Busy Hands are Happy Hands

If you think that your life is going by at a leisurely pace, get yourself a teenager with after-school activities... next thing you know you're living off the snack basket kept in the car and a magical place called Costco...
In our case my Firstborn has become involved in the Drama department at his High School - we're now approaching show musical #3 and our house or life has never been the same.  Don't get me wrong - it's a lot of fun but so much work. I have been a busy Drama Mama sewing costumes and building accessories, upholstering set pieces; and helping to keep over 100 teenagers and tired parents fed.
I wanted to brag and post some of the projects I made for the last show - they put on Disney's "Beauty and the Beast" - a cast of 80 (including both of mine) - over 200 costumes sewn from scratch or rebuilt from existing ones - 3 months of very little sleep and a new look for our house - I call it "Early Hoarders - The Before Picture"! It was breathtaking to see the looks on the little girls' faces that came to see the show dressed up in princess costumes; we had set up an area to have pictures taken with Belle and the Prince after the show.

Here are just some of the things I made - mostly from leftover bits and pieces of fabric, trim, broken jewelry and my fave - cardboard TP rolls, plastic food containers etc. 

Some of the 25 custom hats I made for the finale:

I liked the idea of fashioning them in the style of other princesses:

Jasmine

 Mulan

Rapunzel

Cinderella

There were custom necklaces/chokers to go with each hat as well:

I will show some photos of the costumes soon. There are so many to go through...

There were also corsages for Prom to make; I made 2 for my boy's girlfriend and her friend, they came out really well (she's not the traditional floral girl).

Not to be outdone by Big Brother, my little one landed a big part in her school play and needed a costume as one of the Ugly Stepsisters.

Now that we're home for the summer I am hoping to work my way through the sadly neglected stash of projects before we start production work on the fall show...  I am already putting ideas together and have collected materials to build some prototypes... I really need to find a hobby on of these days!!!

Until next time.  C.

Huh? I have a blog???

Holy Smokes! Bring on the Ginko Biloba! I thought that I had a few more years before my memory was moving into the fuzzy stage...

We've been pretty dang busy around here - working (almost) full-time, taking care of hubby/offspring/home/pets/backyard(ahem...) and attempting to squeeze in some continuing education hasn't really left me with any energy. Add to the mix that Firstborn is now a Thespian (translate that to: "Mom, can you come and get me and bring _____" - insert whatever item he happened to forget that day). Being a chronic volunteer I signed my remaining free time over to help in the costuming department; I met some great ladies and made new friends, but seem to be suffering from PTSD whenever I see rick-rack... we must have gone through dozens of packs of that stuff! And the fun has just begun - new auditions are coming early next week! I've been a Shopping Maniac in the attempt to procure enough snack food to keep the basket of goodies I keep in the MomVan well stocked - I am in awe of how much a couple of teenagers can eat!

Christmas was a quiet affair; lots of pajama time spent on the couch with the kids - hubby sadly had to work. I'm guessing I ate close to my bodyweight in treats and have taken more naps than in the last few years put together... now I'm ready to get back to real life.

On the crafty front things have been somewhat quieter than normal. My first craft fair participation was less than successful, but thanks to word of mouth I am starting to get folks interested in my work.

Working in my field specific clothing items become necessary; right now for me it's all about infinity scarves/cowls to protect my neck/skin as well as long-sleeved shirts and gloves. I've been pretty busy making a number of things from my scrap stash; my work clothes while practical and comfy are anything but sassy.

Here are some photos from these past months:

We had a Ghoulish Bride scare us on Halloween... Boo!

There were blossoms galore in a freezing cold elementary school gym for the craft fair...

We've learned that Mommy should really measure...

There was some monkey business happening in our Christmas tree (monkey business, really? Wow, what a groaner....)

Girl Scout Powder Puff Derby Time! Plants vs. Zombies!

My dining room table right now... the T-Shirt carnage continues!

