Mason Sits Up

See? This is what my camera is doing to all of my pictures. Anyone know why this is happening?

This is supposed to be a picture of Mason, getting himself up to sitting all by himself for the very first time. Now it's ruined.

Airplane!

It was quite the adventure traveling with two children, alone, on an airplane. The women who sat next to me there and back were great. On the way there, the one actually held Mason for me almost the entire time and walked up and down the aisle with him when he got fussy. She was awesome!

Brighton stayed busy with playdough and my ipod.

Gifts For Friends in AZ

I was working hard to get some stuff done for the friends I was going to see in AZ. I made gifts so that I HAD to visit them. I couldn't put it off and be lazy, laying out all the time.

I made these magnets for all my girlfriends with super cute scrapbook paper that my sister got me for Christmas. I'm not a paper crafter, so I wasn't sure what to do with the paper- but you really can't pass up on cute paper! Thanks again Kay!

I made this for my friend Jessica, who started the Pay It Forward giveaway that we did last year. I had such a fun time making things for other people, and I wanted to make her a thank you gift (even though that kind of went against the whole idea). She's in a house full of boys (not for very long!!!) and I wanted her to feel girly, so I made her this girly apron from an antique linen tea towel. I'll have to find the tutorial I used on this one, so bear with me...

Jessica is about to have her first girl so I made her new baby a girly tag blanket and a headband (from a knee high sock!) This is not the tutorial that I originally read, but I can't find that one at the moment...this one's great, too.

I made a tag blanket and headband for my friend Chelsea- who just had her first girl too!
I made this pretty dish from a tea cup saucer and an old candle stick for my littlest sister, Kassie. She has tons of cute jewelry that she can toss into this baby.

My mom has this shelf in her house that she rearranges depending on the month/holiday/birthday/etc. that's coming up. I made this for her to hang in February. I can't find the tutorial for this one either... I'll get on that.

I made this for my sister Kassie. I circle punched one of Brighton's doodles that she did on card stock, circle punched some paper doilies, and then sewed them together. Voila! A fun garland!

I made this for myself actually. It's from a birthday card from my Grandma Bo and a Christmas card from my sister. I cut the bird card to fit on the other, mod podged and glittered, and glued some ric rac around. I have no idea where to put it, but I love it. I was inspired by some Easter decorations at JoAnn's.

Stuff I've Made

I had a few projects that I got done before going to AZ. One was an Easter dress for myself. Which I wore well before Easter. I couldn't help it! I just loved this fabric.

Brighton wanted to pose with me.

And I made this hooter hider for- wait for it- a lady who I don't know, whose mother is a nurse (who I don't know), who works at a Dr.'s office that Dale visits (where I've never been). Dale thought it would help him build a good relationship with the office. I suppose I can donate an hour to help out my husband's career.

The expectant mother LOVED it. I'm glad- I was kind of attached to this fabric and didn't really want to give it up.

Random March

Another reason I haven't posted anything in a while is that my camera decided to EAT 300 of the pictures that I took in March. A bit depressing. We have no idea what happened, but our camera is AT IT AGAIN!

So here are some of the salvaged pictures that we have from March:

Brighton got some bunny ears to get ready for Easter. These were a bit like the sunglasses- she wore them all day (even to the grocery store) and I had to coax them off of her for her nap.

Mason's first cracker. Yum.

I'm pretty sure most of it is on the tray, his bib, and in his seat.

Brighton, pretending to call Grandma. We were getting excited about our trip to AZ!

Mason's first taste of bread. He seems to be enjoying himself.

Self-Shoot

Dale and I like to go and find great photo backgrounds. We went to the park to see what we could come up with. I just wish it had been a little bit warmer that day. I was miserable!

Here are just some of my favorites from the zillions that we took:

Neighborhood Park

Early March, we went on a random sunny day to the park right down the street and snapped some fun pictures of B in her sunglasses. She'll wear these things all day if she can. I just make her take them off during her nap.

There was a little boy that B took a liking to while we were there. She followed him around for a while. Her first crush!

Sitting at the table with the cute little boy.

She followed him around like a little puppy. He was so nice to put up with her. Mostly he threw his ball and told her to go get it, which she's so happy to do.

