During Chris’s two and a half weeks of Christmas vacation, we spent our time redesigning a few blogs. We had a grand time working together & making the interwebs a tiny bit prettier. I’ll be sharing a finished project each week along with a design tip (or two) for a better blog. I can't seem to find Ashley's before image, but the design before we got to it was nothing heinous or special. It had a simple grey background and bold text for the header. Ashley is a photography blogger who is absolutely obsessed with Design Love Fest (come on, who isn't?). She wanted her site to be accessible to teens (she does high school portraiture) and their parents, but more polished than sites like American Eagle or Roxy. After several different iterations we got the above result. Often times it's clients who really push designers into new directions and broaden their styles. And this design was definitely the case. I don't typically design in photoshop, but with this design I did (the drawn elements at least). This design style has definitely given me a lot to think about as I move forward with my own design and the branding for my online calligraphy course. I thought I'd forego any blog/design tips today and share with you a couple of the unused iterations for Orange Tree Studios. This was the first iteration. Ashley didn't like the script font (Antrokas- great in small doses!). It definitely made me realize how dependent I am on script fonts/calligraphy in my designs. This is the second iteration. I didn't use any script fonts, but the color scheme may have been a little too varied. The orange slice needed to go, too. I used Blanch Inline for the header font and Alexandria FLF for the titles. Again, I'm really happy with the finished product, I just wanted to share those other directions with you. I felt like they were great, but just not the direction Ashley wanted.

There are a million and a half legging tutorials out there and how to make your own. No joke. This is one of them. How is this any different than the others? The tutorial is illustrated(makes it easier in some parts, in my opinion), I don't thread the elastic, there's NO HEMMING required and this tutorial includes a printable pattern for leggings size 9-12 months. I hate hemming and threading elastic. Don't you? See the list of a few of my favorite legging tutorials at the end of the tutorial. I used a vintage knit given to me from my friend, Stacy, gave to me not long after I had Felix. I've been meaning to make leggings out of this since I first laid eyes on this awesomeness. I love the little monsters and random illustrations!   Once I figured out the pattern, these little leggings took about 10 minutes to whip up. I stitched together another pair for a friend of mine who just had a baby boy not too long ago. Make these baby leggings for a baby boy, baby girl or for a friend who's choosing not to find out the sex of her little one. Check out the tutorial after the jump.

• BASIC BABY LEGGINGS •

Supplies: sewing machine, knit fabric (1/2 yard to be safe), 1 inch elastic, scissors, pins

1. Print out your pattern and assemble. Cut out fabric pieces along a fold and perpendicular to the stretch of your knit. Refer to the diagram above.
2. Turn fabric wrong-side out and sew along side seams. Do the same for the cuffs.
3. Turn each piece right-side out and press seams. Fold the cuffs in half, so the ends of each seam meet together. The wrong side of the fabric should not show on the cuffs.
4. Attach the cuffs to the leggings by pinning right sides together and sewing along the edge. Turn cuffs over and press seams.

1. With your leggings right-side out, pin the legs together, starting with the inseam. Match the inseam together and pin out to each side.
2. Once you’ve finished pinning, sew along the two edges. Turn right-side out and press the seam.
3. Cut a 16 inch length of your elastic. Zig zag stitch ends together. Pin to the right side of the waist of your leggings and sew with a small zig zag stitch.
4. Turn the elastic over and press along the seam. Zigzag stitch the elastic into place.

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD

 

   

• OPTIONAL •

You can easily adjust this pattern to different sizing by using old leggings as a guide for your pattern. Check out these other leggings tutorials for more ideas: Basic Leggings • Printed Leggings • Ruffle Bum Leggings • Ruched Leggings • Making Leggings   This tutorial/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. Do not copy this post, publish more than 2 photos or outright steal this idea for commercial publications. If you would like to use this tutorial for commercial purposes, please email me. Thanks!

