Whoa!

I've been away for a loooooong time!!!! I tried really hard to get back to stamping, but life is REALLY crazy right now!!! We just got done with Regionals and my skater girl did very well. We are getting ready for Nationals now so there is a lot more practice time! I will be back, but probably not until after Nationals! Miss you all and hope you are all well, blessed, and enjoying your summer!

PS- I meant to post a photo of her other dress that I worked on, but hadn't gotten any good photos of it until now :). So, here is her Creative Solo dress. She does her Creative Solo to a song from one of the Narnia movies, hence, the style of her dress :D. Believe it or not, there are just over 1,000 swarovski crystals on this dress!

Hugs!
Barb

Updating...

I got the housework and the laundry caught up and then it was off to the last Meet of the year before Regionals and Nationals. It was a long Meet- 5 a.m. - 7:30 p.m. on Saturday and then 5 a.m. - 8:30 p.m. on Sunday. Regionals is next month and then Nationals is in July- then we get a small rest and then training starts up again for the new skate year, which starts in September. The first Meet of the new skate year will be in October when it all starts all over again :-).

I do have a card to post, but we just got back about an hour ago, I put everything away, and I have laundry from the trip washing. After that is dry, folded, and put away, I am going to rest! I will get it posted tomorrow and then I hope to have a couple of days to stamp. Did I mention that I REALLY miss stamping???!!!!

Happy Memorial Day weekend and thanks to all of you who left such nice comments about being here when I get back :-).

Blessings!
Barb

Catching Up...

We are back from Chicago, but with all the business of sewing and hauling back and forth to the rink for practices, my housework got really behind :(. I spent a few days trying to get rest since I only got a total of 12 hours of sleep in four days while we were away. That was six hours of sleep the first night we got to our hotel and then six hours on another night during the Meet weekend, but I have no remembrance of what night that actually was. I so needed to catch up on some rest because I had not been sleeping well during my sewing stint either. Now that I am relatively working back on normal capacity, I have to tackle my housework that got ditched while I was sewing. This week I have been trying to get caught up on laundry and housework in between home schooling and practice times at the rink. I will be back to posting soon though! Thank you for your continued patience and support- you are all appreciated more than words can say.

In the mean while, since so many of you asked to see her dresses, here are a couple of photos during Figures. This dress in Royal Blue velvet is the one I had to make THREE times! That is three times starting from scratch. Not a fun time, but my daughter and her coach loved it so it was worth it :-). We found a lovely necklace with matching earrings to go with her dress. The necklace and the earrings have royal blue center stones surrounded by crystals- very pretty!

The bodice comes around in a curve and then the rest of the bodice and one of the sleeves is Royal Blue mesh. In this last photo, she is standing next to the referee waiting to enter the circles for figures for judging. The rhinestones on her Figures dress consist of three different colors of Swarovski rhinestones- Crystal AB, Jonquil AB, and Aqua AB. I didn't get a photo of the back of her dress, but the back comes down to a V and the Crystal AB's follow the neckline down the back. There ya' have it... the dress... and my little skater girl :-D. Have a great day everyone!!!

Blessings!

Barb

Sunny Fun

This is the last thank you card I made before I got bogged down in sewing :-). I used one of the new sets from the Summer Mini- Sunny Fun. I love this set- too cute!

I used the new Blossom Bouquet Triple Layer punch to make the happy little sun on the inside of the card. This is a fun punch to play with! It's really three punches in one. I'm at the rink so I gotta run. See you soon! Have a great day!

Blessings!

Barb

Whew! We Are Back!

Wow, what a month! I had one sewing fiasco after another in trying to get a couple of competition skate dresses done for my daughter. I had to make her Figures dress THREE times! The first time, the points in the front were too low- scratch! The second time, I spaced the fact that I was sewing with velvet and steam pressed the zipper and it went through to the front and ruined the velvet- scratch! By this time I was out of Royal Blue velvet and had to order more from New York and do 2 day shipping. The fabric arrived on Tuesday so I spent Tuesday cutting and sewing the new dress and then from Tuesday evening to Wednesday gluing the rhinestones on the dress. This takes a while because you have to glue each stone individually and then you have to wait for the area you're working on to dry before moving to the next area. It was cold here so it took the stones a loooooong time to dry. By the end of the day on Wednesday I was done stoning the dresses :-). On Thursday morning I packed and off we went to Chicago for the Meet. After four days, we were ready to get home and we arrived last night at 11:09 p.m.- home sweet home! 

I had three cards that I had made while waiting for either fabric or rhinestones to arrive, but because of all the trouble I had with the sewing, which I've never had trouble with sewing until that Figures dress (!), I didn't have time to get them posted. I did get one posted before the fabric arrived, so will be posting the other two today and tomorrow. I won't get to stamp for a couple of days because I have a lot to catch up on- laundry, house work, grocery shopping, etc. I got sooooo behind working on skate dresses. I am looking forward to going back to my stamping room and just relaxing with some stamps, ink, and paper! In the meantime, here's one of the thank you cards I made.