Kiddos

Just some old shots of my ham, aka Mason. These were taken on March 6, 2010, and it was about this time that Mason started rolling ALL OVER and trying to get up on all fours.

Mason and Brighton having fun (she is a hoodie FREAK!).

I know, I know...

Many have said, Kim, I am SO SICK of seeing your shirt dress tutorial every time I check your blog!

I've been MIA for many weeks (ok, perhaps months) now and I've just been so overwhelmed with the quantity of posts I've got stacked up waiting to be shared. Of course, I could just scrap the past few months and start fresh with more recent activity, but my blog is my journal and I've GOT to keep it updated.

I've been busy with projects, photo shoots, vacations, and most of my free time (previously used for blogging) has been spent running.

So bear with me and the numerous posts of old news.

Shirt Dress Tutorial

I'm not sure what to call this: the Suri Dress Tutorial? It's a shirt dress, but that's what Dana called her Shirt Dress, which is where a lot of the inspiration came. Maybe "Super Easy Shirt Dress Tutorial"? Any suggestions?

Ok, here's what you'll need (besides a sewing machine and thread, obvs):
A shirt- I used a size small for Brighton's black and gray dress, the one in this tute is an XL

elastic (I used 1/4")

measuring tape, pins, rotary cutter or scissors
and stuff for embellishments

And 10 minutes, if you can spare them.

1. Cut the sleeves off your shirt, right next to the seams.

2. Cut the seams off of the sleeve, leaving the shape intact.

3. Measure 1" away from the "armpit" (or more if you want longer sleeves) and cut straight across.

Just like this.

4. Measure 1" from the top edge of your sleeve and cut off, creating a straight edge on the top of your sleeve. I didn't do this with the first one, and the neck was a little awkward. So, you don't HAVE to do this, it just makes things a little bit easier. Repeat on the other sleeve.

5. Lay your sleeve next to the arm hole and mark with a pin where the top of the sleeve hits.

6. Fold your shirt in half lengthwise.

7. Using your pin marker from the sleeve, cut it straight across.

8. Measure down about 1 1/2" on your folded edge and create a curved neckline for your dress. You can do the neckline in one step if you want!
9. Turn your shirt (now, dress body) inside out and place a sleeve in the arm hole, right sides together, lining up the seams in the arm pit.
10. Pin in place. You can see the top straight edge of the sleeve will NOT be pinned into the dress body. It will become part of the neckline.

Your sleeve should look like this!11. Sew the sleeves in, making your dress look like a short sleeved boat neck shirt.

12. Fold the neckline in 1/2" towards the wrong side to create a casing for elastic. Be sure to leave a few inches open!

13. Thread your elastic through using a safety pin, or an elastic threader if you've got one.
14. Figure out how big to leave the neckline by trying it on your little one. Or just guess if they're a big stinker and you don't want to wrestle with them and your dress full of pins. Sew the ends of the elastic together and sew your casing closed. Now you have a cute neckline to your dress!

15. Fold your dress in half, on itself. So your dress top will be sandwiched between the bottom half of your dress. See inside there? That's the inside of the dress top.
16. Pin your fabric together, but be sure not to get all the layers together. We're going to create a casing for the waist.

17. Sew around your fold, leaving an opening for your elastic to go through.
18. Turn your dress right side out, and find your waist band opening.
19. Thread some elastic through. Have your little one try it on again or just guess how big to leave the waist, sew the ends of the elastic together, and sew your casing closed (on the inside of the dress).

20. And there you go. Embellish however you'd like and you have a dress just like Suri Cruise would wear (but a heck of a lot cheaper!)

PS- I picked up a bunch of shirts on clearance at Walmart- The black and gray shirt was $3 and this gray and pink one was $1. Hurry! They were out of the black and gray when I went back this past weekend.

*Edit 8/13/2012: Just saw that this was getting pinned onto Pinterest so I wanted to put in here that Brighton is almost 5 and wearing this dress now. It fits her pretty perfect and she's mostly average in height and weight. You could always get two shirts if they're super cheap and add a ruffle on the bottom if you're making it for a girl who's taller or older. Enjoy!