Daddy and the Girls

This weekend was the annual Daddy/Daughter dance so I couldn't resist showing the family! The girls had so much fun, even kept their dresses secret from Daddy until they walked down that night. It was absolutely priceless to see them drive away for their special night. Tyler kept asking me why Moms and brothers weren't invited and really wasn't satisfied with my response that it was only for girl scouts and their fathers. One day he'll get it! For now, he gets to stay home with me, fold towels & mountains of laundry, play monopoly and read books. Stellar evening for all right!

Soire'e Bouquet Twirly Skirts....just in time for Summer!

Both of my girls have very strong preferences towards color. I do my best when I carve out time to make things for them to create pieces that reflect their own personal tastes. Over Spring Break, we head out to visit Grandma & Grandpa at the lake for some lazy time in the sun and I actually packed my sewing machine and some fabric! Some people like to bring a book when they get a little break, I bring a sewing machine :) I had been wanting to do something coordinated for my girls and gave them the chance to pick their own color palette. I'll be offering just a few of these in my Etsy shop soon. I love how they turned out, very bright, Summery and girly. You can find them in my store now.

East meets West....a little Asian American Fusion

I sound like a new show on the Food Network don't I? Well, it really is just implying the love of Asian culture that I'm feeling right now. I love their bold use of color and I'm working on creating some pieces that take on a whole new feeling with a whole lot of personality and color! I've just finished my first piece and with any luck, will get some photos soon. I have been having a lovely time diving into some new fabrics that all start with an Asian flare. Keep watching and I'll be posting more soon! a photo of this one just doesn't do it justice as the main skirt really feels like it needs to be on a canvas, showcased as a piece of art. I consider it a walking piece of art, perfect for a little girl :-) Heading to Etsy soon!

Went to Disney!!

Well, I didn't go to Disney but these 2 little ones did! Molly and Maddie, you are just too cute for words. Their mom requested these matching outfits and then she had some outside help put the monogrammed names over the initials that I had appliqued on. Very cool, love what you did! I'm sure your trip to the magical Kingdom was fantastic. As always, click on any photo if you'd like to enlarge.

Customer cutie....Birthday Girl Grace

Thank you so much for sharing your photos. I love seeing your little ones on their birthdays, trips to Disney, special photos that they've had done, or just a fun family day where you happened to have a camera in hand! It's a wonderful feeling to see the photos and all the places you all have traveled with your kiddos wearing some of the clothing I've made. Thank you for allowing LTDK to come along and thank you for taking the time to share your photos! Here's some new ones I received. Grace just turned 2 on Valentines Day. Isn't she ADORABLE all the way down to her little braids? I can tell from the photo's, she's stolen her daddy's heart. Grace's mom decided to tweak a Valentine's set I'd done and do it in this fabric combo, I love how it turned out and seeing it on her little one makes it all that much cuter. You know I love those apple red converse shoes. You are never too young to sport a pair of those. Happy Birthday Grace!

And the winner is....

The random # generator picked #49 this morning when I plugged in the # range. Congrats to the lucky winner........

April Whitlock said...
Brown is my black (for both me and my girls). I love it paired with purple or pink or light blue!!

March 3, 2009 6:30 PM

You can contact Amy at hillcountryjohnson@yahoo.com and you guys can arrange for your free item. If you haven't peeked through her album of ideas, take a look. If you have an idea of your own, she loves those too. Enjoy, this is one of my favorite pieces of jewelry to wear!

Doing a GIVEAWAY

We all love giveaways right? I have a wonderful and talented friend Amy of Hill Country Charm who makes these amazing hand stamped sterling creations. I think I wear mine almost every day and even my girls have their own with their own names. What mother, grandmother or even child wouldn't love these? Well, we're giving one away to one lucky person and you get to pick what you'd like! Take a peek at Amy's album and you'll see all kinds of ideas. My favorite is the mother's circle in her new fun lowercase font! All you need to do is to make sure you are a current member of the la*tee*da*kids mailing list. If you haven't joined, you can find it on the right hand sidebar of this page. Make sure you confirm your subscription by clicking the link that Bravenet will mail to you otherwise you are not confirmed. THEN, scroll down a tad more below this post, find the comment hot link and just leave a comment in the comments section of the blog based on the question below and we'll randomly select a winner. Good luck!

So the comment I'd love to hear is this! What color combos are you loving right now for girls? Whether it's 2 or 3 or just a rainbow of colors? pink and brown? blue and brown? pink and turquoise? what is it? I'd love to know what's getting your attention.

