Elsewhere in my world...

I make and am attempting to sell... Hair Bows!!!!  I like making them and having no children of my own, I need to get rid of them!  Check out Amy's Black Cat Designs on Facebook to see what I am talking about!

Lil Blue Boo / Dharma Trading Design Challenge... I sent the emails!!!!!!

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

for those of you at home who are following... I emailed in the post links and photos.... and now I am panicking! 

• I did not change the names of the photo files before I sent them!
• What if I did not send them right?
• My blog posts are stupid!
• add other useless and silly worries here
• and here

I need to go to bed!!!! G'night!

Lil Blue Boo / Dharma Trading Design Challenge... LOVE this Tunic Top

Do you remember this wicked cute picture from my previous post?

And I asked if you liked DiDi's shirt?  (DiDi is what the little on calls her big sister)


I am absolutely in LOVE with this shirt!!!!!!!!! and this picture of DiDi

Rock it Girl Friend!!!

I did not make the pants... she has three pairs of black leggings and they were perfect for this top.
Didi is very much into the punk rocker fashions, which make her mother M roll her eyes.  I think some are pretty cute and some are weird.  So this was my attempt to make a happy medium for Didi and M.  I just hope her dad will not hate me for making her a halter top!

requisite front gate pic... my neighbors must think I am nuts

the top laid out

details

This top uses embellishments in the forms of appliques and rhinestones!  Which Didi is so excited about.

I could not be more please about how this top turned out!  When I used to make my clothes without patterns, I would just hold the fabric up to myself and cut and sew and hold it up again.  It is more difficult with the kids clothes because I have to drive 15 minutes to reach the kids and they are not always available when I am creating (mainly because I am a night owl).

I am so excited to be entering it into the Lil Blue Boo / Dharma Trading Design Challenge over at www.lilblueboo.com!


It is really amusing to me that either cat did not get into these pictures.  Pandora was getting in the way of the whole photo shoot and Chaos kept knocking this shirt down to nap on!

References

I will be including some info about my friends and family but not their names and locations but it will be difficult to keep referring to them as she's and hers and her daughters and such... so here is a guide to nicknames and such

I will add more as needed and may change nicknames

Kiddos:

Didi is what this little girl's even littler sister calls her, she is my technical goddaughter and the eldest daughter of M

Buggie is Didi's little sister, my honorary goddaughter and the youngest daughter of M

Monkey 1 - is V's eldest daughter and another "honorary" god daughter (I called her my god daughter in public once, when introducing her and she called me on it), and she is a tween.... enough said!

Monkey 2 - is V's youngest daughter and my technical god daughter.  (It is just easier to introduce both as my goddaughters).  She is a clown.  Monkey 2 and Didi are in the same grade, but Monkey 2 is 9 months younger.

Friends:

M, L, K, R = I have 4 friends that get together once a week to touch base... they are M, K, L and R.  K, L, R and work with me at the school, so we see each other more than once a week!  L and I spend 6-7 hours a day together!!!!  M has two daughters.  If I come up with better nicknames I will let you know!

V is a friend from high school who also has two daughters.

A is a friend from college

Critters: (I'll give their real names)


Chaos - do cats grow into their names????

Pandora - the quieter, kinder of my two cats

Lil Blue Boo / Dharma Trading Design Challenge.. Another Entry

I already have one outfit for the Lil Blue Boo / Dharma Trading Design Challenge, but I have yet to submit it... nerves and all... but I have a second outfit too!!!!

Outta here!  It is really tough to photograph an 18 month old!

I am not sure if this one counts... I am supposed to use "Tie-Dye, Dyeing, Silk Painting, Fabric Painting, Batik, Marbling, Stamping, Transfers, Screen Printing, Felting or Embellishments" so I am counting on the flower as an embellishment?  Which she kept trying to take off.  It looks cute! Leave it alone!  Lol

Also, there are bandanna clothing ideas all over the web, so I do not think this is original enough, but here it is!

Last year my friends and I started a tradition (I hope) of camping on the 4th of July weekend.  There are five of us, but 4 of us work together, so getting time off for a joint vacation is literally impossible!  The friend that does not work with us "M" has two daughters who I am currently making things for because M says that she loves it and they will wear them!!!!  So for the 4th, both girls had matching red, white and blue outfits FOR EACH DAY!  I used to make tops for myself out of bandannas, so I thought I would try a dress...ta-da!  1 Red White and Blue outfit for 1 of the girls... I am working on making a matching one for the other girl, who is six so this design won't work.

I have no idea what she is doing...

I think she is done...

Aw... Didi is here!  (do you like DiDi's top???)

again, hanging on the front gate

cat getting in the photo shot again

fabric flower embellishment

Lil Blue Boo / Dharma Trading Design Challenge Outfit

I LOOOOOOOVE www.lilblueboo.com, just ask my friends... I am always referencing Ashley's tutorials and such.

When I was in high school I was a sewing and craft maniac... I made many of my own clothes, made my own and my sister's prom dresses and more... then I went to college and I stilled sewed, mostly my halloween costumes... and then REAL LIFE happened.  I got a job (woo hoo), I got an apartment, I got engaged, I started grad school, I got un-engaged, I moved home, I still have a job, I am still in grad school... when am I to find the time to sew??????

