ain't no party like a crazy bus party

Another birthday, another theme party. My son turned two - too young to pick out his theme, also at that wonderful age where the thrill of a party lies mostly in having other kids come over to play.

We kept it pretty simple and went with his current obsession: busses.

These little busses are actually Hershey's nugget chocolate bars. We printed this template, cut them and wrapped them up. Easier than I thought, but I was happy to have my mother-in-law to help. We made a whole bag and served them on the buffet.

We put a bus stop sign on the front door, bought yellow, black and white balloons and used masking tape to put traffic lines down our hallway floor. Stop signs were posted and available on sticks, since running out in front of people and yelling "stop" is maybe his second favorite thing to do. (Finding busses is by far his first)

One day, I will get better about making sure pictures get taken during the actual party. :)

I was about to go to bed the night before and was putting away this large (36x36) blank canvas (which is for another project - more on that later) and realized I could do something quick to add to the decor. Pulled out my paints and did a quick bus with the caption "this is how we roll".

And then there was the cake. Frosting is not my medium of choice, but I was pretty happy with how this turned out. I baked one cake on a large round, then another in a loaf pan and inverted it on top of the first. Decorated it to sort of look like a bus. I love making cakes, but I have to admit that my priority is definitely deliciousness over decoration. Maybe one day I'll take a class. The kids loved it though. (Easy audience! Swayed by chocolate cake!)

My gift doubled as the entertainment - I built him a bus. I made the frame from PVC pipe and corner joints, then sewed a cover using black and yellow/orange cotton to make it look like a bus. I thought for sure there would be a tutorial somewhere for something like this, but I couldn't find one anywhere. I'm excited about this creation - looking forward to making other covers for the frame to be different things - some kind of house/building, a firetruck, maybe a puppet theatre for my daughter's birthday in the spring.

Easy fall wreath

I've never really been a wreath person, but lately I've been noticing all the pretty things other people are putting on their doors. So for Halloween, Stella and I got a grapevine wreath and decorated it with ghosts, orange ribbon and black tulle. I was happy with that and figured we could somehow transition it to a fall/Thanksgiving wreath.

I had no inspiration, and didn't want to spend any money on something that would be used for such a short time. Plus I seem to have a real challenge with stereotypical "fall" colors - I have a particular aversion to brown. 

Then today the kids and I were in the front yard and noticed that we actually had some colorful leaves on the ground. So we spent about 10 minutes collecting the prettiest ones we could find, then arranged them (thanks, hot glue gun!) to look kind of like flowers, and Stella picked out a sparkly something for the center of each "flower". I am thrilled with how it turned out. I love that it is primarily found items, plus some sparkles we had on hand. Total cost = $0.

Each "flower" is comprised of 5 large leaves in a tight circle, then 3 more smaller ones on top of that. Something round in the center pulls it together.

"what is that, velvet?"

I love scarves. I love v-neck shirts and I am always cold - a scarf is just perfect.

Last year I just wanted one thing for Christmas - a soft, rich, ruffled red velvet scarf. I didn't get it because it only existed in my imagination. This year I am happy to make my own dream come true - and hopefully a few other people's too.

These are ruffly and can be worn long and skinny or looped and luxe.

Do you know someone who likes pretty things? This would be a great gift! Handmade by me, prices start at $25 and vary depending on the exact fabric used. Can do just about any color.

red velvet scarf

green silk velvet that I am completely in love with

white velour - striking with a dark coat

Shout out to my gorgeous model Sarah!

Will be selling some of these at a local show - drop me a line if you would like one!
j e s s i c a m a n d a l a (AT) g m a i l . c o m

another family quilt

My father-in-law turned 75 last winter, and we decided to do a family quilt for his birthday gift. (See my first family quilt) Including his wife, there were 16 of us - his children, their spouses and their children.

With such a nice even number, we decided to do this one in squares. We added in four, to make it a rectangle - square one on each corner representing the recipient. Again, each person was responsible for coming up with a square that reflected their personality. Or as my brother-in-law said on the phone from the fabric store, "You mean you want me to find a fabric that represents ME?!"

It sounded much more overwhelming that it actually was. Once we all got into a fabric store, we'd just wander around until something clicked. And it really did happen for every single one of us, even those who had never thought about fabric before. I was on hand to help come up with some ideas, or input about techniques.

I was so impressed - everyone really made a nice effort on this!

