Parliment Tiered Maxi Skirt

Finally! I had a chance to take a photo of the maxi skirt I made in December. It feels so elegant and was the perfect thing to wear to the ballet. A big beautiful column of winter white.

Of course I had to sneak off alone to take the pics so the 3rd column is flipped up in every photo unknown to me until editing. Buuut since it took so long to get any pics at all I figured I could live with it :)

This gorgeous embroidered fabric was sent to me by my lovely friend Jacinta of Model Mumma. The tag said it was made in Switzerland and it is truly the most luxurious fabric I've ever worked work. Thank you a million times over Jacinta!!

For the pattern, I layed out a maxi dress and traced the shape onto muslin, rounding out the hip area a bit and slimming down the width to make it more form fitting. Each layer of the lacy material (I'm not sure what you'd call it, do you?) is sewn directly onto the muslin and overlaps the next layer by about an inch from the scallop.

You can see in the second photo how the material bunches up at the top layer. If I did this again and if you try it, I def recommend ruffling the fabric for the top layer to give a little room for movement and so you don't get the same bunching. Or maybe just making the whole dress a bit wider. That might even work better!

The waist is cinched with a wide black strip of elastic which makes it easy to slip on and is great for keeping your top perfectly tucked in. I scored this grey silk beauty at a thrift shop, tags still attached!

So do you like it?! Cause I just LOVE it and it makes me feel so pretty.

Also wanted to mention how honored I am to have my Taking Flight top included in the Best of Burdastyle - Handpicked of 2011!! It's in there along with some really amazing designs like the Ruffled Trench and cute bow shorts. Definitly worth taking a look!

Have a wonderful week!

Jailhouse Rock

Oh my golly am I ever in love with this satiny stripe fabric! But it was definetly the most finicky fabric I've ever worked with and snags easily. Guess that's why it was on the clearance rack : / The only thing I could think of while making this skirt was jailbird stripes and so took a little inspiration from Elvis's Jailhouse Rock video + Guess girl ads for the styling.

Yes, its super silly but try to enjoy my dance moves. ;) The skirt is made from Cynthia Rowley's Simplicity pattern 2512. Love the design of the skirt but it didn't quite work out for me. The waist is baggy and the seams are bulky. It may be the fabric or it may just be me. Will def try this one out again with a sturdier fabric.

Also love the tie in front but would prefer it to be long enough to make a bow. Or maybe even a built in bow, that's just there to look cute. This was my first time adding piping. Love it. Next time I'll buy two packs so I can add it to the side seams as well. It even has pockets but one was sewn towards the back. Oopsie.

The result is wearable, but only with a jacket. Not a success but not a total failure. Heh. I blame it on the fabric. Yep, it's all the fabric's fault.

Thanks for stopping!

Word To Your Mama - You Are The Best Part Of Me

Today is the start of another new issue at Paper Issues and its all about your mama (and grandma, MIL, etc). All those ladies who worked so hard to raise you right. I haven't made anything just yet for the special ladies in my life but I did find a good use for all those lovely Prima flowers I've been hoarding and never using - it's a little tribute to my kids, as a mom.

This previously gilded frame had been sitting around forever but it looks fresh with a shabby coat of white paint. And the color makes me so happy! The quote is from a Neil Diamond song which is a love song but it works better here (sorry Neil!)

So what have you been making for your ma? Link em up here ladies!

Through the looking glass

This picture of my mom and me at age one is the only photo I have of us together as a toddler. What happened to the others I will never know. And since it's so special it's been sitting aside until just the right idea came to mind for it.

It just so happened that this past weekend I was cleaning off my very messy desk when this broken mirror handle surfaced from under the piles. The glass broke a year or two ago and I intended to use it as a frame, but you know how good intentions go sometimes. It got lost in the "file away for future to do projects" heap. The photo and the mirror seemed like a perfect fit - looking back at my mom when she was my age, looking at myself and finding the similarities and differences in us at that age, this age.

