Latest Project

One of my back teeth has been bothering me.  I keep getting stuff caught back there when I eat, so I've taken to carrying around floss picks with me.  I know, so gross, way too much information.  I've been carrying them in my first aid kit, but I saw the cutest project bags on a blog that I now can't find, and wanted one soooo bad, so I decided to make a miniature one to carry my floss, a travel toothbrush, and some toothpaste in my purse.  And because I loooove Doodle Embroidery, I had to decorate it...  It's a simple little lined pouch with a stretchy loop and button, but oh, it makes me so happy...

Cute Alligator Hair Clippie Tutorial

Amy over at Angry Chicken has a great tutorial on felt barrette covers that completely inspired me to make some for Mimsey's birthday. I picked up some great 100% recycled plastic felt (awesome!!) and set about making some barrettes. Very quickly I discovered that I am not nearly as awesome as Amy is, and my barrette sleeping bags sucked pretty hard. Something about sewing from the bottom and (eek) following the line, just confused the heck out of me. So, I started cutting out the felt slightly larger than the barrette, sewing it onto the felt with a miniscule seam allowance. Suddenly the sleeping bags were looking pretty great! I trimmed them up, and VIOLA! Mimsey loved her barrette!

Then I started getting fancy. I started mixing up the colors and sewing two different colors together. (I know, I'm living on the edge...) At first I was just trimming the bottom color a little larger than the top to make a border, but then I pulled out the pinking shears and got really crazy. Suddenly I had a pack of google eyes in my hand and the spark of the tutorial that I am now going to unleash upon the world...

The Alligator Hair Clip Tutorial

(wild applause!)

Step 1

Cut out the top color for your barrette. Cut it just slightly larger than the hair clip, but leave plenty on the back end (you'll trim it up later).

Step 2

Sew top color to the white felt. Use a very tiny seam allowance. Leave a gap between barrette tops.

Step 3

Slide the barrette into the little pocket you've made. It will make the next step much easier.

Step 4

Using pinking shears, trim the bottom color (white) around the edge of the barrette top. Try to line up the "valley" of the scissors with the edge of the top color, because it looks cuter.

Step 5

Using the back of the barrette as a guide, trim up the back end of the top color of the barrette. Go ahead and trim up any loose threads as well and glue on google eyes! Crikey, you've got alligators!!!!

Okay, I have to be honest. It's not your monitor. The top alligator with the pink eyes does have pink teeth. I thought it was cute.

I have had a marvelous weekend.  I know, it's super duper early Tuesday morning, but that's how we roll around here.  Okay, so really it's because Jake has Sun-Mon off, so that's when we celebrate the end of our week.  Tuesdays suck in our world, so it's not all lazy Mondays... 

This is Mimsey's house that I've been working on.  It still needs buttons, but I am very happy with it.  I think she will like it.  She's seen it several times, but she thinks it's mine and calls it Mommy's house.  Oh, my poor little one is going to grow up so confused...  

I had thought that I would make the inside all cutesy too, but honestly, it was tricky figuring out which fabrics went where, and I ended up with an all blue interior.  Oh well, next time will be crazy fun on the inside too.  Still, I want to keep it, so I think that's a good sign... Thank you UK Lass for such an awesome project...

I found a couple of other awesome projects here at Cthulhu Crochet.  I am finishing up a Tiny Cthulhu for Jake, who has requested claw feet on his, and I think I'm going to make a Nibbler for Mimsey.  She won't know who he is (yet) but he's so cute, and it will make me and the Mr. laugh.

Baby Cthulhu is almost done, just a tiny bit left, so more pictures are on their way.  In the meantime...

Gratuitous pic of cute kid... Who will be TWO in 3 days!!!  

I have had a very productive couple of days.  Grocery shopping, check.  Supplies for Mimsey's party favors, check.  File income taxes, check.  Trip to Costco (which is always an event!), check.  Whew!  Can you believe that I found time to work on some projects?!  :D

I have been working on a present for Mimsey's birthday.  I'm making her a little portable dollhouse from the tutorial that I found here.  It's super fun, and challenging in a good way.  I looked through the flickr group to see what everyone else has done with their doll houses, and I was completely inspired.  It's almost ready to go now.  I just need some buttons, and I'll be set.  I can't wait to make another one!  The one I made is about the size of a happy meal box, so I totally want to make one for a lunchbox! Mine is pink, and I'll post pictures as soon as I can.

