Gen Paire Soeur

Birthday Business

2010-05-18T17:26:00.000-07:00

There has not been much time with all the packing and the end of the school year to get much done. There are so many projects that I want to get done before the move and I know that they are not all going to happen.

The girls and I did manage to make Husband's Birthday a bit special...

...made the no-sew banner out of linen and the letters out of black felt...

...attached it all together with extra large grommets and wide black ribbon...

...in a house full of girls we forget to make things Daddy friendly.

A friend pointed out that he was wrapped up in a Hello Kitty blanket on the couch. Husband is that kind of man who just goes with the flow and accepts all the pink in his life, so the girls and I have planned to make a few things masculine this year.

monica

Dear Tilly...

2010-04-27T20:59:00.000-07:00

...I know it's your wedding but I just couldn't help myself! Hope you like what I have found and we'll get together soon after the move to daydream about wedding gowns.

Much Love,
Monica

For those of you who don't know I'm the oldest of six children. Only twelve minutes older than MeLisa, but still the oldest. Nine years later came our single sister Kathleen, two more years later came our single brother Joseph, then when MeLisa and I were the ripe old age of 14, came our twin sisters Mary and Carolyn. Carolyn, otherwise known as Tilly and the baby of the family has gotten engaged. Tilly asked if I would make her wedding gown, I'm so honored and excited. Today I found a wealth of inspiration on Project Wedding and just had to share.

Tilly dreams of blues for her wedding day

The fabulous hair is what I loved in this one

Ok, I just love yellow

Look, the wee ones are wearing wings

This one has all of my favorite colors!

Not to mention the shoes are TO.DIE.FOR!

My sister-in-law's wedding was beautiful!

Will share pictures as soon as I can!

Looking forward to creating and blogging more!

monica

Soon

2010-03-23T23:51:00.000-07:00

So far 2010 has brought many changes with it. Most for the good, a few for the frightening, only to turn out to be blessings in disguise, truly the best kind of you ask me!

Soon, this will no longer be the only form of communication with

family...

Vintage Yellow Phone by Thrush

...that's right sis, come June we're East Coast bound! We're packing up and taking a few extra days on the cross country journey to see a few sites that we might not otherwise get to see. Soon we'll be a car ride from each other and family. Soon we won't have to worry about such things as time differences. Soon we'll be able to celebrate our birthdays together again!

For now packing has started along with the dreams of what will be

soon!

xoxoxoxo

monica

Inspiration...

2010-03-17T18:50:00.000-07:00

...for this little beauty...

...came from these little boots!

Little Byrd had an "From Inspiration to Completion" blog post last week where she created the most darling bag from an image she had in her swipe file. Well, Rebekah's post got me to thinking and roaming through my own swipe files when I came across the little pink boots above. They orginally inspired a little raincoat project, but after researching laminated cotton and finding out just how expensive the material is the project was quickly filed to the back of my mind.

Recently went looking for new jackets for the girls and found nothing to my liking.

So out of neccessity, the Little Marisol Jacket was born.

Close-up of sleeve details

So many ideas are brewing for the Marisol Coat.
Hoping to get it graded up to at least to a girl's size 8 and doing some research into making it a pattern for sale. For now the coat is offered in a toddler's size 2 in our shop.

Inspiration: Pink Boots are from a past line by Janie and Jack

Happy St. Patty's Day

monica

Colette Madeleine Mini Bloomers

2010-02-19T08:42:00.000-08:00

Last week while cruising blogland I came across Colette Patterns through the helpful Figgy's Studio and found the most darling pattern, The Madeleine Mini Bloomers. I knew I just had to make them but with all that is going on right now, could not justify making these for myself while I have so many other projects in the works. Light bulb moment, my nieces' birthdays are just around the corner and before I knew it, the pattern was printed out, put together and well on its way for assembly.

Just look at how cute they are...

...one with Black Ribbon and the Other with Navy Ribbon...

...complete with a Gen Paire Soeur label.

All curved seams are french seamed, the waist and leg openings were finished with a cover lock machine. The pattern and instructions in itself were a dream to work with, wish all patterns were made like this! Also used fabric already had, one of my goals for this year is to work my way through my fabric collection. Still holding onto stuff from design school, its been a little over five years now, time to let go. Did purchase little camis from Old Navy to go with the mini bloomers, one in black and the other in navy, the color name is "Goodnight Nora", just thought that was too cute.

