And the winner is.....

Today I was one proud mama. Vanessa decorated a sweater for a Crazy Christmas contest at school all by herself. She picked the decorations. I handed her the glue and scissors and told her it was her project and to go to town. She knew exactly how she wanted it and it turned out great. 

So tonight we went back to school to enjoy pizza, cookies and hot cocoa and meet up with everyone and check out their Christmas sweaters. In a shy voice Vanessa said "I hope I win". Well the time came for the judging and she in fact did win. She got to take home a big bag of candy which she now calls her "winner candy". 

After the compeition everyone went to the local care homes to sing Christmas carols. Nessie may have been the all eat one there but she sang with the biggest voice. She loved cheering up these

People. 

I am so proud of her. I couldn't be more blessed than to have her as my child. 

Let it go– finally finished another costume

So 8,9 months ago, after walking out of the theater having just seen Frozen, Vanessa looks at me and says “Mom I want to be Elsa for Halloween”. So I knew for that long I had to make her a dress. But in good ole Laura fashion, I waited two weeks before Halloween to start making something. BAD idea since most of the fabric that would resemble an Elsa ensemble was gone. Sooooo, I had to get creative. I looked at what was left and knew the dress would have lots of layers to give the same effect as Elsa’s dress. It turned out pretty good.

 

I got the pattern from McCalls since I liked the look a little better than Simplicity’s version of Elsa. I did make some big changes to the dress though. For one, I put in a lace-up back which I always wanted to try. The pattern was pretty straightforward and I really wasn’t confused by anything until I got tired. But I seem to have really good luck with McCalls patterns – they do me well.

 

And two, instead of cutting out fabric snowflake appliques, I stenciled out snowflakes first on the Cricut (then the design didn’t turn out right so I exact knifed each snowflake by hand (yes, it did take hours)). I used freezer paper for the first time for the stencils.

You iron it, waxy side down, and then use your glue and sprinkle glitter over it. I used Martha Stewart glitter glue and her silver glitter. The only problem was peeling each and every snowflake off and that was tough. It just didn’t want to peel off.

 

 

Time to sew all these tons and tons of layers together. That was the hardest part. Because I layered all the materials for an effect, it was hard to keep it together as it ran through the machine. I had glitter on my face and my clothes for days. Looks like I took up a night job.

Then I added the lace up back which wasn’t as hard as I thought it would be but I did hit my finger a couple times with the hammer when I was closing up the grommets. I still would like to try it out the grommets on a cotton material because it really was a fun way to close something up.

Then once the dress was together I got to do some of the fun parts. I decided to add a silver/glitter rope to the bottom of the bodice. Then on the neck and the back of the cape I wanted to add crystals everywhere for extra sparkle. I used my hotfix crystal tool, but you could use a hot iron to put the crystals on as well.

Then the dress was done, but I still had to figure out how to make her hair. So I crocheted a basic cap and then on every loop at the bottom I used either 1,2, or 3 strands of 3 feet yarn and made a side braid. It looked a little plain so I put ribbon through the top and then added crocheted snowflakes. This is what I did to make snowflakes: Make a magic loop. Rnd 1: Ch 1, 12 sc in ring, join with slip stich Rnd 2: Ch 1 (sc, ch5, sc, ch1) in same stitch, skip 1 sc, and repeat till end. Fasten off.

Last, I just got some silver shoes from Old Navy and called it good.

 

 

 

So its done. I think I might want to make a trick or treat bag but I’ll save that for another post. Here is the finished product. And thanks to my husband for looking at fabric and putting up with me while I made it.

 

Running on Empty

So many of the closest to me knew I had my favorite race a couple weeks ago - the Urban cow half marathon.

 

This is truly the one race I'll never miss. It is just a blast. Bands every couple miles blasting music to keep you going, along with at least 7 aid stations with water and Gatorade. And this time the Gatorade was my saving grace to keep me going for those 13.1 miles. My timing was better than I thought but a few things happened that I need to correct for next time: 

 1) need to eat a small breakfast before a run with that kind of distance. I usually don't eat at all out of nerves but I need to get over it because my body was aching for fuel. 

2) need to think about some type of pack to wear to carry additional fuel. Again with that kind of distance you need to be refueling at some point. 

3) don't sit down at all when its over - at least not for awhile. I sat down immediately and the lactic acid came rushing to my muscles and I was in extreme pain. Thank goodness they had an abundant supply of beach hut sandwhiches, cookies, cheese and fruit to eat after the race to help, again, with fueling your body. Urban cow you rock 

4) as always, have your biggest fans cheering you on. That's what makes me the happiest. And the run is all worth it. 

Calligraphy - practice practice practice

Been a long time since I've posted. What have I been up to - been busy helping coach Nessie's soccer team and now her being in preschool while still trying to fit in running, knitting/sewing, and making dinner (which lately comes in a plastic bag with the words Subway on front). And leave it to me to wait to the last minute to renew my license. praying my skills that got me through procrastination in college will get me through now. So I decided I would like to make life even harder on myself and perfect calligraphy. It's been hard. Really hard. I even took a course and you know what... It's still hard.  Here are a few pics of my stuff. I am improving just more at the rate of someone who is learning to write with their feet. 

Someday over the rainbow

Not sure I know a lot about dreams or what will come of my future, but sometimes when you’re sitting back and not thinking anything except how beautiful the sky looks you just want to capture that moment. So tonight I did. Sometimes Sacramento just has the most amazing weather. Today was pretty awesome. Take a look yourself.

Invite by Request

One of my great and special friends wanted to have a party celebrating the upcoming birth of one daughter and the birthday of her first daughter. I was thrilled when she asked me to design the invitations for the big event. Her only request is that it be a bubble theme. No problem. So I came up with this. This really fit her personality of being cute and bubbly (had to throw that one in there).

My dress

So, last year when I gave up shopping for the year I made a summer dress for me to wear, which I never got a chance to wear till today. The hot weather in Sacramento is here today and I put on the dress that I made with my hands.

I chose a simple dress from the NEWLook Collection of Simplicity. http://www.simplicity.com/p-5860-misses-dresses-bag.aspx 

 The pattern was easy and there was no ambiguity when reading it.

The fit – I have a narrow waist and the dress is pretty straight so I used a belt to sorta synch in the middle. Next time I might take in the seams around the waist.

I put a bolero over it because I have arm issues So I might do a longer sleeve the next time.

Love this dress though and I want to make it in every color. Maybe black next time.

Adventure Day

Today was fun. It was the third annual Adventure Day. We went to the zoo and Funderland and was joined in the evening with lots of people. Been a crazy crazy day but lots of fun.

Lets Fly a Kite

Today we spent the day in Old Sac. We went to Steamers, a café down by the river, picked up a kite down in the old shops and headed to the grass nestled between the quaint but still grand buildings in Old Sacramento. We had so much fun and nothing could be better with the sun shining on us and a light breeze. I’m so proud of my brother and I’m glad he came with us. He has made some changes in his life and I couldn’t be more proud. Love my family – all of them.