Cuff for Superminx

Cuff from Mama's Doodles - Stacy
Originally uploaded by superminx.

I'm cheating...and using Andi's flickr link to post this, since I'm lazy and don't have it in me to do a proper post. Let's just say the hubby is away and I didn't sleep well last night due to all the imaginary burglars breaking into my house.

This was the first attempt at a cuff I made. I got the idea from a cuff I saw on Kate Hudson and another I saw some other celebrity wearing, whom I don't know who it was. The visuals & inspiration were found in People magazine, one of my addictions. :)

I still want to make one for myself, and a itty-bitty one for my daughter. :)

Later in the week, when the laziness subsided - I'm adding the following pics, of the cuff and hat I sent on to Andi.

The hat seemed a brilliant idea at the time, when I found a paper made cowboy hat. It's totally pliable and rolls and bends into different shapes, although running a bit large in the head size. Andi has a pony, and I thought the cowboy hat would be suiting because of that. Funny, I forgot that fact when I was mailing it and wondering why the heck I made her a cowboy hat in the first place. Andi put it all together without my help, and managed to remind me of it's original purpose.



I also sent some paper goodies. All as a thanks for Smiggling me with the fun stuff from an Aussie store.

And, thank goodness, for Blogger being fast with uploads today!! Yeah Blogger!

Questions, answers & a quilt

Thanks lovely readers for your comments, emails, etc. I find it a bit humorous that I enjoy comments so much, but I'll humbly admit that I do. Sometimes when it's quiet around here, I lose a bit of motivation to keep this part of my blog up. I don't mind so much that no one comments on Kenzie's Doodles (I really keep that site up for her - which is a poor excuse for a baby album... ahem, which I sucked royally at keeping up with)...but my Mama's Doodles is all for me..me..me... And, who doesn't like a compliment anyway??

Anyway, there have been a few questions lately. With no email address to reply to, I began leaving answers in my comments section..but I don't know if the question asker might not think to go back and check for an answer - so:

1. About the cuffs (this is for Samantha) -- The cuffs are made of good 'ole vinyl or pleather. :) I had a bit of a supply left over from some chalkboard placemats that I made (& intended to reproduce)...and I used that, and beads, and material, and a bit of embroidery floss as well. After adding the embellishments, I covered up all the ugly ends with a fabric backing. Not terribly sophisticated..but I like the end result. I imagine that a leather would be more lovely, but harder to handsew. I actually caught a glimpse of Brooke Shields and Lisa Rinna (sp??) wearing similar cuffs today (in a photo, of course). I'd like these cuffs even if the celebrities weren't wearing them, but since they are fond of the style - it seems an affirmation of my coolness. he..he..

2. For kittykat: The pillowcase dresses have been two separate styles, both just winged in the making. For the first one (the yellow) I basically took one of my daughter's dresses that fit well, and laid it on top of the pillowcase to give me a basic template of where to cut. The first style was the more successful of the attempts, but the second one - I used my neighbors pillowcase dress (you might remember that this is where I got the idea in the first place?) and used it as a pattern. The second version was much simpler in the making. Essentially, you use the existing opening - which becomes the bottom of the dress. You make three cuts, and you're ready to sew!! (see my attached visual, which hopefully explains the SIMPLE process). I plan to make another, so if these directions are clear as mud - let me know and I can photograph the steps.



The results:



3. YES! yes, YeS!! My doorknocker idea is working beautifully. We've had no unsollicited door knocks and the neighborhood kids get a kick out of it. It's the talk of the neighborhood..and the kids are very respectful of the "process." Sleep well, my girl... :)



Finally, on the high productivity - because my husband's away - front: I have begun work on Kenzie's big-girl bedding. I intend for this to be a decorative bedspread, probably folded along the foot of the bed - because it has some precious family history attached. As stated before - it's just a quilt top made by a distant relative (whom I never had the pleasure of meeting) and I've decided to back it and turn it into a "quilt." Afraid to ruin it...afraid of machine quilting...and wishing to finish it before she's 12 (therefore ruling out hand quilting) -- I've gone with red buttons. (Yes, now I fully expect hatemail from those fabulous quilters out there who would be horrified by this approach). But, I think it's going to be fantastically adorable!! I'm thinking a light blue on the walls. Some flowers and bugs, painted here and there. White furniture, and we'll jazz it up with some bold curtains and rug.

