It's been how long?!

So I will start off by saying that oh wow so much time has passed since I last blogged! Life has changed and bought with it a new set of joys and challenges.... Meet my sons; Bronson and Hunter. They certainly keep me busy!

Photo Credit: Tiffany Jane Photography

I have been thinking about blogging again, and as I have discovered the fun world of doll making, I certainly have a lot that I could share... Here are some random pictures of what I have been creating:

 

You can visit me on Facebook page here :) Come along and say hello!

It feels good to be here, so maybe I'll stick around for a bit... Ha! It looks like I have a few blogs to catch up on. Until next time, take care!

Do You Wanna Build a Snowman?

It is one of my life-long ambitions to build a snowman. Living in the tropical Northern Territory of Australia, that is not going to happen anytime soon! A trip to New Zealand may be on the cards for 2015 and if that happens you can bet that will be a top priority for me!

 

So recently I watched the newest Disney movie, Frozen. The costumer side of me loved all of the outfits, especially those worn by Elsa and Anna. Elsa's Snow Queen gown was by far my favourite, and once I feel post-baby that I am ready to tackle costuming again, that will be one of my top priorities!

 

In the meantime, I satisfied my urge to recreate some magic of the movie and my dream to build a snowman via balloons. My original plan was to do both Elsa and Anna, but then I was on a roll with the snow theme and thought it would be best complimented by Olaf, the lovable snowman.

 

 

In an effort to use mixed media to enhance the balloons, I used a shimmery blue fabric for Elsa's cape. I even used my sewing machine to stitch her up some sleeves! I was feeling that ambitious haha

  

I was surprised at how much I enjoyed the character of Olaf. He is a larger-than life caricature, but his comedic presence is highly enjoyable.

 

I won't give away what happens in the movie... But I did cry twice (did I just admit that?!) in two of the emotional scenes. The musical score is amazing, but my husband didn't seem to think so. At. All. So I have to try not to burst out into song on a whim!

 

I wish I had some better pictures to share with you, but my aforementioned lovely (music critic) husband dropped my laptop which has my photo editing software :( But please feel free to enjoy what you can!

 

I'll leave you with an awesome cast photo!

 

Photo via http://enmnetwork.com/disneys-frozen/

 

Princess Serenity!

Forgive my long absence from the world of blogging, it's been far too long I know!

 

I have done a few blog-worthy creations in my absence, and I hope to get the chance to share them with you!

 

Here is a costume I made for Supanova Brisbane in November last year. It was one I promised myself that I would one day make, when a certain condition was met. Can you guess what that was?? I'm going to give you the chance to think about it, but I will tell you at the end of my post...

 

 

 

 

 

My favourite photos are by Lorenzo So Photography. 

  

I would love to put a shout-out to the lovely ladies of the following two blogs who gave me great inspiration when creating my dress Vanessa Brannan and My Cute Bow.

 

Some construction notes:

• I used the tutorial from My Cute Bow to make my bow
• The gold circles were an amazingly lucky find from Lincraft whilst in Brisbane. They had such a great collection of trims, and I managed to find these lovely glittery circles. The issues I had though was they only had just over a metre of it in stock and it was a combination of large and small circles, with an embroidered gold centre. I ummed and aahhhed over whether there would be enough gold circles to decorate the bodice, or if I should go for the silver that they had. Ultimately, I chose the gold (duh). I separated the gold circles with a few careful snips removed the interior embroidery, and then carefully hand-sewed them to the bodice. The beaded empire waist is also all individually hand-sewn beads.
• Fabric was from memory a shimmery purple organza for the bow, a white georgette romance polyester (I may have just attributed that wrongly!) and a white satin that was on special. I love the drape of the dress fabrics, but I wish I had chosen a less stiff fabric for the bow.
• The pattern used for the dress was Simplicity 2398. Modifications were to add about an inch to the bodice and about a foot to the bottom of the dress.
• I made the tiara out of wire, hot-glue, gold spray-paint, a heart charm I'd purchased in Bali and it attaches to the wig via four bobby-pins that are hot glued on. It was made in a bit of a rush, but at least it is somewhat recognisable haha (someone identified my cosplay based on it!)
• Earrings and necklaces were purchased from Lovisa.

