Let Freedom Ring ....

As promised....the Freedom Wreath.


This didn't turn out exactly as I had thought ...but possibly better. :)

I already even had some requests to make some more....what an exciting opportunity!

What do you all think?





Stay Calm....and Love some Freedom...

The Ruffler

So did everyone have a fabulous weekend? Mine turned out pretty well. Yesterday I felt like super MOM. Got home from work with a plan. Take the kids for a walk. Check. Fix dinner. Check. Get through dinner somewhat peacefully. Check. Get the mess all cleaned up. Check. Work on some Chrissy Couture…Check check check. I was so excited to get back into the swing of things since vacation. I started on my “Freedom Wreath” as I am calling it. It gave me a great opportunity to use my new ruffle foot.

Ruffle foot? Not sure what I’m talking about. Well when I first started sewing about 6 months ago, I could not gather (ruffle) for anything. I would break my string every time. Now that I have had some practice, I am better, but the minute I heard of this ruffle foot, I was on a mission to get one.

My sweet hubby knew I wanted one for some time, and went and ordered it and picked it up. This is what it is.

Looks kind of scary doesn’t it? It really just looks scary. All you do is replace the foot on your machine with this one.

There are 3 settings at the top to choose from. 1, 6, 12, (and star, which is no ruffle). These indicate how many stitches in between each ruffle. For instance, the 1 setting is going to ruffle every stitch whereas the 6 will ruffle every 6 stitches.

There are 1000 YouTube videos talking about how to use them and you will find that once you get over the “look” of it, its very easy to use.

Because you do have to take a piece off and put a new one on, I would suggest using the ruffle foot if you had many things to ruffle. I am working on my Freedom Wreath and so I needed many strips of ruffled fabric. Instead of stitching every one, pulling and gathering the thread, I simply ran each one through this ruffle foot and Wa-lah!

 

The great part is, it was only $12! I probably won’t end up using it every time I need a ruffle, but if I want to make ruffle ribbon trim or ruffle something thicker like denim, its totally the way to go.


After I got all my strips cut and ruffled, I made a few ruffle flowers. They aren’t done, but you can get the idea.

In the midst of my ruffling, Noah broke my foam wreath throwing it like a Frisbee.  Needless to say, Momma Couture was not happy. I will try and finish the wreath tonight.


In the meantime, I had been wanting to make me and Livy some of these knot-twisted headbands. So I whipped one of those up super quick. They are really easy as well.

Can’t wait to get the wreath finished so you can see it. I hope it turns out as fab in real life as in my head.

Until then…

Stay Calm….and Ruffle on….



BREAKFAST of Champions

So I literally just had an ice cream sandwich for breakfast. What is it about those little things that are soooo yummy.

I got a ruffler for my sewing machine. I am extremely excited about it and can't wait to show you all of the wonderful things it can do!

We will probably swim and cookout today...but I am very thankful to the men and women who have served and are currently serving for our freedom.  God bless them and their families.

Hope you have a fantastic Memorial Day!

Stay Calm....and be Thankful ;)

Chrissy

Instagram aka newest addiction...

Have you heard of Instagram? I had seen many post on Facebook Instagram photos from their IPhone or Ipad, but I never paid much attention because I have neither. Recently my friend Jennifer said "Oh my gosh Chrissy, you have to check out Instagram, its on Android now".


So what is it? For those of you that have been under a technology rock like myself,  let me enlighten you.  Instagram is an app you can get for your phone or tablet device. Its basically a stream of photos that you take or edit...and you can follow your friends also and their pictures. Of course like everything now a days you can also add them to Facebook and Twitter and some other social media outlets instantly.  Friends can like or comment on your photos too.


So what makes it better than any other photo editor?  Well this is probably not for the intricate photoshop editor, but for an amateur cell phone photographer like myself, it can take your average photos and just give them a little extra touch.

Like the watermelon here...





Or Livy swinging....





Or Noah with his soccer trophy...










I am absewlutely addicted to it.



Now go check it out for yourself and let me know what you think. My favorite edit is X-PRO.


Until then...


Stay Calm....and Instagram some photos Yo!

Chrissy :)

Most Magical Place on Earth....

A few weeks back we were able to take the long drive to Florida to visit Walt Disney World. Flying was just way to expensive and we thought, "its only 16 hours or so". What were we thinking?? Noah was extremely excited and Livy, well she was tired of riding in a car seat.

Frankly after a few hours, Momma was tired of being in the car as well. We made it though. Nothing was more exciting than seeing the entrance.

We stayed at Disney's All Star Movie Restort, in the Toy Story section. It was quite amazing the details Disney puts into their rooms, decor, food...etc.



pic from our door



We are able to meet a few characters along the way.....

