A Stash Buster Project

So way back at the beginning of March, a lady on one of my sewing forums was nice enough to offer her pattern to use for a sew along. I went on vacation, tons of other stuff came up, and I'm just now finished. This was a sew from my fabric stash project! I also just stole the buttons off a couple MJ mesh bags because they were the only thing I had that matched. Anyway here it is and here is how the most annoying photo shoot ever went.



Me: Stella! Look at Mama. 



Me: Can you put the balloon down?
Stella: Down there?



Me: No. Get away from the edge! Nevermind just hold it.
Stella: Like this?!



Me: Just...whatever, hold it however you want.



And that is the story of the balloon-unicorn picture. 

Knit love fest 2012!

Here's the results of my new found love of sewing knits!

My husband races dirt bikes, so I made this upcycle and leggings for the last race of the season.

Stella wants to wear princess dresses every day! I'm not sure I love the red leggings with it, but the princess wanted red so that is what I made.

My auto tank remake--I did a higher neckline because we always struggle with too much chest showing in her MJ ballerinas. I still need to add some trim to it as well.

And just because she wanted to wear it this morning--the "It's a Small World" dress I made for her latest Disney World trip.

Knits! And a late Fashion Show

I can sew knits! I don't know why but I have been too nervous to try until now. I made ruffle leggings!!! I seriously feel like I am on cloud 9! Who knew ruffles could make me this happy? I made a couple upcycles for her, too, but it's the leggings that have me so pumped. Oh and I used a twin needle! I feel like a sewing rock star right now.

I also thought I would post her Christmas dress, so you would know that I actually do sew and not just come on here and ask a ton of questions! ;) I was planning on doing a Handmaiden's cottage type dress with this fabric, then decided on a handkerchief hem dress instead. The fabric seemed like it called for a spunky look. I put it over the Loves Me Not red dress and grey ruffle leggings.  I will post pics of the upcycle knit love fest soon, too!

Just so you can see her "evil" face!

And her bonnet!

Easter and Earth Day

For some reason I have no good pictures of these! I made Stell and my cousin's baby matching Easter Egg hunt outfits. They aren't elaborate, but I think they ended up cute. The only picture I have of the two of them is after Stella has been eating candy and being crazy. It was a little cuter when her skirt wasn't drooping, her hair was fixed, and her shirt was clean. Stella's shirt says Happy Easter to all my Peeps in bling and obviously her baby cousin is her Peep.

This is her Easter basket that took me a couple nights to distress and stencil. I took this idea and the egg hunt skirts from the LBB blog. I love how it turned out. Plus I filled it with some play silks that I dyed. She loves them. I didn't know if she would or not, but with no direction at all she started playing with them. 

And Stella on Easter morning. Yes, she slept in her "Tiana" dress. Please excuse the Easter mess.

And finally her Earth Day dress. 

The conversation my sister and I had the night I was making it.

Sister: Are you seriously making her a dress she is only going to wear one day?
Me: Yes.
Sister: You have a problem.
Me: I know.

Ok, so maybe she didn't come right out and tell me I had a problem, but everything in her tone and eyes said it for her! :)

5x7 Folded Card

Picture In Portrait 5x7 folded card

Creating Christmas cards have never been this easy.

View the entire collection of cards.

Shutterfly Holiday Cards

As most of you know, I love my holiday cards! I send them out at Easter, Halloween, Stella's birthday (that's a holiday isn't it?), but the big-time event is the Christmas cards. In years past I have gotten them from the photographer, but this year am heavily considering making them myself. Shutterfly has a great selection of holiday cards to choose from, and they have my favorite which is a folding 5 x 7 that you can pretty much design however you want. I like my Christmas cards to look like real cards. Plus I want to be able to put multiple pictures on my card, usually one on the front, one in the middle, and one on the back.

Check out all the awesome options they have!

http://www.shutterfly.com/cards-stationery/christmas-cards

They also have calendars and gifts!

http://www.shutterfly.com/calendars 


http://www.shutterfly.com/photo-gifts

I usually like my picture to take up the whole front of the card, although this design is calling to me a bit.


The best part of Shutterfly is that you don't even need to be all that crafty or tech savvy to make an awesome card. It's pretty much drag and drop, which is also nice if you are a horrible procrastinator like me!

Disney

Due to unforeseen circumstances (ahem, cough, cough, the IRS being evil!) Ryan and I postponed our Ireland trip this year and instead went to Disney. This ends up being rather ironic because on our honeymoon ten years ago, we told each other that we would come back and stay in the Polynesian resort on our tenth anniversary. We may have overestimated our financial success in ten years or underestimated the $400 a night price tag. We ended up staying at Fort Wilderness campground in the RV with Debby and Francis. A very nice campground, if you've never been there. Here are a few of the tons of pictures I took.

Just so you can see I was there too!

My favorite!

Can you tell she wasn't a big Mickey fan?

One of my favorite pics!