May Arts December Ribbon Challenge

 I love getting to be crafty-whether it's sewing, quilting, scrapbooking or anything else that involves paint, paper, glue and especially ribbon! I was introduced to May Arts last year and love their ribbons! They have a challenge ever month or so and you have to come up with an idea to use the ribbons which are then sent to you and you have a few weeks to create that project. This month's challenge and ribbons were all about glitter and sparkle. I saw the ribbons and had just seen some really fun snowman ideas and wanted to help my kids make their teacher gifts this year around a snowman theme. I got the green thin ribbon, the wide gold ribbon, the sparkly red ribbon and the silver ribbon.

This snowman ornament uses three of the ribbons and an old light bulb. Okay, I cheated, they weren't old light bulbs, I went to the Dollar Tree and bought a 3 pack so we could make a couple of them. The sparkly red ribbon is the scarf, the silver is the hat and the green is the headband for the earmuffs. 

 I used baby food jars to create the hot cocoa snowman. My PIT wanted the one with the black top to look like he was wearing a top hat like Frosty, so I trimmed the border off of the gold ribbon and put it on the hat with a thin green bow, also again a sparkly red ribbon scarf.

 For this snowman jar set, we went with the ear muffs of ribbon and pompoms. We used a silver scarf this time.

 I got the pattern for this mug rug from Sweetwater on Etsy and used the gold ribbon for the hat band and added a green bow for fun.

We also made melted snowman ornaments. We used the sparkle snow and regular snow for the melted snow, rocks, felt carrot nose and red ribbon scarf. I used the silver ribbon to cover the ornament top and the thin green ribbon to hang it. 

Imaginisce's Monthly Challenge

Well, I was on such a roll with this past weekend of craftiness, that I remembered Imaginisce does a monthly challenge as well as the past weekend's worth of challenges. The guidelines for this one were:

• Create a card (OR layout) based on the sketch
• Use 3 patterned papers 
• Use 3 embellishments of some sort

Since a lot of my other projects were girly, I tried to make this one more for the boys. I used Imaginisce's Little Cutie set. The papers are: Boy oh boy (argyle), Snips and Snails (bears with stars), and Little Man (the scalloped border). The embellishments are: Sticker Stackers (pop-up giraffe label), Chipboard stickers (green star), Canvas stickers (yellow star) and gems with my i-rock.

I-Challenge #5-Black and White photo

This was an interesting challenge as it called for a black and white photo with a striking or "eye-catching" design. I find it hard to scrapbook actual pictures as it is hard for me to choose which ones to use and to not make it cluttered or overly big on elements. This is my husband while serving on his mission in Knoxville, Tennessee. I used the Lemon Flower Stack, some May Arts ribbons, a stamp from Sunbeam Stamps and of course my i-rock with gems to decorate the flower.
I know these challenges call for imaginisce products if you have them, but honestly, I ran out of everything but the i-rock. I love their papers and products, but I only had a short supply of them to use. And I did use what I had. I did enjoy this weekends worth of challenges and it gave me some incentive to be creative and take some time for me.
Oh and many kudos to my amazing husband who went and found photo paper for me this morning to print 4 different pictures for me to choose from for this challenge and he figured out how to print them and everything.

I-Challenge #6-Recipe Challenge

Okay, now that I've finally gotten these pictures on here, I can tell you about this challenge. It was really hard for me.

 The project had to have:
1 reused/upcycled item
2 stickers
3 flowers
4 numbers
5 different pattern papers

That's a long list for one project for me. Plus I'm not a big fan of major embellishments on my layouts. So those stupid flowers had me stumped. I decided to just look around and see what was in my stash. I also decided to sleep on it and see what looked in the morning. So this morning, this project screamed at me to be made this way. I used an old mint tin (1) and a card thingy from Sassafras Lass as a template to make a mini album to go inside. I also found flowers (3) and stickers (2) from Sassafras Lass and patterned papers with numbers (4) on them for the cover and I used 7 papers to make a mini album using the template I made from the card and DCWV's "A type of Art" mat stack.

