 went off without a hitch! (I'm at the very front in the photo above.)

The adult class "prepared" by seeing the Mikhailovsky Ballet's production of Swan Lake together the week before, on June 16. It was beautiful... I think Swan Lake is now my favourite ballet. ;)

The dress rehearsal was terrible, actually, with everyone forgetting their steps and places, and my being too fast as usual while the girls who, frankly, didn't rehearse enough, being too slow... but somehow, after a week of panicking and last-minute "Ohmygod which leg am I supposed to lift here?"s, everything came together!

Here we are performing our first group piece of the program: Fall.

Up next (for me, anyway, since I had no solos this year) was a demo of the barre exercises we did in class...

And then everyone's favourite: Giselle!

(I'm the foremost person on the right, in the above photo ;D)

And here I am at the end of the day, looking sweaty and pink and entirely flat-chested (hahah), with three classmates to my right. <3

I'm also glad to see that ballet is rising in popularity again, as shows like "Breaking Pointe" (now an integral part of my Thursday schedule) and "Bunheads", plus films like Black Swan and First Position (premiering in Canada in July or August!) are popping up everywhere... even though I'm still having trouble convincing friends and coworkers to take up beginner ballet.

But with only a few classes left in ballet summer school, it won't be long before I'm making things for my shop again! I can hardly wait!