I found these striped tees for Felix about 2 months ago and have been meaning to share them with you for some time. I've been waiting to shoot them when I have them all clean at the same time, but alas, they're in such tight rotation it never happens. These shirts were part of a huge thrift store haul, none of them were more than $2 each. Someone must have donated an entire boy's wardrobe from the eighties earlier that day. It's so hard to shop/make clothes for boys. I'm just not that creative with boy's clothes, anyway. Two of these shirts are Healthtex. When I showed them to my mother-in-law she said something to the effect that that brand was one of her favorites. I can see why. They're really high-quality tees. Healthtex still exists, but you can find vintage healthtex all over etsy. Here's a little list of my favorites while browsing the listings: Primary Striped Shirt • Striped Hoodie •  Train Jacket • Plaid Seersucker Dress • Pink Striped Dress • Velour Striped Sweater • Striped Polo How was your weekend? Did you do anything fun or find any sweet thrifty finds? Fill me in, in the comments below!

During Chris’s two and a half weeks of Christmas vacation, we spent our time redesigning a few blogs. We had a grand time working together & making the interwebs a tiny bit prettier. I’ll be sharing a finished project each week along with a design tip (or two) for a better blog. Alex is new to the blogging world. She started The Bridal Recipe to document her wedding plans, weight loss goals and recipes. She wanted the design to read more of a wedding blog than a food blog, so I used feminine and floral elements juxtaposed to cooking tool illustrations. I used color collective for the color inspiration, mixing the Harper Smith and the Lui H palettes together. I used Business Penmanship for the decorative font, but in the header, I altered the mono-line font to have calligraphic thicks and thins. I think it adds a lot more weight and dimension to the top, while keeping a consistent flow with the rest of the script elements. Above is what we had to start with. She hadn't posted anything at that point, and just picked a template and threw it up there. I don't think she was serious about using it, I just thought it was sort of eye-searingly hilarious I had to share how it started. Which leads to. . .

• Design Tip #5: Less is More •

So, what makes this before template so horrible? The yellow and grey color scheme isn't bad. The two background patterns are cute, the chevron is cute. BUT IT'S SO BUSY. If you're going to mix patterns, make sure you change up the scale, so one takes a supporting role rather than the two competing for your eyeballs' attention. Rarely have I seen feminine scroll elements mix with geometric patterns in a good way. It looks so wrong here. Add the drop shadow and that funky psychedelic swirl transparency and you have the disaster you see above. When you have bold patterns and design elements, keep your content area simple. White backgrounds are best and pretty much an industry standard as they're so much easier to read. You don't need sidebar and comment elements framed out with multiple lines (or lines at all). If you're doing the design yourself, adding all of the elements you like is great, but make sure you take a step back and edit down until you get a well-curated design. If you're hiring someone else to do the design for you (and let me tell you, there's a reason we charge "so much", we know what we're doing) trust their direction. White space is often times more "designed" than the design elements themselves. Alex was a fantastic client who trusted my skills and opinions and communicated her vision well. I think I came up with something we're both proud to show off.

We kept Felix's birthday celebrations really low key, just like I did with Penelope's. Interestingly enough, we're in a similar work situation for Felix's first birthday as we were for Penelope's first birthday. Except, we didn't have to move 800 miles.

