Well, Friends, Newsies closed on Saturday night. The strike and cast party were on Sunday. What on earth? I’m a bit in shock, and definitely nostalgic. So many happy memories are flooding through my mind. After eight years and five babies, I got my booty back on stage and got to sing and dance alongside my husband. Such euphoria. Is this really my life? However, I still feel like I should practice the tap dance sequence I learned for the “King of New York” number. It took me so long to learn…I don’t want to forget it. Just in case the show isn’t really over.

What’s not over is this blog! I am stoked to have more time to spend on other avenues of creativity, and with our kids! So, please bear with me while I slowly work Newsies out of my system with a few more related blog posts. We took too many cute pictures to cram them into one edition. These images are from our second location. It’s an alley behind the temporary home of our public library, while the actual building undergoes a major remodel.

I stumbled upon this location as the kids and I were leaving the library and couldn’t believe my luck! I mean, look at the architectural features! There’s awesome brickwork, arched windows, a fire escape, and “Wenatchee” painted on the wall! Are you kidding me? As you can see, Emma was influenced by the amazing dancers that were in the show. Many of them attend the same dance studio as our children. It was really inspiring for our kiddos to see their friends and mentors rocking it!

Around the corner, there were these awesome window alcoves. Now, if we could just get Annika to join the fun!

There she is! Now, if we could just get a Newsie cap on her…Annika is starting to give Eliza a run for her money in the expressions department!

I loved taking portraits of each of our little waifs in the window alcoves. Here’s Oliver.

Our character actress: Eliza.

Too cool for school.

Found a feather.

Alley scamp.

Elliott boy. My goodness, I love these sweet pictures of him!

Here’s our big girl and the ring-leader of our pack: Emma! I put her hair in two braids and pinned them on top of her head. In the whirlwind of activity, I almost thought she was Elliott, a couple of times!

Next, we took some fun action shots!

Prep and leap!

Jumping for joy!

Cartwheels!

Dance party.

I’m going to wrap it up with these cute shots of Emma. Daydreaming…

Want a pape?

Alright, next post I will plan on showing how I put these Newsie outfits together. Thanks for reading!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hello, Dear Readers! I’ve been quiet on this blog for several weeks, and I have really missed you! What on earth have the Hemingers been up to? Well, Jeff and I were cast as the leads in Music Theatre of Wenatchee’s Production of “Newsies”, back in December. We’ve been rehearsing ever since, and now the show is up and running! This year has been a big one for our community: It is the 100th anniversary of the very first Apple Blossom Festival. Apple Blossom is Wenatchee’s annual celebration of our vital and vibrant fruit industry. (Have you ever seen those “Washington Apple” stickers on your fruit? There’s a good chance those apples came from Wenatchee!)

So, it was great fun and a great honor to ride the “Newsies” float in that 100th Grand Parade and to play a role in celebrating the history of our wonderful city.

The next day, our four oldest kiddos came to the “Newsies” matinee. It was such a thrill for them to finally see what Mommy and Daddy have been up to! This occasion was Oliver’s first attendance of a live, musical theatre production. Originally, we didn’t get him a ticket, because we didn’t think he’d sit still. However, he has become obsessed with all the songs from the show, so we made sure our littlest, self-titled “Newsie Boy” got to see it!

Well, you know I just had to create a blog project to commemorate this epic time for our family and our community! Plus, we had to include Annika, right? So, that’s we did. We asked for permission to borrow some muslin prop bags from the show, and I dumpster-dove into a relative’s recycle bins for old copies of the Wenatchee World. Then, I dressed up the kids in odds and ends from their closets and from my costume stash, and we headed downtown!

Our first location had to be in front of this building. For one thing, it’s gorgeous. For another, it’s the headquarters of the Wenatchee World. This makes me giggle, because the newspaper in “Newsies” is called the World. Fitting, huh?

Taking pictures of five, young children is a little nuts at the best of times. This building happens to be on Mission Street, which is one of the busier streets in town. Jeff helped me keep the kids in the shots and out of the street. Several people honked as they drove by. I guess they either knew us and/or were fans of “Newsies”. Oh, Wenatchee!

Dad in action! Putting Annika back in frame and toting a Costco-size container of M&M’s for bribes. We don’t mess around! Okay, back to black and white.

Fortunately, Emma and Elliott can be counted on to stay in character and to take direction. Ooh, look! There’s an ad for “Newsies” at the bottom of the front page!

Meanwhile, you can bet that Eliza will find something engrossing, like rocks, ants…or a stick.

Who wouldn’t want to buy a pape from this little “Newsie Boy”? Oh, and do you recognize those knickers? Yep. I found another use for the boys’ Pilgrim Pants: Elliott’s dyed capris and Oliver’s converted khakis.

