Unfinished Umbrage

Welcome to Day Twenty-one of the A to Z Blogging Challenge! This is the day for the letter U, and I'm talking about Unfinished Umbrage, or the annoyance with unfinished projects!

Every crafter has a pile of unfinished projects, and sometimes it's hard to not get overwhelmed with them! With our different moves, certain projects got packed away in boxes, almost forgotten. Every now and then, going through a box, I'll find a project and wish I had finished it. Sometimes I do finish it! But usually... not. 

I made a new years resolution in 2011 or 2012 to finish a project as fully as I can before getting really involved in another, but it's really difficult, especially when real life gets in the way, or a deadline pops up!

Here are a few of my unfinished projects...

 Water under the bridge... a bridge I'm making! It's actually more finished than this but I don't have more recent photo at hand. But there's still work to be done - once I'm done shaping the blocks to the right slope, it all has to get painted a grayish color.

 These dice bags ended up a bit too small in the neck to finish, so I made a new pattern and started work on black and white satin bags, they still aren't finished. I did successfully make dice bags with my new patterns with a third set of fabrics, but the black and white sets still aren't finished! Someday...

 This pillow case is almost finished, I never hemmed the open end, but my daughter loved it so much I haven't really gotten it away from her TO finish!

And one of my more notorious unfinished projects... sword plaques! The one with the shiny black sword and star came finished, which is what inspired me to make holders for our other replica weapons. The plain pine plaque is stained now, and I have plaques for the short sword and dagger also, with sketches and plans for what to do with them, and the idea of a shelf to hang the katana from. But, alas, unfinished. The swords are all in a well-padded box in a storage closet and the plaques and wood stain (what didn't get mistakenly tossed in the move) are in a storage bin in another closet. Just waiting, waiting to be finished. More wall space would help too, I'm already running out of it at our condo right now! When we buy a house, maybe I'll have them done for the new house =)

These are just the tip of the iceberg, but I have gotten better about finishing NEW projects since my resolution. It helps if the item is for a friend, or one of my daughter's dresses. Then I HAVE to get it done!

Do you have a problem with unfinished projects? Are there any projects you really want to finish sitting forgotten in a box, on a shelf, in a closet? Maybe you should try to find some time to finish them, and tell me about it in the comments! I think the bridge should be the first one I finish, then maybe I can take photos and share some of my husband's war gaming terrain.

Thanks for joining me again on this blogging journey! Come back tomorrow for something that starts with V! Only five days left!

Tiny Tinkerbell

Today is the day for the letter T! My daughter wants a Tinkerbell party this year, and I'm making her a dress for the party! And one for a friend - so two dresses! These aren't finished yet, missing hems and zippers. Soon...

 Going through my pattern stash, I found these two patterns - decided to follow the one on the right, Simplicity 2237, but getting ideas for a jagged edge skirt from the one on the left.

Here's my sketch (with paint! couldn't find markers and colored pencils didn't get the idea right) with the jagged edge skirt idea.

 When I got out the paper and fabric, I thought I would just cut the points as I felt, then realized no, that's not a good way to do that - measured, planned!

It helped I was watching Project Runway while I did this! Here you see the skirt folded in quarters, with a point on I cut to fit it. Then I used it for a template to draw four points to edge the skirt with.

 Draw...

 Cut...

 Attach to pattern!

And ready to cut the fabric with it! Downside... this actually made the skirts quite a bit longer. More on that later in the post.

 Here's a bit on the rest of the dress...

 The front of the halter bodices - the straps could be longer. This is a step of the sewing where I'm making them fully lined, it worked well!

 These are the backs of the bodices, before adding elastic in to make them stretchy.

 Skirts sewn together! I forgot to make the white underskirt longer, but since I have to shorten the whole skirt, I won't shorten the white as much as I shorten the green.

 Sewing on the dining table... I miss my basement! But it was fun sewing while my husband worked on computer stuff, we were in the same room talking!

 This is what the halter tops looked like, before sewing onto the skirt. Aren't they all cute and symmetrical?

 Almost finished dresses!

The back of one on the left, the front of one on the right.

 And here's my Tiny Tinkerbell, trying on her dress!

She was making funny faces in it, silly girl! I'm taking at least 3 or 4 inches off the green part of the skirt, it's a light summer dress, not a long one! I'm trying to decide on any embellishments or a ribbon belt... haven't decided yet.

Overall I would say the pattern has worked pretty well, except the halter straps would be nicer about 4 inches or more longer, for easier tying. Making the halter bodice took some re-reading of directions, but then I got it. I almost think the dresses don't need zippers, since they're for four year olds, but I will still put them in. Looking forward to trying to make another halter dress sometime! I have fun finding new things to learn on my daughter's dresses, costumes or not. I tackled darts on the Cinderella dress, pleats on another of her birthday dresses, now halter!

