Inspiration Monday: The TomKat Studio

Monday, January 31, 2011

I just recently discovered the TomKat Studio, but I feel like I have been missing out! She's been blogging and throwing awesome parties for a while now and I'm pretty sure she's in Chandler! Check out her adorable new website



She also has a cute Etsy shop filled with printable party designs so you can throw a TomKat style party yourself!


Check out all her posts, parties, and printables and kiss the rest of your day away because you will be sucked in for hours!

Who wants to buy my children?

Thursday, January 27, 2011






Because I need some money to buy this collection too.

More sneak peeks at Pink Paislee. I CAN"T WAIT UNTIL CHA IS OVER!

HOLD ON TO YOUR BUTTS

Wednesday, January 26, 2011

Because I could die over this.







Visit Pink Paislee's blog to see the rest of the CHA Sneak Peak!

Now pardon me while I go and take out a line of credit just to buy EVERY PIECE OF THIS

Wordless Wednesday: Braden & Landen

Tutorial Tuesday (and Pattern!)-Shift Dress & Pencil Skirt

Tuesday, January 25, 2011

It's finally here! my Emerson-Inspired Shift Dress!


Yes, it needs ironing, but you know how impatient I am. And how much I hate ironing.

I drafted my own pattern free-hand (and it took me a few frustrated tries, believe me) but I finally got it and I am THRILLED with it! My mom still has to add the zipper in the back and the darts at the bust- but the rest of the dress is Easy Peasy Lemon Squeezy.

If you want to draft your own pattern I suggest using a sharpie, freezer paper from the grocery store, and my pattern. The pattern is in pieces- just print all the pieces on your 8.5" x 11" paper, then tape together and trace with a big piece of freezer paper.

Front of Bodice



Back of Bodice




Front of Skirt





Back of Skirt




The lines of these are hard to see once i uploaded them, so just use as a guide and freehand in all the missing spaces.


Or you can grab a skirt or dress that you like the fit of and use it as a guide when free handing your pattern. Also DO NOT forget to measure your own bust and hips and thighs, or you will end up with a chest crushing red dress that you can't wear and breathe at the same time, like me. Boo.



Anywhooter, I made my shift dress in black and I love it. It really is the perfect little black dress- you can make it super casual with sandals, work appropriate with flats, and formal with heels. Add a big huge EmersonMade. inspired bloom- and you look almost as wonderful as Emerson herself.

I got the pattern for this flower on Grosgrain (have you been there? Don't even go, or your whole life will be sucked away, seriously) and whipped up this fabulous huge bloom for my new dress. Do you love it?


As an added bonus-I had some extra black cotton left over (I used 2 yards total for both the dress and the skirt!) so I just used the bottom portion of the pattern to make a pencil skirt!


Now on to the Tutorial!

For the Dress
This dress takes about 1 1/2 yards of fabric. I used a cheap black cotton ($4/yard) but it would be better with some heavier weight fabric so it's not so see through, since it is unlined. Or you could probably just line it with double layers of fabric. But that's too complicated for me, so I just stuck with the easy stuff.

1) Fold fabric in half and on the fold lay the pattern of the front bodice on the fold. Line up the front skirt pattern with the bodice pattern on the fold and trace with a washable marker or a piece of chalk. Repeat with the back bodice and back skirt patterns. Cut out pattern pieces.

2) Put your 2 cut out pieces of fabrics Right Sides together. Line up the straps, pin together and sew top of straps.

3) Pin sides of dress together (Right sides together) and sew up sides of dress. DO NOT SEW THE ARMHOLES CLOSED. I may or may not have done this. Twice.

4) Flip dress right side out and try on to make sure you like the fit. If you don't, I really don't know what to tell you. I'm not a seamstress. Probably just throw away your dress and alter the pattern and start from scratch. I'm sure there are ways to fix it, but I'm a beginnner so you're kind of on your own.

5) If you DO like your dress, fold over 1/4" of the neckline twice, press, then pin. Sew around carefully (this is the hardest part-making sure the curves of the neckline don't bunch when you sew), then repeat with the armholes. Now you have finished seams on the neck and arms.

6) Hem your dress. Fold over 1/4" of the bottom of the dress twice, press, pin, then sew.

7) If you'd like a zipper instead of a pullover dress, follow these directions for inserting a zipper. Also you can add a hook and eye closure in the back following these directions. Emerson's dress has both.

8) Now you can add heels & a belt and look fancy, or add flats and your big bloom to look casually chic. And be happy, you just made a simple, fabulous shift dress!

If you have leftover fabric, and want to make a pencil skirt, follow these directions:
1) Repeat Step 1 from the dress pattern, except only use the front and back of the skirt pattern.

2) Once you have your 2 pieces cut, pin the together (right sides toegether) and sew.