Check out Livy's face. She is very "oh no you didnt come near me"

Of course Chrissy Couture had to whip up something for the kids to wear to the parks. You know so someone could say "where did you get that outfit?" and I modestly say "Oh i made it," and thus an empire begins of a lady wanting to purchase thousands and I am instanty zapped into this world of Fashion and fame.... ok so I am a big dreamer.

I ended up spending the most time on Miss Livy's clothes. I got this pre-smocked fabric from walmart for about $4. It was 9.97 a yrd, but I only needed about 1/3 of a yard. It was super easy. Sew ends together with print facing each other and voila! I added a little strap because I felt inspired but it does nothing to hold the garment. (and you cant see it in the picture of course.) What I love is it will fit for a while.

Next up. I spent a lot of time on this, and as it was my first undertaking of adding an applique and ruffles to a shirt, it didnt turn out "perfect" but I was pleased. I think she models it perfectly and makes the imperfections hard to see.

We lucked out at Magic Kingdom when we were leaving and decided to get our pictured snapped. There happened to be a show going on at the castle and fireworks. Perfect timing or what?



Notice very sunburned arm and face....(look close Mickey and Minnie are on my head)



Noah got a shirt too. But it wasnt nearly as cute. He wanted a blue shirt and a red mickey. I wanted to put his name on it, but it never happened. It worked and was cute. Noah was all about the Characters. Livy was not as into it.



Love how Livy is like....I dont think so...



Although the kids got plenty of compliments (ok, mainly Livy) I received no offers to start my own childrens clothing brand or be the next best on Fashion Star or Project Runway. The kids (all three of them) had a great time anyway....

 

Maybe next time.... :)

Until that happens

Stay Calm......and Wish upon a Star...

Chrissy

My heart must be vintage....

Of all the things I found this weekend when we were "toy shopping" during the yard sales, I did find a couple of things for my sewing stash. I don't know what I love more, the fact that I am getting the items for nearly nothing, OR that most of the time, they are truely vintage and you can not just go and pick them up anywhere. I think I like the second part best.

My first purchase was a quilt bag full of misc sewing items. I could tell the guy that was selling it probably bought it with a "lot" and had no clue or care what was in it. I am sure for someone who has no interest, it looked like a bag of sewing "stuff". To me however, it was like a little treasure saying "you found me!" So with the huge bag of Misc and  a few fabric pieces, I asked what he wanted for it. My magic number on the fabric and bag was around $3-$4 dollars. He said he would take $3 and I said SOLD! Its quite fun going through a bag of treasures, esp vintage treasures. Among the wonderful things I will picture, there were also brand new vintage fake eyelashes, shower rings, bells, pipe cleaners, and array of interesting things. The most exciting was the bias and Ric Rack. I am stocked for the rest of my life I think.

My second purchase was a little more costly, but was completely worth it. Got each of these "lots" for about $1.00 each. Amazing Trims~

Look at this vintage trim! It just makes my heart smile! Won't that be fabulous when I get it on a little dress for Livy ?

And Lace.....Black, White, Cream, Pink, Blue....all different widths and designs...

But My favorite of all the Lace.....and I think all of it in general.....

Isn't it Amazing? Can you even buy thick gorgeous lace like this anymore? (Well you probably can, but not for what I paid for it!)

I can't wait to see all the fun stuff I get to do with all these fabulous vintage trims! Now I just need to sit down and do something with it. My stock is growing faster than I am actually making things. Not to mention the bazillion bias tape ruffle bracelets I can make now. (tutorial to come, I haven't forgotten)

Hope you get out there and find something fantastic!

Until we meet again....
Stay Calm and Love Some Lace....

Chrissy

The Bapron

My night was fairly rough. My 1&1/2 year old decided she didn't want to sleep. She fell at her grandparents and had some battle wounds. I am sure if I bumped my head and had a scratched nose and face, I wouldn't want to sleep either.

We didn't get much done in the Chrissy Couture house last night. Both children were ready for bed early. And so was momma at that point.

Glad we have caffeine in the mornings to perk us up. My personal drug of choice is Diet Coke or McDonald's Sweet tea. (Note, I am not being reimbursed for mentioning these items). Today its my Diet Coke kind of morning. I always wanted to be a coffee drinker, sitting at my desk, hold my large coffee cup, like an important office person, but I just could never bare the bitter taste. I did try a chocolate creamer once and it was better the more I drank. I definitely think its an acquired taste.

As I run through my emails this morning, I see my numerous new blog updates from pages I am subscribed to. I follow many blogs. They range from Fashion, to sewing, and crafts. I look up to these ladies and think, wow, I wish I was talented enough to think of that. But instead of wallowing in depression of my lack of skills, I use their generous tutorials and then feel somewhat above the cut. (My friends now think I am "crafty and talented"). My latest tutorial was from Craftiness is not optional. She has a wonderful tutorial for "the Bapron". What is a Bapron you may ask? It is the perfect size bib for your toddler. Bib + Apron = Bapron. Not only does it cover where you need it the most, its a cute design that is difficult for them to take off. :) You can see her full tutorial here. Here is mine.

