Friday, December 28, 2007

I'm a Craigslist Groupie!!

Remember way back, when I was toting the greatness of craigslist? Well I am SOOO excited because my dear husband is on his way home with an almost brand new full-size captain's bed for Mr E! Yippee!!

I had settled on getting a captain's bed, he loves his cousin's captain's bed, especially the "cave" on the side of the bed without drawers. So I have been scouring the local craigslist for about 3 months now trying to find him a good used bedroom set. His sister has a full size bed, so I was wanting to get him the same, but all I could find were twin size. He has a toddler bed from Ikea, but he will be 4 in a month and he has been needing more storage. So yesterday I found this ad for a full size captain's bed complete with bookshelf headboard and the mattress plus a matching chest of drawers...and they only wanted $400. And...it's hardly been used as it was their guest bed.




So I was thrilled when it was still available. But darn it, if 2 people tried to go look at it before we could get over there and buy it (which was because of the plumber who isn't showing up til Monday morning due to a leak we're having). But...with my magical wishing fairy spells, I wished those people away and they didn't show up last night and now it's MINE!!!! So...now Em, Mr.E, and I have been dancing around the house celebrating the new "pirate bed" as Mr.E calls it.

And as soon as I get a minute, I have to tell you the story about Mindy the flying chihuahua dog.

Thursday, December 20, 2007

OOOOOOOklahoma, where the winds come sweeping down the plain....

Howdy from Oklahoma!! The kidlets are having such a good time with their Meme, we stayed an extra day. We went to the big $10,000 drawing in downtown McAlester, OK tonight. We didn't win, but Meme and I are sneaking out in a few minutes to check out the Choctaw casino. She has never been inside a casino, so we're going to go blow $20 and see if we can win something in the slot machines. Cross your fingers! Last time Rob and I went, and he walked out after 20 minutes with over $100 in winnings.

And there is a big antique store literally just at the end of the road from my MIL's house, so she and I went there after lunch while the kids played outside with the dog and my dear husband watched sports, and I found some great buys. I found a basket of vintage tatted doilies for $2.00/ea, I got 2 gorgeous ones for my end tables. And I some pristine vintage sewing patterns from the 50s to frame in my "new" little sewing room. And just for fun, I found Mr. E and old toy gun holster with a play toy gun, and the toy gun was made out of metal instead of crappy plastic.

Monday, December 17, 2007

Waldorf Fairy - coming soon

So my kids and I don't like the ugly angel tree topper at the top of the Xmas tree. It's not something I broadcast loudly since I live in the belt buckle of the bible belt, but I am an athiest and since leaving christianity behind years ago, I really want to rid myself of christian icons around my house like angels, but my husband I got that tree topper our first Xmas together. Still...it's ugly.

So my kids have been bugging me this weekend to make a new one, and I've just decided it's a perfect way to get my waldorf fairy tutorial completed and have a new tree topper at the same time. So...I'm posting this to remind myself when we get back from Oklahoma this week to create it. It will not be a complete doll since it will be a tree topper, but you can find the complete doll over in the freebies section. But it will teach you how to make fairy and elf ears for a waldorf doll and how to make an easy set of fairy wings, and how to make a cool tree topper all in the same tutorial.

Below are the best example pics I could find that I had. I think I'm going use posterboard covered in felt for the cone for the tree topper and then I'm going to use to make a body out of velour as well, similar to the pink fairy you see, and then it will have ears like the boy pixie. And I'm going to create the petal fairy skirt similar to the pink fairy to hide the connection between the body and posterboard cone.



We're taking the laptop so I'll hopefully have time to blog this week. But right now I have to finish my school work. I'm on the second to last section which is typing long surgeries which is kinda fun but scary when something starts going wrong. I just typed up a heart valve replacement and it took 3 tries to wean the guy off the heart bypass, yikes!

Sunday, December 16, 2007

All Warm and Fuzzy

So a couple years ago I crocheted my mom a scarf out of chenille yarn. This year I asked her what she wanted for Christmas and she requested a second scarf because she says she wears the one I got everywhere when it's cold and wants another one. So this time I picked up some yummy Sensations yarn from Joann, it's Dolcetto - which I just found out was discontinued (which also explains why it was in the clearance section for only $1.99/skein). It's mostly wool and is so soft and yummy.

I used this pattern - Vs and shells - very easy and very quick if you need a quick gift. I made this one about 2 days.

I finished it last night. And now I've been commissioned to make a shorter version for Mr. E, which I've already started on. He kept trying on gramma's scarf through various lengths (and unraveling a few stitches in the process...argh) and kept asking if was for him.

All That I Want - The Weepies

I just love that song from the JCPenney Christmas commerical, so I went looking for it. It's called All That I Want by the Weepies and you can get it from iTunes or Amazon. Feels so nice and relaxing and Christmas-y.



All that I want Lyrics

Out in the harbor
The ships come in, it’s Christmastime
The kids all holler carols ‘cross the water
Stars that shine

All that I want, all that I want

Above the rooftops
The full moon dips its golden spoon
I wait on clip-clops, deer might fly
Why not? I met you

All that I want, all that I want

And when the night is falling
Down the sky at midnight
Another year is stalling
Far away a good bye, good night

All that I want., all that I want, all that I want

So small a turning
The world grows older every day
An ache, a yearning
Soften when I hear you say

All that I want, all that I want

And when the cold wind’s blowing
Snow drifts through the pine trees
In houses lights are glowing
Likewise in your eyes that find me here

With all that I want.

Out in the harbor
The ships come in, it’s Christmastime
It’s Christmastime
It’s Christmastime.

Friday, December 14, 2007

Scrapbooking My Ideas and Inspiration

I've been wanting a file type of scrapbook album to create a little album of ideas and inspirations saved that I can keep in my purse for when ideas come to my head or I need to reference at a fabric store for little notes and supply lists, etc. I wanted them to be in a little crafty thing I could carry around with me. I was just about to buy the supplies to make one myself when I came across these albums a couple days ago. They are from 7Gypsies
They usually run around $7/ea, but I just ordered them for cheap on Joann.com . They were on sale for under $5/ea. Aren't they adorable? I have so many ideas to decorate them, I'm thinking a vintage/ephemera type of thing -- I can't wait! I also picked up the black Librarie gaffer tapes from 7gypsies too that will go great with my ephemera theme.

FYI - FREE SHIPPING CODE at Joann.com - DECFSERR72 - expires 12/17

Wednesday, December 12, 2007

Embroidered Treasures

And now a sewing book review. I picked up the most adorable embroidery book today at Half Price Books (have I told you am I addicted to that place? my husband has to usually drag me out, lol). And I can't wait to get started on the projects in it! It was only $9.95 there, but I did fint it online at www.bn.com for $19.95 for new and like $2.50 for used - wow!

