Candy-O, I need you so...

Did you survive Halloween? We had a good time partying it up the weekend before, but I'm always left wanting more, especially when it falls on a weeknight. I love Halloween, but we are those, "weird parents" who don't really eat or give our 2 year old candy, so that pretty much leaves us with nothing to do but carve pumpkins on the holiday itself. While our community has a few cool events we go to, they are always the weekend before & the older littlemaneel gets, the more weary I grow of the confused, sometimes dirty looks we get from the dressed up attendants when we refuse the candy. Look folks, I'm sure there will come a day when our child will eat some candy, ok. All we are saying is, he's 2 & he's got the rest of his life to eat candy. If it makes you feel better, we do allow him to eat fair trade, organic dark chocolate chips from time to time. Long story short, as soon as littlemaneel is old enough, I think we'll start hosting Halloween parties on the night of Halloween (don't go thinking they'd be lame-I'm talking bonfires, bobbing for apples, hot cider, smores & more)! Here he is in his, "mom's original idea was way too involved, so at the last minute she cranked this one out" T-Rex costume. 

So Halloween has come & gone & now we're less than 2 weeks away from Thanksgiving! We're lucky enough to have gotten our goods into a great new local shop & our stuff has actually been selling rather well! With two weeks away & counting from Small Business Saturday (& Black Friday), we've been steadily building & restocking inventory. Check out our new Fancy Little Pillows...

Ok, so it hasn't all been profit based crafting. Here's a t-shirt I just had to make for littlemaneel. While it isn't for sale, I suppose it could be. 

I am being beckoned as there are lots of things that still must be sewn, cut & glued this weekend, so I must go. Until next time!

i'm more at home in my galaxie......

happy friday folks! halloween is fast approaching & i am rushing to finish costumes. worked on mine last night & produced these galaxy pants for my meteor costume. a friend is having a halloween party with a "vs" theme. i've known since february of this year that littlemaneel would have to be a dinosaur for halloween because of his ever-growing love of them. after being invited to this party, papaeel & i thought about what the ultimate dinosaur vs match would be & decided on a meteor. gotta get back to making, hope all your halloween crafting is done or coming along!

here's the link to the leggings that inspired mine. i tweaked it a bit, but you'll get the gist!

http://vintageedge.wordpress.com/2012/08/03/diy-galaxy-leggings/

heroes & villians...

99 cent splurge at goodwill. i couldn't resist.

hey mama wolf.....

fridays are pretty great because i get to spend the whole day with littlemaneel. we make the most of the time he is awake & i make the most of the time he is asleep (yes, he still naps-thank goodness). today, i introduced him to one of my favorites from my childhood. he's gonna need his own record player soon. still searching for that perfect vintage portable one (whatever happened to my old one???)....

dedicating some craft time to myself today. i found this shirt while rummaging at a church sale & considered cutting it up to make multiple usamimi's as the material is perfect for those, but i just love the pattern too much & have decided to keep it for myself. it's a little big, so my first sewing project of the day is to make it fit! and then i'll give the rest of my time to the stack of work's in progress....

i'll be sure to post pics of the outcome. wish me luck!

making time...

i don't know about you, but i am forever running out of time! between working & everyday tasks, it's hard to get stuff to sell made! well, unless you give up sleep & that just can't happen. i need all the energy i can get! toddlers require a ready-to-go parent at all times! 

papaeel & i were able to allocate a few hours last week to punching out & stamping over 100 picks (we were only able to sand about a dozen). we found perfect sized pick bags at our local crafty store & papaeel has been working on packaging design. here are a few of my favorite picks...

i put the stamps that have been acquiring dust in my craft closet to work. the wood grain one hasn't seen the light of day since making our wedding invitations & that was in 2007! i love those & the fortune teller ones. i inked the stamp (StazOn is a fast drying solvent ink that will adhere to plastic), placed it ink side up on the table, then placed the picks on where i wanted. i think these will make for nice & unique pick sets. 

one of my life-long friends is pregnant with twins. they were a beautiful & happy family of 3, but they decided to try one more time as she's always wanted a little girl. well, they're getting their girl alright-and times two!! i always get excited to make girly things & this time i got to go twice as girly! i decided i'd make her a twin-sized tummy time mat. i remember wanting one for littlemaneel when he was babyeel & after seeing one a friend had, i knew i could make a decent version myself & for under the $40 i saw most going for. the end result was perfect & i've gone on to make many for friends & family. this was my first, "double-wide." here it is all sprawled out.

a close up of the pillow & the crinkly chew toy i made. 

& here it is, all rolled up & ready to travel!

of course i had to make headbands! i've made & sold bow tie headbands, but these were a little different as they would be worn by newborns. i used FOE(fold over elastic) usually found with PUL fabric & used in diaper making. it's soft elastic & wouldn't squeeze too tightly on a little head. i had a bit left over & put it to good use. i had to package them up, they were so cute!

here are two i made to match the onesies i made them. they are simple floral headbands made from a small piece of purple knit i had lying around. again, knit is a good fabric for baby headbands, cause it won't squash the brain!

last but not least, the onesies. "who's who?" for twin girls. we are super excited to meet these little bundles of joy! littlemaneel just loves babies!

about the movies....

papa & i actually went out ALONE! it was so weird, but good too. littlemaneel had a blast getting smoothies & then shooting hoops at chuck e cheese with two fun-loving gals, but was ready for mama by the time the movie was over. i was ready for him too.

