My Past Toilet Paper Dresses in the Gutsy Runway

As the Sudbury Chapter of Crohn's and Colitis Canada, our team came up with an interesting fundraising idea in 2022: a toilet paper fashion show called the Gutsy Runway! Basically, designers make toilet paper dresses and fundraise. Then their dress is in a runway that people can buy tickets to attend. All of the money goes to Crohn's and Colitis Canada! This is such a cool fundraiser because Crohn's and colitis are diseases that can involve frequent washroom use so toilet paper fits the theme. Also, the runway is about being brave and getting up there in front of people to raise awareness and support for Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis. I myself have designed a dress and modelled it all three years that we have held our runway. There has definitely been a lot of learning along the way! Having ulcerative colitis, designing and modelling my own dress was all about represting the Crohns and colitis community in every way that I could! See my past three dresses below along with the methods that I used to make them.

2022 - Ruffles:

I had no idea what I was doing for this first dress since I have no dress-making experience and toilet paper is difficult to work with. This dress was basically just one big experiment! I did a lot of papier maché work with the toilet paper and I wanted ruffles so I folded lot of individual pieces of toilet paper to make ruffles for the skirt part. Hot glue was definitely my best friend for this dress! The over the shoulder shawl-like piece was actually supposed to be worn as a traditional shawl but was too short and some girls backstage suggested that I just put it over my shoulder and it ended up being a hit! One problem that I encountered was the chest of the dress starting to tear backstage before I even modelled the dress.

See photos of all of the dresses here!

2023 - Medieval Inspired:

I decided to go with a different method of toilet paper dress making. The winner of the first runway showed me how she attached long sheets of toilet paper together to make a sort of fabric. She sewed hers with a sewing machine but I am only confident with my hand sewing methods so I just used my good old friend hot glue! I used the "fabric" making method to make two separate pieces, top and skirt, which looked like a full dress when combined. I made it in two pieces to lessen the weight of the skirt pulling on the top, hoping that this would prevent it from tearing. I wanted long bell sleeves inspired by Medieval dresses but decided to just have the sleeves flow behind me, sort of like a cape, instead. It still looked Medieval inspired and I made a sort of headband veil that was Medieval inspired as well. I wanted to make pom poms for this dress so I made some poofy ones and used them to decorate part of the dress. The most fun part of it was the accessory! I made two large poofy pompoms and attached them to each other using a large braid that I made from rope which was toilet paper twisted using a drill. This toilet paper rope would be the future inspiration for my third dress. People thought that my accessory of a big braid with pompoms on either end looked sort of like a mace which again fit in with the Medieval inspiration and which I thought was hilarious! This dress ended up tearing on the sides of the chest underneath the armpits but the tearing happened after the show while I was still wearing the dress and moving around a lot.

See photos of all of the dresses here!

2024 - 1920s Flapper Inspired:

This is my favourite dress so far! I love the 1920s so I wanted to create a dress inspired by this brilliant decade! After making some toilet paper rope the previous year, I decided to go all out with it and hand weave it in two panels which I then attached with woven sides. I did this using a makeshift loom that I put together from a long tote lid and pegged knitting looms duct taped to each end. It required a lot of rope to weave the entire thing and I used hot glue once again when needed. For my accessories, I made a toilet paper "feather" boa by making a really long braid from toilet paper rope and then glueing short individual pieces of the rope to it. I also made a hat by creating a sort of papier maché bowl using a large floppy hat as a mould and then decorated it. To complete my look, I wore a short bob style wig and some red lipstick. This particular dress held up really well and I am very proud of it!

See photos of all of the dresses here!

