Silhouette

I've been wanting to try this one out for a long time...a silhouette of Ava. I made this using fabric and paint and a canvas I already had. It ended up being pretty cute but it's not exactly how I wanted it to turn out.

I think next time, I am going to use a less busy fabric pattern and a fabric that I can do a black silhouette on. The white silhouette just doesn't pop as much as I would like it to. But all in all it's still adorable! For now it will hang in Ava's room until I do another one. Next time I am going to use one of my rectangular canvases too as I think that might be more pleasing to me. We'll see!

Yeah! New Family Dolls!

So way back when Ava was little, I came up with the idea to do custom dolls of family members who did not live in Austin so that Ava would know who they were and could play with them at any time. The first 2 attempts were not great so I went back to the drawing board.

Many many months later, I finally figured out how I wanted to do them and so I enlisted the help of my AMAZING graphic designer friend, Brooke, to help me accomplish my goal. (She is also the one who painted this super awesome portrait of Ava--she's talented!)

She was able to create the blank doll bodies, attach the heads and provide them to me in a jpg so that I could print them, sew clothes on and sew backs on them too. I love the results and can't wait to give these 3 little dolls to a very special someone (can't tell you who!...yet).

Best part is that the clothing/backs are made from fabric scraps (and Darren's clothes are made from a tshirt and pair of shorts we were giving to Goodwill...good way to go green & recycle if you ask me!)

Front:

Back:
Thanks again Brooke for the help! Now I want to make Ava a set of all of our family and make these for other people....although not all at once and not that soon. Bit tired from all my projects :)

PS. Need to get better photos of these but it's been wet outside and the lighting was not quite right.

Hanukkah Shirts

My friend Amira contacted me about doing a Hanukkah onesie for her 9 month old daughter. She had a great idea that she had seen about doing a Peace, Love, Dreidel shirt. So here is the end result. I also ended up doing 2 navy blue toddler shirts for her friends' kids as well. And because these were so cute, I also did a Peace, Love, Christmas Tree shirt for Ava (although I did not get a photo of it...yet).

A Stocking for Ava

Whipped up a little stocking for Ava for Christmas this year. For the past 2 years we just had some store bought one that was not that special and since my own stocking was handmade for me by my grandmother or aunt (can't remember), I wanted to make one for Ava.

I used 2 Amy Butler patterns (free on her website) to make this stocking...kind of manipulated them to fit my needs. The flower is from a Snow Mum pillow pattern and actually called for felt but I used fun Michael Miller Christmas fabrics (no shock there...love their fabrics) instead. It's not perfect but it turned out quite well seeing as I had to figure out how to get it together on my own. Oh and the back is red polka dots so that is fun.

More Griffin Picnic Dresses

I made these Griffin Picnic dresses awhile back for 2 of my nieces...almost 4 year old Sawyer got a nice yellow & grey chic version of the dress and Lexie got a colorful and bright pink & black version.

Rocket Man!

I whipped up a cute rocket shirt for my nephew Ian last month (for his 4th birthday)...the boy loves rockets, outer space and Star Wars. We heard he was excited about it but did not realize how much until Donna (his mom) sent this photo to me today...can you say ham?

What a cutie! He sure knows how to pose for a photo.

Twin Dinosaurs

I made these dinosaur bodysuits for my sister-in-law's twin nephews. They just had their 1st birhtday and one usually wears blue and one wears green. We decided upon dinosaurs and I just based my designs on real dinosaurs but modified them to my liking. End result (excuse the poor photos but it was raining outside where the good light usually is).
Close up of the green brontasaurus-like dino:

Close up of the stegosaurus-like dino:

Science Onesies

I did these custom onesies for a friend in NYC..apparently there was a science theme going on...

here is the atom onesie...

and the beaker onesie.

Twin & Unisex Baby Onesies

I made these in September as well for Brooke who had 3 friends having babies. The first set was for twin boys so we went with the hamburger and fries theme... Then I had to do 2 unisex onesie/burp cloth sets. Here's the new & improved owl...

and the most requested one, a giraffe.

Griffin Picnic Dress - Stripes & Dots

I have been a bit delinquent posts but here is a Griffin Picnic dress I made for Ava back in September...stripes and polka dots, super cute. She even took her school photos in them with her bright red, sequin "Dorothy" shoes.

The Owl & the Pussycat

Whipped these two cute shirts up for my 2 Austin nieces...didn't photograph as nicely outside as I had hoped so had to take them indoors in order to even remotely get the colors/patterns to show. Still not thrilled with the results but maybe I can get some better shots of these in action at a later date.

