Vacuum Queen

Blog Time-Out!

2010-03-01T11:06:00.000-08:00

Hey there! I'm not blogging anymore. Too busy working on a writing project. I'm keeping this open just in case I want to blog again in the future and use my same info.

Now go forth and find some other cool blogs.

Everything Old is New Again

2009-12-19T13:13:00.000-08:00

Hey there! I never post anymore! Let's pull out the old Christmas related entries and hope it gives someone something to do this week before Christmas.

Make a paper snowflake that looks like Elf stopped by your house.

Turn your kids' hand and foot prints into a cute little reindeer picture...or even a felt pillow!

Did you win the Christmas napkins in the giveaway? No? Well then head to ETSY and buy the last set. Or let me know if you'd like to buy the pattern. $5 and you can start now for next year's napkins for all your friends. :)

Today we're wrapping gifts here like crazy. Tonight I'm off to a party while the hubby goes to the Husky basketball game. Kids are excited for the babysitter and a Christmas movie. Life is good.

Christmas Napkins are Here!

2009-11-05T14:28:00.000-08:00

The first batch of Christmas napkins is here! They use a full 2 yards of fabric, so I know you'll love the size and feel of these cuties. They open up and are reversible. Retro looking. There will be more to come, including the pattern.

Leftovers, Ready for the Taking!

2009-10-25T23:45:00.000-07:00

Hey, if you've got a picture ready for your Christmas card this year, but you can't quite find the right "unique" template, I've got a deal for you.

This is the card I made last year. I always end up writing my kids' names and ages on the card since we send it to both friends and clients (who may not actually know their names). Anyhow, I decided to just type their info next to each person and then I could be completely lazy at card stuffing time. Voila! This is what I came up with.

Here's the deal...if you'd like to use this card, leave a comment and I'll pick someone to create this card for. The winner can email me a photo, tell me the info for the kids (and anyone in the photo), I'll create it and send a PDF file back to their email. After that, it just takes a quick stop at Kinkos or another local copy shop and a very unique Christmas card is complete! This method only ended up costing me 40 cents per card! Obviously I had to buy envelopes, but the cost still came out SO much cheaper than by the online card printing prices.

So leave a comment if you're interested. I'll pick a winner on Friday, October 30. Make sure your comment has a link to your email or blog so that I can contact you. Spread the word!

Woulda Coulda Shoulda

2009-09-20T00:23:00.000-07:00

Went to see The Informant tonight. If I woulda known it would be so lame, I coulda stayed home and finished my book, which I actually enjoy. Shoulda watched a rerun of GLEE.
Darn.

Rambling Thoughts on 9/11

2009-09-10T18:36:00.000-07:00

Vacuuming the stairs today...I was thinking about 9/11. Here on the west coast, we don't always feel the reality of what might be going on in the rest of the country. Like the economy. If I didn't watch the news or read about the crazed down slide, I'd have thought it was all fake. But then a year later or so, we got evidence of a crummy economy as well. So now that our part of the country sucks, I think (hope) that Wall Street is perking up a bit back east. No? Cross fingers.

So on the morning of 9/11, all I knew for real was that my family couldn't get on a plane to Hawaii. That made us crazy. And the next day? Still no flight out. Watching the whole ordeal on TV still didn't seem to make it real. Yes, I understood it was awful, terrible, etc....I'm just saying that had I had my tv turned off that week (and computer and not read the paper), I would never have known what was happening.

I had a dream later that week that I hadn't had since I was a little girl. One where I was walking around my small town and then all of a sudden there were army tanks and army guys - from some "bad" country, taking us over and picking us up and taking us away. So weird.

I guess in elementary school we had only read about things like the holocaust and how people had to leave their homes unexpectedly and forcibly, leaving all their beloved personal items behind. That's perhaps the extent of our experience and knowledge of anything difficult as kids. Lucky us.

Which leads me to...a few years ago when I was teaching 5th grade, we were doing a project on immigration. You can read about it all you want, but until you experience it, you just don't really get what it means to be forced out of the only home you've ever known and get the heck out of town. We had many immigrants come in to talk to the students, but one in particular hit a nerve with us all. He described his parents waking his brothers and him up in the middle of the night. His father had practiced swimming (among crocodiles!) across the Mekong River to Thailand in order to escape the leaders in his town who were about to force him to "do bad things." Finally, he came back to put his family on a raft and swim them across to Thailand (for his second time) to safety. THEN, they got on boats headed toward the U.S. for a new life. I guess it all sounded hard and perhaps scary, but when he mentioned to the group of 60 5th graders that they had to EAT EACH OTHER on the boat ride over, they all started truly imagining the struggles he went through to get here.

WHY would they eat each other? Wasn't there enough food? The students had many questions about this. He very respectfully answered that when someone got very sick and it was obvious that he would not survive the trip, he "of course" offered his body up to be eaten in order to save the others. Yes, while they were still alive. My students were in awe. Shock and awe.

And then we did this. That night, the kids were instructed to open an envelope at home at 7:30 that night. The envelope contained a letter which described something like, "your family needs to leave your home tonight and you may not ever return again. You are allowed to take ONE small bag or suitcase with you. You have 30 minutes to gather your things. Bring this bag with you to school to show what you would include." And yes, they understood it was an assignment, not for real.

The next day...it was a pretty intense day. Kids were super quiet and clung to their bags. There were many surprises. For one, about two thirds of the kids packed Bibles. Being that we were in a public school, we never really talked about religion and so I was just surprised a bit by how many felt it important to bring their Bible. The other surprise, most of the bags were NOT fully packed. I think only two kids brought a hand held battery type of game because the others had thought about the lack of battery life. They didn't pack many toys, if any. Most everyone's bags included the same basic needs: a spare warm outfit, a Bible or book, a baggie of pencils and paper, a family picture, and a stuffed animal of some sort. For some, a small bag of food. And that's it. Each student had to stand and talk about why they chose what they chose to bring. And can you guess what happened next?

They cried. And cried. And cried some more. It was a bawl fest. Boys, girls, everyone. And then lots of hugging. It was amazing.

I guess that it goes to show that you can't really read about adverse times for other people. You can't even understand it when you watch it on TV. But when you get a taste of it, even on a small scale, for real...well, it can be powerful. And hopefully meaningful.

So on the anniversary of 9/11, let us all appreciate the freedom we have and that we are not being shooed out of our homes, headed for unknown territory.

Christmas Already?

2009-08-18T12:42:00.000-07:00

Well, obviously people are already on the ball when it comes to making Christmas items. I've received MANY emails about the pattern for these super cute Christmas tree napkins. They're reversible, and unbelievably easy to make. You can make 6 napkins from 2 coordinating yards of fabric. Also, with simple cutting and fun machine stitching, you can knock a set of these out in less than an hour.

I DID make a PDF pattern for these which I posted briefly last year. Just so you know, I'm going out of town for a couple of weeks starting tomorrow and when I come back, I'll post links for how you can get the pattern and get started sewing. They make a great hostess gift, so I plan on making several sets as well. Big thanks to my mom for figuring out how to make these in the first place.

Aloha!

Who's Your Audience?

2009-07-12T19:31:00.000-07:00

Once during a teacher/principal conference, my principal took a sip of his coffee and plopped his mug down in front of me. It said, "I'm Smarter Than You." And it was true. He was wicked smaht. We chatted for a bit and he had mentioned that he was writing a book (he really wasn't that bragadocious, I'm summarizing here), and I stupidly blurted out, "Uh, well, actually I'M writing a book too right now." I then explained how it was about a collection of quilts that my mom and I had made and there were pictures and maybe some directions. His only question? "Who's the audience?"

That's when it hit me. The audience was only me. Basically I was writing a scrapbook, not a story to be made into a book. Oh. Umm. There's a difference?

So now there's a blog world out there. And I'm a member. But who's my audience? Hard to say. I started out with a nod to the crafty world by posting photos of finished crafts or contests I've entered. I even got a shout out from a super big sewing blog who liked a tutorial I made. That was a bit of fun. And then...I took a break from crafting and figured I had nothing to blog about because people who came to read my blog would be people who enjoyed crafting. What would they think when I started writing about my ideas for middle grade books for boys? I think they'd think about not coming back.

Well, you'll notice on my profile that I say I do a lot of things. I mother. I wife. I cook. I clean. I write, blah blah blah. Really, it just looks like a lot. There are many days when I just sit around ignoring my motherly duties while I read Nathan Bransford's blog! But it's hitting me...I'm all over the place. So who's MY audience? I guess I'm hoping it's someone who dabbles in many things as well. Someone who has a crafty side, an introspective side, a non-house cleaning side, a side that loves Project Runway...you get the picture. I'm hoping that if you stumble upon this blog to read a post that follows some sort of theme, you'll understand if it takes me awhile to get back to that particular theme. My mind is not focused enough.

Perhaps that means I'm really only writing for myself again. I guess my audience is me. If your mind is also all over the place, please sign up to follow me. Then you can be part of my audience as well.

What Kind of Blog Commenter are YOU?

2009-07-02T01:03:00.000-07:00

One of my absolute favorite daily blogs to follow is by a literary agent named Nathan Bransford. I had no clue who the guy was when I stumbled upon his blog, but it didn't take long to figure out that I couldn't get enough of it. He writes it to supply information to writers about how to query agents, submit manuscripts, and other writerly stuff. He has tons of good info. Go. And don't forget to read the archives! The best part, he's also a great writer, so it's all enjoyable.

