Little Mave Bloomer Winner!!

I've decided to post new winners to the front page of Grosgrain and/or on the sidebar so that more people can see whether or not they've won.


Please email grosgrainwinners@gmail.com.


The lucky winner of the Little Mave Bloomer Guest Giveaway is Jcbaron99 of "Bits & Pieces".


Please contact me to claim your prize!

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Little Mave Bloomer Winner!!

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Last Chance Scrap Spending Don't Miss Out!!!!

I'll be announcing the winner of the Scrap Spending $50 gift card to JoAnn's Fabric soon! If you want to submit your last minute ideas just post your pic to the Grosgrain flickr group.

If you have a fabulous homemade gift that you created using at least 50% of materials you already own post it to the Grosgrain flickr group by January 1st. The winner will be chosen by me....and probably Brian:) And will be announced on.... ....January 3rd.

Please post a tutorial on your blog and leave your blog link in the comment of your flickr photo (or photos). A full tutorial is best but you don't have to include pictures or many details. At least say a few things so others can know how you made your wonderful work!

One of my favorites today is from Beleza Designs. It just goes to show how such little fabric can go a long way. Love the look!

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Last Chance Scrap Spending Don't Miss Out!!!!

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Too Much Holiday Cake.

Getting back on the blogging horse after a daunting Christmas has proven harder than I thought. It must have been all that Tiramisu and apple pie. But I promise to have some original content sometime this week.

Right now, the sample dresses for the Shabby Apple Dare to Design contest are carefully being sewn. One in green, one in yellow and one in navy. I love that. I was so excited when she thought they would be great in three colors! And I wouldn't have picked any other ones. Perfect for spring! Now, getting the samples to them by the end of this month. That's another story. But I'm so excited to send the finished pieces out!

Here's what a navy one might look like via Photoshop. The actual sample isn't finished just yet but I thought I'd give you a taste.

I'll see if I can get a picture of the actual yellow one up later today. They are supposed to be mailed to New York by the 2nd of Jan for a photoshoot in Mexico and I'm really worried about the postal service's ability to do that during the holidays. Talk about time crunch!

I'll try to keep you updated as the process continues:)

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Too Much Holiday Cake.

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LA Originals Knitted Baby Hat Winner!!

I've decided to post new winners to the front page of Grosgrain and/or on the sidebar so that more people can see whether or not they've won.


Please email grosgrainwinners@gmail.com.


The lucky winner of the LA Originals Knitted Baby Hat is everydaygrace of "everydaygrace".


Please contact me to claim your prize!

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Yummy. Dreamy. Soo Desirable.

As I was doing my last minute shopping Wednesday I came across one of those great affordable party dresses that make you wish it came in a maternity version.

I tell you, it looked even dreamier on the rack. All gothic ballerina. I loved, loved, loved the tulle overlay. What a great idea! Would look great for a New Year's Eve Soiree. And only $40.

I'll be keeping an eye out for more Rodarte for Target pieces in the ensuing months. Could they possibly fill the Issac Mizrahi void I've been feeling this last year? Hopefully I can wear one someday soon:)


Speaking of New Year's Eve apparel. A friend of mine is having a New Year's Eve 50s themed party! I'm so excited. For the occasion I'll be making my last maternity dress giveaway. Think Betty Draper mid-third trimester style. Something like this (to right). Look for it sometime next week!

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LA, December 2009




Suri and Katie pick up several bouquets of Christmas Eve flowers at a specialty market in Los Angeles on Thursday, 24.


Suri is wearing English Rose Dots Rainboots by Kidorable, which she first wore in Australia on July 28th 2009.






Suri is also wearing Silk Ruffle Dress in Green by Holmes & Yang.

Honestly, i expected more creativity from Katie and her designer-friend, rather than recreating one single dress in all of the rainbow colors... blah.

Pleasant surprise is to see Suri out on a Christmas Day! :)

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Merry Christmas

Merry Belated Christmas. I was literally shopping all day on the 23rd and 24th, wrapping until 3:30 am on Christmas and doing some last minute gift wrap up on Christmas afternoon.

