A Sweater Dress for Our Little Princess

A few weeks ago Grams was doing what Grams does almost every evening. While Grandad watches television, I keep one eye on the television while I surf the web. On this particular evening, I ran across this tutorial, from Make It and Love It, for upcycling an adult sweater into a child's sweater dress. When I saw this dress, I knew I had to make one for Our Little Princess.

As luck would have it, I had exactly the same sweater in the stack of stuff I had set aside for my garage sale. So I went out to the garage, dug the sweater out, followed the directions, and produced the cutest little sweater dress. The tutorial calls for beautiful little satin flowers. That was the only thing I changed. Instead, I made rolled felt roses which are pinned on and can be removed for washing. Our Little Princess insisted on wearing all three roses at the same time.

The roses are super simple to make and will be for sale soon in my Etsy shop.

If I make another upcycled sweater dress, I'll make it a little wider through the hips. She wasn't nearby for measuring so I had to eyeball it. I think it'll be okay once she gives up her pull-ups for panties, which will hopefully be soon.

While we're on the subject of pull-ups and panties, Katy is looking for any constructive advice you might have about potty training. Our Little Princess will be three years old in February and is not in the least bit interested in using the potty. Please share any advice you might have in the comment section and I'll pass it on.

It's A Big Day

Today is a big day in the Valenta household.

Yesterday, Grandad saw his cardiologist here in Corpus Christi. They discussed the results of the nuclear stress test he had last month. I am so happy to report that the results were really good. They have taken him off of Coumadin (warfarin), the blood thinner he's been on since his initial heart surgery about five years ago. He is now off of all prescription drugs except for two that keep his blood pressure and heart rate under control. The really big news is that she released him to begin exercising for the first time in a long, long time. The last two or three times they send him to a medically supervised cardiac rehabilitation program. Each time they made him stop within minutes because of irregular heart beat. We started walking tonight. Last time we tried walking, he had to tell me to slow down. If you take our 16" height difference into account, it should be the other way around. Tonight, we walked for 25 minutes, which is not very long and not very far. But we did it ... and he kept up. That's a big deal!

The other thing that happened today is that I shipped my first order from my Etsy shop. My shop has been open about two weeks and I've been eagerly anticipating my first order. When I got home from work yesterday, there it was in my inbox ... my first order. I got so excited I called my kids to tell them and I confess, I did a little happy dance. Here's my first shipment ready to go in the box.

I made a quick trip to the post office this morning and it was on its way! So, I guess I'm actually in business. That's another big deal!

Meet Baby Houdini and Check Out My New Etsy Shop

Those of you who have been reading for a while will remember the conundrum I went through in finding a bloggie name for Her Highness. Well, it seems I may have been premature in choosing "Her Highness." I believe "Baby Houdini" might have been a more apt choice. Here is the evidence.

This is not just a naked baby. If you look closely you will see that she's holding her diaper in her hand. That's right. At five months old she has learned to remove her own diaper. Pretty much as soon as you put it on, she starts picking at the velcro closures in the front. As soon as she gets it open, off it comes. I won't be surprised when I walk in and find that her parents have had to resort to duct tape to keep her diaper on.

You may have noticed that Grams Made It has a new design. It's been redesigned to match my new Etsy shop banner. There will be a few more changes over the next few days as I add some widgets and links related to my new Etsy shop. As of today, my Etsy shop is officially open for business. Find it at http://www.Etsy.com/shop/GramsMadeIt. I've only got three items listed so far, but more will be added tomorrow evening. It takes longer than I expected to add each one. I hope I get faster with practice.

I'd love to know what you think about my new look and about the items in my shop.

Updates on Grandad, the Grand-Girls, and Etsy

It's Sunday afternoon. Grandad is playing "Words With Friends" on his new HTC Evo Shift phone while relaxing in his recliner. We both made the switch to smart phones this summer and we're both addicted to "Words With Friends." If you play, hit me up for a game. My name is "v2valenta."  I've just finished watching The American President on television. It's one of my all-time favorite movies. I've seen it many times and I still love it.

Grandad is finishing up his last week of wearing a 30-day heart monitor to verify that he is no longer going into atrial fibrillation. He is still experiencing symptoms several times a week which include tightness in his chest, shortness of breath, profuse sweating, and extreme fatigue. However, several months ago when he last wore a monitor, he did not go into a-fib a single time during that 30 day period, in spite of experiencing those same symptoms. The electrophysiologist believes that these symptoms may be caused by another problem that has not yet been detected. So, on September 13, Grandad will have a nuclear stress test to see if they can find anything else.

The granddaughters are growing like crazy. Her Highness is big enough for her baby doorway jumper and she loves it. She started day care this week for the first time when her dad went back to teaching high school English after a summer of taking care of the girls. She did not seem to take right to day care and had a rough few days. You may remember that I told you she wants to be held all the time. This is still the case, and the day care ladies said she cried a large part of the day. But by the end of the week she was doing better and seemed to be adjusting.

Our Little Princess is also getting big really fast. She's big enough now to enjoy arts and crafts. She loves going to day care and spending time with all the other kids. She made the necklace that she's wearing here.

I've been busy sewing. I have an entry in the WholePort Creativity Expo. Voting is a two-step process. First you have to "like" WholePort on Facebook. Then you have to look at the entries and vote for mine by clicking "like" on the picture. Here's what my entry looks like. I would really appreciate your vote. The ten winners will each get a $50 certificate for craft supplies from WholePort. Voting is open through the end of the month.

I also made this kimono-style dress for Our Little Princess. I'm very proud of it. I think it's one of the best I've done so far.

 

I took two outfits for each of the girls when I visited them a couple of weeks ago. But, since I didn't take photos of the other two, I'll have to show them to you another day. I've asked Katy to send me photos of both of them.

And I have some fairly big news to share with you. For several years now, friends and family have been encouraging me to sell my homemade items. So I've been thinking about it for a while now and I've decided to take the plunge. I'm going to open an Etsy shop. I'm working on getting some stock made and I'm hoping to open it around Labor Day. I wasn't really planning to announce it yet, but Katy told all our Facebook friends yesterday, so I thought I would let my readers know today. I'll be starting out with dresses and clothing for little girls and the summer-weight cotton baby blankets that I've been making for years. I'm hoping to eventually add some items for little boys. You are also likely to see a variety of other crafty items like wreaths and such from time to time. Basically, whatever I feel like making. 

School starts tomorrow, so I'll be back to my substitute teaching gig, probably by the end of the week. The best part of substitute teaching is that I'll have lots of down time. I will be the first to admit that it's been a long summer with no income from me. It's still a few years until I'll be old enough to start drawing on my retirement. If I can get a little income from sewing and crafting, which I love to do, maybe next summer will go a little easier. 

Watch this space for an official announcement about the opening of my Etsy shop. It won't be more than a couple of weeks.

It's still unbearably hot and dry here in South Texas. We don't really expect a change in the weather until around the first of October. We've got a very busy autumn coming up with family reunions on both sides of the family, the family golf tournament and our annual Valenta wive's day out. I'll keep you informed. I hope you've had a great summer and that your fall is cool and colorful.