Lake's First Easter and Messy Fun

You know when you have that one thing that you really need to finish, but you stopped when you were almost done and just keep putting it off. Well, that is what is happening to Lily's Easter dress *sigh*. I WILL finish that dress before I sew anything else, seriously. In the mean time, here are a couple of other things I've done over the past couple of days. 

My friend Jolene has a son named Lake that is about five months old. She asked me to make him a couple of things for his first Easter, and I had a lot of fun with them. As far as sewing/embroidering for others goes, I am certainly more busy with girl items than boys'. However, I do enjoy the occasional blue and green projects. I made a liner for his little Easter basket and a onesie for his pictures. The bunny applique is from Lynnie Pinnie and the font is Itty Bitty from 8 Claw and a Paw. I've never made an Easter basket liner, but it was surprising simple. I just took the liner out that came with the basket, ripped the seams, and used it for a pattern.

Today we spent the day at our favorite park. It was a little more special today than usual though because Daddy came. About two hours before we had to leave I was frantically trying to find Faith a shirt to wear (she has outgrown nearly EVERYTHING), and decided I would just have to make one. I used a "Petal Top" pattern that came with a book I bought online that has some really great patterns in it! I'll look at the name tomorrow. Anyway, this is how it came out. It only took an hour or so, and we were both happy with the outcome. It's a very loose "flowy" top, but the elasticized neck and sleeves make it fit perfectly. She looked precious.

The girls and I made "Easter Basket Cupcakes" with our friends Brandy and Jayden. They were a great project, but WHOA, sugar overload...seriously. But hey, it's Easter?

After loading them with sugar, what is the harm in letting them get ridiculously messy? Yes, that's right, time to finger paint. The girls had a TON of fun doing this. They were completely covered in a matter of minutes.

Letters for Madison

Didn't these come out just perfect? My cousin Melissa (Madison's mom) mailed me her letters for some sprucing. She wanted something with pinks and white, but nothing too busy. She sent me a picture of these on Esty kind of as a reference as to what she was liking. I think these will look so adorable in Madison's room.

I think my favorite part of them is the little Martha Stewart daisies, what about you?

Easter- We're Ready for YOU!

Here is the Easter decoration post I've been babbling about, and I think all of my little decorations turned out just lovely. My house definitely looks like spring now!

I'll go through my little projects piece by piece. First up, the Easter banner. I have made this banner several times and just love it. I got it at Embroitique. I actually have both, the Party banner and the Love banner. I wish the Love one could stay up all year round (don't tell anyone that I just took it down last week), but it was time for something more spring-ish!

Then here are the glittered eggs that Faith and I made with the help of a tutorial from Samster Mommy. They are our centerpiece for the breakfast table in our kitchen. I've decided a couple of days later that they might be a little too tempting to sit in the middle of the table we always eat at, but we'll see.

Then I made these little hand towels for our kitchen. The egg was a freebie from Lynnie Pinnie and I just sewed all the ruffles on to the others. I've used those same four fabrics for ALL of my Easter things. I love them all.

Lastly, here are the two place mats I made for Zach and my spots at the table. Why two, you ask? Well, if I made four, the other two would be completely unused, because Faith and Lily have to eat on the plastic ones...I'm sure you know why. I might pick them up two Easter ones to coordinate with ours.

That sums up my Easter decor! I'm working on completing an order for my cousin's little girl and finishing up Lily's Easter dress now. I finished these flower clips for my cousin, and am almost finished with her letters! Yay, on to her dress =). These satin clips were inspired by all of the little flowers that Jessica makes at Mia Joie, I love all of hers and the ones I see on Etsy. I think they are the perfect alternative to a bow!

Everyone have a blessed day!

Faith's New Dresses Part Two and a Tutu Set

My darling little Faith came home yesterday and modeled her two dresses (completely cooperating with me, I might add). Here she is in her Feliz Easter dress and my new wedges. Aren't they adorable? We got Faith a pair of Born sandals last year and they held up very well, and they were the perfect addition to her summer wardrobe. I got these at DSW and love them. I was browsing/swooning on their website and came across these. Whoa, I know I don't even have to go into how I feel about them. Alright, I didn't create this blog to indulge my shoe fetish so...here is my sweetheart.

On a serious note, she is not always so sweet...and I truly do wish I (I being me, my husband, the grandparents, great grandparents, teachers, friends, etc) could figure out an effective method of thwarting the "other" Faith's frequent appearances. The "other" Faith is moody, defiant, and has a bit of a temper. She refuses to do what is asked of her...
Exhibit A:
Me "Faith, smile and take a picture in your new dress"
Faith "No, I don't want to"
She, for whatever reasons, seems to believe that if she arches her back (as far as she possibly can without falling over) she will be more successful at conveying her message. 

Then she decides that a picture on her Time Out stool would be best (she obviously feels comfortable there, and it's very familiar).

 After we finished this lovely photo session we (inspired from Natasha's post at Samster Mommy) began our glittered egg project. I want to finish ALL of my Easter decorations for one post though, so no final pictures of those tonight. Here is a small preview-

Now for a few pictures of her partner in crime. This tutu set is a size 3-6 month, and it fits 18 month old Lily just fine. She is SO tiny, but really never stops eating. We ate dinner tonight (whole wheat banana chocolate chip pancakes, spinach/onion/turkey bacon omelets, and a kiwi/grape/clementine fruit salad), and she completely cleaned her plate. There wasn't anything on the floor below the high chair. I'd say there was a good fifteen minute period after dinner before she came running out of the kitchen with a Cliff bar for Zach to open. She is as powerful as a garbage disposal, literally. She really hammed it up for me today.

