Little Maverick

I'm still working on the tutorial for the Bubble Ruffle Tu-Tu but in the mean time let's get things a little more manly up in here.  Poor Jackson, along with all the little men in our lives, seems to be pushed aside when it comes to new clothes.  But not today!

Here is a cute little shirt I made for Jackson for Christmas.  It was so simple and easy and gets so many compliments {mostly from guys who think it's "cool"}.

How I made it:  I made a freezer paper stencil of aviator glasses.  I used my Cricut and Sure-Cuts-A-Lot program but you could just print an image directly to your freezer paper and cut out with an exacto knife.  I ironed it onto a plain white t-shirt.  I put cardboard inside the shirt to protect the back side and then painted inside the stencil with black paint {that I added just a little fabric medium to}.  Peeled off the freezer paper stencil and I was done.

Here he is at 15 months old watching a UAB Blazer basketball game on New Years Eve.  As you can see he is very serious about his basketball.  Literally his first words were "Daddy", "Mommy" and "Basketball".  I'm serious.  Sadly the little champ is built more for football.  Dad doesn't mind but I don't know if I can sit through endless football games for the rest of my life.  Lets keep our fingers crossed for a basketball kid shall we?

This is his "cheese" smile.  As you can see the proportion of the stencil on the shirt looks a little off.  That's because at this time the shirt was huge.  It's a 2T shirt.  Little Papa has beefed up a little since then and the proportion is much better.

Here he is at 18 months at the 103.7 the Q lounge where we got a mini concert and a meet and greet with Chris Rene {my favorite!} from X-Factor.  If you don't know him yet, you soon will, he's Simon Cowell and LA Reids newest musician.  I won a contest.  It's a long and wonderful story and I'll fill you in on the details later but can you see the shirt has a much better fit?  It will get even better as he gets bigger.

So what are you waiting for?  It's time to stop craft neglecting our boys.  It's t-shirt time baby!

If you're looking for other ideas for shirts you can check out Jacksons

Batman & Robin Shirt

and 

The Weiner Dog Shirt

{This shirt is totally girly but you can easily man it up by not adding the pearl collar}

Blogger Apps and a tutorial promise

First of all, I want to say welcome to my new followers. I appreciate all of my readers and hope that you find The Creative Vault to be a source of inspiration in your own creative endeavors. Thanks for following along.

Now, onto the news of the day. Did you know that blogger now has an app where you can blog from your iPod/iPhone/whatever?

I just discovered it a few minutes ago and thought I'd test it out. I like that it's free and uploading my pictures is super fast and easy especially since I take almost all my pics with the iPod. I haven't figured out if I can do a picture then text then a picture and more text, you know like a regular blog post but for posts with just one or only pictures this is so great.

Anyone else have this app? How do you like it? Any tips for newbies like me?

I'm so excited I'll be blogging more often since this iPod is practically glued to my hand and my computer is sitting under piles of unfinished crafts.

Speaking of blog posts I have to say thank you so much for your kind words about the Bubble Ruffle Tu-Tu. I can't believe how much attention it's getting! It makes me blush. :) It didn't win the Sew Along competition (actually didn't even get honorable mention) but I don't care, it's just fun hearing from you guys and making my baby girl smile.

I wanted to tell you that I AM working on a tutorial on how to make it so stick around. I hope to have it finished by this week.

Thanks again for being the best!

The Bubble Ruffle Tu-Tu

UPDATE - The tutorial is here!  You can get the tutorial HERE.



A few weeks ago I auditioned to be a contestant on Project Run and Play, a competition blog for children's designs. Sadly, I did not make the cut but there were many kind people who offered me their shock, kind words and condolences. It was seriously so nice. I know many of those kind people are now followers of The Creative Vault and I just want to say thank you for making me feel special.

Those same kind people also encouraged me to participate in Project Run & Play's Sew Along. The sew along is the same challenge for the week as the designers but it's a separate sew at home competition. There's a prize for each weeks winner but mostly it's just fun to rise to a challenge.

This weeks challenge was to take Made's Circle Skirt Tutorial and mix it up and make it your own.

I can't promise I'll do every weeks sew along but I did play along this week and this is what I came up with.

The Bubble Ruffle Tu-Tu for my baby ballerina!

Okay, I'm embarrassed to tell you {but I will anyway} that this is repurposed from and older lady style {ahem} "nightgown".  It just had so much beautiful {free}chiffon that I just couldn't pass up.

To make the bubble ruffles, I just kind of bunched up the fabric and sewed it on randomly until it achieved the look I was going for.

I love when my random experiments work out.  Maggie loves her new "bow-wa-weena dwess" so win or lose in the competition I'd say that makes it a WIN right there.

Here's one more look -

I'd love it if you'd join the fun and Sew Along with me next week too.  Everything's more fun with a friend!

P.S.  You can go HERE to see the other skirts in the Sew Along competition.  It's so fun to see how different everyone's interpretations are.  Lot's of great talent!

My Morgan Dress

I have a new dress to show you today! 

 And here's the best part you can make your own too!

This is the Morgan Dress by Grits & Giggles.

About a week ago I was contacted by Jenilyn at Grits & Giggles to see if I would test out her Morgan Dress pattern.  Ummm... let me think... YES!

Here's what I came up with.

Maggie picked everything out (with just a teeny bit of prompting from mom).  I used a basic brown cotton with teeny tiny white polka dots.  The pattern is for the basic dress and it really allows for endless options fo embellishment so really one pattern can make for many different styles.  It's really versatile.

I decided to add embellishment by adding a white ruffle down the front and 3 big, bright, lime green buttons.  

I think I finally am able to describe my designing/sewing/purchasing style for Maggie as classic/vintage with a modern twist.  Like this dress which is that classic boutique dress that never goes out of style but with the ruffle and especially the color of the buttons it's on trend this season.  I've noticed this also with the colors and fit of Mags' Mod Mod Dress especially the Mod Mod styled with the neon tights and even with the New Glory His and Her's with last seasons trends at JCrew - big bows and pockets mixed with a classic nautical style.  Yeah, I think I'm officially declaring classic but trendy my style.

    

I really love this new dress and it was very simple to make.  It took about an hour to do even with having done French seams which takes longer (you don't have to do French seams with this dress).  I would say even the most beginner sewer can handle this dress.  I've since made another dress for a gift (which I desperately need to deliver - sorry Alice M.!  I promise soon!) and it was just as cute and easy to do.  I have a feeling I'll be making quite a few more in the future.

About the pattern:

It's a very professional pattern.  The instructions are clear and easy to follow and includes pictures of each step.  Size ranges are 6 months to 4T but Maggie is a 4T-5T and as you can see it fits great.  I can see her being able to wear this dress for many years as eventually a tunic as she grows.  It's very comfy and a nice cool dress for a hot Alabama summer (by the way it was 90 degrees out yesterday).

You can purchase the pattern HERE at her shop, but also make sure you check out her blog, Grits & Giggles too!

Hope you feel inspired to make something fun today!

Thanks for the opportunity Jenilyn!