I plan on getting some wallet size pics of my kids and putting them inside, since the quote on the cover says "How do I love? Let me count the ways . . . "

I-challenge #4-Stitching

For this challenge we had to add stitching to our project. I've seen lots of different types of stitching borders and outlines and all sorts of fun stuff and had never been brave enough to do it myself. Until now, that is. I did it. I actually put paper in my sewing machine! So far they have been so special that paper was the only medium to cross that needle. But I did it! and it was easier than I thought it would be. I just free hand drew some holly leaves, sort of a signature for me, and then stitched over those pencil lines. Then I found a greeting and matted it with a holly background paper (both were from an older slab-the Christmas slab-from Provo Craft). Then I added red and green gems with my i-rock for the berries and the saying. I'm not sure if it's just mine, but those red ones do not like to stay put, the adhesive doesn't like to stay on the gem and it was kind of tricky to make them stay on. Oh and I borrowed some of my kids glitter glue to fill in the stitched leaves.

I-Challenge #3-Color Challenge

For this challenge, we were given the above palette of colors to create from. As I am limited in my Imaginisce papers, I turned to DCWV Stack 7 and used a Snag 'em stamp from the Happy camper set and my i-rock to add purple to pull it together. The i-rock gems at the bottom swirl are purple, but you can't quite tell in the light I was using to photograph it. I did dim the colors a little bit for what I had on hand, but I must admit, I love this card!

I-challenge #2-Stamp background

For this challenge for I-Challenge weekend, we were to create a background out of a snag 'em stamp. Sounds easy enough right? Well, the only reason why I have any Imaginisce stuff is because I won some during their release weekends last year. Wow, has it really been that long that I've been holding on to these things? Yep, it has. Since we are doing a lot with the camping theme this year in scouts and in our family (we finally have enough stuff we can go as a complete family), I thought I would design something that could be used for scouts or for my oldest son who is a Bear this year and loves to get to go on adventures outdoors. I used the  Happy Camper tree stamp and the die cuts and canvas stickers. Oh and you see that background behind the words I cut from one of the papers? That's the background from the embellishment pack. I gotta admit, these challenges are fun for me, just the right challenge to stretch me to have a little bit of fun just for me and to prep early for other things happening soon (like those other holidays looming up on the horizon).

I-Challenge #1-sketch

I am pretty sure I've mentioned before, that I have a friend expecting a little girl any week now, and I wanted to continue along those lines with this challenge. I used the Imaginisce Lil' Cutie collection and some ribbons I had on hand from May Arts. I also used my own handwriting for the message (it just says "congratulations") and my i-rock to put gems in the flowers and the button (which also has a slightly floral design in the middle).

Oh and this is for Imaginisce's I-Challenge weekend, where there are 2 challenges a day with prizes for each and then a grand prize for participating in them all.

VPLL 1912 Dress #4016

I've been lacking in the sewing world since school started because my SP has been starting the teething process and wants lots of mommy attention and time. I picked out a gingham from my stash that had different sized checks and altered down half size for my PIT. That gusset gave me some grief, but I did persevere and even remembered to take a picture of the process too.
Oh, and this dress had no instructions, so I really was winging it here and learning a lot about the order things need to be done, especially as this bodice was all one piece-no shoulder seams or back seam, just the side seams, gusset and insert seams.



This is her first fitting. I knew I would not hand sew the collar for her and just did the smaller gingham collar. I was also very fortunate to be able to go to me storage stuff and found the two laces there, all I had to do was buy the green ribbon for the smaller lace. Instead of cuffs, I found this lace that was the same width as the cuff was supposed to be, but the lace didn't look quite right going up over the gingham, so I let it hang loose and open.












She has started loving to pose for mommy and it's fun to see where we end up when we take pictures. And yes in this one if you look closely, you can see a pin where I still had to sew her snaps in to close the front. I did 8 snaps down that front and snaps on the ribbon belt to close it as well.











You can see here how the cuff on the sleeve turned out.
I did it a little bit longer than the sleeve opening and did a barely
gathered on the top edge of the lace so that it had a slight flare
away from her arm.

