And The Winner Is .....

I would normally be very upset that only 3 people entered my give away, but it actually made it easier to to pick a winner. I didn't have to use random.com because.... All 3 that entered are the winners.
Zombie Queen, Michelle who is also my sister-in-law, and Lindsay!!!!
I just thought that with only 3 entries I can make 3 dresses, plus Michelle, we're family you can get a dress when ever you want one.

It All Started with a Dress Give Away - CLOSED

One year ago on March 13th I opened my shop. A year before that I made my first dress for the Pumpkin that are like the ones I sale in the shop. So to celebrate the shops year anniversary I am doing a give away. The winner will get one dress like one one pictured. To enter leave a comment and make sure that there is a way to reach, from now on to the 13th of March.

All About the Boy

Is my timing awesome or what!!! Dana over at Made and Rea at Made my Rea are celebrating the boy this month. Check it out!

The Hardest Thing I've Ever Had to Do

Most women get pregnant, go nine months, go to the hospital, have their baby, and at the end, mama, daddy and baby go home.... right?
Well you can't and shouldn't always plan for things to go that way because sometimes they don't. As you all may know I had some crazy blood pressure problems. One visit my blood pressure would be normal and the next it would be high. My doc didn't like what he was seeing so he decided to induce. Most of the time they use cervidil to soften the cervix to get it ready for labor and once you've dilated they start patosin.
I wasn't so lucky, right. They did to rounds of  cervadil.The first one was put in wrong, not fun. The second one gave me rather intense contractions for about 8 hours, but in the end I did NOT dilate at all.
The doc gave me 2 options- try the cervidil again or have a c section.
I did not want to punk out and have a c section. I don't really care for c sections unless mother or baby is in danger. There was no guarantee that the cervidil. would work again and I really didn't want to go through another 8 hours of "fake" labor if I wasn't even going to dilate. Not only that, people took off of work for this event, and like my loving wonderful husband said, I should be sick of people coming in and poking me. He did not use those words, but if you have had a baby before you know that you get checked... a lot. That's what he meant by "poking". So, sadly a chose to have a c section.
Ok, now this next part, although hard to see and understand at the time, only happened this way by the grace of God.
Went into the operating room, had the damn c section, the umbilical cord was wrapped tight around by babies neck, they cut it and off to the NICU with daddy he went. Turns out, he also swallowed a bunch of fluid and his lungs were a little under developed. Now I bet you are saying, "how terrible is that, where was God". Well after what I've been told and what I have read, there are many risks to having the cord around the babies neck. I know that it happens. Some of you might have had a baby with the cord wrapped around their neck. The negative effects are enough for me. Not only that, but my health was in danger. Then to make it worst, I had to leave him at the hospital when I was discharged. For the 1st couple of days he was there I couldn't even hold him. Isn't that terrible. No mother should have to sit in the hospital after having her baby and not even get to hold him.
It was a very long ordeal, but after all was said and done my baby boy came home on Thursday, February 10th the day before his due date. He just needed a little extra time to "cook" because he wasn't quite ready yet. He was 7lbs 5 oz and 19 in.

Change Of Plans

So due to a sudden jump in my blood pressure and the fact that my doc thinks that this little one will be a big boy, i will be putting off the rest of the baby posts for about a week or so. I had originally thought that I had at least 2 more weeks but it turns out, I have 3 days before I welcome my son into the world. So, that also means that I'll have a baby boy to model all of the cute projects that I make.
See you soon !!! :)

Boy Stuff

I have been looking for shops that feature a wide variety of little boy clothing and accessories.

Here is what I found.

We all have seen or even made a onsie or t shirt with an appliqued tie or bow tie on it. These cute little guys over at stitchesbyrachel go a step further an add a corduroy vest. I love it!

I love graphic t's and I love Micheal Scott from The Office. You can grab this one and many others like it at VicariousClothing

This is probably one of the best/easiest pants pattern I have ever used. I won this pattern in a give away Vegbee had. In fact I helped name the pattern.



Hats always look great on little boys. I am not a fan of the knitted or crochet ones- too itchy. So these ones at pink2blue are perfect. There is also a variety of little shoes too.



I love all of SeamsByGwenny 's bumper sets. They are not the conventional cutesie baby sets. They are very bold and colorful.

I love this. Its very "boy". You can see this and more at boujiandnouna.

See this one at creations4babies.

