Sunshine Fairy Dust

Flora Soleil made another visit to our house last night. And it has been a loooong time coming. Seriously. One of the benefits of having a blog is that I can verify that it has been a whole year since the last time Miss Bloom lost a tooth. And it took 5 months from the time she lost her first tooth until her second tooth was gone. At this rate, the girl is going to have missing teeth gaps in her prom pictures.

The Basketweave Flowergirl Dress

Last month my cousin Michael and his lovely wife Joy got married in Maine. And I was honored to be asked to create a flowergirl dress for their daughter Chloe. Joy sent me fabric swatches and links to her pinterest inspirations and told me to have fun.

Halloween 2014

Yes, I am fully aware that Halloween was 4 days ago. It took a couple days to recover from all the excitement. :) I try to have costumes finished several days early so I can get some pre-festivities pictures of the kids and for my own sanity. However, it just didn't happen this year. Two big Girl Scout events, a couple of orders from the shop and a home emergency all that week threw me way off schedule. I didn't even start Little Boy Blue's costume until 9:00 the night before Halloween. In the end, though, I think their costumes were pretty fantastic.

Vampire Capes

 

I know I've said this before, but some of my favorite projects came from customer requests. Rin asked me to make a special vampire cape for her son. I am so excited with the results!

Mini-Superhero Cape Set: New in the B&B shop!

I know I've said this before but it bears repeating: I love it when customers come to me with a request for something new! Olivia contacted me because she wanted a special cape set for her twin girls' birthday. I already have mini-capes listed in the shop and regular size cape/wristcuffs combos too. But I didn't have mini-wristcuffs or fun felt crowns. Until now. Presenting the 1st birthday Mini-Supercape Set.

Cheetah print horses! Happy 7th birthday Miss Bloom!

It's almost impossible to believe that Miss Bloom turned 7 today. Seven! Where did the years go? Luckily, this kid hasn't lost any of her affectionate sweetness. She still has that happy-go-lucky, easy going nature that she inherited from her daddy. My little sunshine! We're trying to take birthdays down a notch this year. All three kids' birthdays (as well as Mother's Day, Father's Day, our anniversary, 4th of July and a few other extended family members' birthdays) are within a two month span. And I just can't keep up with it all.

Instead of a big party we decided to have Miss Bloom's best friend spend the night and take the two of them horseback riding. She was totally on board with the idea! Riding horses isn't very dress-friendly so I thought that I could make her a fun tshirt celebrating two of her biggest loves: horses and cheetah print!

Folk Art and Forestry: Happy 5th Birthday Miss Belle!

Happy 5th birthday to my goofy Miss Belle! She has been counting down the "sleeps" until today. Such a cute kid! To celebrate this special occassion I took the kids on a picnic hike earlier today. And we managed to get some pictures of her new birthday dress during our adventure.

Vintage-Style Sweater Clip

This weekend we're going to visit my husband's family. And that means family pictures. We've started a new tradition where each family group chooses a color and this year our family is going with purple. So I've been trying to piece together purple shirts for all of us and I think I've got almost everybody figured out. Which is good because we're leaving in less than 48 hours. I decided to put Miss Belle in this purple polo dress and sweater but I didn't like the way the sweater was hanging on her. Then I remembered those sweater clips that little old ladies wear to keep their cardigans in place and wondered if I could find materials around the house to make a simple sweater clip. Coincidentally, while I was in the living room pondering Miss Belle and Little Boy Blue were playing in the coat closet and trying on old winter coats. I noticed a pair of mitten clips (without mittens attached. Ironic.) hanging from the size 2T coat Miss Belle was trying to squeeze into. Aha!!!

Batgirl!

One of my favorite things about this job is collaborating with customers to come up with new designs. The Firestar Supercape Set was originally made at the request of a customer and is now one of our biggest hits!

