Baby Cake Designs

Ready for Fall

2011-08-26T13:12:00.000-07:00

Nothing gets me in the fall spirit faster than making cute things for little Buckeyes! I finished up this OSU themed dress for Scarlet and a coordinating reverse applique football tee for her brother, Tressel! I can't wait for next month (even if there has been a little drama with our favorite team!)

Another addition

2011-08-26T13:04:00.000-07:00

I finished up these sibling shirts to help their mom announce to the family that they are expecting another addition to the family! She already has twins so the surprise will be whether or not she has another set ;) I think her kiddos look absolutely adorable (and the shirts are cute too)!

Princess Minnie

2011-08-26T13:02:00.000-07:00

I just finished this version of a Minnie Mouse tee - complete with crystals on the tiara (made from buttons!) Super fun!

Lego Star Wars

2011-08-26T13:01:00.001-07:00

What a great theme for a sixth birthday! I hope D has a great one next month!

My newest client

2011-08-26T12:57:00.000-07:00

I've made a number of things for my son over the past few years (ok, not nearly as much as I've made for other's kids... but a fair amount). But now he is starting to place orders! Mainly just for one of every boy-ish thing I've made recently. My list for him includes: Star wars shirt (see next post), Captain America shirt, Thor cape, and pajamas (which I just finished!). I'm trying to squeeze him into the schedule as best as I can! Here are the pajama pants:

Crayon Rolls x5

2011-08-26T12:54:00.000-07:00

make that 6... my son had to have one of these in Batman fabric once he saw me cranking these out for the M family! I modified the closure that I've seen on online tutorials to make it out of fabric covered elastic in the hopes that the kiddos wouldn't ask their parents to tie them every five seconds... I hope it helped!

Travel high chair

2011-08-26T12:49:00.000-07:00

A client of mine found a great online tutorial for a 'travel high chair' and asked me to try it out. It's a great concept and I've now added two of these to my own project list for when my girls are a little bit older (although I'm not sure how often we'll venture 'out' to eat!) The outside fabric is a great gender neutral polka dot by Alexander Henry for JoAnn. Bon Appetit!

Tiered Elena for Two

2011-08-04T17:14:00.001-07:00

I love love love when a client picks out fabric that I can't get enough of! These beauties came from one of my favorite online fabric stores: Hawthorne Threads and I love that she was able to put them together so beautifully even though they came from different designers! A mini version of the dress for her American Girl doll completed the order! I hope this made one sweet little girl feel very special for her birthday!

Mudhens Party for Two Princesses

2011-08-04T17:12:00.001-07:00

Grace and Lily are getting ready to celebrate their birthdays Mudhens style! I created these adorable matching tees to go with the baseball simple skirts they got earlier this season - cute!

Bow Tees for Two

2011-07-29T10:57:00.001-07:00

I found some great fabric at Hobby Lobby last week and was inspired to make something cute (and coordinating) for my girls. I decided on bow tees with matching shorts! I love how they turned out and think the miniature shorts are hilariously cute!

Rose Bums!

2011-07-22T11:00:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago I was wandering around Hobby Lobby and saw a great new rosebud trim in the fabric department. I took a picture of it on my phone so that I wouldn't forget about it and could brainstorm about what to make out of it... and then it came to me: Rose bums! I sewed it to one of my girl's diaper covers and love the result. It was a little more 'wild' after it came out of the wash but still adorable!

This was attempt #72 to get a good, non-blurry picture of my fast crawling twins wearing the Rose bum.. not great, but you get the idea

Middle Sis

2011-07-22T10:59:00.001-07:00

The M family is preparing to welcome their third bundle of joy and wanted coordinating 'sibling' shirts for their bunch. We brainstormed over what to put on the middle sister's shirt to make her feel special and I think we came up with the perfect solution: "Lil Big Sis". Love it!

Pinkalicious

2011-07-22T10:57:00.001-07:00

Here's another great set of outfits for A and her American Girl doll for their trip: an applique Pinkalicious tee for each and matching ruffle capris!

American Girl Chicago

2011-07-22T10:55:00.000-07:00

A new client of mine is heading to the American Girl store in Chicago next weekend and wanted a couple of special outfits for the trip. I made this great 'Elena' style dress out of fabrics she and her daughter picked from Sonflower Quilts. Cute!

Happy 3rd Birthday, Scarlet!

2011-07-22T10:53:00.001-07:00

Scarlet turns 3 next week and will celebrate with a Rapunzel themed party this weekend. I made this 'Anna' skirt for her in the last bit of Tangled fabric available (well, maybe that is a bit extreme but it is really hard to find!) Happy Birthday Sweet Girl!

More knits!

2011-07-22T10:49:00.000-07:00

Love these striped knit capris that I made for Elena to wear NEXT summer :)

For my Toledo readers: I stumbled across a new fabric shop in the Barry's Bagels Plaza and Holland-Sylvania and Sylvania. The shop is called 'Stitch' and they have a small but great selection of funky cottons and a handful of these great Michael Miller knits! Yesssss!

