Mail is good

I love mail, especially as it gives me something to post about - when I've got nothing productive of my own to share! I mentioned that I received some mail from Stardust Shoes and 6.5st . 6.5st sent some lovely yummy fabrics and some yummier tea. And this is a shot of my apron received from Stardust shoes. She has some lovelier photos of it posted on her blog. I just can't master the self portrait thing.



You may note that the room is a shambles and yes, there is a chair and a mirror propped up right smack bang in the middle of it. Although I thought I was kidding, I have indeed proceeded with painting my Master Bedroom as well as the attached office/studio. It's a funky green with a single dark Chocolate brown wall in both rooms. I've taken some art in for framing, am in shop mode for a new desk in the office and more art, and am also hoping to find some french doors to separate the rooms.

You may also note the kitty-creep sitting beyond the mirror? Yes, oh yes, that would be the little sh!t who chomped my tutus. French doors will also keep her and her chompers out of the tutu factory.

My little gal is feeling ill today. We've been snuggled on the couch watching the Monkeydoos all morning - and it's now time for a nap. My bulk box of tulle arrived yesterday. Cripes.

Hmmn...To Paint, or to Tutu??

Lacking that thing called: motivation

My daughter's birthday was on Friday and all crafty stuff has come to a screeching halt. Not only is it the birthday that doesn't end (as there is still another celebrating to do this coming weekend) -- but I did manage to get a whopping 9 tutus done this past weekend using tulle I had on hand.

I'm waiting on a mass order of tulle to arrive, so while doing that I put together 9 little beauties. Regrettably, I left them sitting on my floor for five minutes too long and my cat decided to munch holes in all 9 of them. FURIOUS.... I tell you. And, I just don't think they can be saved. So, to make myself feel more productive and less neglectful of my blog - here's a picture of one of the birthday crowns in action:



You'll also note that Kenzie has a croissant in front of her. It was heavenly and chocolate filled. Williams Sonoma sells them and they are worth every dime (although I got them as a gift from my employer).

Um, the other crown was given to Mia, who also shares my daughter's birthday. She's a very petite little peanut and I accounted for that in the crown design..but it still slid right over her head and landed on her damn shoulders. Chalk that one up to bummer ideas. At least the art shown in a previous post was nicely framed and a HUGE hit with Mia and her family.

My only other creative accomplishment for the gal's birthday was: A monstrous castle cake. I didn't even break out any cake decorating tools. This baby was fully embellished with candy. Needless to say, my daughter and the rest of the neighborhood kids were THRILLED with it.



I also received some fabulous mail today from 6.5st and Stardust shoes. I hope to photograph the yummy bits tomorrow!

And, now I do feel the need to be immensely productive in the tutu factory...but I have just picked out paint for my Master bedroom instead. :) Kidding. Well, kind of....

Vote for Trucker...

Just pluggin' a pal who has a song entered in the Music Nation Video contest

I've listened to the song which was new to me, about 32 times this afternoon while making birthday cakes. It's edgy and a great listen - (however, there is an "f" word in there, so it's best played during time when the wee ones aren't around).

If you like it too, could you give them your vote? (sorry, it does require that you register...but, the potential outcome is worth it! The winner does get a deal with EPIC records).
Good luck Todd, etc.!!!

For more information on Trucker: Go HERE . They are straight out of Lawrence, Kansas... for those of you living in my land.

And this concludes my shameless plug of a good friend's stellar boyfriend. :)

Birthday Girls

The amazing Keet of Relentless Toil brought me some pretty big smiles when she sent these over. Each depicts one of the special birthday gals in my life - whom are turning 3 years old this Friday!

Mia (our friend's gal, born 5 minutes after our daughter):



And our lively sweet Kenzie-doodle:



I just love them. She took just a few photos & several of my words and turned them into these cute little masterpieces. Both are as original as each gal is. PERFECT. I'm still working on her swap items, but now I certainly feel the pressure!

It's hard to fathom that these wee ones have been turning our lives upside down for three WHOLE big-girl years now. We've got lots of celebrating to do this weekend!

And, the gals will {hopefully} be celebrating in their birthday girl crowns:
(apologies for the lousy picture, but I've got party planning and cake decorating to do....um, yeah...and more tutus to make!)



**these crowns, of course, are modeled after Soule Mama's most wonderful idea. I used some of my machine's fancy stitches for the first time ever. I expected it to be a hassle switching out feet, etc. But, it was another silly aversion I had, that was easily overcome.

Fantastic Mail Day

My husband has started working from home on Mondays. Opening the mail today was one of those perplexing events where he stood back, watching me open packages and commenting: Wow! Wow? Wow! Who are these people??? Why are they sending you all this stuff???

I got a really nice package from Shanna Price (of Pink Trees). I also got a surprise replacement pendant (for the shamrock pendant that I showed a few days ago with that funky white haze at the bottom. It turns out Shamrocks "perspire." But, the new version is absolutely perfect).

