Spring Pinterest Challenge: Patio Umbrella Pennant Banner

I made a triangle flag banner for our patio umbrella as my project for the spring Pinterest Challenge sponsored by Young House Love. I wanted to add some more decoration to our patio and also to use up some leftover fabric I had when I made pillows for our lounge chairs. I cut out lots of triangles then sewed them together with the right sides facing the inside. I turned them right side out and ironed them flat. Then I sewed the flags together using double fold bias tape. I didn't have time to finish all the flags this week, but I did get 2 sides of the umbrella done. I just love the bright blue and green colors!!

All Peeps Go To Heaven!

 It's time for the 2013 Washington Post Peeps contest!! This year I decided to make a scene with peep angels and call it "All Peeps Go To Heaven!"

Here are the two pictures I submitted and their captions (warning: they love peep puns):

Godpeep with his long white beard (and old man eyebrows) watches over all the angelpeeps in Peep heaven. One angelpeep plays the harp, while others are playing a friendly game of poker. Two purple angelpeeps are peeping over the edge to see their peeps on earth.

St. Peeper checks in the newest angelpeep, as the angelic choir peeps their hymns. Two lovepeeps have finally reunited in Peep heaven!

And now for the close ups!

Here are a few behind the scenes pictures. 

Work in progress...

To make the wings, I used card stock to create the shape and then glued a piece of toothpick to the back. 

Then I put hot glue on the card stock and laid a feather on top.

Here's what the back of the wing looked like after cutting off the feather.

Then I flipped it over and glued another feather to the front.

Here is a finished wing!

For the halos, I used gold pins for jewelry making. 

The pins are bendable, so I wrapped them around a marker to get the right size.

Then I just bent one end for the part that would stick into the peep.

I call this the Green Room. The peeps are waiting to make their debut!

Here is the set for the photo shoot. The blue walls of our kitchen made the perfect backdrop to look like the sky.

I hope you enjoyed all the pictures! I know I am a little crazy, but I always have so much fun with the peeps contest. They are just so darn cute!

Buddy the Elf costume

One of my favorite movies is Elf with Will Ferrell, and we have a tradition to watch it every year at Christmas. 

Alan looks a lot like Will Ferrell, so when I found this pattern I just knew that I had to make Alan a Buddy the Elf costume!

 I didn't have any extra time in the weeks leading up to Christmas to work on the costume, so I didn't start until two days before Christmas when we were visiting my parents. It's a good thing my mom has a sewing machine! I cut out all of the pieces one night, and then I sewed all day long on Christmas Eve. I tried to work as quickly as I could in order to finish it that night, but there was just too much to do. But I finished it on Christmas Day, just in time!

Then we proceeded to have a photo shoot, complete with some re-enactments from the movie...

"I passed through the seven levels of the Candy Cane forest, through the sea of swirly twirly gum drops, and then I walked through the Lincoln Tunnel."

"Of course you're not an elf. You're six-foot-three and had a beard since you were fifteen."

"Don't knock over the Christmas tree!"

"Buddy, don't eat those cottonballs!"

"We elves try to stick to the four main food groups: candy, candy canes, candy corns and syrup."

"You did it! Congratulations! World's best cup of coffee! Great job, everybody! It's great to be here."

Buddy with Papa Elf

"The best way to spread Christmas Cheer, is singing loud for all to hear."

Doesn't Alan look just like Buddy?? There's really nothing better than a 6'5'' elf to get you in the Christmas spirit. And I have to give a shout out to Alan for being the best husband ever--he did this willingly!

Next year I think Buddy will be making more appearances so he can check on the little ones and report back to Santa!

Coconut Sugar Scrub

This year for Christmas I decided to make some homemade sugar scrub for all the ladies on my list.

 I searched Pinterest for lots of ideas and finally came across two that used coconut oil (from The Pinterest Project and A Pretty Life). They didn't sell coconut oil at my regular grocery store, but I found it at Trader Joe's. I didn't realize that it's solid at room temperature. I heated it up a little and mixed it with plain white sugar until I got the right consistency. I used about 2.5 cups of sugar and about 0.5 cups of coconut oil, which made enough to fill two of my jars. I found that ratio left my hands soft but not too greasy. One jar of coconut oil gave me enough to make 10 sugar scrubs!