And, speaking of quilting - I just got a whole row of buttons done waiting for blogger to upload these durned photos. What's up with Blogger lately? It's painfully. freaking. frustratingly slow!! And, I'd also like to complain about flickr - which isn't really fair given I haven't ponied up for a Pro account, not to mention, I'm sure the rules are posted somewhere I haven't bothered to review...but my complaint roots back to my sock puppets postings. I had a groovy idea to load photos of all the critters separately ~ and generate a collage shot of them collectively. I loaded the pics. I decided that I didn't like the way they were being chopped to pieces in the collage formation. I deleted the pictures. Then, I decide to load my next crafty creation and I'm told that I've exceeded my upload limit. *&^%!!!! But, I didn't "technically" upload -anything- for crap's sakes. So, flickr is boycotting me for the rest of the month. I should just silence my gripes, and be thankful for the FREE internet technology (except for the cost of making my blood boil on occasion).

(I'm going to "publish post" now, after knock, knock, knocking on wood. I'm sure the blogger-gods can make this very lengthy post and time investment vanish into thin air - for all the complaining I just did. Cringe.)

Pillowcase abuse

Oops. I did it again.
Ran into another pillowcase, obnoxiously decorated it. Now it's a dress.

Kenzie loves a good dress, which she feels immediately makes her a princess!! or a ballerina!! .. and she adores a few shirts that have bugs/animals on them, so I just thought...that this might appeal to her. Can you see the look of unbridled enthusiasm on that little head (below)? One has to wonder if she'll have any residual effects of the clothing abuse I've inflicted upon her lately. Last year it was my wonky clown looking pants. This year, she'll be dressed all in pillowcases? Probably not, but sheesh, how about a little "range" within my productions? I trip over a cute idea and it seems I've got to run it.. into.. the ground.
Too bad, I'm not done with this one yet. :)



I love the flowers on the bottom. I have two more cases that were given to me by a friend, and I also owe a friend a dress - so I think I'll simplify the next one --just some ribbon and flowers along the bottom. The bird is cute, but I think it's a bit much. (I think Kenzie agrees).

Wrist Cuff

This is a gift that was sent to another generous blogger, Maize Hutton, whom has bestowed two loot bags upon me. Sorry, I believe her link is at the right. For some reason, I can never ever remember how to generate a link within a post.

I've seen similar cuffs being sold by some of my favorite clothing suppliers and thought, ah heck - I can make one (or twelve). This is the second one I made, as the first is still in transit to it's new owner. I think after a few more revisions - I'll be really happy with one. The hubby asked for a guy's version, but I haven't played around with that concept just yet.

I realized late in the making of these, that not all wrists are the same! So, unfortunately, the only solutions were to request a wrist measurement (& ruin the surprise) or attach the final two snaps for the recipient to affix the where appropriate. I went with the latter, and the gals will have to finish the bracelet themselves. Apparently, it was a good decision as Ms. Maize states she's received hers and also has bird-like wrists. How cute I picture her to be. :)

Pillowcase Dress!

Today, while my kid was doing this (and therefore -A.B.S.O.L.U.T.E.L.Y. refusing to model for me):


I took two bad pictures of this:




Long story short - a neighbor has a daughter who was wearing the most darling dress the other day. Upon inspection, it was a lovely white fabric with really cute embroidered flowers and butterflies at the bottom. The Mama tells me that a friend bought it for her daughter, but that it was made from a vintage pillowcase!! After seeing the adorable thing, I immediately exclaim that I can make that (the neighbors probably aren't aware of my artsy-crafty nature yet...they just see "me" as someone who stands outdoors with their kid most of the day) and proclaim that I'll be searching for vintage pillowcases now so I can make some. I've done a couple of searches on e-bay and walked away as damn, they can be expensive.