I had originally planned on doing a monkey theme, but that quickly changed to a bear/brown/red theme. Next year we'll do monkeys. I sent out the above invitation via facebook and called it good. I made chocolate cookies and chocolate cupcakes with sour cherry frosting. We had a little frosting station for friends and family to decorate their own cookies. I made my sisters-in-law blow up balloons and Shelley make the "I'm with adorable." sign. I'd say I did a pretty good job of delegating party tasks, since I never delegate when I need to. Felix had just eaten beets. His favorite food. I think he was pretty excited for the festivities to begin. He was so funny! At first he didn't know what to do with the cupcake on his tray. As soon as we fed him a couple bites, he was all over that thing. He even cried for another one just after he had finished his first. This little boy is just too cute for words. I had planned on doing a little photo booth with Felix in the middle, but this was the only shot I managed to take of felix and family. My sister-in-law, Shelley, is on the left and my sister, Emily, is on the right. I snapped this photo just after they left. He sure loves getting lots of attention. We had a great time getting together. It also just so happened that my Mother-in-law and my youngest sister-in-law were in town for the weekend, so having them around made the festivities extra special. I made sure to record the cupcake carnage at his party and I've edited it down from 25 minutes to 2 and a half minutes. This video is mostly for my mom and dad who didn't get to enjoy his big moment, but I thought y'all might get a kick out of it as well. Felix went in for his one year appointment yesterday and he's doing really well. He's 99th percentile in head size and 60th percentile in weight and height. His head is really holding him back with a lot of his physical milestones (crawling, sitting, walking, standing). He just can't balance with that giant head on his shoulders. We'll have to take him into a physical therapist, but that shouldn't be too bad. As any parent, I'm really eager to see him get up and move, but I am enjoying all of the cuddles and quiet time we're having in the mean time. Felix really is the best baby. Ever. Happy Birthday, Feli-monster!  

We had a great weekend around here and I hope you did, too. We didn't do much, besides hanging out with family. My mother-in-law and sister-in-law have been in town; Brookie came up here for the Fencing Junior olympics. We took advantage of the family in town and celebrated Felix's FIRST birthday with a party on Sunday. I'll share details with you tomorrow. For now, I'd like to show you a little detail (and tutorial) on how I did the polka dots on Penelope's Valentine's treats. I really like what Joke did with her confetti cups on Oh Happy Day, but I didn't have the time or motivation to go out and get a stamp, so I made do with what I had on hand. Above is the stamp I made for Penelope's Valentine's. I didn't have wood or rubber on hand, so I just made do, and you can too!

Learn how to make your own stamps (for almost nothing) after the jump!

• SUPPLIES •

• scissors
• leather (or craft foam sheets)
• wood blocks
• glue

• INSTRUCTIONS •

Cut your leather (or foam) to the desired shape. Make sure that they’re smaller than your wood blocks. Glue leather (or foam) back onto leather. Allow glue to dry before trimming it out. Once your shapes have been trimmed out of the second layer of leather, rub leather (or foam) on the ink pad. Stamp the top of your block with your shape. Place leather shape inked-side down and apply glue to the back of it. Place the wood block on top and allow the glue to set before using. Stamp away! I know I'll be having a lot of fun making patterns with these basic shapes.

As I mentioned yesterday, Chris lost his job last week. I would be lying if I said it was a surprise, because it's not. The company that he worked for (and was warned about before working there) is totally falling apart. It's one of those start ups that's doomed to fail for lack of good management. While it sucks that Chris is out of work, we're feeling very peaceful about our situation. Chris can now spend all of his time working on developing my calligraphy site and I can spend more time catching up on life, design and the kiddos. I haven't had a whole lot of time to finish up the tutorials and projects I've had in the works, and I'm going to blame that on the weather and something that's going on in my ears. I haven't been able to go without a 3 hour nap (kids jumping on me or no) any day this week. Hopefully I'll be feeling better soon. We've done the super cheap thing before and I'm prepared for us to do it again. I'm just so grateful for all of the support we have had from family, friends and all of you. Thank you! With our current budget, we're still throwing Felix a little birthday party this weekend (really? how is he already ONE!?). I'll be keeping it low-key, but making a few fun little decorations for the festivities. I can't wait to share with you his big milestone. I hope you all have a fantastic weekend! FYI - if you're in the Orem/Provo/Utah area next week, there's going to be a big get-together for bloggers, blog readers, pinterest, twitter and instagram lovers. It's hosted by Soel Boutique and See Jane Blog. It's sure to be awesome! I'll be there hanging out with friends and hopefully meeting new ones. Be sure to come up and say hi! The first 50 people through the door get a goodie bag from the following sponsors. You don't want to miss. See you there! soel • see jane blog • milkglass and honey • becky kimball • armelle • freshly picked • elsa bags • cotton & curls • modern palm • annily green • fifth and hazel • sycamore street press • zupas • {collected} • gatehouse no.1 • mer mag • the Alison show • the house of Smith’s • Studio 5  