 I think she liked it, but sometimes you can't tell from her expression.

Pattern Review Checklist:

1. Pattern Description-ladies Dress #4016
2. Pattern Sizing-pattern says 36" bust
3. Did it look like the photo/drawing on the pattern envelope once you were done sewing it? yes, I made it half size
4. Were the instructions easy to follow? There were no instructions
5. What did you particularly like or dislike about the pattern? I loved the simplicity that could be dressed up about it
6. Fabric Used: Green ginghams, don't know how much, they were left over from other projects
7. Pattern alterations or any design changes you made: I made the under collar as a collar and did not do the welt work as it didn't seem to fit right on this dress.
8. Would you recommend this pattern to others? Yes, if they are more of an intermediate seamstress rather than a beginner
9. Conclusion: This pattern was a lot of fun to make and challenge myself. I do intend to make it full size when I have some more time.

VPLL Checklist

1. Pattern Name: Ladies Dress – #4016
2. Sewer’s Skill Level: Advance, Intermediate, Beginner: My sewing level is an intermediate
3. Pattern Rating: 1-Not a Fan, 2 – So-So, 3 – Good/Average, 4-Better than Average, 5-I LOVED IT! and why? 5: I loved sewing this dress. I had to push my comfort zone in sewing without instructions as well as inserting a gussets
4. What skill level would someone need to sew this pattern and why? At least intermediate to understand the basics of how to put it together.
5. Were the instructions easy to follow? If not, what needs to be changed?
6. How was the fit/sizing? Did it correspond to what you thought? Yes, I knew that half size would fit me PIT
7. Did you make any pattern alterations? If so, what alterations did you make? Where they fit or design alterations? I made fit alterations to make it smaller and design alterations to include the collar and not the welt strips or the hand sewn collar.

May you live

 Once again, I show my love affair for notebooks/journals. I love to take those black and white composition books, add some fun papers and stamps, with a little bit of coloring, and turn them into something fun. This is a Unity stamp from the KOM 03/09. This stamp is the whole reason for why I bought the one kit. I love the sentiment of it, the simplicity of the message, and the whimsy of the font. The papers are from DCWV "Stack 7". I love the Stacks because there are so many versatile pages in them and they cover a wide range of "themes", plus it doesn't hurt when there are 180 pages in them versus the 48 of the smaller stacks and they are the same price.


Also, I love to put them together and then they tend to speak to me of a person for whom they would be perfect. Wow, trying to make that last sentence felt really awkward to make sound reasonably grammatically correct. But you get my drift, right? Well, this set spoke to me very loudly for a very dear friend of mine, it's just waiting for the right moment to drop it into the mail. And no I'm not putting it here, because then they might peak and ruin the surprise. Oh and I apologize for the flash in the pictures, my camera would not cooperate with me this morning and the clear contact paper was already on it when I tried to take pictures.

Gifting Fun

 I found this great toolbox kit at the scout store while picking up Raingutter Regatta boats for the boys race last year. I used pages from the DCWV "Stack 7" torn up into pieces about 1" big and then used Mod Podge to glue them on and then sealed it with glitter Mod Podge. Before it was gifted I did add some ribbons and flowers and fun sparkles, but alas I do not have a picture of it. Sometimes I get sidetracked very easily, and unfortunately this was one of those times.

Little Cutie

This is the other picture frame done with the Little Cutie collection. I have a friend who is expecting a girl in December and wanted to get a start on her special basket full of goodies for her and the baby and thought this collection would be perfect. I basically did the same type of stuff as the other frame, but with a lot more "glam".

