12.12.2013

Rainbow Tutu

Last night I finished C's birthday rainbow tutu! I'm pretty proud of it, although its not quite finished yet. I just need to try it on her and cut a bit of the length off. I made it extra long cause I wasn't sure how thick it would look once completed, and I didn't want too much of her thighs showing!

My tulle came in on Tuesday, and I was so excited that I started on the tutu that night. There will be no tutorial for a tutu here; there are so many on youtube that I felt it would be redundant for me to make one. I watched several tutorial videos last week until I felt comfortable tackling this project. But basically, your supplies needed are pretty simple:

~ tulle - obviously. I decided to do a rainbow, so I chose 7 colors (pink, coral/red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple). I purchased spools that were 6" x 27 yards, and I have plenty of tulle leftover for other projects.

~ satin ribbon or elastic band for the waist of the tutu. I had exactly enough yellow satin ribbon on hand - score!

~ scissors to cut the tulle with

~ something to help you measure the tulle

And that's pretty much it. There are probably ways to do this using a needle and thread, but I don't sew, so I was relieved when this project required no sewing at all. Actually, if it had required sewing, I would have just purchased a tutu from a friend of mine. I'm very pro-DIY lately, though, so I'm tackling all sorts of projects!

In total, this project took me probably 2 hours to complete. I started on Tuesday night, and worked on it for maybe an hour or so. Last night I gave it another 45 minutes or so. It goes pretty fast once you get the hang of dealing with the tulle and tying the knots. Tulle is very sticky! And staticy. I'm trying to figure out a solution to that problem. Any advice, you million of readers? (haha)

The rainbow tutus I've seen online are very different from mine. Most people seem to do larger blocks of each color. But I kinda like how mine all sort of meld together. I did 2 pieces of each color. My concern with the tutu was that it would be thin and see-though so that C would have to wear leggings underneath or everyone would see her underwear and upper thighs. But I don't think that's gonna be a problem cause this bad boy is THICK! I was even wearin it around the house last night and I would feel comfortable not wearing pants under it. (Don't worry, I'm not gonna be wearing a huge, fluffy tutu any time soon, lol! Though I do kinda want one for myself now...if Sarah Jessica Parker can rock one, why can't I? hehe)

I made the tutu extra long cause I wasn't sure the length I wanted to be. The other tutus that C has are pretty short, and pretty much just cover her tushy. They're cute, but not what I wanted for her birthday. Tonight I'll try the tutu on her and probably cut a couple inches off the bottom. When I let her try it on yesterday, it was only half done, but I could tell it was dragging the floor.

But don't worry; I won't be wasting any tulle that I cut off! I already have a tutorial on how to make a tulle hair bow. That's my next project. ( :  Well, that and C's shirt that I'll be making. I went to Michael's today and picked up some supplies - iron-on decals, paint pens, and some jewels. Its gonna be pink and sparkly and adorable (I hope)!

Am I going overboard with C's birthday party and the rainbow theme? Probably. But oh well. I want this party to be epic, at least decorations-wise. Don't ask me why, its just an urge I have had for a few months now. And I'm havin fun! ( :

Stay tuned for my next rainbow-themed DIY project!

12.06.2013

Rainbows On the Brain

Say what?? Its December. I should be thinking about Christmas decorations, right? Well, that's done. For the first time EVER, I completely decorated the house for Christmas by the first day of the month! I am a firm believer in not putting up any Christmas decor until after Thanksgiving, and usually I wait until December. My cousin and I have a tradition of putting up our grandma's tree every year on the day after Thanksgiving. So we did that (which was an adventure, let me tell you! Major tree issues - ugh), and I guess it inspired me to get going on my own decor. So on Saturday, I decorated in the house as much as I could.
 This year, DH bought me a new garland for the mantle. I love it! I'm kinda thinkin it needs lights though...hehe.

On Sunday, I convinced DH to go pick out our tree (we don't do artificial trees) and we put it up that afternoon. C had fun "helping" us, though she couldn't quite figure out how to actually hang ornaments.
I forgot to take pics of the other decorations we have, but we really don't have a lot. Just a wreath on the back of the front door (we keep it closed all the time to keep the cold out, so I enjoy it more when the wreath is facing into the living room), and one on the pantry door in the kitchen. All my artificial seasonal flowers came out, which will stay up until the end of winter (they're not sparkly and Christmas-y, just winter-y, in my opinion). A little tree in C's room, which she helped decorate, and my traditional Barbie mini tree. I have been collecting Barbie Hallmark ornaments since I was a kid, and a few years ago I decided to give them their own tree. I love it!
But enough about Christmas (for now!). What's really been on my mind lately is RAINBOWS! Why, you ask? Because I'm planning C's THIRD birthday party!

First of all, let me just say that it is extremely hard for me to believe that my baby girl is turning 3 in just 15 days. Just this morning I looked at her in her toddler bed and teared up because she almost takes up the whole thing now. (*:

Until C starts to express an interest in her actual birthday parties and has her own ideas, I've been choosing the themes. For her first birthday, we didn't do a theme per say. I just went to the Dollar Tree and picked out decorations that I liked. It ended up being pink and green and butterflies everywhere. It was pretty simple, though. Last year, I did a Minnie Mouse theme. That was super cute. I had little mouse ears for the kids to wear, and hot pink and neon green everywhere, and my friend made a gorgeous Minnie Mouse cake for us. It was still a pretty simple party, though.

This year, inspiration struck me a while back. I can't remember what the first thing I saw to inspire me was, but I must have seen a picture somewhere of a rainbow party, and knew that's what I wanted to do. December can be such a blah month to have a birthday in. Sure, everything's decorated in red and green and sparkles for Christmas, but everyone's so busy with Christmas and everything else, so its always a struggle with birthday parties. So this year I wanted something super colorful and cheery - and what says colorful and cheer better than rainbows?!