And this stuff is my favorite. I found this shop, RockerByeBaby on Etsy, and all of this stuff ROCKS. There is much more than just bumpers. There are blankets and accessories and more.

I am sure there is much more out there. If you have a shop or know of any other kick ass boy stuff send me a link and I will feature it on here.





Where's all of the Boy Stuff!!!

So this up coming weekend my sister in law is throwing me a baby shower. Of course I was excited, not because of all of the gifts, I was excited to go and register for gifts. I love going to register for gifts. I have no clue why. They give you a scanner gun type thingy and you get to go and scan all of the things you think that you need. Its actually more of a want.
So naturally I scanned the basics. Bottles (even though I plan on breast feeding ), infant tub, diapers, blankets, burp clothes, you know all that stuff that we need. Then it was time for the stuff that I want!!! I love those little bumbo seats, so i scanned one of them, an electric aspirator, and a boppy. Then I went to look for a crib set because I decided that I am not in the mood to make one my self. That another one of those prego things. You think you can do all of this stuff, but when it comes down to it, you really either don't have the time or energy or you just don't give a "you know" enough. Ok, so back to the crib set. There were cute little teddy bears, and monkeys, fuzzy little farm animals, some puppies, and then I said wait!!! Little boys don't do cute. They are boys!!! I had a little brother and I have watched  many other little boys . Boys play in the mud. They bring their mom bugs and stuff. They terrorize their sisters. They like to through things!!!!
There was nothing that said " a real little boy sleeps here". There were no cars and tractors, no footballs, airplanes and trucks, no bugs, nothing.
So I am on a mission find some real boy stuff.
Come back later to see what I have found.

I am Back

Alright, so I know that its been awhile. Between moving 3 times now and just the basic everyday complications of being prego, its been a little hard to maintain my blog. I am sorry and I am ready to get blogging!!!

Its A Boy!!!

Times They Are a Changing

Well I know that I promised a bunch of fun baby tutes. Don't worry that is still on. This baby has made life a little difficult. Morning sickness is not fun. There was no morning sickness with the Pumpkin, just horrible heartburn.
Now I am finally feeling better and its just in time for us to move... again. We are moving back to my home town of Las Vegas. With the new baby coming, along with new problems and complications, we think that it would better for us to be back in Vegas. So as soon as I get back I will put up the first of many tutes and baby project ideas.

I am Back

So we are all moved in.Well kinda. There are a few boxes that I am not quite sure where they are going to go. Its been a busy couple of weeks. We were with out phone, Internet, and satellite TV for over a week. I mean really whats a girl to do. I think I watched The Pumpkin's Backyardigan DVDs over a 100 times... OK not really, but it was alot.

I also have some news for you all. I am preggers. Its not the greatest news. We are so broke right now but we'll make it work. You guys can help. I plan on making a ton of baby stuff and I need tutorials and ideas. I plan on doing a huge thing on baby tutes and projects. Some by me and hopefully a little showcase of some other really good ones.
So if anyone has/knows of any kick ass baby tutorials and project ideas please let me know.

Moving Day

Moving day is upon us. I really hate moving. Due to our current finnantial situation we thought that it would be smart to find something cheaper. So we are leaving our yellow house that I luv and moving into a smaller more economical duplex up the road. I have been kinda packing, and sorting. I am not getting rid of any FABRIC !!!! Now for the next couple of days I will be absent from the blogging world. Hahaha its not like I've been real present lately anyways. I have something really big planned for the next couple of months tho, so be ready :)

New Dress and Design

This is my latest and I think  its my favorite. Its not done yet, it just needs a bow. Its for a client . She needs it for a photo shoot. I know it might seem silly for me to get excited about this, but it makes me smile just to think of my dress in a photo shoot. This design is a little more authentic to the whole rockabilly/1950's style. I love it!!! Look for soon in the shop.

there is still more to come!

I promised more and here it is. This dress is more of a cute little sundress, still totally vintage inspired. Its not quite as spunky as my other dresses. I love the fabric. It was on clearance last year at Walmart for $0.60 a yard. AWESOME!!! I wish that I would have bought more, but back then I had no idea that I would be opening an Etsy shop.

The bodice needs some tweaking. It comes up a little higher than the others and its got a small gather in the front.

And of course a twirly shot.

Well what do you think?