 
Some in-progress photos:

Hmmm... I could have sworn I'd taken more but I think that is all the progress shots! I made a toile (muslin) for the bodice first to get the fit right. I just hoped that the rest would drape nicely over my blossoming shape... And it did haha!

 

Oh yes, that brings me to the reason for doing this cosplay! Have you guessed? It's because I'm pregnant! Yay!!! I was only 4 months pregnant at the time of these photos, so my bump isn't too prominent. But the dress still fit when I wore it to my Christmas work function at 5 months!

 

My little boy is due to arrive in the world on April 20 (Easter Sunday) and he will be my first little one. I am looking forward to the challenge of parent-hood, but full of feelings of uncertainty and trepidation at the same time. I do hope he shares his mummy's love of dressing up! hehe :D This is how I announced it to the world of Facebook:

 

 

 

 

If you have any questions about the dress, feel free to ask away and I will do my best to answer!

 

Balloon Dress (aka an Audition for Australia's Got Talent)

So, remember that I make balloons? And dresses? I also make balloon dresses! Recently, I auditioned for Australia's Got Talent, with a special dress just for the occasion! I had fun, but I don't think I'll be making it onto the show. But I'm okay with that!

I thought I would share some pictures with you from a mini photo-shoot me and my bestie had after the audition. I really think this is my most favourite balloon dress of all that I have made! 

It was a fun afternoon :) Got a few looks and questions (as you do) while we were in action. Yes, it is all made out of balloons. And no, I wasn't worried about the dress being popped or otherwise deflating!

If you want to see more of my balloons, you can be a fan on Facebook, visit my website or balloon blog! :)

Larkspur Summer Dress

UPDATED 18/05/13 to include pictures of me wearing the dress!

So I decided to enter the Project Sewn 'Sundress Challenge'.

In true deadline style, finished my dress with less than an hour to go!  I submitted my link to the link party 10 minutes before it closed to new submissions. Lucky.

Here in Australia it is nearly 7:30 at night, and my husband is out so unfortunately I don't have any pictures of me wearing the dress. Yet. But I plan on making him er, asking him nicely to take some proper pictures this weekend, outside and all... In the sun. As the purveyors of the challenge would be very glad to hear I'm sure!

Let's break down elements of how this dress came to be.

Inspirations

 THE FABRIC! Ever since I saw the Alexander Henry 'Larkspur' fabric online (probably someone's blog) it was love at first sight.

No project was ever worthy enough to cut into my beautiful fabric. Until now! 

KITTEN D'AMOUR An Australian clothing boutique that sells beautiful creations. Luckily for my purse,there are no stores in Darwin. 

These two dresses (although gorgeous!) were not my inspiration pieces per se, but it is to give you an idea about how lovely and inspiring their dresses are! You can even buy them here or here :)

Design

I had the unfortunate oversight of not ordering more of this yummy fabric. The advantage to this however was adding the solid teal boarder to lengthen the dress, otherwise it would be the most awkwardly short dress I have ever made!

The pattern was from one I have drafted on my dressmakers dummy, one I was creating for another dress entirely (with a fitted skirt no less :P) So this design was more organic and I let it come to me. The pictures below are developing the pattern for the other dress, but here you can see some of the design! Pattern pieces are made from draping on the dummy. And yes, I recycle sheets of paper by sticking them together!

The long sash connects into the side seams, and can be worn either to the front or back with a bow.

Construction

I'll take some photos soon to add of the insides of the dress etc I took great pains to match the fabric picture as best I could, and I'm really thrilled with how the birds of the bodice match up (there is three panels in the front, and 4 in the back).

Finishing techniques have been utilised to give it as much of a professional touch as possible. I hope to share those in these alleged photos :) Done!

 

Small touches really make the difference! A hand made loop for the hook and eye closure is something my instructor in my fashion design Cert IV really liked... So this is something I always try to consider when making my garments.

