Behind the Fangs

Just felt today, like explaining the reason for the name of this blog. It stems from a dream. I dream I had while about 7 months pregnant when little Illusia was still in the soft darkness of my womb. In this dream of haze and incandescent, colorful images I saw as clear as day my baby as a beautiful faerie with clear blue eyes, chestnut hair and stunning blue wings.

 - a piece of digital artwork (photmanip) based on my dream.

She turned and smiled sweetly to me and she had two perfect, pointed little fangs like a vampire. Then I woke up. For being 'unreal' the dream was like the polished glass of a mirror and I can still picture her exactly as I saw her. 

I think she becomes more and more like that dream everyday. Both literally and figuratively. Her eyes have gotten lighter and more blue since birth and they are like the ocean, endless. I can look into her eyes forever and still see new speckles of color or radiant light that I had overlooked before. Now, she is even growing in her own fangs (canine teeth.)

Personality wise, she reminds me daily of the name of this blog. On one side she is spunky, fiesty and a big ham. On the other she is so sweet, sensitive, delicate and full of wonder. One might say magical.


I am just so happy she is in my life.

♥

Woolgatherer

She dreams of fire
and obsidian nights,

Blue cinder eyelashes
and kaleidescope eyes.


A walk through a stone path

A roll in the mirth's grass

And underneath petals she hides


She flutters softly inside me
like tragedienne wings,

Making all of the cosmos
an insignificant thing.


Her sonants through bluebells

a mesmerism she stirs well

her stars made of feathers to fly.

 - a poem I wrote that is also based on my dream.

Fast, Fun Tutu-orial

Maybe I just wanted another clever way to work the world 'tutu' into a blog post title. Or maybe I just wanted a reason to post the adorable tutu making photos I took of my lovely assistant, Illusia. Either way, this is a really simple, cheap, fast way to make a cute, poofy tutu w/ no sewing or crafty experience necessary!

A little back story: I first wanted to buy a tutu for my daughter's birthday but found out they are very freakin expensive. At about $15-30 dollars a pop (depending on fanciness, number of colors, etc.) it was not in my budget. That is right my girl deserves nothing but the best I can afford.

So, I looked up some tutorials online, more than some, there must be hundreds. I finally narrowed it down to one that had good instructions and images: plumtickled tutu tutorial and followed what worked.

It looked pretty simple even for a person like me who has about 10 accumulated hours in sewing experience from high school Home Ec. I went in the wedding section of Joann's Fabric and got two rolls of 1 yard X 6 inch pink tulle at $2.50 ea, a pink 'princess' ribbon for $1.99 and a roll of elastic for $0.99. With tax that came to around $6.00.

First you need a cute assistant. Preferably one under 3 feet, with very little teeth but lots of unneeded input. Like so;

Measure the person you want to tutuize. Mine happens to be one in the same as fore mentioned assistant. They state to measure 3 inches less to your elastic but I actually measured it 2 inches more because of my alternative plan to sewing. I call it the 'tie it in a knot' plan.

Also I was more comfortable making slipknots rather than double knots because they were easier to line up and fix and it just went a lot faster. I just looped them one after the other and tied the tutu together at the end and cut off the spare elastic. Here is an excellent tutorial on slipknots: Slipknot Tutorial

Afterward it is just a lot of slip, loop and repeat until you have the whole thing covered to desired density. 1 roll almost fit Illusia's waist but I wanted something a lot thicker and frillier so I went with 2 full rolls. This whole process should take about a half hour of looping and stringing and 2 days of fending off your assistant. This is what I finished in day 1:

In fact I might recommend a second assistant to watch your first assistant and keep her from crawling away with the tape measure, trying to eat the tulle and staring in awe at the shiny scissors and making you a nervous wreck. Just a tip.

As far as the ribbon goes, I just used some fabric glue to glue on the ribbon over the top edge of the tutu. It came out okay. But it is my first time. I am kind of addicted now and waiting for a reason, any reason to make another one.

Who's Pink, Frilly & Tutulicious?

Ilusia, my beautiful princess, turned 1 today.

Very long day and we are all very tired but here are a few of my favorites.

Before:

During

After

TONS MORE H E R E!!!

Earthly Delights

Went to Wichita's Earthfest 2010 yesterday. Illusia had a complete blast! Earthfest is a great celebration every year in Wichita that brings together a lot of different groups promoting eco-friendly living, veg*nism, local and sustainable food, fish and wildlife protection, organic resources, recycling, gardening, etc. Just a bunch of really great causes.

We got Illusia a free flower to plant in our backyard, a beautiful burgundy colored, recycled, tie dyed romper for an upcoming birthday present. She ate some hummus on homemade bread and had a vegan chocolate chip cookie.

She saw ducks, she fed ducks, she loves ducks. In fact, she has all her ducks in a row.



Sat in the shade to have some lunch, Got too chilly so we went into the sun to  hear some free local music.



There, Illusia sang (some may call it screaming) to the beat & discovered she does not like the taste of grass but does like to try on Grandma's hat.

Plus she saw a puppy-dog, which she also loves, muchly.

The best part (for me), it was not even very crowded. As she napped, we stopped at Target on the way home to pay for Illusia's birthday cake! Yay, we are so excited. What a good day!!!

See more @ Earthfest 2010

Wonders All Around

You only have to look for them.

I think adults tend to dismiss all the great discoveries that are around them. Dulled by time and jaded by past experiences they forget the little things that happiness is all about. I am so lucky that I get to see the world through her eyes with a fresh, new perspective.

When is the last time you took such joy from the act of jumping? Got excited just to be excited? Had fun for the sake of fun and nothing else? What is her secret?

A window is what, a pane of glass that lets you look outside. Right? Or is it a portal to new and wondrous places!?! Are fantastic things out there if we stop and look, if we dare to dream? She seems to think so.

From Through the Pane

Easter Lillies & Hidden Treasures

Easter always reminds me of flowers.

I am not religious so I do not think of the holiday traditionally. Rather I tend to look at it as a celebration of the beauty of spring. And, there is so much beauty to celebrate! Everywhere you look life blossoms, from the baby animals scurrying about to the petals that adorn each tree. From the rain drops falling like crystals to the ground to the clear blue sky and luminescent sun, nourishing the Earth.

I am so happy to share this splendor with my lovely girl and she looked every bit the beautiful spring flower as any growing in the garden.

I think in these pictures, she most reminds me of a pink Easter lily. Soft porcelain skin gently flowing into her pale pink dress, just like the leaves of said flower. Her birth flower is actually the Lily and she perfectly captures it's innocent beauty.

She had a lot of fun hunting around the back yard for eggs and hidden treasures in her basket. She then came inside to nap, change and wreak havoc on a poor, sprinkled pastel cupcake. Then it was time for supper and she shared with me a cruelty free (aside from the fore mentioned cupcake ^_^) meal of Tofurkey and Mashed Potatoes with Vegetarian gravy.

♥ more images of beautiful Illusia

(-- I had a picture of dinner also but it did not turn out. These were taken with a cheap disposable camera, I am currently waiting impatiently for my battery charger in the mail so I can use my digital camera again after I lost my cable. ^_-)