And just so that sweet little face doesn't fool you, here is a pic of the "other" Lily. Yes, unfortunately there is one of those too.

 
If you need even more of a laugh, you should go read Jessica's story she posted today about her two lovely pumpkins...she makes me feel a little more sane after reading her posts. And she makes VERY cute shoes =)

Meet Annie Owl

This is little Annie Owl, and she is from Pickle Pie Designs. I've used her several times, and this wonderful little matching hair pretty that you can get to go with her! This was a set for my SIL's friends daughter for her birthday. Her school mascot is an owl, and she loves pink! So here is what I came up with.

I ended up putting her name across the owls belly because I couldn't fit it on top or bottom without the "Y" hanging off the edge or over the owl. I think it came out super cute though =). Now I am going to go back over to my post from yesterday and add some more writing!

I'm going to Austin today to get my sweet little girls! Yay!We've really missed them so much. I'm about to do some last minute touching up then get on the road. Unfortunately I didn't get all the sewing I wanted to done, but that's ok! I'll do Lily's dress this week.

Faith's Dresses

I do not feel well at all right now, which is ever so aggravating. However, I do want to quickly share these two little dresses that I made for Faith. I will come back tomorrow and link to the patterns, appliques, etc. For now-

Here is Faith's Easter dress. This is made from the Feliz pattern, and the patterns tells the truth when it says it is for an "advanced seamstress". I really love it though. We all know that clothing looks SO much better on sweet little children, but unfortunately mine won't be able to try it on until tomorrow. These were the best I could get with the wind blowing.
***Added 3/20- Okay so I did have a few things to add about the Feliz dress. I got the pattern in a book called Sewing Clothes Kids Love after reading that my cousin purchased it. The book is AWESOME, and it is only $16.50. It comes with ~10 other patterns as well. The Feliz pattern itself is usually around $15.00 so I think it is just such a great deal. I will definitely admit that I was very intimidated about starting this project. I wanted Faith to have this dress for Easter though, and I had it planned out in my head and was determined. It took me a couple of days to finish (I took a lot of breaks). In the end, I am incredibly pleased with the dress. I am SO very proud of myself for finishing it. I also see why most places online charge close to $100.00 for a finished dress.

    

The last dress is a little play dress I made for Faith from the Sienna pattern at Lil Blue Boo. I made this out of a really old Guess T-shirt of mine with the little rabbit on it, an old pair of my pajama pants, and two of Faith's old knit play dresses. 

***Added 3/20- Isn't this dress adorable? I know that it is pretty wild, but Faith is very wild. I think she will love it, and that is what I was going for =). The next one I make her I will probably do the next size down and shorten the sleeves. This came out a little bigger than what I was expecting. Lil Blue Boo is where I got this pattern, I am in LOVE with all of her dresses that she makes. I found some adorable shirts at Target that I have seen her use before and got some yesterday. Next week I want to make Faith a Dr. Seuss one and a

"Give a Hoot don't Pollute" one. This dress was overall fairly simple for me to put together. I only had problems on the neck, which seems to be an area everyone has problems with. Any tips?

Now I'm going to clean and get ready to go get my babies!

Spring Cleaning!

As promised, here are a ton of pictures of my beautifully cleaned house. You can bet I took a few in each room...I know it won't stay like this long after the girls come home. I'm so proud. We are finishing up our bathroom (the rest is Zach's part), and I didn't want to take a picture of our room/bathroom until it is completely done. Also, I am making Easter decorations for my kitchen and dining room. When I have finished, there will be pictures.

This may be a total bore to many of you, but I have to show off my proud work. I know that some moms are able to keep their homes neat and tidy all the time. I, however, am not one of those. I have an extremely hard time balancing playing with the girls, sewing for them and my small business, and keeping up with my house. This summer I will be back in school full time and can only imagine then! But anyway, I know that my mother and grandmother will be EXTRA happy to see these lovely pictures of my home. Then I have a couple of decorations I made last night!

First up- My sewing room and the bathroom attached to it.

I took these depression glass wine goblets and filled them with bits of old lace trims left from my grandmother. Isn't that a cute idea? Also, I am going to sew some green ruffles onto those pink hand towels, just haven't gotten around to it yet...can you imagine that?

Now look at the playroom, see ALL of those cabinets? Imagine them completely organized and labeled, because they are...I just didn't open them all to take pictures.

Here is my living room

That last picture is just one of our new drapes...they won't stay pulled back all the time. I do like them that way, though.

Here is the "sunken in area" that I was speaking of. We didn't know what to do with it when we moved in, so we ended up putting Faith's desk and drawers there, and that is where she creates her masterpieces. See a couple of them framed on her desk?

Here is Faith's room. I hand painted that rainbow over her bed. That is something that I am just completely pleased with. She wanted a big mural so badly, and the woman that we had scheduled to paint it got in an awful accident the week she was going to come over. I took matters into my own hands, and I think it came out pretty great for my first time!

Here are a couple of Lily's sweet little room.

Now for the two projects I did last night. This first "Love" on is actually for on the wall in our bedroom, but will stay here until we hang it! These were some old frames that we already had, and I just spray painted them black.

You know those metal stars that everyone has hanging in or outside their house...well I got one. I saw one Tatertots and Jello that she had used Modge Podge on. Isn't this the BEST idea ever? Yes, it is.

Last night, I traced out the ENTIRE Feliz dress pattern in Faith's size and the Sienna dress pattern. That is what is on the menu today. I want to get her Easter dress done, a t shirt dress done, and get her a new apron made. Today is "Faith" day! Tomorrow I plan on working on little Lily.

I'm sorry if this post has typos, I want to put new pictures on the other blog...and really don't have time to go back and proofread right now.