Brave | Life Style Photography

October 29, 2014 kgiff 4 Comments

I’ve been in a Lifestyle photography group on Facebook for a while and this is the first time I’ve managed to both complete the assignment and get it blogged about in time for the monthly post. The group uses a song each month as inspiration to capture everyday moments in our lives.

This month’s theme is brave and was inspired by Sara Bareilles’ song Brave. Being brave is something we have talked about a lot in the last two months. I’m finding out just how intimidating this world can be for a newly four year old to navigate and comprehend.

Brave can apply to so many everyday situations from starting a new class at school with two new teachers and being filled with entirely new friends; getting new instructors at our extra curricular activities; being a flower girl and walking down an aisle alone; and just talking to people and answering questions.

I had so many ideas as to how I wanted to photograph this theme, and in the end I ended up using pictures that weren’t shot with this intention. We recently got back from a very quick trip to Disney World. My little girl was so excited to meet the princesses and other characters, but when it came time to meet her first princess, she was too shy to do so. We were at Enchanted Tales with Belle and she was very hesitant to go up to Belle and decided to stay back with us even after I offered to go up with her.

The next morning we had a character breakfast with the fab 5 (Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Goofy, and Pluto) and while she was ecstatic to see them at a distance she wasn’t so sure about getting close to them. The pictures I captured as the various characters came over and sat down next to her show her working on being brave.

By the time the last of the Fab 5 cam by, she was feeling much braver. And while Pluto didn’t come and sit down next to her, she did say “Hi, Pluto.” I’m so proud of my little girl.

Next in the blog circle is Lucy Sandeen from Lucy Elayne Photography. This month’s theme was inspired by her daughter who just completed her last chemo treatment. The spirit of this little girl is infectious; she is a fighter and I have so much admiration and respect for her and her mother. Lucy’s Brave post.

Sewing

Sheriff Callie Halloween Costume

October 26, 2014 kgiff 1 Comment

Little miss decided early on that she wanted to be Sheriff Callie for halloween. My initial thought was to use the same skirt pattern as last year and make a vest, but then when the MODKID Avery Sew-Along was announced, inspiration struck and I decided this pattern could be used for her costume.

For those asking who is the Sheriff Callie, she’s the main character on a relatively new show called Sheriff Callie’s Wild West on Disney Junior. She’s a kitty cat, that’s a sheriff, and has a bird and a cactus as her sidekicks.

The last couple of years, her costumes haven’t felt finished because a white tee was just thrown under the accessories I made. Using the Avery dress pattern meant the costume would have had a more finished look.

My initial plan was to make the top a solid color white with color blocking the blue at the bottom of the top as the jeans waistband in half hearted attempt that maybe the dress could be worn not as a costume. But she has enough clothes, so I figured I’d go all in and make the vest as part of the top. The pink piping “V”s were more of a challenge than I thought they’d be, but eventually we had a color blocked top.

I was already set on doing the double layer skirt like the modkid Julia pattern with the pink Chevrons under the cobalt blue chambray so that was added.

The final touches were Sheriff Callie’s accessories including, belt, scarf, and hat. The belt was sewn up using some leather looking vinyl and quilting cottons for the belt buckle and appliqué. The Scarf is a large square that I tried using a rolled hem for (other than the corners, it looks really nice — I need to figure out the corners).”

I sewed this up in a size 4 and it’s a perfect fit for her. I decided against using any stretch fabric, so unfortunately this won’t last for dress up for long.

sheriff callie and sparky - halloween 2014

Of course the dog needed to be involved as well. So what better costume than Sparky, Sheriff Callie’s trusty sidekick.

Pattern Details

Pattern

ModKid Avery
(Pattern Alterations – color blocking the top, squaring off the rounded collar, and adding the double skirt)

Fabrics (from top to bottom in picture above)

Free Spirit Designer Solid in Pink – Hawthorne Threads
Brown faux suede upholstery fabric – Jo-Anns (left over from re-covering pillows)
Dimples in White – Hawthorne Threads
Brown Vinyl with leather texture – Jo-Anns (purchased 5 or 6 years ago)
Robert Kaufman Interweave Chambray in Cobalt
Riley Blake Chevron Tone on Tone in Hot Pink
Yellows taken from mom’s quilting stash

Notions

Pink piping from Jo-Ann’s
Mis-matched white buttons from the button stash
Dark colored button from button stash

Sewing

Kids Clothes Week – Tinkerbell Sundress

October 22, 2014 kgiff Leave a comment

The pattern was assembled and the fabric cut for the last kids clothes week, but life got in the way and it never was finished so I decided to resurrect it for this week.

You’ll notice the fabric’s are the same that were used for my Happy Homemade Sew Along Hoodie. Hopefully the hoodie will help extend the life of the dress since we’re heading into fall.

I’m still a very slow sewer and this dress took me between 3 and 4 hours to sew. It’s a pretty quick sew (or should be and a lovely pattern.

Pattern Details

Pattern

Oliver + S Popover Sundress (free pattern)

Fabrics

Tinkerbell print – Jo-Ann Fabrics
Green with metallic print dots – Jo-Ann Fabrics

Analog Bytes

Monthly Archives: October 2014

Brave | Life Style Photography

Sheriff Callie Halloween Costume

Pattern Details

Kids Clothes Week – Tinkerbell Sundress

Pattern Details

After spending all day in front of a computer, getting crafty is what I like to do to unwind.