Archive for the ‘holidays’ Category

Easter Sunday

April 1st, 2013
7 Comments

Easter was a little bit hectic for us, but I still managed to do a couple of special things for the kids and get our family photo.

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I had planned on making easter coordinating outfits for everyone, but I only got around to items for Penelope and Me. I still want to do for Chris and Felix what I had originally planned, it just may take a few more weeks. I’ll be sure to share those with you when I’m done. We still managed to match perfectly for our photo!

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We call this the Gene Simmons tongue. Felix does this regularly. Also, do you see the buttons on the back of Penelope’s dress? Those are my first button holes. First ones with my current machine (it’s been about 5 years since I’ve tried). I’m pretty proud of how they turned out. Having a nice new machine with automatic button holes makes a huge difference.

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Getting these pictures for the family was a bit stressful – when are family photos not stressful? – but we got them. The photos aren’t magazine perfect, but the most important thing was that we got together and took a picture. Last time we had our family photo taken was nearly a year and a half ago! I keep thinking to myself that we should do this more often, I do have this photo corner permanently set up.

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I love this shot of Penelope. She was so excited to find her Easter basket and this was about the expression on her face when I showed her her dress and my matching skirt. She always knows when to make me feel appreciated.

At the same time, she’s in this phase where she likes to manipulate Chris and me with her love (or in my case, the lack of). I’ll take any of these sweet moments I can.

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Felix is still not walking or talking, but we may have figured out the cause of his developmental delays. I don’t want to get my hopes up, but it feels right. We will be visiting a specialist in a week and a half to find out for sure what’s going on.

He’s still so affectionate and cuddly at 25 months, I’m not sure what I’ll do with myself if he ever grows out of it.

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Penelope and Felix are getting along much better now. Now that the weather is nice they ride outside together; Penelope on her bike and Felix on his fire truck. It’s so rewarding to see them interact nicely together.

I hope you had a wonderful Easter weekend! And happy April Fool’s (sorry no pranks here today).

I’ve got some great posts coming to you this week – an easy DIY with one of my favorite Target dollar finds, the only way I want to eat my Asparagus and how to make a Kate Spade inspired skirt. What are your  plans this week?

Fabric provided by Kollabora.com.

Easter Sunday Printable

March 27th, 2013
15 Comments

I had an Easter candy box printable in the queue to finish up and publish for you, but I wasn’t really excited about it. Maybe I’ll scrap it or maybe I’ll save it for next year.

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This year I’m switching it up – a religious art printable. It’s a simple message for any Christian-based church-goer.

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It serves as a reminder for me to stop and think of the big picture. I tend to get caught up in minutia very easily. This will have a permanent home in the office where I tend to waste my time most on minutia.

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This printable is free today through Easter, after that, you’ll find it in the shop. Artwork is available color, black and white, 5×7 and 8×10.

Visit the link below to download.

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So what kinds of plans do you have for this Easter? I’m busy working on Easter Sunday outfits, but I think I’ll just be doing candy and dollar store toys for the kids this year. Nothing too fancy.

I’m already going a bit nuts trying to get our easter outfits done. Not that Penelope really cares about that, or even is at all excited about her dress. She saw the blue fabric and told me immediately that blue is not her color. Hopefully she’ll change her tune when I show her the finished piece.

Looking Back and Planning Ahead

January 1st, 2013
9 Comments

It’s been a really nice Christmas break. Our family ventured to Phoenix (you can see our shenanigans here). Chris is back home with his dad and brother trudging through the snow and skiing while I’m at the in-law’s soaking up sun and eating all the grapefruit and oranges I can get my hands on.

I’m taking a minute (maybe you’re rolling your eyes because every blog is doing this?), to look back at all the things I’ve done over the last year (boy I’ve grown a lot). Here are my favorites in no particular order.

I revamped a beautiful coat to fit in the 21st century, I made stamps out of leather, Felix loves his new leggings and I lengthened a dress with the powers of colorblocking.

