Fall Tutus

I got to go on a little get away this weekend up to Tahoe, where the colors are swiftly changing to warm fall shades, which made for a beautiful drive and planted a seed of inspiration for a fall colored tutu.  JoAnn's is great for always having lots of seasonal craft items on hand, including tulle, which is great for my seasonal tutu making ventures.  I love the colors I found for this tutu, lots of warm burgundy and plums, along with green and gold makes for an awesome autumn tutu.

I made this Halloween tutu a few weeks ago and have been meaning to post about it for awhile.  Here it is as if it grew off my parents lemon tree, a bit sweet and sour at the same time, perfect for a Halloween fairy to do some trick or treating in.

Soon we'll be falling back and changing the time, which is always a bit bittersweet for me... officially saying goodbye to summer and longer days, but with fall colors and warm holidays ahead it's not such a bad trade off!

Ballerina Party Favors

On a jaunt to Joann's the other day, I ran across these fun ballerina goodies in the $1 bin.  I think these would make great party favors, fun activities for a ballerina themed party, or just for a sweet little gift for your favorite ballerina.

Ballerina Band-Aids!

A fun felt coloring kit

Ballerina Trinkets!

Ballerina Jewelry Kit

Here's another project that would be fun to do at a princess themed party.  These shirts (also at Joann's) have various Disney princesses in all their splendor ready to be colored and jazzed up.  Looking for an extra fun twist?  Add an iron on applique or puff paint your own princesses' name on the back!

Cinderella, Belle and Ariel... oh my!

A Tutu for T

I love having friends that have kids!  It's really the best, you get to play with them and squeeze their cheeks and tickle their baby bellies and then hand them back over when it's time for a diaper change or a feeding.  Who could ask for a better situation?  Luckily for me, June brought a friend of mine's daughter's first birthday (we'll call her T).  I think a first birthday is a fantastic occasion to get a custom made tutu, don't you?  Enter sparkly hot and light pink tulle, and just to make it a bit more special and extra girly, some delicate pink roses.  Ta-da!  A tutu for T was born. 

Not one to skimp on the wrappings, I found this fun ribbon to tie it all up with at JoAnn's for $1, cute right?  And of course, one of my favorite heroines, Angelina Ballerina, had to make an appearance on T's birthday card.  I wish her many more fun ballerina birthdays to come and hope my fabulous friends with kids won't get too tired of me making tutus for their little ones.  One can never have enough tutus....right?

Bella Umbrella

My students are preparing for our annual Spring Showcase, and this years theme is seasons.  I've always been a fan of Vivaldi's The Four Seasons (my mom used to play it on tape for me as I was falling asleep), but there are a number of other pieces for piano and orchestra that have a season theme as well, such as Glazunov and Tchaikovsky.

My goal for this year's performance was to incorporate some fun props for the students to use, which is not only visually interesting from a stage perspective, but teaches the students spacial awareness and encourages their creative thinking (which they are already masters at).

So far, I've found some super cute butterfly/bug catchers in the dollar bin at Target, beach balls, and park benches to conjure up images of different seasons. While Janice and I were searching around the web looking for ideas and inspiration, she showed me Bella Umbrellas.  I have a natural affinity towards anything old school, and these umbrellas definitely take me back to a different time. Who knew they came in so many shapes, styles and had such history?!  Pagodas, parasols, and lots of ruffles... oh my!

I did decide to use umbrellas for a piece from our spring dances, and while we didn't rent any from Bella Umbrella this time around, we did find some cute ones at JoAnn's.  These are just the right size for my students, and seeing them peek out from under them is pretty priceless and would make any rain clouds disappear.