Tag Archives: painting

Cheetah Girl

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A friend of mine is expecting her firstborn any day now… for her baby shower a few weeks ago, I wanted to create a unique onesie to match these sweet Cheetah print legwarmers from her Target gift registry:

Onesie Leg Warmers

My idea was to create a cheetah cub similar to this lion I created for the onesies I made for my Etsy shop a few made months ago:

Lion Onesie

So I sketched a cub/kitten…

Kitty Sketch

Transferred it to the onesie by tracing it with a fine tip Micron pen…

Transferring Design onto Onesie

Painted it with glitter fabric paint, and adding some details with a black paint marker and blending/mixing paint:

Painted Cheetah Cat On Onesie

All of my one-of-a-kind onesies have an element of applique to them; since she is expecting a little girl, I selected some pink fabric from my scrap bin, ironed a piece of stabilizer to the back of my painted cheetah cub (inside the onesie)…

Prepping Onesie for Applique

and gave the little girl cub a bow around her neck (the pink fabric is fused with Heat n’ Bond Featherlite, and satin stitched over the raw edges):

Applique Done

Her is the ensemble, complete with a wee cardigan sweater to match:

Applique w/ Sweater and Cheetah legwarmers

I also purchased some bedtime lotions, etc. from her gift registry, so I bought a basket to gift them in, pulled out a lavender fat quarter from my stash (her nursery decor is primarily lavender) and sewed up a quick and easy basket liner.  I’m hoping she can use this to hold supplies near the changing table:

Basket Collage

Her is the gift, ready to give (I wrapped it up in a lavender polka dot swaddling blanket that can be reused as well:

Basket1

Looking forward to meeting this little lady soon!

I have a major finish (my final 2012 finish!) to share with you soon — when I have pics to show! Until then, a very Happy New Year to you and yours!

Blogtoberfest Day XXIV–The Littlest Mermaid

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Ifinished up the Pig Will and Pig Won’t Costumes on Friday evening, andon Saturday, got out my paintbrushes and fabric paints to create amermaid costume for baby sister…

I started with a white onesie, gave her a clam shell top tied with seaweed and a starfish clasp at the back…

added a pearl and seashell necklace, and a seaweed bracelet…

 

Made her a clam shell quilted fin…

and a matching headpiece, complete with clam shell, pearl and mother-of-pearl heart…

Her she is, the littlest (and possibly the cutest) mermaid…Miss Zoe Seaweed:

and here she is with big brother, Pig Won’t (he looks a little too happy to be Pig Won’t but he was extremely excited about his new costume!):

There is no photo of their middle sibling, Pig Will, because my camera is simply not equipped to photograph perpetual motion.  

Pig Will & Pig Won’t Costume Details:

  • took 2 yards of pink flannel for one size 3T and one size 4T costume.
  • I started with a pattern, but ended up free-handing most of the costume, including hooves to cover their hands and shoes.  (I could have saved my time and effort, the “hooves” stayed on about 10 minutes).
  • snouts were purchased, as were the polo shirt and shorts

Mermaid Costume Details:

  • Purchased onesie and white headband
  • fin was freehand drawn and cut from Me & My Sister “Smores” fabric, lined with flannel and free-motion quilted in a clam shell design.  Top is finished with rick-rack.
  • All details painted on onesie were freehand drawn and painted by yours truly
  • From start to finish, this costume took me about three hours.  (MUCH less time than the pig costumes…)
  • It just fits her, I’m guessing by November 4, when she turns 3-months old it will no longer fit.  I cannot believe how much that child grew in two weeks!!!
  • She didn’t mind wearing it all, the fin was sort of like she was swaddled up for bedtime…

Tomorrow is Day 2 of the Ghastlies Blog Hop–MY Day!  Come back to see what I created with the Ghastlie Family Portraits…

Parrots, swords and skulls–oh my!

