The Dress Project-Summer Challenge

One of my favorite bloggers, Kristin from Bits and Pieces From My Life, got this adorable dress as a hand-me-down from a cousin for her daughter and decided to alter it to fit each season.  It just so happens that Princess also received the same dress as a hand-me-down from a friend, so naturally I "stole" Kristin's idea for sprucing it up once the original flower on the front lost its flair.  The versatility of this dress makes it worth keeping in Princess's wardrobe.  She's worn it as a sundress, over a shirt, and now wears it as a tunic length shirt over leggings or pants or over her petticoat dress.   

The dress "Before"

 The first step was to cut the threads holding the hot pink flower onto the dress. 

The original flower.  It looked cute at first, but was pretty droopy by the time I took it off. 

 Next, I marked out a buttonhole right where the flower had been attached.  If your sewing machine has a buttonhole maker and you don't know how to use it, now is the perfect time to learn as the embellishments will cover any mistakes.     

Done!  The whole project took me less than 15 minutes from start to finish.  Now I can clip any of Princess's hair accessories right in the buttonhole and have a new look everytime she wears the dress.  

Hairbow from Dots and Lollipops

 

Hairbow from ~Hanna's Hair Bowtique~

This post is linked up with "The Dress Project: Summer Challenge" at Bits and Pieces From My Life







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Blogger 411

 

From Mrs. to Mama is hosting a Blogger link up. Click the badge above to see who else linked up! :) 
 

1. How long have you been blogging? And what got you started on blogging? Has your blog changed?
I started blogging in June, 2009 when Princess was about 18 months old because I wanted to write down all those little things that I knew I wouldn't remember later on.  I also started blogging because I really missed writing!  When I was a kid up until I graduated high school, I wrote a monthly "newspaper" that I passed out to my friends and family.  Then I decided I was too old for such "childish" things and sadly wrote my last issue.  Blogging has been a great way to get back to writing and I don't have to worry about it being childish because all the "cool" kids are doing it, lol. 

2. Did you go to college? If so where, and what did you study?
I did one year of PSEO studies at the local community college during my senior year of high school and then took online classes at the same college in 2007 for medical transcription.  I never got my certification though because during that school year, I had Princess and my life plans all completely changed.

3. Where have you traveled?
When I was 16, my mom and I joined my friend on her college German class's trip to Germany and several surrounding European countries.  We (my mom, my friend, her mom, and I) separated from the rest of the class at the end of the trip and went to England for a few days.  I went back to England about a year later to attend my friend's mom's wedding.

4. If you won the lottery, what would be the first thing you would buy?
A house!!  Our family of 4 (soon-to-be 5) plus my boutique business do NOT fit in our little 2 bedroom (5 room total, including the bathroom) house.  

5. What are your 3 biggest pet peeves?
Inconsiderate or rude people.
Whining or screaming children.
People who don't appreciate how much work people in the service industry put in to take care of them.  I worked in the B&B business for 10 years and actual appreciation and thanks were few and far between.

6. What is your favorite movie?
It's a toss-up between "The Emperor's New Groove" and "Princess Bride".  Yes, I'm a dork.  

7. What is your drink of choice; wine, beer, or liquor. Or Water, Soda, Tea?
I'll take a chai latte (iced or hot) anytime!

8. What is something you enjoy to do when you have me time?
Reading without interruptions.  Spending 2 minutes in the bathroom without anyone following me in there is a luxury I enjoy occasionally as well.

9. If you could have a $10,000 shopping spree to one store, which store would it be?
It's a toss-up between Target and Hobby Lobby.  

10. Share with us an embarrassing moment of your past? Or present.
When Princess was about 18 months old, we went for a walk without the stroller to run errands.  I ended up carrying her most of the way.  At one point, I realized that I was getting a lot of funny looks from people driving by and looked down to see that Princess had grabbed the front of my shirt while I was carrying her and pulled it down as far as it could go.  Which showed much more than I ever cared to show off to half the town.

