USN Paper Dolls

I just made a whole slew of paper dolls based on the uniforms of the US Navy.  Don't ask me why, but I did and it was fun.  

I started out with this generic, cookie-cutter shape, and added in the uniform details using the line and shape drawing functions in PSE7.  This one is supposed to be the blue camo uniform, or the Navy Working Uniform, as it's technically called.  

I actually did all 5 uniforms, the first 2 being the Blues and Whites, respectively, followed by the Navy Service Uniform, the aforementioned NWUs, and a PT uniform:

And then I added a bit more detail and colored them in.

Super cute, right?  It's a little ridiculous how much fun I had with these.  And how many variations I made...I also have uniforms for officers and women.  :)

PS:  Does anyone else want gingerbread cookies now??

Garden Tuesday: A Baby Opossum

I've seen Corinnea over at Created Blissfully post about her garden for Garden Tuesday, and while I don't actually have a garden, I knew as soon as I saw our wee little visitor that I'd have to share:

My husband found this little guy along the side of our house a few weeks ago, when he was doing some yard work.  (He'd migrated from the side of the house to the fence by the time I got my camera out.)

It's a baby opossum and while I'm not too impressed with the adults, he was pretty stinking cute. His body was only about 4 inches long, and we could tell from the way he was moving that he wasn't very old at all.

    But, I did a bit of checking online, and he was apparently old enough to be on his own so we brought the girls out so they could see him, snapped some pictures, and let him go on his merry way without interfering.

If you'd like to see more gardens, just click the big butterfly button at the top of my post, and make sure to cruise on over to Created Blissfully to check out their blog, as well!

10 Reasons for You to Visit The Green World Shop

Over the last few months, I've practically buried myself in new jewelry without posting any of it, but now I'm finally starting to dig myself out.  Here is the first batch of new items to go up in the shop!  If you happen to see something that you like, just click the picture to go directly to the listing for that item!  How convenient, right?

And that's not even all of it.  :)

Robin's Aprons

Now that she's married, Robin has been doing a bit more cooking.  And, now that she's doing more cooking, it occurred to her that an apron or two might come in handy.  This is where I come in.   She asked me to make two aprons (one to wear and one to wash) in greens and purples.  I already had the Emmeline Apron pattern in my stash and she liked it, so that's what we went with.  

All of the fabrics for this one came from JoAnn's, except for the green trim on side one, which came from my stash.  (I still have a ton of that green, and I really love that combination...I may need to do something else with it in the future...)

This time, everything is from JoAnn's except for the main fabric on the green side.  As you can see, the belt can be tied in the back, or wrapped around to the front.  The top straps can be tied around the neck as a halter, or crisscrossed over the back and tied to the belt.  I added a pocket to both sides of both aprons, as requested. 

Unfortunately, almost immediately after finishing these and moving on to my next project, I started having issues with the tension on my machine.  The bottom thread is so tight, and the top is so loose, that I can just slide the bottom thread right out.  I have no idea how it got that way, or how to fix it. I tried adjusting the tension both on the top and the bottom, with no discernible change.  Someone at work recommended that I try oiling the machine; I'll give that a try tomorrow, and hopefully I'll be back in business!!

2013 St. Augustine Celtic Music and Heritage Festival

While I was in Florida, I went with my Mom and sister to the Celtic Music and Heritage Festival in St. Augustine.  The night before, I was lucky enough to be able to meet up with Corinnea and Jess of Created Blissfully--yay!! This was the first time I'd seen Corinnea since she left Germany (a few months before we did), and only the second time that I'd seen Jess in person.  It was just so nice to be able to catch up!

That was on Friday.  We stayed that night in a hotel within walking distance of the festival, then got up and headed over to the fair grounds in time for the official kick-off parade. Some of the stuff at the festival was hand-made, but most of it was not.  There was, however, an area set aside for the artisans.  One of these artisans not only offered fused glass plates and baubles, but had a station set up where people could make their own fused glass pendants!

I didn't take any other pictures of all of the lovely hand made treasures.  I think I had gotten tired of the camera for a little while.  Now I wish that I had.  There were lovely hand-carved wooden boxes and hand-thrown and painted urns and vases and blown glass and I don't even remember what else.  In my defense, though, I did take about a billion other pictures that day.  If you're interested in seeing my full post from that day, you can find it on my family blog.  

Robin's Handmade Wedding

I got to help our friend Robin plan her wedding, which incorporated as much handmade and DIY as possible.  The venue was a converted farm, so everything was very country-kitsch. These re-purposed pallets were painted with black chalkboard paint for use as directional signs.  The lettering was done with chalk pens.

Another friend of hers makes beer, and so made them a custom brew for the wedding.

Instead of a traditional guest book, Robin elected to do a signature quilt and a thumbprint tree.  She and I went together to pick out her fabrics, then I cut all the squares and brought them to the wedding for the guests to sign.  When she gets done reading them all, she'll send them back to me and I'll get it all put together.  (More on that later.)  For the signature tree, yet another friend of hers drew a picture of "their" tree in Michigan, where Matt proposed.

Our friend Sam, who also did the flowers for her wedding last summer, made the burlap roses using this tutorial over the winter.  Then they ordered fresh flowers from a local wholesaler.  Sam did all of the flower arrangements the Friday and Saturday before the wedding.

 

Robin and a few of her bridesmaids made the bouquets.

And of course, I did the jewelry.

As always, I had a lot of fun designing the jewelry with the bride.  I know I've said it before, but I love working with someone on a custom piece.  Sadly, the photographer hasn't finished with her official wedding photos, so we'll have to make do with the ones that I took.

But you get the idea.

The wedding itself was lovely, if a little cold. 

 I was honored to be able to be such a big part of it all.

Congratulations, Matt and Robin!  Here's to a lifetime of happiness for you both!

T-Shirt Series: Sword Tattoo and Remyngton Rifle

Choosing a design for my brother in law was easy.  He did a lot of drawing in high school, and was really quite gifted.  (I'm sure he still is, but he hasn't drawn anything to speak of in ages.)  One of his more elaborate drawings featured a girl with a simple sword tattoo on her arm.

My husband liked it enough that he later had the design tattooed on his own arm, and James decided that he would someday get it tattooed on his forearm.  That hasn't happened yet, but in the meantime, I thought that a t-shirt would be perfect.

And it was.  Brandon used Paint to put it together, then traced it directly from his computer screen, as he did for the Proto Man shirt.  He did the ironing and spraying, I did the dabbing.

Our friend Jeremy is into guns.  Like, really into guns.  Naturally, his shirt must have something to do with guns.  We toyed around with a few different ideas, until it occurred to Brandon to combine Jeremy's nickname, Remy, with Remington, the firearms manufacturer.  Add in a bit of Photoshop magic, compliments of yours truly, and

became

Genius, right?  We took the modified logo and put it inside the silhouette of a Remington ACR, which Brandon traced from his screen.

Here's the finished product:

Again, Brandon did the ironing, and again, the details came out perfectly.  I don't have a picture of him in it, yet, but I'll post it when I do!