Which brings me to another little tidbit of information: Through the Colette Patterns blog came across this "Stash Bustin' " challenge. If your're interested please visit So Zo... for all the details. Working on more "from the stash" projects, Spring has been inspired with all the sunshine we have been getting here in the Northwest. Sorry Sis, not rubbing it in!

Happy Weekend!

monica

Faded Sparkles & 7 Things Twin Style

2010-02-01T10:32:00.001-08:00

Today I was cleaning out the shoe bins and found all of these lovelies. For those of you who don't know, I have three little girls and they all LOVE their sparkle shoes. What I love is that they wear them enough to have made them lose some of their sparkle.

Translation: Abundant amounts of imagination at our house

On another happy note...

...look at what the darling

Rebekah of Little Byrd bestowed upon us.

We are tickled pink to have been tagged

and here are our 7 random things;

Monica

1. Feel incomplete when not near MeLisa.

So pretty much always feel like that!

2. I'm a Movie Soundtrack Junkie! Current favs on Ipod Shuffle

are Penelope, Amelie, P.S. I Love You, Elizabethtown...

3. Went to Design School and would love to be able to

incorporate that knowlegde more into how I live.

4. I dislike that I'm allergic to so many things!

Makes me feel like I'm a boring person.

5. Love the colors Yellow and Gray.

6. Currently writing a book and dream of being published one day!

7. Recently broke my cell phone and I don't want another one.

MeLisa

1. I believe Monica to be the other half of my heart and soul.

2. Listen to mostly Jazz and Rock,

current fav to see perform is Uncle Plum

3. Dream of finding a job where I can

grow and pursue my interior design passions.

4. Dislike that I'm allergic to many things, too!

So together, that makes us one complete boring person. ha!

5. Love the colors Red and Yellow.

6. Currently living in and renovating a house built in 1850

7. Told that I bite my lip, and say "Really?!" and

"That's Fan-tas-tic!" a lot!

To keep the ball rolling we're passing along the award to:

Vintage Modern Girl

Eliza and Camile Gifts of Love

Happy Monday!

monica

Vintage Dresses

2010-01-25T17:10:00.000-08:00

70's Vintage Print Dress

80's Vintage Black Dress with Sheer Sleeves

The model in these photos is my 13 year old daughter, Anais (ana~es), who looks like she was born to wear these. She shares my love of vintage clothing and design. She is a very old soul with the most unique personality.

These are two of several vintage dresses that I purchased a few years ago. And as the times have changed for us all, so has my career. Picture #1 is a vintage dress that I purchased from Etsy for office attire. Picture #2 is a dress that I purchased to wear to my first Furniture Design Trade Show, came all the way from Australia.

These dresses and more will be for sale shortly in our Etsy store. Please check for availability.
Have a wonderful week!

melisa

Very First Blog Post Ever

2010-01-24T09:17:00.000-08:00

Salvadore Dali, Artist: Thera Sanchez

This is my very first blog ever, as Monica is very experienced with all this. I am learning as I go. I am very proud to post this oil pastel that was created by my 15 year old daughter, Thera, for her art class. Of course needs to be shared with all, as she is a wonderful artist that has given me many wonderful paintings and projects that are displayed through out our home. This is extra special as she snuck this home for me to preview before her art show. I am always excited to see her new works.
Melisa

For Mary's Wedding

2010-01-11T12:39:00.000-08:00

My wonderful sister-in-law Mary, is getting married this April. We are all so excited and everything seems to be finally coming together. Thought that I would share some of the lovelies I've found for the big day...

The Simple Dress and Amazing Necklace

The Fantastic 4 1/2 inch Platform Heels

A special thank you to Marissa of Shutterblue for crafting this necklace for me!
Please check her shop for some of the most amazing jewelry!

monica

Here's to A New Year!

2010-01-01T11:03:00.000-08:00

We're excited for the new year!

Monica Joy & MeLisa Faith

1973

Best Wishes to All!

monica & melisa

MeLisa's Christmas Decor

2009-12-28T19:24:00.001-08:00

It's MeLisa's turn to share some of her decorations...

LeRoy, New York

Wishing All the Happiest of Holidays!

