I have the coolest friends (Rubyellen at Cakies)

So I have a bunch of designer friends, but only a few of the relationships have started online... this blogging world is still so new to me and I am really blown away by how I can get sucked in anytime I sit down to catch up even on a few.

Somehow - I can't even remember now, I found Rubyellen's blog and began following it. She was the inspiration for the guitars that I made the kids a few months ago. Her adorable kids are named Brave and True, which really resonates with a gal named Liberty with a sister named Victory and a daughter named Mercy.

Ruby and I have joked over email that we are the bizarro world versions of each other... we'll both end up making headbands in the same week (click here to see hers) - when we haven't ever tried them before, or other random things, like how we both made clothes with big pockets for our girls this week.
(see mine)
(see hers - does it get any cuter? I told her I want some mushrooms...)

Well, since the princess party is this weekend, I finally had an excuse to place an order for one of Rubyellen's adorable crowns. It arrived today (so quick!) and I am dying to show it to the Design Director when she gets home from grandma's house today.
(I also ordered a mama clip for myself and though I am just hanging out by myself at the house today, I'm wearing it! I love it!)

Rubyellen's blog and a custom bag and pattern she made were also featured on Free People's blog this week - what a huge honor for her! I think her giveaway is still open, so plug in and see if you can win the purse she made - and download the instructions to make one yourself!

I hope you like my new friend, I do. I hope you feel inspired by her amazing creative gifts and check out her etsy shop! She used to live in LA, but is considering moving back and I'm excited for the day we can have our bizarro worlds collide. I think it will be lovely.

I have the coolest friends (Shauna at Poor Pitiful Pearl)

So I have already blogged about Shauna at Poor Pitiful Pearl - how she is an awesome designer, with the coolest recycled clothing... We wear a lot of her creations around here.
Well, I am spreading the word that she is in LA and having a trunk show in Hermosa Beach next week.
details below. and you can look for me, but expect to see me wearing my PPP, not my Libby Dibby!!!!

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invitation....
Sol Baby is thrilled to host a special trunk show featuring one of our favorite brands Poor Pitiful Pearl, by designer Shauna Hursh.
The philosophy is wholesome and purposeful, the styling is boho-chic cool, the quality is second to none, and knowing you have purchased a piece that is not only one-of-a-kind, but was recycled, should make you feel really, really good about yourself.

Please join us Wednesday, October 8th from 5pm to 8pm for some funky fashions, food and fun. It’s a casual event so feel free to drop in when you can and bring a friend! There will not be a presentation, but rather we encourage you to check out each custom made piece and perhaps you will find the one that speaks to you. She will have women’s and little girls items.

We will have other in store specials for the event as well.

Kids are welcome too. Hope to see you there!

Gina

sol baby
www.sol-baby.com
901 hermosa ave. suite k
hermosa beach, ca 90254
310.318.3960

P.S. I love the design director

So... The Design Director asked... And well, if it keeps one less baby in the house naked, okay, Momma will make her first doll clothes... "Malti" is the happy recipient here. I wonder what she will keep in her pocket? Hopefully not cheese, as she is apparently quite fond of cheese in her mouth (yuk) that we find later, dried and nasty.
Anyhow... The whole world is changing when Momma gets a minivan and makes doll clothes in the span of a week. I hope I can stay just a little bit hip... I might be losing my cool, but if a certain 4 year old ( the princess party is in 4 days) appreciates it, I think I'm ok.

The design director's new dress

She loves it.

New dress for the director

I almost am giddy about giving this scrap dress to the design director tomorrow. I was nervous about her liking it, so I added the pocket- shazam! It's my new favorite scrap project.
And the most fun part is that I actually have the Libby Dibby (judy jetset) that matches this... Too cute!

Skirting around

So it's midnight and the skirt marathon is finally over... 6 little girl skirts and 1 dress later.
Wow. These are fun to make...

Lazy days skirt

So the design director won and we made two skirts today. I was peeking in on soulemama's blog and she had made a bunch (I can see how addicting they could be) of these for her pumpkin. The pattern comes from Oliver + S and is fun, easy and free. I like the ribbon edging.
Spent the few extra minutes to get all the seams serged and we were putting in the finishing touches when Z woke up from a long nap. Wonderful!