Knit dresses!

2011-07-10T11:50:00.003-07:00

While we were at my in-laws for the Fourth of July weekend, I found myself with some extra time on my hands while the girls were napping. I found a great tutorial here for making a knit dress using the top portion of a tee for the bodice and sleeves! I was so excited because the idea of working with knit on an already difficult area of a dress for me (the sleeves) was keeping me from getting started. I ran out to the fabric store with my niece, got my mother in law's sewing machine out of storage and whipped these funky dresses up for my girls the next day!

The tees were from Babies R Us and already had the cute knit flowers on them! Perfect!

New stock at the Birds and the Bees

2011-07-05T15:23:00.001-07:00

I finally had a chance to stop over at The Birds and the Bees in Maumee to check my inventory. I'm so pleased with how their customers have responded to my work! I managed to squeeze in a few more tees and tooth fairy pillows to replenish what I've sold there over the last year (hard to believe it's been that long!). Here are a few new bow tees (featuring Ellie's Essentials bows, of course) and two new girly tooth fairy pillows:

Monkey and 'winged' owl bow tees

Super Tooth Fairy and Ballerina Tooth Fairy (complete with a dance backpack to hold the tooth and loot)

Happy 4th of July!

2011-07-05T15:19:00.001-07:00

I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday weekend! I very much enjoyed designing these coordinating 4th of July tees for a group of cousins that were going to get together for the holiday weekend! For the girls, I did a ruffle sleeve on a white tee and a 'flag' motif for their name, the boys got a reverse applique star with a regular applique of their name on top. Festive!

Happy 1st Birthday Luke!

2011-06-24T12:18:00.000-07:00

Sweet Luke is 1 already... which means my girls are not far behind! I whipped up this baseball themed first birthday tee for him last week (complete with a hand stitched baseball!) and thought it turned out adorable!

Knit nuts!

2011-06-24T12:16:00.000-07:00

YAY!! I'm so excited to add knits to my line! I love love love these adorable knit shorts that I made from Michael Miller Interlock Knit fabric and picked up a few tricks to make it easy to work with. I'm working on ruffle capris now and hope to have some free time to whip up a knit dress soon!

Me and my American Girl

2011-06-24T12:14:00.000-07:00

I made these matching tiered knot dresses for sweet Ellie and her American Girl doll for their trip to the American Girl Store in Chicago earlier this month. These great fabrics are from Hobby Lobby and I had so much fun working with Ellie's mom and Kelly (from Ellie's Essentials) to pick out the perfect prints.

Siblings!

2011-06-24T12:12:00.000-07:00

Here I am, catching up again on posts - ugh! Sorry!

I still want to share, even if these are from a few weeks ago. This is a brother/sister set of applique tees to help welcome a new arrival. It definitely seems like 3 is the new 2!

Sesame Place

2011-06-07T16:49:00.001-07:00

I have been searching for this Elmo fabric for years (since I made my first knot dress for Anna, to be exact) and I finally found it on eBay! I was so excited to make these adorable dresses for two adorable sisters heading to Sesame Place this month!

Make it Work

2011-06-07T16:39:00.000-07:00

This dress was made from a Project Runway inspired pattern (they literally do sell those) and I did have to work hard to 'make it work' but the end result was totally worth it!

10th Anniversary Should Be Fabric

2011-06-07T16:38:00.000-07:00

Whose heard of a tin gift anyway? This beach bag was for K & T's 10th wedding anniversary trip to the Bahamas last month.... I hope they drank one for me!

Disney Family

2011-06-07T16:36:00.000-07:00

The H family came up with a great idea to wear coordinating Mickey pirate tees on their upcoming trip to Disney... including mom and dad! Super cool!

4th of June... make that July!

2011-06-07T16:34:00.000-07:00

Here is one of the signature bow tees that I collaborate on with Ellie's Essentials. If you haven't shopped with Kelly, you really should! Her work is amazingly precise and she is great to work with!

Busy, busy!

2011-06-07T16:31:00.000-07:00

Thanks to all of my wonderful, loyal customers, the shop has never been busier! To that end, I'm going to do a few 'express posts' just so that I can share my work, without all of the banter (is it considered banter if it is only one sided?!) Ah well... here are a few of the things I've been working on since the last post!

A few more t-shirt designs

2011-05-14T09:31:00.000-07:00

I love the reverse applique technique and when I find a new design to try it out on, I love it even more! Here are two reverse applique tees for one sweet little buckeye fan who also loves monster trucks!

We couldn't leave out his big sister so she got a cute personalized flower tee (with a ric rak stem!) and sweet butterfly tee!

I think it might be summer!

2011-05-14T09:27:00.000-07:00

We've had a heat wave here for the last few days (according to my dashboard, it even got up to 89 degrees on Thursday afternoon!) which makes it fun to make shorts and sleeveless dresses with the idea that they may actually get worn soon! Cathy found this adorable tank and wanted shorts to coordinate with it (I love the tulle ruffles, by the way!). Luckily Amy Butler makes a dot fabric in the perfect shade of lime!