ANYHOW...he had a contest on his blog to become a "guest blogger." Follow? He's going on vacation next week and he is letting regular folk fill in his daily blog while he's gone. I sat down and cranked out an entry about a writer's audience, and was not impressed with myself, so I didn't enter it. But later that night, I tried again and came up with this. Not great, but hey, I got something in. Here's my (non winning) entry:

"What Kind of Blog Commenter are You?"

So you're addicted to your Google reader and you're following a good dozen KEY blogs each day. AND you're leaving comments. What kind of commenter are you?

SUPPORTIVE: you generally leave happy, quick comments which say something like, "What a neat idea!" or "Way to go! I totally agree!" You actually mean these things and look for nothing in return.

INTERACTOR/REPEAT OFFENDER: You like to use the comment section to interact with other commenters. "Kathy, you can find that book you mentioned at ..." You are often known to check the comment boards more often than the actual blog itself. You leave multiple comments per blog entry. You sometimes get on other commenters' nerves by showing up too much, but you are fairly certain your comments are needed here, even if they're off topic.

SNARKY: AKA Snarkapotomus. You like to read comments and then let everyone know that you are laughing at the dumb ones, by leaving a snarky response: "Um, since you obviously can't spell, I'll assume you're under 10 and I'll keep this comment rated G." Also, you like to include slightly naughty words to let others know that you are definitely NOT the perky supportive commenter. Words like, "Biatch!" "SNORT!" and "Fo Shiz" are heavily used by you. You don't really even believe your comments, you just want to rattle the boards a bit.

CLUELESS: You are the one who quickly glances over each post without really reading deeply. Your comments often ask for clarity about an issue that is already in print. Other commenters correct you. Supportive ones redirect you gently. Snarkapotomus puts you in your place.

SUCK UP: You think that by leaving uber supportive comments, that the blogger might actually offer some sort of service to you. You write things like, "This is the greatest blog contest ever! Only a super human agent would offer this." And then you actually check your email waiting for a personal response from the blogger, asking you to be their best friend or sign a contract or win the giveaway, etc.

ANONYMOUS: You are afraid that others will find out where you live if you leave a disagreeable comment, so you opt to leave your name out of it. OR...you have a blog which is for one facet of your life, but you read guilty pleasure blogs and you don't want people to know how you spend your time that should be used for your crappy data entry job. Something like that.

MULTI USER: You've got all sorts of linkless names that you use. If you like your comment, you use the happy name. If you think your comment might be controversial, you opt for less cute and happy names like "Muriel" or "Frederick," hoping that nobody else will have that name and be wrongfully hated by other commenters.

THINKER: You read the blog entry seriously and come back to it several times before you leave a deep, reflective comment. You include links for further research or comparable blogs for more insight.

*COMIC RELIEF (not included in original entry, but two minutes later I thought of it): You try to make a joke or a play on words from the blog entry whenever you can. Comments usually end in exclamation points or with a happy face. Deep down you're trying to let the blogger know that you two would be compatible as friends if the blogger ever sought you out for a coffee date.

I suppose these are all acceptable in the world of blogging. Personally, I like to be a combo of supportive, thinker, and snark. I DO think I add to the blog with my comments at times. If anything, I want to let the blogger know that I like their blog enough to comment and that I hope they write something again soon.

What kind of blog commenter are you? What am I missing? Please leave me a comment!

Techie Update for the Uninterested

2009-06-29T23:25:00.000-07:00

My husband begged me for a year to get an iPhone. I kept resisting because I had only used my regular cell phone to call one person (him) about picking up groceries on his way home or something totally lame. Basically, we paid a lot of money to have potential emergency coverage in case either of our new cars broke down. As if that would happen.

So then at Christmas of '08, he hands me my ONE present of the year....da da daaaaaa! "Oh...it's the iPhone you wanted." Yep, and he got one for himself too. Wahoo! Whatever. I wasn't feeling the love. I was feeling our money going down the drain. Truthfully, I was most afraid of spending too much time on the darn thing. Fortunately, I've kept its use down to a minimum. I have a few cool apps, and I text very few people. Most importantly, I've got a couple of Spongebob episodes on there in case my little kids get bored at the oldest kid's baseball games or swim meets. Now THAT is well worth the money. (Don't judge the Spongebob, please. I already get grief from the swim parents)

But back to my point I haven't gotten to yet. The point about not being very hip or techie afterall. So...I texted my babysitter the other day about a graduation ceremony she had invited me to. She's one of three people I text. The others are my husband and my sister in law. I have no clue who else I would text or why I would bother doing that when I can just pick up the phone. But anyhow, I feel pretty cool about chatting so quickly when I'm not at home. When we ended our little chat, she typed in a bunch of letters that I did NOT get. Usually I can pick them out. LOL I know for sure (laugh out loud, duh), and TTYL (talk to you later), but this one I couldn't get at all. So I responded with, "qwpeoiucpoieunapoizcuv." Or something like that. Har har har. I'm sure she thinks I'm lame. Oh well.

But here're two more that my family uses that you may not know - and I read them BOTH today in a literary agent's blog (no, not MY agent. I don't have one. YET!). The first is the DUFF. My brother always jokes that I'm the DUFF in my group of friends. Have you heard that one? Well, it's totally something a brother would say about his little sister. Even if she's (almost) 40 and should be old enough to escape this sort of stuff. It's "Designated Ugly Fat Friend." Hmmm. I'm going on a road trip soon with some gals and I shall bring up the DUFF theory to them and see what kind of response I get.

And then there's this one that my OTHER older brother always told me. "You're too stupid to live." (I know, you're wondering how I have any money for an iPhone after all of the therapy I must be getting). But anyhow, it also has a textable acronym, "TSTL." Yay! And you can go HERE to read about more fun acronyms to use in your life.

Looks like I need to add my brother to my texting pals. My first entry shall include the use of TSTL. Hopefully I'll be one up on him and he won't know what it means, yet. I'm so lame to be excited for this.

Potty Mouth

2009-06-22T14:37:00.000-07:00

I worked for the county road department during my college summers, and it was a great job in that it paid well for doing not much of anything. A government job at its best. I was lucky to be the recipient of said job. One of the best parts was working with the fowl mouthed truck drivers. They spewed F-bombs like watermelon seeds. Hilarious to say the least. Eventually, I had to fit in and I became quite a potty mouth myself. Took that mouth back with me to college - and my sorority. Not quite the same effect there. Ha!

So now I have my own kids who are experimenting with their own language, and it seems that the 3 year old is becoming quite the Potty Mouth. Seriously. Here's today's conversation.

PM: Hi Mom-poop.

Me: Wha? Don't say that.

PM: OK, Mom-potty. (huge grin with tongue sticking out through awful teeth needing future orthodontic work)

Me: Har har, Bubba. Don't say that either.

PM: OK, Mom-toilet paper. (falls on floor laughing)

Me: Go play in another room and talk about cars or something.

PM: (marches down hall singing): Car-poop, car-potty, toilet paper toilet paper.

Me: (can't help but sing the new snazzy tune while unloading dishwasher)

A Call to Bloggers

2009-05-05T15:08:00.000-07:00

I'm in a blogging rut. I'm not even reading blogs anymore, let alone writing one. Well, just not the same ones anyway. I'm crafted out and need a break from looking at new things to make, because they're just not going to get made anytime soon.

Actually, I'm kindof in a book writing mode lately, and I'm crazy enough to be shopping something around in search of an agent. I don't believe I just typed that sentence. Who knows what it will amount to? I know it's a slow process and I'm a nobody from Nowheresville (well, not NObody, but in the literary world, yes). And...it's not a book about vampires or supernatural beings, so who knows if it will be picked up. I enjoy new projects, though.

Meanwhile, I'm looking for new and interesting blogs to read. I'd love to see YOURS! Maybe you could send me your link and include a link or two to YOUR favorite blogs as well. I like blogs by artists, writers, and anyone who is just plain funny. I'm just tired of passing through the same places.

I'm also tired of Facebook...but that's another post.

Munny Making

2009-04-09T22:13:00.001-07:00

Have you seen the cute little toys from Kidrobot called "Munnys?" They are little vinyl dolls that come white, but they send you a couple of Sharpies to color them in with. I would most likely draw a few polka dots on a Munny if I had one and call it done. I decided to check out Flickr to see if anybody has posted their completed Munny. Um, there are a bajillion Munny pictures uploaded there. Duh. I'm always the last to find out. Rosie O'Donnell sells hers on her ETSY site for $200 and they sell quickly. Wow!

I'm pretty sure my polka dots would suck compared to these.

With a Sharpie??!!! Impressive.

I never would've thought to embellish with other items. I love Indie.

At $10 a pop for a 4 inch Munny, they are a decent price for a bit of creative fun. But seriously...wouldn't you want to make at least 4 or 5 of these before you made one you liked? And then, of course, you'd want to make more because you'd be hooked. I sense another expensive hobby around the corner. Uh oh.

Crazy Amazing Sinks

2009-03-26T11:28:00.000-07:00

I found a new design site via StumbleUpon today. Toxel.com has a bunch of links for interesting/modern designs. See their section called "Popular Posts" on the right hand side and it's all organized by topic. I checked out the section for sinks, of all things, and found such cool stuff. My favorites were the "Quartz Sink," and the "Flowood Sink." Check them out.