It has all kinds of kids projects and includes the patterns for making all the projects from baby shoes to dolls. I got it mostly for the just so cute pirate puppets ;) . And it has great close up pictures of embroidery stitches for those of us who are visual learners (me!). I can do a tiny bit of embroidery stitches but this book really shows you how to do some neat stitches like a flower stitch along a pillowcase edge. My other fave is the vintage dolls. I love their little dresses and embroidered faces - so cute!

Ok I had my fun, now I'm really, really going back to work. I'm taking a little break for my whopping 75 reports. This doctor drives me nuts, he can be very longwinded. I'm gonna be here til morning if I don't get my rear in gear.

Sunday, December 09, 2007

Mini Mitten

Well I finally finished all the hats, so I'm onto the mittens and decided to create my own pattern, so here it is. I'm doing this from memory of creating the first one, so this is a tentative pattern, after I make the next one, I'll correct it in case I wrote something wrong, and I'll post a picture of one of mine.

Mini Mittens

Sport weight yarn
E size crochet hook

Ribbing:
Color #1:
Row #1 - ch 5, skip 1st ch, then sc in 4 chs, ch 1 and turn
Row #2-#14 - sk ch, then sc in back loop only 4 st, ch 1 and turn
Row #15 - sk ch, then sc in back loop only 4 st
- line up Row #1 and Row #15 and sl st together to form a ring.

Hat Body:
Color #2
Row #1 - Sc all the way around the top of the ring of ribbing, then sl st
Row #2 - dc and inc every other stitch to double the stitches, then sl st
Row #3 - Skip 7 stitches (for thumb hole), and dc directly across to next st, then dc for 3 st and inc at every 4th st, sl st
Row #4- Dc, inc every 4th st, sl st
Row #5-#6 - Dc, dec every 3rd sttich, then sl st the top closed.

Thumb
Row #4 - Dc, dec every 4th st, sl st
Row #5 - Dc, dec every 3rd st, sl st the top closed


I'm off to go shopping, first to the Hanna Andersson store at the mall for some undies for my child who will only wear HA undies. I created a monster when she was a toddler, lol. And then to my favorite place - Half Price Books - to stock up on some fiction for moi! But first we have to wait for the Dallas Cowboy game to finish before my dear football-addicted husband can leave the house, lol.

Saturday, December 08, 2007

How to make Boutique Cowboy Pants

I saw these ridiculously expensive in a children's boutique store and decided to go home and make my own. This is a cowhide print fabric, but it is not regular woven, it's a thicker woven, though I'm not sure the name. It's not twill, it's almost has a fake linen look to it. Anyway, I got it at Walmart awhile ago. I also found a clip art picture with an abstract longhorn black and white cow print to match and printed it off on ironing transfer paper and ironed it to a white t-shirt. It seems to be MIA currently so I am without a picture.

This fabric is also black and white and I went with black fringe, at JoAnn I've seen brown and white and you can find the matching fringe in brown as well.

My son loves to play like he's a cowboy. His gramma got him a little holster with some little cowboy revolvers and a cowboy hat, so he has "cowboy" pants to complete his outfit.


How to Make Boutique Cowboy Pants

Materials
- basic elastic waist pants pattern
- fringe - faux leather - 1 1/2 yds for toddler size


1. Use any regular pants pattern that has a basic side seam. This needs to be for woven fabrics as knits will stretch too much for the fringe. I prefer a basic elastic waist woven pant pattern - Kwik Sew has these. I used the basic elastic waist shorts pattern from Kwik Sew for Children.

2. Cut out pant pieces from pattern. Sew both front pieces together and both back pieces together at the curved waist/crotch area.

3. Take one pant piece and measure the entire pant leg side seam, then subtract 4.5 inches to account for the waistband and hem.

4. Mark a dot 2.5 inches down from top of waist on side seam and 2 inches up from very bottom of pant leg for both side seams on the front piece.

5. Make a sandwich with the pant pieces by laying front pattern piece with right side up, then line up fringe between dots and along side seam edge with fringe facing inward along the edge of the side seam, then lay back piece with right side facing down. Make sure to line all of these up at the side seam and pin along the seam.

6. Then sew up the pant leg side seam on both sides.

7. Flip right side out to make sure none of the fringe got caught in the seam.

8. Then finish waistband with 1.25-inch waistband and 3/4 to 1 inch elastic, and hem the pants with a 1-inch hem.

** For an older child, simply measure their side seam to determine how much yardage for the fringe trim.

Friday, December 07, 2007

Nursing Cover / Apron Tutorial

Here is the big tutorial! You would be surprised how many hits I get for a breastfeeding cover. Hopefully soon I will have modeling pics from my SIL and her baby. Also, I will turn it into a downloadable tutorial over the weekend, but here it is for now. I have a 2-layer version coming very soon.


Nursing Cover/Apron

Materials
1 yd of fabric A
¼ yd of fabric B
½ yd of Rigilene boning
2 D rings


Instructions
1. With fabric A cut:
1 piece 36 x 28 inches
1 strips 2 x 6 inches
1 strips 2 x 20 inches

2. With fabric B cut:
2 strips 2 ¼ x 28 inches - these are strips #1
2 strips 2 ¼ x 37 inches – these are strips #2

3. Press fabric B strips in ½ lengthwise.

4. Line up raw edges of folded strips #1 with raw edges of right side of fabric A large piece. For strips #2, fold in the extra ½ inch on each edge of the 37-inch strips before sewing so there are no raw edges. Then only sew one of strip #2 (this will be the bottom edge).

5. For the second strip #2, fold in and pin the ½ inch at the raw edges. Next, mark the center of the strip and measure out from the center 8 inches and mark these points. Then insert the boning and tack it at the two 8 inch lengths from the center. Then stretch out the strip (because it will want to curl with the boning), and sew right down the middle lengthwise to create a casing for the boning.

6. Now attach this strip #2 to the last raw edge of fabric A.

7. Press all seams toward the inside of the cover, and then topstitch on fabric A all the way around to hold the seams in place.

8. To create the straps – fold the straps lengthwise with right sides together, sew lengthwise and then sew one end closed. Turn straps right side out. If you have a tube turner, use it to flip the straps right side out. If you have a chopstick or a knitting needle, you can do this easily as well.

9. Line raw edge up with seam of the back cover. (It does not matter which side is the shorter one). Pin raw edge of each strip to back of cover at the edges of the boning. Tack at topstitching and at the edge of the cover on both straps.