I even pulled out my overlocker... A machine of mine that doesn't get as much use as it should!

I'm so happy with my little dress. I am glad I was able to use this challenge as the opportunity to cut into my precious Larkspur fabric. If you have any questions at all, feel free to ask. Oh and I would really appreciate your vote if you believe I am worthy! Click here to see the other dresses and hopefully vote for me! ;)

What is Making Me Happy... And Inspired!

Do you ever get that itch? The one that you can't quite figure out how to scratch? It's that one you get when bitten by the creative bug. Pesky little scamps they are! ;) The only know cure is to get out there and make stuff!

Here's what is inspiring me to scratch that itch but the deadly enemy procrastination is out in full force attempting to neutralise me :S

... Finish my Sailor Moon Costume!

It might look pretty finished, but those bows are pinned on :P I will be wearing this to Supanova Sydney in June so it will be finished by then. 

This fabric! Look at its pretty-ness! Look at it! A guilty pleasure of mine is watching Adventure Time. Don't the little mermaids remind you of the cartoon style? 

 

(img via http://www.comicvine.com/)

Last time I was in Spotlight I saw this fabric but I couldn't afford it at the time. This time round the fabric was on sale for $9.99/m... Sold! I couldn't help myself but buy the strawberry fabric too :3

Except I couldn't find it and it was when I was asking in desperation if it was one of the bolts that needed to go back out on display that a fellow customer pointed out she saw it on the shelves. So I hurried back for my 6th look and finally found it! Wooo! Luckily the other customer knew what fabric I was talking about because the shop assistant didn't! :P

A work friend recently encouraged me to try my hand again at jewellery making, after I was showing her pictures of my crown. She gave me a few of her magazine doubles to help out the inspiration process... And I fell in love with this:

Sorry for a photo lacking visual pizzaz :P

No, not the pin board (which is really awesome BTW) , the rainbow bangle in the corner! It also gave me an excuse to finally put something on my pin board to inspire me. It was looking a little lonely and pathetic with nothing on it. 

As the bangle is all is Swarovski, it's going to be a little pricey and I have to source the bits from the US as I couldn't see them locally. But this is a definite on my list to create! There was also a cute pair of earrings in the same issue, so on the board they went.

I encourage you to visit the seller's Etsy store, Bluebirdss. It is full of rainbow deliciousness,  I can almost not stand it! It is so so hard to pick a favourite :(

For now I should go as my two nephews are coming over for dinner... they are (almost) 5 and 2. I need time to hide the breakables! haha Well, let's hope I have some more progress to show for next time :)

Balloons! (It's been a While)

Just a quick post to say hi to all! How has your week been? Mine...? Pretty reasonable! Too procrastinat-y for my liking though.

Maybe some of you know I'm a balloon twister, I post about it every now and then. I do have a whole another blog about that too, A Rainbow of Balloons (and I'm on Facebook too - Facebook.com/aballoonrainbow). I actually did a birthday party on Saturday for the cutest little girl, Toula.

I love getting to dress up as my alter-ego Rainbow!

Her awesome Aunt who asked me to come along also had a special request for a balloon Sophia the First... Here was my attempt! I've never made her before, but the hardest part was trying to make her crown! :((

It was absolutely adorable how Toula hugged her balloon! Melt my heart why don't ya kid?! The balloon was almost as big as she was! (I think she'd just turned 2.) I also made her a Minnie Mouse balloon at her party (no photos).

Because I really love my girly balloons so much, I thought I would share with you some of my recent favourite balloons I have created!

Are any of my readers balloon twisters? If you are, I'd love to know! There is so much joy to be had in bring a smile about from balloons!

I'm going to try for my 3rd year of auditioning for Australia's Got Talent. It's coming up soon, so I'm trying to think what I should do this time for my audition piece... :/

In other news, recently I scored some awesome fabric and other purchases which I'd love to share with you in my next post! I've discovered something fun that I'm keen to begin exploring more!

Until next time ;)