A Birthday by Miss Mara

2011-05-07T19:58:00.000-07:00

I've worked with Mara to create special outfits for her two sweet little girls for their last few birthdays. She came up with the idea for the ruffle bum onesie for little C's 1st birthday (almost a year ago!) and I just made the Jessie tiered skirt for V's 4th birthday last month. C is turning 2 already (a year really flies by) so we designed these coordinating outfits for the two girls to wear on the special day. I can't wait to see pictures because Mara does such an amazing job on her kids parties!! She doesn't miss a single detail and I'm sure this party with be no exception!

Mara also does beautiful hand painted wall plaques, closet dividers, bow holders and lots of other great gifts for little ones - check out her work at Veronica's Closet blog or on facebook.

We Love Elmo ;)

2011-05-02T12:16:00.001-07:00

I love the Sesame Street stage and am looking forward to when my little girlies are into Elmo and the other great characters! I just made these ruffle jeans and coordinating applique tee for a sweet Elmo fan who is about to turn two! Happy Birthday K!

Coordinating, not matching

2011-04-28T10:59:00.000-07:00

Shortly after I found out I was having twins, I tried to imagine what life might be like with two little ones. I assumed that I would be getting two copies of the same baby but my twins couldn't be more different. Only fitting that they aren't dressed alike, but coordinating is cute, right?! Here they are in the coordinating tiered knot dresses I made for them for Easter last weekend. I picked up these great Art Gallery prints online and love love love them together!

Toy Story Birthday

2011-04-07T17:56:00.000-07:00

T will be turning 5 at the end of the month and what better way to celebrate than in this super cute Buzz Lightyear themed birthday tee?! When I sent the design to his mom to review, she showed it to T and he said "It's perfect!" Aww, I couldn't ask for a better reaction! Of course we couldn't leave his sister out of the fun and put together this tiered skirt and Jessie bow tee ensemble.

A super special thanks to Kristal, who is a very talented artist (and blogger), for providing the artwork for Jessie. Here is the original that she sent (I only changed the hair because I was only doing a head shot and didn't want it to hang down):

Aaargh! Happy Birthday Matey!

2011-04-07T17:54:00.000-07:00

OK, sorry for the totally cheesy post title, I just couldn't resist! I delivered this super cute pirate themed third birthday tee today for Sam who will be 3 this weekend! Happy Birthday buddy!

Minnie

2011-04-05T17:25:00.001-07:00

In preparation for sweet Anna's trip to Disney (yesterday!) I whipped up these super cute ruffle shorts to go with the bow tee her mom had purchased from me a few months ago. I had barely enough fabric in my stash (and Hobby Lobby doesn't carry this print anymore) and just a few days to get them done. It was very dramatic and exciting! She looks absolutely adorable and I hope she had a magical time!

Hoppy Easter

2011-04-05T17:23:00.000-07:00

I made this adorable easter themed tee for Brean last week and ever since then I can't decide: make this adorable peeps bunny applique into ruffle bum onesies for my girls for easter or make them colorful/funky knot or Elena style dresses? What to do, what to do.... whatever it is, I better decide soon!

Tee shirts, tee shirts and more tee shirts

2011-04-05T17:17:00.001-07:00

Here I am, catching up on my blog again! Oy! Well at any rate here are a few of the projects that have been keeping me busy over the last week or two:

Minnie Mouse bow tee (using an Ellie's Essentials bow, of course!) and a Mickey Mouse first birthday tee

Owl bow tee (again using an Ellie's Essential Bow)

H for Hayden Robot Tee (his mom originally asked me to just cut out a few of the robots from the fabric and applique them on but where would the fun be in that?!)

Personalized fireman themed tee

Personalized ruffle bum onesie! Whew!

Hot off the ironing board

2011-03-21T19:21:00.000-07:00

Since I'm on a roll with posts, I'll add the project I *just* finished! I don't like to post pictures until my client already has it in hand, but I'm too excited to wait! Look away, K....look away!!

A is for...

2011-03-21T19:16:00.001-07:00

....awesome! No, no it's actually for baby 'A' but I love how these ruffle bums have caught on! I originally made one for Charlotte's first birthday almost a year ago and they've been on the back burner for awhile. Never the less, I'm glad they are back with a fury!

Scraps

2011-03-21T19:14:00.001-07:00

I had a bit of madras plaid fabric left over from the capri pants I made earlier this month so what did I do... made shorts! I love how the very loose and narrow ruffle gives them such a girly flare!

The 'Nook

2011-03-21T19:11:00.000-07:00

If you say 'nook' these days, most people think of the competitor for the Kindle e-book reader.. but in my shop the nook refers to the 'Breakfast Nook'. I haven't made one of these for awhile but it was fun to revisit it, especially with this awesome Michael Miller Delovely Damask fabric!

Happy Birthday Ethan!

