wreath for march

You may remember my Christmas and Valentine's wreath experiment. Well, now that it's finally March maybe I should move on to St. Patrick's Day, right?
So... I added a rainbow ribbon, green beads for a little sparkle (left over from Mardi Gras) - some sparkly shamrocks, and gold coins.
Here's a view of how they're attached to the wreath. Because I want to keep using the wreath, I had to figure out a way to make the coins and shamrocks easy to detach. I hot glued the coins together, and then cut short pieces of pipe cleaner and hot glued it onto the coins. Then I just bent the pipe cleaner around the wreath "branches" so it was out of sight.
Happy March everyone!

what do you do on an airplane?

You may remember me sharing some of my Christmas presents... and talking about my trip to Boston last July.
Well we're off on another amazing adventure! My in-laws put together an amazing vacation for the whole family - their three sons & their families! There will be 13 of us staying at Fort Wilderness & visiting as much of Disney World as we can in a week.
What to do on the plane? It's got to be easy to carry, quiet so as not to bug the other passengers, and quick for me to put together.

My solution - I cut a bunch of patterned & colored felt shapes and they are going in his bag with the Ed Emberley Picture Pie book. Ed Emberley's book is great because there are a lot of animals made out of simple shapes - basically a book of design templates.
Last summer I did a swap with Mary Anne of Mama Smiles fame. I sent her an outfit for her brand new baby girl, and she sent me a travel felt board, a couple templates, and a bunch of felt shapes. Conner LOVED playing with it on our very long Massachusetts trip. So I decided to up the ante a little bit for the plane ride. I didn't make any templates, but with the ones from Mary Anne and his imagination I think he'll be busy for a while! I also made another felt board for Abby to play with. She loves playing with pieces of felt laying around the craft room, so maybe this will keep her busy for at least 5 minutes on the plane? Right?!

I'm still here, honest.

I've been busy working, I just don't have much to show for it here. I've been trying to figure out special sizing for a sweet 8 year old, cranking out some new embroidery designs, and packing for a BIG trip! (Don't worry - I'll share pictures!)

I have a couple posts scheduled for next week when I'm on vacation, and then I have a couple more fun things planned when I get back. I'll be doing the Tinkerbell purse tutorial, introducing you to some of my favorite new chicks & bunnies, and hopefully welcoming spring to Illinois!

See you then!

twins!!

These items were made for a friend's little dumplings, born today!!! She has been on bedrest for months - and she has a 4-1/2 year old and a 2-1/2 year old. It's been a long road for the whole family, but Mom is always SO upbeat and positive, even through the frustrations of waiting. I was happy to do this special project for them!
The hats are just little store-bought knit hats - with a heart and a star on the hat to match the onesie bottoms.
Then each babe gets their name on their shirt.
An appliqued "J" in the Fairytale font - and the rest of their name machine embroidered next to the j.
I can't wait to meet them... I'm sure they will be adorable!!!!!

tinkerbell ... PLUS!

I've been a little absent from blog-land this week - working on a bunch of hair clips, some mending & some monogrammed towels. (Interested in the hair clips? Check them out on Facebook & let me know if there's any you'd like! I haven't listed them on ArtFire yet.) Anyway - I haven't been working on anything really magical or picture-worthy. (Let alone laundry, packing for our big trip, and other boring house stuff.) But there's a birthday party on Saturday - and I need a little more magic I think. So I made time for some fun stuff, too! Just giving her a Tinkerbell dress wasn't going to be enough. It's all about the accessories, right?


I started off by making a couple glittery clippies - pink polka dot ribbon & green leaf buttons - then a heaping pile of light pink glitter!Next - a diaper cover to match the dress.
Lastly - a little Tinkerbell purse. It is fully lined with the pink polka dot fabric. I made it with boxed corners on the bottom. I used pink polka dot fabric for the straps, and used some turquoise twill tape for embellishment. At the seam where the pieces together - a little bit of white eyelet trim and more twill tape. Voila! An adorable little purse for an adorable little girl.

{anyone interested in a tutorial on the purse? let me know!}

project runway

Did you watch it last night?

I know there's no way to prove it, but for the longest time I've been thinking they should do children's wear!!!! Redo-ing wedding dresses, ok. "Real" women, ok. But children's wear - now there's a challenge! So when I sat down to watch it, I could barely stand it.
Seth Aaron's outfit was pretty funky for my personal style - but I can see why it won. Perfect stylish kid's clothing! Jesse was probably my 2nd choice too. Some of the other outfits... uck. What were they thinking?!! The little girl's petal dress (by Amy) was cute enough, but the adult one...I'd have to agree with them about the circus thing. And even though he wasn't bottom three - Emilio's children's pink poofy dress? Not exactly cutting edge or new design.

What was your favorite? Which one ends up at the bottom of the heap?

tinkerbell

One of my nieces is turning 1 soon... and something Tinkerbell-ish was a special request. So my mom loaned me a petal dress pattern she'd bought from Sew Baby & I got busy. I used a pink polka dot as my contrast fabric.
It was so easy to put together! I didn't attach the petal skirt the exact way the pattern said, so there's a little bit of weirdness in the front by the buttons - but I think it is barely noticeable.
I think she's going to have so much fun twirling & spinning in her fairyland!