And, then there’s Annika. She had no interest in keeping her hat on, whatsoever. Here, you can see Eliza dutifully attempting to put it back on for her. I didn’t get any good shots of our little strawberry-haired scamp at this location. So, you’ll have to wait for my next post for the good ones!

Speaking of bloopers, no blog post would really be complete without a compilation of the many faces of Eliza.

“Extra, extra! Read all about it!”

Proudly carrying the banner.

Newsies in action!

And, with that, we’re off to our next location! I found an amazing alley with lots of evocative brickwork, signs, and even a fire escape. Stay tuned!

 

 

This St. Patrick’s Day costume project really took on a life of its own! I started with the idea of converting shirts into vests for the boys, and before I knew it, I realized I could use all the leftover bits to make matching accessories for our girls. In this post, I’ll show you how I used the leftover collars to make choker necklaces and crown headdresses for Emma, Eliza, and Annika! So, first, you can see the dyed shirts and what they looked like after I whacked off their sleeves and collars.

Then, I started to unpick the stitching that held the collar bands to the shirts, and then separating the collars from the collar bands.

Once the two pieces of each collar were separated, I pinned around each collar band. Then, I top-stitched completely around them to form the choker necklaces. Next, I cut elongated triangle shapes form the collars to form the tiaras and stitched around the raw edges.

At this point, I realized I was out of gold puff paint. JoAnn Fabric and Craft is on Jeff’s way home from work, so I asked him to pick up a bottle for me. He texted me this picture. Apparently, there are TONS of options! I chose the bottle second from the right. I wanted the gold designs to be metallic, but not glittery.

A quick, Google Image search produced lots of great, Celtic knot designs. In the past, I probably would have tried to painstakingly trace the designs onto my crown and necklace pieces. These days, desperation for time makes me brave (or reckless). I just looked at these designs and free-handed the paint. Not bad! However, I did realize I forgot a bit of the design at the bottom and fixed it, later. Do you see what I missed?

For extra Celtic bling, I added some adhesive “emeralds”. They were from the same Rainbow Gemstone Sheet I purchased at Walmart, for our Valentine’s Day DIY Prince Costumes. However, I learned my lesson from last time and stuck the jewels on with a blob of paint and surrounded each with a ring of the same.

Now, all I needed to do was attach each tiara crown shape to a headband or comb. So, I hot-glued Emma and Eliza’s to green, fabric-covered plastic Dollar Tree headbands that we already had.

I hot-glued Annika’s to a mini comb.

Ta-da! They turned out pretty!

Now to finish the choker necklaces! I buttoned them to find their front centers and marked the spots with pins. After studying some Celtic knot design images, I came up with a simple design that I liked: interlocking circles, ovals, and diamonds.

I had a lot of fun applying the puff paint! It was such a simple and relatively quick way to create a rich, jewelry look. I finished the designs with more “emeralds”.

Then, I left them to dry, overnight.

Look at that! I think these turned out really lovely, if I say so, myself. It was cool to see that the fabric dye I used for the shirts even dyed the buttons!

But, what about Annika? I only had two collar bands. What was her necklace made from? Fortunately, the Dollar Tree has a great ribbon selection in its floral and craft section! I selected the green ribbon, second from the left: Bright Grosgrain Ribbon, 5-yd. Spools. I cut a length of ribbon, leaving enough to tie it in a bow around Annika’s neck. Then, I applied the same design with paint and gems that I did for Emma and Eliza’s.

And, here’s the trio of choker necklaces!

Here are closeups of each crown and necklace in action. Emma:

Eliza (hers is harder to see, due to her blouse collar):

Annika.

So, there you go! All you need is puff paint, jewels, and a few scraps of ribbon and material, and you can make some lovely princess jewelry!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Where on earth did I find all of those matching green clothes for our St. Patrick’s Day photo shoot? Well, I didn’t! As I mentioned in that post, green can actually be a rather tricky color to find. But, not to fear; Rit Dye is here! They even have the perfect Celtic shade: Kelly Green! I found it at JoAnn Fabric and Craft.

Now, I normally do all my dyeing in the washing machine. However, the boys’ shirts I was dyeing were 55% cotton, 45% polyester. Synthetic materials don’t “take” dye as well, so I thought the added heat and constant stirring required for stove-top dyeing would produce more vibrant and more permanent color. I grabbed some tongs for grabbing and stirring the garments, and a plastic spinach container to rest them in when not in use. (Just in case the dye permanently colored a dish I actually care about!)

The cheapest salt around can be found at the Dollar Tree for fifty cents! I mixed one cup into the water and heated it to nearly boiling. Then, I poured the entire bottle of green dye into the pot.

