Peacoat Hat

 There are few things better than recieving an honest compliment on something you made yourself.  And this peacoat outfit has raked in more compliments than anything I've ever made!  I love taking Gabie out in this coat, he looks super cute and it's nice when others acknowledge that fact as well--not that I need compliments to assure me that my handiwork is good, it's just makes me very happy :)

The post of this post however, is to declare Gabe's coat COMPLETE! I finished that hat before we left for Thanksgiving break.  It was fairly easy; a one-evening project.  I also fixed the hemming on the bottom of the coat.

Now if it could just be a little cooler so Gabe can wear it more often...

Elisa's Christmas Outfit

Here is Elisa's Christmas outfit.  One of my favorites that I have designed and made.  It gets a ton of compliments and she even got her Christmas portraits taken in it.  I loved making this, except putting the tulle on the onsie.  I HATE working with tulle. Hate it, hate it, hate it.  Torturous.  Excruciatingly tedious.  It's because it slips all over the place.  But I showed that tulle who's boss and it turned out super cute regardless.   I came up with my own technique of applying the Christmas tree, and it turned out great.  I drew a picture of a Christmas tree on a piece of paper and sewed it over a chunk of tulle.  Then I cut out the tree, ripped off the excess paper, and sewed the tree on to the shirt using a very tight zig-zag stitch.  Very easy.  The rest of the decorations were easy and fun-I just made some ribbon flowers and glued and glued.
  I love how adorable she looks in this outfit.  I would probably charge $50-60 for the entire outfit if I were to sell it.  But I paid about $15, and that includes the tulle and ribbon, of which I have a bunch left over.  Not a bad price for an outfit this cute!       

Gabe's Christmas Shirt

 Here is Gabe's Christmas shirt.  I wanted something fun for him that he would like.  So I came up with this.  It's like a touch-n-feel shirt.  He loves the jingle bells on it--he jumps up and down just to hear the shirt jingle!

I made the deer out of felt, sewed it on, and glued everything else on, except the bells, which I also sewed on.  Not the best idea, I washed this shirt twice and both times the bells had torn off.  I got smart the 3rd time and rigged them up with ribbon and I'll be DARNED if they ever come off again!!

I machine-stitched the writing "I'm a Deer" using a very tight zig-zag stitch.  Improvement is still needed in that area.  And there is a disagreement about whether the shirt should read "I'm a Dear" or the way I have it, "I'm a Deer".  I thought it through, and I stand by my decision.

Anyway, I spent $4 for the plain white sweater (at Walmart) $3 for the bells and $3 for the nose, but I have a ton left over of the bells and poms; I'm sure I will use them for other projects.

  So $10 for a cute, unique, and fun Christmas shirt for Gabe!   
  

Jean Hat FAIL

 I thought it would be adorable if Elisa had a little jean hat with a little flower on it.  So I thought, hey, why don't I just make her one?? Ummm.....yeeeaaahhh....as you can see it didn't work.

  This is what happens when you have no pattern, nothing thought out, and too-thick fabric.  Crap. Lol.

FAIL!

 

Elisa's Christmas Dress

Doesn't she look beautiful in her new Christmas dress??  It was made with lots of love from her mommy :)
I picked green and gold because it's Christmas-y without the traditional red and green, which means she can wear it all year round. I used a pattern to make this dress (one I got for 99 cents).  It was okay to make, the fabric is not the easiest to work with.  It has several grievous errors.  Which solidifies my reasoning for NOT opening an Etsy store of my own.  Sure I can get things to look cute, but I just can't get the professional, clean, perfect look. I would not want somebody to pay good money for something that is all messed up and sloppy.  Despite the mess-ups, I think the dress looks pretty darn cute. I'm not sold on the hair bow though...at least not the band.  It sorta looks like a dead worm hangin out on her head.   
I spent somewhere around $10-15.  Not too bad for a beautiful Christmas dress! Dresses like this retail at $50, easily.  And you don't get a hair bow to go with!

Corkscrew Hairbow Tutorial

  Here is my version of how to make a corkscrew hairbow.  They are so easy and so fun to make.

You'll need:

• An oven.  The microwave WILL NOT work for this project!!!  Preheat it to 250 degrees.   
• Whatever ribbon colors and widths you want.  These were my colors, in various widths:

 

•  Skewers
• Baking sheet

• Clips (or clothes pins--NOT plastic!)
• Glue gun
• Gem, bead, or anything you want for that extra bling
• Alligator clip

Use a clip to secure the wrapped end of your ribbon.  Wrap ribbon around skewer.  Try not to leave gaps, but don't opverlap.  You want them nice and snug: 

Do the same for all your ribbon colors; use a clip to secure the end:

Now put them in your pre-heated oven.  Hard I know, try not to burn your arms off when you put them in.  I like to run my ribbon skewers under water before putting them in the oven, it gives me peace of mind knowing that it is highly unlikely that they'll burst into flames and burn my house down if I take that extra step.  Leave them in the oven for 15 min.  Give or take.

Take them out, let them cool, and unwrap.  Take care not to pull too hard--let the ribbon keep it's shape.

You should have nice, tight curly ribbons like these:

Arrange anyway your little heart desires. Gluing helps.  A lot.

So cute!

Recital Outfit

 Made this outfit for Elisa to wear to my piano recital, way back in August.  I love the shirt (and how easy it was) but the skirt I'm not too thrilled about.  It is made of tulle, I really should have just done a tutu like I planned, but I tried to be all original and creative and it just didn't measure up.  It was a pain to make and doesn't lay properly.  $3 for the iron-on, $2 for the onesie, and $6 for the tulle ($1 per color).  $11.  Not that great, but good thing I still have a bunch of tulle left over.

Tan/Brown Hairbow.

 I made this next cute hair bow because I had an outfit that didn't have a matching one, and that is absolutely unacceptable!  I made a lollipop flower, a gathered flower, and a petaled flower (I'm not sure that is the technical term for them), added some coordinating beads, and glued 'em all on a nylon hairband. So easy.  So cute.  So cheap!  Always keep your scraps...you never know when you will use them!

Elisa's Halloween Costume

 Okay, I know this is way late (actually I forgot about this) but here is Elisa's Halloween costume.  Her first costume was a flop.  Well, not exactly a flop--she was supposed to be a butterfly--but it ended up being WAY too big.  So I decided to make her a bee costume, since her brother was going to be a bumble bee as well.  I made this in a few hours, I didn't have much time to work on it because it was so last minute, but it all turned out good.  I altered a pattern I already had but mostly I just winged it, it's basically a romper.  Turned out pretty darn cute, I think.  Although I think I should have done a flower in the front to match the flower on the hair bow, instead of a heart.  Oh well.  I spent hardly money at all on this outfit. May $2-$3.

 Two bumble bees, too cute!

The cutest little bugs EVER!