Friday, April 30, 2010

Spring Top Week Contest Entry

I have never entered a contest of skill before. Giveaways sure, I have even won a few of those but a contest dependent on my abilities, not a chance. I am rarely confident enough in my skills to compete. Although I did win a photo contest once but I think that was pure odds. Regardless! I am entering a contest now. Made By Rae's Spring Top Week Contest. And I am so excited. I actually think I have a chance. With this little number:


Front View


Rarely do you see me in something strapless, having a small chest I normally like to pretend I have more but I could not resist trying this one out. And I love it! I was inspired by the leftover material from my bubble skirt but I did not have enough to do what I wanted to do so I waited. And then I had the idea to make this. For once, having a small chest did me a favour.


Back ViewSideview


The pillowcase was found a couple months ago on a thrifting trip. And after I realized the only seam I had to take apart was the bottom seam I was super happy. I turned the pillowcase inside out and folded the scalloped edge out so that the embroidery face out. I then three-step-zig-zagged elastic underneath it, out of sight. To hide the one seam that was now showing I sewed pink bias tape over it and then lace over that to soften it up. It looked a little too 'athletic stripe' for me.

That was it. Oh yeah, and I had to cut a few inches off because as small as my chest is, my hips don't lie lol. I did a rolled hem and double stitched it. Turned out great!


Embroidery Detail


I am pleased as punch with both the shirt and my execution. (it looks exactly like I pictured it!) I think it really does stand a chance. I also think I shouldn't wait any longer to enter it. The contest closes tonight at 8pm eastern time.


Wednesday, April 28, 2010

Wednesday on Wednesday

Painting with our nose.
Wait for it...

Painting with our nose.
Wait for it...

Painting with our nose.
There it is!

Painting with our nose.
Ta-Daa!


Tuesday, April 27, 2010

How To: Peasant Skirt to Bubble Skirt

pink

Happy Tuesday! Remember that pink fabric from last week's My Creative Space? Well, this is the tutorial. I am sorry I haven't an action shot of the finished piece but it does look as good on as it does on the hanger. :)




Bubble Skirt Collage
Once you have trimmed off the bulkyish gathering, turn your skirt inside out and marvel at your awesomeness.
Voila.
I love this skirt. It is so light and feminine. As soon as I finish my ballet flat refashions I will brave the cooler spring air and take some action photos for you.

Due to the simplicity of the entire process (I made this skirt in under an hour. (Pulling out the shabby tinsel on the other hand...lol) I tried to keep the pictures and text to the point, but if you have any questions please feel free to ask them!

Until next time, happy sewing!

Proudly linking to:


Tutorial Tuesday @ Hope Studios
Whatever Goes Wednesday @ Someday Crafts  
Creative Share Wednesdays @ Trendy Treehouse
Idea Sharin' Wednesdays @ Women Who Do It All
Make It & Wear It @ The Train To Crazy

Monday, April 26, 2010

My Crafty Weekend - Girly Edition

My Crafty Weekend - Girly Edition


Welcome to this weeks' edition of My Crafty Weekend! This week, has been dubbed as the Girly Edition. Largely in part due to my mom's birthday dinner and a fancy Nancy inspired parasol. Oh and shoes! Is there anything girlier than cute shoes?

Do you like the cake? It is a New York style cheesecake I came up with a little over a year ago. This one in particular has a baked banana topping. When it was sliced we drizzled a strawberry reduction and butterscotch sauce made by The Mister. It was so good, I'll be sharing the recipe later this week.

The giftbag was made with two of Wednesday's paintings. regrettably the gift inside was not handmade (Bought Mama some 'real' Crocs.) There is always Mother's Day though right?

The shoes are a work in progress, but as soon as I have ten minutes to call my own they will be done and a super quick tutorial will be posted. I will tell you though, by removing the ribbon trim they became some super comfy shoes! I already wear them everywhere, I cannot wait o dress them up.

Lastly, some of you have already seen the fancy Nancy parasol. I posted the tutorial last night but it was disguised as a story book review! I'll be linking it up below, it is so easy and so awesome you simply must make one for a special girl in your life!

Okay, onto last weeks links. Can I just say thank you ladies! Last week there were twenty one links! And only two of those were mine! And although I wish I could show you all of them up close, I haven't the time or the space. But the following were in such green spirit, I simply had to share them.


