Ice Cream, You scream

I told you I'd post a pic of the awesome tee Christy made for Mimi for her birthday.
There is a lot more work put into this than it looks. nicely done, Christy! (also, she made a point to use all scraps from my giveaway last April, that Mimi would recognize as "momma's skirt favrics")

Whatcha think?

I've been really wanting to get back into purses, but to find a way to make them a little more affordable and accessible to people to buy.

What do you think of this REVERSIBLE number? Ain't it the cutest? (price $39)

Do you think I should have my seamstress make a few up? My current thoughts now are that I will list these two on etsy and see the interest - they could also be made in most of the fabrics that I have on hand, too...

any thoughts?

Nesting - sewing, really

What do you do when you are waiting for a baby to arrive? You nest.

Which is exactly what I have been doing. Organizing, sewing - trying to get through my to-do pile of things to sew, really...

here are some of the projects I've done recently for some lucky kiddos... (i.e. they're all custom orders for people)

PS - apparently, you also BLOG while nesting. I'm trying to get a few posts done tonight. We get AJ tomorrow!

Z Jayne

You know me and recycled or repurposed products... I love them! I'm constantly doing what I can to turn J's old shirts into clothes for the kids, I've turned old Hawaiian shirts into Father's Day gift bags, I reuse even the timiest scraps and I always try to support artists who reuse... Well, here is a great one! I cat even remember how I found her on etsy, but zJayne (www.zjayne.etsy.com) rocks!
She reuses old tshirts (she's sold over 1000 bags!) and makes them into little pouches and shopping bags. She gives you a billion choices and when it comes to personalization - you can choose your colors, etc.
I LOVE this bag! I'll be ordering more for sure. My kids are getting some cool kiddo mp3 players (link later ) for the holidays, maybe they need cool pouches like these to hold them...

Self Portrait - 2002

I found this tonight in one of my old sketchbooks. J and I spent the afternoon cleaning out the guest house and trying to continue our new organizational kick. (Somehow, I'm much less patient with him than with Tifanie when she's asking me questions about the crap I hang onto.)

Anyhow. I found a great old sketchbook back from before we had kids. This "self portrait" was in it and its fun to see even now. I've always been fascinated by the idea of a deconstructed self-portrait. Of pieces, rather than the whole. I'd completely forgotten about this sketch until today. And I have to say, for those of you who've seen me or seen pics of me - these are pretty true to form. I don't consider myself a great illustrator or even a great drawer - but I do like doing it...

Here are a few more of the random sketches in it... just for fun.

Martha's Pumpkins

Dear Martha. I so often get exasperated by your high standards and sometimes fussy decorating, but I have to say - this one was a winner. When Home Companion magazine went down and my subscription was transferred to Martha Stewart Living, I was pretty bummed. I didn't think I'd even be interested in reading this magazine (which I had enjoyed years ago, but found a little to uptight for my free-loving style). Martha likes to have everything PERFECT. I don't really care about "perfect".The past two issues have been pretty fun though, and as I was peeking through the November issue last night - Thanksgiving IS my favorite holiday, after all! - I stumbled onto these adorable pumpkins... which even Martha described as perfect for a novice seamstress. Which meant that even at 9.30pm I could start it. So I did. And other than the multiple needle pricks on my fingertips. (too lazy to wear a thimble, plus they scare my hubby... being the ultimate in craftiness) - look at how cute these are! I sense there are more coming. I think I may end up with a little pumpkin patch here in my living room.

Placemats

I don't L-O-V-E licensed characters around here, but I understand that they are part of being a kid for a lot of us... ... My kids included. So on the night before Mimi's Hello Kitty themed birthday, I happened to find some HK fabric that someone had donated to me. (score! What to make now?) I set to work with some of that plastic furniture cover stuff that is on rolls outside of mom & pop hardware stores... I'd bought some once, thinking it would come in handy... So I made a super fast little placemat for her, which reversed into the fabric we'd used for the goodie bag napkins for the party. HUGE HIT.
Z immediately began campaigning. I remembered that I'd once bought some Superman fabric at SAS for a few bucks and I offered him a Superman placemat. (I was asked about it almost hourly for the next 2 days).
These are so easy to make! Trace your favorite sized placemat, leaving room for trimming (1/2") around the edges. Make a plastic sandwich over the two fabrics, and then sew a straight line (3/4" from edge). Then trim with pinking shears. easy peasy. (these would also be fun to make for seasonal decor)

More time as art teacher...

I love being the art teacher for Mimi's class! The kids either call me " Mimi's mom" or "art teacher" (both of which I love!) the teacher asked if this week I would do something about apple trees or farms, so I (of course) "googled" that and found the cutest craft - which I modified, of course. The kids traced their hands with crayon, painted that in with brown paint to serve as the trunk and branches of the trees. Then we tore little pieces of paper to make leaves (note: tearing was a little hard for some of these kindergarteners), glued them onto the trees and then polkadotted some apples onto the trees for a final touch. I love how they came out! My favorite part was sewig the different artistic styles come out... Abstract vs. Literal... Minimalist vs. Extravagent...

More towels

We've got some big news to share which is making me scramble to get
things done around here. These towels are for a friend's kids... They
are 2 of 5 that were commissioned for Christmas gifts...

Finally! Some proof! (studies have shown)

I've said this for years and now I have proof! (says Parents Magazine)