Everything Beautiful In Its Time: A Time To Dress Up

Showing posts with label A Time To Dress Up. Show all posts

Thursday, November 08, 2012

Photos From Fall

Lots of water has passed under the bridge since the last post. The munchkin is in 4th grade now, and our schedule is busier than ever! Here are a few photo highlights.


First day of 4th grade!


We had a sleepover for the munchkin's 10th birthday party. Here they are painting fingernails.

We had a mystery-themed party, and used the Slumber Party kit from Dramatic Fanatic. I highly recommend these party kits! The directions were very easy to follow and the girls had a great time. Check out the cute cake my friend made to go with the theme!

For Halloween, we decided to continue the mystery theme. The munchkin was Shirley Holmes, girl detective, and our beagle played the role of her trusty sidekick, Watsonya. I found the pattern for the costume at the Martha Stewart site, and I found a huge cut of houndstooth polyester for less than $3 at Goodwill! Can't beat that!

One of the biggest highlights of recent days was Mary Beth's tennis tournament win. First place in girls 10 and under at a USTA Satellite tournament!

She won 4 matches to win the trophy. In two of the matches, she lost the first set then came back to win the second set and ultimately a tie-breaker to win the match. I suspect that it was her "never give up" attitude that won the first place price. Later, I asked her about it. "Well," she said, "some kids get all frustrated when they're losing, and it makes them not play as well. I decided that I would not let it bother me, and I wouldn't get lazy. I should just keep trying my best."

Wish I could bottle that.

Friday, March 16, 2012

Adventures in Sewing

Maybe it's the new emphasis on self-sufficiency in our struggling economy. Maybe it's my tendency to want to do solitary creative things. Maybe it's because I grew up watching my mother sew. For whatever reason, I got a hankering sometime ago to learn to sew. So...

I asked for and got a sewing machine for my birthday back in November. Between the manual and lots of online tutorial videos, I've been doing pretty well, I think!

I made a bunch of these cute rice-filled owls. When they're heated in the microwave, they're so cuddly! We gave one to each of the munchkin's neighborhood friends for Valentine's Day. The kids don't seem to mind that they're a little wonky! It was a little difficult for a first project, but hey, I learned some skills and nobody feels obligated to wear it in public. (The tutorial is here.)

After the owls, I was ready to try an actual garment. So, I made a skirt for the munchkin. Again, I followed some online instructions, and it came out great!

To go with the skirt, I embellished a ready-made sweater with a little flower from the skirt fabric and made a matching sash. Cute, eh? I'm really happy to be able to make some skirts for the munchkin because so many that we find ready-made are so short.

For a play at school, she had to dress as Sarah Plain and Tall. So, I found a calico dress in a way-too-big size at Goodwill and turned it into a long skirt, paired it with a shirt we already had, and made an apron from some flour sack dishtowels. I think she looks pretty convincing!

Actually, I'm thinking that this costume was a little too convincing as now the teacher is asking me to sew things for the craft fair. Hmmm.

Saturday, September 03, 2011

Labor Day Weekend Accomplishment No. 1

Ah...Labor Day weekend...when everyone kicks back and relaxes.

Uh, not in this house. Hubby is working all weekend, and I've got piles of clutter to deal with, a creative birthday party to pull off by next weekend, and a wedding to play piano for the following weekend. Meanwhile, I have all sorts of emails in my inbox excitedly announcing Labor Day sales. I'd love to do some shopping for the munchkin, not to mention myself. The writing is on the wall that by Tuesday morning, I'm going to feel frustrated that I didn't manage to accomplish everything I thought I would by the end of the weekend. So, to make myself feel better, I'm going to document what I do manage to accomplish - above and beyond the normal things like weekend grocery buying, cooking, cleaning, laundry, etc.

Accomplishment Number One: the munchkin's Halloween costume is done. Woo-Hoo!