11. What day would you love to relive again?
The day I gave birth to my son.  Giving birth the first time was a nightmare since I was induced, but I went into labor naturally the second time and it was such a great experience.  I never thought it was possible to actually enjoy such a physically painful thing, but I honestly would love to do it again.  I'm hoping I don't have to be induced this time around either.    

12. If your life was turned into a movie... what actor would play you?
Ummm...I have no idea.  Maybe Katherine Heigl?

13. What are the jobs you had in high school/college/the early years?
I worked at a B&B from the ages of 14-21.  During that time, I also worked as a personal care attendant for a teenaged girl with cerebral palsy and a substitute at the school daycare.  When I was 21, I quit my job at the B&B to go work at a different B&B with more hours and worked there until just a few years ago.  I've also been working as a substitute librarian at 2 local libraries since I was in my teens.  

14. Show us a picture from high school or college.

16 years old in Germany

15. If you could travel anywhere in the world, all expenses paid, where would you go?
I've always wanted to go to Italy.  The history there is amazing and it's such a beautiful country!

16. Show us the most current picture of you or you, or your family, or anything of meaning to you. 

Easter, 2010.  I was very pregnant with Little Man.  Getting Hubby to pose for a family picture is like pulling teeth.  See how comfortable and relaxed he looks?

17. Where do you see your life 5 years from now?
Let's see...I'll have three kids, still be sewing up a storm, will have invested in an embroidery machine for the boutique, and will absolutely be living somewhere else with more space!


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Pin It To Win It!

There are two things I love.  Okay, actually I love a lot more things than that, but for the purpose of this post, we'll focus on these two things.

I love free stuff/great discounts and Pinterest.  (Does that count as three things?)  So just for fun, I'm going to combine those two (three?) into a contest for you!

Here's how it works: First, follow me on Pinterest.  If you're not on Pinterest yet, you can email me at annaliesbabyboutique@yahoo.com for an invite.  Next, pin something you like from my Etsy shop.  You can pin up to three things a day during the duration of the contest.  The Rafflecopter widget (below) makes it super easy to enter each day!  It will ask you to leave a link to your pin, if you're not sure how to do that, just click on your pin so it comes up like this, then copy and paste the url (which will look like this: http://pinterest.com/pin/110690103312167751/) in the box on the Rafflecopter widget.  If you have any questions, please feel free to ask!

The contest will end on July 25th.  There will be three prizes:
1st prize (winner gets the product in the winning pin for free!) for the pin with the most repins.
2nd prize ($15 gift certificate) with the second highest number of repins.
3rd prize ($10 gift certificate) with the third highest number of repins.

Have fun!


a Rafflecopter giveaway
          

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Clearing the Air

I'm thinking I need to have these answers to the MANY questions and comments I've been getting printed on a t-shirt, but for now, I'll just have to direct everyone here.

The answers to all your questions about my pregnancy:

1. Yes, I know I'm huge.

2. No, I'm not having twins. 

3. Yes, as a matter of fact, it is miserable to be this pregnant while it's this hot.

4. Yes, our house is too small for a family of 5, and I'm already seriously stressed out about that.  But, thank you for pointing it out again.

5. I'm due in mid-September.  Put your eyes back in your head and refer to answers #1 and #2.

6. I'm due in mid-September.  No, I will not give you a specific date because my babies tend to come late (by 1-2 weeks), and I hate having everyone expect that my actual due date is an expiration date.  And then, having everyone ask me every. single. day after that due date if I'm still pregnant and aren't I going to have that baby anytime soon? (For the answer to that question, please visit http://www.haveyouhadthatbabyyet.com)

7. No, I'm not ready for the baby.  At all.  I probably won't be ready until after he gets here.

8. No, we don't have a name picked out.  If we do get one picked out before the baby comes, we still probably won't tell you what it is.

9. It's a boy.  Probably.  To be honest, the ultrasound technician wasn't 100% sure.  

10. This is my third baby.  If that's a look of sympathy or pity you're giving me, don't bother. 


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Friday Freebie Winner

As chosen by Rafflecopter, the winner of last week's Friday Freebie is.........
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Shelly T!

Shelly, you can email me at annaliesbabyboutique@yahoo.com to claim your hat!