10. Take short strap and insert it through both D rings, then fold over the edge and tack it.

11. Now insert the larger strap through one D ring and under the second D ring and pull back through the first one (like a belt).

...And you are done!

Wednesday, December 05, 2007

Who wants to Elf Yourself??

My mom "elfed" my children sent this to me and this is so funny. You can do it to your whole family too!

Here's a link to my adorable little things and at the end it gives you a link to make your own.

Merry Xmas!

Monday, December 03, 2007

...And yet another annoying book review

Well I guess you can see what I do when I'm sick? I curl up in a chair or in the bed with my favorite quilt in the whole world (this is a big thank you to my wonderful mother, the quilter. I begged her for it the minute we picked it up at the machine quilting place), a glass of pineapple juice, and a big thick book. I finished this one in 2 days, it was about 530 something pages. The Time Traveler's Wife. Oh my gosh was it good. I gave up sleep, food, and catching up on my Tivo'd shows for this one. I started it very late Friday night or early Saturday morning as I could not sleep being sick and then I have read it nearly nonstop since Saturday afternoon after my husband and I put up the trampoline for the kids (and oh my gosh what a fun adventure that was. I think prison inmates should be forced into trampoline installation without instructions, that might sway them from commiting crimes ever again). So I just finished it literally minutes ago. Anyway, the book is about Henry and Clare, a husband and wife. It's a love story. Henry travels through time (sorta like the show Journeyman -- which is really good and I suspect they stole the idea from this book, except the journeyman guy is never naked, I guess that wouldn't fly on regular tv, lol). He can't control it, and he can't control where he goes, but he mostly ends up meeting Clare as a child and teenager, different stages in her life, as well as meeting himself as a child throughout different ages in his life. It's such a wonderful love story told through both Henry and Clare, and you learn different sides of the events through both their eyes. It goes throughout their lives until the end and it is so sweet to see their neverending love. It truly is an addictive story. From the time I read the first page, I was totally hooked. I'm about to run over to bn.com and see what other book Audrey Niffenegger has written.

P.S. My super secret pattern is almost done. I wrote up the rough draft a couple days ago while I was pissed off at my husband and trying it ignore him, so I need to edit it a little before I put it up and make sure I didn't forget anything, but it's almost ready.

Thursday, November 29, 2007

I'm on my deathbed

Ok, well not really, but it sure feels like it. I have some horrid respiratory infection, and it is wearing me out. I'm so tired, and I feel like I'm drowning. So I went to the doctor yesterday and hopefully within the next 24 hours my antibiotics will kick in gear and wipe this thing out. And then I can get back into the tutorial making again. So until then I'm going to disappear for a few days.

Wednesday, November 28, 2007

The Thirteenth Tale

Do you love a good gothic mystery? This is The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield. And oh my god it's good!! I had read Jane Eyre and Wuthering Heights in high school, but it wasn't until now that I have realized how much I love a gothic mystery. I could not put this book down and when I had to, it kept calling me back. I was a little skeptical I would enjoy it, but the synopsis and reviews made it sound very enticing, and truly I could not leave this book alone. It took about 5 days for me to finish it and that was only because I had force myself to quit reading it. It was so easy to fall completely into the story and forget the world around, I love it when I can get into a book that quickly. This book is definitely written for the book lover, and if you love Jane Eyre, this is right up your alley. It's about ghosts and secrets. This is the kind of book you want to snuggle up with a big quilt and a hot cup of cocoa on a rainy day and just read and read.

Tuesday, November 27, 2007

Mini Hat Crochet Pattern

As I said before, I crochet faster than knitting, so I decided to crochet my advent calendar. This is the hat pattern I created for my mini hats for the hat and mitten advent calendar. Also, I have created my own version of crochet ribbing. I had posted a link earlier to a tutorial on crochet ribbing, but I just wanted to point out my ribbing is a little different. I love crochet ribbing, a couple years ago I had no idea you could rib with crochet stitches, I thought that was a knitting thing only, and I was so excited to crochet wool Longies for my son when he was in cloth diapers and discover a technique for ribbing at the waist and legs.

I haven't written very many crochet patterns, so I put abbreviations further down in after the pattern. If something doesn't make sense, let me know.


The pen in the picture is to show size of the hat.

Mini Hats:

Sport weight yarn
B-E size crochet hook

Hat Ribbing:
Color #1:
Row #1 - ch 5, skip 1st ch, then sc in 4 chs, ch 1 and turn
Row #2-#14 - sk ch, then sc in back loop only 4 st, ch 1 and turn
Row #15 - sk ch, then sc in back loop only 4 st
- line up Row #1 and Row #15 and sl st together to form a ring.

Hat Body:
Color #2
Row #1 - Take hat band and sc all the way around, then sl st
Row #2 - dc and inc every stitch to double the stitches, then sl st
Ro2 #3-#5 - dc, every 3rd st dec, sl st

Pom pom - here is a great tutorial on making a pom pom using your fingers. This is the way I make them, but she says wrap the yarn 75 times; however, for these little ones, I only wrap the yarn about 40-50 times.

Sew pompom on with needle and thread.

ABBREVIATIONS:
ch - chain
sc - single crochet
sk - skip
sl st - slip stitch
dc - double crochet
st - stich
inc - increase
dec - decrease

I will be turning this into one of my downloadable tutorials in a few days.

P.S. This is NOT my big surprise tutorial. And to give you a hint on that one - it will be sewing something for baby. Now I'm off to go write that one up.

Monday, November 26, 2007

I feel like a 5 yr old...

who's been told a secret and then told she can't tell anyone. So I'm bursting with excitement! I have the coolest tutorial coming! I made "the thing" last night so I'm writing up the tutorial today between crocheting my little advent calendar -- which by the way, I'm working on the hats right now and I decided to create my own pattern for the mini hats. I scratched it down quickly as I was crocheting the first one, so after I finish working tonight I will come back here and write out the pattern correctly. It uses crochet ribbing for the band of the hat. If you don't know how to do crochet ribbing - click here - for a tutorial.

I have blog stats that I view ever so often just to see what people are looking for when they happen upon my little blog, and I noticed a particular set of key words (and if I tell you now what those words are, you'd know what the THING is, so I can't yet) and those key words come up a lot, which surprised me as I'd never looked for them before. So I investigated and decided to create a tutorial for this particular "thing". I think it's going to be a big hit as my SIL was jumping for joy when she went with me to JoAnn's last night when I picked up the supplies.

