6.14.2011

layla's name art

layla's nursery is finally finished. there are a few tiny things that i need to change/add/fix, but for all intents and purposes (NOT "intensive purposes"....if you've been saying that: stop now) it is complete. so i owe you a tour.

but youre not getting that today. sorry.

yesterday was ROUGH. after a full day of work and busting my ovaries to get everything ready, judah decided that he would pitch an unholy fit the entire time the photographer was here. it was insanity. he wouldn't smile or even be still in any of the pictures. he was just a thrashing blonde blur of terror. no amount of bribery, threats, heart-to-hearts, distractions, or tickling could rein him in. i was pretty upset. upset and pitsweat. and poor sweet layla had to stay up way past her bedtime while all the judah-coddling was going on so she started to get inconsolable at the end. i always feel like our circus family hasnt produced any forever-worthy images, but yesterday was an alltime low. i will be amazed if we got any shots worth sharing. bum out.

so layla went to bed and i wasnt able to fully document the room. but before all that happened, i finished layla's name art. you can see the one we made for judah here. we made his when i was about 5 or 6 months pregnant and before any of the crafting/sewing phase of my life began, so it isn;t masterful or anything, but it was perfect for him and for his room. after that, we knew we'd have to make one for all subsequent kids too.

i was planning to make layla's the exact same style as judah's with the canvases for continuity's sake, but once we had her and the room got started, i wanted something else. i had talked to a few friends who are awesome artists to see if they might be able to make one, but it felt wrong to not do it myself.

after seeing some really cool embroidery and mixed media pieces here, i decided to use this ikea frame as the starting point. i sketched out what i was thinking and went for it. it doesnt include her name's meaning like judah's does, but that's okay. she'll know the meaning of her name very well regardless.

a tree with a pennant banner with her name underneath. ignore those grape-y things.


the tree body would be felt, but i wanted the tree foliage to be made of buttons. since i broke the glass of the frame when i painted it the first time, i wanted to take advantage of that and add depth and texture that i would have been able to achieve behind glass. i got a huge ton of buttons for $3 and picked all the fun green ones out.

i decided to add some little colored buttons on for more flare and ended up with 9 to symbolize the 9 fruit of the spirit. we're biblical like that.

i did a tiny dot of hot glue to set all those button in place before i sewed them on. that was a stroke of genius and saved me LOTS of time and sanity

there are 10 flags for the 10 commandments... ok, not really. i didnt take it that far. only 10 would fit.

for her name i was so nervous. i hae never done any kind of real, stand-alone embroidery, much less script or writing that was the feature. i traced the script onto my fabric with disappearing ink then looked up a cool-textured stitch online. then i stupidly just jumped in without a single practice stitch.
it could be better, but i am REALLY happy with how the lettering turned out. it was surprisingly enjoyable to do.

the finished embroidery piece:

i kind of love it

the ikea frame is really big though, so i had to do something to fill it up since this part isnt huge. i made an inner frame of all different colored scraps to fill the space between the embroidery piece and the ikea frame. this was hard and annoying and i am not sure i even like it now because it might be just a bit "much." it's a lot bigger and distracting that i was going for, but i am slowly coming to accept it and tell myself that i can always tear out the middle part and make a new, more subdued border if i want.

i added some fabric from my stash that i dont really love around the perimeter of the scrappy frame so that i could pull the main part tight and then anchor the excess to the back of my cardboard oval.

anchored. somehow i lost the real frame insert at the same time that i broke the glass, so i had to cut one out of a diaper box...annoying!

the whole shebang all assembled and ready to be hung. in her room, not a tree.

it's...a lot. but i really like it. the rest of the room is pretty tame so i feel like its okay that this one thing is so pizzazzified. at least that is what i am telling myself.

it's that irresistible texture.


and the first preview from the session just came out. pic or embroidery, she's always worth it.

8 comments:

  1. That looks awesome!
    AND so do you Lady!
    What a sweet picture of the 2 of you.
    And YES embroidery is awesome and I think the rule is.. you just jump in and do it! practice shmactice. It's addicting though.

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  2. I LOVE it! Gorgeous and priceless! I don't think it's too much...it's going to look amazing with the grey accents in her room. Yummy!

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  3. I COULD NOT LOVE THIS MORE. Amazing job. I am pinning it to my pinterest and going to copy you. FYI.

    And you two are so gorgeous!

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  4. favorite thing you've ever made!!! and the picture of you ladies is unbelievably gorgeous. wow.

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  5. Oh my goodness I love that!!! I want five please ... :)

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  6. DO NOT change it--it looks awesome! I think the bright colors are just perfect. Yay for you.

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  7. First - wow, I'm so impressed! I haven't done a whole lot of hand embroidery, but I do know how intimidating it is. Ten points, friend! - make it twelve!

    Second - holy mother I love this photo of you and your girl!!! It makes me want family photos taken by someone other than me STAT! (Good thing they're next week...)

    Love to you and your beautiful family! Miss you guys!

    Rae

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  8. Those are adorable! I love all of these photos. Very inspiring! :)

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