It's Time to Go Back to School!

Well, the summer passed by entirely too quickly and all the little people are returning to school. So, course some of my favorite little people needed some items to take with them back to school!

I used the Big Applique font from 8 Claws and Paw to create a design for Emily's "School Rocks" shirt. I had to decrease the size of the letters a good bit so they'd all fit in one hooping, but it worked wonderfully! Sweet girl wore it to daycare the last day of summer to get everyone excited about going back to school :)

 

 

Next up on the goodie list, Ayden needed his own little backpack for daycare. I got a little camo Cinch Sak from the 31 party I had earlier this summer. I thought it'd be ideal since it's very lightweight and not as bulky as a lot of the bags are these days. It took me awhile to figure out what I wanted to put on it - I didn't want to only put his name on it. I mean he is only 2 - he needs something cutesy right? I finally decided on the Squirrel Alphabet from Planet Applique. I used fleece for the squirrl to give it a little texture. After I'd done the applique, I wanted to add his name somewhere but just didn't want to do the traditional above or below the applique. I decided to make it a little more fun and put it in the squirrel's tail using a font from my machine. It was the perfect subtle touch that just "made" the bag!

 

 





The last of my back to school goodies was for a new friend that was in deperate need for a first day of kindergarten outfit. Apparently she'd ordered one over a month prior online, but a week before school started, they contacted her saying they were unable to complete her request. That just makes me sad that someone would do that to someone! Luckily, I was able to fit her in. I was able to find the same design her sweet Grace picked out online & made her this rockin' dress! Kindergarten Rocks design came from Embroidery Boutique. I used the Itch 2 Stitch's Jelly Bean font to add her name. This was so much fun!

Welcome to Izzy's Beach Bash!

I am so excited that I can finally share pictures of all the goodies I've been making over the past 4 months! I was soooooo happy when I was asked/allowed to help with planning a baby shower for a dear friend. I knew I'd be doing the cake, but I was even happier to be able to contribute to the decorations.

So, with Annette and I both on decorations, it was sure to be a whole lot of fun. Before we even knew the colors or theme of the nursery, we knew we wanted to use girly blue & red together. When we found out the theme and colors of the nursery, we were thrilled that we could incorporate the nursery theme into the theme of the shower!

I know I went a tad bit overboard, but hey, it was an opportunity to learn how to applique onesies & make tutus, sew a straight line with the runners and tablecloths, and try to perfect a new way of doing banners. Plus, Leslie goes overboard with everything she does so she deserved an over the top shower right?

Annette went just as overboard as I did! She painted chairs & signs & all sorts of silver pieces with chalkboard paint. She made hanging decorations with paper plates that were soooooooo cute! She has an awesome collection of pewter serving pieces that added the perfect elegant touch to the super cute shower!

Thanks for looking!

Skeleton Wedding

Most people wouldn't think I was very into the "goth" or "steampunk" scenes. The truth is that I often really love some of the designs those that are come up with. Even though i really like them, I haven't found many occassions to make anything for myself. I did make an awesome romantic skull patch for giggles one day and some of the looks I got were quite humorous. I don't care - I like it. I got the design from www.urbanthreads.com - they have THE MOST AWESOME non traditional designs for embroidery & applique out there!

Anyways, back to the point of this post. We received an invitation to go to one of my hubby's friends' wedding & guess what???? The invitation had skulls on it! Oh, how my mind wandered! I was SO excited because this was my chance to do some sort of off the wall gift that would truly be enjoyed by the recipients! I considered several options, but decided on a skeleton bride and groom design with the date of the wedding to be used on a wall hanging. I stitched the design out on linen, stretched it over a canvas, attached a ribbon, and glued on the backing - Voila! I was very pleased with the way this turned out & from what I hear, the recipients enjoyed it as well.