See the drawing above, the girl on the lower right? Penelope wants me to make me a dress with see-through sleeves and a button down front. Who is this girl? The next big designer.

And I need that dress in my closet.

She also made this rad creature. The ears all over her head are awesome.

And speaking of ears, we’re up to our ears in all of her awesome artwork. The dilemma we’re having is what to keep, how to keep it and how to clean out the extra art without hurting her feelings.

Right now we call her stash place (a flat storage drawer in my studio) her collection. We have her put her completed art projects in her collection and then we’ll typically sort it all out from there. A few pieces (like Penelope’s monster above) goes straight in a frame. Goodness I love this girl’s style.

I started teaching Penelope how to use my dip pen (top left). I love seeing her experiment with holding the pen different ways. It’s hard to see her scratch and pull the nib on the page, but she’s so willing to learn and I’m more than happy to teach her.

It’s a few days past her birthday, but I still plan on turning one of our utility closets into a special studio for her. I can’t wait to see that excitement on her face.

Someone is not happy about me stopping him on his way out the door to snap some pics.

Chris isn’t much of a clothes shopper now that he has a wife (and doesn’t have to impress girls with his expansive wardrobe). Now this means the only clothes that he tends to wear are the free teeshirts he’s collected from work and other miscellaneous sponsored events.

His favorite of those tees is a Flipboard tee I scored for him at Alt Summit. It’s a soft American Apparel long sleeve tee that he wears ALL THE TIME. The flipboard logo and grey shirt aren’t totally offending, but I wanted him to have something new with an identical fit. So I drafted him a shirt from the Flipboard tee.

The fit turned out practically identical, but it was a bit loose to begin with. I quickly zipped around the sides to get a better fit. Admittedly, I wasn’t too nice when he commented about how tight the new fit was.

Of course if Penelope were to complain I wouldn’t have been nearly as offended. If I didn’t know better, I would assume I was pregnant. Chris lovingly deals with a lot of my emotions, he should at least get a nice tee shirt out of it.

I used paper thin leather on the shoulders as a fun detail. I didn’t want to go to all of the work to make just a plain tee. I love what the leather patches do.

Drafting and sewing took about 3 hours for this shirt. I’m sure another shirt would take less time. The fabric used is a waffle thermal knit in olive I scored on a fabric destash. I got about 3 yards of fabric and used about a yard and a half, so I have just enough for a few tees for the kiddos. I think Felix needs a hoodie out of this knit. It’s super soft!

I feel pretty proud of myself for making something manly for my man. I now have a pattern I can use to make more of these tees for him. Maybe a V-neck pocket tee is in his future.

And to celebrate Mother’s day, I’m doing a giveaway. Not of a kit, but a hand-lettered card set. 10 hand lettered cards on black with an assortment of white, black and teal envelopes.

The 10 lettered cards say:

• 2 Happy Mother’s Day
• Happy Happy
• It’s your lucky day
• hearts
• I love you
• I love everything about you
• Your my #1
• You are beautiful
• You’re awesomesauce

I’ll also be throwing in some other goodies in the care package, goodies you don’t want to miss. Value over $75. See the bottom of the post for entry requirements.

Mandatory for entry:

• Follow this blog on Bloglovin‘ or subscribe to email updates (on the left)
• Comment telling me how awesome your mom is
• Comment before April 29th at 11:59pm
• US and International entries welcome

For more ways to enter:

• Follow on instagram & tag me in a photo of your mom (or an awesome mom in your life) with the hashtag #mymomisawesomesauce. Leave a comment here with the link.
• Like on facebook and tell me about a woman who has inspired you (mother or not). Leave a comment here with the link.

Good luck!

In our San Francisco living days we went to an awesome, tiny pizza-by-the-slice place (can’t remember what it was called, but it was somewhere near Market) that sold the most delicious potato pizza. Penelope was about 6-7 months at that time, Chris kept feeding her whole cloves off the pizza despite my nagging to stop. She loved them. I hated that diaper the next day.

The next best thing to that potato pizza in SF is in Provo (I go every time I get the chance) at Slab. But I can’t always go there when I’m craving a tasty slice. So I tried to duplicate it. I think I got close. You should give it a try.