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That’s right, it’s getting close to Halloween and creepy characters start to rear their *not-so-pretty* heads. It’s also the month of my little pal Brennan’s birthday, he turned 4 last week. He has a very vivid imagination, and is currently obsessed with all things Pirate. His party is this coming Saturday, and it is, of course, a pirate themed party. He has had a collection of gold and silver coins, or treasure, for quite some time. They get buried and dug up from the sandbox several times each month. I played “pirate ship” with him early in the summer and we had to carry our treasure in a Glad-ware container. Not very pirate-y. So, I thought, he needed a treasure chest. I bought this unfinished one at Michael’s and I got to work:
The sketches on it are mine, it was pretty much a blank slate. Here is the finished product I gifted to him last night, along with a pirate hat, flannel eye patch, some new pirate coins, a few tattoos, and a 3×5 pirate flag that my sweetie found at Menard’s, that Brennan’s parents will be proudly flying this weekend!Near the clasp is his initials with a skull and crossbones insignia. On one end is his very own pirate, and on the other, silver and gold crossed swords. Yes, I free-handed the drawings/paintings on it, that B.F.A. degree comes in handy once in a while! It’s lined with pirate flag fabric, applied with Mod Podge.
His reaction was worth all the effort, time and expense (although, that was quite minimal). He had to find a special place to “hide” (store) his “very special treasure chest”, his words, :-> !! The “real” pirate flag was a huge hit, too! It’s easy to impress someone who is four, no matter how worldly and brilliant he is!

A touch of autumn from my window sill:
Mum’s I trimmed to bring inside for some color…don’t you just love the reflections from those glass jars?
and from my brother-in-law’s garden:
Oh, and one more lovely Autumn sight:That’s right, folks, gas dipped below $3.00/gallon on Sunday. Oh happy day! Another reason for you to come here, for this….!

Happy Autumn…Happy October….and Happy Halloween!!!!!

Ahoy, Matey’s!

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AARGGG! You’ve wandered into pirate territory, matey! Prepare to walk the plank!

I’ve been helping my best friend prepare invitations and decoartions for her little guys upcoming 4th birthday. Guess what theme he chose?

These are the invites we made last weekend, crumpled and distressed with love to make them look like old treasure maps…
He and his little sister were watching us make these, and he asked us, after about five minutes, why we were crumpling them up in a ball like trash. We explained what we were doing and showed him how cool the finished product was, and he was not impressed. He said, “it hurts my feelings when you make my invitations bumpy.” Serious. Bumpy invites=hurt feelings. He conceded after he saw the final product being removed from the envelope and unfolded that it was kinda cool. No more hurt feelings.

I’ve been working on some gifts for him that will be delivered early so he can use them as decoration and costume on the big day.

Here is the treasure chest I started the other night, with a parrot I sketched and his initials under the lock…
The inside is bare wood, but will be covered with the fabric it is sitting on in the photos when finished. And, of course, filled with Pirate Booty! (You know, treasure…)
More piratey goodness to come…

The vintage linens, hankies, fabric and patterns are almost all posted for sale in the store…check it out here. The rest will be posted very soon…

And a submarine.

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I met my best friend 20 years ago (next month)…we had the good fortune of being assigned to live on the same floor of our dormitory. It was my second year, her first. We were both a little shy at first, not real outgoing, not too confident, two peas in a pod. We’ve been friends for 20 years. Some of those years, we never saw each other. She’s always lived in Iowa, but I spread my wings for a time, and living on the East Coast as a student, usually only made it home to see my family at Christmas. We spoke on the phone every couple of months, always admonishing ourselves for not being “better friends” and “keeping in touch”…but that’s just it. We were friends. We would always be friends. We didn’t have to talk to each other every day to be friends.

Saturday, I got to spend the day with her and her mom, doing girl stuff and going to see Mama Mia and eating theater popcorn for dinner. These days, we live about ten miles apart. I see her every month, I can talk to her whenever I want, I can drive over to see her whenever I want. I was here for her wedding, for the birth and baptism of her babies, and seeing them grow.

Her oldest, a little guy who will be turning four in two short months, is a cherubic little genius who never fails to bring a smile to my face. They moved to a new home last year, and she asked if I would paint a mural in his bedroom. In interviewing my little “client”, we determined that the mural was to have a truck, an airplane, a school bus, a boat, Daddy’s truck, and a submarine. That’s right, all that and a sub, too. This is the mural I painted in his new bedroom:
Complete with Daddy’s truck (on the bridge), my Beetle and Mommy’s car at the stop sign…
and, of course, a submarine…