Handmade Father's Day

We unintentionally had a handmade Father's Day this year. For months, Steve had been asking for a peg person of The Stig. Anyone else know who The Stig is? I ordered from a local friend, Lena, who painted our peg family a few years ago. I was completely blown away with the finished product. Way more detailed than I was expecting and so three dimensional looking.

Here's a comparison of the "real" Stig to the wooden version...

Pretty impressive, huh? Now he lives with the rest of the family on our china cabinet. Not really where I thought he'd make his home. Kind of a weird little group here.

Then I also went to Rachel of Moonlight Doodles to order a custom keychain. It says "Papa" in the middle (that's what the girls call Steve) and "loved by Bella & Matea" around the edge. Rachel literally lives just two streets up from me so you can't beat the convenience of this one of a kind gift!

You may have noticed that I haven't listed anything new in my shop for a while. I've been working from home part-time for a few months now and just recently had the opportunity to increase my hours. While I'd love to keep sewing for Crafty Mama Creations' shop, Etsy sales are low and my other job is a guaranteed income. I may list something once in a while but I'm really taking the pressure off of myself to list regularly and I'm going to actually use some of my beautiful fabric stash on projects for my own family.

I picked up these patterns yesterday to make some things for Bella. They say "Learn to sew: Pattern & Instructions ideal for tweens". I'm almost 32 so these should work for me, right? Let the record reflect that if you never see finished projects posted for these patterns, it's because I failed miserably and don't want you to know I am less skilled than a 12 year old.

Why?

Why all the Chinese comments all of the sudden? About a month ago, I randomly started getting comments in Chinese on several posts. I have the word verification feature set up for comments so it can't be spammers, right? Any ideas?

SALE

Zippers!

Two bags this weekend with zipper closures!
And to think, just a short time ago, I thought zippers were only for the skilled seamstress. I'm about as unskilled as you can get!

I've had that black Michael Miller fabric forever. After my trip to Ikea and organizing my stash, I realized I have yard after yard of brown fabric and hardly any black. I'm thinking I'll definitely have to include some black damask in my next fabric order.

I love the bright orange and turquoise on the second bag and just might have to keep it for myself. I really like the size of that bag style and how feminine the shape is.

Today marks day one of our summer vacation. I took the girls to the park this morning and got them to clean their room so I think I'll mark today as a success. I'm kind of anti-social and have a tendency to hang out a lot at home but I know the girls will gouge each other's eyes out if we don't get out of the house this summer. Drive-in tonight to see "Shrek", strawberry picking tomorrow, free movie on Wednesday, and working on a garden on Thursday...that should be enough activity for the whole summer, right?

Local Ladies

Today, my big girl graduated from kindergarten.

I don't think Bella's ever looked more grown up and beautiful.

It's like she aged over night. And I cried about it on the way to buy her cinnamon rolls this morning. I feel like she was just a newborn and tomorrow I'm going to wake up and be sending her off to college and wonder where the time went. I love seeing my girls grow up and am so happy I get to spend so much time with them as a work at home mom, but it just feels like time is moving way too quickly.

Bella definitely had a special day today with lots of attention and surprises (Grandma, Great-Grandma, and Auntie Devin surprised her at graduation!). Two of her most special gifts were some items made by local moms.

The cheery dress came from Emily at Blue Corduroy. She makes dresses using a combination of vintage sheets and new fabrics. This dress was absolutely perfect for Bella's personality and so well made. I love it!

And here's the adorable necklace I mentioned in a recent post.

Bella was so happy to have her own personalized necklace. Even though it's "grown up jewelry", it still looks dainty and sweet on her little 6 year old body. I love working with Rachel at Moonlight Doodles and can't say enough about how nice she is.

I hope your summer has gotten off to a great start. I'm looking forward to a relaxing weekend with lots of sewing and maybe a trip or two to the beach.

New Style

Most important bit of info....zipper closure.

I used the Pretty Pinafore pattern from U-handbag.

