Green Leaves Hat Rack Video

I finally did a behind the scenes video recently.  In doing so, gained an entirely new level of respect for those who work in the entertainment industry.  Getting the right shot, trying to properly tell the story, is so hard. Not to mention having to watch yourself on camera.  This is all before going through the painstaking editing process.

Never the less, I believe that I am hooked.  :)

The decorating process for our Green Leaves Coat Rack....

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Let me know what you think!


-- Jessica

Finally uploaded content for Feath & Kee's You Tube Channel!

I set up a You Tube Channel for Feath & Kee a really, really long time ago.  I kept waiting to have time to master the process of creating a video.  Well, I can be patient, but decided what the heck, and just made a couple.

Here is the first one....

I needed to make some new fabric labels. Forgive the shakiness etc., this is definitely a work in progress!


-- Jessica

2015 Halloween Costumes

Happy Halloween!  I can't believe I am actually writing about this year's Halloween costumes on the day instead of days, weeks, or :/ months later.  This also is the first Halloween that Bryan was in charge of the most difficult parts. Needless to say, this has been the least stressful Halloween to date!

This year, Feather knew back in the Summer, that she wanted to be a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle.  Keela said she wanted to be Elsa from Frozen.  That was easy, I had already made her an Elsa costume that still fits.

Of course, Kee changed her mind.  and wanted to be a Ninja Turtle too.  She and Feather found out that there was at one point a female TMNT named Venus. So here is how we put together Michelangelo and Venus

Venus and Michelangelo 

The shirts and pants were easy, I was able to find green sweatpants for next to nothing.  For Venus's shirt, I used green dye to dye a white t-shirt.  We had a green shirt for Michelangelo, so while everything might not be the same perfect shade, it works.

For for the masks, belts, and wrappings, I raided my fabric stash.    Bryan used made Venus's fan using scraps of wood and paper. Keela finished it off by decorating it with stickers.  For Michelangelo's nun-chucks he used an old necklace, water noodles, scrap wood, then painted them.

After molding, before paint

The most difficult part were the shells.  First he glued several layers of cardboard together, cut the shapes out, then molded the back shells so that they would curve.

Painting...

Then came the long process of painting the fronts and backs.  They wanted to wear their costumes to school, and it poured rain, so thankfully he finished them off with polyurethane to protect the paint.

Finished Shells

I hope that everyone has a safe and fun Halloween!


-- Jessica

The Great Bed Re-Build

Bryan used Kee's old crib to make her toddler bed.

It seems like yesterday that Bryan built Kee's toddler bed, but she has out grown it.  We knew it was time to for her to have a big girl bed.  Normal people go to the store haha, but you should know by now that is just not how we roll.

We decided to go with a trundle bed.  In the fervor of room re-design, I headed over to Pinterest (this project really made me love Pinterest by the way) and created a board that you can check out here.

Material wise, we had Feather's bed.  It was the bottom part of a long ago purchased Wal-Mart bunk bed set.  It really had seen much better days and was also due for replacement.  We also had wood that had been torn out of an old church in town.

Adding slats to the trundle...

First, we decided to build the trundle.  We built a frame, then used slats for supports. The slats are fairly thin, so we had to go back and add reinforcements.  Once this was complete, we attached casters.  The casters were the only items purchased for this build. :).

Sanded Headboard with Risers Attached

With the trundle complete, it was time to revamp Feath's bed.  I broke it apart and sanded off the varnish, stickers, and marker that had accumulated over the years.  In my original design, I had planned to redo her headboard, making a bookshelf.  However we were running out of time, so we kept the original head board, and foot board.

Extension Added!

We ended up adding a solid wood piece in the middle of the bed slats. 

Close up of a Riser before finishing

Next, Bryan made risers with end caps to give the bed enough height for the trundle to clear.

Finished!

By the time we finished this, I had developed an intense loathing for paint, and had fallen in love with how all the different woods were working together.  So we finished it with linseed oil.

I really wish that I had a before picture of Feath's bed. Oh the difference a few changes can make!

One thing that I would recommend if you are wanting to make your own trundle, would be to use a sheet of plywood.  You could either attach it to a frame, or attach casters and be finished.

Either way this is a fairly simple project.  The most time consuming part was sanding down all of the parts of the old bed.   Re-purposing things sometimes takes a lot longer than building something from scratch, but the character of the finished product, and money saved is well worth the effort.


-- Jess

2015 Spring Planting

Rosemary and Chives outside the Shop Spring 2015

When we started planting this year's garden, it felt a little bit like a fool's errand, but Bryan and I have to grow things.  It might be a few plants in pots, or I might get a little carried away and we end up with way too many plants and flowers to try and keep alive.