No, I didn't look anywhere close to this put together while doing it.

So please forgive my lack of posts.

One of my Christmas gifts included "50 Dresses That Changed the World". I'll have to share my favorite one later....

{photo: Kate Spade}

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Baby Bees Boutique GUEST GIVEAWAY!!!! CLOSED.

Here's a sweet gift for that baby who loves things that aren't so ordinary.

Baby Bee's Boutique is pleased to present one Grosgrain reader these adorable custom vintage baby onesies for your little princess (shown to left).

Also find Baby Bees Boutique on Etsy.

Totally unique and super cute.

Pair it with designer jeans or capri's to complete the look.


Erica, owner and designer behind Baby Bee's Boutique, is a Mommy to three wonderful children and happily married in Sunny Phoenix, AZ.


She started out years ago making things for her own children and was constantly stopped and asked "Where did you get that?"

This is why she decided to share all of her beautiful creations with the world. Now she is thrilled to bring you her own line of Baby products from Chenille Blankets, bibs, burp cloths and her own Original Diaper and Wipes Holder and so much more......

All items are unique and super one of a kinds! She is sure you can find the perfect gift while getting nothing but the best.

For more up to date info on Erica and Baby Bees check out their official blog.

Many of you said that you would like to enter more giveaways, but have various issues with linking. Of course, I want anyone that is interested in entering a giveaway to be able to do so.

Therefore, from now on, giveaways can be entered in three ways:



1) By linking (to your blog, facebook, myspace, or any other site)

2) By leaving a comment without a link or

3) By linking and leaving a comment (this will be worth 2 entries which will better your chances of winning). Find more info under the FAQ page.

If you are leaving a link just use the 'create a link' at the bottom of this post or simply creating a post on your blog and including this link.

If you use blogger just use the "create a link" link at the bottom of this post. If you don't use blogger, that's fine too. Just create a link on your page as you normally would and I will see it using Technorati.


Create a Link

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Merry Christmas to EVERYONE!!!





as a Christmas Special, i would like to introduce a new member of our family:

Eva's Angels



Eva's Angels is a new European clothing brand for Toddler Girls, offering hand-made dresses & outfits from the finest Italian materials, with exceptional attention to details.







Suri was sent this Limited Edition Chocolate Paisley Dress in a size 4T from Eva's Angels as a gift, only the time will tell if she liked it or not... :)



Get yours now, the quantities are really limited!



Enjoy Your Holidays!!



P.S. i will post news & pictures as soon as they become available :)

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Katie's Christmas Shopping Spree and NO sight of Suri!






at at Ralph Lauren on Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills on December 21st.





at Pier One and Barney's in Beverly Hills on December 22nd.





at Hermes in Beverly Hills on December 23rd.

you can tell i miss Suri's pictures... :)

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Last Minute Scrap Spending Ideas

More great scrap spending entries!


There's still time to make your own or one of their's for your neice, daughter or neighbor!


Boo Boo Buddy. If you know someone that is prone to bumps and boo-boos, or if you suffer from frequent headaches like Simple Up does, this post is for you. If you just happen to love bean bag toys or sewing in general, this is also for you.








Chicka Chicka Boom Boom Felt Book Tutorial. Inspired by her stack of felt scraps and ball of embroidery floss, Jessica of Sweetie Pie Bakery, wanted to find something to do with them all! All of the colors reminded her of the bright graphics in Chicka Chicka Boom Boom-a book which they have been reading a lot of lately!


Submit your scrap spending ideas for a chance to win a JoAnn's $50 gift card!!!!

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Last Minute Scrap Spending Ideas

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Fabric Scrap Gift Tags

Okay, I admit, I didn't send Christmas cards this year. With the blog and the pregnancy it seems all I have time for are the bare essentials- eating, sewing, breathing (although that too is getting more difficult these days). If I had more time I'd want to do something like this....


Brooke at Inchmark makes these hip gift tags. She calls them 'Last Minute Tags'. But unfortunately my last minutes are going to be occupied with shopping and wrapping.


They are pretty neat though. I'd love to adorn my green and red packages with them.

