In the workshop I will be discussing the DOs and DON’Ts of blog design and layout. I will also be discussing the importance of good design with a blog and help attendees figure out how they can achieve a great design on any budget.

Some bloggers may only need a header, while others might want the whole shebang. I would love to give attendees a design recommendation list complete with contact emails, URLs and pricing for small scale and large scale projects. Some attendees may be looking for more product and packaging designs, as many attendees are small shop owners, so that information would be great, too.

If you’re interested in offering your services as a designer, please fill out the form below. Let’s connect fantastic sewists with great designers to make the web a more inspiring place.

I’m the kind of gal that LOVES and is obsessed with the combination of strawberry and lemon. I had a surplus of greek yogurt in the house, so I sort of made up this concoction using Jane’s Fraiche recipe as a base. I’ve posted pictures of my concoction a few times on instagram, and a few of you were requesting the recipe, so I thought I’d post it here for future reference.

Tangy Strawberry Lemon Frozen Yogurt

adapted from Jane’s recipe

• 2 cups greek yogurt (I used Zoi honey yogurt)
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup cream or milk
• 8-10 strawberries
• 1/2 fresh lemon

Mash up your strawberries. I put mine in the microwave for a couple of seconds to soften. Mash and add sugar. Allow to mascerate for a few minutes. In a separate bowl, mix cream and yogurt. Add strawberries and fold. Once encorporated, add the juice and zest of half a lemon. Fold and add to your ice cream maker. Freeze. Serve immediately.

If there is any left over, you can freeze in the refrigerator, but allow a few minutes to thaw before serving.

We’re spending our much-needed time together soaking up the sun and playing in the sand. It’s been months since I’ve spent this much time with Chris!

I hope you’re having a great memorial day!

Like these shoes for example. Sarah thrifted them and gave them to me. They’re ridiculous and awesome at the same time. They’re also pretty dang comfortable, yet I’ve only dared to wear them once. I’m definitely going to wear them again and show you. Promise.

Also, have you noticed the all-over-the-place white balance around here? Maybe I’m the only one that’s bothered by it? Well, I lost the white insert to my Balens cap, so I’ve been winging it. Until today, when a nice package arrived on my doorstep. I ordered a really cheap white balance lens cap
from Amazon for $11. I highly recommend it.

The white balance on this sucker is a bit blue. But I think I’m okay with it (this is straight out of the camera). Thoughts?

Have you found any cheap tools that have changed your life? I’d love to hear about them.

She looks so cute in her little dress. It’s the perfect length for running around with a swimsuit underneath. Otherwise, she really should be wearing leggings underneath. She’s always showing her (albeit ridiculously cute and neon) underwear.

Find out how to whip one up for your toddler after the jump.

MINI TEE-DRESS REFASHION

For this project you will need:

• 1 t-shirt at desired length (I used a women’s size small)
• 1 t-shirt that fits your child
• sewing machine
• scissors
• pins
• seam ripper

Lay the child’s tee atop the large tee, mark the new side seams about 1/2 inch away from the small tee. Straight stitch along that line. Reinforce your stitches at each end. Trim of excess fabric

turn right side out and lightly press out all seams. Cut sleeves to desired length and finish. You could do a traditional hem with double needles or leave the edges raw as jersey doesn’t fray.

Enjoy!

This tutorial/freebie is free for personal use and should not be distributed/republished without the express consent of Melissa Esplin. I love getting shout outs from around the web, but please, link with love. Do not copy this post, publish more than 2 photos or outright steal this idea for commercial publications. If you would like to use this tutorial for commercial purposes, please email me. Thanks!

Kate from See Kate Sew made a yellow striped jumper for me. Interestingly enough, she was in Utah last month to hand it to me in person. It was so great to meet her in person! I’ve loved this refashion swap, but the thing that would make it infinitely better is if we were able to make these clothes and swap them all in-person. Project Runway style.

Kate knew how much I love yellow, she did a fantastic job of scoring this light yellow stripe for me. It’s such a fun color!

