My Mom is a Sewing Superhero…

My mom is a sewing superhero {an Art School Dropout's life}

I don’t talk much about my family on the blog or social media, because I don’t feel like it’s fair to share their lives without their permission. Plus they all like their privacy.

I’m making an exception today, because I NEED to share how my mom is a sewing superhero…

Many brides and wedding parties in the Baltimore/DC metro area were hit hard when bridal superstore Alfred Angelo closed abruptly a few weeks back. My mom was the main seamstress at their Columbia, MD location and handled hundreds of dresses a month. Most of these dress alterations had been pre-paid to Alfred Angelo, and my mom had not received a paycheck in weeks. She cares about all of her customers though, and continued to work on their dresses. Even after the doors officially closed she had 87 dresses on hand that still needed to be picked up, she continued working FOR FREE! You can read all the details and more about the closing in the Baltimore Sun article they wrote about here...

Baltimore Sun: Columbia Seamstress Scrambles to Help Brides Affected by Alfred Angelo Closings

My siblings and I have gathered together to help her out in any way we can, plus a friend has graciously offered up space for her to work in. We also started a GoFundMe to help her offset any costs and pay her bills.

GoFundMe: Offset Costs for Denise

Also, Any proceeds from sales in my shop from now, until August 18th, will be added to her GoFundMe page.

If you could share these links, and get the word out, I would love it! This is a new situation for my family and I. We don’t normally ask for help, and aren’t really sure where to go from here. Any help is appreciated!.

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Reusable First Day of School Banner for Sizzix

 

CT_KINDER_002CT’s first day of Kindergarten was this past week. It was a HUGE milestone for both of us, so of course I had to take loads of photos.

I also figured I should make a little sign so we never forget it was the first day of school.

Then after much thought I decided on a second piece that can be detached that says which year of school shes starting.

All of this snowballed into the fabric banner above! It’s 8″ square with marine grade vinyl letters cut out using my Sizzix Fabi and the Block Talk Alphabet Die Set. The background is Andover Fabrics chambray in black. I made it pretty much the exact same way as my Appliqued Vinyl Letter Pillow.

Reusable First Day of School Banner for Sizzix {an Art School Dropout's life}

CT_KINDER_005CT_KINDER_004 CT_KINDER_003I also added snaps to the bottom of the banner so I could make an attachment for each year she is in school. I plan on making all the grades later this week when things have calmed down around here and putting this in a safe place.

Reusable First Day of School Banner for Sizzix {an Art School Dropout's life}

The idea of her using this every year makes me all teary eyed! Can you imagine her in 12th grade holding this little banner?!?!?

As you may be able to tell, I’m a complete mess over her going to school. Yes I gained 8 uninterrupted hours each weekday, but I still miss her soooooooooo much. Does it get easier?!?

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A Stenciled Dress for the Holidays (or Everyday) for Silhouette America

dress008_square550Last week I shared an adorable dress on the Silhouette blog that I made CT. I used their free shape of the day as part of the 12 Days of Christmas Giveaway.

It was a cute tree that had a slight Scandinavian look to it. I can only picture it in white for some reason, but I bet it could be used in many ways. I painted a border of them on the bottom of a dress I made using their stencil vinyl.

The dress is made using Made By Rae’s Geranium Dress pattern and the fabric is Andover Fabric’s chambray in black.

dress006_550I am so in love with this dress and I want to make so many more! The pattern has 3 options for sleeves, 2 options for the skirt (pleated or gathered), 3 neckline options AND an optional pocket! Plus you can make it as a dress OR a top. Seriously, SO MANY OPTIONS. Plus it went together in just two hours on my first try and the instructions were so easy. It fit her really well too! I can see CT’s closest packed full of these within a year, you guys will be so sick of seeing them, maybe…

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Ash & Trey’s Baby Shower

ashtrey_babyshower_001Last weekend my husband and I hosted a baby shower in honor of my little sister Ashley and her husband Trey (who wanted a nickname like CT, so I’m going to be lazy and call him TN).

My mom did most of the work putting this whole thing together. From the food, to the candy bar, to the hot chocolate favors to the games and more. She went all out!!! The only thing I had a hand in was the little tags on everything, the food signs, the macarons and the photo booth and props. All but the last pieces were all her idea too! It was a lot of fun to help put together and I am so happy we were able to have it in our home! I also can’t wait to meet my newest niece sometime soon!! She’ll get a cute nickname unlike her dad, we’ll call her “Little R”.