Potato Pizza Recipe

• pizza dough (I used Trader Joe’s garlic dough)
• cornmeal
• 3-4 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 medium red potatoes, scrubbed
• mozzarella (the good stuff)
• fresh parmesan
• bacon or ham
• chives
• garlic cloves (powder will do just fine)
• coarse salt (I used Kosher)

Spray your pizza pan with non-stick spray and coat evenly with cornmeal (do not skip this step!). Preheat the oven to 450º F. Prepare the pizza dough as directed, roll out and spread onto pizza pan. Coat with olive oil. Cover the entire surface of the pizza with thinly sliced potatoes brush over the potatoes with a little olive oil. Evenly spread mozzarella, parmesan, bacon, ham, chives, garlic cloves and salt. Bake in the middle rack for about 10 minutes. Move to top rack and reduce the heat to 350. Bake for another 5-10 minutes or until the potato is soft. Cut and serve.

I imagine this would be really good with brie, goat cheese or feta instead of mozzarella.

I’m participating in tomorrow’s SLC Pop-Up Shop in Downtown Salt Lake! I’ll be there with so many great artists and crafters, I can’t wait!

I’ll be there with 40 calligraphy kits, and my pens and inks! You can purchase a kit with the accompanying online course subscription or get some hand lettering made for you on the spot! Both are perfect for Mother’s day which is right around the corner.

I’ll be available to hand write little things like above on the kit as well. Cash and credit card are accepted.

Here’s a preview of what the kit includes:

• 1 box
• pencil
• pencil sharpener
• nib holder
• 2 pen nibs (Gillot 303 and Hunt 22b)
• acrylic ink
• cleaning wipes
• a paper sampling (tracing, gridded and plain)
• lettering guide and alphabet sheets
• 1 coupon code for istilllovecalligraphy.com workshop

It’s everything you need to get started with calligraphy.

Gift it to a mother this Mother’s day or for yourself! I hope to see you at the Pop-Up Shop this weekend!

Miss out on the pop up shop? You can order your kit here!

So I made a circle skirt. I scored this fabric at the fabric swap a few weeks ago. It’s a light-weight rayon jersey. I wasn’t too terribly excited about the pattern, but I loved the feel and stretch of the knit. But as I looked at it more, I fell in love with it. It’s got little stripes of blue, white, tan and teal that make it quite easy to style with my wardrobe.

I keep thinking, I need an awesome oxford/chambray shirt to style with this. Now I ask you, where have you found such shirts? I’m looking for something very light weight. Any good recommendations?

I based the pattern off of Dana’s circle skirt tutorial, but I used a negative seam allowance for the circumference. Instead of doing a radius of 4.5 inches, I used 4 inches. It worked out perfectly. I also opted to cover my elastic waistband in a coordinating green jersey. I’m sure it would’ve looked fine as an exposed elastic-waisted skirt, but I like the finishing look the coordinating knit gives. With the structure and support of the elastic on the inside, it’s much better than a yoga waistband, too (which I’ve been using a lot lately).

I drafted the pattern as a simple circle skirt, but then opted to do a high-low as I realized how much fabric was left. I sort of winged the measurements along the bottom, so I ended up cutting it twice to get the hem more even. Lesson learned for next time: don’t eyeball a hem.

As for sewing the hem itself, I serged along the bottom with a slightly rolled serged hem. This took very little effort on my part. And considering the time saved on that hem alone – the serger just paid for itself. Let me know if you’d like more details on how to do this than offered here. I’ll be happy to put together a tutorial.

Outfit Details:

• top: walmart
• necklace: Ardor, bigcartel
• bracelet: handmade
• jacket: thrifted
• skirt: handmade
• shoes: NY fashion district

Also – this is another Utah spring outfit. I can’t decide if I should be wearing a jacket or not!

Yes, make an awesome, hip, trendy, amazing wrap bracelet in a matter of seconds.

Find the skinniest skinny belt in your closet.

Wrap it around your wrist a ton of times.

Fasten.

Mind blown? I sure hope so. The gold belt above I scored as part of a sweater set at H&M. I made the hot pink one from leather cording and a lever-back clasp.

