My Version of 'Green'

It's a snow day around here. It is reminding me of my New Year's resolution to NOT have unreasonable expectations of myself. I thought I would spend the day cooking, watching movies with the kids, and maybe sneak in a little painting.

So far I have picked up a million toys, done 5 loads of laundry, and thawed chicken. Not what I had in mind.


I will, however sneak in pictures of my "recycled" outfit for Lilly. I recycle my cardboard, etc., never litter, and I don't use hairspray. That's about as 'green' as I get. You will never see me chained to a tree in hopes of saving it, or buying $10 recycled toilet paper.I believe in being responsible, and taking care of our planet, and I don't believe in wasting things, but I don't believe in Al Gore either. I do love to recycle old/used/useless things to a more creative purpose.


I bought this pink jumper at a thrift store for 50 cents. The leggings underneath are from a set of pajamas found at Dollar General for $3. I removed the weird little pocket the jumper had, and appliqued the apple over the top. Again, I did not use the embroidery machine for the applique. I am a control freak, and wanted the design to match very closely to that of the pants. (not to mention that I don't know how to digitize my own designs in the embroidery software). So, I just used my regular sewing machine. I do, however, love machine embroidery, and I have a neighbor that sells the cutest line of embroidered clothing.


I removed the buttons, and added ribbon instead. I gathered the same ribbon and sewed it to the hemline of the dress. (like the lampshades in my earlier post).
I also cut the cuff off the pj bottoms to make it more of a legging.

See? I recycled.






I had to bribe her with cereal, but I did get a shot of her in the outfit. Soooo ladylike.





Littlebits Designs

Wedding Platter & Lampshades

I had 2 custom orders picked up today, and I thought I would post them both.
First is the wedding plate. Custom pottery can be sooo expensive. I personally believe you should not have to sell a kidney to get it. I must admit, this is a bit of a copy. The cute newlywed girl that ordered it sent me a picture of one she liked, and I ran with it. She found the plate/platter at Wal-Mart!! Very affordable wedding gift...(hint, hint).
Next is the lampshades.
Just 2 plain old white, Target lampshades.
I used a very scary looking piece of equipment to finish this project. It is a gathering foot for my sewing machine. The first time I used it, I nearly lost a finger. Really. It was gruesome, I won't go into further detail.

Despite our rough beginning, I now love this crazy looking thing. It gathers anything and everything into perfect ruffles or pleats.
I gathered some 1 1/2 grosgrain ribbon. With fabric glue I attatched it to the base of the shades. I then used opaque pink fabric paint for the initials.
I think she said these shades were for either side of the bed. Very sweet.

Even if you can't paint, or don't have the scary sewing machine parts, you could do something similar. Just run a basting thread ( that means longer than normal) through the center of your ribbon, and pull gently from each end to make it gather.

To seal the ends of the ribbon, just run them through the flame of a lighter.(carefully please!)



LittlebitsDesigns.com

Random, ugly sweater...

I must admit, I have spent most of my time working on re-organizing my house after a crazy holiday season, so I don't have many great pictures of work to post. I thought these frames turned out cute. I almost never do anything with animal prints, but these were a special request. I love all the different ribbons.

Speaking of ribbons, I was looking thru the Jo-Ann's flyer I got in the mail today to see if ribbon was on sale.( warning: this is random)
I noticed this little boy in the ad for yarn.

What is up with the sweater???? Isn't that for a girl? The extra wide neck, the scallops? 3/4 sleeves?!

Notice the caption - "Make this totally awesome 80's look"

I was around, and fully aware of my surroundings in the 80's. I don't remember any fads that involved boys wearing girl sweaters. (unless you were into Boy George)
If this kid is smart, he will drop this ad from his portfolio, and sue the stylist that worked the photo shoot. If you can knit, please don't make this totally awesome 80's look.

I am working on an adorable lamp to post pictures of later this week. I am trying to get back in the swing of things, but I'm a little burned out this time of year. Tomorrow has already been declared a snow day here in Nashville, so I am hoping to get some creative things accomplished, and spend some fun time with my kiddos.

My kids never cease to surprise me. Yesterday was definately one of those days.

I found my 10 year old, with a needle and thread, sewing up a hole in the knee of his school khakis.

My 5 year old pulled out his own stitches from his chin, and didn't mind at all.

My 3 year old, for the past 2 nights, has marched herself and her footie jammies upstairs, and totally put herself to bed.
At 7 pm.
I did not even have to ask.

What will they do tomorrow???