My little powder room sink is above. I described the shape of the base that I wanted to my cabinet guy (Does that mean I designed it? That sounds rather fancy and cool). And I found this cool marble sink on eBay. I'm still pretty happy with it, but I wish I had seen this site before we built our house 2 years ago. Just for ideas if nothing else. We live in a pretty small town, and so it was hard to find unique items for inspiration. So if you're building or considering redecorating, check out Toxel.com.

Fabric Giveaway!!!

2009-03-23T18:26:00.000-07:00

Crazy "OOPS" fabric - free to a good home.

I know, I know. It seems like all I write about these days is my adventure with my Spoonflower fabric. But I mentioned that I would follow up on what I've learned, and hey...it might be helpful to someone who's doing the same thing.

So here's what I've learned since the "spots gone crazy" episode.

Basically, I was right when I assumed it was most likely my fault. Yep, but it was an easy fix. It seems that the layer with dots was missing a white background for the dots to be on. Now, when you print it on paper, a person wouldn't notice anything like that, because the paper is white. BUT...in their printer for fabric, the machine reads dots on blank space and then it fills that space with information around it. In my case...a bunch of dots gone wild. It will even fill it in with black at times.

So what's the fix? For me, I put a rectangle the size of my artboard (I use Adobe Illustrator) and filled it in with white in the background. That made a few problems, but after a few adjustments, I had a white layer in the very background that the dots could be on.

OR...the other fix would be this. I converted it into a png, since they do not accept .ai files (and a Tiff was WAY too huge). At the time of conversion, it asks you something like, "what color do you want your background to be?" The default is set to "clear." I switched it to "white." That would've saved me the time of drawing the white rectangle and fixing my layers.

OK, none of this makes sense if you don't use Illustrator, but in case you do, this could help you before you send your file in. And also, I should mention that they offered to reprint it for me, even though it was my fault. I wrote them back and declined since it was my fault, but then they wrote again saying "it's no cog in my engine," which I thought was really funny. So sheesh, I wasn't about to turn down even more free fabric and I took them up on their offer.

The last order was printed and shipped lightning fast, so I'm sure this one will be too. When it gets here, I'll post a new photo. MEANWHILE, if you'd like to receive my first round of dottie fabric, I'm having a giveaway for it. Yes, that's right. A FREE yard of totally weird fabric that would make a good project for...oh, many things I'm sure. Leave a comment at the end of the post to be entered and spread the word to anyone who has Spoonflower questions. I'd love to help if I can. I'll draw a winner on Sunday night.

Spoonflower Fabric Comparison

2009-03-18T13:20:00.000-07:00

Hmmm...well, I was very excited to receive my package from Spoonflower with my free fabric. Unfortunately, not everything turned out so great. I think it's worth looking at to compare what went right and what went wrong. I really do believe that this could be a great service for future projects, so I'd rather decipher what's going on than just throw it away.

So, look above and you'll see the first design. I think it turned out pretty cute. The colors are not the same at all, but I suppose that's my fault for not checking closer with their colors. Apparently, they have a list of colors they can print well, and I didn't check my colors with their colors. So that's o.k. I still think this is close to what I had, and it was free because I won it, so I'm happy. I left a lot of space around each little bug so that I could cut them each out and use them as little pieces of little projects. We'll see what I come up with.

You can see how the colors are a bit different in the bugs here. The periwinkle color turned out super purple, but was still cute. Also, the celery green in the other bugs never showed up at all. It was just a lot of yellow. The overall yard of fabric is a lot of purple and yellow, although the original print was soft yellow, celery green, periwinkle, and light blue. Oh well. Pretty close. And FREE!

Slam on the brakes!!! Check this print out. WHAT happened? Look at those cute dots and stripes in the print on paper on the left. Soft blue, cute little dots, and a red stripe. But on the right...a print that nobody would design. Ever. The dots run into each other and the red is awful. In some places it has a bunch of black. Blech. It's crazy.

The printed design is on paper on the left, and the fabric design is on the right above. So what went wrong? Color aside, the actual pattern didn't even work. Perhaps I submitted the file incorrectly. Wouldn't surprise me. But I think I followed the directions. It prints right on paper...hmmm. I'm going to email them and ask what I can do in the future to avoid this problem. I know that they always suggest ordering a swatch before placing a large order, but that wouldn't correct things, it would just save money.

Any ideas how to avoid this in the future? I'll make a post with Spoonflower's advice if they have any suggestions, so check back if this subject interests you.

***Read here to see what Spoonflower said about how to fix this.

$100 Gift Card to Etsy

2009-03-09T23:05:00.001-07:00

I was browsing through ETSY this week and decided to pretend I had a $100 gift card to buy whatever I wanted. Of course, I also decided to not pay attention to shipping and handling costs. What did I find to buy? Lots, of course. But these three items I really really loved and I thought I'd post them. Someone should buy them. Maybe I'll go dig something up to sell on eBay and then it can be ME who buys them.

Isn't this cute? I love Gocco prints. I make my own screens out of PhotoEZ, but the Gocco folks out there are really good at their craft. Plus, I feel like this on many days. This little print is $20.

This seller dyes her own fabric and then makes super creative, unique items with it. This pillow cover would brighten anyone's day. Certainly mine. It costs $45.

And finally, this little guy is just too cute. My friend at KLT:Works makes these little guys and puts them on mobiles as well as sells them separately. He costs $39.

What? That's over $100??? Ugh. Too late. I already love them. Plus, if I truly did have a gift card for $100, I'd still get these 3 items, knowing I wouldn't have to pay much total for them. What would YOU buy? If you make a post about it, send me a link. I'd love to see what other people love.

Spoonflower, I Think I Love You

2009-03-04T12:50:00.000-08:00

Well, my poor lonely snowglobe guys did not win the Spoonflower design contest of the week. BUT, they also didn't get last. Whew! I think they turned out really cute and I actually may buy them. I made a version with a less random design and it does look a lot cleaner and cooler. You can look me up on Spoonflower and use it for your own design, if you feel the need to make a project with a snowglobe.

And although I didn't win the 5 yards of fabric, I DID win a contest held at The Long Thread, which let me order 2 FREE yards of fabric...from Spoonflower! I thought that was really funny. I quickly drew up 2 designs that I thought would be pretty cute. I have no idea of the quality of the fabric, so we'll see what arrives in the mail one day and I'll report back. Here are my designs I submitted. They "kindof" go together. No red in one, but they aren't meant to be a set. They were just quick "made in one evening" type of designs, so that I could get my order out. It takes about 10-14 days to print and then they'll ship it out. Whee!

Spoonflower Fabric of the Week Contest - Help Me Win! (or not get last!)

2009-02-24T13:56:00.000-08:00

Oh my...who knew? I was messing around on Spoonflower when it first came out and I posted a pattern to be considered for voting on their "weekly fabric design contest." Then I forgot about it. Well, this week it's up for the vote! Wow. To be honest, it's not as cute as many other designs I've made, but hey...I'd still like to win. The voting only goes for one week, and I'm WAY behind already. So, if you feel kind, pop on over to Spoonflower's voting page and give me a vote for my "snowglobes." Thanks!

Voting Ends on March 2nd!

2009-02-23T17:07:00.000-08:00

Oh my gosh. My project entry just got posted today over on Apartment Therapy and OhDeeDoh, and there's only ONE week LEFT TO VOTE! So please head on over there and give my project a thumbs up, ok? Even if it's not your favorite, ha ha. The prize is a $250 Etsy gift card. If you sell something on Etsy, send me a link and I'll visit your store. Thanks!

Now go forth and vote (for me, please).

A Photo Mural Project - Cheap 'n Easy!

2009-02-17T13:33:00.000-08:00

Yay me, I finally finished a project. I've been wanting to do this one for awhile, but never had the motivation to actually do it. When I saw the contest at Apartment Therapy for homemade projects, I knew I had to get it done. I just finished my entry and I thought I'd include a bit of info here too.

We had some snow here this winter, which doesn't always happen, and so I have many pictures of the kiddos enjoying it all. One picture actually turned out decent AND included all 3 kids. That's a rarity. Unfortunately, the day was a bit gray and so the background is a bit blah.

AND...I was in the mood to cut something up. So, I created a wall mural of sorts, using 3 different pictures. I couldn't include them all because there's a photo limit, but trust me...there are 3 pictures cut and glued together as one. Once I had the pictures blown up, I cut them up into little pieces, ready to laminate and ring together. I included some photos of the end result.

Above is the original... and here are some of the tools I used.

An up-close shot of the loose leaf rings I used to hold it all together. I love the metal clunkiness of it all. Each piece is laminated too.

The final project. Much cooler in real life. See how the background is from a sunny day's shot? And some of those tall trees were from a different photo as well. It's very layered.

I don't think I'll keep it here. This is the kids' playroom, and that couch is very big and makes the mural look teeny, which it is not. I'm thinking about putting it all in the dining room, just to be different. Not sure how the blue will look in there, but I may try this with a spring photo too, and then I could swap it out with the seasons. hmmm....

So, if you bothered to read this, please check back and I'll let you know if my project is up for the vote or not at Apartment Therapy (and Ohdeedoh, who also hosted the contest). I'd love your vote!

By the way, this entire thing only cost about $75, which is pretty good for a large wall hanging. You certainly couldn't frame something that large for that price. I love it!