 

I'm not going to take time today to post the supplies because I have so much to do today, but the embossing folder I used is in the new Summer Mini. If you have any questions, please let me know and I'll post the answer sometime this week :-). Have a great day!!!

Blessings!
Barb

Sewing Update

I'm still at it :-(. I'm expecting a delivery of Royal Blue velvet today along with Royal Blue mesh. Why you ask? Because I botched the first two that I sewed- long story- and I had to order more fabric from New York and do two day air delivery. As soon as that gets here today, hopefully, it will be this morning rather than late this afternoon, I have to cut out the dress pieces and start sewing. My daughter's Figures dress is the Royal Blue one and I have to have it completely sewn by the end of today. Tomorrow I have to glue hundreds of Swarovski rhinestones on it- one by one. I ran to Hobby Lobby yesterday and  purchased two more bottles of Gem Tack glue by Beacon (used for gluing on the rhinestones). I was paranoid about running out of glue right in the middle of stoning the dresses (sigh- yep, it's getting to me). On a positive note, I just finished gluing on the last rhinestone on her Creative Solo dress about 20 minutes ago. I just have to wait for the glue to finish drying and then I can hang that dress to let the glue cure for 24 hours. Then it goes into the garment cover to protect it. In case you are wondering how many stones I hand glued onto her Creative Solo dress, the final count is over 1,100. Uh huh, you read that correctly... over one thousand rhinestones on one dress. It adds quite a bit of heft to the weight of the dress, which is funny because the stones by themselves aren't all that heavy. I'm not sure yet how many stones will end up on the Figures dress, but at least 3 gross will. I'll let you know the final count when I finish it :-).

I've gotten several comments asking for pictures of the dresses. That is so sweet of you all to ask :-). I promised my daughter that her new dresses will remain under wrap until she debuts them at her next Meet, but I will post photos after that. I even have a nifty dress form sized to my daughter that I can put them on for photos :-D. Let me tell you that the dress form I purchased was a great investment! Who knew? It has been indispensable during the sewing process for fitting, figuring out how much elastic, etc. How did I sew all this time without one, lol?! All right, I've got to run and do some housework before the fabric gets here. The place is a wreck! There are pattern pieces and fabric and elastic and rulers and tons of other sewing stuff all over my dining room table. I can hardly see the tablecloth underneath it all! It won't be long now before I'm back. I cannot wait to get my hands on ink, card stock, and stamps again!!!!!! Have a great day and a great week everyone!!! Thanks for your patience while I'm sewing!

Hugs and Blessings!
Barb

Sewing and Thank You's

I'm almost ready to be off and running.... ummmm, sewing :-D. I ordered a dress form, it arrived on Tuesday and I sized it to my daughter. Yesterday the swarovski crystals arrived and this morning the fabric arrived. I ordered a custom made to my skater pattern and that should be here today. Once that gets here, I need to make a quick skate dress to make sure it fits the way it should. Then I will be cutting into this gorgeous stretch velvet, one in ruby red and the other in royal blue, and making my daughter two competition dresses. If they come out, please pray they do (!), then I will commence stoning them. I am hoping that the pattern fits her perfectly so that I don't have to make adjustments to it. I can sew with the best of them, but I know very little about altering patterns and even less about drafting patterns. I am looking into some pattern drafting classes so I can learn how to do it. Let me tell you that the competition skate dress is a whole other beast from making wedding gowns or other clothing! I was able to alter my other pattern to fit my daughter, but the sleeve was just not working out no matter what I did. That was the day I realized I better learn how to make patterns! Then to top it all off, when she tried on the other dress the serger thread got caught in the zipper and broke it. You know that part of the zipper that goes up and down? Uh huh, it came clear out :-(. Dress scratched! To put another zipper in I would have had to take the entire thing apart because I had already serged the waist seam, just in case you are wondering why I didn't do that :-). I really didn't want to take the whole thing apart!

All right, so while I was waiting for the dress form, stones, fabric, and pattern to arrive, I made three cards that I needed for sending out. Please note- Christene, Isabella, Linda, Alice, and Donna, I am sending them out :-D. This is the first of the three and I used a new stamp set that is coming out in the new Summer Mini starting on May 1st. Isn't this bird bath sweet?

I love the bird bath and isn't this little kitty adorable? You are going to love the new sets in the Summer Mini! I think I have most of the mini on my wish list :-). I'll be scheduling my posts for the next few days. If my pattern comes today, I will be sewing away the entire weekend, so any prayers for my success will be appreciated more than I can tell you :-) ! Have a great weekend!!!


Blessings!
Barb

Supplies:
Paper: Peach Parfait-119794, Poppy Parade- 119793, Whisper White-100730, So Saffron-105118, Sunny Garden Designer Series Paper-119831
Stamps: Touch of Kindness- 123203 (available May 1st)
Ink: Early Espresso-119670, Tangerine Tango-111834, StazOn Jet Black-101406
WaterColor Wonder Crayons: Regals-119803, Subtles-119802, Brights-119804, Neutrals- 119805
Punches: 1 3/4" Scallop Circle-119854, 1 3/8" Circle-119860
Other: Blender pens-102845, Stampin' Dimensionals-104430