It's a Circus

Last weekend was my little guy's 1st birthday party. All the effort in getting the details paid off. I really love the way it all came together. This was the center piece table for the party.

We had all the workings of circus inspired goodies - the birthday cupcakes topped with clown cupcake toppers, jelly beans, frosted animal crackers, pop corn, cracker jacks, and cotton candy! The goodie bags had whizers, Chinese yo-yos, a box of barnum circus animal crackers, and star sunglasses.

The same fabric from the goodie bags was used as a table runner to add contrast to the red table cloth for added pop!

 We bought a 30 helium balloon kit from Michael's with their weekly 40% off coupon and made mini center pieces for each table.

I found this circus themed banner and birthday banner at Alin Party Supply and the these dangling things there too. 

 I strung monthly pictures of the little man to see how he's grown over the year.

 With left over fabric from the goodie bags for a banner.

I think he and the rest of the guests had a good time : )

Black Apple Doll

My first of many Black Apple Dolls for this year's Christmas gifts.

My Easy Split Peas Soup Recipe

1 lb of split peas

2 small carrots diced

3 stalks celery diced

1 med onion diced

1 can chicken stock

1 lb of ham diced

3 cloves garlic smashed

1tsp thyme

Olive oil



1. Sauté onions and ham in olive oil until onions are translucent.

2. Stir in carrots, celery, garlic and thyme.

3. Add chicken stock and water to bring liquid approximately 1 inch above ingredients in stock pot.

4. Bring to boil and simmer until peas dissolve.

Repurposed Sweater Dress

I totally forgot to take pics before I started cutting up my old cashmere sweater. There were a couple moth holes that were to big. Initially I thought about cutting off the sleeves to make cozy winter leggings for the Piggie and a pillow for the living room with the body of the sweater. But then I realized that the hole was positioned such that required some kind patch to cover up the pillow. Then I thought a sweater dress would be prefect. I used one of her dresses as a template and cut the body, then cut the sleeves and re-attached using my serger. It turned out pretty darn cute!

I have to go back and fix the seams in the armpit. I guess I didn't close it off the first go around!

Piggie's 3rd B-day

I finished all the capes and the tutus with 1 day to spare for the little Piggie's Princess Birthday party.

Lots of tule for 8 tutus.

Tissue paper pom poms decorated the door ways.

Multi colored felt circle garlands hung.  You can kind of make out the poster above the fire place.  It's of the Piggie in the middle of all the Disney Princesses.

Card board coloring castle to entertain the kids.

Recycled birthday banner from her 1st birthday.

Foam crown and tiara decorating table.

Little jump house.

Her cake with all the Disnesy princesses on top.

A princess in all of her glory.

Capes

I've been busy sewing away for the Princess Birthday Party next month. The girls are getting pink princess tutus and the boys are getting royal blue capes. I used the pattern from the Long Thread to make these. I really didn't want to make them double layered, just wanted to be able to quickly zip them out. I initially tried serging the edges then fold over the seam, but that was more work than I wanted to do. So for my second attempted, I made double biased tape and finished off the edges with it instead. This was much faster, easier, and looks way better. I know the boys are going to love being Prince or super hero.

It a big project

My Aunt has a breakfast nook in her kitchen with a window seat.  The cushion was in terrible shape.  She's literally had the same one from when she first moved in like 20 years ago.  The fabric looked like terrible 80s floral bedding and was completed wore out that the foam was exposed!  She asked me to make her an updated current cushion for a replacement.  This thing is 2 yards long and 30 inches deep.  Lucky for her we found this awesome upholstery fabric at M&L for $2.98 a yard.  I recently got a 50% off coupon for Joann's so the foam was $40 (3 in thick).  I think she'll be very pleased with how it turned out.  I was off on my measurements and one of the corner is bunched up a little bit.  But it's ok because it's a corner that faces the wall. 

Stylin' Cool Sheets

Using the tutorial on Prudent Baby, I whipped up this stylin' cool sheet my little Man's portable crib today. This was a quick little project completed at lunch time. I picked up the fabric in the remnants bin over at M&L a few months back and didn't know what I was going to do with it. It just so happen to be the exact measurement for this project. All I had to cut was the corners!

Princess Snow White

I made this Princess Snow White inspired tutu for the little Piggie to play dress up. Sometimes she's the Pink Princess and other times she wants to be Blue Princess. I still have to put the finishing touches on her Cinderella tutu I had made last month for her. This one didn't turn out quite as well as the one I was trying to mimic done by Stephanie Rose of Double Equis. I'm still pretty please with it.

 

Here's the Piggie modeling her new tutu!

Capes

Tutorial form The Long Thread Make it Monday!
Super Hero Cape for the boys at Piggie's Princess Birthday Party!

SILHOUETTE MACHINE GUEST GIVEAWAY!!!!

SILHOUETTE MACHINE GUEST GIVEAWAY!!!!

Fabric Therapy

It's been a rough week at work for me...today's lunch time fabric therapy really helped.  I've got a couple ideas of what I want to make with these.