And, what exactly was I dyeing? Well, I had two dress shirts that I wanted to turn into vests for the boys to wear. I also had a darling, white top for Annika. They just needed to be green! Here’s Oliver’s shirt:

Here’s Elliott’s shirt. I was really lucky to find two shirt with the same fiber content! This would help them to turn out in an identical shade of green.

Here is Annika’s shirt. It was so sweet that I almost didn’t want to dye it!

However, once the water looked hot enough and the dye was mixed in, I gave these three garments a serious soaking in water before adding them to the dye pot!

The stove top dyeing directions advise you to constantly stir the fabric for 45 – 60 minutes. This is to ensure an even dye job, since the material likes to float to the surface. This hour-long interval gave the kids plenty of time to notice that I was doing something weird in the kitchen. I told them I was making “Leprechaun Soup”. Afterward, I realized that it looked like I was actually cooking Leprechauns, clothes and all. Oops! Poor kids. I hope I didn’t scar them for life!

After an hour, I carefully dumped the super hot dye water onto a bed of pebbles in our backyard. (I didn’t want to stain our white, enamel, kitchen sink!) Then, I used the tongs to pick up the scalding hot clothes and put them in the plastic spinach container for transport to the washing machine. I ran them through the rinse and drain cycle to remove excess dye. Then, I washed them in a normal cycle with cold water and vinegar to help set the color. As you can see, they turned out a lovely, vivid green!

Here are the dyed clothes in action! I will show you how I converted the boys’ shirts into their vests and also into accessories for the girls in upcoming posts!

 

Faith and Begorrah! St. Paddy’s Day is coming to an end, but not before I share some pictures of our Little People! Elliott and Oliver were our Leprechauns, wearing hats and bow ties from the Dollar Tree. You might recognize their breeches from our Valentine’s Day Photo Shoot. Their vests are made from dyed dress shirts.

Elliott was our manly and very cooperative Leprechaun.

Oliver was…Well, let’s just say he took getting this character “right” very seriously. By not cooperating at all. Like any self-respecting Leprechaun would. Can’t fault him for that!

Our Irish Step Dancing Princesses are wearing shoulder capes, crowns, and choker necklaces made from the leftover sleeves and collars from the boys’ dress shirt vests.

Oof! My hand still hurts from all that free-handed puff paint application. I love how the Celtic knot designs turned out, though!

Green is one of my favorite colors, but it’s probably the color least represented in our wardrobes. I should fix that! Green is tricky, though. I don’t know what it is, but it is either a color that looks amazing, or it can go terribly wrong. It has a polarizing effect on people! Are your eyes hurting, yet? I hope not, because there’s more green to come!

Starting to get into the spirit of things…

. . .

Gettin’ their jig on…

Fun fact: I was obsessed with Riverdance as a teen. This inspired me to take a 6-week Park-n-Rec Irish Step Dance class. So, I’m pretty much an expert.

Some close-ups of our Crown Princess. Another fun fact: Emma was born with blue eyes, but they started to turn green, a couple of years ago.

Crown and cape detail. I can’t wait to show you how I made these in upcoming posts!

I’m going to call this next segment “The Many Faces of Eliza”. Emma may be the Crown Princess, by virtue of birth order, but Eliza is the reigning family comedienne.

Am I smiling enough?

Little sprite.

We love her sparkle!

I feel like she knows something we don’t know.

Can’t get enough!

Eliza’s cape.

She’s got enough sass for the whole class, does our Eliza!

Plotting mischief.

Speaking of mischief…

This little Leprechaun was a stinker for most of this photo shoot. Nana was a pro and got some good shots of him, anyway!

Ditched the hat.

He wanted to wear the hat when we didn’t want him to, and vice-versa. Because of course.

Where’s the village ceilidh (pronounced KAY-lee)? I’m hitchin up my britches and ready to dance!

I knew Oliver and Annika would not be “down” for this photo shoot, and seriously considered only costuming our older three. However, I HAD to go all the way. I mean, look at their hair!

Fun fact number three: Emma was born a strawberry blonde, like Oliver. However, her hair lightened during her toddler-hood. While the current shade of her locks is quite lovely, I was rather disappointed. I LOVE red hair! So, we decided to have as many kids as it would take until we produced a bonafide redhead. Annika, I’m counting on you!

Peekaboo!

Jazz hands!

Annika’s cape.

Of course, no Heminger family photo shoot would be complete without chaos and crying babies. Oliver is leading the revolt. Viva la revolucion!

Oh…oh! So close. Eliiiza. *Sigh*.

Here we have the complete opposite: Eliza is the only one looking at the camera AND with a pleasant expression.

Well, it’s a wrap! Thanks for joining us on our St. Patrick’s Day romp. I hope you had a wonderful day, however Irish or not you may be!