Do not look at the stitching too closely. This was one of those where I was too lazy to change the thread in my machine...so you can see every error. The only thing I did differently than the tutorial is I used a cloth diaper as my 'backing". It just happened to be what was handy at the time when I wanted to start the project. Sorry there are no pictures modeling it. Baby Livy doesn't want to wear a bapron at 9pm at night when momma finally finishes a project. Hope you check out her fabulous blog. It has amazing tutorials and is fun to follow!

Until next time...

Stay Calm....and Wake up...

Chrissy

Searching for toys....

So the highway 50 yard sale seemed pretty successful this year. I saw many more houses set up this year than ever before! I was somewhat excited to do a little shopping without kids, but that didn't end up happening.

My sweet hubby planned a "date night" Friday night of Cheesecake Factory and Putt Putt....and so therefore we were kid free Saturday morning. He ended up golfing and what does this momma do? Goes and picks up one of her little ones. Its hard being a working mom and not seeing them much during the week. The weekends are the only time we really get and I was feeling very selfish. My little little one who is 1&1/2 was with a friend, but my son who is 4&1/2 was with the grandparents. I stopped by their "yard sale" and of course he wanted to come with me. So my journey of looking for me turned into our journey of looking for toys for him. (not that he doesn't have a bazillion toys, but I digress)

He ended up with a brand new basket ball pool thing. It was originally $20 on the box and we got it for $8. That will come in handy here shortly. I did score a sale that had a ton of lace and trims all bagged up. She really didn't want to take less on them, but I caught her at the end of the day and score 4 full bags for $5. I was stoked.

I need to work on some storage and organization. Right now its all in bags underneath my sewing machine. The longer it stays there, the quicker my little loves will be into it. Perhaps I can work on that this evening....I am itching to get some sewing done.

Hope your weekend was fabulous...

Until next time...

Stay Calm....and buy less toys....

Chrissy :)

Get Real

Ok, So I have to realize that I need to blog everyday, regardless of how exciting Chrissy Couture is going. I have many things I want to share today, but without fancy pictures and links, its defeating. I have no doubt it will come, so for now we will take baby steps.

Our town has a huge hwy yard sale. For miles and miles you can shop till you drop on all the yard sale goodies you heart desires.

My hubby surprised me at work with a Hardees Cinnamon Raisin Biscuit and I was thrilled. Love those yummy carbs! Anyway, what really excited me more than that, was a comforter size bag, full of folded felt in Red, Blue, Green and Yellow. I have been wanting to do a few things with felt, but really didn't want to make a purchase of it until I was ready to work on that project. Does anyone else have like 3 projects you are working on? I have at least 3 projects in process and about 5 more in my head. :) Sorry, Sidetracked again! He got it all for $1.00! Yay! So can't wait to share the fabulousness with you that comes from that.

My most current project that I am dedicating most of my time to is a Independence Day wreath. I have some amazing Red, White, and Blue, striped vintage fabric, along with some denim rosettes will be awesome! Perfect for Summer! My inspiration for for my wreath is brought on from this lovely one posted here.

Also Ruffle Bracelets from Bias tape. I came across this by accident. Isn't that where the best come from? I made my daughter Livy the most adorable red ruffle one out of some left over bias. I will post a tutorial and pictures. Promise. :)

Thanks for coming over, I am sure I will be telling you of the wonderful things I find this weekend.

Until then,
Stay Calm....and Be Fabulous!
Chrissy

Arriving right on time.....

So here we are…

Starting a new journey and am buckled up and ready to go! Chrissy Couture is excited to be blogging! Hopefully you will enjoy my thrift finds, craft projects, photography, and my new attempt at sewing! All in a day’s work (actually all in the few hours after I come home from my paying job). Perhaps if I only needed 2 hours of sleep a night, imagine what I could get done! But, we know that this feisty diva momma needs her beauty rest.

I scored some major vintage fabric at a thrift store across town. .50 cents each! I had to get them all, I just had to. Can’t wait to see what they become! Does anyone else ever have a hard time cutting into a beautiful vintage fabric? I am so afraid I am going to mess it up. (even if I did only pay .50 for it). So side note...I've only been sewing for a few months...trying to get the hang of it. So if I post something the incorrect or easier way, let me know! I am just self learning here. Also had a major excitement when I got 40 new colored metal zippers for $1.00. Yes all of them for a $1.00. There really isn’t an art to thrifting it just takes a little patience. Sometimes you find wonderful treasures like above, and sometimes you leave empty-handed and you throw yourself down on the sidewalk in an utter sobbing manner…(too much?) I digress…..

Soon I will figure out pictures and such and you can see what I am talking about….I know you are going to love it!

But for now…
Stay Calm…and Thrift On….

Chrissy