I Did It!

One of my goals for the new year was to learn to applique. It didn't look very hard, but was just a matter of getting the supplies and coming up with an idea and going for it. Well, I finally found the motivation. Abby's little BFF, Mia, had a birthday coming up and I wanted to do something special. So I dove in and learned to applique! I decided that my entire gift was going to have a flip flop and cupcake theme so I decided to make flip flop applique out of a remnant of cupcake fabric that my friend Kristin gave me. Perfect idea, no?


This picture is actually the practice one I did before I bought a shirt for Mia's. It was done on one of Abby's old shirts. Mia's looked just like it, but with pink out line thread instead of brown. I, um, didn't take a picture of any of the things I made for Mia, which is a bummer because I made a few things that I am pretty proud of.

But anyway, this shirt needs a new home. It is a size 2T which is too small for Abby. And it is made on a used (but clean and in good condition) t-shirt so I can't save it for a gift. So, do any of my local readers (meaning my friends) want it? Size 2T flip flop and cupcakes toddler T. An Emily in the Desert original. Be the first to comment and it is yours.

Happy Memorial Day

Root Beer Cupcakes, originally uploaded by emerzim.

Just wanted to pop in and wish everyone a Happy Memorial Day. I hope your weekend has been filled with swimming and BBQing and family and fun. This is a picture of some Root Beer cupcakes that we made last year for the 4th of July, but I thought the flags were fitting for Memorial Day and the root beer flavor was a fitting start to summer. They were actually pretty darn good. Much better than I thought they'd be. The root beer flavor was subtle. Just enough to make you notice it and try to figure out what it is. If you are interested in the recipe leave a comment and I'll try to find it.

And please remember to pause at 3 pm local time to observe the National Moment of Remembrance in honor of the REAL reason we have this holiday - to honor our fallen soldiers.

The Shocking Conclusion

The results are in! I did it! I was able to successfully alter the mama shirt into a toddler skirt. I decided to leave it long because that way it would be more like a princess ballgown, as requested by her highness. I, personally, think it looks more like a badass hippie skirt, but whatever makes her happy. It already had some elastic in the back and the ties were just perfect so I ended up taking it in a bit at the side seam. Very basic, but I've never done anything like this before so I really didn't know what I was doing. And OK, I admit it. I screwed up the seam the first time and had to redo it. But now it looks just lovely and Abby likes to wear it and I am very glad.

Here's a picture of the princess doing a proper curtsy:

Perhaps...

Perhaps I should keep the skirt for myself...

Mama Shirt to Toddler Skirt

I have this shirt:



My sister in law gave it to me. It has really cute fabric, but just isn't very flattering. I put it on today and realized what a cute toddler skirt it would make:



OK, I confess, I haven't actually done the sewing yet. The back still looks like this:



But if I don't screw it up there is definite potential here, don't you think?

EDITED TO ADD:  This seems to be one of my most popular posts, so I thought I'd add a link to the finished product.  Here it it!

Mother's Day Flowers

For Mother's Day I wanted to find a craft that Abby could do for some of the important mothers in our lives. Flowers are an easy choice. But there are so many options on how to make them that I had trouble choosing a tutorial on the internet. So I didn't. I made up my own project and I couldn't be happier with the results.

Abby loves to paint so I had her paint a masterpiece on cardstock. After it dried I cut several flowers out of it. Oh, and also the round flower centers. I was worried about the flowers falling off of the pipe cleaner stems so instead of just gluing the pipe cleaner to the back I poked a hole in the center of the flower and stuck about a half inch of the pipe cleaner through it (from the back). I then bent it flat against the flower and Abby and I glued the flower center over it. I made little bouquets by tying a few flowers together with ribbon I had on hand. So now Abby has something to hand out to the mothers we will see at brunch on Sunday. Hmmm...I hope none of them read this blog or the surprise will be ruined. Oh well, I'll take that chance because I really want to share this craft today. This is a great Mother's Day craft and can be done at the last minute (like now).