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Fabric Scrap Gift Tags

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Have You Heard of Karma Kraft....

Five years ago when I was pregnant with Lily and planning her nursery, I had very specific ideas. I wanted a red room with white beadboarding. I wanted to sew her bedding because there are very few red options for baby bumpers and quilts.

I wanted a tiny rosebud print and nothing was going to substitute for that. Of course, I couldn't find anything of the sort. If only there were Karma Kraft.

Karma Kraft can print any design you create on the fabric of your choice. Their goal is to offer you a design opportunity unlike any you have known before. To see how it all works start here.

There is no need to know how to use Photoshop or other computer systems to bring your design to life. Karma Kraft can prepare your images for you for a fee of $10.00/color plus the normal cost of printing.

Of course they welcome professional designers to upload their own designs for printing as well.


They make it easy and fun for you to design and print your own fabric and give you a variety of fabric bases to choose from such as cotton, linen silk and more with no minimums.



You may have seen KarmaKraft's custom stocking idea featured in Martha Stewart Living.


They invite you to take advantage of their cut and sew services by providing them with your required size and letting us make your pillow, pet bed, scarf, tablecloth or personal apparel item for you.



See some of the products here. If the product you would like to make is not on their Web site, let them know what you would like and they will cut and sew it for you.


Simply send them a picture of the product with the measurements and they will make it. Prices may vary depending on the complexity.





See some of their users amazing creations in the flickr's karmakraft pool.
And check out Karma Kraft's Fab Favs and vote for your favorite one. There are some pretty creative people out there!

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On the Fourth day of Christmas....

Smittens

A Yudu Machine, One-Yard Wonders and a bias tape machine....

These may never get used but I thought they were a nifty idea.

You could probably make a pair for yourself.

Maybe it would be a sweet idea to give to your toddler. Buy them at Restoration Hardware.

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On the Fourth day of Christmas....

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The Milk and Honey Maternity Frock GROSGRAIN GIVEAWAY!!!! CLOSED.

I love Polaroids. Unfortunately, a lot of my dresses just don't fit the Polaroid bill. I like the frosty soft, pale and pink look. When I made this dress I knew I'd finally get my chance to do a Polaroid shoot.


Being pregnant I haven't had the chance to do much with my photos other than point and shoot. The cold weather and shorter days don't help either. At least these photos were a little different than my usual basement shoots.


The dress is maternity. This might be my last maternity frock. Perhaps I'll eek out one more. But I only have one more month to go. Exactly one month from now I'll be in the O.R.


We are having a planned c-section. Not by choice. Both of my two daughters were born via c-section and now there's no alternative. Can you believe I'm still sewing? I'll admit, it's getting a bit difficult.


I made the lovely headpiece with my friend Cheila a few months ago. Since then I haven't had a reason to wear it. When I remembered I had it languishing in my craft drawer I was nearly giddy thinking of how perfectly it went with this frock.


The dress is very soft and sweet which is why I named it milk and honey. I think this phrase is well worn but if I had my own clothing line I'd love to use that expression for my name.

I imagined wearing it to a New Year's Party or a surprise birthday celebration.


The flowers on the front, snake around the neck and hug the waist before swinging across the back.


You may not be able to see from the photos but the 2" wide trim crosses at the bust line and continue down past the hips.


The skirt is gathered at the middle of bust line and drapes down along the line of the lower trim. So rather than having a straight skirt line, it falls around your growing belly for a flattering maternity look.

I think some pearls might have gone well with this dress or even something lavender.


Some pearl earrings might have looked good as well. I'm not really a big earring wearer. Not because I don't like them but my daughter Molly is constantly getting into my jewelry tree and throwing them on the floor.


I've lost countless beauties which breaks my heart. Another thing that hurts....stepping on one in the middle of the night and having the stem go through your foot. Not so great.





This dress is made of a soft oatmeal colored knit material which you'll thank me for at the end of those 9 and a half months.


If you read my last post you know that I can't bear to wear pants anymore. Not even those full paneled things. Nothing is comfortable. Being this pregnant around the holidays is just a miserable thing. You have a lot of entertaining and looking presentable.