Now I just have to do the trimming, add in the zippers and hem those fun jagged edges somehow! Wish me luck, parties on Saturday and Sunday, and we're doing a lot on Friday out of the house...

And I still need to plan the party! Thinking about making paper fairy/bird houses for the girls to decorate with stickers and markers, maybe like this one I made tonight. What do you think?

Who is your favorite fairy from stories? Share in the comments! And please join me tomorrow for something that starts with U!

Radiant Rapunzel

 Last A to Z Challenge post of the week! Today's letter is R, for Radiant Rapunzel, the first character costume I made for my daughter.

 We're big fans of Tangled in my house, so when I asked my daughter what she wanted to be for Halloween, she picked Rapunzel. I might have encouraged the choice a little bit... and then she tried to change her mind after I bought the fabric and started planning the costume - no turning back then! (If you look above, this dress is one of the items in my logo banner!)

I stubbornly refused to buy the Disney brand Simplicity pattern for this costume, partly because I thought I could do better without it, and partly because I do not like single-style patterns, and there were no other dresses it showed as options. The Cinderella costume pattern from last year was different - it can be Snow White also. Instead, I used a formal girls dress pattern my mom had handed down to me. I think she got two copies of it by mistake one time. Free patterns can sometimes be best patterns, and Simplicity 4764 was a good fit!

Pretty flower girls, aren't they? I liked the skirt and sleeves, but the bodice needed work to be Rapunzel's.

This was my sketch, to get an idea I could draw and scribble on, not one of my daughter's books or her play table with Rapunzel on it! I decided to just make the bodice wider, and fold over and sew for the corset parts - it didn't need to be supportive or shaped around breasts, not for a two and a half year old!

 I did a lot of this work in a marathon sewing session, staying up all night watching The Lord of the Rings Extended Edition, finally - after probably five or more years of having those dvds and never watching them. (I watched all of our Star Wars dvds while sewing the Cinderella costume [original trilogy]) Remotes can make handy pattern weights!

My first attempt at widening the bodice for the corset inlay wasn't quite wide enough... the wider one was actually my third attempt! Good thing I got extra fabric, and this didn't take much yardage.

This is a little bit of the steps I took - figuring out how far apart, fold, pin, sew, iron, sew more!

The sleeves weren't too complicated, once I discovered the ribbon I thought would work for stripes was too sheer and wouldn't show up. Extra bit of pink satin to the rescue! I cut the pink satin close to the shape of the sleeve - narrower because there wouldn't be stripes in the underarm area, taller because I wanted them caught fully in the seams. Then I cut strips, ironed down both sides, pinned to the purple sleeves in rows, and stitched them on. Adding the lace at the bottom is just the perfect little touch!

For the skirt, I made the main front panel a lighter purple, with two overhangs of darker purple coming over that on both sides. Gathering the skirt together to attach to the bodice can be a pain when it's a full skirt, but that rectangle sure does look pretty when it's all together, doesn't it?

Here you can see the dress almost finished... with sleeves, then the grommets! I love my grommet presser, it's so nice to come up with a project like this, and know I can add in grommets with ease. This dress also has the MOST trim I've ever put on a single dress - but it's all costume-appropriate. Since in the movie, Rapunzel makes her own dresses, I think she just has a thing for lace.

I may be a snob when it comes to store bought costumes, but I can be a sucker for licensed accessories... This year, she didn't get the princess shoes (they were sold out anyhow), but she got a light up crown that came with a musical necklace and a purse - mainly I wanted the iconic crown! And she already had the doll, I can't resist taking a photo of doll and costume!

 And here, the princess herself in her dress! She still loves it, even though the satin snagged early on. Maybe it's because I let her sit on that bridge? There is a lot of length hemmed up in the skirt with the idea of letting it out as she grows taller, but with the snags I'm thinking that's a no-go. Oh well, she can have fun with it now!

Thanks for joining me again on the A to Z blogging journey! Check out the other bloggers in the challenge and come back next week for more!

Pretty Paintings

Oh no, I'm late! Thursday was very busy and I didn't get my blog post up! So two for today. First, for April 18th, the letter P for Pretty Paintings.

 You already know from my Alicorn Art post that I paint a little for my daughter's room, and other rooms in our house. Mostly small stuff - the canvas above is about five by seven inches. It's not on my daughter's wall yet, but it's the companion to her Alicorn shield.

This is where the whole gray and purple theme came from for her room, I started out with the coat rack and shelf, then added little by little.

This is how it looks on her wall now, more or less altogether - the flower coat rack is on her closet door for sweaters. And now with the new headband rack I made up, it's a little different again.

But I don't paint just for her room. Below are some other things I've painted.

 This is a tray I'm still in the middle of painting, someday I'll finish! I made the stencil back in high school for a series of trays I painted as gifts, it's cut from a bacon tray (very well washed).

