Whimsy Couture Pattern Review and Giveaway

(giveaway closed:  comments deleted to protect commenters’ email addresses)

I was asked if I wanted to review a pattern of my choice from Whimsy Couture.  I’ve been wanting to make Poppy a jacket, so I thought the Hooded Jacket pattern for Boys or Girls (Reversible) was a great option. 

You are sent the pattern via email, which is very convenient.  The pattern and instructions were clear.  I love that it is reversible, though I didn’t have enough buttons the same size to make it so just yet.  I used a thick knit and a thinner knit for my jacket and it worked out just fine.  I believe the pattern recommends cotton for one side, and fleece for the other, but the knit worked great.  I think it helps that the turquoise knit was so thick. 

The jacket came together quickly after cutting the fabric out.  The only items I would change is to maybe taper the jacket out a bit so it isn’t so snug around the bottom (it has to fit around those cute toddler bellies!), and I’d make the hood smaller.  I’d also do a better job at placing my buttons, but that was entirely up to me and not by fault of the pattern!

I love how you can see the inside fabric on the hood, and by folding the cuffs. 

And of course we have to see if it pleases the most important critic… 

Yep, she loves it.  It’s been a while since I’ve sewn anything for my kids other than smaller things, so it was fun to make time for that again!

 

Whimsy Couture has SO MANY cute patterns!  Some that stick out to me are:

The Apron Twirl Peasant Dress

 

The Over Top/Dress (the apron part, not the entire thing)

or the Criss Cross Tunic

Lots and lots of great patterns. 

WANT A CHANCE TO WIN YOUR CHOICE OF A THREE PATTERN BUNDLE (WORTH $20.00) FROM WHIMSY COUTURE?

To enter, you must “like” Whimsy Couture on their facebook page, then leave a comment letting me know you did that, along with your thoughts on what pattern(s) you like.  Please leave an email address where I can contact you if you win. 

Giveaway runs through Friday, May 11th, at 5:00 pm MST.  Good luck! 

*You can also enter the code SAVE50 to receive 50% off your purchase in their PATTERN SHOP.  Yay!

Shortcake Reversible Romper & Dress: Pattern Giveaway from The Cottage Home

I’m excited to be part of The Cottage Home blog tour in honor of her newest patterns! 

As the title says, this was made using Lindsay’s pattern (The Cottage Home) that just came out.  It’s called the Shortcake Reversible Romper and Dress.  I obviously chose the romper and I made it a size 4T,  just in case, so it would fit her next summer.  Since B just turned 3 in September, I think it would have been better to make the 3T.  But now it will just be worn for a lot longer!

The pattern was very professionally made and so easy to understand!  Lindsay did a great job on it!  I love that there are no exposed seams since it is reversible. I also loved that there are great pictures to go along with each step—don’t we all wish the store-bought patterns would do the same?!

So you know those photo shoots that don’t go very well? This was definitely one of them, but it could have to do with the fact that it was FAH-REEEEEZING while taking these. So even with the layers under this great reversible romper pattern, B acted like she was frozen in time. She would barely budge and would only take tiny teeny weeny baby steps when I asked her to do something different. It was kind of funny actually, but I’m sorry for the lack of better pictures!  But that’s also why you don’t see the reversed side—I just couldn’t put B through taking it off of her and reversing it in such cold weather!  But you can see what fabric I used in the first picture on the shoulder tie.

Sheesh… the girl looks in pain.  At least she tried to humor me with a grimace smile.

Interested in winning your very own Shortcake Reversible Romper and Dress Pattern?  There will be two winners!  Click HERE to enter.

 

And if you want to increase your chances of winning, here are the other bloggers hosting giveaways on their blogs.

The Cottage Mama Sewing Patterns ~ Blog Tour Schedule:

November 8^th – The Cottage Home

November 9^th – Craftiness is not Optional

November 10^th– A Lemon Squeezy Home

November 11^th– No Big Dill

November 12^th – Kojo Designs

November 14^th – Aesthetic Nest

November 15^th – Girl.Inspired

November 16^th – Noodlehead

November 17^th – The Cottage Home

Bounce Dryer Bar Review and Giveaway

Laundry is one of those chores that just has to be done, over and over. You can get the entire household of dirty laundry cleaned one day, only to have basketfuls of laundry after everyone gets ready for bed that night. 