I don’t wear jumpers, at least I haven’t in a very long time, so it’s fun to have gotten something that pushes me out of my normal comfort zone.

I used to be far more adventurous with my wardrobe than I am now. I was the first in my high school to wear stilettos. I’ll never forget sporting my camel stiletto booties; feeling super self conscious as I clicked and clacked my way down the hall turning heads and I’m sure getting plenty of disgusted looks. I was no popular girl. It’d be safe to say that I was more of a “popular loser”. Most people knew who I was. Probably because I always lugged around my 30 lb portfolio the size of a small bilboard like a security blanket. But I never quite felt like I fit in. My ridiculous pairings of hot-pink golashes with 3-piece suits was my way of keeping the tame people away I guess. Oh what I would give to see snapshots of those outfits I wore back then.

Kate reminded me that I need to be more adventurous with my clothing. So for the next half of the year, that’s going to be my goal.

Outfit details:

• dress: refashioned
• top: thrifted + refashioned
• belt: thrifted
• scarf: c/o Apricot Lane
• bracelets: gifts, c/o Apricot Lane, c/o Soft Slap, Wet Seal, H&M
• shoes: Target

Read how to make your own jumper out of a large mens button-up shirt here.

If you’re interested in learning modern calligraphy based on the copperplate style, I do hope you give this course a go. It’s been a team effort between Chris and me. Originally we were going to put the course on a password protected wordpress platform, but when Chris lost his job back in January, he took it as an opportunity to build what I needed from scratch.

I’m so proud of the work Chris did, especially considering he didn’t really start developing sites until a year and a half ago.

Here are the awesome features about this site and course:

• it’s a stand-alone site with a shopping cart equipped for selling and distributing securely digital downloads
• there are multiple nav bars (top, bottom and side) for you to navigate your way around the coursework and your account
• in the course, you have 8 lessons with step-by-step illustrations and photos to clarify techniques and theory
• 4 videos are available as supplements to the lessons that cover topics of tools, basic strokes, flourishes and making calligraphy yours
• there’s a private gallery (between each user and admin) for critiques and troubleshooting
• the curriculum includes printable PDF guides for practicing during the course and after

This course is perfect for the beginner wanting to dabble into calligraphy or the intermediate letterer hoping to refine his or her style. Check out the video tour below or visit the site and see for yourself.

www.istilllovecalligraphy.com

Unfortunately for me, I was two strokes shy of completing the artwork when a brush of mine rolled over the artwork and left smudges in its wake. ARGGHHH!! So I had to start over.

The bright side of having to start over that late in the project, I tend to make improvements on the old layout and I tend to do it a lot quicker. Has that ever happened to you? When you had to start completely over on a project?

I’m really happy with how this turned out. And I keep meaning to make one for our little Esplin family, but I have yet to hang up any artwork in our place, let alone make artwork for it.

We’re working on buying a house, so we may be moving again. It’s so exciting, but it completely destroyed my motivation to make our house “cute”.

I’m so excited to see how my reversible maternity top in action! Isn’t Krista an adorable pregnant girl?

See more details of her outfit and the fit on Krista’s blog, Lazy Saturdays. This refashioning swap was loads of fun, and I’m so excited to see how everything fits. Below is the schedule for these posts:

• Monday, May 21st: Liz of Cotton & Curls and Krista of Lazy Saturdays
• Tuesday, May 22nd: Sunni of A Fashionable Stitch and Kate of See Kate Sew
• Wednesday, May 23rd: Suzannah of Adventures in Dressmaking and Miranda of One Little Minute
• Thursday, May 24th: Miriam of MadMim and Melissa of I Still Love You
• Friday, May 25th: Megan of Megan Nielsen Designs and Jennifer of Grainline Studio

Todays weather has been a bit nuts. It started out  a tad warm, we got a crazy dust/wind storm and then it started raining cats and dogs. I took the kids on some errands, so I got to wear my favorite rain coat.

• earrings: Brazil
• necklace: handmade
• coat: thrifted + refashioned
• top: thrifted
• bracelet: c/o Blume
• jeans: thrifted + refashioned
• shoes: thrifted