FIRST PATTERN NOW AVAILABLE!

I took me a long time, but it's finally done and now available for sell in my etsy shop!

Goldie Locks & the Three Bears

3 LITTLE PIGS

Well, one anyways. I ran out of muslin so I could only make one of the three little pigs. I also need to get some more patterned frabric for the other two pigs clothing - so they aren't all the same.

I've also started making pattern pieces and instructions for all the dolls I'm going to make - which will be for sale in my etsy shop.

MR. FOX

I'm so excited for this latest project. I wanted to make these dolls, but making them look like my sketches was frustrating me until I got an idea. I painted this fox dolls on watercolor paper using the pattern pieces that I made then I scanned them onto the computer. Then to print them onto fabric I cut the fabric to the size of a piece of paper (8.5x11) as well as a piece of freezer paper (paper one side, wax the other). Then I ironed the freezer paper (wax down) onto the fabric and ran it through my printer. I think you have to make sure that your ink in your printer will work (or just try it).

You can buy bubble jet set and rinse for your fabric to use before and after printing to set the ink sets and you can wash it - I have yet to try it but will in the future.

 His trousers, suspenders, scarf and bowtie are all removable. 

He even has a little handkerchief!

I think in the future I'll make the image darker before printing, it's a little light here.

You can order one here on my etsy site.

SEWING UP A STORM

It seems I can never have a balance when it comes to hobbies. Once I start on a project like sewing I seem to need to do every sewing project I want to do in one week and then not sew again for months - on to the next thing. Yesterday I made two dresses for Aubrey - it's starting to get warm here and I thought some spring dresses would be fun to make. The hard part was deciding what type of dress I'd make with which fabric!

 The first dress was a simple one from this tutorial here.

The next one is my favorite. I just made this one up but used the pleated yoke tutorial from here.

 I covered some buttons for the front and back.

 I have a couple more left to make, but might wait until summer in case she gets a growth spurt!

She just had a physical and she is in the 75 percentile for height. She's outgrown pants that I just bought 3 months ago!

OWL + THE PUSSYCAT

The other day I spent a good chunk of the day making these two dolls. They aren't perfect - ran into a few problems but I guess it will help me for the next ones!

SOMETHING FOR HER - SOMETHING FOR ME

Man, I'm checking things off my Pinterest list! Some people just pin things to have a nice collection of photos, but I definitely pin things I'm actually going to tackle.

First up was a baby carrier for Aubrey:

 This pin didn't come with a tutorial (it was a pattern someone had purchased) so through trial and error I just drew my own pattern.

 I'm not sure why I made the inside piece backwards, I should have just lined it, but I was lazy and no one sees it anyways.

Next I made this apron from here.

Thanks to my sis-in-law, Julianne who let me look at her fabric stash and then when I said "Oh, I love that one" gave it to me! I really love it and now I get to look at it all the time!

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!

Hope you've had a sweet day!

 

These are definitely not the cutest cookies I've ever made, but after the crafty day I had yesterday, I didn't feel like doing much when I made them last night!

 I've been working on Aubrey's room (once again). It seems like I've revamped it a couple times in the past year or two but moving has been a good excuse to change things up. 

It's nice to be able to remove some of the excess items from her room as they were photography props - and put them out in the garage. I'm slowly trying to create a less cluttered space, but being small it's really hard. Here's my sad attempt at a cushion for the bench - it will have to be redone when I can get an appropriate cushion!

 I had a little too much fun at the fabric store! I made the two patterned pillow cases and this kite one out of felt scraps.

 This one is my favorite. I found this adorable embroidery pattern here and it only took me an evening to do. I'm a big fan of quick projects!

 I also made 3 hot air balloons to hang from her ceiling. They are all done but I haven't figured out a great way to hang them yet. I found these really pretty lanterns at the thrift shop, and just added scraps of fabric left over from the pillows, ribbon, string and little felt baskets.

More photos to come when they are hanging!

Next project is to paint her bed. I've picked an ocean blue. I really wanted to paint her dresser too but it's easier to take the bed headboard/foot board out of the house than the dresser so I compromised with just painting the handles. I wanted to get knew handles as well, but this is a much more economical choice. I painted the handles green and they are drying as we speak - I hope they look good!
UPDATE: I just put the handles on the dresser and I love it:

It's a terrible photo, but I'm too lazy to take my camera out again!

 

Lastly - I made one more pair of felt shoes. I'm loving the bright colors, they are just in time for spring!

DOLLHOUSE BEDROOM

The bedroom is almost complete - I ran out if trim for the baseboards and crown molding.

I made the vanity out if matte board as well has the tray of perfume bottles out of beads. The mirror was made out of silver scrapbook paper, cardboard and painted crocheted lace. The stool was made out if a toilet paper tube, large button and fabric.

I'm not sure what else to put in here, it's kinda empty in the middle. Maybe a rug?

MINIATURE SCONCES

I'm having a hard time finding electrical lighting that is affordable. Since I've wired the dollhouse, it seems silly to not use working lights! I need a couple sets if sconces - 1 for the dining room and 1 for the living room. I decided to try and make some.

I used balsa wood as the base, poked a hole for the wiring then glued on some lace.

Next I painted the whole thing gold.

I glued on some gold jewelry findings which will hold my light bulb.

You can buy a 2-pack at Hobby Lobby for $3.99 and it comes with a long cord.
The bulbs can screw out and you can be replacement bulbs.
Here's what it will look like with the bulbs in.
I'll probably make a small shade for them to cover them.

THRIFTING FOR HALLOWEEN . . . & CHRISTMAS!

Aubrey is going to be Rapunzel for Halloween this year. She already had a purple princess dress so I bought her a long blond adult wig from Target and braided it. She didn't like how scratchy it was so I had to make her a little hair cap out of stockings to protect her from it!