3) Flip right side out, try on, and cut length of hem if you want it shorter. I like longer pencils.

4) Follow Step 6 above to hem the bottom of the skirt

5) Fold 1/4" of the waist (top of the skirt) over and press, then fold over 1 or 1.5" and press to make waistband. Pin, then sew around. You can add in a zipper, a hook an eye, or even elastic

6) Voila! You now have a sassy pencil skirt.


NOTE: I get that this is not the best tutorial. Let me reiterate that I am not the best sewer. Only a beginner, so my tutorial is probably lacking quite a bit, but at least this gives the general idea and maybe gives you the confidence to try it out yourself! It's really an experiment trying to see what works best for you!

Inspiration Monday: EmersonMade.

Monday, January 24, 2011

Have you seen EmersonMade.? Saying that I am obsessed with her is putting it mildly. First, I was in love with her big huge blooms.


Then I fell in love with her delightful blog that features her gorgeous farmhouse that I covet and her sweet husband and duckies and basically her life is perfect.


Then, (natch) she started her own clothing line and BOOM! I fell in love. All over again. I mean really, how amazing are the clothes?




So simple and classy and perfect. And my favorite part is that she models everything. That's when you know her heart and soul is in her business. I love her.

And look! She has a wonderful new clothing line for Spring- just launched today! AHHH! They're so gorgeous I could die!





As much as I love her to death, I unfortunately can not afford to buy her clothes at this time. Maybe someday a time will come when I can purchase one dress for $168 without blinking an eye (or getting a divorce ;) but today is not that day. So, I made my my own EmersonMade. inspired dress.


Come back tomorrow for the reveal & a tutorial!

House of 3 CHA preview Webshow

Wednesday, January 19, 2011



Watch and have heart palpitations over all the fun stuff coming up!

Come and Craft with Us Tonight

Monday, January 17, 2011



Tonight at 7:00- my house! Leave a comment to let me know you're coming so I can have supplies for everyone!

Who's up for a Calendar Craft Night?

Thursday, January 13, 2011



After watching the webshow last night I am EXPLODING with crafty ideas! Who wants to come over for a craft night? I want to make the photo wall calendar they showed on the webshow, as well as the calendar banners, and the magnet calendars- they were all so amazing. I'm sure a lot of you want to make them too, but maybe are a little nervous about digi still and want some extra help so why don't we all do it together?


Leave a comment or email me at rosemaryw@me.com to let me know if you're coming! It will be fun!

Tutorial Tuesday (and Freebies!)-Different Projects using Digital Kits

Tuesday, January 11, 2011

I get a lot of questions about Digital Scrapbooking. What is it? What do you do with it? It's kind of ridiculous, but I've actually never made a scrapbook out of any digital kits. What I mainly use digital scrapbooking kits for is Home Decor. I have a really whimsical style, and using digital kits and paper crafts is a cheap, easy, and fun way to change out the decorations of my house and give everything a facelift.



Like I mentioned yesterday, after watching last week's webshow I got really revved up and made a ton of stuff they talked about using the Remarkable Digital Kit. I made myself a planner with To Do Lists, Menus & Shopping Lists, and some Mantras & goal pages to keep myself on track. But what I really needed was a schedule with the hours & half hours of the day mapped out, however that was not in the digital kit. So, I got to work in Photoshop and made my own. Since you can't find it in the kit, I figured I can share it here for you to use!

To make it I used the Remarkable Kit brushes & the numbers from the Fall Junque Kit

I printed out some cover pages (both re-designed by me & included in the Remarkable Kit) on Manila Folders for sturdiness and glued them to some leftover chipboard from yesterday's project. *Remember-use cereal boxes! then printed out all my pages to my planner on plain white copy paper and tied with some Divine Twine. I. am. in. love. So handy & oh so cute to carry around.



Then I got to work on some other fun projects for my house, like some banners and more signs to decorate the shelf over my piano. I used the Remarkable Circle Printable Sheet (which was free on Wednesday's webshow, but now only $0.99!) and punched out the designs with my scallop circle punch, hot glued them to more Divine Twine and hung it on my mantel shelf. I wanted another banner up there, so I created one using the same colors & elements from the Remarkable Kit. Again, since it's not available in the kit, I wanted to share it with you here. Just print out, cut into strips, fold in half & cut notches for the little flag shapes. Then hot glue onto Divine Twine and string up!



I had an extra frame leftover, so I printed up one of the Spark Quotes in an 8 x 10 and glued it into the frame.


I resolved to do a family album that can also double as decor for my piano. I used more of the Remarkable Kit & Circle Printables, Divine Twine, & added a crepe ruffle & rhinestones to the cover. I plan to add pages to the album each week- let's hope I can keep that up this time!



Now I have a decorated section of my house that makes me smile every time I walk by