 

Items used:
Wood frame
glue stick
Imaginisce Products:
Baby Frame:
Little Cutie Collection
Sweet Baby paper
canvas stickers
die cuts
chipboard stickers
i-Rock gems and tool

Happy Camper

 











You know how sometimes you find a great company and you love everything they do? And they do new collections several times a year and you dream about the awesomeness you could create with them? And sometimes, the company even does a giveaway of said collections? You enter each time, even though you know the chances of you being picked are very slim? Then amazingly enough you win, not one but two sets of two different entire collections and that awesomeness comes in the mail and you drool over the possibilities. Then you put it aside because the perfect project might yet come along, and it will wait for just that project, because what if you used and then found an even better use for it, but you didn't have it any more? I know it sounds  a little bit like I'm rambling now, but I'm going somewhere with this. I have loved Imaginisce's paper collections and tools for quite a while now. Last year I was lucky enough to win two of their collections: "Happy Camper" and "Little Cutie"

Well, we also got heavily involved in scouting and lots of my projects got put aside to wait for the perfect time. I found some simple frames at DI for fifty cents each and decided the time had arrived for me to delve into those collections. And by collections, I mean papers, die cuts, canvas stickers, stacked stickers and snag 'em stamps. With  the Happy Camper set, I made a frame for my son for his first camp out with daddy. Unfortunately that event did not take place when we had hoped it would (Camp Bradley was really close to a fire that threatened the camp and was still raging the last time I checked it out two weeks ago.) So, when he finally gets to go officially camping, we know where his picture will go.

Products used:
Wood frame
Glue stick
Imaginisce "Happy Camper" collection:
Tree Hugger paper
Die cuts
Canvas sticker
Sticker Stacker
Chipboard sticker
i-Rock and gems

Wrap Up/Check-in

  

Okay, I know I finished up these dresses a while ago. But life gets away with me very quickly when 5 kids are home all day long. That means my only me time is after they go to bed and even though the SP sleeps almost all night long, her slightly older brother loves to stay up until 9:30 or 10:00, because he wants mommy all to himself. I told myself that I had to get this write-up done before I started trying to alter my next project, and since I'm really excited about it, I got to do what gots to be done. I made two dresses for this one and have an idea for altering it for a smocked insert in the lower bodice. But since I don't smock (yet!) and I don't really have a model in this size anymore, it will have to wait.

So my two posts about this dress are here and here, and this last one to wrap it all together and make it all look pretty. This might sound convoluted as I try to describe what I did, but there are two dress with two different alterations. So the first dress I made for my older daughter will be called "Dress 1" and the second for the baby will be "Dress 2"

Dress 1 fit my older girl very well, the waist was not snug at all, gave just the right amount of room for her to move around in. I did lengthen the skirt by 3 inches and the flounce by 2 inches. I also cut off about 10 inches from the lower bodice to put the waist at her waist, rather than poofing all the way to her knees. Oh yeah, I also put the belt in as a waistband. The main change in this one is the poofiness, it did not make sense to have it poof that much and then put a belt on top of that.

Dress 2 was for my 4 month old baby. I did print the dress out at half size (2 pages per page) and this fit her size range very well. I took out the chemisette, neckline binding, belt, skirt, lining, and inner sleeves. That sure does sound like a lot, but what was left was really cute and will fit her for a lot longer (at least a few more months). I did add a decorative stitch on the bias band at the neckline to add a little bit to the dress, after taking off the chemisette, it seemed to yell for something to be there instead.

I used a seersucker cotton fabric with a floral print and then a solid of the same type of fabric for the piping. I did add a placket for buttons for a closer as the neckline was very snug on her (PIT kept fiddling with it). My sewing level is intermediate, I guess, since I have been sewing for several years (almost 8 exactly in two weeks).


Pattern Review Checklist:

