Hot couture ... Ruby necklace

It's SO hot I can't think straight. And with these wildfires in Southern CA (last night we could see flames from our front yard, even 20+ miles away) it's not fun breathing- or trying to entertain cranky overheated preschoolers. But I did enjoy dressing this morning with my new necklace made by my friend Rubyellen (at www.mycakies.etsy.com). It's a lightweight fabric scrap necklace that elevates my humble tank top to something cuter and at least as I faint in the heat, I'll look cute doing it.

Bias tape maker

Have you tried one of these yet? If you've sewn with me recently, you likely know that I'm crazy about double fold bias tape and using it to finish everything. I recently invested in this (inexpensive) little contraption which helps you make bias tape out of any fabric. (Glorious!)... It's even more lo-tech and easy than it looks. And the finished result is great.

Stained sweater fix

Here's another project from last night. Mimi has this sweater that she stained a while ago. I'd been planning to appliqué something over the stain and she'd requested a butterfly... But last night, I realized I actually had this beautiful AnnaMaria Horner fabric (see inset) sitting around waiting to be used... And sure, I could spare ONE butterfly.

Sewing night...

My sewing machine broke this morning... (love, hate, love, hate!) but not before I got to finish a bunch of projects last night with the girls... here's a peek at a few of them. I'll post more later.

Baby Onesies

Inspired by the super cute designs that my friend, Christy, made a few weeks ago, I embarked recently on another item on my to-do list... baby onesies...

I have mentioned before that I attend MOPS - well it starts up again soon, and my role in our group is to plan the creative activities - as well as do the table centerpieces and gifts for new babies that are born during the year. We have a little basket of gifts that the moms get to choose from, and one of my jobs is to stock it. After last years' onesies - I was asked to make more for this year... here are the designs I made the other night. They make me itch to have a baby around here to dress!

anywhoooo... tomorrow night is another sewing eve with the gals... we're going to be working on more baby items. Can't wait to see what we end up with. I'm off to get some more blank onesies tonight.

this one was a new technique... i did a little machine embroidery on it. see the spiral on the inside of the heart? i like how it turned out.

Christmas in August (Jen & Vic: don't read, FAMILY SPOILER!)

Please don't call me crazy... Let me explain myself first.

A few years ago, it was my first Christmas as a retailer. It was also one of my first Christmases where I wanted to handmake my gifts... I did what most people do, and waited until after Thanksgiving before I began making my gifts (quite normal)... but I didn't realize that when you are "the store" that people come up to you wanting to shop up until the last day before the holidays... which left me up until 3am every night in December, trying to ship out orders, make my own gifts, and make special orders as well... I was exhausted and miserable that final week...

So each year, I've found reasons to start earlier at working on my gifts... (i.e. having a baby, being very pregnant, planning for different holiday boutiques, blah blah blah). And now... it's August. And the school year is approaching. Which also brings with it about 11 family birthdays between now and the holidays - even after last week... ... And we've got a few final steps to complete before we're certified foster parents, which opens up a whole new can of unknowns... so ... my Christmas fever has begun. Which is kind of fun for me.

I've instructed my sisters to not peek, unless they want spoilers for their girls' gifts this winter... we'll see what they do. But I thought I'd share it early, since now is a good time to get this stuff on sale. This summer, I made my kiddos some personalized beach towels with the same technique that I use for the bath towel gifts... they are super super cute, so I decided all the nieces and nephews needed them. This IS California, after all, and beach towels come in handy much of the year. So here's what they are getting... By the way... if you are going to buy beach towels, do it now, they're on sale, and they aren't easy to find the rest of the year.

so... armed with my trusty HeatnBond, here's what I've been making.

Birthday Gift Wrap

And now for some fun little gift wrap ideas...

1 - Since my dad isn't the type to save ribbons (or much at all!), I tried to come up with a fun way to put a bow on his gift this year. We are swimming in catalogues around here (why do I feel the need to look through every one of them?)... so I like to use them for all sorts of projects... as project placemats under Mod Podge and paint, I let the kids draw and put stickers on them, and I most love using them as supplies for my collages.**

So in the spirit of collage, I used a linens catalogue to make pretend ribbons and bows on Dad's gifts.

2- The other thing I did is give into my Vistaprint addiction and have some birthday cards made up from artwork that I did for Mimi a few months ago in her journal (she'd asked me for a surprise collage) Now I just need a few hundred friends to have birthdays so I can give them away! (doesn't seem to be a problem around here)

**Recently, I've been working on artwork that is super portable - all I have top bring with me for these collages are a catalogue, a glue stick, a sketchbook, and a pair of scissors. (those, I'll show later)

It's that time of year...

Me and Dad, about 30 years ago

So this past week was the "Big Birthday Week" in our family. J, my nephew, my Dad and sister were all born within one week of each other. We have about 4 other close friends that that share birthdays that week... So here's a Happy Birthday "shout out" to my Dad and my sis....

First... Happy Birthday, Dada. (who, incidentally, was the first one to name me "Libby Dibby") My dad is a toy inventor, designer, and all around impressive artist. I grew up with a dad who drew on everything available - napkins in restaurants always ended up with little cartoons of me, cars and funny animals. I grew up seeing that artists can come up with fun ideas, sell them, and actually make a living doing such. So it wasn't a huge leap for me to become a corporate textile designer right out of college (Dad did 5 corporate years of his own at Mattel as a designer - where he met my mom, before starting his own business as an independent toy designer.) - and then to leave to start my own business 6 years later. I've always been able to talk to Dad about creative ideas and questions... trademarks, patents and the business side of an art-based company.

I'm super happy to have a dad who has shown me that life always has room for art.

Dad, this year, with Baby Vi.

And then, Happy Birthday to my "little" sister, Victory - who hasn't been littler or less mature than me for many years....

Vic's pre-school graduation... I was in 2nd grade.

You've already met her, both as a guest blogger and a model - so you know that she's very important to me. Victory is mom-extraordinaire to 3 gorgeous girls and she just so happened to marry one of my hubby's best friends in the world, so you can guess at how close our family is. Victory is a working mom, designing toys with Dad and running a very full life with her family.

Dave, Vic and Vi a few weeks ago at Fenway Park.

Happy Birthday, Dad and Vic!

Date night - Hollywood Bowl

Here's a pic of J and I chillin at the Hollywood Bowl ... Having our picnic before the concert... Wine, berries and chocolate covered pretzels from Trader Joe's... (yum, happy birthday, J! And to my sis, Victory, today, too!)

Fairy skirt

I had to pull her away from her activities to get her to try this on... I think she has no idea how cool she has it...