This frame is just from a cheapo Goody mirror but I bet this would be especially pretty with an old white, antique looking glass. The background is cut from corrugated cardboard which keeps it from being too girly.

Love, love, love this picture, this piece.

Supplies:

Prima, Maya Road, Basic Grey, Jenny Bowlin, The Girl's Paperie, Cosmo Cricket, ribbon

a day off

I'm not sure how other mothers enjoy mother's day, but I spent the morning sleeping in, drinking coffee while returning a slew of Happy Mother's Day! text messages and sharing a quick chat with my own mother and wonderful mother-in-law. The hubs looked after all my motherly duties (for the most part) while I spent the rest of the day being super productive at my craft table. Can't wait to share those projects later this week!

On Saturday night, we took the kids to a birthday party for a little lady who was turning six years old. I always like to make something special in addition to a purchased gift and this is what I came up with...

card using one of my favorite stamps, the silhouette, from Studio Calico

dahlia headband made with help from this tutorial by Not Martha, modeled by my Rorabear        

And these hair clips, made of scrap fabric rosettes, backed with felt and topped with bling

The hair accessories got an "oh cute" and she wore the headband around for a while so I guess she liked them. ♥

I also ordered her this book from Amazon, but it didn't arrive on time. Bummer.


Time to retire to the couch and enjoy whats left of my day off. Happy Mother's Day. ♥

Muck Boots

Completed this layout yesterday about the kids playing in the mud and their muck boots. Journaling reads. "The beginning of spring is always a very sloppy time but that doesn't stop the kids from jumping in the puddles & the mud." My favorite part, the muddy footprints, were stamped with GI Joe boot soles!

Supplies: Paper: DCWV, October Afternoon, Basic Grey
                 Stamps: Studio Calico, Cosmo Cricket
                 Inks: Colorbox, Tim Holtz
                 Mists: Smooch Inks, Tattered Angels
                 Stickers: Heidi Swapp
                 Punches: Fiskars, Martha Stewart
                 Markers: Sharpie, Crayola
                 Brad: Crate Paper
                 Other: lace, embroidery floss, button

Here's another for my mother, based on this Studio Calico sunday sketch.

Goodnight. ♥                

For My Mother

Since this coming Sunday is Mother's Day, and my mom still doesn't use the computer, I figure it is safe to share the hanging photo/layout that I created for her. As I'm sure you know, I am in love with scrapbooking and it is kind of leaking over into all the other crafty things that I do.

This photo turned out so blurry and I'm not sure if it is the lighting or the camera. But I adore this photo of my mom. She looks so happy and is starting to look just like grandma. The message says "just wanted to let you know how happy I am to have you as a mom and how lucky Aurora is too." Here are a couple close-ups of the embellishments:

The brown ribbon rosettes, which are so stunning, are from Webster's Pages. You can find them at my favorite ebay seller, yourscrapbooksupply. She has lots of the latest products that were just released and they are always on sale from the start. Lots of good deals and shipping discounts.
I made the fabric rosettes from Rora's baby clothes that were too stained to keep but too pretty to discard. It adds an extra bit of sentimentality for grandma. The whole layout is popped into a 9x12 acrylic art box so it can hang on the wall. I hope she loves this frame as much as I loved making it.

Another project that I considered and would make a lovely and classic mother's day corsage was this beautiful and incredibly realistic felt dahlia from Not Martha for Holidash. It is already saved on my To Do list - I will probably make some in neon colors and add them to ponytail holders for my girls.

 

On my wish list for Mother's Day is this set of canisters from Liberty of London for Target. Almost every review states they are too small to practically store your flour, sugar and such - and I am a very practical girl - but the girly floral prints make my heart pound in a way I just can't ignore. My hubby has already agreed to build me a pantry stand for the kitchen and I am reserving the top shelf just for these. ♥