Yay for paper toys!  My new obsession!  I have completed the treasure chest from the balance game at Creative Park, and I am going to work on the pirates for it tonight.  Sooo cute, and it's turning out just like the picture, which completely surprised me.  I honestly had expected it to turn out kinda crummy, since I am not a paper toy designer/expert.  But it's fun and in my price range.   

The paper toy penguin from Zooguu by sweetest pea is another matter all together.  Its super cute, but did not turn out quite as good as the picture.  I'm gonna try it again before I post my final opinion...  

One last thing.  My dear, sweet Mom-in-law is having a friend visit in 10 days or so.  So I'm posting pictures of our houses, so that she'll know that there is a place for her to stay, and hopefully to reassure her family...  LOL!!! Hey Tipi!  Can't wait to meet you in person!

(The yellow house is Deb's and the white house is where Jake and I live)

Late Start

Howdy!  The weather here in sunny So. Cal. is still gloomy, and raining in spurts.  Mimsey is being a champ, as is Jake, but I am being petulant and unreasonable.  I used to love the rain.  Now, I just hate mud.  So, to pull myself out of this cold weather funk, I have made myself a new purse.  It's bright and shiny, and eco-friendly!

I know, those Capri Sun purses are sooo 5 years ago, but I don't care!  Recycling never has a stop date, and by golly, the packages were free with the cost of the juice inside.  The cost was just perfect for my current depression budget. I found some great tutorials on ThriftyFun.com and am planning on making some lunch bags and pencil pouches next.  And, Capri Sun is now teaming up with TerraCycle and doing a whole recycling program for their pouches if you're not crafty, and want to raise money for your school, church, scout troop, etc.  And you can get ready made tote bags, and other stuff on their website.  Neat!!

Welcome to my brain!!

I have never been good about keeping a journal.  I know, I know, I’m verbose, wordy, and could chat your ear off in person, but I’m no good at talking to myself.  At least not on a consistant, neatly filled books of musings sort of way.  So, please forgive me if my whim of “blogging” (ugh, does that term gross anyone else out too?! ) comes and goes in spurts.  I hope that I will have interesting things to say that will bring you back, but at this point, it’s all speculation.  In the meantime, I am getting ready for Mimsey’s  big Oh-Two birthday (that’s 2 for you normal folks) and while I still have to get through Valentine’s day, I couldn’t help myself, and I whipped these up for decorations.  My birthday’s 2 weeks after Mimsey’s, so I get to leave them up for the next month.  Yippee!!  Yum, cupcakes… 

Anyhow, they were super simple to make.  I bought some cotton fabric in 6 different colors (You could get by easily with just 1 or 2 colors, it would still be cute) and some medium weight fusible interfacing.  I just followed the directions to fuse the interfacing onto the fabric, and then cut out my triangles.  I used the scraps to make the little cupcake appliqué pieces.  I stitched the cupcake pieces on with a zigzag, and then sewed two triangles together, right sides out, leaving ½ inch allowance for trimming.  I pinked the two long edges of the triangle, to straighten them, and make them cute.  Then I took a package (3 yards) of ½ inch bias tape and sewed the flags in, using the packaging creases as a way to keep the flags spaced evenly.  I think all together, my 2 sets of flags took me about 3 hours, including cupcake appliqué time.  Easy peasy, and they look so festive, Mimsey carried one set around for about 20 minutes, showing off “her flags” to anyone who would listen, which was mostly our dog, Kelsey.  I still have enough fabric to make another set, which would look good across the archway to the dining room.  I will have to take pictures of the process, so that I can post a proper tutorial for these. 

I hope that we’re done with the rain soon.  I hate being cooped up in the house all day, but it does give me a good excuse to dress Mims in this when we go out.  

Awww.  She’s cute.