2011-03-13T14:34:00.000-07:00

My sweet boy turns 4 tomorrow!! I can't believe it! We are celebrating with a 'squaddie' themed birthday (a.k.a. the Super Hero Squad) so I made him this custom applique shirt (I even searched for the Marvel font so that his name would be authentic). I couldn't find Super Hero Squad fabric (or even a pillowcase) so I improvised using iron on transfer fabric. It only took me a couple days to come up with that idea! I can't wait to celebrate with him tomorrow!

Waiting for baby E

2011-03-13T14:32:00.000-07:00

Any day now, little sister E will be making her arrival. Her mom wanted her other two girls to both have 'Big Sis' shirts since they will both be filling that important role! I hope E makes a smooth and safe arrival soon!

Fore!

2011-03-13T14:28:00.000-07:00

I love madras plaid and I think they make super cute ruffle capri pants. When they were finished and hanging on the hook in the shop, my husband walked in and said 'Hey can you make me some of those to play golf in?' Ha, ha. Then when I delivered them the next day, the first thing Kelly said when she got them was 'my husband is probably going to say they look like golf pants.' Men! Ha!

Monkeying Around

2011-03-08T19:14:00.001-08:00

This little cutie turned one last month and celebrated with a sock monkey themed birthday party! I loved how the monkey swinging from the number one turned out! Happy (belated) Birthday, big guy!

Yo-de-lay-hee-hoo!

2011-03-02T11:11:00.000-08:00

We are big Toy Story fans here at my house so I was super excited when one of my clients asked me to make a Jesse themed tiered cowgirl skirt for her daughter's birthday party. I used a Michael Miller print to make a three tiered twirl skirt and finished it off with faux denim bias tape trim!

Look whooo turned 1!

2011-02-07T11:21:00.000-08:00

Kendell! I love anything owl themed so I was super excited when I was contacted by Kendell's mom to make a ruffle butt onesie with an owl bow tee applique. Tutu Marie Marie supplied the coordinating tutu and Ellie's Essentials whipped up two adorable coordinating bows to complete the outfit. We couldn't leave big brother Sam out of the fun so he got a cute coordinating tee to wear as well! Love it!

A pain in the...

2011-02-02T13:58:00.000-08:00

....Ruffle butt! LOL! I just couldn't resist! These are a bit labor intensive but soooo worth the effort because I love the outcome. Here's a special Abby Cadabby themed ruffled butt onesie that I finished off last week for a very special first birthday next month! I hope it's a great one Abigayle!

Rule of life #52

2011-01-31T15:44:00.000-08:00

"If your mom is having a baby and she asks you whether you want a brother or a sister, that does not mean you're really gonna get the kind you ask for." I love the TV show Olivia because of cute quotes like this one (and how she calls her little brother her little 'bother') so I was super excited when a friend asked for an Olivia themed dress for a Christmas present.! There are lots of great Olivia prints online but I was lucky enough to buy the last bits of this print at our local Sonflower Quilts shop and paired it with a cute black and white polka dot from JoAnn. Love it!

And so it begins...

2011-01-02T05:37:00.000-08:00

As soon as I found out I was having two girls, most people assumed that I would be in the shop all the time whipping them up matching or coordinating outfits. I would think to myself 'eh, I don't think I'm really into that'... well that didn't last long! Two days before we planned to take our annual trip to 'Santa's house' I panicked as I thought to myself 'what are the girls going to wear?!' After a quick trip to the fabric shop... I whipped up these matching simple skirts in a not-to-christmas-y print:

The hats and perfectly coordinating bows are courtesy of Kelly at Ellie's Essentials of course.

Now I think they'll revert back to their normal attire of cute sleepers... until the next holiday that is!

Aww I'm back...

2010-12-08T14:28:00.000-08:00

"...the fog has lifted, the earth has shifted so raise the gifted..." Ok, only Kid Rock fans would catch that reference but I couldn't help but to sing it in my head while working my first couple projects since the twins were born. I'm so excited to be back in the shop and even if things take 3 -4 times as long as they did before, I really missed the creative process. It doesn't hurt that the babies seem to find the hum of the sewing machine soothing... probably because they heard it often in utero ;)

Without further adieu... my second A.T. (after twins) project (the first was a camera strap cover that I forgot to photograph): These adorable Elena style dresses (for Elena actually) and a matching mini version for her American Girl doll. I love the fabrics that Kelly picked out at Sonflower quilts and am so excited that they've introduced some funkier prints in their shop.

More to come soon! Woot!

Done!

2010-10-04T15:25:00.000-07:00

For the last several months, Ethan and I have been discussing the plans for Halloween. He hasn't swayed from the Toy Story theme, and wants to go as Buzz Lightyear even though he was Woody last year... except this time he wants to get everyone he knows involved in the theme. He had a great plan to have his Uncle Richard dress as college-age Andy and carry Ethan around in a cardboard box to donate to Sunnyside! LOL! Another great idea he had was to have his new sisters (who will be making their grand entrance this week!) dress at LGMs (Little Green Men). He gave me this toy to design the costumes:

And this is what I came up with:

Since they will only be a few weeks old for Halloween, I decided to do a simple fleece bag for the costume and a fleece hat for the 'mask'. I'm really pleased with how they turned out... but even more pleased that I actually got them done!

