Stocking bunnies

For my first completed project... I made two stuffed bunnies for baby shower gifts. My girls got a pair of these bunnies for Christmas this year and since I had the pattern I decided to use it for the gifts.

... and broke my first (but surely not my last) sewing machine needle.

This, ladies and gentlemen, is why you remove pins instead of sewing over them.

I used a pattern from Minelolly on Etsy.

Here are the bunnies I made this week:

So about this pattern.... it's a great pattern, with clear instructions but this project does NOT go fast. It also might be hard on your sewing machine if you have a $88 Walmart special Brother like I do. I like it, I'm glad I got it, but I don't think I'd attempt to make three bunnies at once for presents again (notice I stopped at 2!).

I also completed my maternity photo shoot, but she gets to see her pictures first! I may include a shot or two from that in a post later this month.

.. back to work for me!

May is Anti-Procrastination Month

AKA Finish what I started month.

I have enough partially finished projects that I can NOT start anything new. It's got me in a creative RUT. SO this month I am pledging not to start anything new, but rather to work on finishing what I have started. Oh my, this list is long. Not all of it will get done, but some of it will, and that will feel freeing, I am sure.

Craftiness:
Finish the stuffed bunnies I am making as baby shower gifts (all three of these babies have been born now!)
Add straps and applique to Lorelei's sun dress I started last year
Make pillowcases for Lorelei
Make a pillowcase and mattress for the doll bed
Make the "sunshine" pillow I bought supplies for
Paint Lorelei's Letters for her room
Dye "festival dress"
Dye the experiment underwear
List the dyed stuff I have sitting around on Etsy!
Finish Lorelei's birthday silks

Photography:
Fully edit my personal bluebonnet sessions
Get friend's maternity session booked and shot
Get John's newborn session at least booked
Schedule C and A's toddler pictures

House Work:
Finish sanding bench
Varnish bench
Finish digging new flower bed
Buy pots for tomatoes
Plant tomatoes
Put mulch and path gravel down
Start on the second bench


I'll keep the progress updated on here. Wish me luck!

X, Y and Z!

OK, the last three! All together I know.. crazy week.

X is for.. well, X. Like the shape. A little acro yoga for you. I went for the first time last night. Believe it or not, this is the very FIRST pose you learn.

Y is for Yellow

yeah yeah.. I kinda fail at this sort of picture. I'll try again some time. But not tonight.


Z
Zebra
zero
zorro
zimbabwe

zzzz... man I'm tired. This challenge is definitely going out with a whimper. But I have enjoyed following new blogs, having new commenter and in general being part of this craziness. See you next month!

W is for Wet Mess

Nono.. not like THAT.

We bought a fixer-upper so we could get a bigger house that we otherwise could afford... but the fixing has been at a crawl. First I had a baby. Then right as I got to where I felt like I could handle working on the house more again, ops.. pregnant again. Ok, not oops, we planned to have them close together but didn't exactly expect it to happen that fast. Now second baby is one and we're back to really working on the house again.

Today was "try to match the ceiling texture where we took off the fake beams" day. Wow was it a wet mess.

The strip furthest away is the wet mud where we were trying to match the texture-- it dries white.

Our handy dandy friendly handyman friend surveying his work


Tomorrow, more of the same trying some more to match and get them all looking right.

V is for Vice

I'll let you interpret it however you want...

All images copyright Cindy Chapter 2011

.. and yes, I know I'm a day behind....  See you tomorrow!

U is for Umbrella

Kids LOVE umbrellas. I don't know what it is about them.. Here in Austin it hasn't rained in what seems like months, so my pictures will have to be umbrellas in the sun.

The "keep the babies from frying" umbrella fort

My favorite from this park trip

T is for Texture

Texture is one of those things I haven't really messed with in my photography. In my graphic design, yes, because I like a little texture on blank spaces but usually I like my photography to stand alone. For T though, I challenged myself to try to apply texture to an image or two effectively.

Here is my original:

Here it is with a vignetted vintage paper

A weathered painted metal

and peeling paint (super transparent because it made the skin look really weird otherwise)

Just because I was having fun, here's me and the younger critter also with the vignetted paper. It does make an interesting vintage effect.

What do you think? Do you like photos with added texture? Do you find it gimmicky? Do you like it but just not what I do with it? (that's ok! Be honest!)

That's it for "T".. see you tomorrow with "U"