Not Much Arsenic...But Tons of Old Lace

Oh boy does googiemomma have a TREAT for you today!!!

That's right, at the end of this post, for the first time ev-ah--a PHOTO, of the ONE, the ONLY, me. (well, not really the first time...but the first shots of me since I stopped wearing diapers)

Sorry if that's a let down.

Anyway, let's begin at the beginning, shall we? (in other words, please try and contain yourself and don't go madly scrolling to the bottom just to see little 'ole me. ha. hahaha.)

A few years ago a good friend and her hubby were downsizing after the last child flew the coop. She is an avid crafter/sewer/jewelry maker, and in her purging passed on to me TONS of stuff.
Included in this windfall was an entire storage container of lace and trim. Seriously, there's a ton.



(This is only a sample)

Unfortunately, I don't really consider myself a "lace" kinda gal. I pull it out and look at it once in a while. I can't bring myself to part with it, thinking that one of these days I'll find some inspiration.

I decided to start playing around, and figured maybe adding...I dunno...lace to the lace would make me like it better.

I took two of the laces, and stitched them together using the ruffler foot on my machine:

Now what? Well, as they say in Blogcrafterland, when in doubt, make a headband. (what? they don't say that? well they should)

So I pulled some headbands out of the stash, and wrapped one in the thinner lace. Just a dab of hot glue at the bottom and start wrapping, with another dab of hot glue every 1/2 inch or so.

When that was done I took a section of the ruffled lace I made and did a simple fan-pleated flower (you know, like one of those fans you made as a kid out of paper, just like that). A healthy blob of hot glue stuck that just fine.
But it still needed something. So back into my gifted stash again, and I found this:
I can't tell you how handy this has come in for princess costumes :0)




Now that I'm on the lace train to Blogcrafterland, what's the next stop?

Well, I've been seeing those "Anthro"-inspired shirts all over, so I decided to give that a go. Took the thinner lace and sewed it down randomly over the left shoulder area of a basic brown top I had. Then I created more fan-pleated flowers from the pieces I sewed together, and stitched them on top, and attached the requisite bling.

And here, as promised, is me (and my shirt):



Here's my thoughts, in no particular order:
1. Its a very weird feeling pointing a camera at your...umm...chest and taking pictures to put on the internet. Even if it's COMPLETELY innocent.
2. I rejected about 25 other shots for making me look too fat, focusing too much on the "girls", making me look like I have 7 chins, etc.
3. The first pic made me laugh so hard when I saw it. Just as I snapped the shot one of the kids yelled, so I looked that way. Now I'm immortalized in a slightly pensive, vaguely constipated, remotely snotty sort of way...and yes, that's why I kept it.
4. I'm not really crazy about how the shirt turned out. It's not really "me" and I don't care for the thinner lace. The pattern is...aesthetically NOT PLEASING (who watches PR??? WHO? Can I get a Nina shout-out?)
5. I do think the flowers are cute.
6. NO, I didn't wear the headband with the shirt. I gave it to Girlfriend Girl. DO I LOOK LIKE A NERD? (see #3)
7. I did brush my hair today, but that's yesterday's makeup remains.
8. I don't think I brushed my teeth today though.

So that's it. And in the spirit of revealing myself, I'll sign off...

~Shannon (aka "the googiemomma")

I'm linking up to these fine pah-tays: