Paul Bunyan & Babe the Blue Ox Couples Costume...

 I'm going to let this post speak for itself... mostly... 

A last minute touch was the addition of black ribbon bow...

The horns I glittered and sewed onto a black fabric headband.

Ta-dah! The outfit all put together!

Making sure I could still dance in the outfit... robot style!

Doh! Don't forget the Tail~!

Yay! Woo hoo! Tail! :D

*****

Here we are - Paul Bunyan and Babe the Blue Ox...

And here I am about to head out the door! 

As you might have guessed the outfit was a hit! The couples costume was a hit! And most people thought I'd bought the outfit - score! :) One person asked if my nose ring was real, but nope, it was a fake piercing :). 

*****

Paul Bunyan.. I mean the husband loved that my heels made a clip clop sound when I walked because an ox would make that sound too! I, had not planned that! ;) :) 

The cow bell, was not quiet... but Paul Bunyan liked knowing where I was. ^-^ 

What are you going to be for Halloween?

Babe the Blue Ox Costume... In the making

Pinterest has struck, yet again! For Halloween! :D Having been inspired by other pinners creativity, I recently tried to replicate a fun costume adding my own personal style and flair. Truth is, it was my husband who picked Paul Bunyan and Babe the Blue Ox costumes for us after looking at these photos. Often, he is my muse, he'll throw a project at me and I'll immediately make a comment about how its not possible, would take forever, etc ....then after I get over my fear of failure, I dive into the project, usually head first with little thought of just how long the project will take or any idea just how arduous the task might be. I adapt the Nike slogan and "just do it." I'm not 100% sure why, but I normally grumble a bit while working on these projects that he suggests and in the end, once I'm finished... I am SO glad I did them. Go husband. I ain't mad atcha... got nothin but love for ya ;). Ha :)

Originally my husband thought I was going to buy a blue dress to complete the look of Babe the Blue Ox. Instead, I decided I had to make my own, this was the only option in my mind. I mean, how else will the gauntlets and spats match the main portion? Hmmm? O.o

I found black faux fur at Michael's, along with some opaque glitter for the horns. I knew I had leftover air dry clay from my last decoden project, so I had what I needed for hte head piece. My sister and I went to Party City where she found a cow bell (score!) and I managed to locate some fake piercing jewelry, after all, all oxen have a ring in their nose! ;). We found a fake axe for the mister at Party City too! Yay! Later that same outing, lucky me scored some sateen fabric at Joann Fabrics, full of vivid blue hues and black! Once we got home, I pulled out a dress form I'd been given years ago, along with the sewing machine, ironing board, pins, thread, etc. I was pretty clueless as to how I would put this dress together, knowing I had to start SOMEwhere I googled "pencil dress", "fitted dress" eventually stumbling onto Jezebel's DIY for a custom fitted dress blog post. I didn't have muslin, so I improvised with a large sturdy plastic bag. Though it worked, I don't recommend it, halfway through putting the pinned sack on, I realized I could suffocate and should probably be supervised while putting it on. Ha! ;)

Long, long story short... through lots of pinning, adjusting, thinking, trial and error, more thinking, staying up too late, gnashing of teeth, repinning, sewing, seam ripping, sewing again, brainstorming and googling.. my dress... FITS. (Where is my triumphant music?! Insert some here ;)) Yup... but because I still need to do some blind stitching and add hooks and eyes to the top of the zipper parts on the dress body I will at least share with you the gauntlets, spats, tail, glittered horns ^-^ and  my cowbell.. eh-hem... Babe's cowbell ;).

I hope to take a few photos of the get up once everything is on and I'm with my mister Paul Bunyan  - I am looking forward to the costume party, it's this Saturday!!!! Admittedly, I spent a ridiculous amount of hours on this outfit and the blue fabric has really stole my heart... grays, silver, blues and blacks... how I love to look at you! :)  LOL I hope you enjoy these few teaser photos too! ;) 

***UPDATE: See finished costume HERE!***

^-^

Avatar the Last Airbender - Earth Kingdom Emblem Carabiner Strap Embroidery

Hello friends! :) I just finished a custom order today for an embroidered carabiner strap! This order came from the same friend who had requested the Fire Nation emblem on a previous strap I made for him. Thankfully I still had some strap left that I had salvaged years ago from a back pack. :) I love seeing things be put to new/good use!

My friend had requested that this next strap have the last airbender Earth Kingdom emblem on it. After pulling out the sewing machine, burning the ends of the strap to seal the threads together and sewing the strap to the same dimensions as the first one I had to decide what embroidery color worked best... a few hours later here you have it.

Working it up!

BACK

FRONT

 I'm not sure why the backside embroidery is not as sharp looking as the front, this was the same case on the first strap. Maybe its the direction the needle goes in *shrugs* I'm not really sure.

Okay - now to send this post to my friend to let him know its done! :D Yay! :D

Sugar Baby is not my Color...

...so let's roll the dice shall we? :)

About a month or so ago I hit up Victoria's Secret online for the essential bra tops deal of 3/ $33.00. I got a black one, a white one and to branch out in my wardrobe color palette I went with a sugar baby that looked to me like a pastel pink. Once I received the tops I promptly rocked the black one. Super comfy, cotton and black is always sexy, no? :) The next night I rocked the white one.. no problems here folks except my need to christen new tops with some kind of coffee stain or orange juice stain... lol...yes, I did. No worries though, Resolve is my hero! I can report up until today (at least ;)) that my white top is still white (yay! :)) despite my clumsiness. :)

So black top, one of my new favorites, white top a welcomed addition to my wardrobe. Sugar baby? When it came time to don this color... it looked like a nude color on me... how fun is that? Well, its not. Not at all. I appreciate contrasting colors so this just will not do. I got a great deal mind you so I'm not about to go through the hassle of trying to exchange the color for another one, I've been down that road before with other vendors and I just do not want to waste my time. This did however open up a creative window of opportunity ^-^.

Sugar Baby + Purple Rit Dye = My new cami color! Huzzah! :D

Now before I share the pics with you of my first fabric dying adventure - a little DISCLAIMER:

 • I do NOT claim to be a connoisseur on fabric dying. Mkay? Just so we are clear. PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE do yourself a favor before your excitement of dying fabric takes over and read read read read read the box of whatever dye you are using (I stress this ;)). Read the directions all the way through (I understand this can be hard - believe me:) ) and take the necessary precautions when dying anything. Put down a tarp, put on plastic coveralls, latex gloves that go up to your elbows, whatever precautions you think you need mkay? ;) Alright. Good. Great. Onward! :D

Blushing Pink Cami meet Purple Rit Dye

I read the Rit box of Purply dye goodness (no, it's NOT edible ;)) that was about to redeem the wearability  of this comfortable cotton cami. Pulled out the salt amount it called for for my top, and the HOT (again, precautions here people ;) thank you)

I filled a bucket with hot water (enough to allow it to move freely) and set the top in it for later. I ten proceeded to use the Rit the bucket method which called for:

• 1 packet of dye
• 1 cup of salt
• 1 Tblspn
• 2 cups water (per RIT dye package)

I poured the packet into the hot water and dissolved the dye. Then added the salt. 

Stirred till mostly dissolved then added the bit of detergent and continued stirring. 

I then added the mixture to the bucket.  

And stirred...

...and stirred...

...and stirred...

For this bucket method directions said to stir up to 30 minutes or until the fabric reached the desired color. After 15 minutes the top was looking dark :). I then transferred the bucket to our lovely utility sink and ran the water from warm to cold as the water in the bucket slowly turned clear. 

From here I squeezed the cami of excess water and put it in the washing machine where I cleaned it with more warm water and detergent. 

Surprisingly the top lightened quite a bit from the color it was when I put it in, looking pinkish... anything darker than what it was though is an improvement. :)

Just laundered... about to see the inside of the dryer!

I popped it in the dryer following the care instructions of the label ;) And about 30 minutes later we have a new top! 

There are slight color variationsthroughout the top but I'm still wearing this puppy! :)  

A lighter purple in time for Easter? Why not! :). 

I L♥VE how it looks with jeans! :D I hope you had fun reading through my first fabric dying adventure! :) 

Have you ever dyed something? If so what was it? How did it turn out?

I'm off to make some food for the family now. :) If you want to see some of my adventures in the kitchen click here. I'm always adding new stuff :). 

Thank you for reading and viewing :) 

♥ Dawn

Balance.... balance...

Balance is hard thing to keep you know? There are many hard things to do in life but I'm confident with God all things are possible, so I know there is hope and balance is possible. ^-^ I doubt I'll ever just arrive and be balanced always and forever, this of course would be a lie ;). I'm quite sure it's more like a journey... attaining this balance... between family, work, hobbies, responsibilities  exercising, etc. oye vey... I'm so tense right now just writing this! :) gah! :) I have been working on the collar necklaces and the blanket this weekend and will soon be working on yet another project I'm blessed to working on. :) I realize this tension is me stressing (even good things bring stress! :)) as I'm excited about the projects and I love watching them come to fruition but I also realize and am making a mental note... I really need to take some time to work out this week to help keep some balance. So I can be excited and not frazzled and tense. So I can work on my projects and be more at ease. Seriously my hips are telling me I haven't used them for a run in a while... :s bleh. :)

