The NorthWesternBelle

Oh man. October was such a good month! I'm honestly sad to see it go, and not just because I love Halloween a lot (I do, it's true). Are you ready for picture overload? Because we're rounding up a selection of items that sold during October. To start with the best (that's how I roll), I got to make several of these awesome mini Death Stars: They are so fun and come together pretty quickly. I also got to make several of these bad boys: Amazing. I love these nerdy items so much! I am also currently making the first one of these pillows that was ordered in November. It will ship out this week. Speaking of which, my most favorite tie blanket of all time was purchased and shipped this week: A lucky skull enthusiast in NY scooped this gem up. Guess that means I'll need to keep an eye out for another amazing Tuesday Morning deal on the jolly roger polar fleece. We also sold all but four of our cape & cloak inventory, plus two custom-made cloaks,...

I'm happy to report that the momentum that started at the beginning of October has only continued! Yesterday, October 20, we received a record-breaking five orders, for six items, before noon! Check it out: So awesome! Three of those orders were for capes, which are shipping out today. The other two orders were for handmade goods: Another Death Star and TWO matching Jack Skellington Beanies for 1 year old boys (which, seriously? CUTE!). I'm not going to lie: getting orders for three handmade things at once is a little intimidating. I've structured my Etsy listings so that production time estimates allow me some room in these types of situations. I'm planning to have them all out by Friday at the latest. It's Tuesday, so that's totally doable, considering I already have the supplies on hand. I will probably have to buy more polyfil stuffing...the Death Star pillows take about half of a 12 Oz bag each, but I'm pretty sure that I've got at least t...

After I played it once a few weeks ago, my toddler has decided that Nightmare Before Christmas should be played on repeat as often as possible. Granted, he's detoured a little bit now to Finding Nemo, but he's still asking for NBC at least a few times a week. He's three, and I love it, so of course I can't ever deny it. I thought I'd get sick of it, as it so happens with many other movies that he wants to watch over and over again, but after what seems like the millionth viewing, my love for NBC is as strong as ever. What can I say? I've always been a Burton fan, even after having been exposed to Edward Scissorhands much too young (hey, it's scary to a five year old!), and regardless of what my mother did to keep me from watching his movies. She did keep me from seeing NBC until I was a teenager, though, and James & The Giant Peach, because reasons (I'm assuming...). But I was hooked on Burton from the first time. So, naturally I'm passing that...

So, the day (literally) that our cape inventory came online, my good friend Missy messaged me on Facebook about a custom Ruby Red from Once Upon a Time cape. Now, OUAT has been on my Netflix watchlist forever, but I haven't actually started watching it (boo, I know. I'm fired). So, I googled it found the following: This cape is serious business! Of course, the costume designers and some bloggers have the resources to get their hands on this $27/yard brocade fabric. We, decidedly, did not! Though Missy was willing to pay the hefty price, actually replicating this cloak would be a LOT of work. Ms. Confessions of a Seamstress even says it: she had to surge all of the edges to keep this stuff from fraying. Not my idea of a great time, and the serger we have access to is actually about an hour away. So, not practical or economical. With labor it would have been about $400. That's a LOT for a Halloween costume. So, we went in search of the perfect imitation fabric--the...

Time is running out to get 25% off all pre-made capes on Etsy with Coupon Code CAPEDWONDER! We've sold a few over the last couple of weeks, but there are plenty more to be had! Check them out: The blood-stained model: two of these available, both extra long with button and loop closures.  There's one of these wrinkle-free, light-gray polyester capes with black ribbon tie remaining in stock! Measures 45" from neckline. Two collared black capes in stock, perfect for any Vampire costume! One long (pictured), one short. One of these beautiful apricot hooded capes left in stock! Lace detail and white ribbon tie closure. All of these lovely capes and more are available on Etsy , courtesy of our lovely and talented seamstress, Taiza P. She is so great. So great, in fact, that she makes custom capes, too! There's still time to order a custom-made cape or cloak in time for Halloween! In fact, I'll be blogging about our most recent cust...

The NWB received its first custom order request this weekend! We received a message on Friday afternoon about creating a custom cape in purple burlap. It's going to be for a Skeletor costume, which makes me ridiculously happy! I knew my nerdy people would find us eventually! The customer sent me two photos for reference (as if I needed them!) Without any on hand, Taiza P. and I headed out in search of purple burlap at our local fabric stores. Unfortunately, we had no luck. Fortunately, though, Taiza did have a perfectly purple polyester on hand, which she turned into this cape in record time: My hubby was kind enough to be our Tough Guy model :) This cape is much lighter than a burlap one would be, and is going to be easier to wear. We figured that even if our Skeletor client didn't want it, someone would, but the consensus opinion is that this is perfect for Skeletor! As luck would have it, the client likes this one! It is definitely going to be less scratchy...

The lovely and very talented Taiza P. has created a whole lot of handmade costume capes for the NWB's Halloween inventory ! They are each unique and there are many styles available. Lined & Hooded Cloak in Gold-Threaded Burlap Black Cape with Straight Collar - Two Available! All of these and more are available now on Etsy! Sheer Black with Hood , 3 available! Wrinkle-free Gray Polyester with Hood , 2 available! Apricot & Lace Hooded Cape , 2 available! Blood-Stained Gray Hooded Cloak , 2 available! Silver Lame Hooded Cape with Black Stitching , extra long Silver Lame Hooded Cape Reversible Silver Lame and White Lace Hooded Cape Sheer Pinstriped Hooded Cape We also do custom capes! In fact, we made one over the weekend for a Skeletor costume. Stay tuned for the post about that project! Thanks for looking, Loves! Always Yours, The NWB

I really love my current schedule. At my real job, I work Sunday through Wednesday, 10 hours shifts. This gives me Thursday, Friday and Saturday off each week, which is seriously fantastic. I usually manage to get some crafting in each weekend, but it's not often as much as I'd like. Between cleaning my house (a constant struggle), my three-year-old and the hubby, I'm lucky to actually finish any projects. This weekend the bestie and I decided it was time for a craftathon, and we went for it on Friday. She spent most of the day cutting fabric for a commissioned quilt. I spent most of the day organizing my crafting headquarters (aka, the living room). I don't have a before picture because it was really bad before, but here's the after: Yeah, that's the massive ripple blanket that I've been working on for about a year...it's 99.9% finished. It's going to be done soon..... Anyhow. I managed to compress all of my finished handmade product i...