Dress Up Clothes

K loves to dress up. Having two older brothers, the princess items are still scarce in the house. I am making regal attire by sewing a full satin skirt with an overlay of glitter tulle to the bottom of hand-me-down t-shirts. K has suggested adding flowers to make the tops fancier. I am choosing to see the extra time K now spends in front of the mirror admiring herself as good for her ego, and not at all flighty or sexist.

Second Generation

R's teacher noticed a pair of yellow earrings I wore to school. She said she'd like a pair in red. In all honesty, I pushed her to choose a color so I could customize this quick project. Good times were had by all.

Library Bag

The second part of a birthday gift for C is this library bag. I find my kids and I will check out as many books as our bag will hold, so now C is armed with space for dozens of Dora, Franklin and Olivia books. Maybe there will even be a book for grown-ups in there now and again. Keep the library card in the side pocket, and you're ready to read.

Happy Birthday, C!

My sister's birthday is today. Her favorite color is green. These birthday earrings use clear window beads, triangular Tibetan silver beads and frosted seed beads in green and yellow.

She Helps Herself

K knows where I keep finished necklaces. She loves to try them on. This chunky wooden and vintage lucite bead necklace caught her eye. It goes well with her bright green Tinker Bell cocktail ring, don't you think?

My Little Friends

The yellow and white striped beads on these earrings have lived in a small orange bowl next to my bed for about a month. I knew I wanted them to be earrings, but first they were decor. Not until the dust began to collect on the bowl and the shiny vibrancy of the vintage beads started to dim did I take a minute to install them as earring dangles. I still have orange and white striped beads, red football beads and tiny carved white beads in the bowl. I either need to dust or get creative.

Maybe I Will

It's to the point that I have so many pairs of earrings, bracelets and necklaces that I can match or compliment the color of my accessories with any outfit I wear. Yet, I still find thinking of a shirt or a pair of shoes and making something to go with them motivating. If I wear anything orange or green or white tomorrow, I have a new pair of earrings to finish the casual, chores-around-the-house, stopping-by-the-kids'-elementary-school look.

Pink Mystery

These silver earrings with vintage pink moonglow and white beads prompted M to ask at the dinner table, "But how does that white ring stay around the pink bead?" This isn't the same as liking my new pink earrings, but it does mean the project is cute enough to be noticed. I'll take it.

Recycled Top

My sister, C, sent bits of fabric left over from projects, and I immediately put some of them to use. This variation on a pillowcase dress uses Japanese fabric for the front. A small-scale yellow print makes the band at the bottom. The pattern could use tweaking; it's a little short to be worn as a dress, and the straps are a tad long. Next time I'll try some pleating on the front. K loves to wear dresses. I don't want to buy a wardrobe of dresses for her, but I don't mind trying to make a few. Stay tuned.

Frame Purses

My prototype change purses are now complete. It turns out not to be at all difficult to draw a pattern to fit each frame. The difficult part is mating the fabric purse to the metal closure. Various Google hits advise working a toxic metal and fabric glue up into the groove of the frame and then wedging the fabric in. They all say to take care not to ooze. I figure if I'm fretting over proper ventilation, I won't have care left to keep glue off the fabric. Instead, I tried working the metal frame closed with pliers and a piece of scrap fabric to prevent scratching. So far one purse has stayed together, but the other has not. I am forced to try glue next time.

White Glass

White glass beads and milk beads in particular (of all colors) call to me right now. I spied a vintage necklace online just like this one. The original used orange beads to set off the white ones. I have tried red, but I think pale blue or spring green would also be fun. I will take my scissors to the this necklace when the mood hits to find out for sure.

Pink Needed

If there's a color lagging behind others in my bead collection it's pink. I've decided pink can be very pretty, especially in very small amouts. These silver kidney-wire earrings are long and dangling. They were quick, quick to make and (I think) really cute.