1.  Pattern Description: #0501 child's dress
2.  Pattern Sizing: fits age 3-5
3.  Did it look like the photo/drawing on the pattern envelope once you were done sewing  it? Once I removed the poof and dropped the belt into the waistband, no it only sort of did, it would probably have helped it look similar if I had kept the belt apart (on Dress 1). Dress 2 didn't even have the belt.
4. Were the instructions easy to follow? Yes, I really enjoyed putting together the sleeves, the double sleeve looked great on Dress #1
5. What did you particularly like or dislike about the pattern? I liked the sleeve and the instructions were very well put together, but I really didn't like the suggested poofiness
6. Fabric Used: I used a cotton seersucker (I think) and I'm not sure on the yardage since I made the piping and ended up cutting some off the dress and extending other areas as well and also made a complete second dress.
7. Pattern alterations or any design changes you made: Minors on the first dress, but lots on the second dress see above notes. I also sewed the band differently than the instructions called for, I sewed it all together and the pattern called for the top to be sewn in and then after the dress was done to decide on finished length of band and hem it.
8. Would you recommend this pattern to others? Yes, with an admonition to check bodice lining length and then poof just a little bit.
9. Conclusion: This is a very cute dress, in picture and reality, it just needs to have less poof and to keep the waist at the waist, or just slightly lower as the picture looks like it has the belt at the waist and on my 6 year old it looked like it was a little bit high

VPLL Checklist

1.  Pattern Name #0501 Child's dress
2. Sewer’s Skill Level: Advance, Intermediate, Beginner: I am an intermediate seamstress
3. Pattern Rating: 1-Not a Fan, 2 – So-So, 3 – Good/Average, 4-Better than Average, 5-I LOVED IT! and why? 4-I really liked this pattern, as it is and with my adaptations for the smaller one, but I had a day and a half of major frustration over that stupid bodice bottom poofing like crazy
4. What skill level would someone need to sew this pattern and why? An advanced beginner could sew this, the lapped seams makes it easier to work together and the instructions are clear, just because of my areas of frustration do I say it is not for the brand new beginner  
5. Were the instructions easy to follow? If not, what needs to be changed? Yes they were
6. How was the fit/sizing?  Did it correspond to what you thought? The fit was right on, my PIT is tall and skinny for her age, she usually measures as a 3 around and a 5 up and down and this fit her around perfectly, but I did add to the length for her height
7. Did you make any pattern alterations? If so, what alterations did you make? Where they fit or design alterations? I made a few alterations on Dress 1 in length and also in design, I took out the poof and put the belt as a waistband. In Dress 2 I did a lot of alterations, I took out the chemisette, neck band bias finish, belt, skirt, inner sleeve and the bodice lining. From the half size pattern, I did not alter sizes, but the flounce and band were cut to be proportional to the whole skirt (which really was just cut the right width and then from selvedge to selvedge)
8. Other notes: I did also change how I sewed the band onto the flounce. I did it all in one seam, rather than sewing one edge and then finishing the dress and then hemming the band.

Wow, if you made it through reading all of that, two big thumbs up! Just trying to type this up took me a day and a half with all the little interruptions running around here right now, so I hope that this helps someone out there and everyone go do something silly.

Child's Dress #0501 Take 2!

 So remember in the last post where I said I would make this dress for my SP? Judging by the measurements, my hubby printed  the pattern for me with 2 pages on 1 piece of paper. It fit her measurements perfectly! I excitedly cut it out and got both dresses set up ready to sew. Fortunately, I decided to try to fit it to her before really getting into this dress. I say fortunately, because she keeps growing! The lining was fitting such that she would be able to wear the dress once before she out grew it. I don't know about anyone else, but if I'm going to make something (especially for my kids), they better wear and fit it more than once! After the frustrations of the other dress, I decided to make some alterations to this one to be more comfortable for her and fit better. I discarded the chemisette, the lining, the skirt, the belt/waistband and the inner sleeve. All that's left is the upper and lower bodice, the skirt flounce, flounce band, and outer sleeve. Once I got down to all of that, it came together very easily and quickly. I did a button placket on the back for a closure, the same way as before. 

She didn't really care about pictures and was all smiles until the camera came out. Oh and this is Dress #0501 for the 1912 VPLL project. I'm loving this!

Child's Dress #0501

This is Dress #0501, for the 1912 VPLL project. This project caught my eye because the sizing on it said 3-5 years old. My oldest daughter, here-to-after known as PIT (princess in training), is tall and skinny. Around the waist she measures as a size 2 or 3 and height-wise she measures as a 5 or 6. I figured by adding some length to the skirt layer (only 2 inches) and an extra inch to the skirt flounce, it would fit and for a while as well.

