A tale of twin Gator Fans

I broke my "no-copy" rule and made twin tails for Sam's twin girls. They aren't exact replicas though, so I don't believe it counts as breaking my self-imposed rules, eh?? Sam and her husband are UF grads and thought it would be really cool to have gator tails for their gals.



My husband tells me that the Gators may be heading to the Championships. Oh what fun it would be for the girls to wear them while watching that game! :) GO GATORS.

I've had a few more wholesale orders from boutiques lately which is very exciting and almost bewildering. I'll be chugging away on those items this week.

AND, I'll be making some art quilts for a swap that I am beyond super-duper excited about. Keet of Relentless Toil does the cutest little representational art works of children. She's making two for me for my favorite April Birthday Girls (my daughter and her birthday mate, Mia). We're swapping projects, and I'm going to make her some imaginary worlds in quilt form, for her daughter to pretend play with. Her idea. But, man, I'm excited to work on them!!

"She loves being a mom..."

I have admired Allison Strine's work for a long time. I had a very, very hard time picking just one piece from her collection but finally did it with some "fun money" that was leftover in my Paypal account.

I picked this pendant:



It's double-sided:



I love it..& being a mom. :)

Now that it's wrapped around my neck (with necklaces that I already owned), I can confidently say that you should run..not walk...right over to her etsy shop and get yourself a pendant too. So many whimsical pieces, including more mommy pendants -- with more birdies even!!!



It's an amazing, beautifully made piece that just gives me the smiles.

kenzie's room

Well. I think after I came down off my "crafter's high" - & {I think} I was able to save the lamp. However, it may be one heck of a fire hazard?? And, the neurotic thought about heating up that Spray adhesive, and releasing the fumes into the air, has crossed my mind?? Perhaps, this wonky little lamp shold just sit around and look pretty (unusual)?



I think it's time I move on to store bought stuff for the remaining Kenzie room embellishments. Her room is a eccentric mix of furnitures that have had several different lives. I refinished the dresser, the desk & chair.



I made: All the wall art, the doll (which was mauled by a dog, fixed, and sat up high to avoid it falling into bits & pieces), the lamp shade, the quilt, & the pillows (where the heck are the pillows??? I just noticed they are missing. Confession: I only really make her bed when company is coming!!).



Please excuse the mess. The room-owner decided she wished to play in the middle of the photo shoot. And, well... it is her room & I couldn't kick her out. (although I totally thought about it).



I do have a piece of art that is being commissioned from another artist for the big blank wall. Which is why I was taking these pictures, and not bothering myself too much about the poor light and disheveled cluttered room.

And, for Kenzie's birthday, she's getting a RED stereo and a bookcase in the shape of a house to replace the current temporary case. And, she'll be getting pretty white molding along the ceiling. And then, well, I give up.
She DOES like it. So, that's all that matters.



P.S. Just a reminder -- SHE chose the colors. :) I just worked with what she gave me.

Feeling loopy

Tree Fall has a most wonderful lamp shade that she embellished with a modge-podge of fabrics. I decided that my daughters room might need one, since it's taken on a pretty spirited Oilily kind of feel. So, I proceeded to not follow Treefall's excellent directions and use the materials I had on hand.

Um, this stuff is baaaaaaaaaaaaad.
My head is kind of up in the clouds, and I can't say the wing-it approach that I took with cutting and matching the fabrics makes any sense. But, it was the best I could do given my loopy-drugged state.

We'll see if I can "save" this little project with some stitches around each square...and trim at the top and bottom.

But, I wouldn't recommend this spray adhesive stuff for anyone - unless you have a bunch of spare brain cells, that is. I sprayed outdoors, but still inhaled more than my share of fumes (one HAS to breath every once in awhile, you know??). And the residual fumes that linger on the shade even when the stuff is "dry." Well, Pheeeew!

**I'll have to return to this post later and insure that I made sense. Seriously, I'm cashed!!

Tutu skirt

Tutu skirt
Originally uploaded by mama's doodles.

I'm posting from flickr, since blogger doesn't like me anymore and won't allow me to post pictures.

I've had this idea stuck in my head for awhile and this is my first attempt at achieving it. This is for my daughter....and will likely be multiplying into different forms also.

This is for the St. Patty's day shenanigans we've got planned. No body better be pinching my gal!!

Another tutu

Another tutu
Originally uploaded by mama's doodles.

Duh. Sorry, this blog is becoming a bit tutu laden lately.
This one is for my etsy shop. I'm loving the flower embellishment at the waist. I took flowers apart to create my own this time. It's not as "gawdy" (husbands words) as some were previously using the entire flower. Less is more, you know??? :)

I also finished a second one, but I need to re-shoot it. It's a new approach too, stuffed with tulle instead of petals for an extra poofy skirt. However, extra poofy means extra difficult to photograph, apparently.

Next up -- Perhaps I'll be hanging all the art in my daughters room, and starting a mural in there. I say perhaps, as "we'll see." I cannot imagine how difficult it will be to paint on her walls with her dangling from my knee caps wanting to help. It may not happen. I will however, aim to hang the art, and take photos of it. I realized this afternoon - that aside from one cheapo bookcase and a cutesy toy chest -- I have altered, refinished, or created every item in there. I do hope that's a good thing???

And, rambling aside. Curtains. I need some of those!! I'll be making some tonight while the hubby entertains himself at a friends with some beer, er, um I mean, basketball.