(You owe me a post Sis!)

monica

Christmas Came Early...

2009-12-15T11:57:00.000-08:00

...for me this year! Truly believe I'm the luckiest girl on the planet. My husband went with a friend the other night to help retrieve some old tools from his grandfather's garage that he has inherited and husband came back with treasures for me, can you believe it?!

Just had to share a few of the goodies

Adult Patterns from the late 1800's

More adult patterns from the 1920's to the 1940's

Look at the neck line on this beauty

The above dress pattern was found in this envelope
Most of the patterns were still in their
envelopes from when you ordered them through the mail

Some great crocheting books
Absolutely feel in love with the covers
The Spool Cotton Company 1942

The Spool Cotton Company 1941

The Spool Cotton Company 1941
All Printed in the U.S.A.

Then to finish of my list of treasures is this little beauty
A 1963 Sunbeam Iron complete with cloth cord
and fantastic aqua trimmings

Hoping your holiday wishes all come true!

xoxoxo

monica

Monica's Christmas Decor

2009-12-07T22:52:00.001-08:00

It's been a while since I've been able to post, but for three very good reasons, my three daughters. Wanted to share a few pictures of our decorations, the ones that I've been able to photograph anyway.

Our Advent Calendar

Tiny stockings made by my husband and myself in 2004

from gifted fabric and .15 cent tree ribbons

hand painted wooden stars and numbered them

Advent Stockings close-up

The bows are from our wedding, circa 2001

Santa and his sleigh sits on top
Painted little paper mache boxes and added ribbon for the sleigh

The Girl's Stockings

Made from the same fabric as the Advent Stockings

The Stocking Hangers

Have collected several angel tree toppers that

sit on top of some very old books that belonged

to my Husband's Grandfather.

The Kitchen Garland

(the same garland that decorates the stocking shelves, with different ribbon)
Also decorate with Gingerbread Men, but was unable to get good pictures today.

As a young family in the military we used materials we already had or that were gifted to us keeping portability in mind. You never knew if you were going to have a fireplace mantle so we bought the two bookshelves that usually flank either side of the couch so that we could decorate them if need be.

Would of shown the couch, but in the process of recovering it and it's not ready for the big debut!

monica

Thankful...

2009-11-26T22:18:00.000-08:00

...there are so many things that I am thankful for!

For now I am grateful that our tummies are full, my children are safe, warm and fast asleep in their beds! Soon Hubby and I will be cuddled together on the couch watching "A Christmas Story" and laughing; safe, warm and content!

Wishing Everyone A Wonderful Thanksgiving!

xoxo

monica

Art Worthy

2009-11-09T14:42:00.000-08:00

While talking with MeLisa on the cell we decided to hit Anthropology.com together. Being on the opposite sides of the country, we had to get creative so that we can shop together. Of course Anthropology has an abundance of goodies for us to drool over, but I just can't seem to get this lamp out of my mind.

It's like it was plucked right from an artist's sketch book!

Reminds of the days back in design school, fingers covered in black from sketching until my hand and arm were numb. It's been too long and with a new sketch book in hand, I'm ready once again to put my ideas on paper!

monica

hey sis...

2009-10-26T13:07:00.000-07:00

...lookie at what finally arrived! The girls were trying on tutus and since I fall in the girl category, they decided Mom gets to try one on too!

They called me the "Fall Witch"

When asked why "witch and not fairy" there was silence!

Really hope there is no hidden message there!

that's fine, I got to play with tutus!

xoxoxo

monica

Fabulous Friday Finds

2009-10-16T14:24:00.000-07:00

Since I have a few wee ones at home with me today, I wasn't able to go out and visit my favorite shops and drink coffee. So I opted for the next best thing, jammie pants, coffee in favorite mug and searching Esty for some fabulous finds.

Today's Search

"Vintage-Red and White Storage"

1. French Vintage Red White Board Suitcase

2. Vintage McCoy Pottery with Wire Handle

3. Vintage Red Metal Magazine Rack Organizer

4. Vintage Faux Red Alligator Travel Case

5. Vintage Fold Away Tote Basket

6. Vintage White Metal Storage Box Organizer

7. Vintage Metal Cake Storage Tin

8. Vintage Child's Small Wood Suitcase

what have you been searching for?

A Wonderful Weekend to All!