Pumpkin Head & the Vintage Mother-load!

Getting on this new schedule of getting up early and going outside (to take Bri to school), I have been reminded how balmy and beautiful mornings can be! There is definitely a taste of Autumn in the air, and I love it. It is just warm enough to be comfortable, but a nice breeze reminds you to enjoy it while it is still here...before a foot of snow lies on the ground! With all of the Fall/Halloween decor hitting the stores, I have been inspired to finish a project I started a while back. I am quite pleased with it, and hope to have her (plus the kitties and some other goodies) in my etsy store soon!

Without further ado, I now introduce you to Ms. Pumpkin Head!

She is kind of a big girl, at about 2 feet tall. Her bottom is weighted with rice, and I sewed her some "knees" so that her legs can dangle. I have some cute pumkin fabric to make her an apron from, but I was so happy with the way she turned out, I didn't want to wait to share her!

Ms. Pumpkin Head is made from a variety of techniques, mainly sewed. However, her eyes are needle felted with wool roving, and the other details on her face are embroidered ☺ She will make a wonderful Autumnal friend and decoration for someone!

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As I had mentioned a while back, my husband's 90 year old great-aunt is moving from the family home she has lived in her entire life to an assisted living community. Imagine...100+ years of accumulated treasure! She was quite a crafty lady in her day, mainly crocheting, I believe. So yesterday, I was giving a black garbage bag full of 'stuff' of hers. There was no fabric in it, and I will shamefully admit, I almost chucked the bag. BUT I decided to wade through it... boy, am I glad I did! I hit the mother-load on vintage patterns! You name it... doll books, crocheting books, old Simplicity patterns and embroidery patterns.

There was a decent-size stack of these "The Workbasket" magazines, dating from 1962 to the 80's. I can't wait until I get the time to read them! Flipping through them, I found several cute patterns for toys...which is obviously what I enjoy making ☺

Here is an example of a cute toy duck pattern. Obviously, this was in the time before photocopies and printers... they give you a chart at the bottom of the paper, and you have to redraw an enlarged pattern yourself on special "blocked" paper. I remember doing something similar to that in jr high art class!

Here are some animals from a crochet book. My goal really is to learn to crochet SOON! (Bunzi sent me the link of some good tutorials, plus there are some how-to books in this vintage stash.. and if all else fails, I will ask my mom!). There was also an entire set of photocopied instructions to make crocheted, anthropomorphic veggie potholders (celery, onion, carrots, cabbage, etc. etc. etc.). And I believe I also saw a pattern for crocheted hamburgers, hotdogs, and pieces of cake!

Have a great "hump" day!

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It's Monday again

(Bella, with her Brobee toys!)

Whew! I am back after a nutty weekend. On Friday evening, we ended up having a picnic supper in the front yard for 2 year old Bella's actual bday. She was too busy watching the neighbors play with their RC car that she didn't eat much. Saturday's party went great, and the girls had a wonderful time and received a bunch of cute presents (including YGG!). My friend April gave my older daughter a CuttlebugKids thing that cuts out shapes from paper. I am going to help her use it to make some thank you cards, hopefully tonight. I want to teach her to do things like "thank yous" at an early age. It is just a good thing to do when people are kind enough to give you a gift, don't you think?

The evening of the party, we ended up going to a small, nearby town to their Watermelon Festival. The girls rode a couple of rides, then we came home. It sure is hard to get a good pic of a moving carousel!

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Today, Brianna started her first day of preschool. It was a blast for her!! In the 3 hours she was there, Bella and I holed up in the toy room... she played and watched Spongebob, while I embroidered the features on 3 more gray kitten dolls. Then at naptime, I worked on sewing them together. These dolls are causing me tons of grief today... not cooperating like I had hoped! Maybe by tomorrow, I will be at a point where I can ask my crafty readers for some ADVICE!


(On the frontside, they are cute... but flip 'em over, and they look like zombies!)

