Works In Progress and Easter Dresses

I think I might be the worst person in the world at finishing projects. People who know me are probably shocked by that statement, but that's because I keep my unfinished projects tightly under wraps, and I never talk about them. They're like my shameful secret. Here's the life cycle of most of my projects: I get an idea, either straight from the ol' noggin or inspired by something (a photo, some fabric, etc.); I immediately go out and buy all of the materials for the project; I hang the shopping bag full of materials on the back of the chair at my desk. That's it. That's where it ends.

I've been thinking that if I put a list of my works in progress out into the universe, it might make me a little more accountable as far as project completion goes. So here's my list, which I will be updating regularly--hopefully.

• master bedroom quilt--started in January, 2009
• embroidery hoop wall art--materials bought in Fall, 2009/COMPLETED Summer, 2010!
  
• pocket bag--no clue on this one; maybe 2008???
• fabric butterfly mobiles for the girls' bedrooms--started in January, 2010
• pink monster t-shirts for a birthday party that happened 6 months ago!
• baby's 1st year keepsake cards--started in Summer, 2009
  

Now, just to show you that I'm starting off on the right foot, here are some pictures of the Easter dresses I made for our girls. They turned out beautifully, better than I even imagined them. The fabrics are Martini in Mustard and Optic Blossom in Linen, both from the Midwest Modern line from Amy Butler. The fabrics were a joy to work with. Sewing is such a pleasure when the fabric you are staring at is gorgeous.

I used the Gracie dress pattern from Portabellopixie by Sandi Henderson. It was mostly easy, but there were a few major problems. First, when you are sewing the yoke onto the bodice, it tells you to sew it backwards. Instead of sewing the inside of the yoke to the top of the bodice, you should be sewing the outside of the yoke to the top of the bodice. Just trust me on that one. Next, I could tell they weren't going to be long enough, so I sewed an extra tier onto the skirt before attaching it to the bodice. I didn't trust myself enough to wing it, so I used the pattern piecs for the top tier of the skirt, piece number 6 (which you aren't supposed to use if you are attaching the skirt to a bodice). Lastly, and most importantly, you are supposed to finish off the yoke with bias tape. After literally days of trying to make it work, I took all of my carefully made bias tape off, stuffed it in a bag, and just finished off the inside of the yoke without it. I folded the two raw edges inside and topstitched around the whole yoke, which is what I wanted to do in the first place. All's well that ends well!

Happy Birthday Beverly Cleary!

Today is a fun day. Today, Monday, April 12th, is National Drop Everything And Read day, and it is also Beverly Cleary's birthday! My oldest is in preschool, so I think this "holiday" might have gone unnoticed in our household if it weren't for Ramona Quimby. A few months ago, I spotted a box set of the first four Ramona books at T.J. Maxx for mere pennies. I figured they were probably going to have to wait a few years to be read, but I went ahead and bought them because I love Ramona so much. But one night, I decided that my daughter would probably get a kick out of Ramona (she is very much a Ramona type), and so we started reading. And now we're on the fourth book, Ramona and Her Father, and my daughter won't let a night go by without reading a few pages about Ramona!

If you'd like to celebrate today, here are a few links:

--D.E.A.R homepage
--D.E.A.R. resources
--The World of Beverly Cleary--a bright, fun website with lots of info and GAMES!
--Ramona and Beezus, the movie trailer

--Ramona on YouTube--No one will ever match Sarah Polley as Ramona. She was perfect! If I ever find this series for sale, I'm buying every copy!
--Bake a Ramona Cake--Bake any cake, and stick a doll pick (the kind you use to make a Barbie cake) in after baking. That was our favorite part of Beezus and Ramona: when Ramona stuck her rubber doll, Bendix, in Beezus' birthday cake while it baked.
--Make Paprika Chicken for dinner--Another classic Ramona move from Ramona Quimby, Age 8: trying to make paprika chicken for dinner, and completely flubbing it, as only Ramona can. Make sure you serve it with applesauce, made memorable by several chapters of Beezus and Ramona.

*****

And now, for the winner of our beautiful blocks give-away: comment #30, Jaime! Jamie, I will email you shortly about how to collect your prize. A huge thank you to csnstores.com for donating our fabulous prize, and thanks to everyone who entered!

