happenings on all hallows' eve...

we celebrated solana's first halloween!  she dressed as a ladybug, thanks jay and aileen!

dom was dressed as a ninja!  we can't believe that this is his 4th halloween already!

also, our crew was 12 kids strong this year:  dom and solana were joined by isaiah, reece, demian, riley, ashton, shayla, shandon, siana, sylus, & svea!  it was a lot of fun!  one of the highlights was the reaction of the home owners when they see all the kids .  a lot of "wow's" and "whoa's".

the rookie & the veteran

we tried getting a photo with both kids, but dom was already running from home to home.  he's apparently a trick or treating expert nowadays...

here's the lil' man in action:

 here's the lil' miss in action:

... and not in action - LOL!

i am also loving cul-de-sacs, because the parents got to hangout while the kids went from one house to the next!

well, that's all folks!  hope your halloween was just as fun, have a great week!
xo, carla

a doll for riley

i just wanted to share this doll that i made for a cute girl named, riley.  this doll is really late getting to her (when i mean late, i mean really late).  on the upside, it finally got to her just in time for her birthday! 

here's the doll i made using the black apple doll tutorial with some customized details.

according to riley's mom, she calls it her "special" doll - and that makes me especially happy! 

have a great day!
xo, carla

giraffe love

if i had to choose a favorite wild animal, the giraffe would be on the top of my list.  i've been wanting to make a stuffie from this tutorial by kristina karkov (woman's day) for a while now...  i knew that it would be perfect for my friend's baby boy!

i guess this would make it my 3rd sew september project! so check out what i made with my trusty needles and threads...

hello!

embroidered (raised satin stitch) - eye detail

felt heart applique

i used a 4-strand round braid for the tail

i decided to use two different fabrics to create the stuffie, and added some details to make it extra special!

xoxo,
carla

so nuts about french knots

i wanted to share my 2nd sew september project.  i really love embroidery, and my usual favorites are the back, split/chain, & stem stitches to draw lines.  i wanted to try something different and add more dimension to the lines.  so,  i decided to use, the french knot!  i guess you can say that i am nuts about french knots (now say that 3 times, as fast as you can - quite the tongue twister)!  

i've been getting a lot of my inspiration from pinterest lately (and i'm pretty addicted to it).  i've been eyeing this post from the mother lode, and decided to create my version of an embroidered family hands portrait!

i received some fabric scraps from one of my friends, and i used part of this cute ikea fabric and appliqued it to my base fabric. 

the house that i used is within the blue heart (source)

to lighten the black outline within the hand prints, i applied a thin wash of white acrylic paint.  i didn't want to completely lose the outline of the house.

then, i traced our hands and used different colored threads to represent each of us: 
bry - navy blue
me - turquoise
dom - purple
solana - yellow

so, here's how it turned out:

i hope you are all having a wonderful week!
xo, carla

pre-school cool

guess who's going to pre-school?

dominic!!!  we are so proud of our lil' man.  i can't believe that he's in school already!

 i asked him, "how excited are you?"  and he gave me this smile in the car:

action shot!

hung his back pack and greeted one of his teachers, ms. lorna.

all settled in class with a couple of his classmates, and his other teacher, ms. lenka.

after dropping him off, solana and i make our way to nonna's home...

so far, he's enjoyed every minute of it.  he gets really excited going to school.  often, he waits for us at the bottom of the steps in our home (it's really cute, and it makes me smile every single time)...  i hope this enthusiasm lasts through college.

xoxo, carla