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This weeks challenge for Project Run and Play was to create an Earth Day look. We could recycle, use earth-friendly materials, etc. I went the recycling route and whipped up a mommy-daughter look. What Earth week look would be complete without a little green? I combined several greens for an eclectic look.
Materials used for this look:
Penelope -
- top: shade dress and stewart & brown tank dress
- denim: old denim from one of my favorite pairs of pants and scrap leather from the discard pile at an upholstery shop
Me-
- top: two tops revamped from this old bow tutorial
- skirt: maternity top and elastic meant for last year's swimsuit cover-up
The two dresses I used to make Penelope's top were rescued from the donation pile. The dark teal top had knit binding that was falling off, so I unpicked the rest of it and added it as trim. I really like how the raw jersey edge rolls up and adds a new dimension to the bias tape look. the buttons were originally on the sleeves of the print dress/shirt.
She's such a mini hipster with her skinny jeans and fake tatts.
I used twin needles and topstitching for all of the finishing details. It really helps stabilize the stretch and add a polished look.
The tank dress I used on the back panel was originally pieced together in asymmetrical lines, I thought I'd include those lines in with the back. I also gathered and lengthened the back. When Penelope runs around, it's like she has a cape on her back. SO freaking cute.
Check out these little motorcycle jeans. They're so hot on her. She really likes her "knee pads". The ankle length skinnies and vintage oxfords are screaming to be discovered by the Sartorialist.
This competition has been so intense. And I feel like I wouldn't be able to hang with the crowd if I didn't do something extra. Penelope's look is really quite simple (but hey Michael C. made it really far in Project runway and his designs were simple, right?). So I thought I would dig into my pile of "clothes to refashion/tailor/alter/etc" and made a coordinating outfit for me. I've had this bow top for a while, but I didn't really dig how bulky the bow was. I know. I MADE IT WITH MY OWN TUTORIAL. So I revamped it. And it's way better now. I'll share a new tutorial, if you'd like. ;)
I also made this maternity top into a skirt. It wasn't really a maternity top, I got it from Ruche, but since I only ever wore it in the maternity context, I couldn't help but feel fat and pregnant every time I wore it. It's stupid, I know. That top was awesome. I really loved the print, and on a whim, Sarah convinced me that I needed to make it into a skirt. I love it a million times more, now. I also love the striped elastic waistband with it. It's an unexpected combo. I love unexpected combinations.
Oh, sweet Penelope. I love you. I love that you let me dress you and make clothes for you. I love how excited you get over them. Please never change.
P.S. Thanks for all of your support with this project!
Fabric supplied by Fashion Fabrics Club. Connect with FFC on Facebook and Pinterest
I love wearing light-weight skirts during the summer. Truth be told, I don't currently own a single pair of shorts. I definitely don't mind it being that way. This outfit was really easy. No make up, just lipstick and glasses.
The lighting was just perfect yesterday while I was working on this week's sewing project, I couldn't help but snap a few candids of Felix. He's really starting to move around a lot more. It was a fight to get him to stay in one place, but that's a problem I'm happy to have!
He's been practically stationery until this last month. And he's 14 months old. Felix and I are working really hard at getting him up to speed and he's responding really well to the physical therapy. It wears us both out, but it's so exciting to see him growing. I can't help but worry that his delayed physical development is all my fault.
I feel a lot of guilt surrounding his growth. I'm sure I'm not the only mother who has anxiety about this. I can't help but asking: Am I playing with him enough? Am I molly-coddling him too much or not enough? Is he getting the right nutrition he needs? Will he be an independent child as he grows older? Are my "extra-curricular" projects holding him back? Or is he just one of those kids who does things on his own timeline?
Oh please, God, let it be the latter.
I am one lucky mama to have my incredibly sweet, beautiful, healthy children; Penelope and Felix. I really do thank God every day for being blessed with them in our little family. I would be nothing without them.
I never bake bread, I'm horrible at it, but since this is more of a pound cake I gave it a go. Mmm! Mmm! Chris and I pounded down one of the loaves in a matter of minutes.
One of the things about Amish Friendship bread, is it comes with a little instruction sheet that you're supposed to copy and send along with the starter bags. And . . . woops . . . I wrote all over my sheet before copying it off.
My first thought was to white out the writing and then copy the instructions. Then my brain woke up: Why white-out on a sheet in order to save the comic sans instructions? Gross. I'm going to redesign it.
Now I'm sharing the download with you. I figure maybe some of you out there might be looking for a prettier handout with your bread starters. So here you go. Share with your friends.