Totally Do-Able Photo Project

2009-02-10T18:50:00.000-08:00

Here's the cutest darn photo project for that blank space on your wall. You can either carry your camera everywhere with you in search of numbers, numbers, and more numbers, OR...you can go to Flickr and search their photo group of numbers. Then, after you make prints in your desired size, hit Photojojo (their blog rocks and their helpful forum is terrific) and buy these Fotoclips. The clips hold everything together and also allow you to rearrange the calendar when the month is over. Super cute and totally cool. I think I'll print out little wallet sized photos and make a wee one for my only wall available in my kitchen. I LOVE it!

This is SO on my "to do" list. If you make one, send me a link. I'd love to see it.

I Got Nothin' (or, Saran Wrap Doesn't Photograph Well)

2009-02-06T10:01:00.000-08:00

Seriously. It's dark and gloomy and rainy here in the Pacific NW. As a result...I've run out of creativity or ideas or anything to write about. I got nothin!

Well, I DID make a little crafty Valentine necklace for my daughter's kindergarten class. But it doesn't photograph well. I'll post the pictures anyway, just to jumpstart someone else's creativity.

Basically, I was going for the hawaiian lei look, only with candy. You can see how to do it...lay out the candies on a piece of saran (I cut it down the middle, the long way, to make 2 out of each 3 foot strip), roll them up and twist them shut. Add curly ribbon, and connect like a necklace. Next to be added will be the little paper heart which will hang at the neck and include the "To:/From:" part. That's the part that takes forever, since it's done by little 6 year old hands.

Well, at least it's something.

Snow Fun!

2009-01-21T23:30:00.000-08:00

Aren't these fun photos? I didn't think I'd want to post my kids all over a blog one day, but sure enough...they are creeping in. I think that the one of my daughter is my favorite one of the year. It just makes me happy, even though the reason she was running was because she was tired of having her picture taken! In my defense, a snowy sunny day around here is a rarity. I took MANY photos in search of those few really great shots. Gotta love the digital era.

Be Back Soon

2009-01-07T09:22:00.000-08:00

Ah....the holidays are over, and my daughter's birthday is over. Time to relax and work on a few projects. I'm taking a break for a wee bit, but I'll be back in February with a giveaway. I have no clue what it'll be, but I'll figure that part out then. If you follow the blog, you'll be alerted to my reappearance. See you then.

Bunch of Flakes

2008-12-21T23:52:00.000-08:00

There are 3 more package delivering days left before Christmas and MANY of my important gifts are still en route to me. They were due here last week and they're coming from many different places. Is everyone flaking out around here? Must be the snowstorms hitting the area. I don't know. I even received an email tonight from a restaurant in Seattle where I purchased 2 gifts cards a week ago. They wanted to say that they just now noticed I bought something online and that they'd ship it via Fed Ex on Tuesday or Wednesday. I wrote back...."How about shipping them tomorrow?" They wrote back..."there's more than 1?" Oh geez. I got it straightened out, I think. I just know that I'd better see the UPS and FedEx guys tomorrow or I may lose it.

In the meantime, since I'm declaring everyone from these stores to be big fat FLAKES...I thought I'd repost my snowflake tutorial from last year. Could be good therapy to make these with the kids tomorrow while we wait patiently for the big trucks to come rolling down into our driveway.

Snowed In

2008-12-18T15:19:00.000-08:00

I meant to do all of my last minute shopping and baking errands on this past Tuesday, but one of my kids left the dome light on in the van. Battery -- dead. Darn. Since then, we've been snowed in and my errands are still not getting done. I hate that. I love the snow, and we've been having all sorts of fun, but I hate not being ready for Christmas.

Oh well. I was able to get my pillows done. Yay! They turned out super cute. I guess being forced to stay inside is not a bad thing afterall. You eventually run out of laundry to do and you are free to finish up on crafty things. That's pretty nice.

Free Download - Snowglobe Gift Tags

2008-12-15T23:36:00.000-08:00

Hey there. Load your printer up with some card stock and print out these gift tags for all of your presents! Or give them to your kids and let them have their own little theme for their gifts this year.

Updating a Christmas Tradition

2008-12-10T12:43:00.001-08:00

We have many Christmas traditions in my family, and like everyone, you don't always know it's a tradition until the kids start asking you why you haven't done a certain activity yet, or baked a certain cookie yet. "Oh, I guess it's next on my to-do list." Ta-da! It's a tradition.

One of those for us, is to trace our feet and hands and make construction paper reindeer each year. It's silly and quick, but also very fun. Especially when you have a baby in the family. To see a teeny little reindeer next to big brother or big sister's reindeer is so sweet.

I pulled out last year's reindeer and decided to laminate them (my best purchase this year was a good quality, double roller laminator), to help them last longer and not get crumpled. However, it seemed to me that I could make them more "3-D." And so...I got some felt and built some pillows out of them. I think they turned out really cute. So far, I just have the tops made, but I wanted to post them to share.

I love them! I do have the urge to embellish them like crazy, though. Maybe next year I'll choose some bold colors and go crazy. My daughter is an accessory addict and she has crazy wild hair. I think I could really "fancy up" her pillow. My oldest son wears glasses. Those would be easy to stitch on too. And of course, some sequins can't hurt.

For this batch, though, I'm keeping them simple. ***See the finished product HERE!

Christmas Tree Napkin Pattern Download

2008-12-07T23:31:00.000-08:00

Quick post for those who want the tree pattern. I suppose blogging isn't a total vacuum of my free time...I've actually learned a few things. One is, I made my first ever "pattern" for that Christmas tree napkin that everyone liked so much. It is limited by your printer. I suggest that you make your printer allow a very small border only, in order to get as much printed as you can. It comes on two pages, and then you tape it together. Use common sense. It's basically a half circle. You'll have to practice folding too...I suggest you practice on the paper, like I did in the above photo. It eventually works and then you'll know what to do every time.

Next, I learned how to upload a PDF to a public website so that you folks can enjoy it. I used Scribd because many people commented about that site, and it was very easy to use. I will keep this pattern posted for a limited time, so click here and here to download both pages and get sewing. You can make 6 completed napkins from 2 coordinating yards of fabric.

Good luck and thanks for all of the nice comments about these. I'll be drawing a winner on Wednesday!

Christmas Giveaway!!!

2008-12-01T23:16:00.000-08:00

My mom recently figured out how to make some simple and oh so cute items for Christmas and she's been sewing them up by the bajillions. I told her that she should blog about them! Nope, not enough time or interest to blog about anything. So...I too have begun to make these cuties, and I'm giving away a set of 6 to one lucky winner. What is it???

Oh. Gee. wow. A fabric half circle. Ha! NOOOOOO.......
It's a reversible fabric napkin that folds into the shape of a tree! Yay! Super duper cute and easy to make. I'm giving away a set of 6 of these. I hope you enjoy them. I had wanted to post the directions for these, but I do not know how to link to a PDF file. I know how to make the PDF, but how do I post one? Surely there must be a PDF hosting service, like Flickr is to JPEGs. If anyone out there knows how...please explain to me and I'll double your entry.

Meanwhile...to enter, check out my new link on the left that lets you follow my blog. Sign up to follow along, and leave me a comment with your email to let me know how to reach you, and I'll enter you in the drawing. OR...leave me a comment anywhere on the blog and you could enter that way too. On December 10th, I'll draw a winner and ship these cuties off to you in time for Christmas.

Thanks for stopping by!

Christmas Give-Away TBA

2008-11-26T12:25:00.000-08:00

Hey there. I know you're here now, but after you look around, I think you should also come back on December 3rd because I'm going to participate in Sew, Mama, Sew's "Give-Away Day." You might win something! By the way, have you seen my other little project on their site? I was, ahem, sort of highlighted for a little tutorial I made for tissue holders. How fun is that?

Quick Advent Calendar

2008-11-16T01:14:00.000-08:00

Here's a cute advent to try if you have young kids (I wasn't planning on blogging about it, so you'll have to excuse the poorly lit photos. This was from last year). Aside from gathering your materials, you and the wee ones can complete this project in less than an hour. I've made this one over and over in different ways for many years. Sometimes with glitter, sometimes with the kids' handwriting, and sometimes with cute stick-on cutouts, like this one. I suppose it would be very organized and crafty of me to come up with a nice wool felt design that I could use every year. You know the kind...with rustic stitches and embroidered numbers. That'd take patience and planning. I don't do well with those two things. I'd still have to add new candy canes each year, obviously. That's the most important part, aside from the count down.

Try this one though. Use my photos as an "idea starter" if you want and let the kids use their imaginations. All that really matters is the candy cane each day. :)

You'll need:

Ribbon, Clothespins, Candy canes in individual bags, Markers, Cardstock paper, and I found those Little Snowmen at Target. Then, just find a place to hang it and the kids will quickly figure out who gets which candy cane on what day.
(hint: the odd numbered kid gets more candy)

Brown Bag or Bento?

2008-11-07T12:21:00.000-08:00

Ahh, the Bento Box lunch. It's healthy, easy, fun, etc. etc. But here's what I don't get. Does it pack itself or something? Why is it healthy? Can't I still put a PB&J and chocolate in it if I want? And easy? Looks like a lot of chopping and peeling and making pretty decorations with my food. And there's NO POSSIBLE WAY that my kids will eat a rice ball, even if it IS shaped liked Spongebob Squarepants. Bleh. Frankly, I'm not interested.