I think pigs are flying or hell just froze over because she actually wanted to go somewhere with me. Can you believe it? She usually hates me. But she has mellowed or something. My brother and SIL, who usually exclude us from everything actually asked my mom to have a "big family party". So yesterday my mom had a big "after thanksgiving" party...technically it is for my dad's b-day but they don't want presents, so they call it After Thanksgiving Fiesta with mexican food. And lots of friends and family came and I was a nervous wreck because let's face it, I hate large groups of people. Yep, two things scare the hell out of me, parties and garage sales (seriously I panic and run when people drive up to the garage sale, weird I know, but thank goodness for my husband the official garage sale seller).

Thursday, November 22, 2007

Who's up for Sushi...or maybe cupcakes?

So in looking for those mini hats and mittens I happened upon some stuff I had to share. First it was crochet cupcakes and sushi which led me somehow into Rice Krispie treats with fruit rollups that were made into sushi, so I thought I'd share all this fun stuff. And you have to check out this cool Etsy shop - Needle Noodles - they have the coolest crochet patterns.


Sushi and Cupcake Crochet - These are so cute, I just had to share.
cupcakes
Sushi and cupcake ornaments

Needle Noodles - cute Esty shop that sells patterns for all kinds of crochet food and stuff - veggies, sushi, fighters, jellyfish, etc.


Sushi Rice Krispie Treats
Recipe #1
Recipe #2
Recipe #3

Wednesday, November 21, 2007

Patterns for the Advent Calendar

Since I crochet a lot faster than I knit, I'm doing the Garnet Hill hat and mitten advent calendar with crochet and thought I'd share the patterns I found to make it:


Mini Mittens


Mini Santa Hat

The cutest advent calendar EVER



I just love advent calendars. I loved them as a kid and I love putting little surprises in the pockets for my kids. But when I got the new Garnet Hill catalog the other day, I found the cutest one EVER. Isn't it adorable? Those little hats and mittens are just so cute. I love, love, love, love it! ...except for the price. My husband would kill me if I paid $68 for one. So, I'm going to make it, hopefully by Dec 1st.

Sunday, November 18, 2007

And even more fun uses for a curtain rod



So...I happened upon this picture of another scrapbooking use for a curtain rod. Sheesh, I wish this house would sell so I could have a crafting room again. But isn't that cute too? I just had to share! Love it!

FYI...I'm working on a couple of new tutorials, hope to have it up this week as I actually have nothing to do for school work. I've passed my 2nd module and am waiting for the final to be graded and the books to be mailed to me for the next module, so I actually have FREE time and don't have to feel guilty for it, lol.

Antique shopping


Do you love to shop for antiques? I do. But it's kinda hard with a 3 yr old bulldozer, lol. Anyway, if you live in the Dallas area, I suggest you go over to this place. You can spend a couple of hours shopping. Alston's Old Home Place They are in downtown Garland (which has a couple of other cute antique stores as well). I recently discovered it while looking for a shabby chic style desk for Ms Em's room. Ok, ok, well I admit I found this place because of my obsession with craiglist, lol. I need a 12 step program for craigslist, but I'm stilling trying to find Mr E a bedroom set that doesn't cost arm and a leg. I had found it but darn it if someone else got to it before me, lol.

Anyway, there's an adorable little article on Alton's website about the lady that owns it, the guy Richard is her son, I think, and he's very nice. He's the one always there when we come by. It's only open Thurs-Sat. Tons of stuf to look at. And if you need a headboard for a bed, that's your place to go.

But if you see something there you like, make sure you get it and don't wait. There were these two gorgeous cabinets that looked like they had been card catalogs from a library. I don't know, could been apothecary cabinets or something. They were only $10/piece with all those cute little drawers. Well we didn't buy them last weekend because we didn't think there would be room in the car for a desk and those, so we decided to go back this past Friday to get them, and they had sold the day before. I could have cried. But oh well...live and learn.

Other uses for curtain rods and ideas for Xmas gifts



Is this not totally cute? I love it! And I'm stealing it, lol! I have a big wall in my living room that just has been screaming at me it "needs" something, and this is it. So Tuesday when I am sans chidlren, I'm going to find the perfect curtain rods for my living and Ms Em's bedroom -- as this will so cool above her bed.

And if you are interested in doing it, you can read up about it here: Curtain Rod Scrapbooking Thing
She used drapery clips to atttach the pages and she keeps the scrapbook pages in pagebook protectors.

Oh and BTW if you know where to get vintage reproduction ads that are printable as well as old antique bathroom/beauty product boxes, can you post on my comments? I'm decorating my dressing room. It came with this hideous pink striped wallpaper and I decided to work with it instead of ripping it down and create more work, lol. So I'm doing a vintage thing in it. Have you ever seen the bathrooms from Buca di Beppo's? Great family style italian place, but I love their bathrooms (ok...well I don't really want naked women pics in my dressing room, but I love the vintage stuff they have in it.)



I picked this magazine up last night. It's from Better Homes and Garden's, Quilts and More - it's a quarterly magazine I think. Anyway, it has the cutests mommy and me apron made from tea towels, so easy to make for Xmas gifts. And as I am a major bag addict, it has a cute bag, checkbook cover, and wallet to make. Oh and so much more, a skirt, adorable quilts (I'm going to make the one called On the Fly, and stockings, and I could go on and on...) So go get it! I picked mine up at Wallyworld.

Wednesday, November 07, 2007

I heart craigslist

So I wrote earlier about my current obsession with Craigslist. I'm crazy, I actually check the furniture posts several times a day (looking for the perfect furniture for Mr. E). But I got that beautiful bedroom set in white for Ms Em, it's perfect and very shabby chic -- for only $140. Headboard, dresser, giant mirror, and nightstand. I'm so excited! Dh is going to do a couple of touch ups to the dresser and I hope to have it all in her room by the weekend and can share a picture. I didn't think we were going to get it as the lady said someone else was coming to look at it the day before, but they never showed up.

But I've been thinking someone needs to create a blog for "what the hell was that person thinking" for pictures gleaned off of craigslist. Some of it is just scary.

And to make this sewing related, I'm working on a new tutorial for a circle skirt. They are so easy to make! I hope to have it up next week unless some unforeseen thing happens, which usually does, lol.

Sunday, November 04, 2007

The Tunnel House


Okay this is just neat. And it's in Houston, so I could actually visit this.

I've been looking at ways to spruce up the house, so that's how I came across the tunnel house website.

I'm having a giganto garage sale next weekend, trying to declutter before we try doing FSBO with our house. I'm hoping that being able to cut out the realtor and lower the price a whole lotta, might sell it. It feels a little better when people come look and say our house is #1 on their list...if they can sell theirs. Ugh....so at least I hope that it's not some hideous beast, lol.

