Tuesday, February 14, 2012

Happy Valentine's Day!

Happy Valentine's Day!
May you give & receive as much love today as the other 364 days of the year...
I'll be covering my little Valentine with lots of extra hugs & kisses today!
Hope everyone has a lovely day! :)

Saturday, February 11, 2012

And they wonder where I get it from...

Packages on your door step are one of life's great little pleasures.
Especially when they are wrapped in pretty red paper and tied with a sparkly bow.
And you get to tear open the paper..
But the best part about pretty red packages arriving on your door step is when it is made by your Grammie!
The next best part is probably the crinkly tissue paper inside.
mmmmm...YUM.
But back to those new Valentine's outfits that Grammie made...
Can it get any cuter than a hot pink leopard & zebra dress? Maybe if you add a matching bib!
Or if you put that hot pink outfit on this little girl. She sure ups the cuteness factor! (But I'm a little biased...)
She also got a heart long sleeved tee.
Comfy & cozy. Perfect for playing with our newfound love...toes!
We sure did  love our pretty red Valentine's package! But come on, hot pink, zebra, leopard, hearts...what's not to love?!
 Kind of makes a girl want to shout out loud. "Thanks, Grammie!"

(Mama sure loved it too. Thanks Mom!)

Tuesday, February 7, 2012

Gracie's Valentine's Outfit

I have always loved Valentines Day! In our house it's just a fun loving day and so I wanted to make Gracie girl a fun & playful outfit that was all about love too!

I love dressing Grace in soft stretchy clothes. She's such a squirmy little thing these days, I want her to be comfortable! So I made a knit top & matching leggings. I hit a few snags along the way, so read on to see my quick fixes. :)

I made the top a tunic length...not quite a dress, but longer than a shirt. This is really the perfect length for babies her age, I think. Shirts ride up, and dresses get caught when she's trying to crawl around. Tunic it is! 
 I used an old gray t-shirt of mine that was too short, and some pink knit that I had leftover from another project way long ago. The t-shirt was so super soft, so it was perfect.
I used my LBB sienna dress pattern, and just shortened it a bit. Added little gray cuffs, because I think it's way easier (and cuter) than hemming the sleeve bottoms! 

I love my LBB patterns, but for some reason, the neck got all hockey on this when I finished. See? It was big enough for my head to fit through! 
So instead of scraping the project, or worse...taking the neck off and redoing it, I folded the neck down and made a casing for elastic. It cinched it in while still allowing lots of stretch to get her wiggly head through. 
 I was originally inspired by the ruffled heart on this project from make it and love it. So cute right? But since I was racing the naptime clock, I decided to go the easier route and just make a simple ruffled heart.
I used my LBB lil leggings pattern and made some leggings to match. I didn't quite have enough fabric to make them long enough for my long legged baby, so I cheated a little. Can you guess what I did?
I used a "crocheted" headband as trim on the bottom!
I just cut the headband in half, and had two pieces that were the perfect length to add to the bottom of her leggings. I just sewed it on before I sewed up the leg seams. And this way you don't have to hem the bottom of the leggings. Not bad for a 67cent headband from Hobby Lobby! (You can also buy this type of stretchy trim at Hobby Lobby...but I'm not sure the price.)
I think she likes her new Valentine's Day outfit! And Mama likes that it was basically FREE!



Friday, February 3, 2012

Superbowl: Patriots Party Dress

Being New England folks, born & raised, we sure do love our Patriots in this house!
Well, it's mainly my husband who loves them. Personally, I just like football for the guacamole & buffalo chicken dip. But I do love me some good team spirit.
And although our little Gracie girl will never be a New England gal born & raised, I'm pretty sure she's a Patriots fan too.
(I'd asked her, but she's not much of a talker these days.)
But fan or no fan, a new outfit makes the Superbowl that much more fun.
And ruffles make any more outfit that much more fun! (I might need a ruffle intervention...) But I mean really, how cute is a baby booty when covered in ruffles!
And some comfy knit leggings to keep those chubby little legs warm.
Add a homemade logo tee and we are all set for an afternoon of football, food, family friends & fun.
And while Greg has his eyes glued to the tv, I'm pretty sure mine will be on this little girl. But can you blame me?
Go Pats!!! We're rootin' for ya New England!

(I used peek-a-boo adele skirt for the ruffle skirt, & lil blue boo lil leggings for the leggings.)