Team Tuesday: Hello Teacher! Card Free Printable

School is starting tomorrow so I whipped up a quick and easy printable card for anyone to download, print, & cut! You can just fold it and give it to your child's new teacher as is, or add some other elements & embellishments to fancy it up!

That sweet little globe is from Rhonna Designs Insta Icons Kit- I love it because the files come in black PNG files, an ABR brush file, and a TTF font file so you can use the designs in so many different programs!

Download the file and get to card crafting today! These are easy enough for your kids to make, so let them get in on the fun too- and visit Rosemary Watson Creative for more Back To School Designs!

Hello Teacher Card

A is for Apple Dress Tutorial

Although Olivia has to wear uniforms to school, I wanted to make her a special dress that she could wear for meet the teacher day. I've been planning this dress since May, looking for exactly what I wanted to do and I remembered these dresses I pinned a while ago.

They looked simple enough to construct, and with the right fabric would be adorable. Plus, with 4 girls (soon to be 5) to sew for I could tweak it a bit and make each girl their own unique dress if I find the ambition. I discovered the perfect fabric at Scrapbooks, ETC; which by the way had matching scrapbook paper so I could make a cute matching card for Olivia to give to her new 1st grade teacher.

I started out by measuring Olivia, and I constructed a "pattern" (although it's really mostly strips of fabric sewn together) based on her measurements. I'll walk you through the process so you can make a similar dress for any sized little girl- just tweak the "pattern" using your own measurements.

Olivia is 6 years old and her measurements are as follows:
BUST: 22"
GIRTH: 38.5"
WAIST: 22"
HIPS: 22"
WAIST-KNEE: 17"

From there, I sketched out just how I wanted the dress to look like (DISCLOSURE: I am not an artist nor a fashion designer, as I'm sure you can tell from my sketch) and planned what fabrics I wanted where on the dress.

DIRECTIONS:
1// Snip & rip the tops of each piece of fabric all the way across. That way you start with a nice straight line (woven fabrics will always rip straight).

2// Draw your bodice pattern using the measurements you took. Cut 2 on fold of fabric to make two separate sweetheart front pieces.

3//  Measure all your strip widths, then snip & rip to get strips of your 48" wide fabrics. For the long panels, you'll need to rip two or three strips of the same width.

4// Sew your straps together. Fold your strips in half right sides together hot dog style and press. Pin along open edge, then straight stitch together leaving ends open. Place a Safety Pin on one edge and pull through center of strap "tube" to flip the fabric right side out once sewn together. Once right side out, press flat. Repeat with other strap.

5// Place two Bodice pieces right sides together and pin straps in between in center, making sure the straps are coming down from the bottom of the bodice pieces and the strap seams are hidden.

6// Straight stitch the bodice all the way around sides and top, leaving the bottom open to flip right side out. Clip the curves of seam (don't clip the thread!), flip, then press flat.

7// Take the Back Panel piece of fabric and press a small hem for the top, then pin. Straight stitch the hem. Once hemmed, put in your elastic thread and smock the panel. I use the needle foot as a guide for my smocking lines, no need to be perfect and draw the lines before hand.

8// Once your Back Panel is smocked, pin it to the Sweetheart Bodice piece right sides together and straight stitch the sides. Flip right sides out. Congratulations- you're half done!

9// Take your Center Panel strip and cut in half so you have two pieces to equal your center measurement. Put right sides together and straight stitch both ends, then flip. Change your machine to a larger stitch length (I sew with a 2 normally, then go up to a 4 for a gathering stitch) then stitch across top to gather the panel.

10// Pin the Center Panel to your bodice right sides together and straight stitch to connect.

11// Repeat Step 9 with your Skirt Panel piece. Stitch front & back together, gather at top, then pin to Center Panel and stitch together.

12// Now you can make it fancy with a bottom ruffle, or you can hem the Skirt Panel, or you could just serge the bottom if you're short on time or ambition. I decided on a ruffle for the bottom, so I repeated Step 9 again with my Ruffle Strip. Instead of hemming my ruffle, however, I zig zag stitched the bottom of the ruffle then trimmed the end with pinking shears.

13// I really like the pinked edges look so I did the same with the straps open end seams. You could sew the straps to the back of the dress, tie them like a halter, or do what I did and add grommets to the back to tie the straps through. I'm not great at grommets, so here's a tutorial to help you install grommets if you want to try and brave using them. I ended up having to have Braden jimmy rig them with his tools.

14// Lastly, with Olivia's dress, I felt like the skirt needed something and added simple square pockets to the front. I ripped 4 squares of fabric, placed two together right sides together, stitched around leaving one side open, then flipped right sides out. After repeating with the other two squares,  I pressed each pocket, then zig zag stitched and pinked the tops of each pocket. I topped each square with an apple I cut from leftover fabric and appliqued them onto the pockets. Then I simply pinned the apple pockets where I wanted them on the dress and stitched the bottom and sides.

** This tutorial is intended for sewers with a knowledge of smocking, and basic sewing skills. Please let me know if you have any questions and I can guide you to some great tutorials I have found online to help me learn more about sewing!

BONUS TUTORIAL: Easy Apple Headwrap

This matching headwrap is a cinch to make. Just rip a 2.5" x the width of your fabric strip (it will probably be 48" long), zag stitch the sides, then pink the frayed edges.

Stitch an apple cut out from your fabric onto a piece of red felt and cut around. Cut a green leaf from felt, arrange on headwrap, then do a skinny straight stitch to attach to wrap. Easy as Apple Pie and twice as sweet.

