New years... While they were sleeping

My kids were asleep for New Years, so I was busy instigating my nieces
and their friend to a little dancing madness. (well that and a little
Vintage Maker app on my phone)
Here is a little happiness to start off 2010.

Another body to clothe

The Design Director got an American Girl doll from her grandparents for Christmas. Which means we now have another body to clothe around here... And since I'm unwilling to pay more to clothe a doll than I use for myself, she's now getting handmade stuff as well. As an incentive to practice reading, Mimi now has a little chart. She read 10 books aloud to earn mittens for Kit this week. So here they are. She was so excited about them tonight that she almost couldn't go to sleep.

The cowl

Just realized the last post didn't have a good angle of the cowl. Here you go.
If you are a knitter... Easy recipe... 2 thick yarns used together as one. Thick needles. Knit in the round to measurement. (mine were on size 15 needles with 60 stitches around). K2, P2 for 6 rows at the bottom, knit to desired height then K2, P2 6 more rows. All done!

Green and red

Well, I couldn't find a way to post this without putting my face in, so please bear with the huge pic of my face. (have i mentioned how weird i feel about pics of myself? Let alone my huge face?) The intention was to show you my new Christmas gifts (the earrings and crocheted hat) with my most recently completed knitting project, the cowl. Why have I not knitted a cowl before? I love knitting in the round and with size 15 needles and two yarns at once, this thing was FAST! I'm also finding that a cowl is the perfect scarf to wear inside my freezing house. (subtract the earrings and this is how I looked in my house last night... Same pajama top and all)
The earrings were a gift from J's mom. They were made by a friend of hers in Beverly Hills that sells to Bloomies and Anthropologie. (I'll find out her name). They are a little heavy, but SO super pretty, eh? And the hat was an etsy gift. (When Ze Artiste saw it, he said, "momma, you used to have a blue one like that hat.") right-eo little buddy... Momma loves hats! And earrings. And scarves. Oh darn, I just love accessories in general... And I haven't even told you how much
I've fallen in love with fingerless gloves this winter, have I?

Ps. Green and red will continue to be put together LONG after the holidays are over. My two favorite colors? They have to work outside of December... Blast all convention...

Now that Christmas is over

Lest you think I'm not into sewing anymore... Tonight the sewing machines came out again. Believe it or not, J has been telling me I should get back to sewing, knowing I do so much better with that outlet. But sewing was sadly on the back burner this past month as I cranked through all my other Christmas crafts/gifts. And tonight's inspiration came from the fact that I gave my only French press cozy to my mom on Christmas day, as we discussed how the only bummer about FP coffee is it's rapid temperature decline. I switched into sales mode right there, "but Mom, you have to try my French press cozy! Combined with my tea cozy, it keeps my coffee hot
as long as I need to until my next cup! Here, have mine!" (mild objections from J in the background...) uh oh. Now I need to make one for us again.
So there's nothing like the threat of cold coffee to get a gal motivated. And out popped a few French press cozies... Oh, and then I needed a covering cozy that didn't say "TEA" on it... So now I've got a new match set in this awesome green "nest" print by Moda. (I've been saving this fabric for something for months. I'm thrilled to find a use for it where I get to enjoy it daily)
So now that Mom has my wraparound cozy, maybe she needs a covering cozy too, to complete the set? And since Dad drinks tea and Mom drinks coffee... Well what word works for both? (smile) "HOT"
I love it.
Mom, look what you get when we come to your place tomorrow!

Merry Blueberry morning

Want to know what we are eating this lovely Christmas AM? Check a few blog entries back for the recipe. Yum.

Merry Christmas to you. You're Awesome

When I look back over this year and I think about what things were bitter and which were sweet, I think of my blog as a sweet thing. It's been a sweet place for me to write and put things out there, artwork, ideas, acomplishments, inspirations... and you've all been sweet enough and lovely enough to read and comment, and encourage me. You've virtually embraced our life and it's so sweet to feel appreciated! I actually have a number of new friends because of my blog and I am truly thankful for you!
I hope and pray this holiday season is blessed for you. May these next few days be precious and sweet. I am so happy to have this blog and to have you as readers.
MERRY CHRISTMAS!


(photos taken by my special pal, Christy... who is celebrating much this Christmas herself.)

and one more for the road.... taken the other night at The Grove while we waited for it to snow, like, uh, L.A. style. (i.e. soap bubbles from the sky with lots of music.)