Thanks to everyone who entered and keep watching for the next Friday Freebie!

30 Weeks

How Far along: 30 weeks

No, the picture is not that blurry...apparently I really need to clean the bathroom mirror!

Baby's Size:  Baby weighs almost 3 pounds and is about 15 1/2 inches long from head to toe.

Sleep:  Sleeping better this week, but still waking up throughout the night.

Best Moments This Week: Finding out that my parents have a dresser we can use for the baby!  Also, when Princess was able to feel the baby move-she was so thrilled!

Miss Anything?: Being able to move and bend easily.   

Movement?: Yes!  When he stretches out and kicks, it hurts.  

Food Cravings:  Omelets and mini donuts. 

Things That Make Me Queasy: Just normal stuff right now.

Gender: Boy!

Labor Signs: Having some Braxton-Hicks contractions, mostly when I'm active or bend over too far. 

Symptoms: Heartburn (although nowhere near as severe as I had with Little Man which leads me to believe I'm having another baldy, lol), hip pain, fatigue, etc. 

Mood Most Of The Time: Stressed!  Hitting the third trimester really made me realize how unprepared we are for a baby, plus I'm really sick of being so cramped in our house.

Looking Forward To: Finishing my organizing to-do list.  I started it back in April and only have a few things left to do.


Don't forget that you can still enter to win this week's Friday Freebie until Monday, July 9th!




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What's in My Purse?

I emptied out my purse tonight.  Here's what I found:

1. 2 bills (don't worry, they're from this week)
2. A baby announcement from when my sister had her third baby...last September (It's a girl!)
3. An invitation to a Norwex party this month.
4. Little Man's Thomas the Train sunglasses.
5. A small notepad.
6. My wallet (if that hadn't been in there, I'd be worried!).  Yes, I have Eeyore on my wallet.  I thought it made sense since Eeyore is always sad and alone and my wallet is always sad and empty.
7. My debit card (why isn't this in my wallet?!?)
8. 6 crayons from the doctor's office.
9. 2 pens (and yet I can never find any when I'm looking for them)
10. The garage door opener.
11. My inhaler.
12. A baby comb...my baby is 2 years old.
13. 2 of those cheese stick spreader thingamajigers from 2 packets of cheese and crackers that the nurse gave my kids at a particularly long day at the doctor's.
14. Nail clippers...because I play fiddle and I always have to cut my nails before I play.
15. An old book of used checks (and yet no checkbook?)
16. The cap from a water bottle.
17. 2 tubes of Burt's Bees lip balm.  Love that stuff!
18. My day planner/journal/can't live without it book.
19. 1 bobby pin.
20. 2 hair elastics for me.
21. 2 hair elastics for Princess.
22. My business card holder (matches my purse cover!).
23. A question mark toy from an ABC set.  The question is....where is the rest of the set?
24. A penny.
25. An empty, squished paper cup from the sample at the grocery store today, courtesy of Princess.
26. Pepto Bismal tablets (probably past their expiration date since I can't remember the last time they were used)
27. Various hard candies (I'm aspiring to be like my Grandma)
28. A travel wipes case decorated with farm themed stickers. 

And that's it.    

As for the purse itself, it's a 31 Gifts purse, but with a custom made cover from Etsy on it.   

So...what's in your purse?

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Friday Freebie

Today's Friday Freebie is from Annalie's Baby Boutique!  These knit hats are lightweight and stretchy and perfect for just about any type of weather.  The winner of this freebie will get to choose one of the following hat designs and any size from 0-3 months-adult.  Scroll to the bottom of this post to find out how to enter.

Black damask hat

Minky Dot hat-choose from hot pink, light pink, light blue, or brown

Blue and brown owls hat

Zebra ruffles hat

a Rafflecopter giveaway

July Sale

It's time to clear out some inventory at Annalie's Baby Boutique to make room for new products!   To do so, I'm having a huge sale starting Monday, July 9th and ending on Saturday, July 14th!

All the items in the sale will be deeply discounted. Some of the products included will be dresses, skirts, tutu sets, boys clothing and more!

I created an event on Facebook to remind people about the sale (if you're like me you'll plan to check it out and then forget until it's over.  What a bummer!)   


 
Here's the fun part:

For every 25 guests who RSVP on the Facebook event that they are attending, there will be a freebie given away! For example, if 25 people RSVP that they are attending, there will be 1 freebie, if 50 guests RSVP that they are attending, there will be 2 freebies, and so on! Invite your friends, I'd love to give a ton of stuff away to my awesome customers!


 Here is a sneak peek at just a few of the things that will be in the sale!

Lace Kissed Angel Wings Tutu Set

Ruffled Party Dress

Wild West Ruffle Skirt

Eiffel Tower Double Layer Circle Skirt

"Don't Get Your Tutu in a Tangle" Tutu Set

 There will be many more things included clothing for boys in the sale!  You don't want to miss this!


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T-Shirt Dress Tutorial

P
rincess only has a few summer dresses that fit her right now and, since she insists on wearing a dress pretty much everyday, it's time to add some more to her wardrobe!

This shirt had a stain right on the front of it so it was either headed for the rag bag or my sewing machine.  I cut about 4 inches off the bottom of the shirt.  
 

After picking out some pretty fabrics to go with the shirt, I was ready to go.  I measured the bottom of the shirt and came up with 11" across.  I doubled that measurement for the width of the top tier of the skirt and then doubled that again for the width of the bottom tier.  I held the shirt up to my daughter and measured how long I wanted the skirt portion to be (14" long), added 2 inches for seam allowances (16") and divided that in half (8") for each skirt tier.  My final measurements were 8" x 22" for the top tier and 8" x 44" for the bottom.  I cut out two pieces from each fabric using the above measurements.

I needed to do something to cover up the stain on the front of the shirt so I decided to add a heart shaped applique.  I used Heat N' Bond Lite (can be purchased at Walmart).  If you prefer the no-sew method of applique, you could use the Heat N' Bond UltraHold.  I followed the directions on the package for making the heart shape on the fabric and ironing it on the shirt.  To make it even cuter, I decided to cut out one heart from each of the skirt fabrics and layer the smaller one on top of the other.

 I set my stitch selector to the zig-zag stitch (setting "C" on my machine) for the applique.

I zigzagged all the way around the two heart shapes, being sure to straight stitch backwards a few stitches at the beginning and end of each set of stitches so they would hold.  You may have to stop and readjust your fabric a few times when you're going around the curves.

The shirt is finished!  Time to assemble the skirt portion.

 I pinned the ends, right sides together, of each of the two skirt tiers.  I sewed a straight stitch about 1/4" from the edges to make two big loops of fabric.

 To prevent fraying, I set my stitch selector back to the zig zag stitch and zig zagged the edges, making sure my needle fell just off the edge of the fabric with each stitch. 

 Setting aside the top tier, I folded the bottom edge of the bottom tier (the bigger loop) over about 1/4" and then folded it over again.

All pinned and ready to go!  I sewed a straight stitch close to the upper edge of my fold to hem the skirt.  Next, I sewed a gathering stitch (go here for a tutorial on easy gathering) on the top of the fabric and pinned it to the bottom of the top tier, right sides together.  I sewed a straight stitch and then zig zagged the edges so they wouldn't fray.  Then, I sewed another gathering stitch on the top of the top tier that would be attached to the t-shirt.  

The last step was to attach the skirt to the t-shirt.  Keeping the skirt inside out and the t-shirt right side out, I slid the t-shirt, sleeves and collar down, inside the skirt and lined up the bottom raw edges of the t-shirt with the raw edges of the top of the skirt.

When you're done pinning the two pieces together, you won't be able to see the t-shirt.  I sewed them together with a straight stitch, being careful not to stretch the t-shirt, and then finished the edges with a zig zag stitch to prevent fraying. 

Not sure what's up with the cheesy grin.

And here's the finished dress!  Princess is in love with it!  She wore it to church yesterday and got a ton of compliments.

This dress is linked up with "The Dress Project: Summer Challenge" at Bits and Pieces From My Life





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