P.S. I will be taking *some* time off from the shop.... the actual length of time is TBD depending on how long it takes me to get the hang of this twin thing! I'll certainly post here when I'm ready to resume order taking! Thanks everyone!

Steelers Siblings

2010-09-18T15:56:00.000-07:00

I *just* finished this adorable simple skirt and reverse applique football tee for A and J. I really love the reverse applique process and have come up with a few tricks of my own to improve the outcome. Every time I make one, I picture myself on the Martha Stewart Show showing her my technique.... someday ;). For now, I'll just enjoy my little customers looking adorable in them! And I've added this to the wish list of things to make for Ethan - I think the football would look great in Ohio State fabric!

Happy Fall!

The H Family Halloween

2010-09-18T13:58:00.000-07:00

This is one coordinating family! They will celebrate Halloween in style with reverse applique tees for the boys and an 'Anna' skirt for little Miss A. The skirt fabrics are a combination of prints found at the quilt shop and JoAnn fabrics and I just love how well they all go together!

A pumpkin tee from Gymboree and a flower clip from Ellie's Essentials finishes the look! Happy Halloween!!

Baby Buckeyes

2010-09-16T13:47:00.000-07:00

Many of you know that I'm expecting twins in a few (1-3) weeks (aaack!). As I've been working down my nesting checklist (both in my home and in the shop), I finally got to a project that has been on my wish list for awhile... these adorable twinnie onesies to display our Buckeye pride!

My BFF is also expecting her first little bean so I whipped up this reverse applique Script Ohio tee for her just to let her know how excited we are to meet Baby G!

Twin Steelers Fans

2010-09-07T15:03:00.000-07:00

I finished up these adorable coordinating tiered 'Elena' dresses last week for a set of twin girls whose family loves the steelers. I love that the steelers theme is subtle with these great gingham and damask print black, white and yellow prints! I hope they love them!

More Bow Tees Featuring Ellie's Essentials Bows

2010-08-13T13:45:00.000-07:00

I just finished up another shipment of bow tees for the Birds and the Bees Shop in Maumee. Thanks to one super artistic client, I now have a giraffe and cat bow tee to add to the collection! Kristal designed (and picked out all of the shirts and fabrics) these appliques and I was so thrilled with how they turned out, I asked her if I could add them to my 'collection'. She picked 2 of Ellie's Essentials bows to go with each shirt, one to wear in the hair and one to wear on the shirt - too cute!

I have to say... I am still in love with the owl. Here is the latest in long sleeves that went to the shop:

Tally for this week: 11 bow tees, 1 custom order applique tee, and 1 tiered Elena style dress in a carebear print (that I forgot to take a picture of!) Whew!

New additions

2010-08-12T20:15:00.001-07:00

A few months ago, the D family was surprised to learn they were pregnant again... and with twins! Exciting! She lovingly refers to them as the 'whoopsie twins' on facebook which always makes me laugh. I'm sure H & H will be outstanding big sisters to this brother/sister duo and they'll all look adorable in these coordinating Big/Middle/Lil Sis/Bro applique tees . Ellie's Essentials provided the perfect bows to match!

Congratulations again D family (and be sure to take notes on everything you learn about twins... I'm not too far behind you!)

Halloween Cuties

2010-08-05T18:43:00.000-07:00

I'm really trying to stay on top of things before I run out of steam (or these two beans growing inside me decide to make an entrance)! Thankfully I have a few customers that like to work 2 months in advance! Check out Nikolas in his super cool reverse applique skull tee and his sister (and dress namesake) is wearing a version of the Elena dress in great Halloween prints and coordinating bows from Ellie's Essentials. Cuuuuute!

Bow Tees @ The Birds and the Bees!

2010-08-04T15:33:00.000-07:00

On Saturday, I made my first delivery of bow tees for the Birds and the Bees shop in Uptown Maumee! I had a lot of fun designing the appliques, picking out the fabrics and the coordinating the bows from Ellie's Essentials ! Check out some of my favorites:

I'm working on the next shipment of long sleeve tees for the shop - any animal tees you want to see? Leave a comment!

New Product Launch: Maxi Sundress

2010-08-01T07:25:00.000-07:00

Thanks to the imagination of my clients, I've ventured into another new area: ladies wear! Kristal asked if I could make her a casual sundress that could go from the beach to dinner with just the addition of a few accessories. I think her request was somewhat fueled by frustration for my lack of 'cute boy things' in the shop - but either way, I was excited to get to work on it. Kristal picked out these Anna Marie Horner coordinates from the website of a great little quilt shop in Columbus I got to work.! I think it turned out fantastic!

My favorite part of the story is a couple days after the dress was finished and delivered, I got an email from Kristal's husband telling me how much they both loved the dress and how beautiful he thought K looked in it (awww!). He wondered if I could make another one in time for her birthday at the end of July. We collaborated on the fabrics, I got to work and we were able to pull off a great birthday surprise with this dress:

Happy Birthday again, K! I think you look great in these!

