I Love Ruffles!

That's right. I love ruffles, always have. I am so glad they are so in right now. From J Crew to Anthropologie, there are so many textured tops to choose from. Here are a couple of ruffly things I've been working on myself.

My Mother's day dress. I used a ruffled top of mine that I love and attached it to a skirt via an elastic waistband. I know it's hard to see the ruffles, I'll post better pics of my process soon.

Reconstructed t-shirt. I used Tea Rose Home's tutorial for this. You can find it here. (I'll post more pics of this transformation).

Ruffle detail I added to a dress I made (more pics to come).

I've been trying to find ways to add more texture to my clothing line. I know that eventually I will go a new direction but I am still not ready to stop printing my cultural icons. "How can I marry ruffles and other texture with printmaking without it looking too busy?", I thought. This is what I came up with. I love it! So much that I decided to keep this Nina Simone. Not to worry though, I made two more, which I will list tomorrow. I'll continue making them if people like them. Let me know what you think.

AIDS WALK TOP

On Saturday, I made an AIDS ribbon top for my friend S who was participating in the AIDS walk yesterday. I wrote about her and her story in this post. I am so proud of her and am so happy I got the opportunity to do this for her. Next year I am definitely walking with her.

My First Treasury!

I forgot to mention that one of my tops was chosen for a treasury on May 7th! What is a treasury? Thanks for asking. Well a treasury is a collection of etsy products that someone puts together in some sort of appealing way. It is a tool to promote shops on Etsy.com (the site my shop is on). This treasury was put together by Angela from Baby Shower Supplies and the theme was Cuban goodies. She chose my Che top to represent! Thank you so much Angela!


Angela's baby shower shop specializes in diaper cakes and favors. It will definitely come in handy if you are ever in charge of putting a baby shower together. She also has another wonderful shop that specializes in hair accessories called Stella Pearl. Here she showcases her beautiful hairclips, knit hats and crocheted headbands. Love the plastic head models! Definitely give these a look see.

Happy Birthday to Me

When you have kids, the best gift you can get on your birthday is the gift of sleep and alone time. That is what my kids gave me on my birthday (which was yesterday). My youngest, D, who has sleep issues and has not allowed me a good nights sleep in the last 8 months, slept 7 1/2 hours the night before my birthday. Thank you D, much appreciated!!! I also decided to drop him off at the babysitter's so I can have some alone time with moi for 2 hours.

One of the first things I did was don my favorite flower headband (yes, I made it myself!) and go straight to Duncan Donuts as to not deny myself a bagel and butter. I have been abstaining from bread but today was an exception. It was my birthday and I was going to have it darn it! I came home, sat on the front yard bench, and was in heaven! It was me, my bagel, and the sweet sound of chirping birds. I then went upsatirs, did a little sewing, my mom came over and I spent time with her, and then I picked up D.



In the afternoon, I decided to share my alone time with my eldest boy, M. My youngest is very demanding, which often leads me to spend more time with him than with M. I have been trying to find more ways to spend alone time with M and so my hubby had the great idea of my going out with M for my birthday while he stayed with D. M took me out for dinner and a movie that night. His father slipped him a couple bucks to play the part. Very smooth, I must say. It was a beautiful end to my special day.

Happy Birthday to me!

New to Nelesc Designs

Here are two new top styles added to the shop. The first is a semi sheer purple v-neck top available in S,M,L, and XL and the second is a semi sheer raglan sleeve top available in pink, grey and blue (check the shop for sizes). These are great for this in between crazy weather we are having in New York. One day it's 40 degrees and the next day it's 70 degrees. Crazy! Because they are semi sheer they are wonderful for layering. I am wearing them here with a black tank top. They are also great for those of you who don't like to show your arms even in the hot weather. I know a couple of people like that. Their sheeriness makes them comfortable to wear when it's warm.

Here, you'll see my usual icons. I did make a new screen for a new face but I need to tweak it a bit. I am hoping to finish it this week and unveil it next week. Stay tuned and tell me what you think! I love feedback.

Cuff Month

Forgive me readers for I have sinned, it's been two months since my last blog post! Yes, it's been a while but I continue to desire to update you on what has been going on. So here goes.

I will call the month of March (and some of April) Cuff Month! I have been getting a lot of orders for my cuffs and most of them have been coming from my dear friend M who has become my bestest customer in the world! I am going to have to give her an award, seriously! I last wrote about M in this post back in January of 2009. Well, M, asked me if I was interested in a wholesale gig and I said YES! So this is what I have been working on. I think I made her about 25 cuffs all together. It may not sound like a lot but when you have two kids and your babysitter decides to take a three week vacation, then it is a lot!!!!! But I did it and am so grateful for the opportunity. She has been selling them at various events and I am so happy for the exposure. It also pushed me to mix it up a bit in terms of the fabric choices. M suggetsed I do some of them with red fabric and I pulled a couple of switcheroos in terms of fabric and icons. Here are a couple of pics. You'll recognize the fabric from other cuffs I have done. These will be available in my shop soon.



By the way, M has a shop on etsy too. She sells beautiful, nostalgic, eccentric pieces that are amazingly crafted. Check out the Hand of Fatima Designs here.

Tomorrow, I'll talk a little about new additions to the shop.

The Artistic Mother

I am ECSTATIC!!!! about this book, The Artistic Mother: A Practical Guide to Fitting Creativity into Your Busy Life by Shona Cole, and I cannot wait to get my copy. I browsed though it at the Barnes in Nobles at Cross County and it is definitely the book to have if you are a creative mom trying to squeeze artistic time into your life. If you have read my blog for some time, you know that this has been my challenge. I do carve out time to work on my my clothing line, Nelesc Designs, and this provides a great creative outlet. However, recently, I have been wanting to make more collage art like this, which I posted in March and I think this is the book to jumpstart it given that Shona herself is a collage artist. Since I can only work on my personal art projects when the baby is not at the sitter, I am looking forward to hearing about Shona's tips on creating more time for self expression.

Here is what you will find in her book:

• The Artist’s Workshop, a 12-week art course that teaches you how to bring creativity back into your life

• Step-by-step instructions for more than 12 finished art pieces celebrating motherhood and family

• A weekly action plan to help you make the best use of your time

• Artist Spotlights that introduce you to 7 inspiring artist-mommas

• Tips on creating time and space in your life for your art

• A beginner’s guide to each of three much-loved arts: poetry, photography and mixed media

You can purchase the book at various Barnes and Nobles or here at Amazon.com. Shona also has a wonderful blog which I also follow. Check it out at http://www.shonastudio.blogspot.com/.