On the subject of little girl skirts, expect some new spinny skirts from us soon... Within a week... There will be some fabulous ones available!
(ps. The above skirt is sweet and casual, but not spinny, due to the rectangular cut of fabric)

A Tough Boss

So Momma is sick this week... almost to the point of non-functioning, except for the fact that I have to be Momma... on the way home from pre-school today, the design director says,
"Momma, do you know how to sew when you are sick?"
"yeah... why?"
"so can we still do a project together even if you are sick?"

always, baby, always.
Now there is a 4 year old woman after my own heart.

Sample skirt

Just a sample

Have 2 of these in medium... What do you all think?

Charms

So the design director started this trend, with her name on a charm and a small collection of birds accompanying it... We've now sold a few more like it... If you are ordering charms with names, and want an accompanying charm, give me a holler over email and we'll see what we
can do. I have access to thousands of different designs, so try me...

FELT CLUB - here we come

For those of you in the LA area... and that is a big area...
Libby Dibby is going to be making a few holiday shows this year - the biggest one being Felt Club!
Come meet me and my Libby Dibby friends face to face on November 16th...

FELT CLUB: HOLIDAY 2008
Sunday, NOVEMBER 16, 11am-7pm
@ Shrine Auditorium Expo Center
700 W. 32nd St., LA CA 90007

Dohippy

I just got back from downtown where I picked up 38 new finished (grommetted) dohippy (expandable) bags. I'll get them up on etsy, but get them while they are hot, because they never last long... If you want to place requests in certain patterns and colors, let me know... Since they are made from scraps, you know they match....

Another fall skirt

This one is already made up... We have small, medium, large... :)

Name this pattern

last time it was so much fun...
want to help me name this pattern? post a comment... winner gets a treat...
=)

new stuff

so, we have a few new samples in the etsy shop tonight...

1- a couple of Blue Sky Girl sample skirts that are on super sale... lucky you, if you get them!
2 - the purses have been DRAMATICALLY reduced - we're getting tired of looking at the same ones and we've lowered them as much as we can in the hopes of getting them to good homes
3 - the headbands are up.
4 - and a new pattern that we're thinking about - we have 2 mediums available in that one.

Headband closeup

So up close, you can see the nice detail of the headband's wrinkled
grosgrain texture.
We have a few sizes available...
Gaga- 13"-14" diameter
Girlie- 18"-20"
Gorgeous- 21"-24"

Lots of variety with the yoyos... If you order one on etsy, let us
know if you want pastels or primaries for the yoyo.

Today's project with the design director

Okay, so the intention would be to wear clothing with this... But you can see my design director wearing today's project. (we made 30 of them... So there are enough for party favors at the impending October birthday party)
Mommy has one on too... We even made bitty ones... So we have them for dolls and babies, girls and mommas.
And no, the yoyo police haven't come yet.
We will get some up on etsy soon ($8), but let us know if you want one... For now they are all reddish pink, but some white and black ones will be available too...

Oh - and she wanted me to post this picture, because she was trying to look surprised...

Ric rac heaven

Woo-ha-ha-ha!
The power is mine! I now am the proud owner of um, any guess?, an, um,
okay, a heck of a lot of yards of orange ric-rac... I love it!
Why does this make me so happy?

Black and white baby shower

My friend, Hayley, is decorating her baby, Giana's, nursery in black and white damask (how convenient!) - with orange and purple accents. I'm loving it. Her shower is tomorrow and I have had so much fun using scraps and random bits to make the shower reflect the nursery.
I also had my first experience with chipboard letters as I did these be-jeweled initials as a centerpiece. I'm not the hugest purple fan, so there wasn't a ton around here to work with...but I do like purple in small doses to complement other colors, so I settled on a potted lavender plant as the centerpiece... Placed on a purple fabric sample on my scraps (served as a runner).
I'm just loving this table dec.

Now I just have to clean the floor under it.

Black and white baby shower

Made this garland for baby Giana's room, and it's a perfect shower decoration!

Sweet Sofia

For those of you who can't view the link... It breaks with some browsers

Another wrap

So I have been knitting this randomly in spurts for a while now and I haven't known who I was making it for, but I took it over to my sister Victory's in-laws who are adopted grandparents for our kids (my hubby has known them his whole life practically)... We have a miraculously close family... And Cindy, aka YAYA, was loving it, so she is my happy recipient. Her birthday is in October, so she gets it just in time for the fall weather to set in at her house on the beach!

Scrap skirt #6

It looks a little shapeless on my mannequin, but this skirt is pretty. I've taken votes around here, and so far everyone is coaching me to not embellish the skirt. They say it's elegant on it's own... I'm still thinking...

superpower

my friend, Christy, emailed me and a few others of our friends today, asking us what our favorite superpower would be to possess...