Last year, I ordered her a costume off of the internet in August. It was one of the smartest things I did all year. It's an absolutely certainty that without advanced planning, I'd push the costume right up to the last minute and end up with some half-baked thing that looked like we didn't try very hard. Halloween is a big deal around here. We have a neighborhood party, one of our friends has a backyard party every year, the school has a costume parade and a carnival, and to top it off, it's hubby's birthday. We need a good costume. I used to think I could save money if I made something myself, and I had fantasies once that I'd craft adorable and creative ensembles like this one:

But, let's get real. It would cost me just as much to make that as to buy something. And, crafting in October? Not likely. I'm a musician. I need to be Christmas shopping in October because I'll have extra rehearsals and playing responsibilities at Christmas. (Although, if you'd like to craft this costume, here are the instructions. Go for it!)

So, drumroll please...here is the munchkin's choice for Halloween 2011 - Girls Hot Pink Flapper.

She picked it out this morning. The reviews indicated that it runs a little longer than the picture on the model shows, which is a bit of a relief. I'll try to put some 1920s-style finger waves in her hair. So as long as it doesn't turn off super chilly here in Georgia (necessitating a fake fur stole to complete the look), I can say

Halloween Costume:

DONE!

Saturday, July 09, 2011

Displaying Baby Dresses In A Shadow Box

While I was at my parents' house for the fourth of July, I took lots of pictures of their vintage and antique collections. One of the more special things is this framed display of baby dresses that belonged to my grandmother, my mother, and me. I'm an only child, and my mother is an only child. I also have an only daughter, so maybe one day, I'll reframe this with four generations of baby dresses!

My mother's booties, silver spoon, and bracelet


These were mine!

Baby dresses from 1939, 1914, and 1964. Now, you know exactly how old I am! No worries. I'm proud of every year!

Monday, November 01, 2010

Halloween 2010

Click on the pics to enlarge.

She picked out her costume in August - a 1950's diner waitress. We added the leggings 'cause it was just a little too short without something underneath. It took some doing to pin that little pillbox hat on. We had to stuff it with tissue to make it stand up. Doesn't she look cute?

Happy Neighborhood Goblins

Scary Neighborhood Goblins

Sunday, April 18, 2010

Roar of Love

Congratulations to our little performer! MB was an angel in the Columbia County Ballet's production of The Roar of Love.

MB's the standing angel in the middle. I worked hard on that bun!

Easter 2010

Bella wanted to go to church! Too bad!

Friday, October 30, 2009

'Twas the Night Before Halloween

What a busy day! MB's new school has a huge halloween carnival, so we spent the morning having fun there. Afterwards, my piano students had a costume party, and then we headed down the street for a neighborhood party. Whew, I'm pooped. And, there's more tomorrow!

Tuesday, April 14, 2009

Easter

Easter morning started bright and early for the Lowe family since mommy and Mary Beth needed to be at church by 8:00. The Easter bunny had left some candy and a single egg in Mary Beth's basket. Inside the egg was a message to tell her where to find the next egg. After a pre-dawn hunt through the yard, it led her inside to a basket in the closet...

where she found the tennis racket she's been wanting! Wow, the Easter Bunny knows everything!

Take a good look at the dress. She won't be wearing it again. At Sunday School, she somehow stepped on the overlay skirt and pulled it right out of the waistband. I don't think it's fixable. It sure was pretty.

Saturday, November 01, 2008

Halloween 2008

Here's my little angel! She looks a bit like a sleepy angel here.

At school, they were given paper dolls to take home and decorate like their Halloween costume. There she is, on the bottom right next to Darth Vadar.

Trick or Treat!

Braving the scary skeleton door with our neighbor, little Princess Phoebe.

Happy Halloween!

Wednesday, October 31, 2007

Happy Halloween!

Wednesday, November 01, 2006

Mary Beth's 4th Birthday

I'm a bit out of chronological order here! We had Mary Beth's princess-themed birthday party on Sept. 29. For pictures, click here.

Happy Halloween!

Quick note about these slide shows... If you click on the little icons underneath the pictures, it will take you to the webpage of the photo service, and you'll find my photos, plus other slide shows made by other users, some of which are not (ahem) family oriented. Some of them ARE cute, family and pet sort of pictures. I just thought I'd warn you since I happened to click over and found something objectionable...