Once I made the scrub, I wanted to make pretty labels for the jars. I really didn't want to design one from scratch, so I looked online and found this website that has free templates for all kinds of labels. It is the best site! They have labels for weddings, holidays, canning, book nameplates, stickers, and so much more. Seriously, you have to go and check it out!

The one I chose is listed near the top under "More Wedding labels" and is called Blue Lace (available for downloading here). I was wondering why they have so many free templates, but I learned that they are actually selling blank label sheets. But you can always buy your own and use their templates. I went to Office Depot and bought a pack where the whole sheet is one big label, because I always hate trying to get labels to line up correctly. After I printed out a sheet, I just used scissors to cut out each one. I only needed two sheets, so now I have lots more left to print out other fun labels!

 The scrub smells sooo good! And its great to use on your hands to soften them up in the winter or you can even use it in the shower. Another fun fact is that it's safe to eat, in case you need an energy boost in the morning!

Isn't the label so cute??

  The scrub looks a lot like snow, so I thought it was a perfect winter gift!

I hope all my favorite ladies enjoyed their gift! Now I got to go make some for myself!!

Christmas Ornament Cupcakes

Back in December, I made some Christmas Ornament cupcakes for a party we had at work. I got the idea from my Hello Cupcake book. I used gumdrops and twizzler pull n' peel to make the hooks at the top of each cupcake. 

After frosting the cupcakes, I dipped each one in red or green sugar sprinkles. Then I used twizzlers and airhead candies to make stripes. I used redhots and frosting to make the dots. 

Here they all are lined up for the party!

I'm working on getting caught up with all the projects I have been up to lately, 

so I'll be posting more pictures soon!

Titanic Costume: Rose's "Jump Dress"

For Halloween this year, I decided to go as Rose from Titanic. Did you know that it's the 100th anniversary of the Titanic sinking? Simplicity re-released their Titanic pattern this year that first came out after the movie in 1997, so I decided to make this red and black dress. 

It's also known as the "Jump dress" because it's the dress Rose wears at the beginning of the movie when she attempts to jump over the railing. This is when Jack and Rose first meet, and he saves her from going overboard.

Don't jump Rose!

On the top part of the dress, there is a red satin bodice with a black lace top over it that has cap sleeves. It's a little hard to see, but I also put black sequin trim on the neck and armhole edges of the red bodice.

On the bottom part of the dress, there are actually three layers. First a red satin skirt, and then a single layer of black tulle. Attached to the tulle are two rows of black fringe and two rows of lace. To give the lace a wave-like shape, I cut out along the flowers and removed the top part of the border. 

The third layer on the bottom part of the dress is made out of a fabric called point d'esprit, which is basically black tulle with small dots. This layer is cut away in the front and forms the train at the back of the dress. To finish the edges, I used fabric glue to attached some black sequins, then trimmed away the excess fabric. Let me tell you, gluing through sheer fabric isn't easy! 

Did the sequins get stuck to the newspaper? Why yes, yes they did. 

 After all the layers were assembled, I had to attached them at the empire waist seam. I had to start with the outermost layers and work in, so first I attached the train, then the tulle, then the red satin. 

And here I am wearing the finished dress! 

These pictures make it seem like it went by fast, but it actually took a fair amount of time because there were so many steps along the way. I did have a lot of fun making this dress though. I really enjoyed the chance to use so many fun fabrics: satin, tulle, lace, fringe, and sequins! 

The only major change I made to the pattern was to add a black satin sash to better define the empire waist. There was a lot of fabric gathered around the waist, so I wanted to cinch it in so it wasn't so poufy!

To complete my costume, I bought a blue sapphire necklace from ebay just like the one Rose wears in the movie. Ok, not exactly like hers because mine only cost $10! I also wore long black gloves--the ones I wore to my prom so many years ago. And my costume wouldn't be complete without Rose's better half, Jack! To make things a little more interesting for Alan, he dressed up as "Frozen Jack" with blue lips, white face paint, and gel in his hair to make it look wet.

I'll never let go Jack, I'll never let go!!