Happy Birthday Scarlet!

2010-07-29T10:59:00.000-07:00

Scarlet is 2 today! Happy Birthday sweet girl! She originally told her mom that she wanted a Tinkerbell and Lightening McQueen themed birthday (gotta love those big brothers)...and I think we could have pulled it off! I'm sure she'll look super cute in her applique tee and coordinating Anna style skirt!

Bow Tees

2010-07-29T10:55:00.000-07:00

Kelly at Ellie's Essentials and I collaborated on the idea of bow tees months ago... but I still get excited about them! They are just so different from everything else is out there with the removable bow that can be worn on the shirt or in the hair. We've really got to look into getting a patent for our original idea! The L sisters look extra adorable in their coordinating Hello Kitty bow tees!

I'm working on a dozen or two to take to The Birds and The Bees shop in uptown Maumee - more on those soon!

Day Out With Thomas

2010-07-16T11:08:00.001-07:00

Little Emmerson is planning to meet Thomas the Train for the first time next month along with her big brothers (I love a planner!). She'll certainly turn a lot of heads in this adorable Thomas themed knot dress ;) Have fun B family!

Happy (early) Birthday Grace!

2010-07-15T14:19:00.000-07:00

It's hard to believe Grace is already going to be one! It seems to go by soooo fast.... especially when it is not your kid ;)

Grace is having a Hungry Caterpillar themed party so we did a ruffle sleeve onesie (which was new for me) with applique in the fabric that matches the dresses I did for them a few weeks ago. Have a wonderful birthday, Grace!

Welcome Baby Luke!

2010-07-08T05:56:00.000-07:00

The H family welcomed a new addition a few weeks ago - and what better way to introduce him to the rest of the clan than in these adorable coordinating Big/Little Brother/Sister tees?! They are almost as cute as Luke! Congratulations again H family!

Tiered "Elena" Dress

2010-07-01T19:44:00.000-07:00

I really love this style of dress, especially on such an adorable model! Reagan's mom gave me total freedom to choose the fabric for this tiered 'Elena' style dress and I had so much fun putting these together at one of my favorite quilt shops in Columbus. What a doll!

Minnie Princesses

2010-06-18T16:54:00.000-07:00

I've gotten a bit behind on blogging lately, so much so that I've already forgotten about a few of the projects that I've done in the past few weeks (we'll just call that preggo brain for now)! I was looking through the D family's adorable Disney pictures and remembered that I made bow tees for them before they left! They are even cuter on these adorable models! Thanks so much for sharing!

Carefree Summer

2010-06-11T05:46:00.000-07:00

I love how my shop offerings have evolved with the imagination of my clients. In this case, Kelly at Ellie's Essentials asked if I could modify the peasant style dress (which by the way will now be referred to as the 'Elena dress'!) and make it in a tiered style. She picked some great prints from one of my favorite fabric shops on etsy and I think the result is just fabulous!

Hungry Caterpillars

2010-06-02T09:49:00.000-07:00

I've gotten a bit behind on blogging lately - but I am still in business...for now! As many of you know, I'm expecting two (gulp!) babies in mid October and will be taking a break from the shop for a bit while we adjust to life as a family of five. I haven't set an official cutoff date but hope to keep working through August - but I will certainly keep you all updated.

That said - here are a pair of coordinating dresses that I finished up last month for two darling sisters. I love love love the Eric Carle prints especially when they are turned into these sweet dresses!

Check out the coordinating bows that Kelly at Ellie's Essentials made for the D sisters: http://kellyelliesessentials.blogspot.com/2010/06/rainbow-caterpillar-clip.html

Ladybug Luau

2010-05-13T19:52:00.000-07:00

Two sweet sisters are getting ready to celebrate little Charlotte's first birthday with a Ladybug Luau themed party. How fun! I made these coordinating shirts for each and added a little something special to each: a ruffle butt for Charlotte and a bow tee featuring an infant bow from Ellie's Essentials for big sister Veronica. Cute!

I hope you have a very special first birthday, Charlotte!

Fourth of July?

2010-05-10T16:23:00.000-07:00

It's hard to believe that the fourth of July is only a month or two away (especially with this crazily cold weather we've been having the last few days). Luckily, sweet Elena will be ready for the special day in these super cute patriotic themed shorts and coordinating bow from Ellie's Essentials! Cute!

Busy Week

2010-04-29T19:08:00.000-07:00

I've definitely been in overdrive this week, but it is re-energizing to work on something as cute as these Disney customs! I used these fabrics in a patchwork knot dress last year but reworked them into a tiered knot dress with bow applique. I love the addition of the removable bow to the look... especially when it matches PERFECTLY (thanks to Kelly's super attention to detail at Ellie's Essentials). I hope the R sisters have a magical trip to Disney next week!

