~toddler shoes from boy to girl~

 We bought these cute little Pediped shoes for 

our little guy when he was just a wee babe.

He wore them so much you can see his cute little

foot marks on the soles of the shoes. 

Pedipeds are not cheap and $40 for a pair

of shoes for a baby/toddler is insane to me.

INSANE.

However-let me remind you that we bought these shoes

PRE-poor days. Well-now our little lady needs

some sturdy little shoes and I pulled these out.

For $40 we've got to get our money's worth.  

I had to fem them up a bit.

I crossed the straps and sewed a big flower button

with embroidery thread to the straps.

 Still camo but a little better.

Now I'm thinking I should have used a big

black button instead. Maybe I'll switch them out.

~tutorial-leg warmers~

I love leg warmers on babies. 

When will there be any other time in a persons 

life that chubby leg rolls sticking out the

top of leg warmers is considered cute?

Uhhhh-NEVER!

When I found out I was having a baby girl

one of the first things I said, 

"Oh yay! I get to make leg warmers for her."

And I have.

Several.

For every holiday.

I'm going to show you how to do it.

It's probably the easiest project I do.

You can make a pair in 10 minutes flat.

First off, get some socks you want to use for the leg warmers.

I use small socks for babies and knee high socks for little girls.

My secret go-to place for knee high socks?

The dollar store.

 There are only a few simple steps to follow while making these.

Here goes:

 I've got too many "the's" in there don't I? oops.

I also used "to" instead of "too"....this is buggin me

but I'm not about to go back and fix it.

I made all three pairs in 30 minutes.

This is one of my go-to gifts for little girls.

Quick. Easy. Inexpensive.

And most importantly.....super cute.  

My favorite leg warmers I've made my little lady

are out of some old vintage socks I got from my

very own sock stash. Go thru your own sock

drawer before you hit the store....you might be

amazed at what you find.

~personalized cupcake toppers~

My little lady turned 1 a couple days ago.

I can't believe it. 

WOW....that year flew by!

For her birthday I decided to make cupcakes

for everyone instead of a cake.

I thought about buying some cute cupcake

toppers but got a great idea to make 

some with the pictures I've been taking of 

her at each month mark.

I loved the way they turned out

and everyone had fun looking at them.

 

 I know the pictures aren't the greatest but

I think you get the idea. 

To make them I printed up the pictures,

cut them out and then just used clear packing tape

to cover and attach them to the toothpick. 

For the rest of the toppers I tied ribbons around

the top of the toothpicks and called it good.

 

I learn so much with each party I have for the kids.

What I learned from this one:

cupcakes would have photographed better if

they were lined up on something flat instead.

Also-don't wait until the last minute to get things done.

Have it done before the actual birthday so I can 

enjoy the birthday with them :)

This week my mind is on one thing:

Pirate Party.

My little guy's birthday party is in one week

and I have A TON of stuff to do. I want to get it

finished within the next few days so I'm not scrambling

at the last minute and stressed out. 

I have found some super cute ideas.

I just got introduced to Pinterest.

HOW DID I NOT KNOW ABOUT THIS?

I love it!

Now if I could just figure out how to use it.

Linking up with Positively Splendid.

~baby shoes~

I have tons of shoes for my little lady

but the ones that fit are all boots or

fancy little mary-janes that require socks.

I hate taking her into public places with no shoes.

I've been forced to do it the past month because

the sandals I have for her are too big and

it's just too hot to put her in the shoes 

that do fit. I finally got around to making

her some comfy little shoes that I 

can throw on her piggies when we go to the store.

I think these may be the cutest thing I have ever made.

I love them.

Click here to see the pattern and tutorial I used.

I have sewn other baby shoes in the past

but really wanted to find something a little

more girly. When I came across these I knew

I just had to make them. 

While it was fairly easy, I will say that 

the tutorial probably wouldn't be great 

for beginners. If I hadn't made baby shoes

already, I would have struggled a little.

I didn't follow the tutorial exactly, 

just used it as a guide.

 These were the first pair I made. 