You know you see those "sell my house" shows on TV and the buyers are always looking at the furniture (which I'm thinking why? it's not going to be there when you move in, duh?!) so I've been trying to frugally find new furniture lately for different areas of the house to make it look like model house perfect (if you can do that with 3 bulldozers), especially Ms Em's room.

She's moving into the "tween" age and disney princesses just aren't her thing anymore, lol. Is that not weird??? I was playing with cabbage patch kids and barbies and dollhouses until I was at least 12 or 13. I still love dollhouses. My dad made mine and it was red and had wallpaper and carpets and I picked out miniature stuff for it all the time. So I clened out her room for the garage sale and changed her curtains and new bedding and moved out an ugly pink armoire that basically held junk and her room looks HUGE now. Now if we could just get furniture that all matches in there, lol.

But I digress...so I'm currently obsessed with Craigslist. Oh my gosh, you can find just about anything on there (seriously, you can find free fabric on there too!) Last week I got a cute french provencial style dresser and nightstand for $65 total! It's very shabby chic. It was going to be Em's, but I'm currently trying to get Ms Em the perfect bedroom set for $150. I'm crossing my fingers! It's girlie and white and real wood and it has a headboard, dresser, mirror, and nightstand. And I'm also trying to find Mr E a new bedroom set, he's still got the toddler stuff, which is okay since he's only 3, but I want to get him a "big boy" set soon. He's begging for a bunk bed...which ain't gonna happen...because it will mean a broken arm in the first week, I just know it.

Anyway, the other cool website I found while looking for ways to turn furniture into other things was this one - www.robomargo.com - she has lots of neat ideas, especially if you're into that shabby chic look.

Monday, October 22, 2007

Are you right brain or left brain??

This is a cool site my mother showed me (who now reads my blog...hi mom! and I'm not allowed to cuss on here anymore so she can show her friends my lovely blog [insert giggle fit here]). I am apparently one of the weirdies who can only see the image turning clockwise which means I'm a rightie, which makes sense. I did some reading up on right brainers and it really fits me - artistic, messy, etc., etc., lol.

Are you a rightie or a leftie brainer??

And...I finished the poodle skirt and didn't take pictures. I'm saving that for halloweenie night, plus last night was the big halloween party sleepover and guess what I was doing at 12:30 at night? Picking up my poor little girl who was scared out of her wits. They watched a scary movie (a kids' scary movie) but it was just too much for my little thing. I felt so bad, she called me crying in the bathroom to come get her. We gave her my husband's cellphone. This was her 2nd sleepover party. She made it through the first one but that was probably because it was in a hotel with 4 hours of swimming.

Today, Ms Em and I went to the Lion King musical while my mom and dad babysat Mr E so my husband could have a day to himself. Ms Em claimed it was boring "because she had already seen the movie." Uh, wha??? I thought it was great! The guys who played Mufasa and Scar had wonderful voices. Then, we hung out at my mom's til she kicked us out at 10:30 tonight and she has the coolest catalog called Casual Living. I have to get these things, they are hilarious:

I'm such an Elphaba fan, I think I'm going to have to make a tote bag with this on it.


And I am dying to hang this on the front of my house by the front flower bed.

Friday, October 19, 2007

Hey dude, um, cut your damn grass

So raise your hand if you think foot tall grass is great curb appeal when selling your house? Anybody? Oh wait, hey, I think I see my next door neighbor in the back raising his hand. Yoohoo! Mr Neighbor! Let me let you in on a little secret....when people come look or drive by your house when it's for sale, they don't want to even look at it much less buy it when the grass is over a foot freakin' tall. And they sure as hell don't want to buy my house when the next door neighbor's yard is a FOOT FREAKIN TALL!! He's moved out...so I have seriously considered calling his realtor so he can let him know to mow his damn grass. Do you think that would be tacky?

And then we have the "new" neighbors across the street. We live in a fairly nice neighborhood and these people play some kind of weird musical cars with friends or relatives or they are car thieves or possibly a family of prostitutes, as I can't quite figure out why different people spend the night there on various days and at any given time 3 or 4 different cars are there. And these same people have parties that literally do not start until 10 pm at night, who does that after their early 20s? Now they decided to park their "clunker" with the expired tags and expired inspection directly across from my driveway. Isn't that lovely? Of all the spots to park it, blocking my driveway was apparently the choice pick. It's been there for 3 months now. I've called the city on them, but apparently the city could give a rat's patootie. Can the police do something about it since it has expired tags? I have no idea. My infamous "go to hell and take your damn car with you" stare apparently has not conveyed the message to move it yet.

I got pics of the mum I made Ms. Em, and tonight I'm pulling an all nighter after I finish working to make my nemesis -- the deadly poodle skirt and its partner the pink petticoat. Wish me luck in keeping all my fingers, I'm going to attempt the cutting with my Gingher scissors. I'll have pics up tomorrow.

Fabric Shopping!!

I just had to share. I happened upon reprodepot fabrics to look at something and I just couldn't pass these up. I usually never order from them because it can get expensive, but aren't these adorable??




I got these two prints for a skirt for Ms Em. It's going to be a full skirt with a flat front waistband and elastic back. I'm picturing it in my head now, so cute! The pink is going to be the waistband.



And I just can never pass robot fabric up. And this was robot knit, so Mr E is getting a t-shirt out of this.



And last but not least, I am a diehard sock monkey lover. I made him pants out of the lime green print last year, so this one was on sale for only $5/yd at reprodepot and I picked it up tonight. It's a brushed poplin. And it's so hard to find elastic waist pants at his size right now, he's getting to big for 4Ts, but regular 4/5s are way too long and I can't find many with elastic for school and he still needs to be able to rip 'em off quick for the potty.

So reprodepot has some great sale prices right now on some things. So you fabricaholics out there might want to do some shopping. I am ever the enabler :)

Tuesday, October 16, 2007

Poodle Skirts can be Dangerous!

So we went to my mom and dad's on Sunday to hang out, eat lunch, watch the football game (stinkin' Cowboys), and I was going to sew a fast and easy poodle skirt for Ms Em's 50's girl look. Well....the poodle skirt tried to kill me. Really.

She picked the Shocking pink felt for her skirt. My mom has this wonderful granite island in her kitchen (she upgraded it specifically for sewing when she bought the house, lol). I had the fabric laid out correctly on the granite to cut a continously circle skirt with no seam. I marked off the waist measurement to cut and went to find my mom's rotary cutter. [Insert Psycho music here] I picked the 60-mm rotary cutter as I thought it would go faster and easier with the the thick felt. So 1 second later I start to cut and then whoosh, the rotary cutter glides over the fabric and slices deep into my first finger. I grab my hand and blood starts shooting across the room, running quickly down my hand, getting all over the cabinets, all over the fabric. I ran to the sink and saw that it wasn't just washing off but getting worse, so I grab the first towel I see and apply pressure and refuse to let anyone look at it as I know I'm going to bleed to death right there while my husband watches the damn football game. So my husband and dad decide to keep the kids and not leave the football game, while my mom takes me down the ER. I'm freaking out in tears because I figure I hit something pretty big when the blood is shooting out across the room, and figure I will die bleeding out in the car on the way.