Close up of the Owl applique.

Close up of the Pussycat applique.

You can see that these were made using scraps from some of the previous items I have made...great way to use every little piece!

Modeling the Griffin Picnic Dress

Ava showing off her version of the Griffin Picnic dress. She paired hers with pink leggings and pigtails. This "Checked Floral" dress was made using Wildwood for Free Spirit fabrics.

Introducing the Griffin Picnic Dress

The Griffin Picnic Dress is much more than just a dress. It's a versatile piece that can be worn as a dress, tunic, or top as your child grows. It also can be layered in cooler months with a long sleeve shirt for year round use. This adorable dress can be made in sizes as small as 3 months all the way to 5T.

This "Snow Flower" version was made for who else but my cute little NYC niece, Griffin. This was made using fabrics by Dena for Free Spirit.

Pink Gothic Arch Ava Pillowcase Dress

I made this dress for Jessie using Michael Miller fabrics (Mezzanine by Patty Young - Gothic Arch and Gothic Flower).

Brothers

Monica wanted some t-shirts/onesies for her 2 adorable boys, ages 2 and 6 months. They like animals and construction trucks so I came up with these coordinating outfits. They live in Colorado so it's actually cool there already so we did some long sleeve shirts -- lucky boys! Don't think we'll be wearing long sleeves for at least another 2 months.

A lion and giraffe...

and an excavator and a bulldozer.

Plum Delicious Ava Pillowcase Dress

Just finished this Ava pillowcase dress for Christi's niece Brooklyn who just turned one. I call it "Plum Delicious." Great dress to transition to the Fall but the coloring really works for every season when layered with a shirt, jeans, leggings etc. This again was made using Michael Miller fabrics.

Family Food Set

I created this set for Donna to give to her friend who recently gave birth to her 3rd child - a boy. Since they already have 2 toddlers (another boy and a girl), we decided to do a fun set involving food in coordinating fabrics. I think they turned out pretty cute and was only wishing that I had more kids so they could all wear coordinating outfits...guess I have that to look forward to one of these days. :)

We All Scream for Ice Cream

I quickly whipped up this ice cream tank top for Ava as a test run. Turned out pretty cute and you can see that she just adored it!

Newest Ava Pillowcase Dress

This one is done in Marimekko-inspired fabric and polka dots...sassy yet sweet!

New Idea!

Ok, it's not completely a new idea but rather an extension of something I already do. After talking to one of my sisters (Gabe) about projects I recently have done, we decided that I should start appliqueing tank tops and tshirts for toddlers. We came upon this great idea since neither of us currently has a baby AND (the best part) our girls could easily be the guinea pigs/models for these new shirts. Plus appliqueing is pretty easy and much faster than sewing up dresses all of the time!

I just recently completed a cupcake onesie which I think would be super cute on a toddler tank top. I love the mixed fabrics more than just one fabric alone and can envision doing ice cream cones with crazy prints and other fun shapes.
I did a dove onesie awhile back for my other sister's (Cortney's) baby and loved it and think it would be cute on a toddler shirt too. Any one have any other good ideas?? I have lots of scraps of fabrics left over from dresses, burp cloths etc. that would be great to use for these!

Ava Pillowcase Dresses in Action

The Ava Pillowcase Dress

So I finally finished the 3 Ava Pillowcase dresses for the girls (my daughter and 2 of her cousins). All were created using some of my favorite designer's fabric and I think they all turned out super cute and fit the girls' personalities quite well.

A's dress has the adorable birdie on it and was made with Alexander Henry & Amy Butler fabric.

S's sophisticated yet fun dress was made with fabric from Amy Butler & Michael Miller.

And L's dress was made with Michael Miller's fabrics- this will definitely bring out her beautiful blue eyes!

More Baby Boy Onesies/Burp Cloths

I just sent these new baby sets off to Houston to a friend/client. New designs include a seahorse, bulldog, and giraffe. I've also included a better photo of a whale onesie.

Baby Boy Onesies & Burp Cloths

I was asked to do some onesies/burp cloth sets for some of my sister Cortney's friends in NYC. We brainstormed and came up with a few personal ideas as well as just some generic boy stuff. I hadn't done any ones for baby boys before so this was new.

Lobster
Robot

Hot Dog

Whale (can't see it clearly but he has water (fuzzy white material) shooting out his spout)

Old timey car