If you'd like to get started on your own Amish bread, you can find the 
It was a serious scorcher on Sunday, but it didn't start out that way. I considered wearing a sweater out, but opted for a lightweight vintage scarf. Good choice, Mel.
The thing about kids' toys: they never come in a simple box. They're always in an annoying blister pack or odd-shaped rectangle. That was certainly the case with the gifts we gave her this year. I was just in such a hurry to get her gifts wrapped before she wandered into my bedroom, somehow I channeled my inner short cook and came up with a really simple and fast way to wrap her awkward-shaped gifts.
I'm not sure about you, but I figured I'd share this technique in case it would come in handy for any of you. I think the gifts turned out quite nicely, considering their shape and the simple paper used. Click the link below for the whole tutorial (and video!).
This technique is pretty straight forward. You want to have your gift, wrapping paper, scissors and tape. I used decorative packing tape for mine. Washi tape would be fun, too.
I had elaborate plans for a sweet library party for Penelope, but that did NOT happen. I swear I might have mono or something, because it's like pulling teeth trying to get out of bed before 10am (and no I'm not prego). I'm going to blame it on my stationary lifestyle for now.
I think I will still do a big friend party for her, but sometime in May or June. It's not like Penelope really cares when the birthday party is, right? Have any of you done something like that before?
I still wanted to make a big to do for her birthday, so we had a special dinner with presents and cake. The easiest and most delicious cake that I could think of to make was Texas Sheet Cake. It's my late grandmother's recipe. It's divine.
Do you ever find that your most creative ideas come out of your laziness? I really didn't want to make a buttercream frosting for a sweet message on the cake, so I made the message out of mini marshmallows. I thought it turned out rather cute. I could see this being even more clever on an all-white cake.
It's not like Penelope really cares about this type stuff at four years old, but that's just fine.
It's still so surreal that she's four. She's a rad kid. I can't believe that she's ours. I love you, sweet Penelope!
I made little chambray shorts with a floral cuff using the small floral print. I made these shorts with a flat front and an elastic, gathered waistline in the back to allow for growth. The shorts are just the right size to allow for growth over the summer months.
I top stitched all of the seams on Penelope's shorts, which gives it a nice finishing touch and reinforces those seams against all of the abuse they'll be enduring this year.
She really loves her new shorts. A LOT.
I had every intention to make her some sweet leather kicks for her ensemble, but the shoes ended up being more work than I could accomplish within the time frame. It has made me think that I should become BFFs with my local cobbler and learn everything I can about making cool kicks.
Instead, I made her a little leather tote bag. This will be perfect for play dates, church and errands around town. I'm considering making her a matching wallet to store her "monies". This leather was a dream to work with. I had this cream leather on hand and I bought the blue leather for her shoes.
I'm thinking the blue leather might make for a nice tote for me instead.
I also made Penelope sweet little lace socks from a stretchy lace I found. They're long, so they can go well peeking out of her little boots or bunched up around her ankles.
After seeing the competition in works last week, I thought this look wouldn't be complete without a little hair accessory. I 
How cute is Penelope? She's such a wiggly girl! She sure does love her new look.
Tuesday was really rainy and depressing, so I wore grey clothes to match. I made my necklace back in January and wear it ALL THE TIME. Maybe one of these years, I'll share the tutorial with you.
Also, I've been letting my hair airdry these days. It usually has a ridiculous mind of its own, not knowing whether to be frizzy, straight or wavy. I'm liking what it did today, though.
Outfit details:
Fellow blog friend, 
I Still Love You will not become a fashion blog. It still remains a document of the things I love, my constant effort to stay creative and inspire others to do the same. Now it will include semi-regular style posts in addition to my regular content.
This is what I wore to church on Sunday. It had been a while since I wore both the dress and the heels. Gosh, I think it was before Felix was a thought that I last wore those smokin shoes. I loved mixing patterns with this ensemble.
Outfit Details:
Am I getting baby hungry for another? Ummm. . . maybe?
No, no, no. Nevermind. I just remembered how much I hated 
I threw on the most colorful clothes I have to mask my lack of motivation to look stylish today. Too bad you can't see the killer shoes I wore while running errands. And I changed up my background. This is much cleaner. Me likey. I still am nervous about getting the whitbalance consistent in all of my posts, but I guess it will push me to get better at my photography.
sweater: ModBod, c/o 
This morning was a tad more chaotic than normal as I was still tying to finish my first look for project run and play. They were really good at steering clear of the new machine, but still eager to try their hands at sewing. We had a little impromtu crafting session, where I helped them each make little totes. Penelope was more interested in running around with the kids than sewing, so she didn't make one.
