Designer Introduction- Jen and Autie of iCandy Handmade

Hi there!

We are Autie and Jen, the two friends behind iCandy Handmade.  We both have two little kids and we are lucky to be able to stay home with them. A love of "making things" brought us together for this blogging adventure, and we both love it so much!  Though spare time is limited in both of our lives, we love to use it to make things for our kids, ourselves and for our homes.

Autie:

Hey!  I’m Autie {short for Autumn}.

I’ve been ‘crafty” my whole life, as growing up, my mom always had fun projects for me and my sisters to do. I inherited from her that love for creating things, but I only learned how to sew about 8 years ago, just before I got married.
My mother-in-law taught me how to quilt and sew to pass the time in between baseball games {this was back when my hub played}.  I LOVED it, and was soon off making quilts and skirts on my own.  I am still very much a rookie, and I’m nothing close to a seamstress, but practice makes perfect!  
While I do have a love affair with my sewing machine, I also love to dabble in paper-crafting, painting, embroidery, appliqué, refinishing furniture, etc., and I love all of it. 

I am so excited for this fun challenge!

Jen

I grew up with an artist father and a musical, crafty mother and luckily inherited some creative genes, which help me stay sane in my {neverending} job.   

Fabric is my medium of choice, though very infrequently I dabble in other types of craft.  I love to design, make and remake clothes - mainly for me and my little girl.

I learned how to sew when I was fifteen, a skill that came in handy when formals and prom came around.  It was so fun to make my own dress just the way I wanted it, and my date got a matching bow tie and vest! {Whether he wanted to or not...}  I thought it looked pretty cool, especially the lacy flowered ones.  :)

I started a fashion design program in college, but it didn't work out, and ended up graduating in English instead.  After all these years, my fashion designing dreams never went away, and so now in a small way, I hope to revive them.  Here is to old dreams and new beginnings! 

Designer Introduction- Lex of Made By Lex

First and foremost, I’m a stay at home mother to three beautiful daughters and  have been married for eight years to my elementary school sweetheart. I could stop at that and be completely satisfied.

I didn’t go to design school, or have any lifelong dreams of doing this. It happened a little more accidentally. A  few years ago I began sewing small things for my daughters, like baby blankets. It slowly progressed to clothing for them and then on to clothing for me. I found myself horrible at patterns and only truly happy when making my own designs. And now here I am. I create my own designs for women’s clothing and accessories and currently all my items are hand sewn by me. It’s the best accident that ever happened to me.

My designs reflect functionality. I love versatile pieces that can be dressed up and down, multi-layered and have an element of comfort and sophistication. I love to designs pieces that are timeless and classic- that you could wear years from now and still look and feel great.

I love designing and sewing and am so grateful to be able to do what I love doing. I love fashion and style and expressing yourself through your dress. With it all, remember that it’s not the stuff that you have or wear that makes life important. In the end what we have or own doesn’t matter. What matters is our hearts and the way we love.

You don’t need money, status or influence to create something of beauty or substance. You need heart.

Designer Introduction- Jessica of Me Sew Crazy

Hi there. I am Jessica from Me Sew Crazy, and I am so excited to be a participant in this Season's Project Run & Play!

Like you, I was addicted to Season 1 - waiting with bated breath every week to see what the contestants would submit, who would be the winner, as well as what the new theme would be! Inspired by each weekly challenge, I found myself playing along at home...and now here I am!

I first got into sewing about 5 years ago, when I was rather abruptly relocated to another country with a newborn. I didn't know the language, had no friends, and was a first time Mother....talk about culture shock! Looking for something I could call my own, I stumbled across sewing. Having always loved the arts, growing up painting and drawing, when the urge to learn how to sew came I didn't think twice. And after a 10 minute explanation from my Mother about how to thread a machine and straight stitch, I was on my way!

It has become my passion, and I am so thankful to have realized this gift later in life. I love the touch and feel of fabric - the beautiful bright and vibrant colors, or the soft and gentle muted tones - all of the different textiles as they call out to be used. I love having it around me, and have a never ending list of things I want to try to make! I am inspired by blogging and reading other blogs, all of the different ideas that are out there to see, learn and share. It is truly a wonderful advantage to any seamstress. And I love sharing my creations with you! Sewing has been a gift to me, and it is my goal to pass that gift along.