BUT, I am interested in using less and less plastic bags for my kids and their lunches, so I've been surfing around the net looking for great lunch packing ideas. What keeps popping up is the Bento Box lunch. I wonder what's so different about it than say...a piece of tupperware? I guess since it all fits in one spot it is more handy. I found one called, "Mr. Bento" and it's more like a thermos with multiple containers. My kids do like soup at school, so perhaps I'll check that one out.

Meanwhile:

Here's a site explaining (way too much) information about Mr. Bento and how to use one.
I always go to Instructables to learn things, and they have bento how-to as well.
Here's some bento eye candy.
And a blog about bento lunches is over here.
These bentos actually look like they hold real food.
Some totally beautiful bentos which I will not be making anytime soon are right here.
And don't forget Mr. Bento.

Fancy Nancy, Part 2

2008-11-01T23:40:00.001-07:00

Ooh la la! My Fancy Nancy costume turned out so much better than I could've expected. Yes, I can't actually sew...the ruffles were crooked and the whole thing was too big, but the ending product was exactly what we wanted. Little Miss Fancy Nancy also put a stuffed french poodle into a red beaded bag with a hand beaded leash that she had made earlier that day. Tres chic! She even played the part in photos.

We did somehow manage to forget to put on the fancy crown. That was a huge bummer because it would've capped off the costume perfectly. Oh well. the pink hair was "stupendous" according to the wearer. All was good. (Indiana Jones and Pirate Boy don't look too shabby either) Now that you've got a better understanding for Fancy Nancy, why not head over HERE to have a looksie at the book?

Fancy Nancy, part 1

2008-10-24T09:40:00.000-07:00

Earlier this year, my daughter discovered Fancy Nancy, the starring character in a series of books about a little girl who is the only fancy person in her family. And we're talking....FANCY. The pictures show such great details of what she considers fancy. For Nancy, as well as my daughter, fancy equals LOTS and LOTS of miscellaneous stuff in her hair, her clothes, and her room. For a looksie into the book, click HERE and you'll have it read to you by my daughter.

Meanwhile, we discovered that Target sells Fancy Nancy costumes. It was a no brainer that that was going to be the official costume this year. BUT, I couldn't bring myself to dropping $30 on what looked like a cheap dress. No, no, no...I would make it myself.

Hmmm...I've made a few things, a simple quilt, a tissue cover, a yo-yo or two. But a dress with multiple layers of ruffles and extra decorative finishings? What was I thinking? PLUS, even buying cheap-o fabric, I've already spent well over $30. And I'm not done yet. What really is the value of a homemade costume? Is it worth the time and agony? I think so. But, Halloween is a week away. Oh brother.

So I know you're dying to see the end result, right? Too bad, you'll have to wait a few more days. I'm still ruffling. But I would like to prep you a bit and show you what CAN be done with some ruffles and a few spare hours (and hours). View it HERE. I'm trying to win it so that I can pull it out of the sewing room, as if I've sewn it myself. The gig will be up instantly. I'll have a good laugh though...and my fancy daughter can enjoy this outfit for a looooong time. Wish me luck in winning and be sure to check back in on MY costume. Be prepared for a huge difference. Darn.

A Pumpkin Party Invite

2008-10-14T13:46:00.000-07:00

Plan your pumpkin party now - here's a free download for the cutest invitation.

Pick Your Favorite Color

2008-09-10T22:37:00.000-07:00

What's your favorite color? Wait a minute. Start over. If you're sitting down to a game of Sorry, what color would you be? I'm ALWAYS red. My oldest son is always blue. Daughter gets yellow. We convinced her a long time ago that yellow was pretty and so she took it, begrudgingly. And now it's the baby's turn to play. "You get green, Charlie." (My husband gets a wadded up piece of paper or sometimes a tiny lego piece that happens to be sitting on the floor next to us at the time. He's the 6th kid in his family. Perhaps that's been chosen for him for awhile now.)

Anyhow, Charlie gets green. No choice. No good luck feelings at all for the poor kid. Green. So, after a few months of playing along, green has now become Charlie's favorite color. For everything. He will only drink out of a green straw. He only colors with the green ("bean") crayon. And he notices "bean" everywhere. "Hey, my Deigo unders have bean on dem!" So now green is his favorite color. I even heard him tonight when he was looking for a book to read, and he said, "hey...dat guy has a bean shirt on. He just wike me!" Green is his new i.d. But it was chosen for him. How can he really like it?

Easy. The only reason my older brother liked the Minnesota Vikings growing up was because someone gave him sheets with Viking helmets and footballs all over them. It's almost as if someone pre-thought out the whole ordeal. "Here you go, son. Welcome to your 8th birthday. You shall now become a Minnesota Viking fan." And then my next brother got Oakland Raiders sheets and that set that love affair in motion too. But really...I'm pretty sure the sheets were on sale at the local Emporium and they looked good. That's why they got purchased in the first place.

So, poor Charlie. He may end up with a lifetime of decisions already made for him. I hope they're the right ones. I hope that someday his future girlfriend doesn't dump him for having such a lame favorite color. I personally love all things green. Maybe she'll think he's brilliant for picking it. Or...having it picked for him. I don't know. But I'll have to make a mental note of it all...must let Charlie create his own favorites. Must let Charlie be his own person. Must go make Charlie a new green gift from me to him. He picked a good color to love...

A Funny Story About a Little Girl, (or a Little Story About a Funny Girl)

2008-09-09T10:57:00.000-07:00

Oh geez. Kindergarten has arrived for my middle child, Maggie. It's very exciting for all of us. She's one who was made to socialize and go to public school. READY Freddy. I think her year of preschool last year could make for a best selling book. I had to start a podcast with her last year just to satisfy her craving for "MORE." May as well start this year with a wee story of her on her first day.

Actually, her first day was more like a mini-conference. The teacher broke the class into small groups and we stayed for an hour, just to check out the room and get to meet a few other kids and parents. Just a casual meeting. But of course, I had prepped Maggie about making a "nice girl" impression on her teacher.

Let's just begin by saying that she is in an "I don't want to match" mode right now and so she arrived in pink camoflauge shorts, last year's orange shirt with a sequined pumpkin on it (it's only early September), red polka dot knee high socks, and hot pink mary jane shoes. Oh, and she has naturally curly (BIG) hair which she refuses to brush. Take a moment to visualize that.

We arrived and spotted the teacher who bent down to grab Maggie's hand and guide her through the ropes in the classroom. Maggie was actually very timid and sweet and listened very carefully and smiled appropriately. The desks, the cubbies, here's where your supplies go, mark your milk or lunch order off here, and on and on. The teacher had already put in so much effort and had gotten the room organized to perfection. Maggie's face was filled with excitement, but she remained fairly quiet. I was happy that we could just blend in with the other kids who were ready for their turn with the teacher.

Once Maggie was done, she grabbed a picture of a little mouse that could be colored at her desk while the other kids were getting the tour. Maggie's not a big colorer...this will be a challenge for her this year. She gets a bit bored and I can just imagine her getting out of her seat in the middle of any coloring assignment. Most likely, she'll get up and start giving advice to other kids about how they're coloring their picture. The fact that her seat at her table is the only one exactly lined up with the hallway door gives me a giggle too. She'll be all over the official kindergarten greeting committee for each person who passes by on their way to the cafeteria or the bathroom. In fact, she'll probably find out just where it is that each person intends on going. And she'll report back. All just very factually. No judgement, "Jeremy's been in the potty for 4 1/2 minutes, but Maria's been in there for about 10. Hope everything's o.k." I can hear it now. "I wonder if they washed their hands. I'll go ask them."

Anyhoo...back at her desk, we noticed that little Audrey Jane would be sitting next to her. Audrey Jane is not there at the moment, but I had filled Maggie in about her on the way to school. Audrey Jane was the niece of friends of ours and she was adopted from China. She also has muscular dystrophy and uses a walker to get around. I'm sure Maggie will love being her helper and I can imagine that it's the best seat in the class. When we sat down, I told her, "oh hey...Audrey Jane sits next to you! Remember I told you her name before? I know her aunt and uncle."

And then came Maggie's response. At full volume.

"WHAT?! Suh-weet! I'm next to an orphan!"

Oh geez. Back peddle. "What? No no, Audrey Jane is not an orphan," I say quietly while giving a look of embarrassment to the other parents, which include the principal and his wife. They've got the perfect girl, quietly unpacking her supplies and putting them away. "She was adopted, hun, not an orphan. Hey, your coloring is going well."

She went on, "Oh I can't believe it. I'm so excited. I'm next to an orphan!!! Orphan! Orphan! Whee. I wonder if she KNOWS she's an orphan. I'm gonna tell her! She'll love that news!"

Oh shit. Just shut up about the orphan. At this point, all that is echoing through my brain is "orphan orphan orphan..." and it's making me dizzy. Mind you...all of this is announced as if someone accidentally placed the loudspeaker underneath Maggie's chair.

But then she just put her head down and went back to coloring. I think everyone was relieved that the commotion was over. And probably a bit curious. Was there really an orphan in their classroom? This Maggie girl was the source of the some good scoop.

Then, after a couple minutes of actual serenity where they were all coloring and the room was getting a good dose of Raffi's "Brush Your Teeth," Maggie slammed her red orange crayon down and put her head up with a look of shock and horror on her face. "I'll bet she's sorry she was adopted!" Before I could ask why or wipe the shock and horror off of MY face, she added, "She could've stayed in Bejing. She MISSED the o-LYM-pics!!!" And back to coloring she went.