Once I got the pattern, I printed it and went to my stash. The pattern called for gingham and I do have some gingham that I normally use for trims or coordinating extras if needed. I found a pretty green in different size checks and pulled that out. Then, what to my surprise, but the next time I'm in Joann's getting fabric for Teacher Appreciation gifts, I find this really cute and fun fabric that has flowers all over it and solids to go with it. Immediately my PIT looks at me and says, "Mommy, don't forget kindergarten graduation is next week." You can tell where she is headed with this right? Yep, she NEEDED a new dress and this was the fabric for it and it WAS going to be done in a week.

Well, much to my hubby's chagrin, we bought the floral and a pink and a purple, because if PIT gets a dress than SP (Sweet Princess-my 4 month old) needs one too, right? And that means I can experiment with a smaller size as well and that just helps me with making the big one too, right? At least that's what my brain was saying to me.

 There were definitely some new terms to me in the instructions of this pattern. I had never heard of a chemisette or the idea of finishing a seam and then laying it over the raw edge of the other part and then stitching it down. Also this part here (the piece pinned so thoroughly) scared my hubby with how many pins I had to use to curve a simple piece of bias. It curved and fit, it just had me tearing my hair out for about an hour because I hate to iron and that seemed to be the only way to get it to fit.

The skirt flounce had a band sewn to it. The instructions called for the band to be sewn one end and then have the other side finished once the whole dress was put together to the "desired length". Well, I know what my finished length would be and the band was going to be folded in half, so I used this technique that I learned sewing pillowcases together.  Put the two pieces of fabric together right sides facing, then bring the other side of the band up and over the flounce piece and pin it into place, so the wrong sides of the band are out and you have 3 layers pinned together-both sides of the band and one side of the flounce. Sew this seam and then turn it right side out through the side seams. Press or topstitch this seam.
   

Here is her first fitting. I was devastated. That stupid bottom yoke piece was all over the place. And I do mean ALL over. This is just roughly pinning everything together to get a general idea of how it's going to fit. I really like the sleeves, the double layer looks kind of cool and the skirt looks great. But that bodice is supposed to be gathered into the lining and then sewn into the skirt and the belt goes over that. It's supposed to be gathered horizontally and laterally into the lining and sewn into the lining still at the neckline. This is 2 days before graduation and I  gave up for a day. I couldn't do it. I just could not bring myself to work on this dress for a whole day. I checked in on Facebook and the blog and got some words of encouragement and that it was ok to modify the pattern. I was trying to make it as authentic as possible, but that went out the window as quick as a wink. I ended up cutting about 8 inches off of the lower bodice so it was just 1 inch longer than the lining.

Come back a day later and I'm a little bit more ready for this challenge. I put the neckline together with a piping insert and a zipper because I was at crunch time. I opted to sew the belt in as a waistband and fore go the buttons and trims, just so it would be done on time. I did it! Well, almost (serging the edges and topstitching weren't done on half the seams). I pulled it off the sewing machine at 12:50 and was cutting loose threads in the car on the way to the ceremony that started at 1:00. I had put a temporary zipper in to finish the back-I knew I didn't have time for anything else-and she quickly changed. With baited breath we slip it over her head, and then, oh no, was that the dreaded sound of a stitch being torn? Quickly stop her wiggling and check the back-oh it's ok, just an extra stitch next to the bottom of the zipper ripped. We finish wiggling down into place, she turns for the zipper to be done up, but then she immediately starts to complain about the neckline-it's too tight! we slide the zipper down about an inch and a half and just tuck the top edge corners down under so it looks intentional. She was so pleased (and then promptly put her kindergarten shirt over the dress). I took lots of pictures and then took her out to the playground for some more fun shots. She says it's great! We just need to fix that darn neckline.

Here she is on the playground totally ecstatic that mommy finished on time.

 Playing around

This was the next week, after I took the zipper out and added a bias placket for buttons to give some extra space at the neckline. It still looks a little bit like something is missing. I'm thinking about making some rolled fabric flowers and making a pin to be worn like a brooch or on the wasit band.