~Heart Bookmark~

Made recently, for a friend going through cancer:

A tatted heart bookmark. I found the perfect card to go along with it. Praying is all I really can do - but I do hope that the card and bookmark cheered her day.

~Emma and Her Wardrobe~

A long time ago, I participated in Randi's courthouse steps sew-along. Only, I didn't quite finish my project. One day last week, I spied my unfinished project in a stack and decided to bind the edges and give it to my daughter as a blanket for her doll that we gave her for Christmas.

I had some scraps of binding in my bias tape bin, so I sewed those together and bound the edge. I did a sloppy quick job on the binding, but I don't think Emma minds. ;-) Though, I still have two doll blankets from my childhood, so maybe I should have taken more care. Anyhow...it's done! :)

We got the doll, Emma, from JoAnn's. I highly unrecommend these dolls! But we happened to get a good deal on it so we went with it! I also got the shoes at JoAnn's.

I made all the clothing. That was both fun and challenging. Challenging, in that it was hard to make the clothes and keep everything a secret! By night time I was tired and didn't feel like sewing, and it was dangerous to try to sew during my daughter's "quiet time" (which is usually anything but quiet, that's a work in progress!). In fact, one day after my daughter's quiet time, I quickly put all my sewing stuff away, and while I was in the other room she went into my room and spotted the doll on my bed! She asked my husband, "It doesn't have any clothes. Is Mommy making clothes for it?"

But, all got finished in time for Christmas (with two days to spare!). I had to buy velcro and elastic, otherwise I had all the materials and trims to make the clothes.

I used Simplicity 2296 for the lavender tunic and pants, and Simplicity 4347 for everything else. The latter pattern is a reprint of a vintage pattern, so that was fun. :) I did modify some of the directions to make it easier to sew, as well as use velcro (the pattern called for snaps). I didn't want my daughter to be frustrated in getting the clothes on and off!

~Happy Valentine's Day~

Valentine's Day is not the biggest deal around here, but this year I decided to make my daughter a Valentine's skirt. I had the fabric - one yard of fabric with a deep border printed on both sides of the salvage - so I quickly whipped up a very full skirt.

My daughter loves it! So much so, that she's already worn it and I had to run it through the wash yesterday to ensure that she could wear it today!

 

 

I have a feeling that it will get plenty of use, regardless of the holiday-themed print!

~Chocolate Covered Strawberries~

I've been reading The Frugal Girl lately, and she just posted about making chocolate-covered strawberries. And, she got the ingredients at Aldi. Plus, I was going there today. So...what to do but make some for dessert?

They were so good! There were leftovers too, so we'll see how those fare in the fridge!

And on the subject of Aldi: I haven't shopped there for quite a while, but when I started reading Kristen's blog, and saw the different things she was getting, I decided to stop by and try shopping there again. I think my Aldi might not have a very high turnover on their produce, so some of it leaves a little to be desired. But if I'm choosy, I can still get good-quality produce for better prices, so I've been shopping there a bit more if I have the time.

~Hair Bling~

Quite a while back, I asked a "what would you do" type of question on my blog. Gray hair coming in, what should I do??? Well, two years of not pulling my gray hairs nor coloring has given me what I call "hair bling". At this point, I'm honestly not that gray white. It doesn't really show up on pictures otherwise I'd show you. ;-) But I do have quite a few sparkly hairs. They're the length of my hair cut, and multiplying rapidly.

I decided to just let my hair be natural, at least for now. However, I do reserve the right to color my hair if I so wish. ;-) The grays really don't bother me at the moment!

I was talking with my mom a while back and she told me a story of her mom, and how when my mom was a teenager, my grandma ruined an outfit with semi-permanent hair dye because it all rubbed off on her collar. After that, my grandma decided to just let her hair be. I always loved my grandma's hair, especially when she was older. It was so white and pretty! I think, knowing what a beautiful person my grandma was (inside and out), and knowing that she was confident enough to not dye her hair, has helped me make the decision to not dye.

I found this interesting blog post: The History of Hair Color. Looks like women have been dying their hair for thousands and thousands of years. But that doesn't mean I have to. :D

~Steam Mop~

A steam mop is something that I have wanted for a long time. We only have two carpeted rooms in our house, so the thought of using a steam mop rather than a mop and bucket really appealed to me. I decided to use my Christmas money on a steam mop. I looked at the reviews on Amazon, and the one that stood out as the best for my money was the Eureka Enviro steam mop:



When I got it, I was so excited to use it. It cleaned my wood floors so well! I moved on to my kitchen, ignoring the all caps warning: NOT FOR USE ON VINYL STICK-ON TILES. Bah, what was it going to do? I figured I wouldn't keep the mop in one place for long, just in case. While I was mopping, I needed to change the outlet where it was plugged in. I forgot to put the mop on the little tray it comes with. Five minutes after I had finished mopping, I walked through the kitchen and saw a tile peeling off the floor. Great...I guess the warning was for good reason! What were the previous owners thinking when they used those silly tiles anyhow???

Overall, I'm very happy with this mop. The steam works to get stuck-on food and stickers off the floor very well (the random princess stickers, you know...not that I have stickers plastered all over my floor or anything, but occasionally I'll have a rogue princess get stuck to my floor). I love the fact that it cleans with just water, no chemicals or cleaners. Because of the size it doesn't get in tight corners very well, and it doesn't clean the best right by the baseboard (but I suppose that would be true of any mop). It doesn't fit under cupboards, which isn't really an issue for me seeing that I'm not supposed to use it on my kitchen flooring anyhow! LOL My floors feel so much cleaner now!

Please note: links above are my Amazon referral links. I purchased this item with my own money.

~Felt + Glue Gun = Flowers~

I own a glue gun, but it is one of those low-heat ones, so while the glue won't burn you, neither will it stick to much of anything. It's pretty pointless. So needless to say I don't do much "crafting".

At my last MOPS meeting, the craft was flowers. I have made a few flowers out of organza, but not felt. There were three types of flowers demonstrated, and I tried all three, plus a variation on one of them. Fun times!

I have decided a proper glue gun is necessary. Crafting is fun! Especially if you don't burn your fingers....several at my table were passing an ice cube around but thankfully I kept my fingers away from the molten lava. ;-)

I didn't realize till I had glued the last hair clip on, but there were pins at each table too. I would have put a pin on the purple flower so that I could wear it. But it has a hair clip on it and my daughter has happily claimed all four. :-)

~Shop Notes: Cross Bookmarks~

It has been a very long time since I've had anything in my Etsy shop! I decided to list some crocheted cross bookmarks - so head on over and take a look. :)



These bookmarks fit nicely in a card, and will not require extra postage (if mailing just one).