Chris and I went on a very simple Valentine's date last night that included a little Valentine and a basically free dinner (what did I do without groupon?). It was a great way to spend Valentines since Chris is now unemployed. On the card I made for Chris, I lettered the phrase, "You are my favorite." I posted it in instagram and had such a big response, that I'm offering a printable version for $10. It'd be perfect on a gallery wall, a small nook in the entry way or cropped and perched atop your dresser. This printable download can be printed professionally or from your home computer. The file is optimized for an 8x10 print, but can be easily cropped down to 8x8 or 5x7. Click the button below to purchase the file for $10.

Click here to purchase

Just a reminder, this is NOT for a print that will be mailed to you. It's for the file that you can print, for personal use only. Email me if you have questions. 

I almost completely forgot I did some calligraphy work for the Fabulous Emily Ayer and her new blog: Em for Marvelous. I absolutely love doing lettering for people and seeing how they implement the lettering in their own personal style. I really like how the design combines crisp clean lines, bright colors, white space and my lettering. She has so many great ideas, too! Check out her blog for clever ideas, cool finds and pretty wedding inspiration.

Penelope is getting more and more excited and interactive with holidays these days. I can honestly say that she's had far more enthusiasm over Valentine's Day than she did over Christmas. It's so cute. Last night we put together the little Valentine's treats for Penelope's preschool class. We had a lot of fun doing it. I was trying to think of something clever to go along with the orange taffy, but I couldn't think of anything I liked. Oh well. It's not like any of her classmates can read anyway. Instead of doing something whitty to coordinate with the candy, I mimicked the polka dot of the taffy on the little card (very much inspired by Joke's polka dot cups). Penelope loves playing with stamps, so I thought it'd be a great way for us to work on these together. The above is the prototype of what I had envisioned for her little treat. I also thought about printing out something for the "be mine" part, but with only 12 kids in her class, I think it was almost faster to write it out. So I did. The ink was supposed to be orange, but it turned out more like burnt sienna. A real disappointment, because that color does NOT read valentine's at all. It's not one of those battles I wanted to fight. Above are Penelope's versions of her little treat. She started doing really well with stamping the dots, but she got sick of re-inking with each stamp that she just started stamping the card with the ink pad. Pretty adorable. I also had her hand-write out her name on each of the cards. It was a fun practice for her. She's getting pretty good at writing out her name, and this exercise was good for her concentration. The girl goes a million miles a minute all day, so sitting down and writing out her name 12 times was a change of pace. Happy Valentine's day to you all!! What are your plans for tonight? I might surprise Chris with a home-cooked meal. It'll be sure to be a surprise as I haven't cooked much in the last few weeks. P.S. Can you tell that I took the first photo with my DSLR and the second with my iphone? I had to quickly snap a shot of Penelope's treats before she went off to preschool and my camera battery was dead.

Last Saturday I went to a sweet Galentine's party with a bunch of girlfriends, put on by my new friend Stephanie. She knows how to throw an amazing party. The highlights from the party were: chatting with old friends, making new friends, being without the kiddos, exchanging and receiving fun Valentine's gifts, and devilishly good chocolate cookies. I spent all Saturday morning working on my exchange. I sort of knew what I was going to do, but I did wing it a bit. I quickly sewed 12 bags from my stash of vintage fabric, made leather-covered hair pins and stuffed the bag. I put candies, hairpins and a "love you" sticker in each bag. I couldn't think of anything clever to put on my bag, so I hand-wrote "Be mine" on little slips of paper and used a safety pin to attach the tag and close the bag. I felt like it was nothing too terribly clever, but I did have a great time putting them all together. Are you passing out little Valentines this year? I'd love to see what you've done. Penelope and I will be working on her class Valentines together tonight. I love that she's getting old enough to enjoy and work on projects with me.