Tradition Making: The Back To School Soiree

Of course, you know all about Stephanie Nielson and what an Ah-Maze-Ing Lady she is, but have you ever noticed how much someone who has a complete passion for life and motherhood can effect a total stranger hundreds of miles away?

logo via Nie Nie Dialogues

There have been many times her musings about life has brought me to tears, but it's really her relish of the simple grind that we all live day to day that strikes a chord with me. She finds little things to celebrate and always seems to make sure her children know just how special each and every one of them are. I look at her (blog) and think to myself, "I want my children to feel the same way her children must feel. Just utterly loved and that they are something to be excited about". I think it's easy to want to be more like someone, it's another thing to actually put their influence into action and 'walk the walk' ya'know?

One of my favorite traditions she shares with her family is their annual "Back To School Feast"before she sends her little chickadees out to learn and grow in their new grades. I felt that there is no better way to kick off the school year like celebrating your kids and setting goals and mottos to carry them though, so I've decided we will be holding our Watson Back To School Soiree next Tuesday before Olivia heads off to 1st grade. In true Nie Nie spirit, there will be a motto, some paper crowns, a fancy decorated table, and a delicious menu- just the thing to start the year off with a bang! Bask in Stephanie's Feast from last year and click on over to her past Feasts to get some ideas for your own Back to School celebration for you & your family.

designed using Rhonna Designs Instabanners

I created this menu for our own Soiree, complete with a recipe of my all time favorite Chocolate Cake, which just so happened to be created in honor of Stephanie Nielson by Cheeky Kitchen's Miss Brooke. It's utter and complete bliss, I tell you.

Happy Back To School Planning everyone! I'll be sure to post pictures of how ours went next week! 

The Best Back to School Lunch Ideas

T minus 7 days until first grade starts, and I came to the daunting realization of having to prepare a packed school lunch every single day. On to Pinterest! 

1// Flower & Bees lunch 2// Pancake heart & melon lunch 3// Heart bagel sandwich lunch 4// Butterfly pasta lunch 5// Heart sandwich and strawberry lunch 6// Flower salad lunch 7// Rainbow Fruit Skewer lunch 8// Underwater sub lunch

I've found a TON of fabulous ideas to make Olivia's lunch not only delicous, but healthy and less we forget, super duper cute. And really, what first grader WOULDN'T love a cute packed lunch?

I found some Bento Boxes and silicone muffin cups on Amazon that I ordered to stick in her lunchbox to keep everything nice and fresh and separated. Let's hear it for happy lunches!

Team Tuesday: Baby Nook Art

It's a very happy Tuesday because I get to share some new designs using some brand spanking new kits from Rhonna Designs! More Insta Lovin designs to zjooshj up your Instagrams, photos, and digital scrapbooking- I seriously am dying over everything, I had to make up something IMMEDIATELY after downloading the kits. 

Yesterday I shared Clementine's Nursery Nook Inspiration Board, which had some custom wall art I designed for her using the new InstaQuote Kit. They were easy peasy, look clean and simple, and will look fantastic in a baby nursery space. There are dozens more quotes that can be used to make fun inspirational wall art, so grab your kit and start creating today!

kits used: Insta Quotes, Insta Banners, Insta Icons

The Planning of Clementine's Nursery Nook

We sat down and realized that Clementine is going to be here in no time, so we should probably actually figure out where the heck we are going to put her.

Our house is fairly small, and with just three bedrooms- the twins in one, and the other three in another, then the master - we decided the smartest thing to do while she is still waking up in the middle of the night is to make a little space for her in our room so she won't wake up any of the other kids. Once she's big enough, we can shove her in with the twins and it will be all gravy. It's funny how with the 1st baby you think you need so much stuff for this little tiny human that never really uses all that much of everything you have; then by the 6th we were like, "well, really we can pull in the metal horse trough, fill it with soft blankets and stuff and we can stick her next to the bed." Seriously, we considered doing that until I told my mom and she freaked out.

Our room is painted a deep charcoal grey (Behr's Beluga) so we wanted to keep the nursery nook neutral and utilatarian- a style I am in love with but have not been able to incorporate a lot anywhere else. It's a fun new direction to go in, and a long way from the ultra-themed nurseries I've done in the past. The twins room is very girly, so I wanted to make sure this space has girly touches while keeping an industrial edge. The juxtaposition of hard & soft will be evident throughout, mixing soft fluffy fabric on the inside of the crib with  ruffled burlap on the ottoman we are going to put in the space (not a ton of room for a chair). The barn lighting will look awesome against the faux wall out of beadboard we will create and with the custom wall art I've designed to print on metallic paper from Persnickety Prints. I can't wait until the space comes together and it's ready for her to get here! Come back tomorrow for Team Tuesday to learn more about the art I created for the space.

1// Gulliver Crib

2// Shining Cloud Rain Mobile

3// Barn Light Austin Sconces

4// Fabrics for Baby Bedding

5// Black Dresser

6// Galvanized Tray Bins

7// DIY Neutraface Letters

8// Burlap Ruffle Ottoman

9// ruffle pillow

10// Wall Art designed with Rhonna Designs InstaQuotes Kit

11// Wall Art designed with Rhonna Designs InstaQuotes Kit

12// White beadboard from Home Depot


inspired by Lay Baby Lay's AMAZING nursery boards

Foto Friday Week 46: Outdoors

Wohoo! How is it already Friday? The weeks are FLYING by, and before you know it Olivia will be starting school! I've got a TON of exciting things coming up, one of which I did a photo session for yesterday and while I was out, I took some photos outdoors. 

This was at one of my all time favorite spots in downtown Gilbert behind Liberty Market. Under the giant white water tower is a fun little splashpad for kids, and there are a dozen hidden little spots that make for awesome photos. And at 7:00 pm, the lighting is just divine.

Visit the other Foto Friday Ladies to see what they took photos of Outdoors 

Meg

Hilary

Kristyn

Christine