Wha?! Um...was that funny or smart? At this point, I wasn't sure. I was still just stunned that she couldn't stop saying these wacky things. I looked around and saw the other moms give looks of...I'm not exactly sure. Pity? I've been there with ya? Or was it more - I've got to remember to ask the teacher to put my son WAY across the room from the wacky girl. ?? Not sure.

I AM sure that kindergarten will be a year to remember. Good or bad. Maggie will see to it that everyone is on their toes.

When I Was Your Age...

2008-09-04T23:19:00.000-07:00

It seems that most of us had a parent or grandparent at some point in our lives who would tell us about life in their day. I'm sure there were interesting stories that were told - my own grandpa used to tell great ones, although I'm positive his were all made up (you can't really pull the guts out of a recently killed horse and hide from the enemy in his body cavity, can you?) But I'm talking about the stories that were meant to make us feel bad for how we live today.

You know..."when I was your age, I had to walk uphill to school, both ways...through the snow," or "back in my day, we worked all day until dinner and woke up and did it all over again the next day!" Stuff like that. And as you listened to it, all you could think was, "well, fine then. I'm glad I don't have to do that." Tra la la. What a carefree life I live. Whee!

And so recently I heard myself explaining to my own children about "hardships" of my youth. Wha?! Did I have it hard? Apparently so. Here's the deal: My kids refuse to eat watermelon. Even the seedless kind. There are still little soft (and completely unnoticeable) white seeds in them which they demand be picked out by ME ahead of time (doesn't happen). I find myself saying, "you guys don't even KNOW from seeds. When I was little, we had big black hard seeds we had to spit out as we ate." Whatever, they weren't impressed.

And then we tossed a whole fish on the BBQ, which I had pathetically filleted. As I served it, I repeated the line I'd heard all of my life..."Now, there might be a bone or two in your salmon. Just pick it out of your mouth and it'll still taste good." My kids looked at me with horror on their faces. "You want us to put a BONE in our MOUTHS?? And then pick it OUT??! EWWWW!!!" Answer, "Um, when I was your age, we didn't have the chance to buy pre portioned fillets with no bones. We had the whole fish. Skin on. Maybe still had a bone in it. Tough it out."

I got major eye rolls. To be noted, my kids are little. The eye rolling is WAY too early. But perhaps it's just a genetic tendency to think the generations before us are most likely lying to us to get us to do something impossibly fowl. I mean...seriously? You had to get up off of the couch and walk all the way over to the t.v. just to change the channel? And you didn't even know what would be ON the other channels? AND there were only 13 channels? Stuff like that cannot be true.

What whimpy things will THEIR kids be doing one day to make my kids look like they had it hard?

Maybe I should keep the snow story in the mix, just for good material's sake.

Fun for Color Lovers

2008-04-22T22:44:00.000-07:00

I was surfing online tutorials today when I stumbled across a super fun site for all those who love color and pattern. In no time at all, I had spent WAY too much time messing around. Check out what I made here (you have to scroll down the page a bit), and then you can create your own fun as well. You can create a new color, a new color palette, and a new pattern using your color palette. It also has examples of color trends to view for those who are trying to stay on top of things. Check it out, but be prepared to stay awhile.

3 Column Blogs and a Blog Makeover Contest!

2008-04-21T13:07:00.000-07:00

Well, the Vacuum Queen's vacuum is...NOT WORKING! Oh brother. I don't quite know what's wrong, but I do know that I now have time to mess around doing more fun things than vacuuming. I've got a call in to the guy who installed my central vac for me, but until then...it's time to work on this site.

One big change is that I now have 3 columns! Yay! I can't take much credit for it. I simply cut and pasted some code and voila! 3 columns. Here's the site where you can find the code for yourself. The good news is that it works with many of Blogger's templates. The one downer is that it comes with a backlink to the maker's site. However, it's very small and he doesn't care if you remove it. If you peek at the very bottom of my page, you'll see how teeny it is. Not a problem. His site has so much information about blogging and what works or not. It's a good one.

Of course, I lost my vacuum poll widget and had to start a new one. So please vote again, eh?

Here's the next move. Check out this gal's site for a chance to get an entire blog makeover! I would like to win it myself (very badly), but I will spread the word simply because it looks like a fun contest. She creates super cute blog headers for a minimal amount of money. Please support her if you can.

Hopefully I'll be able to make a few more changes around here soon. Until then...keep vacuuming in my honor!

Free Downloadable Pinhole Camera

2008-04-18T08:51:00.000-07:00

I've been taking a digital photography course this quarter, and so I have found several supportive sites online to help give me advice on what I'm doing. One of the best resources for me has been Photojojo. Not only do they email back almost immediately (even at midnight) with help or ideas or suggestions, they also have a really entertaining site. If there was one new site I'd want everyone to check out, it'd be Photojojo. Sign up for the weekly email, too. This week's email included a link for these super hip pinhole cameras that you can download for free. Enjoy!

Scrap Happy - a Travel Tissue Holder

2008-04-07T13:47:00.000-07:00

Sew Mama Sew is having a contest right now for the best tutorial. The winner gets a $25 gift certificate to their store. I'm in. This may not be a life altering tutorial, but this project sure made my day happy. My mom gave me 2 tissue holders the other day and they were so cute I had to copy them. I came home, dismantled them, and was shocked to see just how EASY they are to make. And they give such good fabric satisfaction. You can take a peek at your favorite fabric every time you open your purse. Good for all addicts.

I like my tutorials to be all on one page, simply because when you're working on a project, you don't want to keep going back to your computer to scroll down. If you look at my others, you'll see I do it basically the same way every time. You can click to enlarge it, too. Enjoy! And be sure to enter the contest yourself.
Click Photo to Enlarge

Step 1: Gather your supplies: Fabric piece - 5 1/2 inches x 6 1/4 inches; lace or ric-rac - 5 1/2 inches; bias tape binding - 5 1/2 inches x 3/8 inch; coordinating thread.

Step 2: Open up one side of the bias tape and sew it to the wrong side of the fabric (on the 5 1/2 inch side) using a 1/4 inch seam. I like to iron it open in place. No need for pins.

Step 3: Flip the binding over to the right side of the fabric. Slip some lace under. You may want to pin it in place. Stitch it all together at the bottom of the tape, as shown in the photo in step 3.

Step 4: Complete both sides the same way.

Step 5: Fold in thirds, right sides together. You should slightly overlap the middle. Sew a stitch down the short sides of the tissue holder. Follow each stitch with a zig zag to enclose the ends. (That makes 2 trips through the sewing machine for each side)

Step 6: Flip it inside out and press. You're done! Oh wait, slip a pack of travel tissue inside. Now you're done.

Be Your Own Fabric Designer

2008-03-25T19:19:00.000-07:00

Here's the deal. I've made my son's room into (what I think is) a darling space and I just want MORE of it. I've got little bugs all over the walls with various vines and mushrooms and other buggy items, but I really really really am dying for some fabric to coordinate with it all. Sure, I could head down to my local quilt store and find a cute stripe or polka dot or something. But that's not what I want. I want MY designs on fabric.
Maybe I am living in a dream world where I see myself selling my designs to some funky manufacturer who will then print and sell my fabric and I can create all sorts of fun stuff with it and...well, that's not real practical. I'm just me. I spend too much time loading and unloading the dishwasher, driving kids to and fro, and of course...vacuuming. I'm not a professional artist. Meanwhile, I still want these bugs on fabric! So how should I proceed???

OK, a couple of ideas.

I could hit up First2Print. Have you seen them on Extreme Makeover, Home Edition? Super cool. They specialize in "short run fabric" with YOUR design on it. Yes, YOUR design!!! Imagine, I could made a roman shade in bugs, a comforter cover with bugs, stripes, and dots (I've actually been playing around with stripes of dots that look really neat-o), and some throw pillows in vines and mushrooms with more bugs laying about. And, I suppose a person could even sell the leftover fabric to the general public via EBAY or something like that.

AND...now there's SpoonFlower! Yay! Check out their site too. I think they're still in Beta format, but they should be open to all very soon. You can print a swatch or up to 5 yards of YOUR pattern. How cool is that? Furthermore, they have a nifty Flickr site with many designs that people have created. I believe that they are also going to offer the option to have your design be sold to the public if you want, much like several printing houses do online now.

So look at this room and tell me it couldn't use some fabric goin' on in there. But please don't notice the lived in look. It was not a photoshoot! Just an opportunity to snap a shot. And be sure to check out the "make your own fabric" options I've given here. You could be the next great fabric designer!

Bad Photos, Cute First Quilt

2008-02-24T12:25:00.000-08:00

In honor of Sew, Mama, Sew's quilting month, I thought I'd put up a photo of the first quilt I ever made. My mom taught me this paper applique method and I just loved it. I think I was 22 years old. Basically, you take the little cardstock papers out of any magazines you have laying around the house and cut them into uniform little hearts. Then, with many 5 inch squares of fabric, you've got the makings of several nights' entertainment on the couch in front of the tv. I can't stand watching tv without something in my hands and this project fit the bill perfectly.
I put together a little sort of tutorial on the subject down below. I think you can enlarge the photo to see them more clearly, however I think it's blurry. What's so clear about that?! Oh well, you'll get the idea.
I bound this crib sized quilt with pearl cotton in square knots. I also freehand stitched a heart in the blank squares. That was hard! Many have squared off corners. Ah, well, that's what I get for just going for it and not practicing. At least it's finished and I have put all 3 of my kids on the floor with it. They didn't seem to mind the imperfections.

