I tried to be like Amy Tan...

A very dear friend of mine had a sweet baby about 7 weeks ago and to celebrate his birth, I made him a couple of shirts. I wanted to try out a reverse embroidery technique, like Amy Tan, you know, first cut the image away from the tee shirt, back the the cut out hole with a coordinating fabric and last stitch around the hole( negative image). I did this with the shirt above that bears his name. Oh my gosh!!! I am not sure I will ever do this again! I have to say that was some hard work. I think I started that shirt thinking it would take me an hour and I think it took me close to 3 hours to complete and my fingers, oh dear my fingers were so tender, aching the next day...at the shower. I LOVE how it turned out, but next time I want that look, I think I will buy it from the expert! The second shirt I made, new, was waaaaay easier. I used the iron on backing for the Slice, cut the letters with my Slice, ironed them on and stitched around. This one was done much faster.

I do love making things for this friend, I know she gets it, knows that I put my heart into the projects that I make....i should add that I have quite a few friends that are very appreciative....they read this blog. :-)

DIY Embroidery Hoop for the Wall

Last week, over on the Pebbles Blog, i was assigned a home decor project and I knew exactly what I wanted to do. My friend Lexi sent me a decorated hoop for my birthday and I love seeing it every day so I thought I would make one for Miss Emma. You may remember I made one for myself with my favorite papers from Girls' Paperie. You can see that one right HERE.

I used an inexpensive muslin fabric and small hoop from Jo-ann. I stretched the fabric in the hoop and trimmed the edges so they wouldn't get in the way. I made the pink stitched border first. I used the inner hoop as my guide, it really helped me keep the stitch in the right place. I cut the E with my Slice-such a wonderful little machine and added Pebbles flower chipboard to finish it off, I just glued them right on the hoop. Both the the paper and chips are from Pebbles "Twitterpated". Perfect for my daughter's room. I have also included a photo of the back of the project. I stitched around the edges and tied it up, I didn't want any loose fabric hanging out.
Today on the Pebbles Blog there is a wonderful tutorial on making paper flowers. I highly recommend you check it out!

Friends, thank you for your support and votes over at Scrapbooks Etc. This community never ceases to amaze me. Thank you. I thought I would tell you a little about this ornament. The stamp is quite large, measures 3.5x5". I stamped her 2 times, once on the Basic Grey greenish patterned paper and again on the oval-ish chipboard that I painted cream. So the woman's head is raised up. I added tiny crystals to her neck so she would be bejeweled. The tiny bingo card is trimmed off the packaging from the Jenni Bowlin cards and rusty wire was ordered from ebay. I used vintage sheet music and the scalloped square is a page from a Maya Road coaster book.

If you have the time, I would love for you to return to the site and vote for your favorite project. You can do that right HERE.

My friend Lexi is guest designing over at Crate Paper. Definitly check out her beautiful work! Her projects are always from the heart and I'll just add that she is the sweetest gal around.

Have a Happy Tuesday. Looking gloomy outside right now, but I hear it will be in the low 80's today. I am ready for the high 60's please.

DIY Cute Shirts for Kids With My SLICE

One of my dearest friends has 2 sweet little girls and they are very close in age. In fact her eldest and Emma are only 7 days apart. Bella should have been 2 months older than Emma, but Emma had a different plan and was born 2 months early...so she is actually older.
Bella's lil' sister Caleigh just celebrated her third birthday and I decided to try out my Slice and the Slice fusible webbing.

I followed the directions on the Slice webbing package. I think I paid $5 or $6 for the pack of 4 sheets from Michaels. They have been on sale lately. Each sheet is 12x12 and I used an entire sheet for this project. With my Purple Cows 2 in 1 trimmer I used the guillotine and cut the sheet into four 6x6 squares. I ironed my squares to the wrong side of each piece of fabric.

I did change out my Slice blade. I didn't want to find out the hard way if the current blade was sharp enough so I was proactive and just did it. I cut the fabric with the correct side of the fabric facing up. It truly cut like a dream. I think I read on a forum...somewhere... that the Slice webbing really works best....maybe the other brands are too thick?

The trickiest part was peeling the paper backing off my cut fabric. I was very careful and worked it from all sides, I didn't want to deform my letters or circles and I didn't want the edges to fray. I ironed the shapes to the shirts and made some quick stitches around the perimeter of all the shapes. I don't think the design would last long without some kind of stitching to keep it all in place. I should add that I washed all garments and fabric before beginning this project.

Honestly, I love the results. I can't wait to make some shirts for my girls. I think there are also great Slice designs for boys as well. I plan on cutting out some butterflies for a shirt that Emma has to hide a few spaghetti stains.

Soooooo, I gave Caleigh her gift a few days before her big party. I thought it would be fun for us to see her open it and I thought she might be overwhelmed by all her gifts and attention from her special party that included the real live Princess Aurora aka Sleeping Beauty.

Yeaaaaah, upon seeing the shirts Miss C burst into tears and was so sad that the package did not include a beloved bahbie cah (barbie car). My friend was mortified and I couldn't stop laughing. Trust me, Caleigh is a wonderful little girl that I adore and a lesson was learned.

3 year olds want toys. I get it.

xoxox

Our Binky Story

A rare photo of my baby and her beloved binky.

I took this picture Saturday morning, same day that we did this...

inside that baggy she is holding...

her bink.

It had been planned for weeks. Lily's big day. The day she would say goodbye to her best possession, her comforting pacifier that she has enjoyed since birth (of course there have been many different paci's over the years). We talked a lot about this special day. We looked on line at all the different cuddly animals that Build a Bear Workshop has to offer. Funny thing, all week she had her mind set on one thing...she wanted a stuffed Texas Longhorn. Mmm Hmm, of all the cute squishy animals, she chose a cow from the on line selection. Well they don't sell the longhorn at the San Diego location so she quickly decided it would be the peace sign bear...next it was the jack russell....owl...and finally she went with the allergy and asthma friendly doggy.

When it was time to check out, she handed over her bag of binky and happily left the store with a sweet dog that she named "Baby Puppy".

All was good.

Saturday nap time...

not so good.

Nope.

In fact she went ahead and skipped that nap. It broke my heart to hear her crying for her binky. But I was strong. I explained to her that her binky was gone, that she gave it the store.
No more binky.

Saturday night, I was full of dread. I did not want to put her to bed. I wanted to avoid it for as long as possible. She was very sad when I put her down to sleep that evening. I rubbed her back sat for awhile and watched her. But she went to sleep without tears and slept 12 hours. Sunday. No nap. But again last night she went right to sleep. I told her to hug her puppy if she woke up at night.

I have admit that I miss binky. I miss the routine of giving it to her. The sweet smile she always had when I brought binky out for nightie nights. I miss teasing her with it.

Used my Slice to cut the circle/heart here.

Like most, she loves her ice cream. She also loves her photo taken with a messy face. Growing up is hard to do ...

for mommy.