the last movie papaeel & i went to (pre-littlemaneel) was fantastic mr. fox, so it was fitting that the first movie we saw sans child (& in nearly 3 years) was moonrise kingdom. come to think of it, our first date movie was the royal tennenbaums..... obviously we're huge wes anderson fans & after having to wait over a month after it's initial release in select cities, it finally made it to our town! first adult movie in a theatre in 3 years & we were not disappointed! if it's made it to your town & you haven't yet, make a point to see it. the man will see that all of your visual needs are met. i liked the move to the outdoors & the adorable & mischievous sam shukusky. he reminded me of a young sean lennon. bill murray always sweetens the deal too...

conduit for sale!

papaeel's non-homemade father's day gift finally arrived earlier this week! he is forever searching for a pick & since littlemaneel has been old enough, he's loved nothing more than finding picks & putting them in hollow body openings, down vent grates, or in secret places around his playroom. i first saw the pick punch on pinterest late last year & was intrigued as all one needed was an old gift card or the like & wah-lah, you could make a pick in one punch! a genius creation that i actually forgot about until recently. papaeel has been jamming with friends regularly these last few months & the need for picks has become more & more prevalent. late one night after papaeel had gone to jam, i was straightening up & thinking about what the perfect gift would be this year. i just so happened to find a pick in the couch cushions & suddenly it came to me, "the PICK PUNCH!!" i immediately got online & began to search. no one in town carried it, so i ordered it online. you can purchase the pick punch from a few places, but i decided why not go with the source & bought it directly from the creator via www.pickpunch.com. we bought a few sheets of delrin too, but are still in need of proper ink before we can design our one of a kind picks (they also sell the ink, but i was sure the pigment ink we had would work-it didn't). if they turn out well, maybe we'll even sell a few at the record store! stay tuned for DIY picks to come........

garage sales can be great, can't they? littlemaneel & i went out deal hunting with grandma & found a sweet spot on the edge of my sister's small town with tons of stuff & everything 1/2 price! i hit the motherload of vintage crafting books & even scored a nice collection of classic poems & a vintage book of children's fairy tales too. i walked away with an arm load & all for a whopping 35 cents!! these little vintage embroidery booklets are delightful!

child is the father of the man....

has it really been 8 months since i last posted?? wow! that's nearly long enough to cook a baby in a belly oven (fyi-that's not what we've been doing)! we've just been busy working, playing, making, pinning & the like. so, today is father's day. i was really hoping to post this freezer paper stencil tutorial before today, in case those of you out there would like to make your own father/husband, etc.. a matching father's day tee, but i'm a procrastinator & it was hard to get done without papaeel realizing what i was posting. i suppose if you're a procrastinator like me, this is probably perfect timing!


were you aware that if you cut freezer paper down to a 8 1/2 x 11 sheet, you can put it (shiny side up) right into your printer & print on it? this is a recent discovery for me & after countless stencils i've made out of freezer paper with a regular piece of paper with the image printed on it under the freezer paper, i'm uber happy to save paper & a step!


before you print, you must decide what image it is you want on your tee. it took me a minute to decide as there were many potential tees papaeel would love. i considered a nod to one of our favorite movies, the royal tennenbaums & making a tee with royal on it for papaeel & then another with richie "the baumer" on it for babyeel (we could probably start referring to him as littlemaneel, because he is getting further & further away from being a baby). i decided i would make them matching melvins tees. we love the melvins (even littlemaneel can't resist rocking out to them whenever they're on)! we actually got to see them live last month & oddly enough got to meet king buzzo himself! there was no parking near the venue, other than at walgreens & we decided to be blatant sign ignorers & park in their lot anyway. as we were getting our tickets ready a car pulled into the lot & parked right next to us. when i looked over, i noticed the driver was none other than king buzzo! he was so gracious & even let us capture his image on camera! (yes, we could've further helped support the band by buying tees directly from them, but at $20 a pop, we decided $40 would fill our tank to get home & even pay for a late night meal, so we skipped out on the amenities)

so, pick your image & print it directly onto the dull side of your freezer paper (my image was ready to go. should you decide to use a more detailed image-such as a person, you may need to edit your image to make it black & white or use the stamp effect in photoshop). once printed, take your trusty xacto blade (mine has a swivel head, perfect for curves & details) & cut out your stencil. my original image had blocks around the letters-which i love, but made more difficult for this stencil, so i just decided to ignore those blocks & cut out the letters.

once it's completely cut out, you're ready to iron your stencil to your shirt (i jumped the gun & forgot to take pics until after i printed the first shirt-normally your stencil wouldn't have paint stains on it when it's first cut like the one shown below).

decide what colors you want your image to be. i just went with the colors the image already was (okay, so i couldn't help but make myself one too, hence the blue color shown. i made mine a different color & on a different colored tee, so as not to interfere w/the father & son matching tees). you can use fabric paint as i did, or acrylic paint. i used a foam brush for each color & brushed on an even coat. i only did one coat, but feel free to do another if you so choose.

let the paint dry completely, then remove your stencil & iron it onto your next shirt & your ready to paint your next tee! i was not able to find an exact match tee for littlemaneel, so i had a tim gunn moment & i made it work. the shirt i used for papaeel came in a pack, so i just cut up a 2nd tee to make an exact match for my little guy. i've never been one to use a pattern (except for my wedding/bridesmaid dresses) & so i just used an existing tee of H's as a pattern. i think it looks pretty decent!

here are my matching dudes! i love them! happy father's day!