Funky, Punky, and Plump

I was very fortunate recently to be given the opportunity to help with a fundraiser.  The cousin of my co-worker/good friend Nancy had a baby named Layla a little over a year ago who was born in a rare disorder called Apert Syndrome .  Her little head was shaped like a cloverleaf at birth due to the growth lines in her skull being fused prematurely.  She had her first surgery at 22 days old to relieve the pressure on her brain and to reform her skull.  This little cutie has had 19 surgeries so far in her little life and has many, many more. Nancy and her son Austin decided to throw a fundraiser for Layla's family to help with medical bills and living expenses since Layla's mom quit her job to give Layla the care the she needs.  That's where I got to help.  :) I designed a logo for them which I then had printed on t-shirts at a discount that they re-sold to help raise money for the fundraiser itself.  I was told that Layla's room was...

As promised, here are the t-shirts and other things I made for people for Christmas!  I loved being able to make them something AND give them something that didn't look handmade.  I love making things for other people in general but there is just something so... satisfying... about seeing something I did in a format that looks professional. :) But first... here is the t-shirt I made for Rich for his space birthday party .  Front I found images of real patches from different NASA missions and printed those on the left.   Back  And the holiday card I designed for this year.  I painted the 3 of us plus a couple of "extras" in Victorian garb and put us in a Victorian winter scene backdrop I found online.  Rich and Andy are the only two "fat boys" I've ever painted along with my Fat Girls. :)  And now... the Christmas Presents!!!! My sister and her family  Candy corn is a symbol that means something to my sister and her hus...

Well, it's finally starting to get cold** here in Atlanta which means I can start rocking my skinny scarves without getting stranger-than-normal looks or a hot neck. I really only have two, though: a pink-and-black striped one and a black-and-white striped one. I am always on the scout for more but am really picky about the ones I'll get. It can't be too thick or scratchy in any way. (I have really sensitive skin which is one reason I wear a lot of jersey knits.) That's why I got really excited when I saw Missy's tutorial on Cut-Out-and-Keep for making a no-sew circle scarf out of a t-shirt . :) The only thing I did differently was keep my ends separated and used the sleeves of the shirt to make fringe. Her tutorial goes into a lot more detail but the gist of it is cutting 1" bands starting with the bottom of the shirt (after cutting off the hem), stretching the bands, looping each band around your hand a few times, then tying the bunched up loops together...

This was a really simple refashion. I love how it turned out but it's still a bit... um... happier than I am used to wearing. :) I started with 2 t-shirts: a plain black one and a pink and white striped one which was much brighter than I used to wearing so I felt very out of place wearing it. Originally, I was going to stencil a black skull on it but I decided this would be better since it'd still be too much brightness for my clothes. :) I carefully cut the sleeves off the black t-shirt at the seam and used one of them as a pattern to cut new sleeves from the pink and white shirt. I lined the hem of one of the black sleeves up with the bottom hem of the P&W shirt so I didn't have to hem the new sleeves. After sewing those on, I did a reverse applique of the pink and white striped heart with a black heart regular applique over that.