I chose to wear dresses. Not because I wanted to look formal but because wearing pants is now an exercise in tolerating physical discomfort. Everything feels tight.



I would actually really like to make one more maternity dress before the baby is born. Never have I had so many maternity photos. This new baby will have ample documentation of her time in the womb.


Poor Molly. I think she might have one photo of me sitting on an amusement park dinosaur with Lily.


The flowers on this dress were made from a tutorial I found years ago. They are the same kind of flowers I made for the the New Year's Eve Sweater and Skirt.





I looked everywhere for the tutorial. If I find it, I will try to post it to the blog later. I have to admit that it's a very tedious process but the finished look is lovely. Not to mention soft as a baby's bottom. Feels good against your cheek or neck.


I originally wanted to take these photos outside seeing as the world here on the east is now a blanket of snow. Unfortunately after my weekly doctor's visit it was already dark. Ugh. I hate daylight savings time.


I would say that this dress would fit a medium. However, I am pretty late in my pregnancy so it really depends on your stage. You can sort of judge from the photos.


Many of you said that you would like to enter more giveaways, but have various issues with linking. Of course, I want anyone that is interested in entering a giveaway to be able to do so.

Therefore, from now on, giveaways can be entered in three ways:

1) By linking (to your blog, facebook, myspace, or any other site)

2) By leaving a comment without a link or

3) By linking and leaving a comment (this will be worth 2 entries which will better your chances of winning). Find more info under the FAQ page.


If you are leaving a link just use the 'create a link' at the bottom of this post or simply creating a post on your blog and including this link.


If you use blogger just use the "create a link" link at the bottom of this post. If you don't use blogger, that's fine too. Just create a link on your page as you normally would and I will see it using Technorati.


Create a Link

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The Milk and Honey Maternity Frock GROSGRAIN GIVEAWAY!!!! CLOSED.

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Leg Warmer Spat Tutorial

Last night Brian and I went to his parents house for dinner. Being this pregnant around the holidays is just a miserable thing. You have a lot of entertaining and looking presentable.

I chose to wear a dress. Not because I wanted to look formal but because wearing pants is now an exercise in tolerating physical discomfort. Everything feels tight.

The only drawback is my bare, wind exposed legs. And as I was dressing last night I can say that I was hoping some stylish leg warmers would somehow fall from the sky.

If I would have had the time I might have tried to whip these up in a jiff. They seem simple enough.

See the Burda Style tutorial here, courtesy of Nicole Smith, Editor of Sew Stylish magazine and Associate Editor of Threads magazine.

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Sew Liberated Book Review

I wanted to include this with the giveaway but due to postal service overhauls I am writing this now. As I mentioned last week, Grosgrain is giving away a Sew Liberated: 20 Stylish Projects for the Modern Sewist to one lucky Grosgrain reader!

In case you haven't heard of this book and wanted to get to know it a little more I am here to help.

At first glance the photos caught my eye. So many times I see craft books with boring, badly lit photographs. But the ones in Meg's book are flattering, colorful and shown in real settings. It makes you excited to turn each page.

Meg includes 20 crafts that you can make yourself and are explained in great detail. What's really neat is that the patterns for these projects are included in a little packet glued to the back page of the book. No printing or rulers needed:)

The book has many applique techniques. I especially liked the reverse applique technique- sewing the applique behind the fabric and cutting it out. I don't think I would have thought to do that.


Meg's intro was a good read. It let me get to know her as a person and not just an author. She seems like someone I would have a lot to talk about with.


Her list of equipment, tools and supplies was also a nice touch. I'm always interested in seeing what other crafters consider to be their staples. Many times, I'm introduced to new useful tools that I am eager to try out for myself.





There were tons of great ideas for moms including a baby sling carrier and painting apron. I will have to attempt some of these. I'm really liking the diaper bag pattern and the baby's first book pattern (I wish I had a photo for that one. It's quite lovely:)


If you want to keep up to date with Meg check out her blog: Sew Liberated. From her book and her blog she seems like a person I would love to have as a neighbor:)

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Winter Stroller Cover Tutorial

Maybe it's because I'm nearing the end of this pregnancy and it's Christmas but I've been looking all over the web for baby related accessories that I don't already have. I came across this neat instructables tutorial from user Miclavcic for a winter buggy bag.