The four corners represent my father-in-law - clockwise from top left is a fleur-de-lis representing his cajun/french heritage, crosses for his faith, love of gardening, and music.

People chose and combined fabrics for some interesting statements - I love my brother-in-law's square - three panels showing cajun heritage, irish heritage, and longhorns to represent that these combined to make him in Texas (not bad for the guy who called from the store in a panic!).

I love my nephew's gears - he is always building something.

And my mother-in-law worked the Irish green, tartan plaid, celtic knots, her love of music and even a Betty Boop into the mix.

We found that polar fleece made an excellent quick-and-easy appliqué - three non-sewers used it to good effect. They cut out the flaming G in the top row, the grey gears on the third row (love those buttons with them), and the green J on the fourth row. They designed it, cut it out and I topstitched it down for them.

The youngest kid represented here was just an infant, so I used fabric left over from his room. The second youngest was three at the time, and I was so thrilled - not only did she design her own square, but she could explain her design and the whole concept of the quilt. We had a lot of fun talking about which square belonged to each person.

When we presented this to my father-in-law, he was completely overwhelmed. Everyone talked about their square, and it has become a real treasure. It is a lap-sized quilt, and he talks about feeling like he is "wrapped up in his family".

I love doing projects like this. This is not a family of sewers people who sew, but given the task and some gentle coaching, everyone really jumped at the chance to express themselves.

Interested in doing something like this for your family? Drop me a line, I'd love to help.

gift idea - family quilt

My cousins and I wanted to do something special for my grandmother last Christmas. She said she didn't want anything, but I got to thinking - she loves quilts (and grew up with that as a strong tradition), and she loves her grandchildren, so why not combine those things? 

I came up with the idea of doing a family quilt, with each person contributing a piece that reflects themselves. Something that would remind our grandmother of each of us when she saw it. 

Not everybody sews, so it had to be appropriate for all skill levels. And there were 13 of us, so any kind of square pattern was out. 

So instead, I asked each of my cousins to send me a strip of any kind of fabric - 6" in height (to allow room for trimming and seam allowances) and the width of the bolt. Those who sew could piece it however they like, and add on anything they liked, and those who don't sew could send me their fabric and instructions and I could help. I figured that at the very least, everyone could pick out a piece of fabric that reflected their personality, or that they just loved. 

We opened it up beyond traditional quilting fabrics, and I was so happy with what everybody sent. 

Some people embroidered their names, added initials, buttons, all kinds of things. I loved the brocade and vintage fuzzy flowers. Five siblings coordinated their fabrics - I think they were a little nervous that the whole thing would look too crazy. Even so, it works, as they all have a lot in common in real life too. Even the ones who just picked one fabric looked awesome.

I decided that, just as in life, we all get along better with a bit of space in between us. :)

I lined the strips up in birth order and picked a warm grey for the background.

The textures were just so cool.

My row - embellished with some velvet roses.

Somehow I got the whole thing pieced, quilted, the binding attached and put in the mail in time for Christmas Eve. The plan was for one of my cousins to finish hand-stitching the binding. But it turned out our grandmother loved it so much, she wouldn't let it leave the house and did it herself. :)

I'll have to get some photos of the finished quilt next time I visit. I was so happy with how it turned out that we did another one for my father-in-law's 75th birthday!

If you are interested in doing one of these for your family, drop me a line - I'd love to help!

photography tip - get on the floor

cold lake

long dock

clear blue sky

brave subjects

I love how these photos turned out. I laid down on the dock, camera on the ground, and told them to try to get their feet as high as they could. I especially love the shots where they clear the horizon. 

A change in perspective can be so powerful!

fancy rainbow birthday

I love a good theme party. For my daughter's fourth birthday we let her pick the theme. She went mad with power and wanted a Fancy (as in Nancy) Rainbow Picnic party. That kid is going to turn out ok!

I let her get dressed up as fancy as possible and then took some photos - this is the one we used on the invitation.

We set up two long tables end-to-end in the back courtyard, and covered them with staggered plastic tablecloths to create a rainbow effect. We made tissue paper poms and hung them from monofilament to add some color to the festivities.

Most importantly, we asked everyone to dress fancy. 

 

We served lunch and tried to keep the rainbow theme going with layered rainbow jello parfaits, rainbow fruit skewers, and of course a rainbow-on-the-inside layer cake. The jello was more work than you'd think, since you had to wait for each layer to set up.

