Give a Dog a.....Tuxedo?

Give a Dog a.....Tuxedo?
I've been helping my friend Sarah with some details for her upcoming wedding on Flagstaff Mountain June 2. Her fiance, Jeff, has a beloved terrier named "Dinosaur" who will be the ring bearer. One thing lead to another - and - you guessed it - I sewed Dinosaur a tuxedo.

First, I took Dinosaur's measurements. (neck, back shoulders, chest). She sat still as long as treats were involved. Then, I made a pattern out of muslin and paper. Next came a second fitting - to tailor the pattern to her body and check for length. Treats were involved again.

By the time the tuxedo was ready for the final fitting, Dinosaur was so happy to see me she was jumping and doing flips! She thought I was the treat lady!

Isn't she the cutest doggie ever? The tuxedo has tails - and after this fitting, we decided to add a boutonniere.  She's ready for the wedding. Can't wait to see those wedding pictures!

Mom Swimwear Picks, 2012

PINTEREST made this year's picks easy for mommy swimwear. All I did was stay on the lookout for swimwear and my friends did all the finding. Here are some of my faves...

Kenneth Cole, $94

Victoria's Secret, $167

 J. Crew, $119

 Anthropologie, $136

Anthropologie, $148

 

Nordstrom, $130

I had some more fun looking at swimwear this year because a lot of these sites use the Adobe software that I sell. When I clicked back to the Anthropologie site, it said, "Welcome back!" and showed me all of the swimwear I had previously viewed on another session. Very nice. Victoria's Secret uses our Scene7 software - any time you can do a 360 degree view of a product and change colors on the same picture/model, that's me. So I hope that you are thinking Adobe every time you have an above average online shopping experience. We aim to please ;)

Sewing For Charly Bella

Remember back in July when a friend of mine delivered her 23 week old baby girl via emergency c-section? Well Charly Bella is home now and fighting still. There have been so many wonderful people to help Angie with cleaning, cooking, donating coupons, etc etc, but I hadn't been able to help much at all. In fact, I hadn't even been to see Charly and Angie since that day in July - the day Charly was born. Luckily, Angie posted on FaceBook that she needed help sewing Charly's crib bedding. Now THIS was something I could do to help! PLUS, my mom was coming to town for Spring Break, and I knew I could enlist her help (by "enlist", I mean I set up a sweat shop in my basement and didn't let her come out until it was done. Just kidding.).

Angie had purchased the material before Charly was born and just didn't have time to do it. I'm sure you could imagine that 3 weeks after she found out she was having a girl, she was in the hospital with a little surprise.

Mom and I used this tutorial to get an idea for what we wanted the dust ruffle to look like. We also used Gabe's crib bedding to measure dimensions for the bumper. It would have taken me more than twice the amount of time if my mom weren't there to bounce ideas off. We make a pretty good team.

It turned out just perfect. Angie even got little Charly Bell all unhooked to come and and do a photo shoot for us. She just LOVED it and looked all around. I apologize for all of the pics, but my mom is back in Denver now and she wanted to see EVERYTHING. You can check up on Charly HERE.

Thanks Angie for letting us do that. It was a lot of fun, and finally something I could do to help. I love you and wish you and little Charly Bell the best!

Vegan Dublin Coddle - Happy St. Paddy's Day!!!!

 Who says "Man Food" can't be vegan? St. Patrick's Day is always celebrated at our house with a traditional Irish meal. Being vegan sort of threw a wrench in the whole ordeal this year...until Dan went out and got Vegan Beer Brats and came up with this dish. It was delicious, and left us all feeling like we had the real thing! (Only I liked it better because of the brat texture)

Vegan Dublin Coddle:
1 package Vegan Beer Brats
12 oz Irish Stout
4 small onions
7 golden potatoes
2 cups vegetable broth
Parsley, Salt, and Garlic Salt to taste

Slice and brown the beer brats in a frying pan. Add all ingredients to a crock pot and let cook for 4 hours on low.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!
Love, The Griffins

St. Patrick's Day Cupcake Toppers {Free Printable}

I made these for St. Paddy's Day and thought I'd share. Don't forget to wear your green!