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Friday, April 30, 2010

SUCCESS!

Today was a great day for 2 reasons.

1. I found zebra print fabric! Not only in cotton but SATIN as well!!!
2. I successfully made my first pattern! YES, I, Brandi Gonzalez, Made a workable, wearable, pattern.
For what you might ask? For the CUTEST open back swing top/smock EVER. Do you get the sense that I am REALLY proud of myself? If not, well, I am!

A little back story. I was introduced to this website by a friend, http://www.rufflebutts.com/ , which has the cutest bloomers and swing tops. Which incidentally my mom used to dress me in little swing tops and bloomers almost exactly like the ones on their site. So of course Gianna HAS to have some! After scoping out the site and realizing I just can't afford to pay 30 bucks for a infant top that she is going to grow out of in 3 months, I set out to find a pattern for them. I searched high and low, Google-d until I could Google no more, alas I could not find a pattern that would produce a type of top I was looking for. Then it hit me! Why don't I email them and see if they sell the pattern? NEGATIVE! Back to the drawing board. . . I started thinking about how hard could it possibly be to make this top? What if I order one from the clearance rack and make my own pattern template from it? BINGO! I ordered one for 10 bucks in a size 3T . . . all they had left but no matter I just needed it for tracing. 20 minutes, 6 pieces of paper, and 8 pieces of tape later. . . I had a pattern. I put the kids down for nap and got busy! Now to share with you the final result. Drum roll please. . . . . . . . . . .

My lovely assistant

The ensemble

Bloomers

Back


Front

side ruffles
So So SO SOOOOo cute! I can't wait until next week when we are getting the family pictures done! Gianna is going to have so many cute things to change into.

Now I just need to figure out how to 'size' my pattern and how to get it put on adobe so I can share it will all of you! If any of you know how to work that kind of stuff PLEASE HELP!

Thursday, April 29, 2010

A kid in the candy store. . .

Any day that results in a trip the the fabric store is a good day. Add to that marking off some items on my wish list = A FANTASTIC day! Today I made a trip to Joann's with my 3 coupons, one for 50% and two for 40% off. I headed straight for the scissor aisle to pick out a new pair of pinking shears, but instead found a rotary cutter and a pinking shear attachment. I also found a clear ruler (I think that its for quilting) which will be perfect for cutting straight edges and a 2 pack of fabric markers! WOO HOO for coupons! What I didn't find at Joann's was zebra print fabric. I asked the sales clerk (who is HILARIOUS and I love going to Joann's when he's working) who said 'I just don't understand why that crap is so popular! It comes in and its sold out a few days after!' haha Then he also reminded me its prom time and a lot of the kids/parents make their own dresses and accessories! Grr. . . Damn prom kids!

Today I got to see my friend's daughter in the pillowcase dress I made for her! I tried to get a few pictures but she was a non-willing participant! She looked ABSOLUTELY adorable! I have an order of ruffle bloomers I am going to be working on this weekend and I can hardly wait to get them done and post pictures of them! I wish I could hand deliver them to Ms. Brooklyn so I could take some pictures of her cute lil tushy in them, but her mom has promised to get some super cute ones for me. Until then Happy crafting.

Wednesday, April 28, 2010

Me want COOKIES!

I have been craving cookies the last week, maybe not so much the eating off the cookies but the smell and the act of baking the cookies. Tonight after we put the kiddos to bed i got busy baking. Much to my dismay I realized we were out of chocolate chips. ARGH! Good thing I had a gigantic Hershey's bar that I chopped up into chucks AND a bag of Reese's peanut butter chips! I don't know about you but I think that may be better than plain old chocolate chip cookies any day! (Nothing against the originals) As I am typing this the first batch has finished and can I be the first to say YUMMMMM! I am so impressed with myself I think I will share my scrum-diddly-umptious recipe with all of you!

1-1/4 cup granulated sugar
1-1/4 cup brown sugar
1 cup butter (or margarine *gag*) softened
1/2 cup shortening
1 tbsp vanilla
2 eggs
4 cups all purpose flour
2 tsp baking soda
1 tbs salt
2 cups chocolate chips (or one 12 oz bag)
2 cups peanut butter chips (or one 12 ox bag)

heat oven to 350. Beat sugars, butter, shortening, vanilla, and eggs in a large bowl with a spoon. Stir in flour, baking soda, and salt. Stir in chips.
Drop dough by rounded tablespoonfuls about 2 inches apart onto an un-greased cookie sheet.
Bake 12-15 minutes or until light brown. cool slightly remove from cookie sheet to wire rack.


Why bake when you have cookie dough?

ready for the oven

The LONGEST 13 minutes EVER!

Finished product!

I promise, this recipe will NOT disappoint!

Tuesday, April 27, 2010

Finally. . . something for the boys!