Print that image

I recently was asked to print up some copies of my recent collages. Which is funny, considering that when I use glue sticks and junk mail to make them - I actually end up scanning the images in, and then using the digital images to get archival quality prints made. Isn't that a little ironic?
I had to do a little research. Ok, actually I didn't at all. Turns out, Tori, was doing research on her own and was able to share it with me. I had just enough time before Christmas to get some prints made up and returned to me by PrintThatImage.
I was really impressed to receive back the work, and immediately began to think about the possibilities that might come from being able to get prints made - both of my artwork, and also the kids' artwork.
Since we all tend to favor the simple, crude materials that we have lying around, when I actually have something I want to keep, it would be neat to have it in an archival quality.... I had done some simple photo prints of the work - ordered through an online photo place - which actually arrived the same day as the nice prints. Wow. The color difference and clarity was really obvious when they were placed side by side and I see now that photo prints on photo paper aren't what I want to be representing my artwork. My favorite was the heavyweight watercolor paper, though I could see great applications for the printing on canvas and also the lighter weight papers that they offer. (They offer a trial pack where you can send your image in and get it back on all three).

So I guess I will be offering prints now - for special order. If there are any of the collages that I've shared here that you're interested in getting a copy of, let me know and we can get you a nice print that will last and be really true to the original... actually better.

Recipe: Amy's Blueberry Morning

My girlfriend, Amy, of Mazie Kane (www.maziekane.etsy.com) introduced me to this great breakfast recipe. It's the perfect addition to a holiday morning. (you make it the night before, so its easy, plus its also yummy and beautiful!) I thought I'd pass it on to you. I know it didn't originate with Amy, but around here I call it "Amy's Blueberry morning" and that's how I pass it on to you.

-:-:-:-:-:-:-

1 loaf of challah bread or French toast bread cut into cubes

 

1 block of cream cheese cut into cubes

 

2 cup of blueberries

 

2 cups of milk

 

Dozen eggs

 

1 tspn of vanilla

 

1/3 cup of maple syrup

 

1 cup of sugar

 

2 tspn cornstarch

 

1 cup of water

 

2 tbspn of butter

 

Grease 13x9" pan.  Place half of the bread cubes in the pan and layer with all of the cream cheese cubes & 1 cup of the blueberries and then place the rest of the bread on top.  Mix 2 cups of milk, 12 eggs beaten, 1 tspn vanilla, 1/3 cup of maple syrup in a large bowl, mix well and poor on top of bread.  Cover and refrigerate over night.  Remove pan from fridge about 30 min. before baking.  Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees and bake 30 min covered, 30-35 min uncovered or when top is golden brown.  Lastly, in sauce pan mix 1 cup of sugar, 2 tspn of cornstarch, 1 cup of water & simmer 3-4 min.  Then mix in the last cup of blueberries, simmer for another 5 min and stir in 2 tbspn of butter.  Poor over top of French toast.

__._,_.___

My Holiday Party outfit

I mentioned earlier that it was agonizing to try and figure out what to wear to J's holiday work party. I get really intimidated dressing for his work events, especially when I know there will be movie stars in attendance. I'm not a big star watcher, I rarely recognize them before he points them out to me, but still the fashion... ah, what to wear???? The tough thing about LA parties is that the men all wear jeans and shirts - rarely jackets, but the women dress up. And I don't really do heels, so what to do?
Here's what I did... and here are the designers (or some like them) that made my outfit work.
1- simple dress - you can see it here. Here's a cute one kind of like it, and this one is similar (though tighter!)
2 - headband. My pal, Tori, gave mine to me and the designer who made it doesn't sell online,
but here is a similar one on etsy. I wore my hair very "flippy" - inspired by Alice Cullen's hair. eek, Twilight dorkdom strikes again!
3 - woven tights from Anthropologie. (about a year ago)
4 - flashy disco earrings. Forever 21. also from last year. (I liked the idea of mixing the flapper style headband and the disco earrings) I think you can see them in the above pic. I actually removed a gem that was hanging from the bottom when I first bought them.
5 - Necklace by International Sanctuary (for this outfit, I actually tucked it into my dress (um, bra) and used just the chain for an accent piece)
6 - leather studded and blingy bracelet - new this month... i love it! The designer is just getting her etsy site up right now, I have the bracelet that is dark brown with big rhinestones. (upper left corner)
7 - shiny shoes. brown patent leather... they were flats - though I toyed with red kitten heeled ones, too... I ended up with the flats for comfort sake. These aren't the ones I wore, but they'd do.
8 - okay. I didn't want to mention this, but seriously, it helped my outfit greatly. Victoria's Secret. It really worked. "Miraculously" well, considering I have almost nothing to begin with. (enough said)

anyhow... it made for a fun outfit that will likely be my New Years' outfit as well when I head to my sister's Appetizer Cookoff Contest. It was fun putting the outfit together and fun getting this post together, too. Hope you enjoyed it - I haven't done anything like this before... (oh, and with DSL issues that we've been having, this took me 3 days to write!)