The cake, on the other hand, was surprisingly easy. I doubled my favorite recipe for white cake, then divided the batter into six portions, colored each a different color, and baked. Let cool, layer and frost like usual. It was fun to cut into such an ordinary-looking cake and find this burst of color!

I didn't want to plan too many activities, I find that with young kids they are just thrilled to be together. We did have some fancy accessories on hand to get our glamour on. And the one crafty thing we did was make these fabulous hats - super easy and the kids loved them. I bought solid color wrapping paper and we cut it out in big squares, then used the bottom of a wine chiller as a form. Wrap some tape around it and you have a big, floppy, dramatic hat. I had a pile of ribbons, lace, flowers, etc. they used to embellish them.

 

Halloween 2012

Another fun year for costumes. My daughter wanted to be Princess Celestia from My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic. This show is fabulous, especially for girls. I love that each character (most of whom are female) has a distinct personality and varied interests - too often there is just one girl character and she is just pink and likes pink things.

So Princess Celestia is this wise ruler/teacher, and on the show she is portrayed as a white pegasus unicorn with a rainbow mane and tail. But for some reason, the jerk in charge of making the toy version decided that she must be, for some ungodly reason, pink. My daughter has the toy, so I asked her what color she thought she should be. Pink it was.

I thought I could just find a pattern for a horse/pony costume and just add wings and a horn, but weirdly enough, there were no horse patterns in those big books at the fabric store. So this one is my own design. It is a hooded one-piece with a half zip in the front. Sewed satin ribbons into the seam at the back of the hood for the mane, then sprayed each with hairspray and curled with a curling iron. Wings are detachable, and good thing - she didn't wear them for long. She was thrilled with how this turned out, but then not so thrilled when people didn't know the character. I was happy with it though.

And how to top Elvis from last year? My little guy was a great Charlie Chaplin. It fit his personality really well as he is on the quiet side but very expressive and silly. He loved the hat and shiny shoes. I found the velvet suit at a consignment sale, but was stuck on the hat. I found a plastic, made-in-china kids' size bowler online, but I just couldn't bring myself to buy it. (Such crap!) I was about to make one from papier-mâché using a balloon sized to his head, and then I came across this shop. This hat is crochet - soft and comfy. The flower came with it and was just perfect. The mustache was a stick-on, I had extras in my pocket. He won two costume contests!

Halloween 2011

I had so much fun making these costumes. 

Rapunzel (from a pattern)

Baby Elvis! My original design. He rocked it!

My husband as Flea, featuring about 100 small stuffed animals with the weighted parts cut out. Still these pants were heavy and required suspenders! Also I made the tshirt design (needed it on short notice) using this freezer paper technique that I learned from my friend Jenny's blog.

 And a Bjork-style swan dress, upcycled from my wedding dress petticoat.

Hi there!

Welcome! I've been looking for an outlet to share my creative pursuits, and lately I can't seem to fit myself into any one category. Or two. So I'm staking out my own little corner of the internet.

So, a little bit about me. I'm an artist working in several mediums, and I have a fun little niche painting pictures of people's wedding and baptismal gowns. You sort of have to see it to get it. They make fantastic gifts. I paint in watercolor, pen and ink, acrylics and oils. I also love painting people and all kinds of things. Oils are my favorite, but I don't love how toxic they can be. Charcoal is fun, too.

My work has always been heavily informed by fashion. So many paintings are either inspired by fashion photography, or celebrating the transformative power of the right dress or the right lipstick.

So a few years back I finally learned to sew properly. I was lucky to find a great teacher who focused on apparel construction and I am hooked. Before, I could (and would) sew things anyway, they rarely turned out right, but I pressed on with a glue gun and high hopes. Now I have the skills to match what is in my head and I love it. I still love creating 2D art, but also find it incredibly rewarding to create something that is actually worn and used.

I was inspired to start a line of handmade children's clothing, with everything made to order. My interests don't stop there, though. I love making costumes and designing adult clothing. I'm a little addicted to knit jersey - it's my favorite thing to wear and I am looking forward to getting better with it. And of course accessories are so much fun - scarves, purses, hair clips. I have a pile of green silk velvets downstairs that I am in love with.

I love:

• red
• interesting fabrics
• paint
• roses
• food not made in factories
• theme parties
• figuring things out (often as I go!)
• starting new projects

I do not love:

• scrapbooking
• owls
• grown-up style clothes on little girls (or boys for that matter)
• finishing projects (ha)