Beautiful Blocks Give-Away!

The give-away is now closed. Thanks for participating!!

I love to shop, and I love to get packages in the mail. So combine the two, and I'm practically in heaven! Online shopping really is terrific. It makes a world of items (literally) available to everyone, regardless of the size of town they live in. I recently discovered a most amazing online shopping spot: csnstores.com. CSN Stores has over 200 different online stores that stock everything from kids beds to handpainted canvas art to le creuset cookware to pool tables. All of the items at CSN Stores are offered at low prices, and lots of them offer free shipping!

CSN Stores is generously sponsoring our give-away today! One lucky winner will receive this beautiful wood block set from notNeutral. The blocks feature the alphabet in a mix of vintage and contemporary fonts, as well as numbers and graphics, all printed in black and red on a natural wood background. And they come cutely stacked in a little wood tray. These are pretty much the chicest blocks we've ever seen! And they can be yours! To enter the give-away, simply leave a comment on this post that includes your email address. You can enter the give-away a second time by blogging about our little give-away, then leaving a comment with a link to your post. The give-away is open to US and Canadian readers only. Next Monday, April 12th, we'll choose a winner! Good Luck!

Jewelry Board

If you heard the stories my husband could tell from our courtship, you would laugh and I would turn red. I'm lucky he's so patient; I really put him through the wringer. Not only is he patient, but he's very generous, AND he has good taste in jewelry. When we were dating, my husband gave me a gorgeous cameo for my birthday, sapphire earrings and a necklace for Valentine's day, and a really, really amazing engagement ring--all of which he picked out himself without help. On our honeymoon, he bought me a pearl necklace. On our first annivesary, he bought me some pearl earrings. Another birthday brought me a pair of emerald earrings set in white gold filigree, and another brought me a pair of smoky quartz. My favorite piece of jewelry from my husband is a Lisa Leonard necklace with the names of our children stamped in slender silver rectangles that he gave me two days before our second daughter was born.

But enough bragging! As you can imagine, I have a lot of jewelry, and only one small, over-burdened jewelry box in which to keep it. After the holidays, I decided that one of my first projects of the new year would be a framed piece of pegboard on which I could hang necklaces, bracelets, and dangley earring. It has taken a few months of trial and error, but it is finally done! My Valentine's Day gift this year was a lovely, distressed gold 22x22" picture frame. It was absolutely perfect when I got it, so it didn't need any modifications. The pegboard was another story. I didn't want the bare particle board, but I tried painting it white and that looked awful too. I ended up spraying the rough side with a turquoise spray paint, and then whitewashing it after it dried. I just took some old, white interior paint, watered it down a lot, applied it with a cheap sponge brush, and then gently rubbed it off with a rag. All of the earrings on wires go directly in the holes, and the necklaces and bracelets will go on pretty hooks (if and when I find them). For now, the necklaces are hanging off of wooden pegs that I painted "Metallic Champagne." Now my jewelry box can breathe again, and I finally have something hanging on that wall!

Fabric Flowers, 3 Ways

Is it just me, or are fabric flowers all the rage right now? From bunting to jewelry to embellished sweaters and tees, fabric flowers are the decoration du jour. If you are the crafty type--or if you, like me, are on a budget this year--why not try your hand at making some.

**FYI--I made all of these flowers while watching TV. Probably CSI: Miami, but I can't be positive.

Type 1: The Rolled Rosette

I made these quick and easy blossoms following THIS great tutorial from Made By The Mama Monster. Here are my thoughts:
--cute and whimsical
--very easy, very quick
--requires almost no skill and no sewing whatsoever
--held together with hot glue
--the hot glue is really hard to hide (or maybe I just need to practice more!)

Type 2: The Frayed Flower

This was my first foray into fabric flower creation. I followed THIS tutorial from Maize in Montana. Thoughts:
--very pretty and pretty easy
--requires hand sewing, but the hand sewing is easy
--no hot glue at all, so your flower won't fall apart on a hot day!