Last Year's Raised Bed

Thankfully we have continued to add to thecompost pile, so there was plenty of compost to add to last year's raised bed.

Putting in the Soaker Hose

Even after Bryan rigged a pump system for us to use to get water from the rain barrels to the garden, just the simple act of watering our little plot was really time consuming.  This year we went with a soaker hose.

"Volunteer" Tomato Plants with the Onions

Last year, we waited until after everything had started growing to add mulch and covering.  That turned out to be a nightmare, so as soon as we had the soaker hose in place, we put down the plastic.

Pumpkin and Eggplant Seedlings

Bryan added a few more things here and there...

Maybe this will be the year we will have our own pumpkins!

Everything is starting to grow!

We have had so much rain, we've only had to water a few times. The soaker hose was definetely worth the trouble! We just have to drop our pump into a rain barrel, and turn every thing on. 

Kee with the Seedlings

I think Keela had a lot of fun playing with the seedlings.  We had to talk her into letting us plant them!

Bryan's Cactus 

A couple of year's ago, Bryan dug up a cactus plant.  This year it finally bloomed.  It needs a bigger pot, but I think I will let Bryan take care of that!

I'll try to post an update later on when everything takes off.

-- Jess

The Elsa Costume

Had to have blue eye shadow and braid :)

Keela loves the movie Frozen, and Elsa is her favorite character.  This costume brewed for a while in my mind.  Miss Kee was consulted on the style.. poofy skirt or not etc. etc.. Then, the fabric was purchased, and then it sat....and sat... until finally, Bryan and I purchased one of her Christmas presents from a fellow Etsy seller, Punkin and Me Bowhouse.

With an Elsa tiara on the way, it was time for mom to get busy!  To make the pattern, I just used a roll of brown kraft paper.  I had decided to keep the bodice and skirt separate, so I traced out pieces for a round skirt first.  Then, for the bodice, I tucked the sleeves into one of Kee's t-shirts and just traced around it.  I just kind of guessed on the sleeves, tracing them out and then making sure the paper pieces matched up okay.

The only tricky part was sewing the material for the top part of the bodice and sleeves.  I have had to go back and fix a few spots that have started to fray.  I think that mastering poly-satin and similar fabrics are definitely on the horizon for me!

A few layers of tulle added the requested "poof" to the skirt.  I found the easiest way to go about this was to first line up the layers and attach them together with a single thread by hand.  Then sewed them into the waist.  The next time I make one of these, I will try to take pictures for a tutorial.

Originally, I had planned to add applique snowflakes and glitter, but ended up just keeping it simple with a few ribbons.  Now, that the new Cinderella movie is out, I am glad that I left it so simple.  She can just as easily be Cinderella as well as Elsa depending on her mood.

Her crown I am thrilled to report has held up against considerable wear and tear since Christmas.  I highly recommend Punkin and Me Bow House.  The owner is very professional, and her work is excellent!

Here are a few pictures...."Queen Elsa" was not too interested in holding still...

A better view of the tiara...

Action shots!!!!

-- Jess

Halloween 2014 Costume Re-Cap

Wow, things have been so busy!  It has been entirely too long since my last post.  I thought that I would show off the girl's Halloween costumes before the next one rolls around.  Also, I finally made Miss Kee's Elsa dress.


So to start, I mentioned in my goodbye to Summer post, that the girls wanted to be Micheal Jackson for Halloween.    I think that the end result turned out pretty well.

Feather helped me plan the actual costumes.  We decided to go with the Billie Jean look - black sequined blazer, white shirt, black pants and fedora.  The only things that I had to make for this were the blazers and hats.

For the blazers, I drafted patterns based off of jackets that they had, making adjustments with the muslin.  I used stretch sequin fabric, and I would recommend keeping rubbing alcohol handy to clean off your needle periodically, as the glue that keeps the sequins on tends to build up.
Aside from the glue build up, the blazer construction was pretty much a breeze.

Next up.... the fedora dadadum..  I had not sewn a fedora before, but I thought "how hard can it be?"  I took the measurements from a fedora that Feather already had that was denim, and set about drafting my pattern.  Everything looked lovely.  I even took a picture of all my tools laid out in the evening twilight.  That is were it ended.  There is no way I am showing the results! lol  Maybe at a later date I will be able to take the time to master the fedora.  Until then, Kee's dress up arsenal has gained a sparkly, misshapen, floppy hat.
Now in full panic mode, I covered the denim fedora with leftover fabric, and by pure luck found an old black one that we had for a long time.

Halloween was saved! lol  Never underestimate the power of fabric and glue!

The girls had a blast and were a hit trick or treating.  They had to moonwalk several times, and their mom learned how to sew sleeves.


-- Jess