Photo is property of Two Chicks and a Hen

The first is a mesh bath toy bag made from collected produce bags. How clever is that? Jamie from Two Chicks and a Hen posted this tutorial and I love it. I also love her blog, she is a Californian-homeschooling mom transplanted to Montreal, Quebec (One of my favourite cities in Canada.)"An urban mother hen's journey to provide a simple, sustainable, creative life for her two chicks." You should check out her journey.



Image is property Adventures in Dressmaking

Isn't this dress gorgeous? Can you believe it came from a pair of clown pillazo style pants? Seriously! Suzannah from Adventures in Dressmaking has both serious vision and serious talent. I mean look at how that dress fits! This is one of my new favourite blogs to follow. Fun to read and great projects to ohh and ahh at. If you haven't already jumped on their bandwagon, go..now..do it.



Image property of Let's Go Fly A Kite

KJ from Let's Go Fly A Kite submitted one of the most frugal re-uses I have seen in a while, and certainly the cleverest (wow that is a word) are these cookie cutters re-purposed from the cutter strip on aluminum foil boxes. In the post her friend V (The Baking Barrister)teaches us how to turn that unfriendly little cutting strip into a cookie cutter of any shape that our little hearts desire. I love it! And I cannot wait to do this! I rarely bake cookies, and I have a giant tin if cutters, but this...this is special! Heads up Canadian mamas, KJ is a blogging mama from Toronto who is incredibly talented. Why don't you go fly a kite?

Thank you so much to everyone who participated last week! I cannot wait to visit your blogs and see what wonderful things you have baked/sewn/glued and everything in between!


   
     


Storybook Sunday : Fancy Nancy : Bonjour Butterfly

This is a super fun edition of Story Book Sunday! After I review the book: Fancy Nancy Bonjour Butterfly, I have a tutorial for a great craft inspired by the book! So stick with me, I promise you will not be disappointed!

Fancy Nancy: Bon jour Butterfly is a fantastic book written by Jane O'Connor. It touches you on so many levels. It touches on the joy of being feminine (that is a fancy word for girly), it touches on disappointment, it touches on the need to be there for your family (and in return, your family being there for you.)

This was our first Fancy Nancy book. As a parent I loved the constant infuse of larger vocabulary. The fancier the better. As a mom of a little girl I was almost squealing with delight at her costumes and accessories. And as a person who appreciates illustrations j'adore (that is French for I love) the artwork in this book. I think it might even have stolen the show.

As intriguing (that is a fancy word for interesting) as the text and dialogue were, it was the artwork that drew me in. I just loved how expressive Robin Preiss Glasser was able to make Fancy Nancy on every page. Not just when she was sulky but when she was happy and angry. I think my absolute favourite picture is when Fancy's Mom gives her some bad news. She is just beside herself, I mean, distraught (that is a fancy word for upset) and it is clearly (and adorably) illustrated.

But the story is wonderful too, with a most important lesson to be learned. Our lives are enriched (That is a fancy word for better) because of family. This was our first Fancy Nancy book, but it is definitely not our last. I am on the hunt for more. Apparently there are a few lol. Between the library, eBay and discount stores we may just be able to read them all.






Feathered parasol

And what Fancy Nancy reading time would be complete without our own Fancy Nancy parasol?! Well, it just wouldn't so let's make one! It is super easy and super cheap!

Materials

Loop ends.

Glue.

Glue ends.

Halfway there.

Embellish.

Feathered parasol

Feathered parasol

Feathered parasol

Thanks for stopping by! Bonne nuit! (That is French For good night.)
 
Linking to:

Get Your Craft On @ Today's Creative Blog
Tutorial Tuesday @ Hope Studios
Whatever Goes Wednesday @ Someday Crafts  
Creative Share Wednesdays @ Trendy Treehouse
Idea Sharin' Wednesdays @ Women Who Do It All 
Make It & Wear It @ The Train To Crazy

Wednesday, April 21, 2010

My Creative Space - I Am Action Personified.



I had this big plan for posting this picture, this lump of sumptuous pink. Which was a maternity peasant skirt. Something I picked up at The Sally Ann yesterday. I was going to tell you how I had big plans for it and it was going to be great. And it was.