I screwed up on the ruffle when I was cutting 

it out. I cut the ruffles on the fold so they

are twice as wide as they were suppose to be.

I do that a lot.

A pattern piece can make so much sense

in my head when I'm cutting it out

and envisioning how it fits and then

I go to sew it and it's totally off the mark.

Does that happen to any of you?

Oh well-they turned out cute anyway.

I loved these so much that I

had to immediately cut out another pair.

Both pair were made with fabric I had on hand.

 These purple shoes were made out of vintage fabric

that I got from my Mom a few weeks ago.

I'm already thinking about the next pair I'm 

going to make her. Shiny black with red soles.

You just wait.

These whip up in about 45 minutes.

So easy.

Remember that blanket I'm complaining about 

working on for the gal I hardly know? Well, I 

decided to make her a pair of these booties instead.

I'll still finish the blanket but will give it

to a close friend who's expecting (if she has a girl).

If all else fails, I will just keep it for my little lady. 

Guess what I'm working on today?

My jumpsuit.

Tune in later for pics of that.

~embelished onesie dress~

I've had a few onesies I bought  BEFORE my

baby girl was born that I got with the intentions

of embellishing. Well-6 months into this and

I've finally got around to completing one. 

It was sooooo easy.

I did this in about an hour and if my sewing machine

wouldn't have given me grief, I would have been 

able to do it in about 20-30 minutes.

I used a tank top that I got from one of 

my friends D.I. bags. 

For the skirt I cut pieces off the bottom of the tank top

and did a gathering stitch after I sewed the two pieces together.

Next, I gathered it and pinned it to the onesie.

I then sewed it on. This was were my machine started

giving me grief. I need to have it serviced. 

Because the fabric was so stretchy I tried to use

a stretch stitch setting and my machine wouldn't have it!

Instead I used a zig-zag stitch, which worked fine

but I would have preferred to use a stretch stitch.

The stretch stitch will hold up longer.

-

Next I used the band I cut from the bottom hem of the tank

and attached them to the shoulders and tied. 

Finally, I cut the embellishment that was on the 

front of the tank top and used double stick fusible web

to attach it to the front of the onesie.

It's not as elaborate and cool as I had envisioned when

I first thought of it but I figure for my first, 

it's not too shabby.

I'm already working on another dress for her. 

This is fun!

~leg warmers~

You know I'm a sucker for baby leg warmers.
Maybe it's because I wore them so often in the 80's.
I vividly remember my favorite pair;
maroon and white striped. I wore
those as often as my Mom would let me.
I would be lying if I said I got rid of those
before the turn of the millennium.
I held on to them telling myself that
they would come back in style one day.

Question to self: Did I actually think the
leg warmers that fit me in 2nd and 3rd grade were
going to fit me now as a grown woman?
Apparently I forgot about that fact for many years.
Like I said, eventually I realized I was being
ridiculous and I donated them to the greater good.
D.I. (Deseret Industries Thrift Store)

I do have a point here....STAY WITH ME.

A few years ago when I first started seeing
babies in leg warmers, well, let's just say
that I was thrilled! It's the only acceptable
time when a person can have fat rolls and dimples
hanging out of their clothing and people actually
think it's cute.

I've been waiting for someone I know to have a girl
so I can try my hand at making them.
Little did I know, several people at the same time would
be having girls (including me) and I would have
many opportunities to give them as gifts.

Here's a look at the gift I made for a friend
a couple weeks ago: I embellished a plain pink onesie
from Walmart and made a set of
leg warmers from little girls knee socks.

Every little girl needs ruffles on the bum.
The diaper makes the bum look big anyway....
what's a couple ruffles going to hurt?

Can't you just imagine a little set of chubby legs
cruising around in this outfit?

Here is a close up of the embellishment on the front.
A diva crown.
I've only done about 5 of them so I'm still in the beginning
stages of weeding out the ways that work
and the ways that don't.

What I want to know from you is this:

How much would you pay for something like this?
I really have no idea what to charge and I'd
love some input from you on this.