Today I got busy on a little project I have seen a few places around the net and a Facebook friend, thanks Jaimie C., suggested it as a cute item for boys. A tee with a tie! can it get ANY CUTER?? Personally I don't think so. Since I couldn't really find any directions or tutorials on how to do this I made it up as I went along.
First I started off by making a tie template. Easy enough right? Except for the part where you have to make sure its even and in proportion AND is an adequate size for the boy (or girl) you are making this for. The first template I made looked like it would be a good size then I held it to the shirt I was working with and realized this is WAY too small! So I drew a new one, that at first glace looked ok but as I was cutting it out I realized it was lopsided! Attempt # 3 BINGO. . . third times the charm. . . and all those other 3-some sayings.
Next I picked a scrap of fabric I had laying around and pinned it down and cut it out. I also cut out a piece of iron on interfacing, which I have never really worked with interfacing but I will say I am glad that I did! It gave the tie a 'stiffness' that helps keep it from getting 'lost' on the shirt.
Moving on.. . I found a plain 'ol t-shirt of Marcelo's and pinned it on lined my presser foot up about 1/4 in. from the edge of the 'tie' and stitched it all the way around.
Et Volia the finished product!
Mr. Marcelo, My handsome model

Strike a pose!

Enjoy!

Monday, April 26, 2010

Every little girl needs ruffles

Today I took on a new project that I have been wanting to try since. . . well since I had Marcelo. Making baby bloomers/diaper covers. They are so cute and there are so many different ways to personalize them from embroidery, to appliques, to my personal favorite . . . RUFFLES!!! Since I made Gianna a pillowcase dress she needed matching bloomers . . . of course (especially since I am still bitter that the shoes I made and worked SO hard on DIDN'T FIT!).
The cutest little butt you have ever seen!


Her matching dress

For a first run they came out pretty good, I do however, need to perfect my ruffling and placement. the first row of ruffles is to wide and the second and third are too low (the third row is practically under her butt). This project made me wish I had a Serger even more than I already do. A serger would have made the whole project go a little more quickly and smoothly.

All the sewing I have been doing lately I have made a list of tools that I would like to invest in. . .or if anyone want to send them to me free that would be even better!
My wish list:
serger
Rotary cutter and mat
Pinking shears
a walking foot for my machine
a sewing machine that does embroidery (anyone have a spare Bernina laying around?)
yard stick (I didn't say everything was expensive)
marking pen (you know one of the ones you can mark and it disappears)
Magnetic pin cushion
a pretty sewing box
This is all I can think of now but I know there is more. now to convince the husband that I NEED these things haha.

Sunday, April 25, 2010

I love sewing!!!

Today I some how managed to convince the hubby to let me sneak away and sew for a good portion of the afternoon while he and Marcelo vegged out and watched nickjr (I suggested a trip to the park but Julio said it was too hot. . . where is the eye roll smiley when you need it?). I made 2 dresses one pillowcase dress for a friends daughter and I tried out a new pattern and made a dress for Ms. Gianna the pattern is called the Mango dress http://www.etsy.com/shop/ManiMina This lady on Etsy has ADORABLE patterns and it was pretty easy for the most part (this is where I tell you how much of a ding dong I am and that I couldn't figure out how to put the pattern pieces together then after I finally figured it out I only cut out 1 skirt piece when I needed 2 . . . yea I deserve a HUGE . . . DOH!) and the dress turned out fantastically. Here is my little model showing it off
.excuse the bed head she had just woken up from nap . . . personally I think the look suits her well.

I love that she is flirting with her daddy in this one
This is my favorite Gianna face!

The pillowcase dress is so far my FAVORITE thing to make its simple, doesn't require a pattern, and can be made in ANY SIZE! Which means I AM MAKING ME AND GIANNA MATCHING DRESSES! Here are some pictures of the dress I made today.



I am so proud of ME!
I will be selling the pillowcase dresses for $20, so if your little lady needs one let me know and I can get one whipped up for her in no time!

My crafty nest

Come on in, make yourself comfortable. I should start by introducing myself, I am Brandi, mom to 2 amazing little monsters Marcelo 20 months and Gianna 8 months. I know what you are thinking right now. . . 'HOLY COW your kids are close!'. . . which is followed by. . .'When does this woman have time to do anything, let alone make crafts?!?' The truth is, I neglect my children. They run around in poopy diapers, dirty clothes, eating cookies and candy all day while I am locked in my craft room. . . HAHA just kidding that could not be farther from the truth. My kids and I have an agreement, They take good 2 hour naps and let mommy have craft time and in turn I am a happier and nicer mommy. It works. . . Most days. The other days, well lets just say, those days are the days my husband comes home and says 'uh oh mommy needs a time out! Lets go hide before she turns into mommy hulk!' plus there is always bed time. I must say I am VERY lucky to have kids that are on a great schedule and pretty much 90% of the time stick to it. So there you have it. I don't tell you this to make you jealous or to think that I am super mom (trust me I am NOT) I tell you because I know you are wondering and I get asked ALL the time.

I am hoping that this blog will be a way for me to share my crafts and ideas and to get more idea from all of you. Whom ever you may be. My goal is to post at least once a week with my latest projects complete with pictures and hopefully some tutorials. In the process I hope to be able to sell some of my crafts to you and make some money to pay for my craft/fabric/ribbon addiction. Hi my name is Brandi and I am a craft-a-holic. Maybe that should've been the name of my blog. Oh well.