Another neighbor who is a garage-sale fanatic turns up yesterday with four pillowcases for me. Very sweet of her. But, they were all plain (two pale yellow. two dark blue (which are identical to some that I. have. on. one. of. my. beds.) And, they weren't old. No worries, I thought. I've got to be polite and do something with them. And, I can just embellish to the hilt to make them sweetly less pillowcase like, eh? So, this little result was really just a fiddle with fit, size, and pattern-making.

I've tried it on Kenzie and it's quite cute...and doesn't resemble a pillow-case at all. I just added ribbons, and decorative stitching to this one. The next one, a blue case - I'm envisioning flowers at the bottom, and a bird flying around the middle of the dress in the blue sky. I'll start that one next week -- around wrestling the wallpaper in the bathroom for the second week of Kenzie naps in a row. It's not giving up without a fight and is officially the worst wall-papered monstrosity I've ever run across. (wallpaper is directly on the dry wall, so it's not a clean seperation. Thankfully, I was planning to texturize the walls anyway. How did I start talking about wallpaper when I'm discussing pillowcases??? Enough rambling... More pillow case dresses to follow! And hopefully, I'll still love them when some vintage ones become available to me!!)

Begging for the bells to stop.

We've moved into an amazing neighborhood with a zillion kids. A zillion kids whom love my daughter's toys, her time and attention. What's wrong with that??

Diiiiiinnng-dooooong. ding-dong. ding. dong. DING-DONG. The doorbell is always ringing. There are always sweaty little kiddie faces pressed against my door glass -- peering in to see if we're responding to the doorbell. There are kids always wanting to play. Even when Kenzie is napping (at the same time she does every day...at the same time they visit every day and get told that she is indeed taking a nap AGAIN). After a few months of this, I've become annoyed. They've caught me upstairs, on the phone, on the toilet, etc. and they just keep ringing that doorbell until I come to the door. Like I didn't hear it the first twelve times. REALLY. Stop it already. As if we aren't ALWAYS outside when Kenzie is awake anyway.

Further, if it was a simple matter of just telling them "no, she can't play"...it would be different. Each visit is full of kiddie-questions of Why?...Why does she need to take a nap every day??...can we play with her toys...Do you have any popsicles? And there's just SO MANY kids. Once I send one away, there's another stopping by. And Kenzie often hears these little exchanges - meaning naptime is over, and she's grumpy (right along with me) for the rest of the day.

They're making me crazy.


So, I made this. A little door notification system that says whether Kenzie can play. I will tell them only to ring the doorbell when the side that says: "Yeah! I can play!" is showing. (and for the non-readers...only ring when Kenzie is "smiling"). I will carefully instruct them to GO AWAY, when the other side is showing and also instruct them that I will not answer the door in the event that they ring it. So help me gawd, if it doesn't work - I may have to become "that mom" that yells at other people's children.

We'll see how it works. I plan to be realistic and understand that it may take a few trial and errors from each of the kids. And, there's always the chance that the thing will disappear in 20 seconds --never to be seen again.

It was fun to drag out my paints and doodle a bit, and Kenzie enjoyed painting right along beside me.

Gifts

Kenzie misses her out-of-state cousins and we made a neat little card for them. After some deliberation, I decided to include some gifts for them (all four are girls, ages 6 and under.) These sock puppets were a hoot to make and turned out adorable. My favorite is the lizard. They'll go great with their puppet theater and creative little minds.

I used really soft fuzzy socks, just winged the embellishments, and cut a slit in each sock to serve as the mouth. After covering a folded cardboard insert with fabric, I stitched it into the mouth -- which makes a very animated little mouth.

These guys are extremely hard to photograph on your own hand without causing bodily harm. My photos are terrible - as these are stinking cute in action, but it's the best I have patience for.



I also gifted my sister-in-law this hat. It's made out of paper, which I found fascinating...but it's really very durable and tough. It lends itself to squishing and squashing into many styles. I added the flower embellishment, and sent it on it's way...