The last thing on her list was shoes. I've looked everywhere for some cheap princess shoes that aren't those plastic ones with heals -but no luck.

So today I took a pair of her plain black shoes that I got from the thrift store a while back (she has 2) and turned them into Rapunzel shoes:

 

I first unpicked the bows and then I modge podged purple fabric to the whole shoe. 

Then I painted the bows gold and painted some crocheted lace I had gold. I trimmed them with the gold lace and added a little pearl embellishment.  Now I have a comfortable warm pair of shoes for her costume.

While at the thrift store yesterday looking for shoes, I scanned the costume section and came across some Disney princess dresses so I bought all the ones I found and will be a Christmas present for Aubrey! For about $25 got her a Belle, Snow White, Little Mermaid, Tinker Bell and a cute vintage looking polka dot dress (Annie??). 

She is loving playing dress up these days and she has her Rapunzel dress already and was given a Cinderella dress for her birthday, so now come Christmas, she'll be set!

FAIRY WINGS DIY

Out of pure cheapness I've decided to make fairy wings for Aubrey's 4th birthday party. Yes, I've already started planning. I'm just preparing myself ahead of time so that if we happen to be moving close to her birthday, I'm not packing instead of prepping for her party!

They are so easy to make and I think will be a great party favor!

 missing from the list: elastic

Take a rectangle of felt and wrap it around the center to cover the wrapped waist band and glue.

Now you can decorate the wings however you like. I used gold glitter paint to outline and add swirls. 

I wanted to add something to the center so I took a gold flower elastic headband and just tied it around the center to add a flower detail. Then when the girls take it home they can just take off the flower headband and use it.

NEW (TO ME) CHAIRS

I found 3 of these chairs on craigslist for $15 and the vintage in me couldn't resist. Especially since we only have 4 chairs around our dining table and I had been wanting 2 different chairs for the ends or a bench - whichever I found first.

 The original

 At first I wanted to spray the metal white and recover the seats, but after a trial on one of them, I found spraying all the tiny surface was a pain, so was putting the chair back together! The white made it look to shiny and new and I kind of liked the well worn look, so I settled on just recovering the seats. It's just a dark cream natural fabric with white piping (can't see it too well in this photo). I made replace them with something better later - like a vintage pattern. I searched and searched for something but couldn't find anything I liked.

As for the white chair I sprayed, I decided to recover the seat with some vintage chenille blanket and orange piping and put it in Aubrey's room. At least if we need to pull out another chair for entertaining, we can!

FIREPLACE MANTLE + GREATEST LABELS

I've finally decorated my fireplace mantle after trying out lots of different things and looking at lots of photos. I've always known what I wanted and had seen photos of beautiful ideas, but I didn't want to have to buy anything. I just wanted to use stuff I already had around the house and I just couldn't make it quite work. This weekend I did some garage sale shopping - I went to one street that was full of garage sales (maybe 15-20) complete with lemonade stands, cookie tables and even corn on the cob! Aubrey and I spent a good chunk of the day walking the whole street (which wasn't short!) and playing and eating. I found some old hardcover books, some fabric and a frame. I wish I had have found it earlier in the morning to make some great finds. I saw two people walking down the street with 2 great metal industrial stools and I got the garage sale shopper envy!

 I'll have to change out the photo in the frame sometime though - as it's not even Aubrey! It was in my old studio and is one of my favorite newborn photos. The color just suites it so well, I just can't decide what to replace it with!

I bought the faux succulent from Ross for $5 and the top 2 books are my garage sale finds - note: The Fondue Party Cookbook - how could I pass up that vintage find?

 Another area I finally (well, almost) finished was the last section of our entry way's gallery wall.

I have 3 things to finish: 1. replace the photo, 2. embroider something for this hoop and 3. paint this frame maybe?

 I printed off a bunch of my favorite Instagram photos in a grid at Staples along with the maps and keep calm poster for super cheap. I used photoshop's contact sheet batch to quickly align all the Instagram photos in a grid.

 I found this idea on Pinterest and made my own. I printed the Trip Fund heading onto a transperency and then cut out a slit (can't see it in this photo) to drop the money in. It was easier to cut it out here then cut it out of the top of the frame, and I can reuse the frame when I'm done. I just set the map closer to the back of the frame and taped it into place to create a shadow box.

 I bought some adhesive cork at Hobby Lobby and doubled it up so the pins had more thickness to go into. I bought the shortest pins for Joann's I could find and glued the little city flags on them.

If the whole thing was a lot larger it probably would be better and less concentrated in spots!

This is a great use of a frame that might have broken glass (which is my case).

 I've been looking for a frame to put this owl watercolor+ink painting my mom did and gave me, in but I couldn't find a square frame with matting for cheap anywhere. So I took this existing frame I had and used some poster board to make my own custom size mat. The mat could have been a slight color to create a contrast, but for now it's fine.

 This is the frame I bought at a garage sale, I was looking for a basic cheap frame without glass that I could spray paint (white gloss) to hang around this photo canvas.

I have to go off on a small rant at how great the Martha Stewart for Avery labels are!

I have used these 3 kinds so far and the templates available for download online make it super easy to use and they look soooo much better then regular labels.

I was printing out labels on cardstock, then rounding out the corners and gluing them on to my photo tins, so this is way better and looks better too. The little kraft flourish squares simply dress up this little baby shower gift box.

And what's in the box? This is what I made today for a shower tomorrow:

A little set of crocheted hat, shoes and tie. The tie was an experiment, but I think it's a cute novelty.

Sometimes baby boy clothes and accessories aren't so cute, so I thought I'd spend the extra time to make something special.