I saw this Design Challenge and thought it was cool.  At the time, I did not have a blog.  With some convincing of a friend, I sewed and created a blog... and here it is...

That is my friend's daughter asking if she can have a french fry after her modeling appearance... or asking for her dad... lol.

Another friend decided, when this little girl was 6 months old, that Minnie Mouse was going to be her favorite.  WELL, I hate when she is (kinda) right.  The little girl only speaks of "Mickey", but that is close enough.

I fell in love with this flowered fabric and wanted to make a reverse applique shirt and Mickey's outline is easy and recognizable... so I jumped in.  I always have to buy items in outfits for kids... so I quickly made some crops and reverse appliqued them as well.  I may begin reverse appliqueing everything!  Its so much fun and I love how it looks.

When I showed her the outfit, she said Mickey!  We then tried to get her picture... what a circus!  So there is my outfit for the Little Blue Boo/ Dharma Trading Design Challenge!

Hanging on my parent's front gate

outfit without cute baby model

trying to get the applique on the pants while a cat looks on... get outta the picture!

Top detailing... I LOVE THIS TOP!

Daylight Saving

Did you remember to set your clocks ahead last night? Spring Forward, Fall Back and all?  If you are near me, we are now in Eastern Daylight Time (opposed to Eastern Standard Time).  What a pain in the neck!  Especially those of us, such as myself, already struggle with sleep and sleepiness issues, switching the clock back and forth throws a wrench in any progress we may have made.  I would like to start a petition to remove this practice from all of the US.  Some of the US does not even follow it, many countries never did or currently do not.  Let us join them!  That's my humble opinion!

Check out Wiki: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daylight_saving_time



(I write this at 11:25pm my current time, when I should be in bed!)

Latest Project

Any Guesses?

Sleep Study

I have always been a big sleeper.  Even as a kid it pained my to wake up.  There were always excuses... I was growing, I was a teen, I was a college student, etc etc etc... STILL I find it hard to wake up and I do not have as much energy as I would like.  It's very frustrating.  So I went for my THIRD sleep study.  They are so much fun, NOT.  If you need to do one, they are not too bad, just annoying.

Difficult to take a self portrait all wired up using an iPhone

Grinch Day

Thursday, March 3rd was Grinch day at my goddaughter's school.  Her mom and I figured out how to make a Cindy Lou Who hair-do (from the live action movie) which was then sprayed green and we made a tee with iron on images and quotes.

Close up of front of shirt

Grinch Day Outfit Complete

Loving the Grinchy Hair Style!

Back

Upcycled Dress: Stripe Day

The Cat in the Hat loves stripes so on Friday, March 4th, my goddaughter's school had a stripes day.  I tool two tees that were the same but different colors and cut the top off of the blue one and attached it to the bottom of the green one as a skirt.  I thought it looked plain so I made a flower of the extra blue and attached it near the shoulder.  I thought it was pretty cute.

 

28

I am 28 years, 1 day and 12 hours old... in case you were wondering.

We ended up going to Dave & Buster's in RI to celebrate.  I do not understand why my birthday makes me so cranky.  Weird

Upcycled Top for a little girl

My god daughter's school is having a Dr. Seuss themed week.  I am so excited because he is one of my favs.  Each day has a different theme for dressing up.  Today was Red and White day, because those are The Cat in the Hat colors.  I was in Walmart a week ago and saw this shirt

It was a women's size large tube top... BUT it is RED and WHITE and STRIPED... perfect!!!!

I took it in from the back, because it was easier and faster.  I used the extra fabric to make straps and a matching hair accessory.  It turned out to be a very cute tunic top for her.  She wore it over red yoga pants and a white long sleeve tee (cold here!).  It was so cute!  I then put some Seuss Character stickers on some buttons and pinned them on for more Seussical flair.  I was more excited than she was!

It needs to be rotated counter clockwise, darn.

So excited!  I hope she had fun in school.

I got some pics from her mom!

We added some Dr. Seuss pins at the last minute and she had to wear it over a long tee because it was early March here in New England... Brrrr

Upcoming Birthday

Dun Dun Dun Dun Dun Dun (that is supposed to be ominous music)

My birthday is 1 week from today. I celebrated a close friend's birthday last night. Including her, I have 2 friends and 3 coworkers with February Birthdays. Every year I have 3-5 students with Feb birthdays. Everywhere people gather, there are many February Birthdays. As the shortest month, how is this possible??? What is so romatical in May that so many people have February birthdays? I am curious to know.

I have never really enjoyed my birthday. I love celebrating other's birthdays, surprising them and making them happy. But mine? Bah Humbug. I do not understand. Nowadays, it makes sense, my life's plans were derailed about a year ago and I still find myself picking up the pieces. This is not where I wanted to be at this age, but I have to make the best of it. So now a little gloominess about my upcoming day makes sense. But what about before?

I remember being in grade school ( hello Mr. Mansfield's class) and being gloomy after my birthday. As I got older I was gloomy on and after my birthday. Now- I am gloomy leading up to, on it and after it! Can I just skip the month of February?!?!?!

I dunno