Cheers,

Kaylie

DIY Wire Gem/Bead Tree

When I've gone to the Sudbury Gem & Mineral Show in the past, I've always noticed some booths selling pretty wire trees with gems as the leaves. There were all sorts of different colours since different gems were used. They looked so complex that I thought it would take a lot of work but, earlier this year, I decided to see if there were directions online. I bought some beading wire and gemstone beads at a craft store and tried it out. I wanted to make a small tree just to learn how to make them and it was easier to make than I thought! I gave my first tree to my Dad as a late birthday present. I decided to make another wire gem tree for this DIY post and I even made another tree, a weeping willow, with seed beads! The step-by-step directions are below along with photos and tips. Once you know how to make the wire gem/bead tree, it is easy to switch up some of the steps to make different looking trees. At the end, I give a short description of how to do some of the steps differently to make a weeping willow with seed beads.


Supplies:

• 24-gauge beading wire
• Gemstone beads (or regular plastic/glass beads)
• Ruler
• Scissors

Notes before starting:

*These instructions are for a small tree. If you want to make a larger tree, increase the amount and length of the pieces of wire.

*Always twist wires in the same direction so that they look nice.

*Trees are perfectly imperfect so make sure to keep this in mind:

• The twisting does not have to be perfect.
• Give your branches and roots some variety. Do not make them all the same.
• Arrange the branches and roots in a natural way so that they go all over the place.

Instructions:

Step 1:

Cut 24 pieces of the beading wire, each measuring around 12 inches.

Step 2:

String a gemstone bead on a piece of wire, bringing the bead to the center of the wire and folding the wire in half. Twist the two halves of the wire together a few times at the base of the bead. 

Repeat for all of the other pieces of wire.

Step 3:

Take two of the beaded wires and join them together by twisting them together at the base of the previous twisting. Add a third one to a few of them. 

Repeat this with the other beaded wires so that you have several small branches.

Step 4:

Take two of the sets and twist them together, just like we did with the single wires in the last step. Add a third one to some of them.

Repeat this with the other sets so that you have at least four large branches.

Step 5:

Twist all of the large branches together at the base of all of the twisting and twist down to create a trunk. Do not twist all of the way.

Make sure that you leave enough wire to create roots in a similar way as creating the branches.

Step 6:

Separate the wires into three groups.

Separate each group into two groups so that you have a total of six groups.

Twist each of the six groups a bit. A few of these groups can be twisted all the way. Others can be separate again into two groups which can be twisted all the way.

Cut off any excess wire.

Step 7:

Bend and arrange the branches and roots in various directions.

To make a weeping willow with seed beads:

Cut 24 pieces of the beading wire, each measuring around 12 inches. Keep each piece of wire straight. Curl one end of each of the wires in a bit to make a sort of loop that will hold the beads on.

String seed beads onto a third of a piece of wire. Do this for each of the other wires. Be careful not to let the beads slip off of the wires. Follow steps 3-7 of the wire gem tree instructions.

They make such pretty decorations and they especially make pretty gifts!

Cheers,

Kaylie

Tussie-Mussies

I found out about tussie-mussies when I was browsing the internet learning about uses for herbs and the history of perfume. I guess tussie-mussies are somewhat connected to those searches. I found tussie-mussies to be very interesting, especially when it comes to their history, and I decided to make one for my grandma for her birthday last year. First, let's go over a bit of information about tussie-mussies and how to make them and then I'll talk about the one that I made for my grandma!

Tussie-mussies are small bouquets of flowers, plants, and herbs. The flowers are arranged in the center of the bouquet while the leafy plants are arranged around the outside. The bouquet is then tied together somehow (using elastics works great and then a nice ribbon can be tied around that) and then the bouquet is wrapped in a doily or pretty paper with a hole cut in the center where you place the stem of the bouquet so that the bouquet sort of sits on the doily.

Tussie-mussies were used centuries ago and then became popular again during the Victorian era. During that time, there were certain customs that controlled conversation so people had to figure out a way to speak without physically speaking. Tussie-mussies were perfect because the important part of a tussie-mussie is that each flower, plant, or herb means something. People call this the "language of flowers." People would wear a tussie-mussie to express what they wanted to say or sometimes they would send one to a specific person. For example, maybe they would want to show that they were grieving or maybe they would want to express their love to a certain person. A flower, plant, or herb can have anything from one to several meanings and sometimes the meanings are even contradictory. People would therefore consult special dictionaries that listed the meaning of the flowers, plants, and herbs or they would attach a small card to the tussie-mussie explaining the meanings, especially if the tussie-mussie was being given to someone. I recommend searching for tussie-mussie dictionaries online and finding the ones that you prefer to use. Some are better than others.

