Today is brought to you by the letter P

Today is my Creative Team Spotlight on The Button Shop blog! I can’t even begin to tell you how much I love these projects. I chose the Spring Poppies buttons to make Kennedy a Poppy dress for her birthday in August.

I couldn’t resist. Once I laid my eyes on those buttons I knew immediately what I was going to do! If I’m having another girl I’m going to have to stock up on more buttons, they just make the outfits. Visit Tessa’s blog for close-ups of the dress and more details. I made the dress with my own pattern and plan on doing a tutorial for it after I tweak a few things so stay tuned!

Next up I thought I’d tell you about my friend Bethany’s adorable daughter Storey. Isn’t that the cutest name? Bethany entered a photo of Storey in a contest and would love some help with the votes. I think it’s the cutest one so I gladly helped her out. Today is the last day to vote and if you have a facebook or Twitter account she would love the help. In fact she would love it so much she’s offering everyone who votes a free pattern from her shop! Just leave her a comment here and let her know which one you’d like after you vote. You can vote *here*.

It’s so rude of me to show you my pillows in progress and then not give you the skinny on how I made them. Sorry Des! For my pillows I used this little video from Martha’s site. The site drives me absolutely insane but I love being able to watch a video and pause it if I need to. It’s called freehand machine embroidery (basically scribbling with your machine). So fun, and easy after some practice.

So there you have it. Poppies, pictures, patterns, and pillows. I love Monday!

A little Vitamin C

It’s my Creative Team Monday at The Button Shop blog and I could hardly stop biting my nails this morning. I couldn’t wait to show you what’s been pent up in this noggin of mine for over a month. I chose Tessa Ann’s Orange Tree buttons, oh my gosh are these things adorable! And completely detailed. The branches are awesome. Here’s what I came up with-

A comfy and sweet newborn outfit set. I made the hat from my own pattern (a Pyrex bowl was involved, I’m such a pro) using white stretch jersey and a little inspiration from my mom circa 15 years ago. I made the booties from my own pattern out of cotton and embellished a store bought newborn shirt. The shirt was an after thought but I was having so much fun I couldn’t stop. If I would have given myself more time I would have made pants to go with it all, I had 2 buttons left ;). If you’d like to see some close-ups you can visit Tessa’s blog here.

I have another project in the works that I can finally share on Friday. All these secret projects are killing me… and my poor nubbins for nails. I hate secrets so how about a giveaway to pass the time? A secret giveaway. Make a guess about my newest project and you’ll be entered to win something related to it. Edited to add *here's a clue- it's girl or boy*. You don't have to answer correctly to win though, just leave a comment. I'm a sucker for comments.

Good luck and I’ll pick a random winner Friday.

I love the smell of burning fabric in the evening

*I’ve been having serious blog issues with my posts so if you’re looking for the Apron Top tutorial I posted Tuesday it ended up on Wednesday and in the archive for February (??) and the link is here. Still scratching my head on that one* Anyhoo, on with melting things-

I bought an eggplant colored dress when we went to Seattle and I loved it when I tried it on in the store but when we got home… not so much. I hate it when that happens! For some reason it shrunk in my suitcase or I grew a couple inches because it was about 3” too short at home and the color wasn’t as eggplant as it was “Barney” in my lighting. I love the ruffled top and the fit. It is super comfy and stretchy. I can’t return it. So I did what anyone else in my position would do.

I added two rows of ruffled black jersey to the bottom and melted the heck out of some Silkessence fabric to make these-

I’m running out of options for my church attire so I threw it together one Saturday night out of desperation and wore it the next day. I’m not completely loving the ruffles on the bottom but I do like the flowers and they were a ton of fun to make. I would post a tutorial on them but seriously- you just cut wonky circles and melt them over a tea light. That’s it.

For some gorgeous melted roses you should check out DuhBe . Hers are a completely different look that I can’t wait to try, seriously awesome.

Have a fantastic weekend!

Wishing for unicorn hair Easter dresses

I had every intention on making 4 dresses and a tie this year. I had great plans for white heavy embroidered paisley eyelet fabric with kelly green sashes. They were going to be adorable, until I found the fabric I needed and it was more than double the moola I wanted to spend. I had a small heart attack when I added it up in my head… 9 yards x $$ = $$$… uhm no. Bridal eyelet, why oh why must you taunt me? I lovingly refolded the gold dipped fabric that must have been woven with unicorn hairs and put it back, not before gazing at it and touching it once or twice and sighing. It’s beautiful. It’s gorgeous. It’s stinking expensive.

So this is what we did instead. I found a great sale and bought Kennedy and Mary the cutest dresses in pink and brown an got skirts and t-shirts for Kaci and Ashlyn. All I had to do this year was embellish 2 shirts- done! Kaci’s skirt came with a diaper cover so I cut it up since she doesn’t need it and used it to make Ashlyn’s flower. Ash thought it was hilarious that she had a diaper cover flower on her shirt. I used ribbon and lace from my stash for Kaci’s shirt.

Not the gorgeous white paisley eyelet gowns with kelly green sashes I wanted but a whole heck of a lot cheaper and less stress. I eventually found a coupon for my dream fabric and did get a smidgen of it. I’m weak. Someday it will make a great cup cozy or hair scrunchy for my visit with the queen ;).

Have a happy Monday!