But I survive, we are in and out of the ER in 1 hour. 3 stitches and a bunch of gauze. I think the worst part is the tetantus shot I got, my arm is KILLING ME, I can barely move it, but apparently that's normal on the second day.

So that is how a poodle skirt can kill you. And now I'm scared of rotary cutters and all sharp objects too, lol.

The best part is the Joann fabric store literally a block away from the hospital, so my mom and I popped in so I could buy new fabric that wasn't bloody, after we left the ER.

I'm debating on taking a picture of my sewing wound. I'm still kinda scared to look at it. Can you believe I wanted to be a doctor?

Wednesday, October 10, 2007

HALLOWEENIE CONTEST!

For your chance to win a free TipToe Fairy Pattern - post in the comments your favorite halloween costume you've sewn.

It will be your choice of pattern. Contest will end Friday, October 12 at 7 PM CST. One of my little helpers will draw a name on Friday night.

I've sewn almost all of my children's costumes, there might have been maybe once or twice Em wore her costumes straight from the princesses of Disneyland. My favorite was rather simple, but I literally came up with it as I pulled out the fabric, used no pattern and it came out just I envisioned it. Mr. E's first costume was when he was 10 months old, and he was a spider. I tried to come up with something easier he would wear in the stroller since he wasn't quite walking yet that was comfortable too. So I had this super soft black cotton interlock and made a long sleeve hoodie and then I made 4 fake "arms," 2 underneath each of his sleeves. I stuffed each arm with polyfil and then just sewed 2 on each side of the shirt as I was sewing the sides up of the shirt. Then I made him matching knit pants. I had picked up one of those spider baby hats from Old Navy just for fun and that just added the perfect touch. It came out soooo cute, he got lots of compliments. There are pics on our other computer I will upload after I finish working (as you can see I'm working hard right now, aren't I? Oh the fun of working at night when the supervisor works days...ha ha ha...ssshhhh!).

My most memorable costume as a kid was when my mom had sewng a Wicked Witch (or Elphaba as I like to call her) costume for me. I remember it was a black dress with a black apron and then the hat. I wore that green face paint and it was SOOOO itchy, I clawed most of it off before the treak or treating had ended.

Tiptoefairy.com Website and Pumpkin Spiders

Earlier I forgot to mention this. With my website, tiptoefairy.com, I'm going to be changing my site host in the next week. I just wanted to let y'all know because when I do, it will take about 2 days for the name servers to switch and my site will not be accessible during that time which means neither will any of the tutorials or the sewing patterns. I'll announce here on my blog when it's going down. The blog will still be here, but the site where I keep all the goodies will be down for just a short while.

Also, since it's getting closer to Halloween, I've lowered the price on my Pumpkin Spider Overall applique patterns.

It's Halloween time!!!

I know, I know, I've been missing with my fun-filled posts too. I had a lot on my plate so I decided to say the hell with the internet for a little while. But I actually got caught up on stuff. I'm caught up on my school work and have created a plan to do most of it on the weekends, so now I'm totally whizzing through it. It's great - heck, I might be done and graduated by the end of the year!! So I'm making a big effort to post more from now on. So much has happened in the last couple weeks, I have to share, but I'll do it through several posts.

So....it's Halloween....my favorite time of the year. I wish it was like a week long holiday or more than just once a year. I would take Halloween over Xmas any day, lol. I love to make costumes and decorate the front yard. And don't you just love the Nightmare before Christmas?? And who doesn't love trick or treating. Thank goodness I have kids, lol. So Em is going with 50s girl with a poodle skirt, and I have found this great link to make one, Poodle Skirt How To. And just and FYI to anybody else, Joann's is having a sale on 72 inch felt for only $2.99/yd. I'm going this week to find some bubblegum pink.

I need to make a crinoline to go under it this weekend, and I'm going to try to remember to do it with the camera and put up a tutorial for it. You can never find a petticoat tutorial when you need one, or so I discovered awhile back when I needed one for a particular outfit for Em. And they are fairly easy to make.

And on a completely unrelated note....how 'bout them Cowboys?? I can't believe we are 5-0!!! We are Dallas Cowboy fans in this house. In fact my husband hated them until he married me, lol. My dad is a Cowboy's freak and my husband and dad love nothing more than falling asleep in recliners at my parents' house watching the Cowboy game on Sundays. Seriously, outside of the office, he ONLY wears Dallas Cowboy t-shirts. I'm not kidding. He's a freak. I am probably the one who keeps him in the shirts as I give him 2 of them every birthday and Xmas. But he's been a loyal fan since the beginning. I grew up with life revolving around football season and during football season, life revolved around what time the Cowboys played on Sundays, lol. He and his dad had season tickets back when they played at the Cotton Bowl many, many years ago. And....my son's middle name is Landry for my father's love of Tom Landry and the Dallas Cowboy's, lol. Heck, when we finally have baby #3 and if it's a boy, it might end up with the name Emmitt. We have an "E" thing going with our kids names, they all start with E, so #3 will have an E name too, lol.

Wednesday, September 26, 2007

Breastfeeding Mommies versus Facebook


So have you heard about this? I've been reading up on it as I am a militant breastfeeding mommy. I've been nursing for over 6 years, my youngest is still nursing as we believe in child led weaning.

Click on the button above and it will take you to all the information. So there is going to be an online "nurse in" to protest Facebook and their deletion of breastfeeding pictures. Apparently they are equating breastfeeding with porn, but are okay allowing anorexia sites and pedophiles there. That's making a statement.

Update on my car wreck....so the insurance company that starts with a P called again today. They claim the car suddenly now pulling to the right and the tires all suddenly going from 35 psi to about 25-26 psi after being rearended couldn't possibly be because of the wreck so they don't want to fix that part. Apparently they think it's because we need new tires, even though we just replaced all 4 tires with BRAND NEW ONES about 4 weeks ago. Now this guy hit me so hard, my sunglasses flew off my head, yet couldn't have possibly caused this damage? Hmm....how is it the world is made up of idiots who want to get out of doing what's the right thing to do?

