Fitting the Venue

Hi friends.
Today I have a post for you.
And to beat that, it's about something that is actually Home Sewn. And yes...happily.
How's that for fitting the venue?

I'm calling this dress the Vanessa, because my friend, yup, Vanessa, taught me how to make these using a men's button down shirt. She is also a Mama who sews and she has a lovely blog and delightful etsy shop. Check her out!

I had a sewing night at my house a few weeks ago where everyone brought their own project and we all got crafty together. It was great. Except Vanessa didn't get to work on her project because I monopolized her, holding her hostage and forcing her to teach me how to make one of these sweet little dresses she has made for her daughter.

So, Eric provided me with a shirt that was his Dad's (which made it extra special) and we went to work. It's so easy and fun to make and easy to wear! Well done Vanessa!

Then, two weeks ago I spent 8 days of lounging and crafty at the home of my bestie (it was miraculous) I whipped up two others. This one with the bee, also made from Hazel's grandpa's shirt. It makes me smile every time she wears it and I think he would've loved it.
And this sweet little green beauty was made from some super soft silky cotton that my fella brought home for me from his trip to Oxford. He bought it in a stuffy London fabric shop and I have been saving it since before Hazel was even a glimmer. It was perfect for this project and it so cute and yummy.

So, so far in 2013 I'm averaging one post a month. So, it could be a 12 post year, but things could pick up. Who's to say. Check back. Be well!

She's My Pumpkin Pie

Yaya grew so many pumpkins, we had to get creative...

so we made Hazel a pair of pumpkin pants. 

 Eli plays toss the owl.

 Our buddy from across the way popped over to check out the fun.

We interpreted her interest as a desire to try out the pumpkin pants.

We were wrong.

Six Silhouettes - Inspired by Emily

My buddy Courtney and I scheduled a crafty playdate this week to work on a little project I pinned from wait a minute...

yes...from The Anderson Crew, where I'm linking this post to today for Embrace the Camera.

Man I love it when things work out like that.

So, anyway, Courtney and I had the very ambitious plan to make silhouettes of our six kiddos, whilst also watching the aforementioned children.

But hey, if Emily Anderson can do it with her six, so can we with ours.

So Courtney purchased the supplies and I showed up with starbucks.

And viola!

 Six. Count 'em six.

I really want to know what Amos is telling Elsa and how Hazel's silhouette tastes. 
Kinda easy to tell which kids belong to who. DNA is strong stuff.

Woopeee! Fun!

Thanks for the great idea Emily! And the place to show it off!

Wow. Haven't linked up in a while. It feels good. Another way Happily Home Sewn is coming out of new-baby-hibernation. Don't forget that to wake things up we're having the Welcome Fall Sale for Facebook Friends! So, go find us on facebook...become a fan (you might win a giveaway!)...and go shopping at Happily Home Sewn with the coupon code NEWFBFRIEND for 20% off your whole order!

LadyFest 2012

Alrighty...as promised...a full report on the wonder that is LadyFest. This weekend was the 2nd annual (except we skipped 2011 for some strange reason - won't happen again) LadyFest. LadyFest is just what it sounds like - a trip to a different location each year with a bunch of my besties for festing, merriment, joviality, crafting, lounging, laughing, dancing (more on this later) and catching up. And it is awesome.

LadyFest 2010 was in Chattanooga and this year we converged on Pigeon Forge, TN (a wonder in its own right) in a beautiful cabin on a mountainside. It was an ideal setting.

Sunny B, our resident Embroidery Diva, whipped up a super sweet tote bag for a member of the Pigtail Gang.

Friday morning, LadyFest 2012: Lounging, sewing, magazines, studying (poor Jodie), fire, coffee, cocoa, munchies, embroidering, Adele concert DVD, sing-a-long, pinafore modeling (by Hazel), pjs till way past noon, a run (what?) and...wait for it....the hot tub.

Hazel had a never ending stream of snugglers, lucky girl. Oooo, and we made t-shirts (and a onesie) for the occasion! Thanks CustomInk!

Knitting and sitting. I'm pretty sure it's about 1:00 a.m. Here. That's some dedication. 

And Hazel got a new hat (and pretty much a new wardrobe. Outlet malls...dangerous!). 

Thank you ladies for an amaaaaazing Fest!!! Can't wait 'til next year!

Guest What? It's Something New!

Without even noticing, I became a stalker. I have begun to stalk my friends as potential guest bloggers. Anyone who posts something cool on facebook is immediately inundated with comments from me about guest blogging on Happily Home Sewn. 

Here is an example of such an exchange that JUST happened...helping me realize that I might have crossed over into annoying:

Friend X (soon to be HHS guest blogger hopefully) mentions that she's trying to start a blog to share recipes and health stuff.


Jessa (that's me) pipes in: sweet! Happily Home Sewn needs a guest blogger for such a topic. Wanna guest blog sometime???

Jessa (instantly realizing her annoying-ness) comments: See how I just made that all about me? Sorry about that. That is going to be an awesome blog and I can't wait to read it and get inspired.

Friend X graciously courtesy LOLs. 

That was the actual exchange.  Sad. 

BUT!

A similar exchange occurred a few days ago and happily resulted in our first Guest Blog by one of my crafty or otherwise fabulous friends! 

