CRAFTY CHICA: Ugly Christmas Sweaters!

Here is Jasen, an iLTC team member. His wife made his Ugly Christmas Sweater and he won the company contest! Yes, that tie lights up and blinks...

In case you haven't noticed, Ugly Christmas Sweaters have invaded the holiday season more than ever. Chances are by now you've been invited to an UCS party or contest, right? We're here to help. If you are lazy, you can be boring and buy a ready-to-go version from Urban Outfitters, or if you want a dash of elegance (ha!) you can attempt to spin the trend high fashion... like Katy Perry did this week.

However, we here at iLoveToCreate not only appreciate the ugly Christmas sweater (we even held an employee contest last year), but we celebrate this awkward trend because of all the crafty elements! Seriously, check out this Etsy store that features "handcrafted" Ugly Christmas Sweaters, priced at $75 and up! And this is just one outlet, there are many others online if you search.

However, we say that if you are going to rock an UCS, go full-throttle and make your own version! Check out this video by dapper NBC reporter, Ben Aaron. By the way, Ben - we invite you to our design studio to make your next craft project!!


Artist and crafter Stephanie Longoria attended an Ugly Christmas Sweater party last year and made these gems for herself and her husband.

"Last year my family decided to to mix things up and have an ugly Christmas sweater competition," she says. "I made sweaters for my husband and myself. Mine was voted cutest and his ugliest. My advice for making a Christmas sweater is to decide on a theme and push it to the limit."

Stephanie Longoria and her handmade sweaters.

To see even more DIY masterpieces, check out the Washinton Post's article! Okay, you must be excited by now - so here is a list of how to get started:

Here is Brandi from iLTC, she took a sweater vest and glued a door hanger tothe center and then used Tulip 3D glitter Paint to add accents galore.

TIPS:
- Think cheap. Visit the local thrift store and dollar store for your accessories. Even if you can't find a holiday sweater, just go with a basic sweater or sweatshirt.
- Big work surface! Clear a table and have good lighting so you can have room to get down and crafty.
- A good STRONG GLUE - Aleene's Turbo Tacky will do the trick.
- Choose a theme. Your sweater will make more of a statement if there is a kooky story behind it.
- A centerpiece design - You can print this out on fabric paper or from a t-shirt. Or you can even start with a basic sweater that already has a design and go from there. And think dimensional - use a stuffed animal or plastic decoration. It's not like you'll be laundering the sweater, go all the way and think BIG and GAUDY!
- Sparkle. Glue on some tinsel, glittered ornaments, and even battery oerpated blinking lights.
- Comfort. If you want to take your sweater off during the party, you might want to go with a button up garment so you can easily remove it.
- Accents: Use Puffy Paint, felt, buttons, garland, paper cutouts, small toys, etc. Heck, even holiday coffee cups, why not?

Have you made an Ugly Christmas Sweater? Please share a link to your picture! We want to see!

Retro Trend at TARGET

Target is at it again, bringing style to the masses with four new designer collections. There is definitely a retro modern vibe at work, especially with the Route 66 inspiration byThe Curiosity Shoppe. Seems everyone - from Free People and Urban Outfitters Rookie Road Trip blog to Albertson's Best Road Trip Ever contest - has jumped on the 'Road Trip' trend this summer. 

And my personal fav....the celebration of the 50th anniversary of Andy Warhol's Campbell's Soup can. Fifty years after the artist created one of the art world's most iconic images with his red and white painting of a tomato soup can, the company that inspired the work is selling limited-edition soup with designer labels. Campbell's Soup has launched a series of four canned tomato soups with labels that pay homage to Warhol's 1962 work of art '32 Campbell's Soup Cans'. Timed to coincide with the 50th anniversary of Warhol's first solo exhibition, about 1.2 million cans of the tomato soup will be sold in Target stores across the United States for 75 cents (S$0.90) each. The company's design team, working with The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, created four different labels in vibrant combinations such as pink and teal for the tomato soup that went on sale this month.