The kids had a hip-hop happy Heart Day this year! We started it off with a big ol' annual Valentine's breakfast on Saturday morning (because we have church early Sunday morning, and there's no way I was going to be able to get up at the crack of dawn and fix a huge breakfast before making it to church on time!) and carried the Valentine-making, treat-baking, lollipop-licking festivities through the weekend.
Of course I couldn't resist making the girls new outfits for the occasion. I tried not making them too heart-specific so they can wear them throughout the year.
The bottom tier of Hazel's "dress" is actually a skirt so she has more versatility with it. She can wear the top tunic with pants, and the skirt can be worn separately, of course. But today we put them all together into one big giant polka-dot fest of an outfit. Anything but subtle, eh?
During the dancing activity, Hazel lost her shoe, which left her quite distraught.
Oh, look...what a sweet brother! Hyrum helped her get her little pink shoe back where it needed to be. When he's not tormenting her, Hyrum is actually a very thoughtful big brother.
Eliza's shirt got a heart-y update with a piece of fabric that I fused on with double-sided interfacing. I ironed the fabric onto one side of the interfacing, then cut out the heart shape, then fused it to the shirt. It's supposed to survive machine washing without being satin-stitched (my workhorse sewing machine doesn't handle the finesse of satin stitching very well) around the edges, we'll see how that goes....
I tied a little velvet ribbon into a bow and then stitched that onto the shirt by hand as a finishing touch. Love that Olivia fabric, don't you? Actually some of it is official Olivia fabric, and the stripes and some polka dots are from Michael Miller. I love their graphic "basics", they go with so many things.
To learn how to sew a skirt like Eliza's just click on the twirly skirt tutorial in my sidebar. And a tut for Hazel's outfit can be found in my Tutorials sidebar under the title "little girl's sundress/romper."
When Eliza saw me working on these paintings, she was puzzled as to why on earth I was painting the word OX on canvas.
Even after I explained that the X and O meant hugs and kisses (or is it kisses and hugs? I always get confused about that), she was quite skeptical.
I wanted a rough sketchy look, so I didn't let myself use any brushes - the paint was applied with a palette knife and a big stick of vine charcoal created the outlines. It was a fun little project, I'm looking forward to being able to find the time to do some more paintings for our house - I have 2 more walls that are desperate for a big painting.
Hope y'all had a happy heart day! Now it's time to get ready for yet more time off school due to snow = the kids have been out of school for 10 days now, and they were supposed to have school tomorrow even though it's a holiday because of all the school they've missed. But guess what? The roads are still so packed with icy snow from last week's blizzard that there's no school tomorrow and possibly Tuesday too. Can you say cabin fever?! It's been wild around here, and more than a little noisy too (understatement). Here's hoping school resumes on Tuesday, for the mental and emotional benefit of moms and kids everywhere in Northern VA and wherever else this unseasonably heavy snowfall has landed. To the rest of you, please go hug a lawn or flowers or anything else springy for me.
SO cute! Looks like the girls had a great time in their dresses and skirts!
Posted by: Dianne | February 15, 2010 at 05:38 AM
Is that Olivia fabric?! I love those books--she's such a great character.
Posted by: DeAnn | February 15, 2010 at 02:51 PM
Just discovered your blog while searching for a good twirly skirt tutorial. Yours looks great! I'm excited to give it a try. It was a complete bonus to find an adult version AND a tutorial for a reversible cafe apron. THANK YOU for sharing your talents!
Posted by: Ruth | February 16, 2010 at 06:34 AM
They look so cute. And I love that painting. Now that I see that, I am starting to realize that big, simple paintings can be gorgeous. Maybe I could do that to! You really inspired me :-)
Posted by: Karin | February 18, 2010 at 12:16 AM
Children's are looking so Sweet :)
Posted by: Term Papers | March 12, 2010 at 02:03 AM