It’s easy to throw clothes in the washing machine (thank goodness for washing machines and dryers, right?), and I don’t even mind folding them that much, but what helps me while folding laundry is how the clothes smell. Sometimes I end up buying cheaper detergent, only to find that when I fold the clothes, they don’t even smell nice! Other times our clothes are stiff and seem to dry out my hands instantly while I fold them. Soft clothing is much more enjoyable to fold. I have not had either soft or good smelling clothes the last couple of months, in trying to get rid of the cheaper detergent I am using. Enter the Bounce Dryer Bar. This is such a great idea!

I opened the package and the smell was so fresh and clean. B even loved the smell.

I instantly put a load of clothes in the wash to try out the Bounce Dryer Bar. While my clothes washed, I followed the directions on the package and installed the bar in my dryer. So simple to install.

Here are some claims of the bar:

-With the Bounce Dryer Bar, it’s automatic -- just stick it and forget it!

-Months of automatic freshness, softness and static-control

I agree with it all! The smell is fresh. After my clothes ran through the dryer, they smelled really good—and not too overpowering either. Here are my kiddos smelling their blankets. They all commented that they loved the smell and how soft their blankies were.

My husband’s work pants are always so stiff, and they were soft! I didn’t have anything sticking together either like I normally do, so it definitely controls static.

I love that it lasts for about 3 months. That is 3 months of completely forgetting I even have something in my dryer doing wonders to my laundry with no effort on my part. In fact, I did another load of laundry and was pleasantly surprised while folding when I realized that the bar had made my clothes soft and fresh smelling, because I had forgotten about it!

The Bounce Dryer Bar is convenient, and it really does live up to its claims. I’m sold. To learn more about the Bounce Dryer Bar, click HERE to be directed to Bounce's page on Facebook.

Want to win your own Bounce Dryer Bar and a $50 gift card from Bounce and BlogHer? Here’s how. Answer this question: What is your least favorite thing about doing laundry?

Rules: No duplicate comments. You may receive (2) total entries by selecting from the following entry methods:

a) Leave a comment in response to the sweepstakes prompt on this post
b) Tweet about this promotion and leave the URL to that tweet in a comment on this post
c) Blog about this promotion and leave the URL to that post in a comment on this post
d) For those with no Twitter or blog, read the official rules to learn about an alternate form of entry.

This giveaway is open to US Residents age 18 or older. Winners will be selected via random draw, and will be notified by e-mail. You have 72 hours to get back to me, otherwise a new winner will be selected.

The Official Rules are available here.

Last day to enter is Tuesday, 12/6 at 5:00 P.M. PST.

For more opportunities to win, visit the Bounce round-up page on BlogHer.com to read other bloggers' reviews!

Jo Totes Camera Bag

Love at first sight.  I love this bag!  Isn’t it great?!

When I received my Jo Totes Camera bag, I couldn’t wait to open the box!  This is the Betsy in Mustard.

Hello Betsy.  You are beautiful.

It has their cutest little label inside the bag.

I only needed to put two dividers in for now, but there is an extra one.  The velcro is super strong and your camera will not be moving around in there!

I love the zippered pockets.  One on the back…

…and one on the flap. 

I love this bag.  It’s a medium sized bag—I was afraid it would be too big for me, but it’s the perfect size and can fit a couple extra kid-related items in there as well.  GREAT bag.  Be sure to check out Jo Totes Camera Bags! 

Nautical

Shabby Apple recently sent me this Teacher’s Pet Skirt from their Academia line. 

i. love. it.

I paired it with a great pair of shoes from Sabra, and my friend Camilla’s cardigan (sadly, I cannot recreate this adorable outfit without borrowing these items again). 

