Easter Dresses 2012

I decided to try something new for Easter dresses this year.  Last year, I didn't even consider making my daughters' dresses.  I guess a lot has changed in the last year, and thanks to discovering a lot of new sewing blogs, I felt like this might be something I could handle.

I picked up a pattern at Walmart, New Look 6448, and decided on variation A.  It said "Easy" right on front, so I thought it would be on my level, but that was a bit of an overstatement.  I ended up needing a lot of explanation of pattern terms and techniques from my sewing instructor. (hi, Mom!)  I'm sure I would have messed something up without her.  Now that I have done these, though, I do feel like I might be able to do more by myself in the future.

For the fabric flower embellishment, I sewed together three rolled fabric flowers of different sizes and a little bit of lace trim.  They turned out exactly how I wanted, so that was great.

The sashes just tie in a simple bow in the back. 

I hope I can get a good photo of my girls in their dresses.  My oldest went and got her leg broken on the trampoline over the weekend, so that hot pink cast has become an unexpected accessory and will make an adventure for Easter egg hunting.

Now the real question: Do I use the leftover fabric to make some sort of banded matching skirt for me. . ?  I have a simple pattern I have been meaning to try, so maybe I'll get brave and energetic and give it a try.

Linked up: Sugar Bee Crafts

Baby Mobile Refashions

Nearly a year after my littlest girl was born, I finally got around to putting a mobile on her crib.  And that's only because my mom already had the frame and animals!  To quickly personalize it for her pennant nursery, we added the ribbon pennants and fabric covering for the arm using leftover fabrics from her quilt and name banner.  It was actually a pretty quick project, and she loves to watch the animals spin around.

In my older daughter's room, we recently moved her into a twin bed, so we had to take her mobile down, as seen in the photo below:

She missed "her birds", so I used the components of the mobile, a 12" embroidery hoop, and some ribbon to create a new bird hanger for her room.

The birds are back!  This was also a pretty quick project, since I already had everything ready to go.  I made a quilt for the new "big girl" room, which I will post next with another quilt that my mom and I finished for my craft room.

Toddler Picnic Table

Remember my toddler picnic table build I showed you ages and ages ago?  Well, you'll be happy to know that I finally finished it!  It had been sitting in the garage waiting for a second coat of stain for weeks. 

We used Olympic Maximum Solid Color Stain in Amsterdam.  This type of stain goes on like paint, but still lets you see the wood texture.  I liked using it, and now I don't worry about leaving the table outside during the warm months of the year.  As a quick recap, here's how the table progressed through the finishing process:

This is the table right after the build, no sanding, filling, or painting of any kind.  Next, I filled the screw holes with a mixture of sawdust and wood glue:

Finer sawdust works best for this step, or you can just buy wood filler at the store.  After the glue was dry, I sanded down every surface I could get to with my orbital sander and used the air compressor to blow away the rest of the dirt and sawdust.  Lastly, we gave the table two coats of the aforementioned stain and let it dry completely.

My two-year-old loves it, and we were able to fit two more cousins on it for a barbeque we had yesterday.  I'd say you could fit four toddlers at this table comfortably, unless they have plates of food, in which case three is a better fit.

*As a quick reminder, I got the plans from Ana White, and I was in no way compensated by Ana White or Olympic, I just like to make it simple to see how I've done things.

Personalized Baby or Toddler Shirt

I finished an order last week for a Personalized Baby/Toddler Shirt.  I haven't done one in this font before, and I thought it turned out really cute and fun!

I'm planning on getting some heat-transfer vinyl and doing some experimenting with my Silhouette.  I'll post pictures all about it. 

Toddler Slip-Ons

I took on a project for my daughter last week to decorate some plain white slip-on shoes for her.  Here's what I started with:

After a few hours of drawing with my colored Pigma Micron pens and some help from my mom on the rhinestone heat-setter, I came up with these sweet kicks:

The design is completely original, and I pretty much made it up as I went.  I am very pleased with how this project turned out!

I found the blank white shoes at Hancock Fabrics for $7.50, and I already had the pens.  I did all of the drawing in one day, and I wouldn't recommend that if your hands aren't used to that kind of work.  I could barely hold the pen by the end!

My next projects will most likely be baby-related, since I will be having another girl in November.  I am planning to turn my craft room (sigh. . .) into another nursery, so that will definitely have to start happening soon.  Here are some of my inspiration pieces (I think) for the room:

I am definitely set on aqua and yellow for colors, but I can't decide between hot pink and coral red.  These are the colors I originally chose:

Decisions, decisions.  We'll see what happens.