Friday, May 14, 2010

Fly Away With Me Mobile (Part 2of 3)

Even though I only recently posted the butterfly mobile idea on my blog here, I have actually been working on it since this past winter, in anticipation of my little girl.

After typing up a tutorial, my post was somehow deleted. Much like a sock gets lost in the dryer, my post disappeared from my blog. I was so disappointed that it vanished after putting so much time into it. Has anyone else ever had this happen?  Oh well, so goes life. Enough of my pity party...on with the new tutorial!

I have no idea if this is the "best" method, this is simply the method I used. If you know how to make it easier on yourself or others, please feel free to leave your wisdom in my comments. ;)

I started with a wooden embroidery hoop. I found a spool of metal twine in the bargain bin at Michael's for about .79. It very closely resembles twisty tie line. (Thin gauge wire encased in plastic), but any small wire or possibly even string would probably work. I tied my twine on in pie formation as seen below.

Next I spray painted the whole thing white (wires and all), but I don't have a picture of this step.

I purchased a butterfly punch tool by Martha Stewart, also at Michael's, and created what felt like 100's of butterflies, out of scrapbook paper.

 Then, using a needle and clear fishing line, I createed 2 rows on each line of wire, evenly spaced, one center line and an additional 8 lines on the outer ring, centered between the wires, for a total of 25 strands of butterflies. 
I secured the bottom of each line with a seed bead, both for weight and stability, and tied knots where I wanted the butterflies to "rest" on their lines. So, each butterfly has a knot just below it, holding it in place on its line.
I added one additional butterfly to each row going inward, so the longest row of butterflies, is the center line. Giving it a tiered effect. And, voila! The mobile is complete.  Sorry for the shaky picture, but believe me, the finished result was beautiful! 
 My original plan was to secure this with some decorative ribbon to a hook in the ceiling of my daughter's room. The colors served as the inspiration for the quilt I had my Nana make for her.

When I showed my husband, I held it up under a lamp, and he commented about how it would be  really interesting if I could somehow make it into a lamp. ....I loved the idea, but I will save that for another post!

Thursday, May 13, 2010

T-shirt dress

There are t-shirt refashions all over the place right now.  If you'd like to attempt this simple sewing activity, there is a great tutorial over at Just Deanna.

I attempted a refashion using the same fabric I used for my Mother's day Onesie dress.  This time it's 5T, for a friend - after being asked to make these for my son's class' pre-school graduation.  (More about that later!)

My assessment of my first attempt? Not bad! So, I thought I'd share.  I just used a simple boys white undershirt. The entire thing cost me less than $5.00, including skirt fabric. Easy &  inexpensive, perfect!

Tuesday, May 11, 2010

Fly Away With Me Mobile

What I'm working on next........Something similar to this:

I am so excited I can hardly stand it! ;) This mobile is available from PB Kids for $79.00. I am punching out my own colorful butterflies & making my own. I started today, but will post things as I get closer to finishing.

I was even more excited when I saw some recent posts about butterfly projects on Homemade by Jill. Check out her paper punch art project -it's fantastic! Maybe I'll do that next!

Pictures & tutorial coming soon!

Monday, May 10, 2010

Link Parties

I wanted to make a page for parties I link up to & parties you should check out!  I'll edit this post as I find new fun parties to link to. I don't know how to make these show up on a separate page, but if someone wants to let me in on the secret, I'd love to do it that way!



Mondays:


Sumo Sweet Stuff

The DIY Show Off

The Girl Creative

Making





Tuesdays:

All Thingz Related















Wednesdays:

Show and Tell Green





























The Trendy Treehouse


























Transformation Thursday
















Fridays:
 Favorite%2BThings%2BFridaybig%2Bbutton.jpg






Saturdays:




Join us Saturdays at tatertotsandjello.com for the weekend wrap up party!

Sunday, May 09, 2010

Mother's Day Matching Outfits!

Happy Mother's Day to all of the Mommies out there.

My two little bundles of joy are the best gifts I could ever ask for.  I have never been happier or felt a deeper sense of purpose then when I became a Mom to Jonas & Marin. I love you my sweet babies. Thanks to God for allowing me to be your Mommy I love you so much!

It was on this day last year that I announced to Clint that we were expecting our second child. This year, she's here & almost 4 months old. I did it with a special shirt that my son wore to announce the big news to Dad. He was so little then, but was ready to become a BIG brother! This year we celebrated at a brunch with my Mom & will hopefully get to celebrate with Clint's mom later this week. We have the best Mom's in the world. We are both so incredibly thankful for you and blessed to be able to have such wonderful role-models for our lives and for our little ones. Happy Mother's Day.


After stumbling across some fabric that reminded me of my favorite skirt, I decided it would be fun for Marin and I to have matching Mother's Day outfits. I bought a onesie and decided to attempt to tackle an empire large elastic waistband dress.  I didn't use a pattern, but just kind of played with the material until it looked the way I wanted it to.

After preparing the skirt, the stitches were showing through the elastic, and I decided it needed some kind of band. The onesie was a few sizes too big as well, so I left the band loose at the back to be able to cinch up as needed.  After playing around a bit, I eventually decided to connect the skirt to the onesie with some darting, just to hold the skirt in place, as I figured it may be a bit too large for now. Eventually I will take the two apart and use them as separates, but for now it works really well, and looks so cute on her. I am excited about how versatile this little outfit will be.
Then I decided, at 3:30 in the morning, that Jonas really needed to be included on the fun, because he is my little guy.  I decided to make him a coordinating "tie t-shirt" and even included a little faux "pocket" and handkerchief square to match his sister's skirt.  

LOVE IT!  They were so cute at brunch & I think they really liked their little outfits too. ;) It was a sweet Mother's Day for sure. Even if I sacrificed much needed sleep for sewing.

Enjoy & Happy Mother's Day to you!

P.S. I link to these fantastic parties. Check them out! I'm also doing kid's clothes week!