What sealed the deal for me was a picture of cupcakes I saw back in October.
Gorgeous, right?? Once I saw this picture, I knew C's birthday party would be rainbow-themed, and I knew I'd make these cupcakes. I ordered the rainbow candy earlier this week, and I'm crossing my fingers that it'll arrive before the party!

One night this week, C asked me if we could make rainbow cupcakes. I had already gotten her approval for the theme for the party, and she's seemed pretty excited about it. I knew I needed to practice these cupcakes before the big day. Cause not only would they have a rainbow on top, they would be rainbow on the inside, too!

So, me and C mixed up the cake mix (from a box) and I divided the batter into 6 bowls, then added food coloring to each bowl. It was a very time consuming process, but the results were well worth it! I didn't add frosting to these, but C didn't seem to mind.
I only got 12 cupcakes out of one box of cake mix, though. I need to make at least 4 dozen cupcakes, so that process will take me a while. I might end up making some cupcakes and then a rainbow cake. We'll see.

My husband and I must be out of our minds, cause we decided to have C's party at our house this year. We normally have it at my mother's church, since we have so many people. But its always hard to get a good date since the church has so many things going on this month. So I suggested to DH that we have it at our little house and he agreed. Yep, we're crazy. We're inviting over 40 people. If they all show up, my house will be super crowded. Hopefully, the weather will be nice and the kids can get outside a little to run around...

I'm going ALL OUT with the rainbow theme. I'm probably going overboard, actually. You should see my Pinterest board dedicated to rainbow stuff! I'm DIY-ing almost everything. It will look like a rainbow threw up in my house that day. My plan is to decorate the night before after C goes to sleep, so that when she wakes up the next morning she sees all the rainbow stuff (the party is on her actual birthday). I have a TON of ideas and I absolutely can't wait to start everything!!

Yesterday, I watched youtube tutorials on how to make tulle tutus, and I feel confident I can make one, so I ordered some different colored tulle. My plan is to create something to this effect:
Haven't decided about the shirt yet, but I love the idea of a "3" and C's name!

I'll be making tissue paper pom-poms to hang everywhere, kind of like this:
Youtube has great tutorials for those, too. (Gotta love youtube!)

And of course, there will be a plethora of multi-colored balloons and streams everywhere. I'll be posting lots of pictures, so stay tuned! ( :

Newborn Photo Shoot

Well, in November I created a facebook page for my photography "business." I didn't share it with anyone; I didn't even add any information to the page. I just created it. And then let it sit there for a few weeks. Earlier this week I decided to work on the page some and share it with my friends. I got over 60 "likes" in the first day! That doesn't seem like a lot, I know, but it was huge to me. It showed me how many of my friends support me. I even got some likes from people I don't know! My hope is that facebook will help grow my little business and get me some real clients. I did have one person contact me about a family session, so we'll see what happens there.

Over Thanksgiving weekend, I did a photo shoot for my great nephew. The conditions weren't ideal, and I struggled to get just a few shots that I could be proud of. But I did get some!

This little guy was hungry and tired when he got to my house, but a bottle and a snuggle didn't do much for him. He was not going to sleep, no matter what we did. All my visions of gorgeous and peaceful newborn poses went out the window. And then he wouldn't be STILL! That youngin flailed his arms around constantly, haha.

For me, it was a stressful first newborn session. Luckily, my niece didn't seem to mind, and since she's not a paying client anyway, I didn't have that added stress.
See the awkward left arm? Sigh. Oh well, its still a cute shot, I think!
This was actually one of my favorites. I think it would have looked even more precious if he had been asleep, but I like his expression.

So, I did learn a few things for future newborn sessions. Well, some things I already knew, but this experience was a good reminder.

1 - Make sure the newborn is actually a newborn. Babies older than about 2 weeks are harder to get to stay asleep while you're posing them. And after 2 weeks I think they're harder to get to sleep in general, especially in new environments. Before 2 weeks, babies will sleep practically anywhere, and since they sleep a LOT, its easier to catch them sleeping so you can pose them. My nephew was just over 2 weeks when I took these photos, and I think he was just past that magical newborn phase.

2 - Make sure the day leading up to the photo shoot is stress-free for the newborn. Meaning, don't have him out all day and then try to take his picture. Chances are, he'll be wired and wanting to just be home and relaxed, not having bright lights all around him and a camera in his face. This probably works for older kids, too. In fact, earlier in the day sessions are probably best!

3 - Remember to really swaddle a fussy baby. We didn't try that with my nephew, but I wish we had. I wonder if it would have calmed him down and at least kept him from moving.

4 - Don't rush yourself. Take your time in setting everything just right and really thinking about the camera settings, the background, your angle, etc. This is something I struggle with all the time. When I'm taking pictures for someone else, I feel like I need to rush so that I don't take all day to get a good shot. I inevitably forget to do something or don't have something exactly right.

5 - This is one thing that I did right, because I learned from C's newborn portrait experience! Make sure the room where you'll be shooting a newborn is WARM! When we had C's newborn pictures done, my photographer had a new studio and it was absolutely freezing in there. Poor C just wasn't happy, and I know it was because she was cold. So I learned that you really need to crank up the heat, especially since most likely the newborn will be naked for at least some of the shots. So for my nephew's session, I cranked the gas logs up so that it was nice and toasty in my living room. I was sweating, but he was totally warm. ( :

Hopefully I'll get more opportunities to do newborn sessions in the future!