I hope that this new year will bring everyone peace, health, laughter and God's blessings.

Love,

Tina

Summer has arrived !!!

Poor unfortunate, neglected little blog,

I know it's been way too long since I last stopped by here... between work, family, night classes and life taking up every moment of the last few months I am so grateful to have some down time ahead... sort of. Let me think, there is an ever-growing list of "To Do" stuff (a few fun things but mostly chores around the house and yard... blech!), keeping the fridge and pantry stocked for two growing and hungry kids, attempting to keep the peace between said children (so far it's not looking good for the home team) and of course the small (not really) issue of trying to find a permament position (keep your fingers crossed that I can permanently get the position I filled last school year; the staff and kids were just awesome and I'd go back there in a heartbeat!).

Now we're off for the summer and the weather in our neck of the woods has actually gotten the memo (it's supposed to get up to 80 F today!!! ) Holy Smokes. So we're hanging around the house enjoying sun tea and some lazy down time... awesome!

Being a Master Procrastinator I finished 4 costumes I sewed for our Vacation Bible School Program around 10 am this morning (the big meeting is this evening... insert eye roll here!). After taking 2 years off I am looking forward to being part of the music crew again; a great way to minister to our kiddos and have a ton of fun! This year's program is set around "Hometown Nazareth"; here are some pics of the costumes I made:

I'm not sure why these pics are flipped around once Blogger uploads them (sorry, techie stuff is NOT my thing... I know, shocker!).

On the creative front I have spent most my time remaking clothes (both for Little One and myself): I'm still working my way through a huge stack of T-Shirts, we'll see what I can come up with.

Here are some shirts for Little One (I added lace, ruffles and scrap flowers to existing shirts; also added some length to some of them - she is growing like a weed!)

And something for Mom:

Seriously, I need to start taking some "BEFORE" pictures... derp!

Green and Purple Tee: I'm trying out some of these pin tucks on both the sleeves and the neck, the purple shirt also has a handkerchief hem

Striped Maxi Dress: once upon a time it was a long-sleeve charcoal shirt (turned into a tanktop; then strips of T-Shirt fabric was added at the bottom; LOVEloveLOVE this dress - wearing it right now, Comfy Central!!!)

White Vest: used to be a VERY large long-sleeved shirt with a funky metal clasp where the girls should be (maybe if you wore that size; me - not so much... ahem...) I sliced it up the middle, removed the sleeves and sewed a row of decorative seams at the shoulder.

White Sundress: this one is actually pieced together from random leftover scraps; the off-white flower goes from the neck down to the waist.

There's a whole stack of unfinished projects waiting to be finished; Little One has been patiently waiting (ok, maybe patiently but certainly not quietly) for her "new" bedding" and curtain... she's hoping for a duvet cover with a Panda on it (freehand of course)... I have pink, white, black and gray sheets and an image of stripes and ruffles in my head... hmmm...

I also made a few comfort blankets for the special needs kids in our school; sadly I didn't take picture of them.

Well, in the spirit of procrastination I better go grab my script for our summer VBS program... I need to see what I've volunteered for!!! Hey, I have a couple of hours... maybe some Facebook game time before I go???

Have a blessed summer's day!

Love, C.

I Heart Pink!

Look at all the lovely pink beauty happening everywhere with Valentine's Day just around the corner! I wanted to bring some of that to my little neck of the woods as well (I had never really decorated for V-Day aside from some kid's art before). Well, after some poking around my craft stash and a quick trip to Dollar Tree (yay!) I was ready for action.

Here's what I made out of it:

Valentine's Banner made from heart-shaped paper doillies (not sure if I spelled this one right). I really wanted to make a sewn one using up a bunch of pink fabric scraps but didn't have the time.