I wrote a few thank yous, I finally launched my online calligraphy workshop, I sewed a few neat outfits for Penelope and I refashioned a reversible maternity/nursing top.

I made a tote bag out of a pillow case, I finally shared how to color block leather, I started the zero budget project and I painted magnets.

I refashioned trousers into a skirt, I refashioned trousers into a skirt again, I designed a pretty bag and I made a high-low skirt.

I finally settled on a color for the dresser, I upholstered some stools, Penelope loves her cosby sweater and I can’t resist the combination of bows and leather.

Now looking forward. . .

Things may be quiet on the surface around here, but there are a lot of things going on behind the scenes. I’m just polishing off a rebrand (6 months in the works) that Chris now has the daunting task of coding. The new look will highlight content more and you’ll be able to find old content easier. I’ll talk about the restructuring later.

I’m also feverishly working on completing this year’s Alt Summit Business cards, several items of clothing (each outfit at Alt will have one or more handmade item in the mix – ambitious, I know) and a few side projects for friends. Chris gave me a serger for Christmas (!!!) which will make a few of those projects much easier. Over the break, I learned to use my mother-in-law’s coverstitch machine and I’m completely hooked. I believe my handmade wardrobe just got dialed up a notch.

Handmade Christmas 2012

December 21st, 2012
4 Comments

Like most years, I like to make as many Christmas gifts as possible. This year was much better than last. It’s been quite a bit less stressful this year than last (we were still settling into our last digs), but I tried to keep things as simple as possible.

For the kiddos, I adopted Gabrielle’s philosophy on gift giving. I didn’t make anything for them this year.

On my side of the family, we were in charge of giving to my younger sister and her husband. They’ll be heading up here from Tuscan to celebrate Christmas and pick up their new puppy. So I thought I would make something appropriate for that. I lettered their names in frames (they can easily swap those out for photos), cut out an ampersand and made a leather collar for the new dog, Reese. I made a little tag with her name on it, but couldn’t get it to attach to the buckle (hands too raw). Hopefully they can do that.

The ampersand is really hard to photograph, it’s clear 1/4 inch acrylic, but I love it. I actually made two so I can keep one and give the other away. (selfish much?)

On Chris’s side, I’m in charge of giving to my brother-in-law Steven and Chris was in charge of giving to my sister-in-law Rebecca. Steven just got his wallet stolen and absolutely loves bow ties so I made him a leather wallet (it’s really thin!) and a leather bow tie out of the same leather I used for the wallet. I tried to tie the bow tie and didn’t have much luck making it look good, but I’m terrible at tying fabric ones, I’m hoping he can get this one to look good. That was a bit of a gamble. He has also played a lot of guitar lately, so I got him Chris’s favorite guitar tuner.

Rebecca is a great sewer. She’s made some really beautiful quilts and clothes. Chris is a bit clueless in this arena so I took care of the present for him. This was fun. I made her an acrylic ruler and got her an etsy gift card.

What would I have done for the holidays without access to a laser cutter?! I want one all my own so badly.

How are your holidays wrapping up? What things have you made? Are you surprising anyone this year with something big? I hope all of you have a fantastic Christmas!

Printable: Painted Gift Tag

December 17th, 2012
6 Comments

I designed these printable gift tags for Emma Mag last month (see page 59!). I’ve been meaning to share these with you, but I haven’t wrapped a single Christmas gift until today!!

The design is really basic, I hand lettered to and from on the front with a bunch of holly leaves on the back. Print it on any color paper and paint or keep it plain if you want! They’re a really easy craft (and fantastic for wee ones looking to get crafty, too).

The lovely ladies from The Girls With Glasses featured my tag on their most recent video. You can see how they styled their tags here.

Download the printable below.

This tutorial or freebie is free for personal use and should not be distributed/republished without the express consent of Melissa Esplin. I love getting shout outs from around the web, but please, link with love. You may publish 1 photo along with credit back to the original post. Never link directly to the download. If you would like to use this tutorial or freebie for commercial purposes, please email me. Thanks!

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