Chris is working full-time on coding my online calligraphy class, so you're going to see a lot more thriftiness around here. My grandmother has given me the most fantastic belts. I love how unique each of them is. It's so fun to have something in my closet so special. Each time I wear on of these belts I think of my lovely grandma and how much I love her. I've got a few great projects in the works for you next week. I can't wait to share! Have a great weekend.

We've not gotten in the mood for Valentine's yet. Is anyone else in the same boat? I've got to get going on some Valentine treats, but I'm still at a loss for something clever to do. I'm sure I'll pull something out at the last minute, in typical Melissa fashion. Last year around this time I made a little love note for Chris's bathroom, but I've never been that happy with the lettering. It's fine, but every time I sit at the toilet I think of all of the little mistakes I made.  This morning I buckled down and redid the thing. I may as well with Valentine's day around the corner. So here it is. I've digitized it, played around with some colors and I'm offering it as a free printable. I do hope you enjoy and surprise your loved one with this funny quote above the toilet. Click the button below to download.

• Terms of Use •

This freebie is free for personal use and should not be distributed without my consent. I love getting shout outs from around the web, so please link with love. Do not copy this text, publish more than 1-2 photos or outright steal this idea for commercial publications. If you would like to use this freebie for commercial purposes, please email me. Thanks!

One of my Alt Summit friends recently posted about how to make an adjustable knot, you know, the ones that you use when making friendship bracelets. It got my wheels turning and I put a few scraps to good use. Right now, layering 2-20 bracelets couldn't be more popular. I've found myself doing this quite a bit. I'm not one to sport a ton of bracelets, mostly because they get in the way as I type and work on art projects. These leather bracelets are so low profile, I don't notice them much at all. If this isn't your cup of tea, check out my other bracelet tutorials. I have enough for you to decorate both of your arms.

Friendship Bracelet • Double-Wrap Bracelet • Magic Braided Bracelet

Bow Bracelet • Bow Cuff • Wallet Cuff • Twisted Leather Bracelet 

Check out the outfit here.

Why not stock up on some leather scraps & make a few more with me? If you're looking to get leather scraps, head over to your local upholstery shop & ask if they have any leather scraps they're about to toss. Often times they do. They're typically big enough for a project like this & you're doing the Upholstery shop a favor by helping them put scraps to good use. Alternatively you could purchase scraps from your local Tandy Leather supply or online from Freshly Picked. Read the tutorial after the jump!

Adjustable Knot Bracelet

Supplies:

• leather
• scissors
• nail polish or beads (optional)

Cut your leather into a thin strip to the desired length (I just cut a really long strip, like 3 feet). If you don't have leather strips long enough, use the following technique: Cut your scrap into a circle. Cut your leather strip from the small scrap by cutting in a spiral. Try to be as uniform as possible. Variations in width add character so don’t be afraid of messing up! A 6 inch circle will make a lot of string. A LOT. So you really can get away with a small bit of leather. Take the ends and, using Chelsea's tutorial, make the adjustable knot. NOTE: Chelsea's tutorial is ideal for smaller string. When working with the leather strips, use the above diagram for tying the first knot, then flip over to the opposite side (so your orientation for the second end is the same as the above diagram) and repeat. The knots will lie mostly flat this way. Once you're done with the knots, you're done!!

. . . OR . . .

OPTIONAL: Before you tie the knots, thread the leather with a leather placket, beads or a metal placket. I painted the striped pattern with some nail polish on a strip of veggie tan leather. It's porous, so it will accept paint and dyes. This is not always the case depending upon what leather (or vinyl) you buy. If you bought a patent, sharpie markers & paint pens work magic! There you have it, my friends. Go and make a bracelet with nothing more than a small scrap of leather and some scissors. Click the button below for the printer-friendly version of the tutorial.

• Terms of Use •

This tutorial/freebie is free for personal use and should not be distributed/republished without my consent. I love getting shout outs from around the web, but please, link with love. Do not copy this text, publish more than 1-2 photos or outright steal this idea for commercial publications. If you would like to use this tutorial for commercial purposes, please email me. Thanks!