My little display shelf in the living room. I covered some assorted foam balls with leftover yarn (pink fuzzy fur; light purple thick velvety yarn and white curly yarn). It took a couple of days for my poor burnt fingers to stop hurting, the hot glue gun and me have never been friends. I put the yarn balls into my homemade "hurricane lamps" and threw in a few sparkly hearts.

The framed picture is a quote from Jane Austen's "Pride and Prejudice" - my fave... I put a little fabric rosette (scrap T-Shirt fabric from a shirt rehab) on the side of the frame.

The other half of the shelf. I found the Cupid design online for free, printed it on pink paper and made a backing from leftover foam core wrapped in printed tissue paper. The rest of the sparkly hearts went into the shadow box frame I found in my stash (of course from $$ Tree). I liked the way that one came out.

Last but not least my little Valentine's Tree. The tree is from $$ Tree (what a shocker!); I spray painted the base white, tore up some cute fabric for the bows and took apart this odd-looking curly garland with red plastic hearts I bought some time ago. With a bit of red embroidery floss, a needle and some patience I was able to make them into little heart ornaments. LOVE. THEM.

I used a bunch more to cover the weird-looking fake base of the tree and the evidence that I didn't have enough spray paint to cover the whole thing.... ahem... I'm so organized...

The cute candle is a Valentine's Day gift from the kids from a few years ago, I just love the way it looks and don't want to burn it (the kids think that's weird).

We're just about ready for Valentine's Day; I am finishing up some small teacher gifts and something pink for the ladies at my work. Pics to follow.

Oh, before I forget: Hey, Cupid - better stock up on some tissues and be sure to take plenty of vitamins before you come to our house - Nasty Cold Germ Central here... guess if you put hospital germs (thanks, hubby) and mix them with school germs (me and the kiddos) you come up with some potent stuff... blech...

Better go now; I am getting the stink eye from Little One - apparently Mom is hogging the laptop... whatever...

Happy Valentine's Day, everyone!!!

It might be gray outside...

... but I have spring blossoms on my mind.

Here's a pic of some fingerless ruffly gloves that I made for someone at my work; I wear the "prototype" over my regular knit gloves to keep my wrists warm.

Just looking at these fleece flower pins makes me forget the nasty wet weather around here.

I will be making more of these lovelies... so many colors to choose from ... next up hot pink!

I took Little One to the Dollar Store (my fave) to pick up some supplies to make Valentine's Day decor for the living room... I have been drooling over the awesomely creative projects out there in blogland... especially the Subway Art and the paper/fabric rosettes. Hoping to be able to squeeze some creative time in this week, it will a busy one between work/evening classes and of course MomTime.

I better keep this short, the offspring are getting restless and are threatening to raid the fridge...

Have a blessed evening. C.

Sprechen Sie Wordle???

Hi, there -




just wanted to show off this neat site where you can create "word clouds". You can manipulate the layout, colors etc. until you come up with a unique piece of artwork.


Here's mine.

This baby will be framed and hung over my craft area (aka. the breakfast counter, I know I'm just THAT cool!)
Try it out, it's fun.
I better finish off now, the offspring are getting restless and about to raid the fridge...

Blessings,
C.

Welcome to Apple Blossom Lane!

Hello, all -
I have been thinking about making some changes to the blog for a while now. The hounds logo and the blog name were not really what I wanted them to be. After some failed attempts to either try to be clever ("Cheaper than Therapy") or cute ("My favorite things" along with a horrendously corny rendition of the lyrics from "The Sound of Music"), I figured simplicity would be best. One of my favorite things about our house is the crabapple tree right outside the kitchen window. I love seeing it throughout the year and especially love seeing the apple blossoms turning the tired-looking tree into a work of beauty.
Thinking about a little farm house in the country with a slightly overgrown garden on Apple Blossom Lane just makes me smile... a bit removed from our cookie-cutter place in a cookie-cutter neighborhood in a suburban area... maybe someday...




So welcome to the musings here at Apple Blossom Lane!
Blessings, C.