For this "tutorial" I used heavy cotton which didn't form such a round shape. You'll notice that one side is squared off. I would only use quilting weight cotton if I did this for real. You can also manipulate the fabric to be the shape you want. I was in a hurry for some reason. I DO like the bright color combo in this example heart. Perhaps I'm ready for quilt number 2... Directions follow this photo:

1. Cut out heart from pesky magazine subscription papers
2. Pin heart to fabric and cut about 1/2 inch of extra.
3. Baste fabric to paper.
4. Pin basted heart to fabric square of different design.
5. Begin stitch underneath fabric, but stitch all else on top. I used 10 stitches per inch. Whip it. Tie off thread in back.
6. Admire how well you've done so far.
7. Cut knot on basting and remove thread.
8. Cut slit in back and pull out paper heart.
9. Ta-Dah!!! You've got one square ready for assembly in your quilt!

This really was a pleasing project which I think you would enjoy as well. Good luck!

A Spring Makeover

2008-02-18T23:23:00.000-08:00

Or should I say, "Sprig" Makeover since that's the name of this fabric?

Hooray for a new set of placemats for my kitchen table! This fabric is SO darling that I wanted to make it into something I could see everyday. If you browse the blog by Jessica Jones, you'll read about this line of fabric she created for J. Caroline Creations. Supposedly, she was "discovered" online and was asked to create this fabric line. Isn't that such a dream come true? I've got a line in my head that would be SO cute. Why can't something like that happen for me? (Well, there are a lot of reasons, but more on that later in another blog...)

Anyhow, I based this pattern on one that Amy Butler made. Hers were HUGE, and so I cut mine down a bit. I think I'll try a circle next time due to my round table. I also wanted to put a bit of contrasting fabric on each end, but I think I wish I had made it even wider on the sides. Oh well. The back is cute, too. I used a nice fat piece for the contrast piece. I think I like the backs better than the front. I suppose it doesn't make a difference since I can now call them "reversible." No way my son will want his to face the same way as my other kids anyhow. We'll have some nice mix and match at the table for the upcoming spring season. I'm very excited!

For my next project with this fabric...would you believe I'm going to run a couple of pieces through my laminating machine? I like to have a couple of cute "playdoh safe" versions on hand for the little ones in my house. Other than that, my limited sewing skills will only allow me to make a simple bag or something like that. This fabric is heavy - kindof a twill - and I think it'd be great as a bag. Or an apron, or ... hopefully something photo worthy.

Creative Note to Self

2008-02-17T23:45:00.000-08:00

Today's kids are so good at multi-tasking that it shouldn't have surprised me to see this little snowman in our backyard. A regular snowman no longer fits the bill. He must now also serve as a snowball storage compartment, natch. Brilliant, eh?

Note to self: "Must start thinking like a kid..."

Personalized Bags for the Kids

2008-02-03T23:19:00.000-08:00

My husband takes my oldest son up to the mountains to go skiing on Sundays, which leaves me at home with the other two kids, 5 and 2. We have a fun time together usually, but lately my 5 year old only has one game on her mind...Project Runway. Yes, she likes to pretend she is Heidi Klum while she hosts the show 20 times each day. I get a wee bit tired of it, even though it's really hilarious what she can come up with. It goes to show you how much a child can memorize from a tv show. She's never actually seen a whole episode, just bits and pieces from a few marathon days on Bravo. Well, I suppose that's an episode or two right there. Anyhow, she has all of the sayings down, "one of you will be IN and one of you will be OUT," and "whose designs did we like?" It's funny, for the first hour. After that I go a bit crazy wanting it to just end already! She even does the catwalk with a different outfit for each "model." She'll say, "Mom, next up is Christian's model, Lisa with a new skirt," and out she'll tromp in front of me while I have to pretend to be writing notes on an index card with a Sharpie.

I managed to play along for quite some time today, but as soon as I couldn't take it anymore, I suggested she play something else and she immediately conjured up a bowl full of goodies....literally. She took a red bowl from the kitchen and filled it with dice, small dolls, a few crayons, and a blankie. Then, she brought it out to the kitchen and announced, "Mom, watch. The wedding cake challenge is now over and the pair of Barbie and Michael Jr. (her imaginary triplet counterparts, both girls - and my husband's name is NOT Michael) will now move the cake to the judging table. And she proceeded to act like it was the heaviest cake ever as she lifted the bowl over to the island in the kitchen. When she set it down, she sighed with relief that her wedding cake was a success. For you TV watchers...this is from a show on Food Network called "Challenge." Another TV show. What am I creating?!

So...off we marched to the sewing machine for some good old fashioned mother-daughter creative time. Nevermind the fact that the 2 year old is majorly destructive during these moments. I decided to maker her a quick tote bag for carrying books back from the library. It's a very simple design, but it gives me such pleasure to make because it can be made in a nanosecond and with such great results! I let her pick out the fabric for the straps - she picked a nice hot pink with teeny flowers. So cute. We whipped it up quickly "together." She handed me the seam ripper when I forgot to fold the raw edge under, helped to snip the dangling threads, and ironed the fusing to the fabric for the straps. SEW much fun! (cheesey pun, sorry)

AN-EE-WAY...We then personalized her bag because last fall I found the GREATEST new item for easy silk screen designs. It's called "PhotoEZ." If you have ever wanted to print your own design, but were hesitant to make a silk screen from scratch...this is the product for you. I just wanted to put my kids' names on things, so I immediately printed up initials and names on the computer and quickly created stencils to use.

Here's how it works, you create a design on the computer, or with a very black marker, and you layer the design over the photosensitive paper and a set a piece of glass on top of it all. Out you go to the sun with it for 5 minutes, and voila! With a quick rinse in the sink, you've now got yourself a reusable screen (stencil) to use on fabric, paper, glass, and who knows what else? It's great! So far I've only done initials and names. I'd like to do some actual graphic designs, but here in the great Northwest...we're lacking sunshine. I'll have to wait until, oh -- say June to create some more. I believe it would work with the right kind of lightbulb, too, but I'm too lazy (or cheap) to buy one.

So a stenciled name in light pink was sufficient for today. It really is cute. You could go crazy with ideas. The paper is a bit expensive, but since they are reusable, it's not that bad. I think if I had it to do over again, I'd choose a darker shade of pink since this one barely shows up. However, I don't exactly need strangers at the library to spot her name from a mile away. The camera doesn't really pick it up...squint and you'll get the idea. Meanwhile, head over HERE to check out PhotoEZ. A super duper product that will leave you very happy with what you can create.

Paper Snowflakes - Good for January

2008-01-21T23:32:00.000-08:00

Click to enlarge

I love paper snowflakes, but I hate the mess from all of the little bits of paper that get cut out. So, when I found out how to make these beauties years ago, I was so happy. They are absolute stunners and SO SO easy! And they look like advanced paper cutting!

I first made these with my 5th grade students in 1995. The kids loved making them so much that whenever anyone had a spare moment, they cranked out a new one. In no time, we had over 100 snowflakes hanging from our ceiling. As long as you start with a square, you can make these.

I love these best in plain white. I use printer paper. Occasionally, I'll put glitter on the corners which makes my own children very happy. Glitter is always good. I've also spent a bit of money and bought colored foil paper which produced some neat results. But still, I think white is the best. It reminds me of the scene in the movie, ELF, when everyone returns to the store after it has been turned into a white snow wonderland. You could make quite a few of these in one afternoon and have yourself a snowy wonderland as well.

I hope you can read the tutorial I made. Click on the picture and it should enlarge for you. I think it's best to look at photos versus read about each step. In photo 2, I drew the lines where to cut only for the purpose of this tutorial. You won't need to draw lines at all. Just make your cuts. It's all good.

Enjoy! Hope these work for you. Let me know if you have questions.

Birthday Cupcakes: A Last Resort

2008-01-18T08:36:00.000-08:00

This year for my daughter's birthday, she declared the cake MUST be a mermaid cake. More specifically, an Ariel cake. Oh brother. I love to bake and I must say, I've made some good ones. But to somehow make an exact mermaid...oh, the task was daunting.

I looked online at various designs and they all seemed decent enough and so I set off to Target to find a mermaid doll that I could tuck down inside the cake. The rest of the tail would be decorated by frosting, as I saw in the example cakes online. I made a delicious 1-2-3-4-cake from the Joy of Cooking book - my "go to" cook book for basic recipes. I always bake birthday cakes in a jellyroll pan so that it turns out large enough to cut up into the shapes I need for the design. This one turned out well and I was ready to shape it, except that my gene that causes me to be practical set in and I asked myself, "why am I ramming this poor doll into the cake, only to draw on a fake tail that is right now tucked inside the cake?"

Sparing you the gory details, an hour later I still had not started decorating, but I had a cake that had been mauled quite a bit and a doll who needed a little bath of sorts. Off to saran wrap and freezer land the cake went. It will make a good bite with cocoa another day. It's almost like pound cake.

The happy ending to this story comes with this: cupcakes were now in order. Red velvet cupcakes to be precise. This was my birthday cake as a child every year. I love how it's so light and chocolatey. More like a chiffon cake since this is made with oil, not butter. So delicious folks. The frosting with red velvet is usually a cream cheese frosting, but I prefer this easy cooked frosting which is so light and incredibly fun to pipe on top with a ziploc bag and a big hole at the bottom. The one trick for the frosting is to cool the ingredients completely before you mix them together. Otherwise, it will curdle, as mine has done many times, and did this time. Ah, well I deserved it. I started these cupcake 2 hours before the party. They were the hit of the party and my daughter seemed to accept them as well, thanks to the mermaid toys on top of each one.

