Crafting: Tutu Dress (Vday)

This was one of my very favorite things I 

sewed for my daughter in 2010...

and with Valentine's Day in only about 2 weeks (eek!),

I thought it would be great to repost it with a picture of 

my sweet pea in the finished product. :)

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With Valentine's Day in a few days,

I figured I'd better start

cranking out the pics of

the crafts I've been working on

over the last month.

Yesterday, I got some sewing in.

So, I'll start with that.
I wanted to add a tutu

to Aliyah's Valentine's shirt.

So I started with 2+ yds of red tulle,

cut 12 & 14 inches, folded in half,

and pinned together at the fold.

Then, I put my tension to 1, and sewed a basting stitch over the fold,

making sure to not reverse stitch at the beginning or end.

Then, I pulled the string, and gathered the skirt to create the tutu effect.

I knew at this point, it was going to turn out darling!

Then I pinned it, longest side on top, to the shirt.

I started pinning in the middle of the back,

and slightly overlapped the skirt in the back, too.

Then sewed a zizag, regular tension & backstitched,

to attach the tutu to the skirt.

And it turned out like THIS!

My mom created the applique' on her embroidery machine.

So together, we created quite the cute & unique outfit

for our little princess.

I'll add pics of their

Valentine's photo shoot

this weekend!

Look for it. :)

I have also been working (forever)

on making some placemats

for our Valentine's Brunch

I'm making the family on Saturday.

I think they turned out cute.

I'm thinking with the leftover fabric,

I might make a table runner.

Only, I'm saving that for next year. :)

This was pretty simple.

I just cut out a heart on felt, then on the contrast fabric.

Sewed them together, with standard sewing rules.

Added some ric-rac to trim it.

They turned out pretty cute!

Don't you think?!

Happy Sewing, Friends.

Linking to:









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Crafting: Painting a Tree Mural for the Nursery

Since our church's nursery was getting an expansion,

and I got to be the one in charge of decor...

guess what I decided to do?!

Paint a tree mural. :)

And before y'all think I'm some superwoman
with artistic powers...
I'm not.
I used an overhead transparency! :)
Just printed out a huge picture of what I wanted
from something I found online on transparency film,
then drew the outline with pencil on the wall...
then went to town with the paint brushes.

This project took about 12 hours to paint,
but seeing the little ones on Sunday morning going over to the mural,
and LO-ving it!
That made it SOoooo worth it.

Our theme was "Grow in Grace"

& "Grow in Knowledge".

And we kinda managed to somehow

turn that into a tree/safari looking theme. haha.

So, I have no "before" photo of the room.

But it was... umm.. hideous.

(I hope the lady that painted it before me,

doesn't read that! lol)

My favorite two little animals were this owl,

And this monkey!

Next up in the nursery decor!

A growth chart with our theme verse,

"Grow in grace" & "Grow in knowledge".



Added to:

Crafting: Anthropologie Inspired Flowers!

So, yes... I, along with a lot of others, am in love with Anthro. :) I don't have the $$ to spend on their stuff very much... but if I did, I would probably spend it there. I am also totally inspired by their window displays.

I know I posted this in an earlier post... but I can't help myself.

I love this window display!

Edit: I've added another great idea to this post on
how to use the anthro inspired flowers!! Way cute.

And that is where I got the inspiration to make my cute little

flower garland for my mantle...
 and hopefully a few other decor items for Spring!

I love that it uses recycled bottles, too. So awesome!

I know that the original used all kinds of bottles.

I chose to use water bottles.

Lots & Lots of water bottles!

My process was pretty quick.

I removed labels & lids,

cut the bottle in half with my scissors,

then cut 5 "equal-ish" petals.

I made 25- 16 for my garland, and 9 for my Easter table deco.

Then I got out my spray-paint cans, and had some fun!

Pretty!! Happy smiling face for me with those spring colors.

I tried using a needle to thread my fishing wire through, but it broke.

So I ended up using my exacto knife to poke small little holes.

Be CAREFUL!!! (I wasn't. Oops.)

Start stringing those flowers. Fun, fun!!

I made a loop knot as I was stringing the flowers,

for each of the nails that the garland would be hanging from.

And then, sit back, and ENJOY it!!

Don't you just love it?!!! I do.

Spring Has Sprung! Anthro style. :)

Aaah. Sweet sighs of happiness.

And my mantle is happy.

Edit: Here's another Great Idea I made using these same flowers!

Yes... put these pretties on your Easter/Spring table.

This may sound crazy, but I think I like them like this even better!!

One word of advice...

when working with sharp objects- be careful.

Otherwise you'll end up like me- -

with a "Crafter's Casualty"!! lol.
Edit: Just a cut. Thanks to all for the concern. It'll definitely heal up!

Added to the DIY Paint Party!

Please see the sidebar for the linky parties that I am joining this week!
(Too many to list in a post- aah! :)

Decorating My Mantle: Spring Edition

I'm so excited about my Spring/Easter mantle!!
I wanted it to reflect Our Lord's resurrection,
Spring,
and my love of my Family! My Blessings.
 

Since my oldest boy has massive allergies,

I opted out of fresh cut flowers,

and decided to instead "make" some flowers. :)

Of course, burning a sweet honeysuckle candle in the house

helps bring that sweet flower smell, without the pollen.

I absolutely adore how the "flower" garland turned out!!

(Tutorial on this post.)

I tried my hand at free-hand painting the Easter plaque.

Umm... note to self: just use the expensive Cricut you got. Ha!

But at least it is a reflection of the Resurrection.

That was important to me...

to be able to reflect on that.

I always have to have a family picture on my mantle.

I guess that's one of my favorite things about decorating

my mantle.

Showing off my Blessings!

I used the same technique as before in this post.

And my floral arrangement is also not "fresh",
Although it would've been nice.

You can find a "how to" in this post if you'd like to make one.

So now I'm just sitting back,

reflecting on Easter & the Resurrection of my Lord Jesus.

And I love that this mantle reflects that,

and my love of my Blessings- my family.

I am linking to the "Ready Set Vignette" party,

at the Stories of A to Z blog,

and The Reluctant Entertainer's "Home Is",

 and the Nesting Place party.

Go on over & see all the inspiration at these parties!!