It makes me wonder, when will my kids become interested in sewing? Ever? My interest didn't really start until I was in ninth grade, our school switched to uniforms and I wore pretty much the same thing every day.
It was fun to stretch myself in more of an editorial direction and I'm really happy with the result. The soft coral breaks up the black and white space nicely and the light blue accents add more dimension than a light grey. Farra is an aggregator of pretty inspiration, so I wanted the design to play more of a supporting role in her blog.
We kept it simple, and I love how it turned out.
It's been a while since I've shared a blog/design tip! Here's one that Chris and I have been talking a lot about recently:
I hate that. I never wanted to be the girl who didn't become a real "artist" after graduating with her BFA. It was always a big topic in my art school as it was about 80% women. Can an artist be a good mother? Can a mother even be an artist? I hated those discussions. It was like my art career was doomed because I was a woman and wanted a family.
I try to be a good mother. I really try. But laundry never gets done, I rarely do the dishes and my children get bathed twice a week if they're lucky. More if they get really gross, but still.
I try to have artistic/creative experiences, too. I'm not planning on showing at a gallery in SoHo anytime in the near future, nor do I want to for that matter. Often times I feel the "high art" of our generation is not home friendly or family friendly, for that matter. There are a couple of contemporary "high artists" that I really look up to and would love to meet someday. But I feel like that particular industry is not friendly to my old-fashioned values and views on beauty.
This is why I love blogging. I can make it whatever I want it to be.
And now I'm picking up my dusty oil paints.
I wanted to make some 
I added pintuck detailing in the back and a high-low hemline to the bottom. It looks so sweet on her (especially with those super hip purple skinnies).
She was such a cute little model, but a little bit more camera shy than Penelope. I think my camera might have traumatized her a bit, the poor girl. But I was able to snap enough pictures of the detail of the shirt, you get the jist. Now I need to make one for Penelope. Then maybe one for me. I think it turned out too darn cute.
I also broke out the twin needles for this project. I'm not sure I'll be going back when it comes to using knits! I found out about the glories of 
Feeling a tad goth today. I better take advantage of the freshly dyed hair and the pasty skin, no?
One of my favorite people came over yesterday for a little lunch and hang out. Oh how I wish 
Sarah does the red lipstick so well, doesn't she? I'm jealous.
Outfit details (Sarah):
One thing that I don't much care for about Easter is the fake plastic grass. YUCK. If you know me personally, you'll know that I have texture issues, and the texture of plastic grass drives me a little batty. The crinkle paper filler isn't my favorite, either, but I can't seem to find it in the colors I like or want. Also, I hardly ever have the right color on hand for anything.
I do, however, have a lot of tissue paper always on hand. Instead of plastic Easter grass, I will be cutting up mounds of tissue paper. Buy your favorite print or color and cut small strips using a paper cutter or simple scissors. Since it's grass, there's no need to worry about straight lines.
Creating a large collection of Easter grass takes very little time. Promise.
Last night I got together with a few friends and we made surprise Easter balls. I made one for Penelope and one for Felix. Felix is a bit too young for it, but I'm sure he might get a bit jealous seeing Penelope unwrapping her surprises all by herself. What are your plans on celebrating Easter with your kiddos? Below are some fantastic DIY projects for kiddos grown ups alike.
I scored the above 
It took me a while to get around to making them skinny, but once I sat down to do it, the alteration took me a few hours. For my first attempt, I laid my favorite pair of skinnies on top of the denim (
These are more of a cigarette pant, than a skinny pant. They have the perfect amount of give all the way down the pant, but not so much give that it adds bulk to my legs.
These pants are my new mom jeans. They look nice, but they feel like pajamas. Victory!
Oh how this shirt makes me happy.
top: thrifted + 
I designed this tattoo for a friend of mine. I think it's the closest to what I would do if I were to get a tattoo. My friend had it done along her ribcage, and a lot smaller than how I did mine. I think it turned out super cool. Check out the video below to learn how I photoshopped the tattoo.
I finally figured out what I wanted. It's a word that's followed me through my entire life, and will follow me forever: create.
It was more than a little nerve wracking to get it done, and more than a tad painful, but nothing that would overshadow childbirth. It's now starting to heal, so it looks decent enough to show you all. I'm really happy how it turned out!