Please do try this recipe. It's wonderful and easy.

Red Velvet Cupcakes

Whish Together:

3 1/2 C. flour

3 T. cocoa powder

1 1/2 t. EACH baking soda, table salt, and instant espresso powder

Blend; Add:

2 C. sugar

3 eggs

2 C. vegetable oil

2 oz. red food color

1 1/2 t. vanilla extract

Mix In:

1 1/2 C. buttermilk

1 1/2 t. white vinegar

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Set aside dry, whisked ingredients in a bowl. Blend sugar and eggs on medium until ribbons form, about 5 minutes. While mixer runs, add oil in a slow stream until blended. Add color and vanilla and mix.

Add 1/2 the dry ingredients to the batter, mix on low. Add buttermilk and vinegar, then remaining dry ingredients just until incorporated.

Fill liners (or buttered and floured tins) TO THE TOP. Bake for 20 minutes and check with a toothpick for doneness. May take up to 25 minutes. I cooked my on "aerobake" (convection) at 340 for 17 minutes, so make oven adjustments as needed.

When completely cool, pipe on icing.

TO DIE FOR CLASSIC COOKED ICING

Whisk Together; Cook:

2 1/2 C. whole milk

3/4 C. flour

Cream; Add:

2 1/2 C. sugar

5 sticks unsalted butter (2 1/2 C, yes)
1 t. vanilla extract

Cook milk and flour over medium heat until thick and smooth, about 5 minutes, whisking often. Boil 1 minute to eliminate the starchy taste of flour, whisking constantly. Transfer to a shallow bowl (like a glass pie plate) and cover w/ plastic wrap, pressing it on the surface to prevent a skin from forming; chill until completely cold.

Cream sugar and butter on high for 5 minutes. Add vanilla and chilled milk mixture. Beat until consistency of whipped cream, about 5 minutes. Spoon frosting into a large ziploc and cut a 1/2 inch hole in the bottom corner. Pipe onto cooled cupcakes. Can sprinkle with cocoa or plastic mermaids as you wish.

Lookie What I Made!!!

2008-01-11T09:05:00.000-08:00

Last fall I started following a crafter's blog and it had a "project-a-day" type of format to follow. Well, I'm more of a "project-a-quarter" type of person, so I chose the one best project to take on: the crayon rollie! It's this really cute bundle of fabric with individual slots for a crayon. It's portable and fits in a child's hand when it's rolled up. Just darling, really.

My daughter is currently in a mermaid phase, so I chose seashore fabric with contrasting jumbo red ric-rac and coordinating thread. It was my favorite gift to give her for her 5th birthday. Since she spends many a weekend following along with the family to her older brother's sporting events, I figure it may come in handy with a pad of paper. We'll try it out for the first time this weekend.

Here's the link for the tutorial. It's very easy - a bit of effort to get the ric-rac placed correctly - and it doesn't use much fabric at all. The original pattern called for a ribbon which would be tied for closure. Since tying is so difficult and S-L-O-W, I replaced it with a red hair elastic. Perfect! Enjoy the photos.

A Small Addiction

2008-01-08T00:02:00.000-08:00

I'm addicted to glass Christmas balls. Actually, they come in non breakable plastic now, and I love those as well. It doesn't matter. I can't get enough of them, and now that it's (beyond) time to put all traces of Christmas upstairs in my attic, I'm so sad to say goodbye to my round friends.

It started a few years ago when my mom and I were shopping in Seattle at University Village (Go Huskies!). One of the shops where we usually only window shop had amazing wreaths hanging in the windows. They were made solely of colored glass balls. We were both instantly drawn to them. Mind you, these ball wreaths are now mass produced in every store, but at this time, they were new. And they were stunning.

So, we came home and started buying up balls and making wreaths. The crazy part was, one wreath took MANY balls. We had to keep going back to the store to get more. And then, you know how it is when you find a craft you think you love...you decide you need to make one for every person you know. That took many MORE trips to the store. We were calling each other on the phone, "Hey, they restocked the large multicolored balls at Target this morning." Ooh, another trip out. We started to get stocked up on different shaped "balls" as well. Throwing a Santa in there occasionally could be really add a sparkle. More trips out for a new kind of ball.

Before I knew it, I had made 3 wreaths, but had 5 LARGE plastic tubs full of balls. Yipes. And, it was time to put them in the attic for the season. They would speak to me all year. "Start the hot glue gun, we need to be hung."

And then the next Christmas, life interferred with my wreath building love. But that was o.k. I knew I'd get back to it. Except this year, I only made 1 wreath. I started too late and wasn't able to make any as gifts. But the balls are now sitting in tubs in my bedroom, still speaking to me. "Can you at least take me out in July later this year?" I may have to do that, because for now, my love for them has not died in the least, even though I can buy a finished wreath for not much money at all. Doesn't matter. I prefer the homemade kind.

Tomorrow the tubs go back into the attic. I think for now, I'll put a small glass ball in my type tray so that I can see it every day. That will make me very happy. I'm definitely an addict.

The Work is Never Done

2007-10-16T23:32:00.000-07:00

Seriously, though. My mom told me the other day that if she could've changed anything about her young motherhood years, it would be to stop doing chores and work on personal hobbies instead. Pretty shocking to hear, actually. I know she loves to sew and make quilts, but I also know that she works hard and never was one to just enjoy herself while there was work to be done.

But that's the point. She WANTED to enjoy herself, but there was always work to be done. Tidy up "in case somebody stops by." Well, I live in the last house at the end of a dead end street. Nobody just stops by.

Yes, there are chores that are mandatory, but I could really use some time to just let them WAIT while I tend to my own creativity. Or lack thereof. I know there's someone artistic in here somewhere.

I'm brilliant when I vacuum. I come up with all of these great ideas of cool things to do with my kids and how, if only I didn't have to vacuum, cook, or slave away, I could get them all done in one day. Not.

Ah well, I shall keep trying. Perhaps I should start with a to do list.
More later.

Can I Get the Flashy Shoes?

2006-11-15T23:03:00.000-08:00

You know how it is before you have kids. MY kids will never misbehave in a restaurant. MY kids will never act up in school. MY kids will never wear grungy sweats and boots. And the all important....MY kids will never wear those tacky flashy-light shoes. MMM-hmmm. It's important to plan ahead when thinking about those key moments in life. Right.

So I take my 3 year old daughter, Maggie, and 1 year old son, Charlie, to Target the other day to look at cameras and perhaps buy a pair of shoes for each. First we have to hit the food court pitstop. Apple juice box for her, yogurt smoothie for him. Oh, sure, Starbucks mocha for me. Still a mommy in control. These kids won't be spoiled. The baby needs more calcium anyway. Yep.

Off we go in the cart. Yes, MY kids don't wander aimlessly. MY kids sit in the cart. Yep. I'm a model mommy. Funny how you can forget about the food bribes almost instantly, when the time comes to pat yourself on the back for something else.

Next up - the shoe section. We see those awful red glitter shoes, which we have a pair of at home, even though I never was going to buy them, and she wants another pair. No no. I'm in control. Tasteful shoes and clothes are the ideal. Steer AWAY from the dress-up shoe section. But then we see them.....the FLASHY light-up type of shoes. And oh my gosh, they've got butterflies on them as well. "Mama!!!" she delights in screaming. "Can I get the flashy shoes?" I'm a mom in control. "Hun, how about these plain white shoes over here. They'll match most of your outfits...?" Good one, Mom. Pull the old "white dishes go with everything in your kitchen" routine. That'll transfer to kids tennis shoes. Sure.

"Can I just HOOOLLLLLDDDD them?" she bellows. Another mom scooting by giggles at us. She doesn't have kids with her. Sure, she doesn't understand what I'm up against. I should be strong. "Well, sure you can HOLD them, but we're not getting them. You need a nice pair of leather shoes. See these here, they say, 'man made uppers.' That's not a very strong material." Yep. A 3 year old can certainly understand the strong material rationale.

But in the end....I found myself helping her try on multiple sizes of the flashy shoes to get the right pair. And soon we were off to the camera aisle with the pink butterfly flashy shoes on her feet complete with the little elastic still attached.

Why had I given in so easily? Part of me reasoned that since they were cheapy pleather material I wouldn't mind if they got dirty outside. Yep, she NEEDED a pair of play shoes. But really. Come on now. How many years can they even buy the flashy shoes? My 8 year old isn't interested in them and I'm not even sure they still have them at that age. And quite frankly, I'd love it if he wasn't so grown up these days. So I guess in the end, I see the joy these goofy little shoes bring to my daughter and maybe I'm trying to help her be young longer. I don't know. She brought them home and wore them around the house for the rest of the night. She turned out all of the lights in the hallway and marched up and down, craning her neck to see the lights. She even slept in them. OK, she's a bit extravagant, but that's another story.

So...I'm not the mom I set out to be, but I think I'm a better mom. I can look past my need to buy only tasteful shoes and can give her a bit of childhood once in awhile. It really is all about seeing her smile and giggle. I'll have to go back and get another pair for her play shoes, too. I don't want these to get dirty or wrecked. They're her good shoes, after all.