Hot hoops

Every once in a while, life offers funny intersections. I've been waiting four years to actually run into a stranger wearing a Libby Dibby skirt. It hasn't happened yet, though I've heard of other people getting asked if their skirt/purse/jewelry was Libby Dibby. It's bound to happen at some point, but it hasn't yet.
My dad is a toy inventor. He's sold many more than just 1100 handmade skirts and a couple hundred necklaces... His business is based on royalties, checks coming in over the years for thousands of units sold. So why should it surprise me when those toys intersect my life?
We thought it was hysterical when someone gave us Upwords as a wedding gift... Considering the wedding was funded in part by that game itself.
Last night J came home with a game called Hot Hoops he chose at his office gift exchange. He picked it thinking the kids would play well with it together and knowing that Z/Troy likes anything basketball...
(he was right) but as I kept looking at it, I kept thinking, "wait, I think my dad invented this..." it felt like I remembered Dad describing the prototype to us at dinner one night as a kid... And the name definitely rang a bell. (Dad likes alliteration for product names) Texted mom to ask; turns out I was right. So this morning's entertainment is brought to us by an idea PopE had many years ago. How fun is that? Dad, I know you'll love this pic more than anyone else...

Funny pic

So tonight was J's work holiday party. We took this pic in the photo booth. (how fun is that?) What you can't really see is my outfit which was really made possible by a bunch of rockin' etsy designers, a few discount items and a pair of tights from anthropologie. I agonized all day about what to wear. Hollywood parties are really intimidating to dress for and even after 4 years, I about have a fit the day of the event every time... But I love me some good accessories. And though you can't really see them here (how lame am I that I got no real pics?) I wore at least 4 one of a kind items that were designed by people I know or have bought through friends and etsy. Etsy, thank you! Oh, and how much do you love my goggles and snowball? I have no clue what J is holding...

We have a winner!

This photo is just an excuse to show off my cute kids, but let's pretend that they are giggling as they say, "Michelle Underwood, you won a new skirt!" email me, and let me know what size you need and I'll ship it out tomorrow!

24 hours in Canada

It's a busy season! In the midst of all our normal holiday parties, we scheduled an overnight trip to Vancouver for J's work holiday party. 24 hours in and out... And we managed to take the 2 hour walk to the place where we got engaged 10 years ago, too.

I love dressing for rainy days

And this is before I put on my leopard print raincoat.

FREE skirt giveaway

Merry Christmas!

My Christmas shopping is all done. My wrapping is almost done. My crafting is about 75% done. That leaves me enough time to do a free skirt giveaway! This is the pattern (Day Journey) that the winner will receive. (It will be a S, M or L size skirt - your preference) - It will ship out to get to you in time for the holidays if you win!

DEADLINE: Wed, Dec 16th - 9pmPST

All you have to do to enter:

1 - sign up as a follower of Libby Dibby on blogger

2 - leave a comment sometime this week

3- post about the giveaway on your blog. or tweet about it. or just tell your friends!

Brown paper packages tied up with string

I have a friend who needs a little cheering up. She's getting this in
the mail this week.

Don't Forget Unique LA

Double-Sided Hummingbird Card, Spring 09
Originally uploaded by uniquelosangeles

Tonight is all pre-show prep around here. Though, I have to confess, this time of year, my living room stays stocked with boxes that leave the house every few days until my last show (Which is this one, this weekend) before they get put back in storage...

Tonight, I had the most fun making my booth partner a sign to match my own Libby Dibby sign - I can't wait to show you.... Amy, from Mazie Kane, is really a great friend of mine and has recently launched her business. She's the one who pushed me to apply to Unique LA with her. I'm looking forward to spending the two days with her and I'm looking forward to the awesome shopping and meeting the other vendors. I always make new crafty friends at these things... (I can think of a bunch of you, who are readers now that are my best prizes from my many events over the years... you know who you are!)


Those of you who are local, I hope you can come to the event - it's going to be great. There are over 300 vendors - all juried to get in, so you know it's good stuff. And the entry fee gets you a goodie bag and a free drink coupon, too... (Plus, I still have a few free tix left, just ask!)