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Since May 12th, I have devoted myself (during the kids’ nap and after they go to bed) to my sewing nook (no craft room yet. point of contention but won’t get into it today). After cutting outfits, body parts, stuffing, sewing, this is all I have to show for it.
Didn’t want to show you faceless dolls. kinda spooky. But if you look real close, you can see our new tags with our logo! which make me very happy. This is the highlight of my sewing…when I get to this part of attaching the labels. It makes me 
Have a good weekend!
big sis
I park my car and walk as quickly as I can (without looking like I’m in a race to beat out the other suckas in the lot who will inevitably end up behind me!) to the back of the line. There is a line out the door and after standing in it for a minute or so, I ask the man in front of me if this is the line to check in. He looks at me kinda in shock (don’t know why. I’m hoping I didn’t have anything on my face. couldn’t have b/c I got my face ALL DECKED OUT. on a normal day, you will find me with NO makeup, au natural…I tell myself!) I approach the front door and with my 20/20 eyesight (yes, I’m very much proud of that!) I can see from a distance a small sign that says if you have already made an appt, you can bypass the front counter. ugh! man in front of me either did NOT make an appt or had all the time in the world to stand in tons of lines today! Here is the absolute FUN part!
employee: (no hello or eye contact) do you have an appt?
me: yes at 9.
employee: last name
me: (name is hyphenated so I spell it out as quickly as I can, expecting her to have me repeat it anyways. always happens.)
employee: (she finds it rather quickly to my surprise) look at the monitor and wait for your number to be called
me: any monitor? (should I know this? does everybody know this?)
employee: (ignores me and calls next person in line)
geez! Good thing I’m a smart girl! I sit myself down and I can still hear her…the anger in her voice…the irritation at 9 in the morning (when the place opened up at 8!) and I start to think to myself, why is this lady so unhappy? Then…here’s the sad part. A man walks up and cannot speak any English. She gives him a vision test and he clearly does NOT understand the instructions. The lady behind him spoke his language so she helped him out but he just could not get it together. Not thrilled that she has to repeat herself, talk louder and slowly she says “you moved the card away from your eye and asked a question, that’s cheating!”. He fails.
The joys of being at the DMV.
I hope I will not have to go back for another few years.
big sis
So I just purchased more fabric and O-M-G (so cheesey, but it works here…bare with me), this has got to be the cutest batch I have ordered. Do I say this about every order?
Guess I’m into elephants and apples these days…I hope I can cut into these fabrics instead of hoarding them. They are just too CUTE! My 3 year old daughter and I were swooning over them!
Have a wonderful long weekend! I hope to show you some completed projects next week. I feel like I am constantly working on something but nothing completed. Here’s to hoping this weekend is a productive one!
big sis
During one of our mommy and me classes at the library, I decided to check out the craft section. I couldn’t believe my eyes…they carry Japanese craft books! OK, so they only have a handful of books but how awesome is that! Now I may not be able to read any of it, but I can still ooh and aah. One of the books I borrowed (and one of my favorites) is this one
Isn’t the cover so cute and inviting? It’s an embroidery book that also incorporates felt and fabric. SO. VERY. CUTE. It’s these little things that get me going.
Lil sis and I wanted to let you know that we pulled ourselves out of Handmade Brigade. We thought long and hard about it and it was a difficult decision especially since we have done the last 2 but there was just NO WAY to do all 3 fairs without one of us losing it. and losing it in a BIG WAY! Still definitely check it out! This summer’s Handmade Brigade is the biggest one they’ve had so far!
Big sis
Remember Mervyn’s? Well, way back when when it was closing, my in-laws (who happen to be “mall walkers”) would visit almost daily to check out their kitchen accessories. Who knew why? They stopped cooking since my mother-in-law retired (almost 4 years ago!). It turns out they were scoping out the stand mixers. They would give me updates…about how much it went down, how many were left, so forth. Little did I know that they were eyeing it for me. Have I told you how sweet my in-laws are??? Long story short…they missed their opportunity and by the time everything in Mervyn’s was 75% off, the last stand mixer was snatched!
Fast forward to the present. NONE of us are very good at keeping secrets. Last week my in-laws asked what color mixer I would want and normally I wouldn’t accept such an expensive present but they insisted and my husband picked the color he thought I would like. Who am I to say no This has got to be one of the bestest b-day presents EVER (and my b-day is 3 weeks away!)
My very first
Isn’t she so purty?
Today, I broke it in by making chocolate chip cookies.
Can I just say…TOTAL TIME SAVER!!! From going to mixing by hand (or having my husband mix) to hand mixer to now my Kitchenaid Stand Mixer…I cannot tell you how much I’m in love right now.
big sis
I’m planning a baby shower with some of my other friends for my bestie (just saw this word used on fb). She’s having a girl! As big sis noted in her previous post, I’m getting a bit anxious thinking about all the events coming up…craft fairs, baby shower, bridal shower, two summer weddings, and a bach party. I’ve been keeping a journal of what I need to accomplish on a weekly basis or else I know I’ll get behind. It’s nice to be busy but with my lil one starting on solids and knowing that I’ll be gone for a day cause of the bach party, I’ve now added making Lila’s food and pumping to my nightly routine.
Anyhow, back to the tutorial…I wanted something simple and cute for the invitation and here is the end result:
Sorry for the poor quality of the pic!
This was fairly easy to make except for the elephants’ tails. They were a bit tricky because I braided each one individually.