Hammock Time

Insert: Me & a cup of coffee....and this is why I have nothing crafty to share.

Oh, but wait - I have managed to take absurdly long walks & play with the babe outdoors. I also refinished a few chairs and tore my studio into smithereens with a sudden desire to organize my fabrics and beautify the place. The studio smithereens have been laying on the floor for two days now..after I got, um...a wee bit distracted by the beautiful weather. That has something to do with my lack of creative goods too. & It doesn't look good for future productivity.

I'll give it some more thought...out on my hammock.

(this post has set in draft mode for several days, as blogger won't let me upload any pics. I finally outsmarted it and loaded the picture through photobucket. He.he... Take THAT blogger! And, another aside: I do have something crafty to share - but it'll have to wait until it's photographed and I have the motive to circumvent blogger's issues yet again! A downward dip in the weather today, caused me to get busy in the studio!!)

Poking fun at myself

I finally finished and photographed (albeit poorly) the tails I made for my Etsy shop. They'll be loaded there tonight.

Here's me with my catch - as they resemble fish when held this way, eh???



I just cannot master self photography. I missed the shot, oh say 16 times. I had a goofy face, oh say 22 times. This was the best of the collection. Giggle.

happy customer....

What a pleasure it is to see my tutus in action!! I received these adorable photos today of a happy customer, and also received permission to use them at my shop. They bring an enormous smile to my face!! How cute is this gal in my white and red tutu??? SERIOUSLY, cute...that's how cute!









It's fabulously spring-like outdoors lately, and we've been enjoying it! I think I've have a slight dose of SAD (Seasonal Affective Disorder) as the fresh air, bright sun, and general springy-ness has brought me out of hibernation with a refreshed attitude. I've managed to clean up some flower beds, finished the corner desk for my daughters room and jumped head first right into a zillion other projects. (I even got my hair done and my teeth cleaned!!) I'm happy to see the buds and blooming action going on outside, and am anxious for leaves, leaves, leaves to be on the trees! Unfortunately, we've still got to get through the "April Showers" part of the season, but at least my daughter's birthday will be celebrated in the middle of that...(not to mention a dental filling that needs to be replaced. Yuck.)

I was surprised at the level of excitement about the tails that's been displayed by family & friends. I've made a few tails for my shop lately and just have to figure out how to photograph the boogers. There's been many a request for more of the dinosaur version. I haven't even gotten a chance to try out my other ideas (mermaids are next!!) One problem -- My dinosaur designs have used corduroy. I mentioned that I used all my corduroy on those freaking window snakes, trying to eliminate drafts & warm up my house.

While at the fabric stores, I inquired about where to find green corduroy and earned a seriously snide cackle -- "It's the WRONG season for corduroy!!!" Shoot. I'm hoping to trip over some at a clearance section somewhere. I can't believe I never realized that fabric selections rotate with the seasons, just as clothing stores do. Brilliant -- but a thorn in my side...

On Tails & Tutus

Now that I have a child, all my creative whims seem to manifest into children's products. I've made a lot of children's stuff that I haven't sold, but given as gifts, and then got kind of carried away into the tutu industry...



I have a confession to make: I am one of those mom's... A mom of a girl baby who -detests- the color pink and all things princesses!! I hated (& still do) the stereotypical roles, the underlying messages to our gals found in fairy tales, etc. I rarely dress Kenzie in anything light pink, unless it was a gift. Then, I feel I must make the exception. While getting my Master's, I did seriously study some women's issues and how those manifest. And, well - this is a craft blog, so I'm not gonna get into the developmental theory behind women and our roles in society...(and I certainly don't want to offend anyone who disagrees with my "I hate girly pink!" theories). But, anyway...it's really hilarious to me that I'm selling tutus. Could I make a more stereotypical product for a gal?? Probably not, but I humor myself with the idea of them all being unique and therefore being separating myself from the "norm." Ahem. What a hypocrite, especially since I'm ReAlLy enjoying making them!



But, I do support the growth of little imaginations, and I think dress-up and costumes are a stellar way to encourage that development. So, tutus will stay. I don't care what the little gal's pretend to be in them...just pretend away!! My poor Kenzie only has one tutu, and, sigh...it's even a mass produced one that she got as a gift. It's not even a made-by-me original. What kind of Mama am I????

I now have a nephew. He's the first little guy born into a family with five girl cousins now. Since I've made my neices a lot of handmade junks over the years, I find myself wondering what to do for a little boy. I've got some ideas, and am starting the "play around and pattern" process to see if they're reasonable.



Recently, we also attended a Wiggles concert, where we purchased a Dorothy the Dinosaur tail as a souvenir. Kenzie adores her tail . She wears it all day, and sleeps with it by her side at night. She changes characters frequently (I'm a dinosaur...I'm an alligator..I'm a dragon!), and I see some potential in expanding my "Doodle Factory" into the Tail industry. :)

The tail mimics the the mass-produced version my daughter now owns. I've got ideas for mermaids, dragons, these dinosaurs, etc. It has an elastic waist band, encased in fabric.

We'll be growing tails around here and giving them as gifts to some birthday gals and boys soon....& I believe they might be growing right into my etsy shop too...

A wedding tutu

A wedding tutu
Originally uploaded by mama's doodles.

..custom made for a wee little flower girl.