Total Pageviews

Tuesday, September 17, 2013

My Dress Banner (My Dress #1)

 This dress pattern was the first one I chose for my dress banner.  It is not necessarily my favorite.  ")  But, I remember so many dresses from my childhood similar to it.  (Anybody else remember those starched pinafores? LOL)  Striped pinafores seemed to be so popular during that time....usually combined with a floral dress.  But I love this window-pane check done in blue and white.  I thought it made a great combo.  Of course, I had to add the little pocket....I think my mother thought I'd carry a little hankie if I had a pocket.  ")  I added a white color and the black Nail Heads for the buttons.  I have a small pice of this lovely lace and used it to trim off the bottom of the dress.  My embellishment for the  piece was this "sweet" Sweet Peas faux flower seed packet.  I added the date to the ribbon banner at the bottom of the packet.  I attached  the bird and stamped the sentiment "be happy" .  I added the blue grosgrain ribbon at the waist.
I used a text-printed paper for the back.  I absolutely love text in my artwork and wanted that to show in this piece.  I purchased a pack of silohette cards from StampDiva and chose this one to put on the back.  Making silohettes of children's faces was a very popular thing to do during my childhood.  I cut the card into two pieces and attached it to the back of the dress.

My Dress #2

 This dress is another one I remember from my childhood.  Floral material was so popular for little girls at that time.....and tons of pink!  ")  My mom was creative and would altar a pattern and was therefore able to come up with so many different looks.  (She actually did not have to use a pattern most times).  I used a combination of pink and floral for this dress.  I used a scalloped collar and pearl buttons on it and pink trim for the cuffs.  The apron has flowers at each scallop.  I cut the flowers from the same paper as the dress.  I had this little girl on a label in my stash and thought she was perfect for this dress.  I added the little bird to the left side.  Then I added the phrase "Dream with your eyes wide open."
I love this paper I used on the back.  I thought it looked like something from my era.  I used part of a small bingo card for the back and cut out a tiny stamped doll (from B-Line Designs) to add next to it.  The label I used for the signature is actually part of the card from which I cut my phrase for the front.

My Dress #3

 This is the third dress I made to go on my banner.  This is another style my mother often made for me.  I love polka dots and just had to use this paper for this dress.  I used white for the collar and trim on the sleeves and trimmed it with with red ribbon.  The I added white paper strips to mimic ribbon across the bottom of the dress.  When I was looking through my stash to find something to decorate the dress, I found this Fashionista tag from 7gypsies and had that "Aha!" moment.  I printed out the "celebrate life" to add to the front.
For the back of this dress I chose this paper because it just looked so old fashioned to me.  Once again I found a 7gypsies tag to add to it.  I think of my girls in dresses similar to this when they were little and always thought they looked like such little princesses.  I cut a round card in half and attached it to the top and used it as my signature label.  I incorporated the card because cards are another one of my addictions.  ")

Dress from Pat


 This darling dress is from Pat.  I love the combinations of the striped paper with the floral paper.  The aqua with the pink is so very delicate and feminine.  Pat has made the collar and the apron of the dress from the aqua strip.  The dress of from the beautiful pink rose paper.  She has used paper lace underneath the collar and added an overlay to the collar of a script paper and then sewn two buttons on top of it.  The apron also has an under lay of papers lace and a punched lace edging along the bottom of the dress.  She as added a white paper scallop across the apron with "such a lovely day" stamped on it.  She then added the two birds to the top of the scalloped piece.  The burgundy ribbon really sets this dress off.  A final touch is the aqua velvet flower with a pearl center.
The back has a light pink gingham check top with a floral circle that covers the threads from the buttons.  The skirt is dark pink with white polka dots.  The label is made from a text paper with a dark pink center and pat has added a white label to sign her name.  Beautiful!  Thank you Pat!

Monday, September 16, 2013

Dress from Marsha

 What a sweet dress Marsha made for my dress banner.  Love the small pink/white checks combined with the window-pane plaid in the apron.  I also like that she made the collar from dark pink/light pink argyle.  The pearls so fit with this dress.  I really like the tiny flower sequins she has scattered across the bottom of the skirt.
Marsha made the back from a blue checked pattern.  Thank you Marsha!