 These were grandmother gifts, at different times considering one is a newborn photo and the other is a six month old photo. Wonder if they've updated the photos, almost four years later!

 Some woodstaining above, with some gold and other detailing - lots of fun! These are all finished, the chest was a gift.

This is MY headband rack in my room, I don't have as many as my daughter. I painted it to match my quilt.

Except the canvas and the bear, these were all unfinished wood items from the craft store, painted with mostly acrylic paints, brushes and sponges and stenciling. Lots of fun and adds a little personal touch to your home or a gift!

I hope you enjoyed this feature in the A to Z Blogging Challenge even though it was late! In other posts I might go into more detail on some of these projects. Join me again soon for the letter Q!

Lizzy's Fancies

Wow, can you believe it's been two weeks of the A to Z Blogging Challenge? This is my twelfth post of the month! Thanks for joining me again, we're almost halfway through the alphabet.

Today's post is for the letter L, and I'm breaking my little tradition by not making the title words match, to feature my little business, Lizzy's Fancies.

This is the banner for my etsy shop, Lizzy's Fancies. (Check that out, and my facebook page for the shop and this blog too!) I have been selling on etsy since July 2011, but I changed my shop name a little along the way. At first I wanted matching letters, the whole alliteration/assonance lure, and went with Izzerdoodle's Inspirations, but that didn't feel quite right. Naming a business is really difficult! that first name was too much of a mouthful, and while I use the name izzerdoodle for a few online accounts, it didn't seem like a good business name.

When I really wanted to change, I decided to go with Lizzy something, because I go by Liz and Lizzy more often than Elizabeth, and while a little more informal, it's still a recognized name. I still couldn't come up with something good though, and defaulted to Lizzy's Accessories for a while. That felt to bland though, and I was never happy with it. Searching online, Lizzy's Lovelies and variations of that name were already in use in a few places, and I didn't want to get confused with someone else's business.

Finally, I was sitting in the car while my husband was getting ice cream at Coldstone Creamery that I got the idea of Lizzy's Fancies, and the tag line "What do you fancy today?" And it felt right. It only took over two years to come up with a name I was happy with! And no one else was using the name online, it was available on etsy and on facebook. 

The downside to facebook, though, was that I had too many fans on my Lizzy's Accessories page to change its name, so I had to make a new page for the new name, and, well, not a lot of people followed over. Facebook fan pages are annoying that way - facebook chooses what people see in their newsfeed and if you like a page for a giveaway, but never interact with it again, you don't see the updates. So most of the fans I had gained through a few giveaways didn't see my page anymore, to know to go to the new page. I had discovered how poorly giveaways seem to help, so I decided against doing any for a while, I still haven't had one since making the name change over a year ago.

One of the items I gave away in a local mom website promotion

I have gotten some fans, though interaction from more than just my family and a few friends would be nice, but you get what you can! I mostly sell jewelry and some accessories - dice bags are a great seller, in my shop, and I also have some girls skirts up for sale, with my daughter modeling them. Chainmaille is one of my favorite things right now...

Two-Tone Metallic Chainmail Bracelets For Sale!

When I finally decided to start a blog, choosing the name was pretty easy! Just the same as my shop, but singular, for what I fancy, instead of the fancies I make! But you know I fancy the fancies I make, so it all works together pretty well. Maybe now that I have a blog, I'll try another giveaway. We'll see, depends on how burned out I am after the A to Z challenge and a birthday party!

Just for fun, here's a Lego Lizzy that I made while trying to think about what to write today! Please join me again on Monday next week for something that starts with M, and take a look at some of the other blogs participating in the challenge:
A to Z Challenge Participating Blogs

Kids' Crafts

 Welcome again to the A to Z Blogging Challenge! Today's letter is K and I'm focusing on Kids' Crafts for the day.

 

 Doing crafts with kids can be fun! But you don't always have the best outcome...

The point is, though, that they had fun!

We used to go to a story time weekly in Michigan that did a craft after the story, and ended up with a fridge full of kid crafts!

Here's the pink pumpkin in detail, I came up with that for her after we read Pinkalicious' pink pumpkin book.

One of my favorite crafts that we made recently was a little pennant flag.

 It's really simple! Just fold a piece of construction paper in half and cut a triangle out.

Take a stick and stick that in the fold, slather glue on one side to glue the sides together, then decorate with crayon, markers, or even better, sticky back fun foam! I have some left over from other crafts, so I've been having some fun with it. 

Can you tell? (I had to keep looking at reference pictures for the mice)

One more fun craft is this pot o' gold, that we made for St. Patrick's Day

I feel bad, my daughter didn't get to make any Easter crafts, have to make that up to her with some fun spring and summer crafts! Her birthday is coming up, I'm pinning some fun ideas on Pinterest for her party! Follow me on Pinterest for more fun ideas!

Thanks for joining me again for the A to Z Blogging Challenge! Join me again tomorrow for something that starts with L!