The skirt has beautiful box pleats and is so full!  And it hardly wrinkled at all when I sat down in it.  I felt modest, in style, and pretty in it.  All things any girl would love about an outfit.

I love the length—I’m 5’ 9”.  It’s also high wasted, which I think is darling.  I actually preferred it without the belt and put on a long string of pearls when I wore it for my son’s baptism (more on that later). 

So guess what?  It started to snow a little while I took these pictures.  Um yah…let’s not talk about that.  But let’s DO talk about how it’s back up in the 70’s this week.  Sigh of relief.  80’s to 40’s was really un-awesome of the weather to do to us Utahns last week.  Here is my unimpressed face when I saw the flurries. 

And here is my hopeful face while considering wearing brown boots with this skirt because it was so darn cold.  (totally kidding, just in case you can’t tell—just had to make fun of what I fool I look like in pictures sometimes!).

Anyways,  you get the point.  The skirt is great.  I really do love it.  A whole bunch.  Now get yourself one so you too, can look off dreamily towards your hunky husband, ….(dun dun-dun DUN!)…golf course.  Ooohhhhhh Yah. 

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Sponsor Love:

Slippers for Little Miss B: Sandi Henderson Pattern

I learned something about myself when sewing these shoes:  I do not like making teeny shoes.  They are sure cute to look at, but man, I just had a heck of a time making them!

I used Sandi Henderson’s pattern in her book Sewing Bits and Pieces.  You’ll see that her shoes have a cute little ruffle on them.  I love the ruffles and tried them out, but they didn’t work for various reasons (one being that the book tells you to cut a piece that won’t fit around the entire shoe as pictured once gathered, so I re-cut them longer and then it just looked funky once sewn on, which would be my fault). 

B wears a size 7 so I made a size 8, but they didn’t fit—they were too small.  So if making this pattern, cut the fabric for the ruffle bigger, and size UP at least 2 sizes.  I ended up making her a 10, but they are a little big on her.

B was really eager to try on her new slippers once they were finished.  She kept taking pieces of the shoes and “wearing” them while I was sewing. 

I had bought a remnant years ago of the bumpy grip fabric for pj’s that I was finally able to use.  And since she’ll just be wearing these in the house, I didn’t mind the bottoms of the slippers being white.

I love that she can put them on all by herself and…

…just sit back and relax.  Ahhh…the life of a carefree two year old.  Who most certainly does not think her life is carefree:). 

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Adoption auction starts tonight at midnight for The Jett family.  Go HERE to check out all the great items (I have some PDF/JPG files there to bid on as well) and help this loving family achieve their dream!

Shabby Apple Dress Review

I think most of you have probably heard of Shabby Apple.  They have the most beautiful, vintage inspired women’s dresses, along with swim suits, aprons, fitness clothes, and even little girls dresses. 

After browsing their website, the hubs helped me decide on the Bali Ha ‘i'.  It’s from their new line called South Pacific.  It was hard to narrow it down, but like I said, my husband liked this one.  (P.S.  Forgive my horrible bangs, as they are still recovering from the incident.)

And though I don’t have long beautiful locks, nor any resemblance of a tan, nor a beautiful sandy beach to frolic upon barefoot, I really like the dress.  Especially the neckline!

The dress is kind of like a blank slate to play around with.  You can wear it as is:

Add a belt:

Or even wear with a cardigan.  Wear with heels…

Or boots!  Really, that is the best part of the dress to me.  It’s so versatile and so many things can be worn to change it up if you wanted.  But it also looks great as is!

And it doesn’t hurt that they packaged the dress beautifully.

You can like them on facebook for exclusive discounts and special promotions. 

AND, A Lemon Squeezy Home readers can receive 10% off their order by using the code lemonsqueezy10off.  Yea!

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Please click here to read about two families who need help.  Here is just a bit about them. 

*Anna is only 2 and has cancer. She lives in Russia and needs to be receiving treatment in Israel.  Her family needs help paying for her treatment! 

*Dani and her family are adopting a sibling set and are trying to raise money by having an adoption auction online.  Please consider donating to their sweet family!