Sewing Clothes

Yes in recent days I decided to give sewing clothing a try.   For many years now I've been cranking out the quilts and various other items from my sewing machine but I had yet to venture back into the world of clothing (I vaguely recall trying once and it being an utter disaster so I never really went back)   Well with a better machine and a bit more knowledge on the general subject of sewing I thought I'd give it a try.   

I started with the Polly Peasant Dress pattern that I had for a while that seemed super easy with a bit of a twist - I started one morning and by bedtime the dress was complete.    I had to make it a size smaller because the fabric I had wasn't going to stretch to make the 2T but that's ok - Mae is tiny! :)

I gathered all of my supplies and started piecing together the fabric.  Mae also wanted to cut fabric and so I found her some tweezers and some 'fabric' and let her 'cut'  :)  She enjoyed it and then she toddled off to go play with her brother. 

The next day I decided to use the sleeves that I had cut using the same floral fabric and made the blouse version with a straight hem using the same pattern.   It was pretty quick especially since I had tested the pattern the day before and this time I put some elastic in the sleeves. 

Ace was very much paying close attention and wanted me to make him something and so I went to Pinterest and found a very simple pattern for pajama pants!  I went to the store and got some Star Wars fabric, but I was too cheap to buy a whole yard so I only bought half thinking that would be JUST enough... it was barely enough for one leg!  So I went to my fabric closet and found some navy fabric and then went to work doing a little patch work with scraps of the fabric.  I had made the promise that I would make them "before bed" one day and I began after dinner - so they took about an hour from start to finish and they are far from perfect because I was ready for kids to be in bed. :)

Next up was the Lucy Tunic that I made reversible with pockets - Mae loves pockets! Instead of buttons I used my new Snap Source snaps that I just purchased with the attaching tools. 

She really accessorized it on this day! ;)

I have found it a fun activity and both kids are happy to model and wear my clothes. While  I certainly won't stop buying them clothes, this is a fun activity and challenge.  :)   My next few projects are going to be The Pleated Penny Dress and a baby doll carrier for Mae to tote her babies around on her. 

A Monsterous 4th Birthday Party!!

Yes, this year Ace turned 4 and with it we decided to have a monstrously themed and exciting birthday party to celebrate it.   It truly was his first 'kid party'  as last year we were in Mississippi and he had one guest his age at his party.  While fun it didn't have quite the chaotic and energetic feel of a true kid's birthday party and so this year we introduced him to that magic!   

What better way to have a monster party than to have eyeballs on... everything!   The wreath that greets the guests at the door, the table cloth, the party hats, the snack cups, in the jello!!! Eyes everywhere and especially on the cake!!! 

I apparently didn't take a picture of this on the door and I'm too lazy to do it at the moment.  :)

One of my favorite parts of his birthday party is the cake.  I love to try new techniques on cake and figure out fun new things to do.   This year I decided to try some piping.  His first birthday I learned how to tackle fondant,  his second was shaping cake and using spray paint food coloring (lots of fun!), and his third I used candy to create a story with the cake.    This year I used cake pops and piping to make a orange monster cake (and I also used some orange spray paint dye to give the orange a bit more pop!)   

 

 

For games and activities I wanted the party to have a free flow and nothing that I'd need corral the 14 kids ranging in age from 4-10 months old.  So I set out ahead of time to have different activities that for the most part could be unsupervised and accomplished without much assistance.    So for that I created a photo booth and used Ace's camera he got for Christmas last year as the main device to take pictures with so the kids could do it themselves.   I found monster eyes at a local party store, used an orange sheet as the backdrop and then bought some monster mouths here and taped them to straws to hold them.   Tossed in a few accessories and created a few monster cut outs which I drew freehand and then painted the week leading up to the party.    Oh the fun!  

They look thrilled - lol I think Ace was not happy to be asked to stand still.  :) Kaylee was suspect.

The camera wandered away from the photobooth which is fine - it got a great perspective of the party!

 I created a coloring wall and drew on a large piece of paper several monsters that could be colored.   A lot of these monsters I drew using examples on the Internet, but I free handed them.   Spiced it up with the Happy Birthday and painted the letters using the water colors and stapled it to the fence.  A bucket of $1 worth of crayons and a whole activity made for under $2! :)  Quite the hit - although I am still finding a few crayon pieces in the yard!