Type 3: The Hand-Cut, Hand-Stitched Petals

This third type of flower takes the most time, but they are soooooo pretty. Really, really pretty. Kind of the Grande Dame of fabric flowers. I followed THIS tutorial by Michonne for 100 Layer Cake.
--obviously, absolutely beautiful results
--lots of hand sewing, with a little hot glue just at the very end
--each petal is hand-cut and hand-stitched, but there isn't anything particularly hard about making these
--unlike the other two types, these can look vastly different from each other

So there's my little review in a nutshell! Go buy some fabric, find a good show on TV, and make a few lovely accessories for yourself! I'd love to see your results!

Blog It Forward: What inspires me?

Finally, the long-awaited day has arrived! I'm so excited that it is finally my turn to participate in the Blog It Forward Mash-Up. Welcome to those of you who hopped over from Making It Lovely--who posted yesterday--or from one of my fellow 3/12/2010 posters: Beauty Designed, Once Upon a Chai Tea Latte, Coeur de La, Red Bird Style, Every Little Wonder, Sparker!, JetKat Design, The Penny Has Dropped, and Whitney English.

I originally had this great idea to show you pictures of things that had inspired me to make something or do something specific, and the end results of those projects, kind of an "Inspiration: Start to Finish" kind of thing. But I haven't finished any of the projects! Woe is me!

So instead, I will do as those before me have done. Here are a few things that inspire me (in no particular order):

COLOR

{I don't know where I got this! If you do, let me know!}


{from lovely little handmades}


{from the August 2009 issue of Teen Vogue}


{collage courtesy of Smitten--the blog; click here to see individual photo credits}

BOOKS

notably absent--either because I don't own a copy or because my copy is loaned out:
Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton (I read it when I was in junior high and will love it forever)
The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand (worlds better than Atlas Shrugged)
To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee (one of the few books I've read more than once)
Crime And Punishment by Fyodor Dostoyevsky
The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
The Killer Angels by Michael Shaara

FAMILY
I don't often put pictures of family up here because I like to keep things private. But they inspire me in countless ways. If you're reading this Family, I love you!





{this was supposed to be our Christmas card picture}

FOOD

{mississippi mud cake}


{red velvet cupcakes}


{lemon yogurt cake}


{cinnamon buns}


{caprese salad; the only one of these recipes I didn't make, but it was so lovely I had to include it}


{lemon blueberry cheesecake with cornmeal crumble crust}


{double dark chocolate cherry cookies}


{pina colada cake}


{honey beescotti}


{candied orange peel}


{sticky buns}


{chocolate cupcakes}


{tamales}
{all photos are my own unless otherwise noted}

Thanks again for stopping by, and please visit Megan Charland's amazing art blog tomorrow to see what inspires her. Goooooooooo Megan!

**And if you want to know what any of the recipes are for those foods, just click on the name!**

The Crafty Girl's Summer Camp

So I shamelessly stole this idea from someone else. But not someone in my town, so I feel like it is OK. And I'm beyond excited about it--and have been for over 6 months now! Drum roll please...............

What: The Crafty Girl's Summer Camp--a 1 week day camp full of fun and crafts
Who: 12 girls ages 8 to 11
When: Monday, June 21st through Friday, June 25th; from 10:00 AM to noon each day
Where: my house
How much: $45; this covers all supplies
How do we sign up: Leave a comment at the end of this post with your daughter's first name, your first name, and your email address. I'm pretty sure no strangers are going to be signing their children up, so I'll know who you are. I will email you specifics after that. If you are interested in signing up, but there are already 12 girls before you, go ahead and leave a comment anyway; you never know when someone is going to cancel. Money will be due June 1st.

Day 1: Monogram Madness!
-monogrammed canvas tote bag
-monogrammed stationery set


Day 2: Sew Sweet!
-mason jar sewing kit
-embroidered lavender sachet

{photo from marthastewart.com}

Day 3: Bath & Body Bliss!
-handcrafted soaps
-lip gloss

{photo from marthastewart.com}

Day 4: Amazing Accessories!
-flower hair clip/headband
-bangle bag

Day 5: I've Been Framed!
-framed jewelry board
-beaded bracelet

I honestly have no idea how sign-ups are going to go. If way more people want to do it than I can handle at one time, I might schedule another session in July or August.