Fit for a Birthday!

So here's the project that kept me busy last week ( hence the lack of posting!). I was asked to make a custom dress and banner for a first birthday party! I was able to snag a couple photos of the finished products before they were picked up, but it was late and they were taken indoors, so the quality isn't great, but hopefully I will have better pictures soon.
Isn't the fabric for the dress amazing! I fell in love with the fabric, I mean, who doesn't love Amy Butlers fabric anyways, and pictures never do it justice! It came in the mail, and I DIED!

Here's a little peek at the owl I appliqued on the bottom, per request. The ribbon is a little in the way, but you can still get the gist. 

Now Part 2! The Banner! This turned out to be a bigger endeavour than I predicted, but I was super happy with the outcome!

I made the banner from craft felt. It has three layers, the back triangle, the front triangle and the letters. Each triangle is about 81/2" by 81/2". The smaller one is about 1/2" less... maybe a bit more. The middle circle between the words is done in fabric that matched the dress, and attached by velcro. It can be replaced with a plain red circle, or really anything made from felt! This way it can be made to fit the party, since it will be reused. The triangles are strung together using quilter's bias tape. I will be adding these to my etsy shop shortly for custom orders if you don't feel up to making your own! Also, the dresses are available for custom orders as usual, by e-mail me your requests!

Giveaway Winner!!!

The Random Number Generator gave me lucky number 6!!! Rachel you are the winner! E-mail me with your info and I will send the dishtowels your way!
Thank you so much to everyone who left comments and became a follower. Its so nice to have people who are reading my ramblings!

On other news, I am currently working on a very special project for a friend of mine's daughter's first birthday! I hope to have pictures up shortly, and some tutorials... woo hoo!

Kristina's Alphabet Shower

I had so much fun putting together a bridal shower for my cousin's fiance Kristina. They are getting married in March here in southern California! I based the shower off Martha Stewart's Alphabet theme, which stood out as unique and fun. Let me just say I LOVE themes. I have to have a theme attached to every party I do. It helps guide me. I am one of those people who falls in love with so many cute things, and if I don't have some guidelines, things can get a bit carried away. Themes are my guidelines!

I just wanted to show off a couple of pictures and share some of the ways we used the alphabet theme.
I was lucky enough to use my mom's beautiful home, as well as her help in the decorating process! We chose a green and purple color scheme, and my mom made the amazing flower arrangements. You can find pictures and a tutorial for the favors, appliqued dishtowels, on my post from Monday!Here's a picture of the food table. We did small appetizers and desserts. To go with the theme we made K cookies with green icing to match the color scheme, and ordered mini cupcakes with fondant Ks on them. The cupcakes turned out so cute! I wish I could make ones like that!!

This is a picture of the bar area with a banner strung across it spelling out Kristina. I printed the letters in circles on card stock and backed them in green and purple card stock that matched the invitations, then strung them on green ribbon. We served blueberry bellinis that matched the purple.
This is one of my favorite shower decorating ideas! The clothesline! You can string anything on a clothesline to match your theme, but for this occasion I choose an oven mitt set from Crate and Barrel and two monogrammed dishtowels. If you look closely you can see that two of the clothespins are birds. Aren't those so cute! My mom bought them from Crate and Barrel outlet!!! (They are now being used to dry my cloth diapers ;) )

Hope everyone enjoyed a little peek at the shower. I have so much fun organizing events like these. I have my Sister-in-Law's coming up in May... already planning!

Applique Dishtowels and Giveaway!!!

I thought I would start the week with a tutorial and a Giveaway!!! I hosted a shower for my cousin's fiance this weekend(more details tomorrow!) and made some appliqued dishtowels as the favors. I was super excited with how they turned out, and had a few left over! So, since I don't need 3 heart dishtowels, I though someone else out there might...heres the deal:

1. Become a follower and then comment to this post that you are one.

2. Comment on this post.

3. Comment on another post and let me know, through a comment on this post!

I will use a random number generator to determine the winner.

One lucky winner will get a set (2) of heart appliqued dishtowels!!! The giveaway ends next Monday: 2/24, so hurry up!

Now on to the tutorial:

Materials:

dishtowel

Lite Steam-A-Seam

fabric

coordinating thread

sewing machine

iron

1. Trace your design onto the paper side of the fusible web, in reverse. If you choose to do letters you can print them from your computer and then trace them (backwards) onto the paper side.  (oops, my calendar snuck into the photo!)

2. Follow the directions on your fusible web. For mine I had to iron the fabric, take off the liner on one side (not the one that has your design on it), and stick it to the wrong side of your fabric.

3. Cut out your shape and peel the other liner off, being sure that the webbing sticks to the fabric.

4. Stick your applique onto the dishtowel in the position you want it.

5. Follow the directions on your package for how long to iron it in place.

6. Stitch 1/4" in around your shape.

7. Note: Your fabric will fray around the edges when washed, if you want to avoid this do a tight zig-zag stitch around the edges.

Newest Creations

I haven't posted in awhile :(! Sorry. I've been busy with the kiddos, planning a bridal shower (details to come), and sewing!
I though I would show off a couple of my latest creations.

The top picture is Marley showing off her latest accessory, a ruffle beanie that mommy made from an old tee-shirt!

This picture features Marley and her fabric flower hair clip, made just like the previous one here, with a couple more embellishments. This time I used the hem of an old tee-shirt, attached the flower to a fabric lined alligator clip and stitched a yellow button in the center to match her outfit!

Sorry, not alot of tutorials, but a little inspiration for a cloudy, or snowy day!