My Rose Among Thorns

Family Pictures.....

Those who know me, know I love photography.  I'm known to spend  A LOT of money on a quality photo shoot.  My motto is: people will never say, 'oh those pictures are stupid, what a waste of money.'  And it's true-we've never regretted the picture we've gotten and the money spent to achieve them!  

I find it incredibly challenging to come up with family coordinated outfits.  We've done the denim bottoms and black tops over and over. Then, a light bulb went on in my head that the matching plaid shirts bought on sale at Children's Place would match with the shirt I got from The Gap (I think).  The hunt was on for a matching shirt for Abba (Hebrew for daddy), and I was astonished that I just happened to stumble upon it at Target during one of my frivolous child-free trips :)  Sweet Success!!!  I knew I wanted a grey sweater to go over it, and was thrilled when I found one in my closet that had been gifted to me from a friend whose friend was getting rid of it!  One (wo)man's trash is another (wo)man's treasure!

Our 2012 Family picture

MyRoseAmongThorns

But hold on, it's not that easy...the boys had to have their own coordinated pictures.  During one of my many Pintrest browsing sessions during lunch all the way almost last year, I came across these pictures

For those of us with boys, you know there isn't much accessorizing-ties on everything, maybe a cute hat, that's about it.  No sparkly shoes, no fancy jewelry or matching tights...I wasn't willing to fork over the money to buy one, so, my mom and I DIO (that's Did It Ourselves ;)

I have made many a tie bibs and onesies before; I frequently use this tie tutorial.   

Step 1: gather your shirts.  

Any brand of onesie is fine, but it is rather difficult to find simple, plain, colored shirts or onesies.  I love these Rabbit Skins t-shirt and onesies.  They are exactly what  you'll need, with a ton of color options, and they are at a great price.

Step 2: purchase your double sided "wonder under"  as I've heard it called...make sure it is double sided so you can make an applique

Step 3: purchase the fabric you would like your pattern to be.  I love Tonic Living for great fabric options.  I have been thoroughly disappointed with Joann Fabrics every time I've gone in, and I do not know of any other local fabric store.

Step 4: this is how I do it, it just is easier to me, only having to cut once.  Glue a section that you know will be big enough for a cut out of your pattern, or however many cutouts you need.  Fuse the back side of the fabric to one side of the wonder under, iron to fuse.

Step 4: trace the pattern onto the back side (it will still have removable paper attached) of the wonder under, cut it out

Step 5: remove the paper, and then iron onto your shirt.

My experience has been that the wonder under will come undone.  I have my mom sew on my appliques (remember, it was a DI0) project :)

Final product:

MyRoseAmongThorns

MyRoseAmongThorns

You might hate the time you spend creating these costumes, but you definitely won't regret the final product!  I can't wait to hang these on my wall!!!