Lastly, check out this FREE YGG Muno amigurumi pattern!! It is the same lady who sells the YGG patterns on etsy... they are so realistic!Free Muno Amigurumi Pattern

PS: PLEASE take my poll this week on the lefthand side of the page. The question is something that has been bugging me for awhile, and I want to know the general consensus on this issue! Thanks ☺

Oh, I need to learn crochet!!

Quick break in the midst of party-central... I have to say the coolest thing in the world is getting snail-mail! I think that is one of the best parts of buying things from etsy, looking forward to getting a nice package. And buying from a community of really creative people, even the packaging is often a treat!

What a nice surprise to get my little amigurumi set I ordered from MushroomMeadows today! ♥Thanks for the little surprise ♥ Now I am more determined than ever to learn crochet! I first found them after Bunzi commented on my blog, and they have the beginnings of a really cute etsy shop! I am super-curious, though, how Bunzi and MushroomMeadows are connected... are you sisters, roommates, friends, etc.? Maybe I just need to go through the archives of your blogs and figure it out for myself☺

Just a note to them...you should start drawing little doodles and sell them in your shop! The hand-drawn tag was sooo perfect and cute and just made my day ☺

Alright... enough chit-chat! I better commence to cleaning while the napping is still good.

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One down, two to go!

Yesterday was Brianna's 4th bday! I think she had a good day. She received lots of phone calls wishing her a happy birthday, and she got to have her water balloon fight with daddy that she asked for! We went to Pizza Hut for supper, and she just LOVES "dippin bread". After 4 days in a row of going to Walmart at 5 am, they finally got all of the toys out this morning. No Gabba, though :-( Oh well, I am sure we will find them in time for Christmas!

My baby turns 2 tomorrow! Half of the cupcakes have been reserved for her special day. Not sure what to do, since she can't tell us what she wants. BUT... if it is warm and not rainy (like today), maybe I will let them play in the sprinklers. She LOVES that!

I will be spending a deal of time tomorrow getting food ready for the big, joint-party on Saturday. I am making a big pot of the BEST sloppy joes, and another big pot of green beans with bacon and potatoes right from the garden! That way, I can stick these things in crockpots first thing Sat morning, and not have to worry about it. Other than that, there will be hotdogs, chips, Chinese coleslaw, and meat/cheese/veggies. Just inviting our parents and brothers/sisters/nieces/nephews, we end up with around 30+ people. Even a "small" family get-together turns into a big event!

Lots of cleaning (and re-cleaning) have gone on this week, so not a lot of time for craftiness. I did complete my entry into Bunny Creates' "Monthly Makings" contest.

It was fun, and I am loving the finished result! I will wait to post any pics of my entry, so that I don't spoil anything she has planned for her site ☺

This little guy is a prototype of an idea I had after looking at some vintage doo-dads on ebay. Does he look like a hedgehog? I hope so, because that was the intent! LOL Anyway, I whipped him up fairly quickly today, and have changes in mind for the future project in which I plan to use him in!

Good-night, and if I don't post again until after the party... well, just have a good weekend!

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Okay, you got me started!

(My Christmas present to myself... "cuz there's a party in my tummy!")

First off, I want to thank you for your kind comments on the last post. If ever there was a day that warm-fuzzies were needed, it was definitely today! Up at 4:50 am again, and still empty toy shelves at Walmart... then I got the kids ready for pictures, only to have Bella nab a dark brown eyeliner and color all over her legs and bits of her WHITE outfit. It got even better after that, but I will not bore you with the details. So... thanks for the 'pick me up'. ♥♥♥

I am so HAPPY about all of the YGG love! I will admit, I didn't know any of those bands in the pre-YGG time... but I am now totally in love with all the songs from the show. I cannot wait for some kind of season 1 soundtrack. Tomorrow is Bri's bday, and I think the show actually premiered on her bday last year. I was sad that there were no YGG toys out in time for Christmas, so I ended up making them some from fleece and felt:

Funny thing, I submitted this photo to the Nick Jr. YGG photo gallery, and to my knowledge it was never used. Guess they didn't want me giving other crafty-mamas any ideas ;-)

Here is a clock I made for the playroom using a unfinished wooden plate and a clock mechanism (both from Hobby Lobby), the clock template from Nick Jr website, and some cutout letters from my friend's Cricut. Notice the tiny Brobee on the second hand. I ♥ Brobee.