Since I was making a tussie-mussie specifically for my grandma's birthday, I wanted to express joy over this occasion (since birthdays are joyous occasions) and I also wanted to express all of my wishes for her on her special day. I also wanted to use flowers, plants, and herbs that were currently available on my family's property and in our garden areas.

I chose the following flowers, plants, and herbs for her tussie-mussie:
Pansy = Merriment
Yarrow = Health
Vervain = Good fortune
Wood Sorrel = Joy
Basil = Best Wishes
Fern = Sincerity

The pansies came from our hanging flower baskets. The yarrow, vervain, wood sorrel, and ferns came from further back on our property (in the bush by a river). The basil came from our vegetable garden.

It is also common to create a phrase using all of the meanings so I created the following phrase:
Sincere wishes for health, joy, and good fortune on this merry occasion.

I used rubber bands to tie all of the stems together and did this several times throughout the bouquet to ensure that the various layers stayed together and didn't fall apart. I cut a piece of paper in a sort of round decorated snowflake style and cut a hole in the center large enough for the stems of the bouquet to fit through. I also tied a nice ribbon around the elastics and the base of the paper to hide the elastics and paper edge as well as to hold everything together nicely. I wrote out the meanings and phrase on a piece of paper along with a little birthday message and tied it to the bouquet. I also placed the bouquet in a small vase of water to make sure that the plants would last. I told my grandma that she could leave the bouquet in the water for a while and when the plants start to wilt, she can try drying the bouquet so that she could keep it. She ended up letting it dry and still has it sitting on her table beside her chair.

Tussie-mussies are not just simple bouquets. They are so much more! I think that's why they make such special gifts. Also, you can adapt them for basically any occasion since there is a large range of meanings associated with the flowers, plants, and herbs. Give it a try!

Cheers,
Kaylie

Ramblings About Taking Breaks, Pursuing Your Passions, And Being Unique

I didn't publish any blog posts last week, even though I have been trying, and succeeding, to publish three posts every week. I was working on a post for Monday but it wasn't quite finished so I planned to finish it and publish it some time on Monday rather than rushing to finish it and schedule it to be published Monday morning. That didn't happen. A certain event happened and created a rough start to the week. I didn't worry about my blog. I decided to take a break and not post anything that week. Some other things happened in the same week and it was, overall, not the greatest week that I've had. I was glad that I took a break from my blog. It gave me some time to think about things. It gave me some time to write other blog posts. It gave me some time to just get things together and plan ahead a bit. I love blogging and I felt bad about missing a week of blogging and temporarily breaking my habit of blogging three times a week, but sometimes you just need to take a break.

We need to listen to our mind and body. I could have pushed myself to finish up some blog posts for the week but I did not feel up to it. I felt that I would become exhausted. I also felt that I might publish a blog post without the feeling of it being complete and just right. I decided, however, that I would only stop blogging for one week. In the past, I would stop blogging and think that I would just start the next week but it always kept becoming the next week and the next until I hadn't blogged for several months. I didn't want that to happen again. I love blogging because it gets me writing and as I continue blogging, my writing improves. I try to write longer blog posts. I try to let the words pour out. As I continue blogging, I get better and better at expanding on my ideas. I think that I need this right now. At a time when I'm still figuring things out, I need something to keep me moving forward.