I really like the end result but found the pattern a little hard to follow. I think I'm use to pdf patterns that treat me like I'm 6 years old and sewing my first item. I like that. I think I need that.

This pattern definitely assumes some sewing knowledge. Knowledge that I don't have. But I was mostly hoping to learn a few new skills and I did (like the super easy zipper!). So, I think I'll modify a few things and definitely use the pattern again. It's listed in my shop for $45:)

Just Because It Makes Me Laugh

It's like she's a 15 year old sad Emo kid with jet black hair who thinks her parents are stupid and is bored by everything.

Except she's really an almost four year old brown eyed cutie modeling a sweet little apron for her mama who she really, really loves.

Sew Mama Sew-New Winner

Well, I never heard from Carol so I used random.org to choose a new winner this morning. The new winner of the Katie Bag is...

audrey said...

The favorite thing I've ever made was my pinwheel quilt. Great giveaway!

May 17, 2010 10:34 AM

Audrey, please email me you address by Wednesday or I'll pick yet another winner. You can find my email address over there -----> in the side bar.

Paso Robles Baby and Childrens Fair

Today was my first time doing this event. I did the San Luis Obispo Birth and Baby Fair two years ago and was fairly successful so at the last minute (just a week and a half ago) I decided to give this event a try. Not as successful.

It wasn't a total bust but I noticed a few things. First, for a baby and children specific event, there really weren't very many babies and kids there. Also, very few activities for kids even though it was promoted as a very kid-oriented event. Traffic was super light all day, maybe because it was 100 freakin degrees. I had anticipated feeling near death for most of the day but really, only the last hour was sweltering.

So, at the end of the day, I hadn't sold one bag. Not one! I sold lots of toddler aprons (thanks for the fabulous pattern, Jona!), some hair clips, and all of the dolls. I got so many compliments on my bags and lots of "almost" purchases but no takers. It was kind of weird. But, that means I have 5 or 6 new bags to list in my shop tomorrow (look closely at the pictures and you might spot a few of them).

I also successfully did a trade with a local mom and ordered Bella a beautiful necklace for her kindergarten graduation gift next week. Rachel is super nice, great to work with, and has fabulous big, curly, red hair. Bella's getting a necklace with a circle charm, her name and a tiara stamped on it, and a pink crystal. She'll love it! You should definitely check out Rachel's shop, she has some really cute stuff.

Be sure to check my shop later tonight or tomorrow for new items. Now that today's event is behind me, I'll be back to listing more regularly and looking for the next event that may be a good fit for Crafty Mama.

Hey Carol!

You won the Sew Mama Sew Giveaway but I still haven't gotten an email from you with your shipping address. Please email me by the end of the weekend or I'll be picking a new winner. Thanks!

15 minute altered t-shirt

I saw Anthropologie linked on three different blogs this week (literally). Believe it or not, I had never looked at the site and have never been to the store so I didn't get what all the fuss is about. Then, I got sucked into all of the ruffles, pleats, flowers and other feminine details and started planning my dream wardrobe.

So, on Sunday morning, before meeting friends for breaky, I did a 15 minute Anthro-inspired ruffle alteration.

Started with a nice Lands End tshirt that I never wear even though I like the color a lot. I cut a 1 1/2" wide strip of fabric and serged the edges, ruffled it up and then just sewed onto the tshirt with the strips getting shorter in length as I worked my way down. Here's a close up...

I really like the way it turned out and plan to alter a few more shirts. I think it looks a lot more special than a plain ole tshirt (like I'm wearing today) but not hokey handmade. There's a fine line, you know.

This week is super duper crazy at Crafty Mama Creations. I'm busy preparing for a Baby and Children's Fair this Saturday in addition to my regular sewing for my part-time job. Of course, I also have to make sure everyone has clean underwear and at least gets Lucky Charms or something similar for dinner (that's for you Beth H.!). I've been whipping up lots of new inventory and will share pics later this week. Of course, anything that doesn't sell on Saturday will be added to the shop by Sunday so definitely check in this weekend.