I'm always struggling with tucking the blankets into any available crevices. And if one happens to pop out and become wedged in the tire you either have a huge hole or disgusting scuff mark on your baby's blankie (or as Molly calls it....giggy).


This would solve that dilemma.

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Winter Stroller Cover Tutorial

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December 2009



Suri Cruise has topped the charts in a UK study as most fashionable child celebrity.

Adam Childrenswear who carried out the study says, “‘Suri is almost a celebrity in her own right thanks to her cute looks and her amazing wardrobe.

”She has outfits that rival A-list celebs and this gets her more column inches than many movie stars.”

So who voted in their poll? Only 3,000 parents. Suri beat The Beckham boys, Gwen Stefani’s son Kingston, and Madonna’s daughter Lourdes in the poll.

The company’s researchers also discovered that more than a quarter of the parents polled like to dress their children in a similar style to celebrity offspring. Here’s their top ten most fashionable celebrity kids:
1. Suri Cruise (Katie Holmes and Tom Cruise)
2. Cruz Beckham (Victoria Beckham and David Beckham)
3. Brooklyn Beckham (Victoria Beckham and David Beckham)
4. Lourdes (Madonna)
5. Romeo Beckham (Victoria Beckham and David Beckham)
6. Junior Andre (Katie Price and Peter Andre)
7. Shiloh Jolie-Pitt (Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt)
8. Kingston (Gwen Stefani and Gavin Rossdale)
9. Poppy (Jules and Jamie Oliver)
10. Princess (Katie Price and Peter Andre)

i wonder why Honor & Harlow were not even included...

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Flickr Favs

I can't tell you how many wonderful photos there were on Grosgrain's Flickr this snowy Saturday morning. Too many to choose from! Many of them are fabulous entries for the Scrap Spending $50 JoAnn's Gift Card Contest.

This photo to the left is courtesy of flickr user The Trendy Tot. I loved the colors! Red, green, yellow. So punchy and bright.

The little dress below is another punchy favorite of mine. Flickr user bundlebaby/ Jennifer Painter made it for her daughter's "playdate" with Santa.

It was the first Oliver + S pattern that she had sewn and she LOVED it. The steps were very well explained and she had no trouble at all.

But the poncho would be good on a day like today.



I went to the grocery store last night and now I'm really patting myself on the back for my observant foresight, otherwise known as dumb luck.

Brian is the exact definition of a 'weather weanie'. He's been monitoring this system since Wednesday. One night he looked up at me with a spirited look on his face told me that we could have another blizzard of '96.

I hear this from him almost every year. I cynically said that it would amount to no more than 4 inches.

So far, since last night, 4 inches are lying on the ground and it's supposed to keep snowing all day. Molly woke up and looked out the window to an amazing delight!

I feel so cozy in our warm, fully stocked house knowing that we are pretty much stuck here all day. Better yet we don't have anything planned so maybe we'll just drink hot cocoa, watch Christmas movies and light a fire.

Well, all those things minus the fire. We don't have a fireplace, that would be one of the things on my Christmas List. One of those electric ones that can go anywhere. Speaking of fireplaces. I'd love to have one of these stockings hanging from my imaginary one. Anna from Noodleheads shows how to make the tutorial here. She even embroidered the names without an embroidery machine. Now that's commendable!

I also loved this great memory game tutorial courtesy of Brown Paper Packages. The best part, these won't tear or get chewed up (always a problem in our home).

I think this would make a great Christmas gift for a 2 year old. I think my daughter started playing memory at 3. But she played it very well so maybe you might have a precocious terrible twos that might like to give them a try.


Here's another great scrap spender. Also by Noodleheads. I liked these because they weren't your regular couch pillows. You don't see many bed pillow tutorials.


If you would like to be entered in the Scrap Spending $50 JoAnn's Gift Card Contest then post a fabulous homemade gift that you created using at least 50% of materials you already own to the Grosgrain flickr group by January 1st.

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