I feel like such a cool kid with my stack of bracelets.

• scarf: H&M
• sweater: Shade
• top: Shade
• bracelet: handmade
• denim: H&M
• boots: thrifted

It's so cold in my studio these days (the glories of an unfinished basement). These fingerless gloves have saved me.

• coat: Forever 21
• top: Anthropologie
• necklace: Cambria Cove (Blogher '10)
• gloves: ASOS
• denim: PacSun (I promise I don't wear them everyday)
• shoes: Amazon, Seychelles

It's always so exciting when I find outerwear that fits my frame. I scored this blazer last Saturday when out and about with Penelope. It's in perfect condition. I scored this gorgeous blazer for $4! Click here to view outfit details. My absolute favorite part about the blazer is the triangular leather detail on either side of the pockets. A-dorable! Now I want to put leather triangles on all of my pockets. So tell me, what have you found recently that you just can't get enough of? Do share!

I've worn this blazer (and the top) twice this week. Can't get enough!

• blazer: thrifted
• top: ModBod, c/o ModBod
• denim: PacSun, refashioned
• booties: thrifted

Last Saturday I went up to Salt Lake City to pick up a few goodies (the dining table & chairs set is complete!) and stopped by a local thrift shop with Penelope. We had a great time in there & both of us found some killer scores. P is becoming a real shopper, it's super duper cute. I found these Minnetonka moccasins for $2. They'd practically never been worn, based on the wearing of the soles. They're super cute, but as my friend Amanda pointed out, the soles as they were would only last indoors. I've taken my shoes to a cobbler many times with great success, but I thought I would try adding a sole by myself. I had some extra leather on hand from the bouncy swing I made years ago, so I thought it was worth a shot. Heck, if it doesn't work out, I can always take them to a cobbler to get fixed. I wouldn't be out much of anything, except scraps. I took out my swedish tracing paper, glue & scissors and in less than 15 minutes gave my shoes new soles. I'll report back once they've been worn a few times to tell you how they held up. So tell me, have you ever taken your shoes to the cobbler before? I've taken in my slippery shoes & had the cobbler put treading on the soles. It's so great for winterizing your boots!

During Chris’s two and a half weeks of Christmas vacation, we spent our time redesigning a few blogs. We had a grand time working together & making the interwebs a tiny bit prettier. I’ll be sharing a finished project each week along with a design tip (or two) for a better blog. M from The Girl Who Wore Everything was another fantastic client to work with. She she wanted her blog to look more professional & convey her love for fashion (and sparkles!). Her blog was a fairly blank slate to work with, she didn't have any insane templates going on and she didn't want anything insane, either.   I liked the glasses she was wearing in the header the presence of white space in her old design. So I incorporated those two with more fashion-iconic typefaces, glitter and a more grown-up color palette and voila! For the fonts I used Baskerville semibold italic and Open Sans Condensed Light. For the glitter, I made my own using Pugly Pixel's & Scrapbook Bytes photoshop glitter tutorials. I made an animated gif of the bloglovin button so the glitter actually sparkles (FUN!). Check out The Girl Who Wore Everything to see the design in action.

 • DESIGN TIP #4: LEARN MORE, DESIGN LESS •

There are so many fantastic resources for expanding your design knowledge. My favorites are: Nicole's Classes, Pugly Pixel, Lynda.com. There you can begin or expand on your knowledge of design-based programs like Illustrator & photoshop. All have been a fantastic resource for me as I have been trying to branch out of my very 2-dimensional design box. Go check them out.

I'm definitely speaking out of experience/mistake here, but as you do learn new tools for photo editing and design you don't need to use all of the tools all at the same time. I remember as I was learning photoshop my freshman year of college, I applied 4-10 filters to my projects and quickly realized that many of the tools offered in these programs are spices, not staples. In illustrator, I typically stick to 2-3 tools. In photoshop, it's about the same. This same principle applies to blogs as well. Keep it simple.

Do you have any favorite resources for expanding your design knowledge?