M2M GAP Mediterranean "Years Gone By" Ruffle Capris

I just loved the green the Gap used in their Mediterranean line and think these two look smashing together. Adding a cute kid is certainly like the icing on a cake! Spent a little more time with Scott the other day grabbing a few more photos of new pieces. To some folks they see a fence in need of a new paint job, he drives by and sees a great backdrop of color. love these! Grabbed the little lovely one here and she did her typical magic. I think I read a description of this fabric stirring up memories of the days when folks had all their clothes pinned to a clothesline. It definitely makes me think of the "Years Gone By" I'll be adding them to my Etsy store soon. Here's one of my favorite ones. These don't show the pants the best, you'll have to go find them in my store to see a broad range of her shots but I just love her face in this particular one so wanted to share. Thank you Nancy for borrowing her to me!

Customer Photos make my day!

Check out these 2 beauties! Yep, some la*tee*da*kids apron skirts made it to Egypt in front of a pyramid and even with a Sphynx. Okay, so the cutest part of the picture might be that lil belly you just want to reach through your screen to grab, I totally agree. They are both so stinkin' cute and it made my day to see this. Gotta love those rainboots too!!! Hhhmmm, what do you think she is thinking??? I'd just love to know. Something about that stance with that head tilt, something good is going through her toddler brain, don't ya think? Oh how I hope to put some more stamps on my passport and get out to see more of the world. For now, stuff like this is pretty cool from folks who live around the globe. Thanks for sharing Jan, your babies are beautiful!!! Photo day tomorrow, can't wait to share a few more things!

Sneak Peek of some new ruffles "Years Gone By"

I know I've said it a few times, but I'll say it just one more, I love this Darla line of fabric from Tanya Whelan. I also loved the Mediterranean line when it came out from the Gap. Gap's color scheme was a bold combination of navy, white and green. I thought it'd be fun to pull out the kelly green swing top they remade this year, and create some la*tee*da*kids custom, old fashioned floral ruffles to pair with the top. This print just reminds me of the years gone by so that's what they'll be called. Just add a cute kid and I think it's a winning combination! We're trying to get some photos and will be adding them to my Etsy store soon. Keep checking back to my blog, I've got a giveaway I'm planning for mailing list subscribers. stay tuned!

Back home, now back to reality!

Hubby and I had a nice little getaway to Mexico where the sun always seems to shine and the water is crystal blue. We're both refreshed and getting back into gear this week. I dove straight into what any Mom would start with, the mountain of laundry that I had waiting here from the kids and then the stuff I brought home. Man, 5 people sure can generate some dirty clothes! I may never get to leave my laundry room this week! Now onto fun stuff. My machines were both at the mechanic getting their annual tune-up. They think I'm so disciplined since I bring them in yearly at the same time just like I'm told. Truth be known, we go out of town same time every year so it's the one time I feel like I can be without them and they deserve a little R&R too right! The sewing machines are home, I'm home, lots of new orders came in and I'm ready to get cracking. Thank you to those that share your photos, it sure does make my day to get those in my inbox. I can't wait to make some new things for some new moms that have found me along the way who have chosen to dress their girls in a few of my pieces. I'm getting back to it this week so hopefully will have things heading out on their way soon! I've also got my eye on some new fabric prints, ooohhh are they pretty! Sure do want some time to play around with that stuff too!

A fun little video courtesy of Scott!

How much fun is this? My creative juices are certainly fed when someone combines their talent with my own craft. This sort of feels like a mini commercial for La*tee*da*kids. Scott made this short video for me and I just love it. YOU HAVE TO CLICK on the picture shown below of Olivia looking cute in her cowgirl boots and the Olivia dress and you'll be directed to the short music video. The music is the perfect compliment as well. Check it out, what do you think? New designs coming soon!

Tanya Whelan is all kinds of awesome

The average person might respond, "and who exactly is that?" Well, in my world, she happens to be the brains behind the fabric designs that are always amongst my faves when choosing! I submitted some of my designs using her latest collection and she's got them up on her blog right now, check 'em out HERE. It was a great feeling to see the girls and my designs on her page. I truly love what I do, now just crossing my fingers the CPSIA doesn't mess it all up. If you haven't heard of the new legislation. I won't bore you with details. You can click and read if ya like and even go one step further and complain to your congressman like I and millions of others have!

I am just focusing on today for now. It's all that's within my control and accepting orders as they come in. I did a different version for a customer the other day in Tanya's fabric. I adore how it came out, take a peek HERE. This little girl who will get this set turns 2 on Valentine's Day. Her mom and Dad decided on a set I've made but we did it in blue. I can't wait to see her wearing it! I love when you send me your ideas and we get to collaborate on an outfit. It makes it that much more fun! If you'd like to join my mailing list, you can find it in the right hand column of my blog. Join today and I will maintain contact with my list members moving forward. Bravenet will send you a confirmation email to ensure you haven't been randomly added to the list. You MUST click this or you have not joined. Don't see it? check your spam folder, it's probably there. I've even got a little incentive, a GIVEAWAY! My dear friend Amy of Hill Country Charm on Etsy makes these gorgeous necklaces. The kind that are special and always have people stop and ask you about it. Yep, we're gonna give one away so sign up :) I've got more giveaways planned down the road as well so stay tuned!