And, I got the most amazing package from Maize including my very own set of "Mommy tags" and a set of "Tot tags" for Kenzie. We both promptly affixed them to our necks. I did not catch the greatest shots of them, but that's because I got timid pointing the camera at myself when my neighbors were outside also reviewing the story of the great mail day. (My husband mentioned it, and then I had to re-explain just how blogging brings such surprises. And, then I had to keep explaining it when I saw -- all the blank stares on their faces).





I was expecting Maize's mail... But, she stuffed in some extra pincushions and other whimsical goodies. Her jewelry is spectacular. And, it has certainly earned us many compliments today. Kenzie adores her necklace....and in case you folks haven't noticed... I'm sort of a jewelry junkie. I just love unique pieces, including Maize's work. I will wear it many days, and it's impossible to miss as it makes this cute little jingle when you walk about.

Today, was a most excellent mail day!

We are excited to reciprocate all the generosity by partaking in Kelli's mission. Please join us in supplying Mozambique Goodwill Bags .

And, in closing - a boutique sold out of my little tutus. They promptly suggested an order of 50 more. The Doodle Factory is plugging along, but I may end up sending a smaller number. Aye-aye-aye. 50. That's a whole lotta tutus!

Color Week: Red

Color week draws to a close with Red. Red also has a big presence in my home. Which is good, because the weather is ridiculous around here, and I refuse to leave the premises. I did have to have Kenzie's blood drawn today and really thought about taking the camera along to get a picture of the outcome. But, that is, of course, terribly ridiculous and I didn't. :) (kenzie was a very brave gal though!!!)



I had Kenzie's assistance "as the spotter" on this one too. Once she gets started, it's hard to turn her off. So, we ended up with many red shots. I loved how she even noticed the spot of red on the active coffee pot.



She even set up a little scene for me:

Color Week: Yellow

....Lots of yellow(ish) tones in my house.



I was expecting my gal to have a lunch date with the grandparents, but it got cancelled. So, again - she hunted for yellows with & for me. I snapped pics in the direction of each little pointed finger. None turned out so good. I really wanted to shoot some bright yellow dishes. But, that seemed too cumbersome given the little assistant hanging from my neck. Here's one of some yellow-ish art, and a very yellow rocking chair.

My favorite yellow:


Yellow hair, (according to Kenzie)....
Attached is a story about how I told her that we really needed to comb her hair a bit for a pretty picture. She disappeared, must have brushed her hair in a very wrong direction. And, she wanted to add this headband for a picture.

We also have a blonde dog - Zoey, that she insisted we photograph. And we did :: But, I'll spare you of the photos. Just picture a very bored looking dog in a headband.

Color Week: Pink

Continuing with color week :



Pink gave me trouble. It wasn't so much the color, as it seems we have plenty of it around the house... It was, however, the fault of this type of day:



My daughter is into picking her clothes these days. And after an argument about it being too cold, she ended up robed in a short-sleeved pink dress, pink tights, and her pink rain boots. Yeah. Pink, Mama's favorite. :)

She also got into searching for pink bits of our daily life...with a pink camera. It's a yucky picture, but it's dark in here and I had to act quickly or she'd be sprinting off to another pink photo. Kenzie is good with her colors, and it was fun to have her participate in the color o' the day: PINK!



Tomorrow is yellow.

P.S. The pink/orange critter in the first picture is an overview of our daughter's best friend of the moment:

Color week: Green

Always the untimely one - I'm jumping into the color week with my green photo. I missed yesterday..... drat!



By coincidence, I received my most recent frivolous Etsy purchase today - this shamrock pendant. Although it's been clinging to my neck the rest of the day - I hung it against my window for this shot. Sort of a talisman to fight off the rainy cold weather that has struck my land these past few days... The greenish background is the wet, wet, wet grass outside....

I love the piece in itself, however, I am not in love with that white globby imperfection at the bottom. Hmphf. I've contacted the seller about it. At least however, the pendant made a rather {obvious} contribution opportunity to Color week.

Tomorrow: pink.
That is my least favorite color. It'll be a challenge for me. Challenges are good though!

Guilty pleasure(s)

I'm almost embarrassed to post this, but altering these two pairs of jeans was my craft project o' the day...



It's true. They really are worth the money. They really do fit better and feel better. :) I see why the celebrities love the brands (Citizen's of Humanity and 7 for all Mankind). I'm a {new} fan too. I typically buy jeans off the sale racks. And, I'm still wearing jeans from my undergrad collegiate days. So, I don't often get this extravagant.