Looking for Inspiration

I know that I have been absent from the blogging world. We have run into a snag. You all know that I do in home day care, well the 2 boys that I watch just kinda up and left. Ok , well not really. They were going to be leaving in September when the oldest one started preschool. The preschool that they are going to have 2 openings for them now, so their mom decided to enroll them now. Its kinda put a snag in all of my plans. I planned on doing a give away last month, and posting pictures of our new garden, starting a whole new "line" in the shop, as well as making a whole ton of dresses for a consignment shop in Texas. Its just been so hard to focus when you don't know where the money you so desperately need, is going to come from. Not only that my focus has been on trying to  find more kids to watch.

There has been very little activity in the shop aside from custom orders. I was in the punk baby swap on craftster, and that was hard. I need some drive, some inspiration, or something to get me out of this funk. Sorry to all of my followers... all 17 of you!!! I love you all.

Maybe a give away or a contest is what I need. Some busy work would be good.

Sparkel Power Giveaway

If you havent already seen this blog you should check it out. She's doing a giveaway, Good Luck!

The Girl Turns 3

 

I am so sad now that the girl is 3. I know it sounds bad, but I wasn't ready for her to get older. Despite of grief, I managed to make the pumpkin a birthday dress. I let her pick her own fabric and she wanted a "Marty" dress. Marty? The zebra from Madagascar. I think it turned out pretty cute. I think that I want one for myself. Which, by the way I am working on a womens line for the shop.

 

This is her poor, poor cake. It was going to be a 3 tiered masterpiece, complete with hand painted zebra stripes by yours truly. Unfortunately when I put the last tier on, the middle tier just wasn't strong enough. If I ever do this again DO NOT USE THE CAKE MIX WITH THE PUDDING!!! I managed to clean it up a bit and hid some of the damage with some ribbon. The girl still liked it. While I was making it I swear I could have been the next Food Network Star. I made fondant, colored it, rolled it out, put it on the cake and even did the rubbing thing that the cake decorators do when they put the fondant on. Watch out Duff Goldman. LOL!!!

Outside Fun : Picking Flowers

I normally do not let the children pick the flowers in the back yard. I have daffodils and tulips, along with some lilies. Lucky for them my yard has been taken over by dandelions. I don’t know why this simple past time of collecting a little yellow flower by the bunch, has small children so entertained. I see the kiddos’ walking by with fist full’s of flowers. The girls put them in their hair. Everyday the Pumpkin brings me a flower, which by the way absolutely warms my heart. Then she tells me to smell and she does too and says that it smells so beautiful. They "plant" them in their gardens. They even put them in little rows in the planter area.

My favorite thing they did with the flowers.

"Hanging Gardens"

Who would have thought that picking dandelions would provide hours of fun, free, entertainment.

New Stuff In The Shop

This is a custom item.

Croc Upgrade

Her 1st of 2 pairs of new Crocs arrived in the mail today.

They are extremely cute and there is plenty of growing room. I love them. But, because these will be mainly the only shoes she wears in the sticky summer months I thought an upgrade was needed. Don’t get me wrong these are just fine as they are, but there's nothing wrong with a little dazzle.



The Upgrade
First you will need to gather your supplies. shoes, velcro, ribbon, a hot glue gun, felt and anything crafty you might have lying around.

Second- you are going to need to cut your felt to size. There really isn't a right way to do this. It’s all trial and error. So you do that until you get something like this. * A great tip is to do one and use the 1st one as a template for the other shoe, just remember to flip it over when you go to the next step.

Next you will need to cut 4 strips of ribbon about 2 inches long. You'll need ribbon that’s wide enough to attach your velcro to. After you've cut your ribbon, glue one to each of the "y" ends like this.

Now you need to attach the velcro.

Here's the fun part, decorating !!!

Pom Pom's

Fabric Flowers

These tie on with ribbon insted of velcro.

The posiblities are endless. I'm gonna get some silk flowers and some fake jewels for a blinged out Croc.

Outside Fun: Grocery Bag Kites

As you all may know I live up here in the frozen north- Wisconsin. It’s a place that hasn’t got the memo that it’s spring. So we’re all putting our jackets and jeans on to play outside. There have been a few warmer days but the wind is still a bit chilly. So when life gives you lemons, you make grocery bag kites. This is the easiest and fastest windy day fun creator. It’s so simple I’m not even going to give step-by-step detailed instructions on how to make them


You take a plastic grocery bag and tie yarn, string or ribbon to both handles. Then you run. It’s that simple. It’s also a great way to reuse plastic grocery bags.

Oh I got my new camera, so a better fat quarter skirt tutorial is coming soon.

Enjoy!!!