Dress from Jan

 This is Jan's version of the pleated dress template I sent.  She said it reminded her of one she had made for her granddaughter.  I love the collar she made on this one.  The tiny yellow "piping" she put around the collar and on the sleeves is so sweet.  And I love those teeny tiny buttons.  The little duck she bought at the street flea market we attended the last day we were in Paris.  I love that!
The back of the dress looks like some of the paper we dyed at her house one day.  Love the colors!  How very appropriate that the decorative paper has buttons!  What a precious dress.  Thank you Jan!

Dress from Judi

The dress Judi made is popping with color!  Love the purple and the chartreuse together.  Lots of sweet flower with that beautiful turquoise center.  ")   Love that she put the tiny turquoise bird on the apron tie.
The back is chartreuse with lighter green polka dots.  Gorgeous tag trimmed in purple.  Thank you Judi!

Dress from Minori

 This is the dress Minori made for my dress banner.  It is so sweet!  The green lace at the top of the pinafore is one of my very favorite laces!  Then she sewed the brown rick-rack onto the waist.  She layered lots of flowers on the skirt.  She added some tiny little flowers to the blouse and a very sweet collar.  Finally she added the delicate white lace to the bottom of the of the skirt.
Love, love, love the polka dots on the back!  The skirt if full of very colorful ones and the green with brown dots is very pretty.  A great color combo!  Thanks Minori!

Dress from Sara

 This is the dress that Sara made for my dress banner.  This must be paper that Sara has made.  This is the "sailor dress" pattern that I included with my templates.  I love the ric-rac for the pleats down the front.  Also the "kindred spirits" she put on the tag.  The Japanese postage stamp on the dress has a similar color pattern.  I think she must have embossed the trim on the collar and the sleeves, too.   Love the colors!
The paper on the back of the dress has a butterfly and a partial label printed on it.  I like  that Sara chose that spot to sign her name.  Thanks Sara!

Thursday, September 12, 2013

Summer's Bounty

 These beautiful red potatoes came out of our summer garden.  We have used them all summer.  I just had to buy potatoes at the grocery store last week.  I was very disappointed in them when I started going through the sack to prepare potatoes for supper.  I went back this week and hand picked the ones I wanted from a bin stacked high with some pretty good potatoes.
This is a late bounty of yellow pear tomatoes, little plum tomatoes and some smaller beef steak tomatoes.  The beef steak tomatoes were much larger in the middle of the summer.   We had two very large tomato plants in the middle of a raised bed that really produced some nice tomatoes.  But we had two very strong wind storms, too.  The first storm blew down one of them, basket and all, and broke it off.   Later the second storm took out the other one and we lost our large tomato supply.  The little pear tomatoes and plum tomatoes have been very nice, but now due to no rain we're losing them, too.   The squash was a wonderful source of food for us this summer.  We had both zuccini and yellow long-neck squash.  We also had a few cucumbers along the way.   We did have an abundant supply of onions which we are still using.   They are harvested and in a basket in my kitchen.  It seems the only survivors are the hot peppers:  cayennes, jalapenos, and chilies.  We have thoroughly enjoyed our fresh vegetables, thanks to all the work of my dear husband, Doug.  ")

Art Doll for Minori

Minori loves Christmas....so it was inevitable that I made a Christmas doll.  ")  This is the Earth Angel stamp from Catherine Moore's Character Constructions.  (No. 7)  I used the arms from Inner Child #6, the dress from Mannequin Cafe #8, and the wreathe from Mannequin Cafe #9.  This is my favorite face stamp and I use her so much.  The dress is also a favorite.  I used red ink to stamp her on green printed Christmas paper.  I had just recently found this Happy Christmas/Happy Holidays ribbon in my stash and laid it out because I knew she was my next exchange.  I really seem to use this little wreathe a lot, too.  I love putting the little red rhinestones on it to simulate holly berries.  I added the crown from MC #9, too.  The crown and wings are coated with clear Stickles glitter glue.  I also added a drop of the glitter glue to the star bursts on the dress.