Sisters

2010-04-29T06:19:00.000-07:00

Earlier this week, I finished up these matching peasant tops and ruffle capris for two sweet sisters in California. I still *love* this print and this new style top/dress - I just need a name for it! Suggestions? For now, I refer to it as the 'peasant style dress'.... lame. I hope your sweet little nieces enjoy these, K!

Showtime

2010-04-27T20:38:00.000-07:00

This past weekend, I participated in the 'Vendor Day Extravaganza' at Lake Middle School in Millbury, OH. Traffic was a little slow but I had a great time relaxing and chatting with friends and I was really proud of how my booth turned out (thanks again to Kelly for letting me borrow a section of grid wall, Tysir for the iron lady, and Cathy for the laptop)! I'll save my oscar speech for another time but a quick shout out to everyone that has shown me such an amazing amount of support in this endeavour - I really appreciate each and every one of you!

Birthday Circus

2010-04-18T11:48:00.000-07:00

A sweet little girl celebrated her birthday JoJo's circus style. Here is a super cute applique shirt with a custom ruffle (my first!) and ruffle jeans finished the look. I hope the party was a success!

Buckeye Redo

2010-04-18T11:43:00.000-07:00

It's always amazing how quickly little ones grow out of clothes. In this case, Little Miss Scarlet outgrew the Ohio State themed knot dress I made for her last year. No problem, we just added another tier! Enjoy!

Dinosaur Train!

2010-04-11T18:20:00.000-07:00

For those of you that are not familiar, Dinosaur Train is a great little animated show on PBS. Although Ethan is not that in to it, we have seen it a few times and the theme song is very catchy! While I was working on this great tee, I couldn't help but to sing it over and over and over again in my head(well, the part I knew anyway).

I hope you have a wonderful 4th birthday, T!

Ellie's Essentials

2010-04-11T18:16:00.000-07:00

I've been a little *preoccupied* this week so I'll keep the commentary short ;) Here are a few projects I've finished up recently.

A pair of capris (which coordinate perfectly with one of Ellie's Essentials bows)

A 'peasant' dress in a great madras plaid (again with a super cute bow)

Oh and I'm looking for suggestions for a name for the 'peasant dress' (because this version isn't actually peasant). Comment if you have a good one!

Itty Bitty

2010-04-07T12:00:00.001-07:00

Oh.... my.....gosh I almost died of cuteness overload when I received these pictures from Cathy the other day! Last week I finished up this peasant top for Anna and a matching top and pants for her American Girl Bitty Baby. They were a special addition to Anna's Easter basket and when our plans to head out of town for the weekend were moved up a day, they almost missed the deadline! Glad everything came together in time! Hope you all had a wonderful holiday!

Happy Easter!

2010-03-29T20:26:00.000-07:00

I'm very much looking forward to celebrating Easter this weekend! As I was working on this dress, I couldn't help but to picture sweet Scarlet in this dress at an Easter Egg hunt this weekend! Perfect!

Cute Boy Things ;)

2010-03-28T16:16:00.001-07:00

There's no doubt that boys clothes are underrepresented on my blog. I think that is because girls dresses and fabrics are so irresistible. This weekend, however, I worked on two darling projects for a special little boy: a custom super hero cape and a reverse applique skull tee. Maybe this will be a good reminder that there are plenty of cute boy things out there to make!

Super Nikolas Cape (modeled by Super Ethan)

And a Pirate Skull tee done in reverse applique:

My greatest weakness

2010-03-24T18:06:00.000-07:00

Back in college, when I was preparing to interview for my professional job, I did a lot of mock interviews (I know, I'm a big dork to actually do these but that's nothing new). I came across a question that stumped me: 'What is your greatest weakness'. Obviously you don't want to tell your prospective employer that you prefer to work only 4 days a week or have a horrible temper so I was looking for the 'correct' HR answer. I asked around and came up with "I tend to be a perfectionist" which is a tricky way of making a weakness sound like strength. Well... tonight I proved to myself that being a perfectionist IS indeed a weakness and in this case, cost me a few days work.

I've been working on a new layout and font for my big brother tees. Instead of going with my instinct (and the fabric I quoted), I thought I had a better option. When I got the applique cut out, I didn't like the print on the tee so I went back out to the fabric shop to pick up a different print. I found another print and I loved how it coordinated, but as I appliqued it on to the shirt, I convinced myself that the words weren't legible. Finally, three days later and another trip to the fabric store I got it right! Here are the iterations of this design:

The first option, cute print but not enough contrast against the blue:

Second, the print was too big and busy and the letters blended into one another:

The final option (which ironically was originally the first option) Maybe there is another lesson in all this....

At any rate, Matteo, I think you'll be a fabulous big brother and I'm glad that my obsessiveness didn't prevent you from getting your shirt in time for the big day!

Spring is in the air

2010-03-23T20:16:00.000-07:00

I'm so excited to introduce this new dress style into my 'collection'! I can't wait to try it with other possibilities: 3/4 sleeves, empire waist, and tiered bottom to name a few! This spring-y print is from Hobby Lobby and is one that I've admired for awhile - I'm so glad I found the perfect use for it!