The next activity was SLIME!  Yep set up a station and used the slime that Ace had already enjoyed playing with and put out a few aprons.  This activity probably could have used a bit more supervision as ultimately it ended up in a few kid's hair and used as a chasing device around the yard.... so since it is made with chemicals the dog probably shouldn't ingest there was a bit of a walking activity for some adults and myself later in the party to verify all large chunks were picked up... it was a hit though!

 Final activity that I put together was a bean bag toss.   I drew a monster and my husband constructed the actual bean bag tossing structure.   I also sewed 8 bean bags using some adorable monster fabric that I found at a local store and filled them with rice so if those broke open no big deal.   The kids loved this - and as I suspected having more bean bags would have been a good idea but I ran out of time!  :)

For both Ace and Mae (and myself, hehe) I made appliques and put them onto shirts for them to wear at the party.  Myself, I had some monster fur and hair extensions - we were quite a wild bunch! Dad was pretty 'normal'  :)   Ace had a great time and was running all over the place and at one point screamed as he was running around "THIS IS THE BEST DAY EVER!!!!"   Made me smile.    It really was a good day!

What party is complete without presents!!   Ace received his present earlier this month in the form of a play structure.  It was a huge hit with the kids at the party and both Ace and Mae LOVE it.   It was another free-form of entertainment to keep the kiddos happy!    His friends brought presents too and boy oh boy was he excited about all of them!  

As the party favor we had a station to 'Adopt a Monster'  - yes the day before I took four hours of my morning and made 15 monsters for the party guests to adopt and I did pretty well with my calculations and everyone (even Ace and Mae) had a monster to take home.  Whew!   Me and my mad skillz with felt.  hehe each monster was different.  Sadly the best photo I have of all of them is a cell phone pic, but better than nothing!  :)

and as the party came to a close I grabbed one more picture with my FOUR year old boy!  

***Courtesy reminder - if you wish to pin this to Pinterest PLEASE DO NOT PIN PHOTOS THAT CONTAIN FACES OF KIDS.  There are plenty of alternative pictures!   Thank you!!***

Ready to Pop - Baby Shower Decor

I love planning parties! I love themes, color schemes, and photographing it all! My friend Angie and myself were in charge of a baby shower last weekend and we went with the theme 'Ready to Pop'  our inspiration began with this pin and thus our color scheme of hot pinks, orange and yellow was established and after some talking through the theme we were set and the execution was a lot of fun!  

I went to the local craft store bought about $10 worth of cardstock and got to work with their die cut machine and began to prepare our decor for the party.  A few trips to Michaels (for the balloon tub, the plates, vase, and hot pink/orange tins - all 40% off, plus $15 off that with coupon!) and Target (for the table cloth, tray, frappacinno glasses, mini-waters, and both popcorn bowls...one is actually a planter), a final online trip to Amazon (for the straws, dart balloons, and cake pop covers) and a party theme is born!

The food and drinks were inspired by all things that 'pop' - Italian soda pop, popcorn chicken, pop rocks on the cupcakes, Pringles (Pop the top!), Tootsie pops, jalapeno poppers, and a delicious tasty mix of popcorn that Angie found and prepared!

You just can't have a 'Ready to Pop' party without balloons and the way we incorporated them was to fill a bucket full of balloons (I used dart balloons they pop really well!) that had wacky quotes from the book 'What to Expect in the First Year' - then at the bottom of the bucket was a copy of the book for the mommy to be.   We used this as a kick start activity to her opening presents. :)

Activities included bow and headband making the the area for said activity was equally as inspirational in thematic color as the rest of the space.  The $4.99 Target table cloth really made the space (and saved her gorgeous dining room table!)

Don't forget your Cake*POP*! As a thank you for coming!

We had a lot of fun plotting and planning - and I always love when a plan comes together so well!  If you're interested in the labels (2"x7.5") for the water  - feel free to message me and I will email you the PDF.  Stay tuned for a post about the event itself.  :)

Angie and I with our party girls*! 

* No my daughter's dress was not planned to match the theme.
I bought that for $3 on consignment a year ago and when
I went to get her dressed that morning I found it!
It was serendipitous!  My bracelets however were deliberate! :)