Easter Dress

This is Lena's Easter dress. It seems like lately everything I make doesn't turn out the way it is supposed to, including this dress. I did the neck all wrong, oops. That is what happens when you get distracted 200 million times while trying to do it. At first I was very disappointed, but it is growing on me. And with it being made out of some of my all time, very favorite fabrics, how could I not like it. Plus it is big on her so she can (hopefully) wear it for a while!

Yellow Dress

This is another dress test pattern I did for peek-a-boo pattern shop. I am thinking of using it maybe for more of a swimsuit coverup or something.

Twirl Dress

I recently had the opportunity to test this adorable little dress pattern for peek-a-boo pattern shop. It is a pretty typical twirl dress (tiered skirt), but I really like the straps. There are two over each shoulder that go through buttonholes in the front that you can tie in bows. You can also criss-cross or weave them in the back or just leave them straight. Normally I would dress Lena with a white shirt underneath, but since I was taking the pictures for the review of the pattern, I had her in just the dress.

Standing Closet

Sometimes you have a brilliant idea for something, but you have no idea how to actually make it. So, you draw it out and go to someone with a lot more knowledge and experience in that area. In this case I really wanted to make Lena a standing closet and went to my dad, who is ingenious with wood. He told me just what we needed to do to make it actually work. Thanks dad!

Once it was built I sanded and painted it. Then I added three hooks to the side. And mod-podged some scrapbook paper decoration to the side. Perfect.

Rapunzel bow holder

I think I have an addiction. I am addicted to little girl hair bows. They are just so darn cute! But then you need a place to put them. Lena has so many that her three other bow holders and three hooks she has weren't holding them all. Seriously, what's a girl to do? Yesterday I came up with this idea for a new bow holder for her. I printed off a picture of everyone's favorite new princess - Rapunzel, the girl with the fantastic hair (perfect for a bow holder). I mounted it on some heavy duty poster board (illustration board). Then I took some golden rick rack and hot glued it onto her hair and let it hang off a few feet. Then I mounted it to the wall. Super easy, super cheap (actually free for me since I already had everything), and super cute. I hung it in Lena's room while she was sleeping last night and the first thing she said this morning was how pretty it was. I'm glad she likes it, and I'm glad we have somewhere to put all her bows.

knit dress

I got to test another pattern for Amy at http://naptimecrafters.blogspot.com/ for her shop http://peekaboopatternshop.bigcartel.com/. I had been given this fabric and since I was testing the pattern was free. So it is a cute, new, free play dress for Lena. The knit is nice and comfy for her and I got some more practice working with knits.

Halloween dress

I love making dresses for Lena! This dress was so much fun to design and make. I love Halloween (not the scary part, but the fun stuff). So when I saw all the cute Halloween fabrics I really wanted to get some and this was my excuse!

It looks better when the ribbon is pulled a little tighter, but Lena likes to mess with it and try to pull it out. I think I will have to double knot it next time she wears it.

She loves putting it on and usually wears at some point throughout the day (she changes clothes a lot).

Sorry the pictures aren't that great. She is so busy and my camera isn't very good.

The skirt is a circle skirt with tulle gathered and added at the hem. In these pictures she is wearing a black tutu under it, which I think looks fine, but I like it better without.

The back is pretty much the same as the front with the ribbon criss-crossing.

Now to make our Halloween costumes...

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

BYU skirt

The college football season has just begun! A few days ago as I was thinking about that I looked through everyone's closet to find our BYU clothes. I found shirts for everyone, except Lena. I know we have one her size, but it must be hiding in some box of boys clothes somewhere. I found myself wishing I had some BYU fabric, but I don't live in Utah and you definitely can't find any of that around here. Then I remembered the fabric my MIL gave me a while back and thought I might possibly remember seeing some in there. So I sifted through the box and found a few scraps of BYU flannel. Yay! First I sketched a dress, but then I realized I didn't have enough fabric for a dress. So, I sketched a romper. But working with directional fabric, the scraps weren't big enough the right direction. At that point I could almost hear Tim Gunn "Make it work." haha (maybe I've watched too much Project Runway) So, I sketched a skirt and cut out a pattern piece, but I was just a little short on fabric. I reworked it one more time and came up with an idea that would work. I ended up with twelve panels of alternating fabric -a soft denim and the flannel BYU print. And an elastic waistband. It ended up being pretty simple, but the challenge was in designing. I had fun and it ended up pretty cute. I think it helped the Cougars win on Saturday too (someone had to put forth an extra effort).

Go Cougs!

Lena is impossible to take good pictures of.


She has too much fun.

And the only one I got of her smiling is this one-

Silly Girl!

Tiered Skirt

I got to test out another pattern for Amy (http://naptimecrafters.blogspot.com/, http://www.etsy.com/shop/peekaboopatternshop). This time it was a tiered skirt. I thought it turned out cute. So did Lena, she liked it so much she wouldn't let us take it off her to go to bed.

Romper

The gal that does one of the blogs I follow http://naptimecrafters.blogspot.com/ recently created a couple of patterns that she is going to sell in her etsy shop http://www.etsy.com/shop/peekaboopatternshop, but she wanted them tested out first. So, she offered free patterns to those willing to make it and give her photos and feeback within the week. I jumped on the opportunity for a free, cute pattern.

Summer Outfit

Aaron and I take the kids on one-on-one outings each month and this month I got to take Lena. Since it was us girls we went to the fabric store! I let her pick out some fabric and we found a pattern so that I could make her a little outfit. I love the fabric she picked. Although I think sometimes I am better off without a pattern. It came out way too wide for her, so I need to figure out how to fix that. I safety pinned it for her today, but I don't want to always have to safety pin it.

As you can tell she is very difficult to take pictures of. :)

stars & polka dots

I made another dress for my baby girl. I must have a thing for red, white and blue because she has at least 3 patriotic outfits now. I love this dress because it is easy and turns out really cute. It is nice to have a project that before making it I know how to do it and that it will turn out adorable. Now I just have try to get some pictures of her in it.

Butterfly Room Then and Now

This is what it looked like at the beginning of January:

This is what it looks like now: