My venture into making baby shoes

I was looking for an easy pattern for baby shoes to make for a friend back in January, and found a great one in this Etsy shop.

My first attempt was successful, if not a little stressful because even though it said it was easy to follow I had a little trouble understanding where to place the heel so I could attach it to the toe. I was seriously stressing out about it because I did what I thought it said but it didn't attach right and it just looked like crap so I walked away for about an hour, and then when I sat back down it was like a lightbulb went on and I totally understood what I was supposed to do.

I made the first pair out of a thrifted scrub top and some purple fabric I had lying around, and they turned out so cute!

I attempted my second pair today and I think these turned out even cuter! I had a request for a red pair so I wanted them to look extra nice. I wanted something shiny but I was a little wary of using the sequined fabric because I wasn't sure how it would react with the iron and fusible stabilizer, but it turned out great with no melting or shrinking. I started out wrong by ironing the stabilizer to the edge without looking at the placement of the sequins, and so didn't realize the sequins didn't go all the way to the endge of the fabric. Before I panicked too much I just put the heel pattern on that part and made sure the other pieces were on the sequins. It turned out fine but next time I'm triple checking everything!

As I was reading the instructions it said to fold the material before cutting and I was like "why? that's stupid, I'm not doing that". It turns out you fold it because you need TWO shoes for a kid's feet. Who knew? OK so after that emabarassment was over, it went a lot smoother.

I knew that the shoes would not be able to be reversible because of the fabric I chose but I wanted a neutral lining so I found some white in my stash and I think it goes well with the red.

This was a lot easier than last time, and with a new niece coming in January I will be busy making her some for every occasion. I can hardly wait!

painting pottery is fun!

Today was a girl's day out for us girls and we decided we were going to take the way overdue trip to paint our own pottery!

There is a little shop in Dayton named Paint the Town Pottery that lets you pick a piece of pottery to paint and then they stick it in their kiln and fire it for you, and then you have an awesome, one of a kind piece of art that is yours to keep. They're on Facebook if you want to look them up!

It was the first time I was an actual paying customer, having painted the Buddha for the TVT production of South Pacific,

but this time I got to play with my favorite colors and start my very own "Sunset Collection", as Jennifer (the owner) refers to it.

They have so many great things to paint it was tough choosing, from little animals to big ol' bowls and platters. I want to make a set of dishes but I chose a tile, just to ease myself into it.

Kaia chose a little ruffled dish

and Tanya chose a little square bowl

and we set to work. It's very relaxing to plan out your colors,

which areas are going to be which colors,

finding the perfect brush,

and just the general act of painting. I especially liked my version which was just random placement and no thought at all required.

Kaia caught off guard.

some stencils to help us out

these little writing bottles are awesome for controlling the placement of the design you want!

The reference plate, and my tile before the firing.

a little decoration for the back. And yes, I realize I painted it with the tile upside down.

This was such an enjoyable afternoon, I don't know why I haven't done it sooner. I'm going back Thursday to pick them up, and we'll see how they all turned out. I can hardly wait!!!