I feel like I have some explaining to do.....I have not been AWOL, I promise! My camera decided to quit operating 7 days AFTER the warranty expired, (right before Christmas and at the height of Cheer Competition season)...mwwaaahhhhhhhh! The good news is that I was assured by the Tech-Support agent that there is a "grace" period. So my camera has been shipped to Illinois for a well needed check-up. My fingers are crossed that Canon pulls through with the repairs and still honors the warranty!
In the meantime, I have been busy and have attempted to document some of my latest endeavors and projects via my cell phone camera. Please excuse the poor photo quality (2mp) :(
My 5 year old Princess is busy with her 1st year of All Star Competitive Cheer. She is on a Tiny Tots Team. There are 4 more girls ages 3-4 (and 1 boy) on her team and we decided to make all the girls TuTu Ruffle Aprons with matching Chef Hats for Christmas presents.
Like most families, we are on a budget for Christmas so I opted to use mostly my scrap fabric and leftovers from previous projects. I even cut up some Tinkerbell curtains that we never hung!
As a quick afterthought, and to feed my Tulle Obsession, I added a TuTu to the ruffle of the Tinkerbell (curtain) Apron. It was an IMMEDIATE hit with my Princess and INSPIRATION was born! I added a matching TuTu to the ruffle of each apron! ADORABLE!
I am in the process of setting up an ETSY shop and plan on featuring these TuTu Ruffle Aprons & Chef Hats! I plan on offering custom options and pre-made options.
Email me soon if you want to pre-order yours!
Also, stay tuned for little boy and Mommy & Me styles. Ohhhhh wouldn't these look cute for a Little Chef Birthday Party Theme.....the wheels are turning.....;)
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I mentioned above that my Princess is involved in Competitive All Star Cheerleading. She is following in the footsteps of her big sister who is almost 17...WHEW! At present, our family is eating, sleeping, and breathing CHEER! It can be exhausting and I'm sure my husbands wallet is a little bruised, but we are making new friends and traveling every other weekend.
I am always trying to think of cute ways to show support for our gym and typically use my 3 year old non-cheering Princess as my guinea pig. Speaking of guinea pigs....said 3 year old Princess recently fed a sterling silver gold plated necklace to our friends guinea pig. I am happy to report that thusfar... THE PIG LIVES!
I digress....
I sewed an outfit for my littlest Princess to wear at Cheer Competitions. I used fabrics that featured our gyms colors of purple, black, silver and white. I used a great product called Wonder-Under to affix the ELITE letters and stars to the front of the top and her jeans. Finally, I added a ruffle hem to an old pair of jeans. Little Princess gets so many ohhs and ahhs at the competitions! Here are a couple of pictures of her posing with the ELITE CHEER SENSATION TINY TOTS.
YES! That's my Princess showing off her High V! (above)
I also created a Cheerleader Ribbon Sculpture for Little Princess. It was made to match the Big Girls uniforms and I attached it to a hair clip. Here is a picture of it next to a picture of my oldest Princess wearing her uniform.
I want to tweak it a bit but it turned out so cute!
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I recently took one of our vehicles to the Checkered Flag Audi dealership in Virginia Beach for it's scheduled service. I had the Little Princess in tow and the kind folks there offered to drive us to the Lynnhaven Mall to wait out the labor. We had a surprise visit with Santa Clause and I was pleased to discover that Little Princess was NOT afraid of Santa this year! In fact she chatted away and away and away......
When she got off his lap, Santa Clause just looked at me and shrugged his shoulders!
Good thing SANTA is MAGIC and ALREADY knows what the all children want! ;)
The highlight of our trip to the Lynnhaven Mall was the ride on the carousel. It was the finale and what I used to bribe the Little Princess into perfect behavior, (yes i said BRIBED!). For her little self, the carousel ride even out-ranked Santa Claus!
I was impressed to discover that the carousel was imported from Italy and was painted with authentic Italian frescos and the horse tails were real horse hair. Next go-around I will pay more attention to the details :)
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I also recently dragged the Conductor to the Dollar Tree. He bought the 3 Princesses these Super-Sized Stockings. I waited until we got home to inform him since HE purchased the Super-Sized Stockings that SANTA was going to have to fill them....hehehehehehehehe ;)
I used Wonder-Under (again) to affix the letters to the stockings. It is a GREAT product that turns ordinary fabric into an iron on. I hung the Super-Sized Stockings to the mantle with sticky back velcro. (hopefully it doesn't take off the paint...)
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If you are looking for a last minute Christmas Gift, then here is a super easy, homemade gift that will brighten anyone's day.
You can't go wrong with a cookie mix in a jar!
I borrowed the recipe from
Bakerella.com (you can find her on my Blogs I Heart list) and substituted the M&M candies for the Christmas variety. I found the smooth quart jars at Michaels. I was in a crunch for time and finances so I opted to skip the investment in the cute hole punches to fit the jar lid and used the recipes cards in the picture above, (99cents). I used mini clothes pins to attach the recipe cards to wire ribbon around the fabric squares.
The Princesses helped, and we made one for each Cheer Coach, the Tumbling Coach the Kindergarten Teacher, the Advanced Anatomy Teacher and the Bus Driver.
The Avanced Anatomy Teacher reports that the recipe is DEEEE-LISH-US!
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Finally, I returned yesterday from a trip to Panama City, Florida. The day before, my 2 youngest Princesses had their photos taken at the beach on Tyndall AFB. (The oldest Princess is absent from the photos because she is on a Christmas trip to Cancun, Mexico with her Grandparents...BOILED SPRAT!) I can't wait to receive the final product from the photographer. In the meantime I snapped a couple shots with my cell.