Yes. Was. I no sooner had this post brainstormed then I set out to sew and finished in the same day. But alas, no finished product photo to show off because of the setting sun. (Story of our lives right mamas?)

But, that just means I have time to make a matching scarf. I love sewing for me. I do. I mean it is so much harder than sewing for Wednesday but so rewarding when it comes out as planned or better! And scarves, I can see myself enjoying quite the collection by summer's end.

Have you visited any other Creative Spacers lately? You don't.know what you're missing out on if you haven't!

Wednesday on Wednesday

It has been the most beautiful last few days and so it was easy to get outside to play. Not so easy to snap any pics though, she just wouldn't slow down long enough. But I managed to get a few still of my gorgeous little girl.

Last time I left you, we had played in some puddles on Friday and trash bashed on Saturday...in continuing with the 2010 Great Outdoor Challenge here are some pictures from Sunday through today.


Serious Sandboxing
Sunday ~ Sandbox work is serious business.
Park fun
Monday ~ I was about to go down the slide when I felt someone tagging along.

Wednesday finding her zen.
Tuesday ~ Wednesday finding her zen.

Daddy Helping
And today, peeing in the grass like a champ.

Golden locks
Look at that hair!

And that is it folks...that is right up until about 11:30 this morning.

Have you gone outside to play lately?
great-outdoor-challenge

All you have to do is go outside! And take a picture...but even that is optional.

Monday, April 19, 2010

How To: Trash Bash!

This weekend The Mister, Wednesday and I participated in our communities annual Trash Bash. In light of Earth Day on Thursday, our (and I am assuming thousands of others) community hosts an event where they supply the bags, the gloves, the dumpsters and the BBQ (complete with veggie dogs) and we supply the man power and the whereabouts. Seems like a pretty decent deal. It is. It was a bittersweet experience though.



us


My Crafty Weekend - Earth Week Edition

Good morning everybody! It is 6:21am and I am well on my way to starting my day. Thanks to Wednesday my littler early riser (We have neither owned nor used an alarm clock since the day she was born!) So I am tackling My Crafty Weekend early. I also have to announce the winner of the Let's Go Outside draw! How exciting is that? Let me just go freshen my coffee and we'll do that.

Ok,drum roll please! And the winner is...number three...Wendy Lou who said "Those books look great! I'd love to win but if I don't ... library here I come!" Wendy I'll be contacting you later today to get your particulars. Thanks EVERYONE who participated, I will definitely be doing this again!


skirt collage


This is what I spent half of my weekend doing. I went back and forth to it all weekend. It turned out gorgeous! But the top was a little big. In trying ot give her lots of room to get into it, I made it too wide. I also made it too long, you can barely see the dark blue of the denim skirt when she wears the ensemble. So I'll fix that up during nap time today and hopefully have it on her to model for photos this week! I tried to take enough photos of the process for a tutorial, but since I like to over complicate things, I might just make another one using what I learned from this one. :)

The other half of my weekend was spent cleaning up garbage and so, tomorrow, my tutorial will be about how to participate in your neighborhood trash bash! We cleaned up two parks this weekend and it was such a great experience. I'll show you how to make your own garbage stabber, dress properly and even involve your kids! So come back for that tomorrow!


Since earth Day is on Thursday, I though I would focus on environmentally friendly crafts and activities this week. My Crafty Weekend being no exception. Last week Suzanne from The Mother Huddle linked up to a post she did about fusing plastic bags and sewing them to create a much stronger, longer lasting shopping bag. This post was great for two reasons, one the obviously great re-using project and second, Suzanne is a beginner sewer who found the task easy enough. So It should encourage the novice sewers out there to try it out!

For this week's edition of My Crafty Weekend, I was wondering if you would be happy to link up ALL of you best ECO crafts?! Recycled, reused, re-purposed, remade, the whole shoot and shebang! Nearly all my crafts are recycled or re-purposed to some extent if not entirely, but I will link up just two. Homemade super soft wipes (for both bums and noses) and vegetarian lasagna. Thanks for participating, and as always here are buttons for you to add if you like!


