make my week #52 - mix n match!

i can't believe we are really here. 52 weeks! it's been so much fun making stuff for this last year.

i LOVE this week's creation.

1. take one much-too-small Principal's dress that has been rejected from your trendy younger sister's wardrobe.

2. add a thrifted skirt with magical seer-sucker 70s fabric.

3. cut through the middle.

4. donate the lower half to the girl-offspring and keep the upper half for yourself.

(Did i hear someone ask if that is a scalloped hem on the girl-offspring's dress? why yes it is :)

i know...cute huh!!)

Jada's bodice came from dress that had already been partially cut up for fabric. divine.

ps. happy new year!!
we're away for a bit and i'm so excited to spend the time refocusing for 2011.
be safe and blessed
xo

feeling a lot like Christmas

...Christmas eve jammies...

"The best of all gifts around any Christmas tree:

the presence of a happy family all wrapped up in each other."

...all ready to go...

...Christmas morning is finally here!

...made with love,

recieved with love...

xo

Make my Week #51 - Festival of Flags

i made this bunting for my mum for Christmas (it is, of course, modelled on the infinitely more talented Dottie Angel's one)

i like to call it a "Festival of Flags". it's kind of like a personal i.d. card - except it's flags. in a bunting-like manner.

i included words such as; garden, family, faith, make, love, baking....and images from vintage patterns.

all things that i.d. my mother as who she is.

(i hope she likes it. but i know that even if she doesn't she'll get it. and that is enough.)

and in case you're feeling overwhelmed by your To-Do list...consider the poor author of this list i found sitting on the table this afternoon:

sheesh! i feel exhausted just reading it!

Wishing you all Love and Peace this Christmas
xo

Christmas Day Dress

am: an almost-full circle skirt

pm: a dress

i LOVE a good repurpose/upcycle (even if it is somewhat Maria Von Trapp-ish!)
i made this for Jada to wear on Christmas day.
however, i may chicken out and let her wear the more "fashionably acceptable" Pumpkin Patch option...gah~

Have you made/bought your children new Christmas outfits?

then...and now

yesterday my daughter wore one of my old dresses from my childhood.

i think she had a little TOO much fun telling everyone it was thirty years old! ahem.

and here's the proof of age:
(circa 30 years ago.../sigh)

(i think there is an unwritten law of nature that family photos = pure torture for all children!! and, in this case, great-grandfather's too! :) )

Make my Week #50 - creative confusion!

(i almost typed #52 in the title! sheesh, eager!)

i've still been in MAKE-overdrive this week...

1. a new 'product' I'm really excited about:

(a special thanks to Cait of CHD for the loan of the gorgeous model)

there are only 2 more of these bags available, email me if interested :)

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2. a little bit o' portraitin:

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3. oh, and we had a birthday...which means a birthday cake.

(don't judge, it was late and all those pentagons and hexagons were challenging!!)

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4. some dolls being prepped for INTERNATIONAL travel :)

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5. some Chrissy eat-treats:

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6. a Chrissy present for my MIL - reusable supermarket bag:

i *love* this bag!! isn't it adorable?!

and didn't Spotlight do well providing the gorgeous retro foodie fabric? yes, i was immediately charmed too

happy weekend!! xo

this time last year~

we met our sweet #4 for the first time...

i watched Danny's birth on video today for the first time ever** (it's right between the church Christmas concert and Ty's kindy concert if you ever find yourself watching that one day at our house...!!avert eyes now!!)

it was AMAZING. about two minutes after he was born i heard myself say "that was lovely. that was really lovely" ( i had to rewind and listen to confirm that that was, in fact, what i had said!). and it was, a lovely birth.

and a lovely babe.

and a lovely year.

we are so truly blessed

Happy birthday my baby boy!! xoxox

**problem: my uterus (and my daughter) are now begging for another now. doh!

creepy/croupy

i sometimes wonder if our home looks a little creepy with all the limbs and torsos laying about:

(these are 3 custom dolls which are burning a hole in my to-do list)

then there is this guy, with his cherry-cheeked smile, who seems to be insisting on finishing off his first year with a decent (persistant!) bout of croup :(

(don't tell anyone but his older brother sucked the remaining precious millilitre of Redipred we had set aside for tonight out of the syringe on the bench earlier this afternoon!! thankfully it was only 1ml and that he's had croup for the last few nights as well! oh boy~)

Make my Week #49 - Silly Season Stuff

right, buckle up, here we go~~~

1. Christmas Eve jammies for all the kiddos:

2. a skirt for the stocking:

3. super hero capes for the boys' stockings:(for Ty's cape I copied an adorable ferocious picture Ty drew of a dinosaur eating an elephant. it has already scoffed a 'bird'...which is bleeding in its tummy! haha)

3. a reusable shopping bag

(this was a Thank You gift for a friend's MIL who gave me some gorgeous vintage fabrics. i used some of the fabrics she gave me in the bag. i hope she likes it! i figured those reusable shopping bags are generally ugly anyway so hopefully she can still bear to use it even if she hates it!)

5. Then there was this one custom doll I made. oh my! wished i could show you more of her. she's definitely a fave :)

and there are still at least 10 things on the list and/or half done!!

clevercleverclever

some people are just So Darn creative!

nite xo

(lots to show tomorrow for Make my Week x)

boys toys

don't all turn and stare but apparently there is one lone (brave?) male reader of this blog.

so this post is for him. partly.

...

and also to SHOW OFF the epic day my son and his BFF (do boys have BFFs??) had the other day when they gate-crashed the youth group 4WD day:

riding shot-gun.

(that's my Dad driving :) )

mu-ud!

(i learnt to drive stick in this ex-army Jeep. i know, we're talking mega bonus cool points now huh)

with his Dad hero

tell me this seriously isn't every 4 year old's dream day??

especially when you're with your BFF

:)

it's that time of the year~~

forgive me if i get a little sentimental these days.

i miss this time last year...waiting for our fourth.

someone asked me today if he was my first baby.

fourth, i said.

gasp! she said, i don't know how you do it!

one at a time, i said, and every time you stretch your arms a little wider.

dec2010

it's that festive time again. my custom shelf is proving to be full of merry and glad tidings.

However, if you thought the rest of my house was full of Peace and Goodwill to Men, you would be very, very wrong:

oh dear.

see, i'm home alone with just the babe and we are letting all the rules go! it is a MESS!!! (but a good, sewing-crafty kind of mess.)

It's been lovely hanging out with this fun little guy without him having to fight 3 older siblings for some attention.

this time last year, I was also home alone sewing. the vibration of sewing kept setting off braxton hicks.../sigh. where did this year go???