One coordinated birthday

2010-03-23T20:14:00.001-07:00

I love when a client gives me an inspiration piece for an order. In this case, it was a plate from the party decor that I used to coordinate a custom banner and tee. Super cute!

Tees, Tees, and more tees!

2010-03-23T20:08:00.000-07:00

We headed to Columbus last week to celebrate Ethan's birthday with family which gave me a great opportunity to rest, do some fabric shopping (by myself!) and get some work done during the day. Here are a few of the t-shirts I worked on while on 'vacation':

Pirate Mickey

A sweet onesie for a little angel that is about to make her grand entrance:

One of the three birthday boys in a sports themed tee:

Holiday Fever

2010-03-10T17:15:00.000-08:00

It seems like one holiday just rolls right in to the next at this time of year! Here are a few St. Patty's Day tees that kept me busy the last week.

Curtain Call

2010-03-10T17:13:00.000-08:00

I love switching gears and working on something different from time to time. A good friend approached me and asked if I could replicate a valence that she saw on one of her many crafty blogs - we made a few modifications (the most significant being the tutorial was for a no-sew ;) and love the results!

Limitless Possibilities

2010-03-04T18:14:00.000-08:00

My latest project really proved to me that you can applique just about anything on a t-shirt! Although the amount of letters made it a bit labor intensive, it was still fun - especially for an old friend ;)

It must be a man thing because as soon as Nate saw 'Winner Winner Chicken Dinner' he said 'Oh man, are you going to make one of those for Ethan?!' LOL! It is darn cute!

Ballet Bag {Literally}

2010-03-04T18:09:00.000-08:00

While I was working on the ballet birtday outfit (below) Anna's mom inquired about a drawstring bag to tote around Anna's dance class necessitites. I fell in love with the cute ballerina print and thought it would make a great bag. A curly font on the applique completed the look!

Irish Birthday

2010-02-21T18:42:00.000-08:00

Sweet little Selvi turns one on St. Patrick's Day this year and what a fun way to celebrate in this St. Patrick's Day themed tiered knot dress. Again, this was a case where I had to hit multiple fabric shops to find the perfect coordinates, but I'm so glad I did! Happy Birthday Sweet Girl!

Ballerina Birthday

2010-02-21T18:39:00.000-08:00

I'm a little bit behind on blog posts so I'll keep the commentary short ;) I finished up this ballerina themed tiered skirt and coordinating applique tee last week. I shopped all around for the perfect fabrics for this one with coordinates coming from Hancock Fabrics, Hobby Lobby and JoAnn..... but it was worth it!

Team Ring

2010-02-11T18:50:00.000-08:00

The Ring family is preparing for their annual trip to Disney and this year, they decided they wanted in on custom shirts for their boys. Disney themed shirts weren't their thing so they approached me about making 'Team Ring' shirts with their son's birth years on the back. I milled over it for awhile (well, to me it seemed like a long time because the designs usually pop into my head) I finally came up with this baseball font for the last name and a block-y font to finish off the shirt. I'm totally thrilled with the results! I ended up cutting apart a green t-shirt for the letters so the stripes wouldn't show through and it worked perfectly!

Have a wonderful trip, Ring family!!

Rubber Ducky, You're the One

2010-02-02T18:57:00.000-08:00

Sweet Meghan is having a rubber ducky themed birthday party this year and what better way to celebrate than with a ducky tiered knot dress?! It was quite a challenge to find cotton rubber ducky fabric (most stores carried only fleece or flannel) but it was worth the wait because I think this ducky fabric is adorable! Happy Birthday Meghan!

BTW if anyone else is looking, I found fat quarters of this ducky fabric at Hancock fabrics and the coordinates are from Hobby Lobby ;)

An old favorite

2010-01-27T18:36:00.001-08:00

I just finished up this camera strap cover for my good friend Jen - who after learning the importance of using a camera strap in photo class... decided it was equally as important for the strap to be cute ;). I love how a simple fabric cover transforms a dull strap into something fantastic!

B for Ballet

2010-01-27T18:34:00.000-08:00

Actually B is for Bethany in this case but it is a super cute bag that I finished up for Bethany to carry her ballet belongings ;) Fun!

It's never too early...

2010-01-27T18:33:00.001-08:00

to start planning for the holiday after next! Here is a St. Patty's Day applique tee that I finished up early this week that is paired with a super cute coordinating bow from Ellie's Essentials. Love it!

Vintage pants!

2010-01-24T09:42:00.000-08:00

If I had to list the things that I never thought I'd make... pants would definitely be on that list (right before wedding dresses, socks, and suit jackets- LOL!). My first pair was actually the capris that I made for the Neceksi family's Disney trip (see below) but as I got more comfortable with them, I was able to put my own spin on the pattern. I changed the cut of the legs from a more tapered to a boot cut and added a thicker ruffle. Super cute!

Anna's mom found this great vintage-y carousel fabric at Hancock and bought it... .and then figured out what she wanted to do with it. I just love when a fabric 'speaks to you'!