Tuesday, September 25, 2007

really bad week....really bad

So I've been in a bad mood the last week or so. It's why I've been avoiding this place. But I thought what the heck, let's have a bitchfest. Today was just icing on the cake, as it's my birthday and who gives a flying f*ck? Uh that would be NO ONE. So my mother is the only person who remembers my birthday...good thing, since it was a fun-filled day for her way back in 1976.

It's 10 pm and I'm still waiting for the "Surprise, here's your present!" from the big a-hole watching TV in the next room. I just don't think it's going to happen.

So moving onto the next topic....We are trying to refinance for a much lower rate (long story again because of the a-hole in the next room...). And earlier today we hear from apparently the laziest appraiser they could find. You see our house was for sale a few months ago and because of that, he just doesn't think he can appraise my house for more than what we had it selling for. Now, we live in a po dunk place where there are about 5 houses on my particular street for sale and....they are buidling about 10 new housing developments right next to our neighborhood, so we had to keep lowering in hopes someone would buy, but alas I'm still stuck here in hell. What the hell does what I can sell my house for have to do with a refinance appraisal? Like who doesn't inflate those anyway for refinances? Idiot.

Oh and the refinance is great. We specifically asked the "loan specialist" if a closing in November would be okay. He says fine and wants to know if we want to lock in our rate. It's $400 to do this, but it locks in the rate and that $400 is just lopped off the closing costs. So...sure, why not you say? We paid $400. I get the paper work to sign today and the locked in rate is only good through October 22. Um hello? We just had this conversation about NOVEMBER closing? Ring a bell? Now he's claiming he doesn't recall that conversation. Hmmm.....and now suddenly he's not returning our calls or answering his phone. Can you see the smoke coming out of my ears yet? Why in the hell would I want to lock in a rate for 30 days to end in October and set the closing for November? Why the hell didn't I just go to the ATM and pull $400 bucks out and just throw it in a trash can? Geez, I don't either.

Then last week I was rear ended by a teenager on the way to taking my kids to school. He hit us so hard, the tire pressure went down 10 psi. I felt bad for the kid, he apparently just got his license and a brand new insurance policy. So after getting the run around from his insurance company (big company...starts with a P(, they kept changing my appointment time to take the car to get it fixed. Literally, less than an hour after I talk to one person, another one calls and changes the appointment THEY set up. Hello??

So...finally today a week later, we get to have our car repaired and they conveniently forgot to order the rental car, so it was delivered to my husband's work. How lovely for him to get a nice little Ford Mustang on MY BIRTHDAY.

Then I had the fun filled adventure of taking my 3 yr old all around town, apparently someone slipped him some crazy pills or something because he literally was bouncing off walls. Everywhere we went, he acted as if I had just let him out of a cage for the first time to see the world. I'm sure people think I have no parenting skills.

Well I guess that's the gist of this fun filled week. So that concludes bitchfest '07. Let's do this again in 2008, it will be so much fun.

Saturday, September 15, 2007

Pumpkin Spiders are HERE!!

Sorry for the delay, but I had to go on a scavenger hunt through 8 Target stores looking for a navy blue knit skort for Ms. Em. She has joined the newly formed pep squad at school (kinda of a cheerleaders/drill team all in one, as they cheer and perform dances), and this was to be part of their uniform. Let me tell ya, 8 Targets, the last one was going to be the last one whether they had it or not and she was just going skortless, lol, but magically, they had 1 in her size.

PUMPKIN SPIDERS ARE HERE!!Okay, okay, but on with the Pumpkin Spiders! The pattern is now available for instant download. I think I said this earlier, but I can't remember -- it is recommended for advanced beginners and up. And it's great for boys or girls. In fact, I've actually made 1 pair for a client that was made to be shared between a boy and girl set of twins, and the client asked me to make detachable ruffles. So I did! It was very cool!

There will be more applique patterns coming soon. I haven't quite decided if I'm going to offer another Halloween style. A Christmas design will be up by the end of the month.

For a discount, look through the blog here and find a post with a little Chick, if you roll your mouse over it (don't click it) and the secret code will pop up at you.

Pumpkin Spiders are coming this weekend!!



The first pattern in our series of applique designs to create boutique embellished overalls is coming out today!! Yay!! Now you can make your very own pumpkin spider embellished overalls for Halloween!! This is recommended for an advanced beginner or slightly intermediate seamstress because of the curves to the appliques. Curves are the hardest thing to applique.

I'm in the middle of turning it into a downloadable and uploading it to the shopping cart today. It will be available late this afternoon. And you can use the hidden chickie discount on the pattern too!

Friday, September 14, 2007

An open letter to the email spammers of the world

Dear Sirs,

No I do not want your Viagra, Cialis, or the new and improved Manster Penis Enlargement Pills or even Megadik (and what a classy name that is, I'm sure soon it will become as commonplace as kleenex or bandaid).

No I am not interested in enlarging my "girth" or "length" nor do I care if you have "1000s of happy customers". And while I know most people just get a thrill of excitement when they open up their email to find a picture of a giant 2 foot long penis with a tape measurse next to it while their children are in the room, I feel that we could limit this experience to once a week or even once a month or better yet, how about never?

I don't want to burst your bubble or anything, but on a purely healthcare point of view let me explain something, you cannot take "magic" pills and grow a bigger penis. It's not going to happen, you can wish all you want, but you just can't.

But aside from all this, I think I need to tell you something...I'm a girl! I know, totally shocking coming from the name "tiptoefairy". It's easily confusable for being a guy's name. But unfortunately I don't have a penis, I don't want a penis, and I will probably NOT be growing a penis anytime soon, so you are wasting valuable sales time with me when you could be spamming millions of people who do have penises all over the world. So if you could just leave me alone that would be great.

Thanks so much! Bye Bye! See ya later!!

Monday, September 10, 2007

Waldorf Doll Sew-A-Long

Just a short little update today. I have updated the jointed waldorf doll sewalong. It now has a downlodable PDF pattern for the body and arms and legs and the missing pictures are up again.

It's under the "FREEBIES" on the left or for the lazy people, here is the link:

Jointed Waldorf Doll Sew-a-Long

Also, I'm finished with the Halloween pattern for the embellished overalls. It just needs to be all put together and should be available at the end of the week.

Friday, September 07, 2007

Inspiration For Me

This is some of my inspiration lately of things I plan to do or create, maybe it will inspire you too.


I love these little bottles. I made the picture too small, but they are ephemera with B&W vintage pics with funky hats and wings, etc. This would look so neat on the window sill above my kitchen sink. I think I might have to do something like this. I really want to put my art to use in my own house and not give it away all the time, and I think this would be a fun project to create just for me.