   
     


Friday, April 16, 2010

Mud-luscious & Puddle Wonderful

Today the weather was incredibly intermittent. It would rain and stop and rain and stop and at one point it was sunny long enough to warm the air so that Wednesday could do this:

Mud-luscious and puddle wonderful
Take off the pretty shoes.

Mud-luscious and puddle wonderful
Step into the puddle and ask "Where are my feet?"

Mud-luscious and puddle wonderful
And sit her little bum down in the driveway and throw rocks into some puddles.

I am not sure what I love more, her asking "where are my feet?" or the utter disregard for her girlishness. (She really does hate muck!) I think I love the dirt on the knees and the shiny pink shoes tossed aside. (After walking through a puddle with them of course!)

Have you been outside lately?

great-outdoor-challenge
All you have to do is go outside! And take a picture...but even that is optional.
 
Have you entered the giveaway for Jennifer Ward's book Let's Go Outside? You have until this Sunday at midnight to do so. Go here to put your name in the hat.

While you're at it, visit some other Challenge participants!
lisasanders, angelina, phyllis, sarah, christie, jennifer, debbie, dong dong, denise,luisa, joy, stephanie, cori, alex, dawn, kristen, catherine, tricia,becky, christy, ruth, kari, courtney,branflakes,jessica, renee, haiku,brynn, amy, clemencia, sherry, leslie, lise, renee, anet, jenn, marina, amy, ella, marcia, karen, beth,julie,kyndale,kelly,lizzie, eileen,ag, mari-ann, cindy, robin, nicole, debbie, julia, renee, anita,lisa, jenn, montessori, marita,jeannie, hallie, mandy, kangaroo, andrea, joey, carmen, teena, stephinie, gidget, elizabeth, emma, rosina, saminda, melissa, katie, becca, atouria, barbara, ariella,missy, elizabeth, sarah, eileen, lisa, stacy, jennifer, tulsileaf, lisa C, morticia, angela, rana,jamie,lisa c, luz, charley, heather, valerie, kirsten, rachel, annie, kendra, beth s, lindseymichelle, megan, jen, jenni, gabbyrenee,korina, linda, adventurekerrs, laura, melissa, eva, jenny, amber, deb, wendy, courtney, shanti, msrev, kellyi, tammy, julia  , maureen,indigomum, andrea, mindy, becky, dawn, sarah,michelle, shelley, amber, nicole, cara, ginny, kris, tawnie, nancy, alex, kathi, ana, sarah m, stephanie

Thursday, April 15, 2010

My Creative Space - Back To The Sewing Machine

My Creative Space


I have missed my machine so much over the last few weeks. I did almost no sewing for Easter and have been trying hard to spend my spare time outdoors lately. But the scarf I made last weekend sparked my refashioning flame and I cannot wait to hunker down in front of it today while Wednesday sleeps. Can you see what I am doing? Can you? It is going to be gorgeous!

have you been to any other Creative Spacers' Creative Spaces lately? You should, there is some seriously talented people out there!

Wednesday, April 14, 2010

Wednesday on Wednesday

Good afternoon! And what a good afternoon it is! The sun is shining, birds are singing and I can here children playing outside. It is Wednesday which means it is time to show off Wednesday doing Wednesday things...outside! because April is The Great Outdoor Adventure Challenge month. This is where we make time to go outside and get some exercise, trying to commune with nature but most importantly bonding with our children whilst breathing fresh air!

We did not make it outside on Thursday as I mentioned, Wednesday was just not up to it. And even the days following we didn't stay outside long (Half an hour, forty five minutes tops) because she tired quickly with the fresh air and exercise, but we did make it out every day! Although I forgot my camera yesterday. I have a picture of her playing in an indoor sandbox but I don't think that counts ;) You will just have to believe me when I say we went for a very nice, leisurely stroll in the neighborhood. And Saturday's trip to the park, missing for some reason...but here are some of my favourites from this week regardless!


MMmm sunshine!
Rolling in the grassy sunshine on Friday.

Playing Hopscotch
Learning how to Hopscotch on Sunday.

Saturday Fresh Air
Smellin' the good stuff on Monday.

Brilliant bush
Examining a serious infusion of colour in the scenery today.

Have you gone outside to play lately?
great-outdoor-challenge


All you have to do is go outside! And take a picture...but even that is optional.