Taking a break is a good idea when pushing yourself is a bad thing but continuing whatever it is that you're doing is a great thing too, as long as it is something that you love and want to pursue. You want to do things that are good for you as a person. You need to "follow your heart," so to speak. Don't push yourself to do something just because it's popular or because it's just "what you do" in life. Be your own person. Being different from other people makes life more interesting. Being different can make you stand out, and isn't that what we should be doing? I've seen so many blogs, websites, Youtube channels, social media accounts, etc. that are all so similar to each other that they don't stand out as much from each other. Be unique. Sure, you sometimes have to do the same thing as someone else in order to learn how to do it, but once you have the hang of it, be creative and let yourself shine.

Technology is a platform for us to be creative. We should use it in interesting ways that are different from how other people use it. We need to continue changing and shaping the way we use technology. We shouldn't just copy other people all of the time. We need to move forward. We need to advance. We need to create something that really stands out and makes people think differently about being creative. We need to be inspired by what has been created before and then create our own unique creations that inspire other people.

I thought that I was just going to make this post about the benefits of taking breaks but it has really moved further than that, and that's perfectly fine. It became something more than I expected. It became something better. And that actually connects with what I said about following your heart. I could have forced myself to stick to just the one topic, but I decided to let myself ramble on and let my heart speak about what I've been thinking about lately. Now I love this post more than before.

Cheers,
Kaylie

Vision Boards (Positivity Exercise)

During the Fall, I made some vision boards after getting out of the hospital. I did this because I felt a bit lost when it came to what I wanted to do with my life. I'm a visual person and I had made a vision board before so I decided to make one to help me visualize and figure out my plans for the future. My first vision board ever was made at a vision board workshop at a local library and it was made on a large bristol board but I felt that it was too big. The whole point of a vision board is to glue words and pictures of things that you want in your life into a sort of collage and then place it somewhere where you will see it all the time so that the words and images will make their way into your mind. Hopefully they create a constant unnoticeable reminder in your head of what you want to manifest and eventually it will happen because you make it happen. My large vision board seemed too overwhelming. There were way too many pictures and words for my mind to take in.

This Fall, after playing around a bit with some words and pictures from magazines on a normal size piece of paper (around 8"x11"), I realized that a smaller vision board was much better. There were fewer words and pictures so it was easier for my mind to focus on them and remember them and it was also easier to narrow down exactly what I wanted from each vision board while being more artistic with the arrangements of the cut-outs at the same time. Also, I could play around with the words more and arrange them in a way so that they all flowed with each other when read in order. I made a total of three vision boards and I put them in plain frames without borders that you would normally use to display certificates. I'll talk about each vision board in more detail in this post.

My "What do I want to do with my life?" vision board:

This was the first vision board that I made out of the total of three vision boards. I wanted to create a vision board that would get me thinking in a more positive way about figuring out what I want to do in my life rather than stressing out about it all the time. I chose empowering images like that of a girl with a smile on her face and her arms in the air in a sign of success as well as that of Wonder Woman. Another image, which happens to be the biggest picture on the board, is that of a woman with her hands on a traditional image of a heart that is on her chest. I chose this image because the things that I really want to do in my life are things that I'm passionate about and I felt that this image was a good symbol for our passions. The words have to do with there being possibilities out there and how I can do what I really want and love to do. Just for fun, I covered the entire vision board in glitter glue (which is a bit difficult to see in the photo) to remind myself to have fun while exploring my interests.

My "Stress Less" vision board:

I created this vision board to focus more on keeping my mind relaxed and less stressed. The images are of activities that I love that are also relaxing and help with relaxation like meditation, yoga, and hiking outdoors. The words are reassuring and encouraging.

My "Creativity" vision board:

This vision board is all about art and creativity. I am a very creative person but I feel like I'm not focusing on the arts and creativity that I love as much as I'd like so I pasted a bunch of images of arts that I love like crafts, drawing and painting, writing, music, and photography. I also added words that are connected to creativity and at the bottom I put a little inspirational sentence about being original when it comes to art.


Those are the vision boards that I made and I'm really happy with them! I feel like I really improved since the first time I made one and really focused on exactly what I wanted to get out of these vision boards.

Cheers,
Kaylie