Do tell (since I have some fun money in the 'ole Paypal account): What are other guilty pleasures I should know about??? I have quite the selection on my wist-list of things that I wish to buy. But, please enlighten me of your disgustingly wonderful pleasures...so I might learn of something else that selfishly makes me so happy?

p.s. while my machine was humming away on the alterations - through the monitor, I heard Kenzie talking to herself while calming into her nap. "Mommy's making more princesses!" She calls any skirt or tutus "princesses," by the way!! Cracked me up.

An a-maize-ing Ballerina

I mentioned that I can't keep a secret in my last post.... :)
Did you know Maize used to be a ballerina?? I didn't. But, she fessed up when she ordered these:



Can you envision her split leaping, twirling, and dancing about her pretty house in these? She SAYS she's going to decorate a room with one and give the others to little girls.



I think she's going to keep them all to herself and play ballerina when Buck is out of the house... or maybe for Buck? Hmnnn.



I broke the no-repeat rule with the last one. This one is for her "room."
Yeah, right.... (wink, wink).

Imagi-lands

Shhhh! Can you keep a secret?? I can't!!



When making tutus - I buy flower bunches and disassemble them, leaving the leaves, stems and lots of broken plastic pieces. I've been wondering what to do with all the leftover flower pieces from my tutu endeavors, and I've finally found a use! I've been keeping them - thinking there has to be SOMETHING I can use them for??? The flowers are often expensive, so I have a hard time throwing away the "junk." Hmnn.... I wonder if I'll be a hoarder in my old age?
(on an aside - anyone know of a source for just fabric flower petals??)

Anyway - Imaginary Play quilts is the answer for some of those leftover leaves! I mentioned a few posts ago that I'm doing an exchange with Keet of Relentless Toil. She's doing some artwork of my child and another little gal (which will be a birthday gift from us to her..as she shares a birthday with my daughter.) In trade, Keet asked that I make some imaginary play quilts for her daughter.

I don't believe Keet visits this here blog, so I'm going to post this as I'm so excited about it. It was a load of fun to make. It's a great example of how I work, as it was originally going to be a flower garden. I started sketchless, started cutting and oops! It's a country scene. I tried to leave it simple, yet add enough dimension for imagination to build upon. Unfortunately, it's another example of something that looks better in real life -- than in a picture shot on another friggin' dreary dismal day.

There's a Tree house with ladder. The tree house is on a plastic pocket, so that little peoples can be crammed in there to look like they are in the tree house. The house has a openable door. When the door opens, there is a little plastic pocket to hold a photograph of a family, or mama, or the child, whatever... The pond has a lilly-pad, and there are reeds aside it that things can hide behind. The leaves on the trees can conceal little birdies, or maybe even little kiddos climbing about. The rope swing is for swinging. And a path begins at the house and ends at the bottom. Keet said her daughter already has all the imaginary figures for these little lands, but I may have to invent a few bugs, frogs, and characters to send along with them. Of course, my imagination is a bit more effective than my ability to manage time.

I made this kind of quilt-like. It's soft and skwooshy. It's backed and binded rather poorly, though. That's my only disappointment. Man, it's hard to wrestle all the pieces and the layers of embellishments into playing nicely - while crammed in my machine. But, it could look a lot worse.

This could be hung on a wall.. or as Keet prefers - laid on the ground. It measures 19 inches by 21 inches...and I plan to make 2 or 3 more for Keet as part of our trade. And, then...I'll probably make more beyond that. They are just so much fun to do!!! Albeit...a bit time consuming. I'm envisioning the next ones to have bits that "run over" into this land - like the path....or the other side of the tree, etc. We'll see what happens as the next lands are formed!

I'll post the rest of these after they've been successfully swapped. If Keet does happen to visit here, then I'll preserve the rest of the surprise. I may sneak in a teaser though if I just. can't. stand. the. wait.

Less fattening than Easter candy

So sorry to bore this blog with more tutus, but I like to keep a running documentation of them, (so I can stay true to the no-copy rule). Well, and....I don't feel like I accomplished anything if I can't add it to my blog!



This batch is my favorite yet -- and they are heading off to a boutique in ENGLAND. How CrAzY is that???



It just hit me that tutus would be an excellent easter basket gift, but it's a little to late to plug that idea over at Etsy now!!! I'm always a day late with my wise ideas. "An Easter treat that's super sweet, but won't rot teeth!!" How's that for a advertising slogan!! :)



The weather was bipolar today...cloudy one second...sunny the next...which didn't result in fabulous pictures - but they'll do. And, I can't catch a good nap these days. I don't know what I'll do when my daughter stops napping and I no longer have my crafty outlet time. Sigh. How do other mommies make so much when the naptimes disappear??



I guess preschool is on the horizon for us, so I'll have that to look forward to eventually. However, I hope it's a case of being "overtired," as Kenzie woke up two hours early today, and then proceeded to take a 20 minute nap.
DARN.



I'm babbling (while pictures load) & I doubt anyone is still reading anyway. :) So, the lone tail is off to England too..