All posts by kgiff

photography, songs of life

Forever Young | Lifestyle Photography

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This month’s theme for my lifestyle photography group is Forever young. The song for this month’s theme is from Bob Dylan by the same name.

When I found out the theme, immediately this image popped in my head from last year where my dad was holding the handle bars and riding on the back of my 3 year old’s tricycle with her. I wished I had a camera with me then, because my dad was the poster child for never growing up and it was such a sweet moment between the two of them.

My dad and my daughter have this amazing relationship. They will play together for hours. I knew I wanted my images to capture this relationship they have and the aspect of play since playing is usually associated with youth. Unfortunately the weather wasn’t great when we had time to visit, so we did a lot of playing in doors.

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This is the first time my dad pulled out the Construx from mine and my brother’s youth to show Em.

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A few activities later, and I found them playing with legos

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May your heart always be joyful
And may your song always be sung
May you stay forever young

Growing up is optional.

Next in our blog circle is Cindy MacDonald from The Simple Things in Life Photography. Head on over to check out her interpretation of Forever young.

photography, songs of life

Brave | Life Style Photography

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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.

Minnie, You Are a Lot Bigger Than I Expected

Oh, Wow, It's Really You!

Wait, I'm not too Sure About This Hand Holding

Okay, That's Too Close

Goofy, You're Really Tall

High Five For Goofy!

Hey, This Isn't So Bad.

He's Invading My Personal Space

This is Cool.

Very Skeptical of the Mouse

Mickey is Pretty Cool

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

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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.

Sheriff Callie Dress -- MODKID Avery Sew-Along

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.

Fabric Iron and folded. Pattern printed out. I think I'm ready. #averysewalong #halloween #costumemaking #averysewalongday1

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.

Color blocking the bodice is finally complete. Now I can start day 2 of the #averysewalong! #behind #halloweensewing

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.

Just add belt, scarf, ears, and tail. Oh and hat and boots. #averysewalong #halloweensewing #sheriffcallie #halloween #gettingcrafty

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).”

Sheriff Callie's belt. It's not perfect, but good enough for a costume. #sheriffcallie #halloweensewing #halloween #costumemaking

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

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)
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

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Tinkerbell sundress cut in July is finally sewn. Oliver + S Popover Sundress (free pattern). #kcw #kidsclothesweek #gettingcrafty #oliverands

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
Sewing

Tinkerbell Hoodie – Happy Homemade Sew-along

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I’ve had a love for Japanese sewing books since I discovered them last summer. I stumbled upon them via Pinterest on day and spent many a day after that looking at the books online and reading blogs about how to sew a pattern when you can’t read what it says. When I discovered a couple were available in english, I ordered them immediately. Of course I was still intimidated by the books—the pattern sheets are layered and need to be traced and seam allowances need to be added. When You & Mie and Elsie Marley announced the Happy Homemade Sew-along, I knew this was the perfect opportunity to jump in.

Happy Homemade Hoodie

I’ve had the Happy Homemade Sew Chic Kids book for nearly a year and the Hoodie (Pattern S) has been high of my list of patterns to try. I had actually decided on the fabric for it about four months ago, but I hadn’t gotten around to sewing it. Also the fabric I wanted to use was brown and I wasn’t exactly sure how receptive little miss would be of a brown hoodie. When the sew-along was announced, I started brain storming on what I could do to make brown more interesting. My inspiration in part came from Heidi and Finn’s Elsa Tunic. I had decided tinker bell’s green would compliment the brown nicely and when we were at the fabric store looking for the right green fabric, we also found a purple tinker bell fabric that became the lining of the hoodie and a dress shortly.

So Japanese pattern books are laid out of bit different than what we are used to. The front of the book is filled with beautiful photography with the kids wearing the clothes and the back of the book is the instructions. The patterns overlay one another on the sheet and they are printed on both sides—this means you need to trace the pattern. Also, seam allowances are not included so after you trace the pattern, you need to include the seam allowances as well.

tracing japanese pattern

Overall, I really enjoyed putting together this pattern. The most difficult part was the neckline, but between the tips I had read to make the binding slightly larger and going out and buying the right size elastic. (The pattern called for 1/4” and I only had 3/8” on hand and that 1/8” made a huge difference in the fussiness of trying to get the neckline done.) I’m still very slow at sewing so it took me around 2 hours each day of the sew-along.

happy homemade sew chic kids hoodie

I have a pair of shorts and a dress cut out of the same fabrics. The hoodie and shorts will make a nice cover-up for after dance or gymnastics or swimming I think.

Pattern Details

Pattern
Happy Homemade Sew Chic Kids Pattern S
Fabrics
  • Main Fabric: Brown Woven Supplex from Chez Ami
  • Supporting Fabrics: from Jo-Anns

Happy Homemade Hoodie

The sew along provides great instructions if you’re looking at making this pattern:
Announcing . . .
Where to buy the book
Hoodie Inspiration
Mixing it Up
Fabrics
What you’ll need
Schedule and Sew-along Prize
Day One
Day Two
Day Three
Day Four
Day Five

Happy Homemade Hoodie

Sewing

Pirate Girl Costume

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With Jake and the Neverland Pirates being all the rage in the preschool class, someone decided she wanted a pirate costume.

Pirate Costume

The skirt was made using the The DOUBLE-LAYER Square Circle Skirt tutorial from Make It & Love It with a red and white striped knit..

Pirate Costume

The vest was made using the Pirate Life costume tutorial and pattern on MADE. The suggested size range was from 2-4 years old, so I extended the top and side seams about a half inch. The outside of the vest is a cheap black satin that was used for another project, the bias tape was made by hand using this tutorial on how to turn a fat quarter into bias tape with a red and white stripe from Jo-Anns. The lining (which totally wasn’t necessary, but totally adds an element of fun) is Pirate Girls in Pearl from Michael Miller’s Out to Sea Collection.

Pirate Costume

The last piece was the blouse. I used the Audrey Dress pattern from Violette Fileld Threads as the base. I wanted it blousey with room to grow into so I cut the size 5 dress pattern with the length of the 3. From there I gave the hem and neckline and 1/4” hem and sewed a piece of elastic 1” from the edge around the cuff. I made a center slit at the neckline and added bias tape to the edge and then sewed the recommended amount of elastic 1” from the neckline. I added 3 button holes on each side to add laces to to the blouse.

Pirate Costume