Now with 3 kids underfoot and living back in the States, I still consider myself new to the sewing and blogging world. I love knowing that there is a wealth of information out there for me to discover! Project Run & Play is a great opportunity to stretch my limits, try to learn new things, and think outside the box.

I hope you like my creations!

Designer Introduction- Jessica of Happy Together

Jessica Fediw is the creator of Happy Together (www.happytogethercreates.com) where she blogs about her crafting endeavors and more. She also has an Etsy shop (www.ohsohappytogether.etsy.com) where she sells patterns and other creations. She is a mom to two girls (4 years old and a newborn) and a military wife. Her favorite crafts are sewing and crocheting, but she loves to explore other types as well.

Designer Introduction- Nicole of Cole's Corner and Creations

I'm Nicole- the super fast seamstress who loves mixing prints, making stuff for my kids, trying to make clothes for myself, using my embroidery machine, testing patterns like a mad woman, and the voice of Coles-Corner-and-Creations.com

I did very minor sewing projects as a kid, but really started sewing when I moved into my own apartment and my parents moved 5 hours away. I didn't have my Mom to sew for me anymore, so I was forced to learn to do it. I really started enjoying the process of sewing when I quit my job as a cheerleading and gymnastics coach and became a stay at home Mommy. I love sewing for my kids and family members!

I'm a huge fan of Project Runway and Project Run and Play. I couldn't be more excited and honored to be a part of the fun this season.
Thanks for having me!

Designer Introduction- Liz and Elizabeth of Simple Simon&Co

We are Elizabeth and Elizabeth, two girls who married brothers and ended up with the same name.  Besides sharing a name we also share a love for all things vintage, an addiction to sewing, and an adversion to having our pictures taken.  We are both former school teachers, each have three children, and love the art of finding a great deal.

However, even with all the similarities we are very different girls.  Elizabeth loves anything lime, chips and homemade salsa, a warm Fall day, and school supplies (a whole cupboard full) while liZ enjoys drinking soda, wearing old jeans, vacationing in Disneyland, and hoarding piles of vintage polyester.

Our similarities and differences make us a good team (even if we drive our husbands crazy with all our crafting ideas).  Together we have a great time working on the projects for our blog and are really excited to be a part of Project Run and Play.  Hopefully we'll get to stick around for awhile.

Designer Introduction- Leisel of Brown Paper Packages

hello, there!  my name is leisel and i blog at brown paper packages.  i love lots of color, eating as much chocolate as possible, and making fabric messes.  i have three little girlies who are my inspiration.

Designer Introduction- Alida of I Make Stuff

My name is Alida and I have a blog called I Make Stuff.  I have a boy and three girls, so my house is always loud, messy, dramatic and chaotic. My wonderful husband is going through medical school right now so I have all kinds of time to sew and craft (NOT!)  Designing is what I do to keep my sanity.  Go visit my blog and see how to make a baby swaddler, nursing top, messenger diaper bag just to name a few.  You can also see how I took $35 and thrifted my way to a new Summer wardrobe of 30 outifts by visiting my Refashionista Event page.  (Sometimes Mama deserves some new clothes too!)  My little corner of Blogland is about whatever I'm doing at the moment, whether it's making a Halloween costume or grieving the loss of a family member.  With me what you see is what you get, and I hope you like what you see!  Stop by and say hi!

Coming soon!

I am so excited for the coming cycle! I can't believe it starts in just a few weeks! Get excited everybody- it should be lots of fun! I will start posting introductions to our designers in the next week most likely and we'll kick things off in the week of September 1. Feel free to grab a button from the sidebar, and, as always, feel free to contact me about sponsorship! I still have a few openings and at $20/large ad and $10/small ad, they are super affordable! During the competition, we had over 200,000 pageviews last time so it's great publicity! Thanks again readers for putting up with all of the boring posts lately- fun, inspiring posts coming soon!