My mom is a princess!

Dear Shayne,

I haven't been able to post much lately because I've been working on Christmas gifts and I don't want to spoil any surprises! Also, because it's getting dark so early now, it's tough to get good daylight photos. Blech.

Anywho... my mom isn't online, so I can post this project I made for her birthday, which is this weekend.


The inspiration for this project came from a iHanna's blog, where she made a super cute crown for herself last week. (Go look! It's cute!)

As you can guess, my mom is turning 60 (and she's going to be super-duper happy to discover that I've announced that to the world on our blog) (Hi, Mom!) But my mom... you'd never believe she was 60. She looks fantastic and acts like a teenager (in a good way!) and she's just generally awesome. So... I made her this crown. To celebrate her awesomeness.

Here's one side of it:


That charm says "Happiness" on the back. I hope she has a lot of champagne and happiness this year. And every year, really.

And here's the other side:


I liked those dice paired with the good luck charms. Everyone needs luck, right?

And here's the back... the ribbons dangle down about 2 feet, which I really like:


Hearts... ya know, cause I love her. (Awww.)

Now, Shayne, you know I have this problem, right? The one where I end up spending waaaay too much time on a project, as it just spirals out of control, but then I can't turn back because I've gone too far. You know the one.

I really thought this project through. Even to where I installed little loops for her to put bobby pins through to pin to her head (it's sort of a tiara-y thing -- sits on top of the head...) See? Look:


But I got the crown all made flat and realized I was stumped as to how to put the back together. Hand-sewing was out of the question because the interfacing I used was too thick. And of course I couldn't put the cylinder through the sewing machine in that direction. Duh. So I came up with the grommets, which I liked, but when I laced it up, it made the crown tear-drop shaped, instead of round.

So I came up with another crazy scheme. I went to the craft store and bought some kind of wacky product that you use to make a super stiff waistband in your skirt if you either a) are a 50's housewife or b) hate yourself. I cut a piece of that, fused matching fabric to it, serged around the edges to match the top of the crown, punched 4 holes in it, glued it inside, put the laces through it and... voila:


It worked! And it looks pretty nice (if I do say so myself). This part of the project took almost as long as the rest of the project itself. Whee.

Meanwhile, there is a very good chance that my mother is going to get this thing and say, "What the hell?!" But I hope she likes it.

love,
kelly

PS -- It's kind of hard to see in that first photo, but I embroidered "+ sexy!" after the 60 on the front. Hee hee. Go, Mom!