So, thanks for letting me indulge in my YGG obsession with you all! Here's to a better day tomorrow, and some luck in the toy dept at 5 a.m.

This song has been in my head the last two days

Time to smell the flowers

(Some lovely, fragrant flowers that sprung out of my yard this past week... does anyone know what they are called?)

Well, I am back after a tiring weekend. The class reunion was pretty fun and it was good to see 99% of the people there (that 1% of a person acted childish and petty, but I am so beyond that!). My BFF April and her husband and my husband and I rode to the cocktail party on what I refer to as the "phat hoggz". The guys thought they were hot stuff, let me tell ya!

Matt and I on his Harley

April and I on "Reunion Day" (she is wearing higher heels, dang it!)

This is officially "Birthday Week" in this house. Brianna turns 4 on Wed, Bella turns 2 on Friday, and the joint party is on Saturday. It is like a week-long celebration every year! The cake for the party is Wall-E, who the girls are obsessed with right now. I ordered some cupcakes to eat on their actual b-days, as well. SO... basically, an entire week of cake-eating. And to top off the cleaning, planning, cooking, etc., I have been getting up at 4:50 am to go to Walmart to see if the Yo Gabba Gabba toys are on the shelf yet. Walmart is revamping the toy dept for the upcoming Christmas season, and they told me they have pallets-full of new toys they haven't put out yet. They restock during the night hours, and I have to go super-early so I can get home before Matt has to leave for work. *SIGH* And top it off with pictures tomorrow.... I hope I can wrangle them by myself!

Mmmm... tacos!

Tomorrow is my class reunion (10 years!) and I will probably be busy the majority of the weekend. SO... I thought I would share with you a really easy and tasty recipe, perfect for having friends over. A lot of the "mom 'n' pop" diners around here sell homemade fried soft tacos, and they are always a hit. Not sure if it is a regional thing. Does anyone else enjoy these type of tacos? They look hard to make, but they are super-duper easy! Recipe courtesy of my SIL, who gave it to me during my bridal shower recipe drive :-)

Homemade Soft Tacos

4 cups flour

2 tsp salt

2 tsp baking powder

2 Tbsp shortening

1 1/2 cups warm water

Combine flour, salt, and baking powder in a large bowl. Cut in shortening with a knife or pastry blender into in small pieces. Knead in warm water. Once a dough has formed, cover and let sit for 10 minutes.

Prepare your favorite seasoned taco meat. (For a whole recipe, you will need about 2 lbs of meat. For our family of 2 adults/2 kids, I usually halve the recipe and use 1 lb of taco meat, and there is plenty for all!).

Roll pieces of the dough into circles approx. 5-6 inches in diameter (or whatever size you want, really). Heap some of the taco meat down the center of the dough circle. Moisten the edges of the dough, fold in half over the meat, and seal. The tines of a fork or your fingers work well for this.

Gently transfer to a pan hot vegetable oil, and fry on each side until golden brown. Drain on paper towels.... then enjoy! Gently pry the taco open where you sealed it shut, and stuff in cheese, veggies, sauce, etc!

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I went out to Wal-Mart today for a quick second, and accidentally found that they had put these adorable mini-frames on clearance! I have always loved the oval ones, but never bought any. So, at $1 I bought all 7 of them. I think they would make a cute little cluster of family photos, or they would be nice to frame an embroidered or felted do-dad. Even though super tiny, they have the little "leg" to sit on a table, or the flappy thing to hang them on the wall.

These little fancy silver, scrolly frames were also $1... I picked up a couple for a nerdy purpose.

More about that later ☺

Have a GREAT weekend, everyone!

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Ps to Nikki...I hope you mean you got the bear print you wanted!