I measured the leather cording to my waist and glued the leather into the end cups. Each wrap took 2 minutes to make and an hour for the glue to dry. So I can wear these as itty bitty skinny belts or multi-wrap bracelets. I like these as bracelets as they’re flexible, comfortable and don’t get in the way.

Outfit details:

• glasses: Coastal.com
• scarf: thrifted
• blazer: H&M
• top: Forever 21
• pants: target
• shoes: thrifted
• bracelets: handmade and H&M

Leather and clasps courtesy of endlessleather.com (cording here, clasp here).

It takes about 20-30 minutes to make and I typically have everything on hand. Bacon, green onions, cheese and heavy cream are basic staples around our house.

This recipe is from the Favorites cook book; given to me by my mom, it’s chock full of fabulous recipes.

Totally ignore the fact that I can’t spell tabasco. Sheesh.

Typically, I’ll add chicken for an even heartier meal. The bacon, is a must. ABSOLUTE MUST. The more the better. I typically cook up a pound of bacon and that tends to disappear just as quickly as the soup.

Baked Potato Soup

adapted from Favorites, serves 4-6

• 3 tablespoons butter
• 3 tablespoons flour
• 1/2 cup onions, finely chopped
• 4 cups broth (chicken, vegetable or beef)
• 4-6 red potatoes (yukon gold are awesome, too), peeled and chopped
• 2-4 carrots, peeled and chopped
• salt and pepper to taste
• dash tabasco sauce
• 2-4 cloves garlic (or garlic powder)
• 1 cup half and half (whole milk works, too!)
• 5 leaves basil, chopped
• green onions, chopped
• sharp cheddar, grated
• 1 package bacon, crumbled

Peel and chop all veggies in advance. In a large pot, melt butter on medium high with onions until onions are clear. Add flour and mix together (will look like a paste). Add broth, potatoes, carrots, salt, peppper, tabasco and garlic. Make sure liquid covers vegetables, add more water if needed. Cook on medium high for 15-20 minutes or until vegetables are tender.* Add half and half, basil and warm all the way through. Serve with green onions, cheddar and bacon.

*To cook your veggies faster, chop your vegetables smaller.

I’ve had the idea of this skirt in my head for some time. I was going to make it a gathered skirt with a jersey underneath, but Miriam convinced me that I make it out of a thinner woven material (that she then gave me). I liked her idea. Then I decided to make it with a real waistband with a zipper and everything. I’m so glad I did.

The tulle that I found (thrifted) is really soft with a very drapey hand. I’ve not found anything like this except for a floral netting I came across at Joann a while ago (they don’t have it listed online, but I’ve seen it in stores). Does anyone have a good way to describe this kind of fabric?

The pink color is my absolute favorite. So soft and romantic.

I used the same template as I used in my woven maxi tutorial for the underskirt. I did change the zipper to the back rather than the side. So I measured at the half-point and added a seam allowance and cut the back pieces accordingly. I then gathered about 4x my waist measurement worth of soft tulle (I think this may be classified as a lace more than a tulle?) and attached it to the bottom of the skirt. Then I attached the waistband.

I added extra width in the waistband so I could attach a button (I’m getting much better at sewing button holes!) for the final enclosure. I didn’t have a matching invisible zipper on hand, so I used a regular one. This just so happened to match perfectly.

I love the way this skirt flows. It’s my new favorite!

Outfit details:

• cardigan: H&M
• top: thrifted, refashioned
• belt: thrifted
• skirt: handmade
• shoes: seychelles, courtesy of PB&J boutique

Button provided by LotsOfButtons.com. Use code: BUTTONS4CHARITY for 10% off your purchase.

Did I tell you how proud of these women I am??

Alice now does custom family plaques for people. You can see them all on her instagram. I love the round shape!

Emily was using her awesome handwriting to address envelopes before. Now she’s adding more panache with the thicks and thins of the pointed pen. See her work here.

Katherine made a logo for her best friend. I love the meandering, organic line.

Lindsay penned her save the date, just 10 days into taking my course!! I’m floored, I love this so.

I’m hoping to make this a semi-regular thing. If you’ve taken my online (or live) course and you’d like to share a project that you’re particularly proud of, email me using the contact form above. I would LOVE to see! If you’re on instagram, be sure to follow/use the hash tag #istilllovecalligraphy.