So, without further ado...check out these Post-Christmas-Dead-of-Baltimore-Winter crafty musings (and a warning about goats) from my friend Sarah:  

Since Christmas is over and Valentine's Day and Mardi Gras are more than a month away, and I needed to find something artistically inspiring about the start of real WINTER in Baltimore to inform my aesthetic.  Even more, with the big Christmas wreath gone, some very ugly cracks in the wall paint of our vestibule were once again exposed (this is honestly what inspired one of my first wreath-making endeavors about a year ago--laziness--I'd painted the vestibule no more than 5 (Okay, maybe it was more) years ago and I didn't want to do it again anytime soon.

While walking the dogs last week in our city neighborhood, I came across a tree whose trunk was surrounded by perfectly-formed acorns. Most had lost their caps, although the caps were also scattered on the ground (and you can make stuff with those as well). I picked up as many of the acorns as I could find, some I had to sort of dig out of the ground.  Surprisingly (or maybe not for Baltimore) nobody asked me what in the world I was doing as I sat there on the sidewalk with my Tupperware container full of acorns. I took them home and washed them well with soap and water and let them dry for a few days on paper towels in a bowl. I didn't have enough acorns to make a whole wreath (I cased the sidewalk trees of the neighborhood to no avail) so I decided to go with a "shades of brown/squirrel-food" themed wreath and bought a big bag of mixed in-shell nuts at the grocery store. I used a flat light wood-colored wreath form from Michael's craft store and hot-glued my nuts and acorns to the form.

When Googling "acorns" and " acorn crafts" I came across the factoid that only types of Oak trees produce acorns. Oak leaves and acorns are poisonous to horses, goats, sheep, and some other animals, so leave your goat behind when you go gathering acorns. I was reminded by the photos on Google of how pretty the shapes of oak leaves are, so instead of a bow to accent the wreath, I decided to draw some oak leaf shapes on cream and brown felt and cut those out and hot-glue them to the wreath. I bought adhesive-back felt for the interior leaf of the design. That is just about the greatest thing; sticky-backed-felt.

A nut/acorn wreath could be a crafty way to memorialize a favorite tree.  Gathering pecans is a memorable activity in the American South and a wreath made with the pecans from a special tree or location seems like a swell idea. My next Dead of Winter craft projects include: a Mardi Gras wreath made from hot-glued Mardi Gras beads and plastic King Cake babies, and 3 small bare winter tree black ink/brown watercolor drawings framed in three differently-shaped small white frames (say, an oval and a rectangle and a circle or square). The latter will cover those wall cracks nicely and match the colors in the nearby Acorn/Nut Wreath.

Sarah Ramirez Cross
http://www.etsy.com/shop/MaryBellesBirthday

Thanks so much Sarah! I'm heading out now to get me some sticky-backed-felt (never heard of it before! Thanks for tip!) and to gather some acorns. I'll leave our goat at home. 

Make sure to visit Sarah's etsy shop. I've known her since college where she was my R.A. freshman year. She's crafty and clever and was willing to turn a blind eye to the harmless silliness 18 year old girls. Best R.A. ever (except for perhaps, my husband, who bent more than a few rules sophomore year when I became his girlfriend. no comment).


 

Thanksgiving Peek of the Week - November 25, 2011

Does it count as a peek if it includes nearly 40 photos? Probably not. Oh well. 

What's Peek of the Week, you ask? It's our Friday feature and it's all about you! I want to hear (and share with my readers) what wowed you this week. It could be a cool finished project, a work in progress, a personal accomplishment, a cute kid moment, or something that surprised you.

If we could peek into your week - what would you want to show us?

Each week I'll share my own Peek of the Week to get the ball rolling, and invite you to link to your blog post about your Peek of the Week. I know y'all are up to cool stuff - we wanna see it!

 

So, a Thanksgiving Peek:


This was possibly my favorite Thanksgiving to date. Only one rivals it - our first as a married couple. We were at Vanderbilt living in Disciples House and everyone else had gone home for the holiday. The fella and I helped make and serve Thanksgiving lunch to homeless folks in the morning and then went back to Disciples House, made manicotti and ate in the lobby on the floor. Good times. 


This Thanksgiving included:

tree climbing

bocci

hide and seek

bouncy castle jumping

theological discussion

naps

stomp rockets

italian slingshots

croquet

chocolate delight

and Rudolph noses. 

Of course... Rudolph noses. 


Oh...and Hazel! Happy 1st Thanksgiving baby daughter!


The house was full of lovely folks and the food was dope. 


The clincher may have been hosting it in our home. I think that's the way to go. The kids are in their own environment and we're not on edge worrying that they'll disassemble someone else's. We know they can run around safely and other parents can relax and not worry about their kids trashing the place because our kids already are. Win win.

Kids' Table!

Tree climbing with Gil and Kaia.

Bocci strategy session. 

Love.

Kids' croquet set with giraffe wickets!

            

Getting all the goody off that plate.

Yaya bought these awesome led-lit slingshot helicopter things in San Marco's Square in Venice. They were a big hit. 

Micah devised a target point system to take things to the next level. 

This was one fun bunch. There are a few missing from this shot, but you get the idea. 

Everybody was happy and worn out by dark. Once people left we put on a movie and Amos and Hazel cashed in their chips almost immediately. I'm about ready to join them. I hope you all had a lovely blessed Thanksgiving. We'd love to see all about it. Link it up to the Peek!


You could get peeking in three easy steps:
1. Blog about your Peek of the Week - whatever it is. Whatever happened that made you proud, laugh, smile, inspired, excited, or just plain happy - now that's worth sharing.
2. Include a link to this blog or put the Peek of the Week button (on the sidebar) in your post.
3. Link your blog post using the InLinkz button below.

If you don't get a chance to get here on Friday, feel free to link your post up later.
The InLinkz button will be active for 5 days.