I'm going to design Em a twirling costume similar to this. She wants the tummy nude thing, but I'm not so sure we're gonna do that. It will be hot pink and purple I think. I already have most of the beading and that icicle trim (which I found an eBayer in Hong Kong with glass icicle trim super cheap if anybody is interested). Now I just need to find some silver liquid sequin that doesn't cost an arm and a leg for appliques.

And here's the back:


I need to get started so it will be ready by February. But first I need to get jumbo spandex. I'm hoping I don't have to order it from NYC and can get it at my fabric outlet with the giant room o'spandex.


This little Euro style hoodie, I am going to sit down this weekend and draft one for my son.

I love the Art Girlz. Their stuff inspires me to create altered "things". And they have a really cool blog.


I love this snow queen.


And these witches, I'm going to have to order a witch kit.


And I found this little thing in their gallery. I just love this little bottlecap necklace. I think I'm going to need to order some charms to make this--too cute!!

Anyway, just thought I'd share.

Thursday, September 06, 2007

Busy as a bee and....working on some new stuff

I've been ditching my blog the last week. My work has been busy, busy. Apparently when school starts everybody under the sun wants an x-ray or a CT scan, lol.

I have some projects on the back burner. I've been ditching my school too since my work has kept me up late at night and I have had to catch up. If you don't turn something in once a month, you get on academic probation and I'm under the gun this week to turn in my test to avoid that. So....after I turn it in, I'll be working on a couple of halloween tutorials, finish the Pumpkin Spiders pattern for halloweenie overalls, and finally finish that darn nursing tutorial. My sewing machine was in storage while our house was for sale (so I can avoid the temptation, lol) and I haven't had a moment to go get it yet.

On the preschool homefront, Mr. E absolutely positively LOVES school now. He kisses mommy goodbye and runs off to play, and he's fine as long as he has this little Mommy Kiss card. No tears this week at all!! I'm so excited. He's been staying all day since last week and he even sleeps at naptime. He has two best friends and he lovest to eat lunch at school. He tells me every day he LOVES school and he loves his teacher, so I'm thinking about switching from 2 days to 3 days for him. I'm so proud of him, my sweet little boy is growing up.

Monday, September 03, 2007

Sshhh! A Secret Sale and Licensing

I'm having a secret sale on my patterns. Hidden in three blog posts throughout my blog is a little chick like the ones above in the title. If you find the little chick, roll your mouse over it and a coupon code will appear to use in the checkout.

And I officially have the licensing policies up on my website. After you have read the policy page and you are ready to sign up for a license to sew and sell TipToe Fairy items from your home, send an email and I will forward you a contract. This would be a great opportunity if you want to sell at craft fairs or have a craft booth.

Friday, August 31, 2007

Sewing Pattern Sale - Ends Tonight!

The Great Sewing Pattern Sale will end tonight at midnight CST. Coupon code is SEWING for 25% off.

Thanks!

Boutique Embellished Overalls

A few years ago I had quite a booming embellished overall business on eBay, but then I was pregnant with baby #2 and had to stop it for awhile and just never went back, as Mr. E is a handful whenever I try to sew, especially back then.

So I took a great applique class and had never seen a pair of embellished overalls in my life and decided to create a pair, then I soon discovered them on eBay and started selling my own.

The first applique pattern will be coming next week, just in time for Halloween called Spiders Pumpkins. Here is a sample. The lighting makes it difficult to see the appliques, but this is the basic idea.

I'm also considering offering applique kits that would include the fabric to make these designs, but I'm not sure how popular that would be. If you like that idea, leave a comment and I can gauge how much interest there is.

Thursday, August 30, 2007

Went to the fabric outlet today

I was hoping for some Baby Nay. They are a distributor or something, but alas, no Baby Nay. However, I got some large samples and the perfect yellow duck yardage for a valance in the kid's bathroom that has a bit of duckie theme to it.

This place makes children's bedding, very high end boutique-y stuff, like $600 nursery sets, and at this outlet you can get the whole set for about $65. And they sell their extra fabrics by the yardage and they sell all the sample cuts they get, so you can get half a yard sample for 75 cents. I found some sample cuts that were perfect for bags. Great to test out my newest pattern coming soon.

Gotta run Em to dance class, I'll add picture of my goodies from the fabric outlet later.

If you're in the DFW area, it's a fabric outlet off the beaten path in Greenville called Shelbi's Stuff. They also have lots of boutique-y baby stuff, made with minkee and flurr, it's so yummy! And you can get their nursery sets and kid's bedroom sets when they have them for super cheap, thought you sometimes have to mix and match crib items, etc. If you want directions, email me.

I found their website, here

Monday, August 27, 2007

Changing some things


I'm slowly working on some changes to the look my blog, I'm not happy with it. So you might notice some stuff changing and then going back to the way it was. I'm still working on the new title pic, I'm not sure if I'm satisfied yet. I think I'm leaning toward the altered ephemera look, but I'm not sure if it's the right thing for me. I love ephemera, but man is it a lot of work to do it completely digitally, lol, much easier to cut it out with a pair of scissors and glue it on.

Also I wanted to give a little reminder that the Sewing Pattern Sale will end on this Friday at midnight.

I might be disappearing for a few days. MIL is coming this weekend and I have let our house go to crap and she is the queen of clean, more so than my mother, lol. It is a total mess as the house went off the market about a week or so ago and I was so tired of keeping a pristine house, so I basically have said the hell with it for now. And we are also doing some touch ups before we try again. Houses are so not selling here lately, so I'm thinking of doing the FBSO thing. Very scary, but it saves me a hell of a lot of money without a realtor and we can lower the price a lot.

Friday, August 24, 2007

Fairy and Elf Waldorf Dolls

Use coupon code CHICK to get 10% off sewing patterns at TipToeFairy.com!!!


Several years ago I had a successful waldorf doll business called SnuggleBees. But I got pregnant with baby #2 and I knew soon I wouldn't be able to make them with a newborn around, it's a lot of hand sewing so I decided to sell the biz. I had turned her down previously, lol. So I sold them most of my patterns but I kept my special ones.

So what does this have to do with anything? My waldorf doll tutorial needs some cleaning up. There will be a printable PDF pattern and some updated pictures for the tutorial coming soon.

When I make waldorf dolls, fairies and elves are some of the most popular (mermaids too, but we'll get to that soon). Do you believe in fairies? I do, fairies and mermaids are my favorite style of waldorf doll to design.

I'm creating a little pattern on how to turn your waldorf doll into a fairy or elf:
- how to dye mohair yarn into fairy colors
- pattern to add pointy fairy and elf ears to your waldorf doll
- patterns to make detachable wings for your waldorf doll
- pattern for a petal fairy skirt or dress for you waldorf doll too.
Below are some examples of my fairies and elves