Alright - so onto progress! There was much made this weekend and while I listed up a storm of collar necklaces tonight (yay! :)) I also finished a custom order for cuffs and a pointed collar necklace... oh yeah... please see below :) 

Avatar the Last Airbender - Fire Nation Emblem Carabiner Strap Embroidery

A friend of ours requested a carabiner strap and said if I was feeling adventurous I could embroider the fire nation emblem on it. I was not about to back down from such a request ^-^. My friend sent me a photo of the fire nation emblem and I made sure that as I embroidered both sides had the logo facing the right way, so no matter how he held his keys the side facing him would always look right.  He was so excited after I sent these finalized pics to him. :) He said he was counting down the hours until he got out of work after seeing it because he couldn't wait! :)

What a compliment :) This is the kind of response that makes every order worth it :) - seeing and hearing people delight over the art I make :). Enjoy and thank you for reading!

Collar Necklaces so far...

I've been busy training for a 10k with my sister and a friend of hers though I'm not signed up for a race I've been following their racing schedule which has kept me off my butt and away from crafting. This post feels like its a long time coming - 3 collar necklaces about 95% done. Both the black and feathered necklaces are reversible, all 3 need their center piece added which I am hoping I will get to this week. I hope you like the pictures - happy to be sharing the progress! :)

P.S. The pink one is made out of velvet... what a pain in the butt to work with that fabric! LOL it's slippery and even when pinned does not lay correctly. I'm glad I did not know this ahead of time because quite frankly I think velvet as a necklace is awesome. :) Be warned though, if you attempt to sew with it it acts like a wet noodle - very elusive even when you stab it with a fork!

Collar Necklace in the making...

Man, I feel like I haven't blogged in a while, I suppose there hasn't been anything significant to share. I recently tried to make another potholder but make it wider than the last one and ended up with a very ruffled pot holder. No bueno and no way would I be okay with selling it. So I pulled out the yarn on the pot holders ( really don't like half finished projects sitting around )... and what a bummer - I was looking for an "easy" project before getting back into writing patterns. You know, a kind of mental break.

Ah wells :) - meanwhile I've gotten a few custom order requests... one being for a collar necklace and I get the creative rights to it! Yay! :) LOL all my coworker said was that she wanted it light pink. This is the same coworker I made the flamingo for so when I saw the black pink/teal peacock feather fabric I had I was pretty excited about having the option to use it! And then I found a bit of pink velvet fabric (oh joy! :)) All tolled, in the end I will probably make 3 - 5 collars and see how it goes, allow my coworker to have the pick of the litter and list the rest in the shop.

Here are a few teasers to show you the fabrics :)

I'll be headed to Michaels tomorrow to look for a clasp - I'm getting excited about this project! :)

Thank you for reading!

A Bit of Embroidery...

Awe... This pink cotton blanket came into my possession from a freecycler a few months ago. I knew I wanted to put a charming shabby chicesque crocheted edge on it but at the time I only had white acrylic yarn (and a bunch of other projects to tend to :)). Not a problem, acrylic yarn would have worked just fine, but I later recieved a fun care package of yarn from my parents full of cotton yarn and bright white was in there too! Perfect! It was meant to be :)

 I completed the edging last night, still toying with the idea of a scalloped edge but am for sure embroidering a floral pattern of my own to a corner. I so enjoy the look material has stretched across an embroidery hoop poised and ready to be adorned :) It's good stuff! Looking forward to sharing the finished product with you too!

Happy Friday to all! Thank you for reading!

It's Curtains for you! Curtains I say! :0)

A sister of mine moved in recently and the windows in her room were in need of some curtains :0). While the room she stays in is lovely with natural lighting (2 windows) when the sun comes up at 6:30AM she doesn't need to know - BUT the sun has been waking her up for lack of curtains. Candace and I ran to Target to peruse the curtains and quickly realized the "standard" sizes were either too long or too short for her windows... so to the fabric stash! Though we started with a wine color we found the fabric was too short for what we needed and went rummaging again. Much to our surprise we found a green lot that was big enough and a nice white/green fabric to reinforce the back side and keep the room energy efficient :0). heck yes!

Here are a few pics of our first curtain making escapade! :)




28 cut outs for 14 loops for curtains and the fun begins ^.^




folding material to pin for sewing! :0)




let the sewing begin! :0)




Candace (sister :0)) ironing the 1st completed pane ! :0)




Me sewing the 2nd pane... almost done! :0)




completed! :0) 1st curtain




completed :0) 2nd curtain




thermal backing :0)




and the loops all have reinforced material too! :0)

All in all, I'm SO proud of us :0) It was an undertaking and I've gained A LOT of respect for seamstresses :0)