It really does take a village

and with tremendous support from my family and friends, 2009 is off to a fantastic start. I have to say a big thank you to all those around who have let me borrow their little girls. They are a super fun crowd to work with whose energy I'm envious of! I've got lots of new things being sent to my Etsy store and staying busy busy busy. Good busy though, like adrenaline, heart pumping busy! I love when you all share photographs of your little ones. Keep 'em coming, they make my day! It's amazing to see your portraits, your vacations or just plain ole candids wearing something I've made. I had a super experience a few weeks ago working with Scott from Scott Stater Photography Scott is a photographer here in Austin in the same Steiner Ranch area that we live in. Check him out. He tackled taking photos of a few pieces from my Spring line with the pint sized crowd. Their collective ages were under 21 so you can imagine the fun herding this crew. They were all phenomenal and all tolerated the high winds we were given that day. These little beauties have to try hard to take a bad photo and even then, I don't think you could find one! The pictures you see here are from my Spring MACY collection of mix and match pieces.

The #1 question I get from people is "How does your sizing run?" To answer that, that's the best part of custom clothing. For example, if you purchase something and let me know that your daughter is a 5 in length but teeny tiny through her waist, we can make something the length of a 5 but size it slimmer through the waist. If you have a child who has shorty pie legs and you know where you prefer their capris to hit, we can always modify the lengths to your preferences! My pieces generally come as one size fits most but we can tweak things here and there for you! Click on any photo to enlarge. I have them come and go from my Etsy store. As items get purchased, I will attempt to add them back when time permits. This might be my favorite line of fabrics I've ever used. It has such a feminine feel with floral prints that remind me of the days gone by, a simpler world, and a place I'd like to be :)

What a wonderful day

How on earth do these photos relate? They could be the start of a story board for my day. Yesterday was a day where I didn't complete a single task. Just spent the entire day enjoying all the folks I have the pleasure of interacting with on a near day to day basis! I had a birthday and started the last year of my 30's. oh boy⁄!! It was certainly a day to remember. I started the day connecting up with my coffee Moms. To my surprise, they got crafty on me and greeted me with t-shirts that read Debbie Rocks and a big ole birthday cake. Now tell me that doesn't feel awesome! Stayed for some cake, coffee, chatter and even Happy Birthday in Spanish by little Trey. priceless! Scooted out later that same day to meet my neighbors for lunch. The schemed a covert operation and got in touch with some other friends and we had a great group for lunch. Mother nature was on our side and we had 80 degrees in January. It called for Mexican food and Mojitos at noon coupled with more girl chatter and that ain't too shabby either! My spouse is out of town for work so I figure the fun is gonna end there, and that's fair enough, it's been an awesome day. My kids come home and my girls had both made me cards and my younger daughter had her whole class sign it. Very special! I have the pleasure of reading with them each week, have slowly gotten to know them. They are all just adorable. They ended dinner by scooting me out of the kitchen and told me to wait as they wanted to make me dessert. They piled in the ice cream, the chocolate syrup along with a skinny cow! Almost seems like ordering the diet coke with your Big Mac and fries! They sang Happy Birthday as well and it was just the perfect ending to the day. You just can't beat having great girlfriends and kids! The bonus part is the hubby was out of town so he gets to celebrate it with me all over again this weekend. No cooking for this gal :)

There's more than one way to skin a cat!

...but I'm not really talking about cats. I'm talking about the sewing world! There are often several ways to construct the same garment and we all have our preferences. I'm trying to put my own thoughts on paper. I've been asked several times by folks, "Hey, I'd love to learn to sew" Problem is, you buy those patterns that say, It's SEW Easy, you get home, but you still feel a bit dumbfounded after unfolding all of those pages and scanning through the instructions. Well, I've decided I'd take a stab at adding author to my name! I'm laughing just typing that as I'm the most grammatically incorrect writer there is so just take with a grain of salt that author is a generous term! I've started writing an electronic book with easy to follow instructions along with lots of color photographs embedded into the book that will hopefully jumpstart any newbie into their first project. I took the step by step pictures close to a year ago, started writing this and have vowed that when 2009 started, I'd actually complete this item on my to do list. I'm finishing up the final touches on a 3 tiered skirt e-book. These are so versatile in the possibilities and they are fun to wear. What little girl doesn't love to twirl when she's got something fun like that on.