Playing On My Pod #5

Updated my playlists and found these jewels for you:

1. Cover Your Tracks - by A Boy And His Kite

2. Fire Meet Gasoline - by Sia

3. Prove It To You - by Kris Allen (feat. Lenachka)

4. Try - by Colbie Caillat

5. To Leave It All Behind - by Moriah Peters

I actually have a ton more songs, but it's my rule to only share 5 at a time :)

So, you can stay tuned for another edition of Playing On My Pod real soon. 

I had a great Labor Day weekend. 

Started work on Maui, and got to pick up these awesome fabrics:

Then flew home to Kauai and spent time with the family.

I have a few pieces I need to get to work on, including this awesome metal card catalog!

Aloha,

Rebecca

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Recent Custom Projects - Summer Life on Maui

It's summer time!

Well, in my mind, I've been on summer break since May 5, just cause that's the ebb and flow of my year.

Here's what we've Ivy's been doing:

Lots of beach time. Ivy loves to play, then lounge.

I've been working on a few custom projects. 

I did a visit to one of my students homes and checked out her bedroom decor, as her mom really wanted some coordinating bunting. Here's what transpired:

Close Up:

She also saw one of my sold out baby soft blocks on Etsy and asked if I could make something similar for her baby nephew. Here it is: chevron, cross-stitch, scallop goodness! 

Stealing inspiration from the custom bunting, I made this birthday set for my friend's birthday. If you know me, you know I'm terrible at birthdays. Really terrible. I get gifts to people anywhere from 1-6 months after their birthday has passed. This one is only 1 month late…!

Also, the set of squares on the top left is my new product I just developed. 

Exfoli-cloths is what I've tentatively named them. I'm still himming and hawing over it...

They'll be in my Etsy shop soon!

Other Ivy & Co. products are selling like crazy too! People have literally been coming over, going through my stash and picking out what they want. I love it!

Have you been following me on Instagram? @ivyandcompany

Every Friday I feature 4 of my favorite accounts that week. 

Did you catch this #Friday4 a few weeks ago? 

Follow them here: 

+HomesewN Kauai 

+Ajja DeShayne 

@familyeverafter

@oneclaireday

Lastly, on a personal note, I started Pro-Active+ last week! I have terrible acne around my chin and lower cheeks and ENOUGH IS ENOUGH. I'm 31 years old and don't want a crater face! I was going to share 'before' pictures, but I opted our of doing that today. Maybe I'll share them when I have awesome 'after' photos to show as well. :) I know. Cheating. Anyone else use Pro-Activ+? So far, so good for me, except that salt water has been burning my face. No good for the summer swells I'm trying catch! 

How's your summer going?

Aloha from Maui,

Rebecca

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DIY Starfish Costume

Somehow Ivy got it in her head that she was going to be a Starfish for Halloween. I have no idea how she came up with this. Why couldn't she be a Super Hero? (I made a cape for her already, see post here). Or Rapunzel? Or Cinderella? We have those costumes... (see post here). But no, a Starfish. I have to admit, I thought it was a great idea, (super creative) but I didn't want to get it wrong, because I knew my decisive child had some type of vision of what her costume would look like. After a little prying and convincing, we decided it would be a Starfish Princess costume. (That was my vision, and what I knew I could pull off). I went to Sew Special and Ben Franklin and got some fabric and accessories. Ivy had a hacking cough, so we couldn't go to church the next day, so I had a whole Sunday to put this together.

Supplies:

-white leotard (Ivy had a white leotard already)

-white tutu (I got one from Icing for $6.25)

-1/2 yard of orange seashell fabric ($2)

-1/2 yard of white star fabric ($2)

-1 yard of green star fabric (had this)

-faux fishing net ($6.99)

-starfish ($4.99)

-yellow mesh netting (had this)

-orange bias tape (had this)

-green leaf ribbon ($2.99)

-glittery gold Christmas leaf decor ($4.99)

-headband ($1.50)

-small piece of felt

-sewing machine

-scissors

-glue gun

-thread

1. I cut out 4 large stars for the skirt, and 4 smaller stars for the bodice. (Green was the underneath color. I just layer the fabric over the tutu and made it a little wider than the tutu. Same for the leotard. I wanted it to slightly wrap around the tutu.) 

2. I sewed the stars together right side in, (orange w/green, white w/green) but left a little seam open so I could flip it right side out.  

3. After flipping it right side out, I re-sewed the edges so that they would lay flat.

4. I layer the stars over the tutu, and sketched a hole over the waist band, then cut out a circle. This was a very ghetto way of doing this. I tacked net and "seaweed" (the green leaf ribbon) to the orange star and glue gunned starfish to the edge of the orange star. Then I sewed orange bias tape around the waist. I wish I thought through this part a little better. Luckily Ivy is a skinny-mini and can just slip this on over her non-existent booty, but in all honesty, I needed to put some type of elastic waistband here. Oh well... 

5. I tacked a few piece of the yellow mesh netting onto the tutu, to give it some "life & depth" under the starfish.

6. Since all the Christmas decor was out at Ben Franklin, I picked up this gold Christmas leaf decor thing. I think you're supposed to put them in a vase? (I'm not really all about putting fake plants in vases.) I made sure to choose one that looked like seaweed. I cut off some pieces and sewed them under the orange stars on both the bodice and the skirt portion, so they would "peek out" from under.

   

7. I got a yellow headband from Icing for $1.50 on clearance. I cut a circle out of white felt and glue gunned the mesh, the leaf ribbon, the gold Christmas seaweed and a starfish onto the felt. When it dried, I glue gunned the felt to the yellow headband.

Of course, as is the case in every Ivy/Becca project, it results in an informal photo shoot. No children were harmed in this shoot. All pure fun! For this particular shoot, I chose the beach in front of my late grandma's condo, where she lived for at least 15+ years before she passed away last year. It's 2 blocks from my house, and I hadn't been to the condo or the beach since July 20, 2011, (the day before it sold.) My, Ivy and my dad (it was his birthday) had gone there for one last swim in the pool. My grandma taught kids to swim for much of her life, and being the fact that Ivy just finished her first round of swimming lessons, I'm a little sentimental and wish my grandma were here to teach her. My grandma also had lived on a boat in Florida and had such a love for the ocean. She definitely passed that on to her family. Maybe that's why Ivy chose to be a starfish?!

 So for $31.71 plus tax, this is a custom-made Starfish Princess Costume! Not bad. And to think I almost gave in and picked up a Wal-mart costume for $19.99...

Be safe this Halloween!

Aloha,

Rebecca

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