Tuesday, August 26, 2008

small magazine - the long story

                                            

                                             

I'm just going to go ahead and retract that vow I made about trying not to post ridiculously long blog entries. It's just really not in my nature to make long stories short. And to me, everything is a long story. 
Speaking of stories, here's one for ya'!
This is a story of how those precious photos above came about.
 Until recently, I had never checked out the online Small Magazine. I had only heard Nick mention working for them here and there. Well, Nick and Valerie asked me to make a couple of costumes for the boys for a Small Mag photo shoot. I saw it as an opportunity to finally use my sewing abilities for something other than making Christmas gifts...my boys and I would get a little moment to shine in a small local project. 
 I whipped out Elliot's Little Indian costume in a mere 3 hours with downright CONFIDENCE I tell ya'! So of course, I took a well deserved week long break from costume making, rewarding myself generously for being so efficient. During my break, I began to realize that Small Magazine was more than just... well, a small magazine. Valerie mentioned that Amy Karol at Angry Chicken, blogs about each new issue of Small. Angry Chicken, for those of you that are complete strangers to any sort of online crafting community, is only one of THEEE most well known crafty blogs. I even own her book, Bend-the-Rules Sewing.
Apparently Small is everywhere!
I checked ol' Small Magazine out for myself and felt shivers creeping up my spine. WHAT? It was beautiful. AND bountiful. AND informative. AND BIG! And it had some absolutely beautiful photos.  
 I then, of course, became nervous and extended my sewing sabbatical. Isn't that the perfectly logical thing to do? After all, it only took a couple of hours to make an Indian costume. Well, Oli's costume was another story. I changed it several times. First I was going to make a Pilgrim costume, but Oli would never keep that huge hat on. Then I talked myself out of a Cowboy, Scarecrow, Killer Tomato (definitely in the works for future Halloweens), and best of all, a member of Devo. I just couldn't figure out how to make a decent energy dome for the life of me! None of my ideas seemed Small Magazine worthy.
Alas! While I was brainstorming, Oli walked up looking perfectly pinocchio-ish. Thank you Oli! You're a life saver! Once I settled on pinocchio, the project went swimmingly...
Until Elliot got ahold of my sewing scissors and had to go to the emergency room for 3 stitches! 


Remember mommas! Your toddler's short little arms are longer than you think!

I'm working on some tutorials so that you can make your own.  They're pretty easy and very fun to make! 


2 comments:

valerie said...

i never saw any mention of small on angry chicken this time around... oh well! but have you checked out the adorable gingham aprons for tie one on???

i love that photo of elliot with the rainbow popsicle. it's classic. you'll have to teach me how you border your photos so i can steal your look ;)

Cammi said...

I've been so busy trying to keep up with my own blog that I haven't really been checking others but I'll check it out. I will cherish those photos of Elliot for life. That was his very first accident that led to an emergency room visit. I'm sure the first of many.