Materials:
- Bazzill Cardstock in Neutral
- Melissa Frances Order Paper
- Vellum
- Patterned paper for the elephants (mine are mini polka dots in pink)
- Martha Stewart’s Elephant Punch
- Embroidery Thread in green
- Zots 3-D Glue Dots
- Corner Punch
- Glue Stick
- Paper Cutter
1.) Cut your cardstock according to the size desired with a paper cutter or rotary trimmer.
2.) Cut your background paper 1/4″ less on all sides so that you can see the cardstock.
3.) Print out your invitation on the vellum. I was able to fit four invitations on one piece of vellum so I didn’t have to waste much of the paper. Cut your vellum a little less than the background paper. The vellum is see through, so it doesn’t matter if it’s 1/4″ or less because you will be able to see the background regardless. *Note that you need to leave 1.5″ above the wording because this space will be for the elephants.
4.) Punch out your elephants from your patterned paper.
5.) Get your embroidery thread and cut a 10″ piece. I realized that if I cut more than that, it was hard to braid. Make a knot at the top and separate your thread in three sections. Tape the knot on the edge of a table and start braiding. Did you ever make friendship bracelets? If so, you’ll know that it’s easier to braid when it’s taped to an edging. When you get to the end of the braid, knot it secure. Measure about 3/4″ from the top and make a knot. You will continue to do this until you get several tails. Repeat this step till you get the desired amount of tails.
6.) Glue your papers (cardstock, background, vellum) together with your glue stick.
7.) For each elephant and tail, I used one Zots glue. Make sure you place the dot in the perfect position because these dots are no joke…they are sticky lil suckers! Place the tail on the glue dot then your punched elephant on top. You may want to start with the middle elephant just so you can be sure they are centered. After all the elephants and tails are glued, use your fingers to place the tails under the trunks of the adjacent elephant (so it looks like they are holding “hands”…you know what I mean).
8.) Punch all four corners with the corner punch and voila, you’re done!
***Fonts used: Little Days (cursive) and Century Schoolbook***
lil sis
The past weekend was full of exciting things…b-day party, mother’s day dinner, presents, and e-mails! you know, the e-mails that you anxiously wait for, the ones that make you refresh your computer every few minutes, the ones that make you and your sis text back and forth. oh…is it just me?
So it looks like the craziness will continue way into the summer. We’ve been accepted to be vendors at Handmade Brigade and the Renegade Craft Fair!!! I honestly don’t know how we are going to do it and I’m thinking we over-extended ourselves. Lil sis is already getting stressed and my brain has become…mush. Should it be this stressful? Even I, who is SO organized that it’s sickening (according to my husband), feel that this is not doable. What to do? Nevertheless, it is awesome news!
the poor ol’ shop…looks like we won’t be updating the shop until after the fairs.
Let the sew fest begin!
big sis
Update: We pulled ourselves out of Handmade Brigade 
So sad but needed to do for our own sanity.
don’t get your hopes up…just thought it would be a cute title! Well, maybe I can give a lil “101″ on it.
The kids and I went on our last field trip for the school year…to Tanaka Farms. Best trip ever! I mean BEST! I had so much fun! oh, and I think the kids did too
So we started our adventure on the school bus, their very first ride on a bus! How exciting is that for a lil one. My daughter was so weirded out about sitting in a “normal” seat WITHOUT seat belts that she held on to my arm for half of the drive. When we arrived at the farm, we began our tour on a wagon pulled by a tractor. Does not get more exciting than that…if you’re a lil boy.
Along the tour, they stopped and passed out organic veggies (green beans, celery, carrots, snap peas, green onions!) for everyone to try. The best part…if you didn’t want it, you were instructed to throw it overboard! LOVE it! Wish we could do that at home and someone else could clean it up.
The last leg of the tour…the magical moment…pick your own ORGANIC strawberries. My kids went to town! Here is how you pick them: You grab one strawberry with one hand and with your other hand, you twist as close as you can near the base (where the stem meets the leaves). You twist until the strawberry is released. OR if you have toddlers AND a camera AND a basket and NO HELP, then you just use your nails to cut the stem!
If you’re lucky, this is what you get. A basket full of bright red, juicy, ORGANIC strawberries! And if you’re fast like me, you can fill your basket, eat just about that much, and pass strawberries to your kids during the 15 minutes you are allotted.
They will be having a watermelon tour some time in July, which is suppose to be even more fantastic. Too bad I hate the heat. Heat plus porta potties…not a good thing.
big sis
No more festivities until June!
So we celebrated the twins’ 3rd birthday on Sat and decided to cancel their last party (which would have been their 3rd one!) at Goofy’s Kitchen. Yes, I have been dying to go there for the past year. But with 2 birthday parties and mother’s day dinner AND all the presents, we’ve come to the conclusion that we are not made of money! unfortunately
I love it when everything comes together and I can finally put away things and get ready for the next “project”. So what where those darn party favors that I was hemming and hawing about? personalized on-the-go crayon rolls! I committed to the project very last minute but I was able to complete 17 in 3-4 evenings. I give you the time frame so that you know it is definitely doable. You can find the tutorial here. She also provides different versions. I changed the pattern up a bit to accommodate 8 crayons and give it a slightly different look.
each was personalized…
filled by my husband…
rolled up and placed in goodie bags. Phew!
This summer will be busy with craft fairs…or maybe not. If only my lil ones could sew or cut or iron or…
big sis
For someone who hasn’t bought flowers in YEARS, he sure knows how to pick them!
It sounds like a dig…but really it’s not Although I can definitely appreciate flowers, often times than not, I do feel that they are a waste, especially during the holidays (you know, when florists think that they can up their prices for no apparent reason!)
So to my husband, a BIG THANK YOU!
To all you mothers out there…and to lil sis who will be celebrating her first “real” mother’s day, have a good one!
big sis
