New Wine Couture option

Thanks to a delightful challenge presented by one of my customers I am proud to announce that I have a new option available for my Wine Couture line.  Check out my medical jacket wine cozy!!

Available for custom order via my Etsy store here.

NEW Steampunk Mad Hatter Hat

Sooooo, out with the old and in with the new!  Something I've been busy working on is a new Mad Hatter costume for this year's cons.  I figured I would show off my hat since it is complete and looking rather spectacular if I do say so myself!

Here is the half way point:

But it was missing something so I went back and embellished some more.....to make this:

I just love how this hat came out!  And, good news for all the people who have been asking, I will be posting custom top hats as items for sale in my Etsy shop very soon!

always so busy!

We have been pushing ourselves a bit too hard so crafting has taken a backseat.  I've sold a few of my Wine Couture pieces and I think they may be catching on.  Look for a really cool one I have coming soon - for a medical school grad!!  Right now my daughter and I are working on tutus for the 5K we are running THIS WEEKEND!  ACK!  My allergies have been killing me and I've been looking for (and trying) every possible "remedy" I can think of so I will be able to breathe this weekend.  We've trained - my kiddo through Girls on the Run after school and myself on my own - so we are ready to roll.  I cannot wait to show off our tutus!!!  They are going to be stellar once complete and I am REALLY proud of us for wearing such "girly" garments!  Anyhow, here is the "before" pic of the tutus!

Bet you can't guess what they'll look like!?

Tasty, fairly healthy treat for picky kids!

So, my daughter is INSANELY picky.  I mean, it really is an illness given that it is entirely in her head.  She looks at something and decides she doesn't like it without ever even trying it. That means I have to be tricky so things like this recipe make me VERY happy.  I first saw it in Family Fun Magazine and could not wait to try it - see their post here.

I did not tell the kids that it was not real cookie dough - obviously.  I served it with sliced Granny Smith apples which they love and told them it was cookie dough dip.  They simply loved it.  They actually would have finished it if I had allowed it but that's a win, right?  

Eventually I gave in and told them exactly what was in the dip and that opened the door to even more options like hummus.  So, BIG win for Mom thanks to this handy dandy lil recipe.

Faux Cookie Dough Dip

Blend all of these in a food processor:

1 can chickpeas/garbanzo beans

6 tablespoons brown sugar

1/4 cup peanut butter

3 tablespoons oats

1 tablespoon milk (I have tried coconut milk, rice milk and almond milk - all three are delicious)

2 teaspoonsvanilla

1/8 teaspoon each salt and baking soda

Dump into a bowl and fold in 1/3 cup chocolate chips

Serve with apple slices, fruit, pita chips or whatever you choose!

The TARDIS dress

I. Love. This. Dress.

It is comfortable and I am incredibly pleased with how it turned out.  I'm going to be selling the corset because it is a bit large so I'm making a new one.  If you are interested in this corset - only worn once - please check out my Etsy store because I will be posting it for sale there.  Anyway, here is the finished product and I have to say that I got A LOT of compliments on it at Wizard World this past weekend.

We even got photo-bombed by Jason Momoa!

TARDIS fez and TARDIS top hat

So, we are going to be heading to Louisville next weekend to show off our amazing Doctor Who outfits AND to meet Matt Smith (for all non-Whovians, he is the 11th Doctor)!!!!  SO we decided to make a TARDIS fez to give to the brilliant Matt Smith.  Thanks to Tally's Treasury for giving us an awesome jumping off point for our fez!  Here are pics from the process....

I let my daughter decorate it because it is SOOOO much better for her to give something she made!

I also need a TARDIS top hat for my ensemble because hats are sort of my thing, so here is the beginning of that as well!

I still want to add some more feathers and I need to attach it to a headband, but other than that, I am SO happy with how it turned out!!

TARDIS corset

I am so in love with this costume.  I simply cannot wait to show this outfit off because I am SO proud of it.  Here is the corset so far.  I still have a little trim to add and the eyelets need to be inserted for the back laces.

TARDIS dress

I cannot wait to finish this costume!!  It is going to be so fun to wear and I am so excited to show it off!  I figured it is time to start the breakdown since there are so many pieces and each one is so complex.  Instead of doing a one piece gown I opted for a skirt and corset with a hooded shrug.  All three pieces are primarily blue cotton to keep them a bit lighter and more casual than some of the satin and brocade pieces I've seen.  Some of my inspiration came from a number of dresses I found while researching ideas and I'm sure some of the influences shown below will be apparent when I reveal the complete costume.

This article gives some fantastic ideas though I am particularly fond of 2, 6, 7 and 10.  I hope my dress could be found worthy of this list eventually!

Top 10 TARDIS dresses for fancy occasions

I think this one is pretty stunning:

TARDIS dress by Eveningarwen on deviantART

There are of course many more options to be seen by searching "TARDIS dresses" and there are some in nearly every style.  I tend to err on the side of Steampunk and I think you will see that with my finished pieces.  For now, I will post a few pictures to show where I'm going.

This is a close up of the upper bustle, you can see it is pinned at the top because I have not figured out how to attach it yet. I want it to be detachable.  I'm leaning toward using buttons.

This is a wider angle where the very bottom of the skirt can be seen under the second layer of the bustle made of a contrasting fabric (a lovely black cotton with charcoal swirls).

I tend to create my costumes by mixing and matching patterns and often combining pieces I like or parts of my current wardrobe to achieve the look I want.  For this outfit, I used these four patterns as my jumping off point though by no means did I stick to them or I would never have been able to create this.

McCall's 6911
Butterick 3012
Simplicity 9887
Simplicity 3921

I will have more to show soon since I have to have this ready to wear by March 29th!!

It's CON season!

OOOOOHHH!  It is that time of the year again!  We love Convention Season in this household.  This year will be our best year yet!  We are actually going to do the FAN thing at Wizard World in Louisville this year as we found out that Matt Smith (the 11th Doctor!) will be there! I surprised my kids with tickets and we will be there one day and one day only in our Doctor Who costumes so look for those pictures!!

Wait!  I should tell you what we are doing!  My son is going to use his Halloween costume and go as the 10th Doctor (he loves it, what can I say?).  It actually fits him better now than it did in this pic but you get the idea.

My daughter has opted to go as River Song.   This is the outfit we are replicating for her:

I am not complaining as most of her outfit is already in her wardrobe (I just need to get her a white blouse which I am NOT making myself) and I need to make her belt and holster.

Now me.  The kids chose my costume and I have to confess that I love it.  I am working hard on making something unique and I think it will be fantastic once I am done.  What did they choose?  Let me give you a hint:

I am sure you all want pictures and I would love to show them, but as River Song always says "Spoilers!"  Stay tuned.  Our first Con is at the end of March!