Passover Pageantry

It's my favorite holiday of the year- Passover! I love all of it: matzoh ball soup, searching for the afikomen, my mom's mouthwatering brisket, a table full of family and almost-family (30 this year!). In our house we've been busily preparing for the Seder. Toffee matzoh, flourless cookies, and charoset are all freshly made and waiting to go over to Grandma and Grandpa's house. And then, of course, there are the clothes.

Saltstone Zoo

Yesterday was a dark, stormy, rainy day. April Showers, for sure. Miss Bloom was at school and the little ones and I thought we should do an art project. Miss Belle has a book of art ideas that she and Grandpa checked out from the library. She wanted to paint animals on pebbles. Unfortunately, we didn't have any pebbles lying around and the weather was not pebble-finding friendly. So we decided to make our own! Stones made from salt dough.

The Superhero Blanket

Recently, a customer approached me about a special project. She wanted a superhero cape, but one that was warm, soft and big enough to snuggle up in. Thus, the Superhero Blanket was born. It buttons at the neck like a regular superhero cape.

A visit from Flora Soleil and the Fairy Button Ring

It's been five long months since Miss Bloom lost her first baby tooth. The tooth next to it was wiggly (it became wiggly the day after the first tooth fell out, if you ask her) but, as much as she played with it, that little guy wouldn't come out. On Monday Miss Bloom and her friend Kat paid a visit to the school's resident tooth puller. Kat's tooth came out but Miss Bloom's wasn't quite ready. Finally (finally!) Miss Bloom came home from school yesterday with that precious envelope from Madame Lorena.

Chanukah in the Chouse: Night 1

Last night was the first night of Chanukah and we started The Festival of Lights off deliciously. I decided that, this year, we will do something for each night of Chanukah. Earlier in the week, Miss Belle helped me get it all set up.

It's time for... Chanukah in the Chouse (almost)

Chanukah starts at sundown tonight and we are in major prep mode. Even though we celebrate a very low key, tree-and-Santa-only Christmas, it feels like Chanukah is always an afterthought for the kids. Because it is the actual religiously relevant holiday in our household, I decided to ramp things up a bit with eight days of fun. Come back to see how we are celebrating our 8 Crazy Nights of the Festival of Lights.

Magic Bravery Beans

Our household has been a dangerous place for headbands lately. Headbands are breaking left and right. You could almost call it an epidemic. I thought that the problem was Miss Bloom playing too rough at recess or sharing her hair stuff with her friends. Then a few of our Daisy friends let it slip at an event over the weekend that Miss Bloom has been breaking her headbands on purpose at school. What?!?

Happy Halloween!

My poor blog has been a bit neglected lately. I have been so busy with the kids, their school, Girl Scouts... and making Halloween costumes! I spent more time than I had planned on creating just the right looks for my little ones. But it was so worth it. I think they look great and they are super happy with the results.

Two-Step Stencil: French Kat

This past weekend the girls and I attended the birthday party of one of the sweetest kids we know at Miss Bloom's school. Miss Bloom and Kat go to a French-speaking school, so I wanted to create something with a French theme. I combined that with the birthday girl's name and had my inspiration. A French Kat freezer paper stenciled tee.

Aarrrgghh!!!! Talk like a Pirate Day!

Blimey! It's Talk like a Pirate Day! To celebrate, I'm listing the Pirate DressUp Set in the Bloom & Belle shop.

 The complete set includes:

A hat

Eyepatch

Hook

And beard in your choice of color:

Black, blonde, dark brown, gray, light brown, or orange.

Grab the ultimate buccaneer dress up kit for your little land lubber today!

Fashion Refashion: Saving the Beloved Frog PJs (Part 3)

Welcome to the third and final installment of Fashion Refashion: Saving the Beloved Frog PJs. On Saturday I demonstrated how I made Miss Belle's new friend, Snowball the Bunny. Yesterday I showed how I made Miss Belle's boatneck tee and jumper. Today I'm going to wrap things up with a dress and apron for Snowball.