Now be prepared for a bunch of photos, mostly up close, because that’s just my style!

ashtrey_babyshower_002ashtrey_babyshower_003ashtrey_babyshower_0045ashtrey_babyshower_004ashtrey_babyshower_006 ashtrey_babyshower_007(please note this awesome cake wrecks where Harris Teeter spelled my sisters name wrong and wrote “It’s a GIR!”)

ashtrey_babyshower_008ashtrey_babyshower_009ashtrey_babyshower_010ashtrey_babyshower_011Oh and the above picture is my other adorable little sister and her best friend!

My camera battery died halfway through the day and I had to borrow my sisters, so the photos are all weird and different. I also messed up on photos of the adorable banner I made and the gorgeous mobile/centerpiece my mom made using tissue paper, paper lanterns, tulle and other paper goods! It was so pretty we decided to hang it in CT’s playroom afterwards.

This was the first time my mom and I have collaborated on anything, it was a fun and surprising experience!

This was the third event we’ve had at our house in the last month, and the second to last. I’m super happy to have everyone over, but I won’t lie, it will be soo nice when I can get back to normal! I miss making a huge crafty mess!!!

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The Smithsonian Butterfly Pavilion

butterfly_ct_bday_smith_003Like I said yesterday, I took way too many photos of the butterflies in the Smithsonian Butterfly Pavilion. I couldn’t help it! It was an amazing experience. It is a long, narrow room that is just filled with hundreds of butterflies. SO MANY BUTTERFLIES!

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They had loads of places to land, but sometimes if you were lucky they’d land of you! they landed on my husband A LOT.

butterfly_ct_bday_smith_014Plus there are people walking around telling you about the butterflies and even helping you catch one on a paint brush (you aren’t allowed to touch them) CT was able to hold the paintbrush a few times. It was one of the highlights of her birthday.

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Right before you walk into the pavilion they also an exhibit where they teach you all about the life cycle of butterflies and moths. If you go at certain times of day they also have other huge insects that you can hold… if you’re brave enough.

butterfly_ct_bday_smith_001If you are ever in DC I highly recommend this as a stop! It’s $6 an adult, $5 per kid to get into the pavilion, but its SO worth it. I’d do it every month, maybe even twice a month. I’d recommend buying tickets ahead of time just in case, they only allow a certain amount of visitors per half hour. Oh and if you on Tuesdays it’s free!! (but you should still reserve tickets online, I imagine the free days are packed)

I’m already looking forward to when the holiday season is over so we can head back down. We were told that each time you visit is a completely different experience. I want to see if that’s true.

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CT’s 4th Birthday Adventure

ct_bday_smith_001My little girl turned FOUR last week! Super crazy. For her birthday we asked if there was anything special she wanted to do. Her original response was “go to the park”. We then explained she could do more too and started listing off loads of places. In the end she told us she wanted to go to the museum, because theres a museum in Animal Crossing video game. Though in the game theres Art, Dino Skeletons, Live Insects and Butterflies. Luckily the Smithsonian covers most of that stuff all in one building and it’s only a short drive and a metro ride away!

ct_bday_smith_002 ct_bday_smith_003ct_bday_smith_015First we checked out the Dinosaur Skeletons and Fossils, since that was her first request. It’s also a big thing in the game. You dig up fossils, take them to the museum and a little owl guy checks them out and then you have skeletons that you can donate to the museum or sell for profit.

ct_bday_smith_010ct_bday_smith_012ct_bday_smith_013I may have gone a bit overboard with the photos, but seriously the Smithsonian is SO COOL! I grew up visiting all the museums on field trips, with my family and then as a teenager with my friends. I had the biggest smile on my face all day watching CT freak out about everything. She is really into skeletons and such right now (Thanks to the Dr. Suess book: Inside Your Outside, All About the Human Body) So the exhibits actually kept her attention.

ct_bday_smith_009Lucky for us there was also a small exhibit with live fish. So we could check that off the Animal Crossing list.

ct_bday_smith_011They also had gems and live butterflies like in the game! (I took so many photos of the butterflies that they require their own post)

ct_bday_smith_004 ct_bday_smith_005As you can tell from our required photo outside the museum, it was COLD! I think it was freezing temps actually. Don’t worry, we were all super bundled up.

ct_bday_smith_006 ct_bday_smith_008 ct_bday_smith_007ct_bday_smith_014ct_bday_smith_017ct_bday_smith_016To end our Animal Crossing themed museum trip, we headed next door to the National Gallery of Art Sculptural Garden. Seriously one of my absolute favorite places! CT loved walking underneath the sculptures and see just how big they were!.

The entire day was just so much fun. We all enjoyed ourselves and are already planning another trip down. There’s so much more to see!!!

Check back tomorrow for my ridiculous amount of butterfly pictures from the Live Butterfly Pavilion at the Smithsonian.