11/29/10

Dress to Skirt

Sorry to say, but i wasn't too impressed the recipe i was going to post that sounded delicous! I am finally starting to feel better, so i have started projects again! There are a few more that I have done that I can't post pictures of because they are presents for people who look at this blog! So here is my first official post of being back to work! (well, back to projects at least) I forgot to take process pictures, but i will explain what I did. I also haven't gotten a good after picture she would keep the headband on for. But I will work on that, and post one later.

Ok, this is how the dress started. It was a halter style, but was too snug around the ribs. there was lots of fabric on the lower section, because it had been gathered so it would flare. i wasn't able to give up the dress yet, because I loved the fabric, so i decided to change it into a skirt with matching headband. first i unattatched the halter part from the bottom, Then I just sewed the bottom to a piece of elastis I measured around my oldests waist, so they could both wear it. Reatached the ribbon to act as a belt when my younger one wears the skirt, and it was already hemmed! It was very easy and didn't take me long at all. Then I used the halter part to make the headband. Since it was double sided, all I had to do was sew it to my desired lenth, and then use the extra cut off fabric to make the flowers. They are just torn strips of fabric layered to look like a flower, and then a button placed in the middle. I made it long enough so I could wear the headband to, And it is super cute on both little girl and adult. I just may have to borrow it a time or two!

~Elisa~

11/11/10

Missing in Action

Sorry I have been missing in action. We are almost 8 weeks along in the pregnancy of our third child! Super exciting, but it has kept me a little under the weather, and has basically put a halt to all my painting projects, and I have ALOT of those on my list to do! So I will try to get back in the swing of things soon, as soon as this morning sickness (more like all day) goes away! I think I am starting to feel a little better, but that is really just some days are better than others. I have a recipe I will post today or tomorrow that is YUMMY! I had enough energy to do that as my project for the day. So stay tuned. And once again, sorry i have been missing in action for those of you who follow along.

~Elisa~

11/6/10

Quiet Books

Sorry I have been absent from posting. I have been feeling a little under the weather, and unmotivated lately, but I have still been busy. I had started this project like a year ago, made the covers, a few pages, and then stopped. Then finally I decided to just Work, work, work on them until they were done. So now I can say that I am done! We had an activity at church were they had ideas to use and follow a pattern (I think). But I do better without patterns. So I took a few of the ideas from church, and then did my own spin on the books. I made up my covers, made the pages bigger, and put them on rings instead of sewing them to the outside of the book. Some of the pages are the same, but different, and then some are completely different. I still have lots of ideas, but they are already kind of stuffed with fun stuff. The good thing about having them on the binder  rings is that I can change pages out when they get bored!We'll have to see on Sunday at church how well that hard work paid off. If they keep us QUIET, then I know it did!

The covers are made of flannel lined with interfacing to make them a little more sturdy, but they are still soft and bendable. I made handles so they could carry them easier. And added their initials so they knew which one was theirs. I have a feeling they are going to fight over them anyway, but maybe when they are older it will all work out!
 Here is a clock to practice numbers, and then some cool sewing games from the Target dollar section in the "extra stuff" pocket.
 This page has the flowers that are attatched with buttons. This way they can practive buttoning. And the show to practice tying shoes.
 Here is one of my own ideas. It is an oven and cupcakes. I should have used a shiny silver fabric to resemble a cookie sheet but I tried to make most of it using scrap fabric, so this was the closest I had.
 They can use the hot pad to take the cupcakes out of the oven to put in the right color on the tray.
 I found these little skirt purses at the dollar store that work great for storing their letter flashcards., and The glove was one of the original ideas when we made them at church.
 Here is another one I made up. A day at the beach. They have to get the items out of the beach bag and match it up with the word on the beach.
 Right now I only have one puzzle made up that covers the whole page, but the goal is to have 3.
 Here is a fun one I came up with for the purse. I wasn't sure what to put in it, and then decided to make some makeup out of felt and some interfacing. Then I use permanent markers and nail polish to make the colors of the makeup. And to the side of tht is 2 pockets that hold a notepad and pen to write letters.
 Then the letters can go in the mailbox! That was also one of the original ideas from our church activity.
 Here is another clock in the other book, just different colors.
 Once again, here are some repeat pages but in different colors.
 Same thing.
 Ok, here is a new one. I made the one up pf the tree with owls. Each owl is numbered and you are supose to match it with its number, and then the next page was from the class. It is a weaving game.
 And one last repeat, still different colors.
 Here is one of my girls LOVING the Busy/Quiet Book! Of course she chose to do her sisters book, and not hers, even though hers has more pages!
I am not sure why, but blogger put this out of order. Anyways, it is a matching shapes game, and then practicing snaps by taking the popcorn out of the bucket and snapping it to the dish. I will post more pages as I make more, but that may not be for awhile. I am kind of looking forward to quiet book break!
~Elisa~