I liked thinking about this. This is what I emailed back to her. What would yours be?
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Though Christy makes a great case for the flying superpower... I think I my superpower would be to be able to stop time when I wanted... and maybe even have the ability to go back about a minute for do-overs, too.
I could catch up on sleep, have long quiet times, do as much artwork as I wanted and not feel guilty. I could enjoy a specific moment longer - a sunset, seeing my kids in a cute moment or just snuggling with Jay on the couch. I could use my time to think of the best thing to say when I get my toungue tied - I could even work through my anger over a situation before answering a difficult situation.
There are lots of times that I wish I could freeze a moment, or bottle it up and revisit it... but I guess I'd just most want the ability to savor moments better.

Can't leave well enough alone (yoyo embellished dress)

Ah... I bought this dress at "Tar-jeh" (Target) a few months ago. Fell in love with the almost drab grey and bought it in a Large, since it was the last one. Oh no! I wore it out on a date with J, hoping he'd find me smokin' (in a 50s kind of way). Hmrph... The dress was too big and slipped off my shoulders all night and J said he'd like it better with some embellishment. "too plain for you". He knows my style well.
I trust him and we usually agree.
So its been in the project pile all summer. Tonight, I decided to fix it. I shortened the sleeve circumference and added a whole mess of yoyos (I know, the yoyo police are going to come soon and take me away for overkill.) I love yoyos, though, and shamelessly used my favorites
all over this dress.
I asked J his opinion on the ribbon belt. He disagrees with my choice of the 2" satin; voted for the 7/8" grosgrain, but here we are. Can you believe I have such a tolerant husband? Seriously! I'm blessed and lucky.
And this dress is perfect for church tomorrow morning.

Scrap skirt #5

So I need a friend who is a true size 12 or maybe 14 to try on this beauty, because I didn't measure it when sewing tonight and I just had so much fun making it... And it doesn't fit me.
But it's so super cute. With an elastic waistband that makes it really a no-brainer as far as ease.
I'm just loving it.
And it's all scraps.

Oh happy day. (scrap skirt #4)

After weeks of not being able to sew due to back pain, I was able to sew last night.
(I recommend not having a 40lb 2 year old... 2 year olds still need to be held, and I'm starting to think I need a weight trainer just to advise me on how to do this. Believe me, I still use my sling when I can, because it's the only thing that helps.)

Anyhow, back to the happiness...
Dear reader Catherine, commissioned me to make a little girl spinny skirt for her darlin' to match her momma's new CLASSIC patterned skirt, and here it is!!! I'm so pleased with how much easier it was to make this time and I think it turned out even better than the first 3!
And the vintage yoyo was just for happy kicks. Tori, of Tori Higa stationery, sent me a batch of vintage yoyos she boughtfor me at Estate of Grace- which I also need to blog about...
I just had to pass on the sharefest and this morning's happy project.
Now I'm off to preschool orientation...

More Japanese book inspiration

So, If you are a Facebook friend of mine, you've likely seen my recent confession about obsessing over craft books and mags in different languages. I've been subscribed to Marie Claire Idees for a few years now (published in French, of which I know none) - renewing the subscription is itself an adventure (though my hyperlink just taught me I could have ordered it through amazon!)... but the ideas there are way more creative and geared into my personal aesthetic (a little sweeter and lighter than some of the craft mags around that try to navigate craftiness without cheese - I think they sometimes end up a little jaded)
So, I pore over the magazine, carrying it with me everywhere for a few weeks, saving the issues and pulling them out a few seasons or years later. I just love them.

Well - last week, I stumbled into a Japanese bookstore that had a whole crafter's section. Wow. Talk about a whole new realm. I'm not super into the polished/perfect/plastic side of the Japanese aesthetic - but there is another school of Japanese design called Wabi Sabi that I studied a little in my Milliken days - one that loves vintage, the hand of the designer, and appreciates wear on designed items. This is probably what is feeding the sweet books that I picked up at this store. It took a while, but I settled on three. (None of which I can read the titles). They are simply delicious. Fresh, pale, clean, sweet - with an affinity for American craft, but with a definite Japanese hand.
I'm in love.

Momma's thinking...

"Good thinking, momma!"
If I do say so myself... The kids are starting to get into one of my avorite activities as a little kid, sewing cards with laces. After spending some money about a year ago on some lacing cards, I realized I'd wasted my money... So I have been making my own from postcards and cereal boxes and the kids love them...Today, Z even tried doing them...