Hooray for Spring!! Green Ruffle Skirt and Flower Shirt

Well guys, I made it to round three (and to Seattle!)  I'm off to my sister's to get next week's project finished.  (I started it at home, but wasn't quite able to get it done before I needed to leave.  So, I will be finishing it tonight.)  Wish me luck!  The competition is getting harder and harder!!

With this week's "green" theme, I wanted to focus on something that could be worn all through the spring and summer season, instead of something just for St. Patty's Day.

I planned and half designed three separate outfits before I decided on the direction I wanted to go in this week.  The end result is super fun!!  So girly, but not so dressy that you can't have a good time on the playground.



The shirt is purchased, then embellished with flowers made from jersey and little green (and the occasional yellow) beads.  The skirt, however is made (and designed by me) from scratch.  It originally was planned to be just layers of the green jersey, but as I was making it, it needed a little something "more".  That "more" came in the form of a layer of chiffon and two layers of a pretty damask cotton.  Plus a rolled rosette as an accent.

Would you like to see some close ups of the details?  Ok!  Here ya go!!

Isn't my little model so cute? :)  I asked her if she was doing the "Pledge of Allegiance" in the picture just above.  She said, "Yes."  I love little kids!! :)

Tangents aside, I have to say that I love how this week's project turned out!  I want to make a big(ger) on for me!

HOORAY for SPRING!!!

The Completed Project!

Duh duh DUH!!!  It's done!  I can't WAIT to see little {tiny} E in his outfit and snuggled up in his blanket!


Now, since this is my audition piece for Crafting with the Stars and American Crafter, I am going to share each piece of the project.  I'll start with the last piece that I finished, his outfit.  I made this to be a "take-me-home" outfit, so it is teeny tiny.  I was dying when I finished it.  What is it about tiny things that just make you want to stare for hours?

The construction is a kimono style shirt and elastic waisted pants; both in interlock jersey.  I wanted the shirt to open in the front, so that it would be more comfortable for baby E.  (Cause I've never met a newborn that likes having shirts pulled on over their head.) The shirt ties on the inside side and has a sweet little sailboat button on the outside side.

I made a SUPER soft, CRAY warm blanket for him so that he won't freeze in our Utah weather.  I love the binding fabric (it's sari fabric)!!  It really "pops" next to the brown.  I think it MAKES the blanket.  It was a bit difficult to work with, but SOOO worth it.

Here are the sweet, sweet little {tiny} booties that will keep his little tootsies warm and will stay on, because of the (pom-pom) ties at his ankles.  These might be my favorite part of the gift... Well, maybe.  They are made of a silk/bamboo blend that is so. soft.  and it has a beautiful sheen that just seems to make the yarn almost have an inner glow.  I will definitely be using it again.

To round the gift out, I made little E two different hats, a monkey hat and the hat that inspired the gift, a sweet little turquoise hat with dark brown edging and a pom to match.  The monkey hat has my signature button under the chin strap and the turquoise hat is a beanie meant to replace the typical ugly hospital hat they put on babies right after they are born.  Here is the whole set!!

All in the box!

And here is the happy Mama!  Heidi is so cute, she had to 'put it on' him immediately.  haha!  I can't wait to see it on him for real.  (Can you believe she's due in 5 weeks?!  She is SO tiny.  I was a bus by 35 weeks, just sayin.)

This is a trick I use All. The. Time.  I don't love to wrap.  In fact, I kind of dislike it.  So, this is my solution:

Pretty huh?  It's a pre-decorated box!  It's a GREAT presentation and, it's a keepsake box that they can use to keep the special little things they will collect at Little E's birth and beyond.

So there you have it!  A sweet special gift for a sweet special baby.  Can't wait to me you Little E!!!

**All of the pieces in this project are my own patterns, except for the bottoms of the booties, (which I got here) but I completely reworked the top portion on the booties to fit the vision I had in my head.**

I'll be linking this project up to the linky parties on the right. :)

We Are Friendly Monsters Pj Shirt

I finished it!  Here is the whole set:

And a close up of the monster applique:

I used the monster called "Bat Monster" as my inspiration for the applique.  You can see him in the left hand corner, right under the bottom edge of the shirt. 

I'm really having a good time with appliques!  I had never done any before doing the Pirate Shirt a few days ago.  They aren't nearly as scary or difficult to sew on as I had thought they were!  In fact, I wouldn't say they're scary at all!  Now I have all kinds of ideas for appliques.  If you've never tried it, you should.  Great, FUN results. :)

Can wait to see if S likes the result!  Christmas is in 11 days...

I'm linking this project to:

Pirate Pj's

I've shown you all the Monster Pj Pants I made for my older son and since I have not quite finished the shirt that matches it (hopefully tomorrow), I am sharing the Pirate Pj's I made for my younger son.

Ever had a project that you just can't stop staring at?  This was one of those for me.  Aren't they SOOO cute?!  I am DYING over how awesome they turned out.  I made the pants and purchased the shirt then... 

I free handed the pirate hat applique to mimic the pirate hat in the fabric.

I hand stitched the skull and crossbones to the hat, used a little stitch witchery to attatch the hat to the shirt and then zigzaged around the hat to make sure it stays stuck. ;)

I seriously can hardly wait to see these on Eme, but it will have to wait til Christmas Eve!

Do you any of you have Christmas Eve pj traditions?  We do, and I love it!

I'm linking this project to: