Bobbityboo

So Much To Do....

2010-03-12T06:46:00.001-08:00

...SO LITTLE TIME!

Taking a little BLOGGY BREAK here.

I need to take a deep breath, step back and sort through everything I have piled on my plate.

Making Things Fun

2010-03-11T06:48:00.000-08:00

It's important to me to keep things fun around here. I find that if I can laugh and joke with the kids that they are more apt to be respectful, help me out when needed and it makes home a good place to be. You don't have to be a grumpy, mean mom to get what you want out of your kids!!!

I thought you might get a kick out of trying this little April Fools day trick that I pulled on the kids last year. A couple of times a week I make a special after school snack. It usually just sits on the counter all afternoon (since our kids all get home at different times). Here's what I did.

A "REAL" SPONGE CAKE

I put sponges in a cake pan, frosted them and put sprinkles on them, then I tried not to giggle as I watch each of the children try to cut a piece. We refrosted and resprinkled after each child tried to dig in. It was more fun as the day went on because by the time the last person tried to get a piece of cake the whole family was in on the trick.

APRIL FOOLS!

Butterfly Palooza

2010-03-09T06:41:00.000-08:00

I'm a believer in positive thinking, in the fact that your thoughts create your future, so today I'm thinking.....butterflies, butterflies, butterflies, and hoping for SPRING!!!!

Let's start with this adorable little girls necklace made by Brandi at Rosie Rosies. I'm sure they're out there, but this is the first time I've seen a statement necklace for a little girl. Makes me think I need to make a skirt to match!

I never get tired of the great idea's over at lollychops. What little gal wouldn't love this in her room?

How about this cute butterfly punch art by Ali Edwards. Although this isn't a new idea, I love that she used magazines instead of scrapbook paper. Wouldn't this be cute with the butterflies cut out of vintage children's books?

Love, love, love this butterfly wedding bouquet by Martha.

In fact, forget the wedding bouquet, I may just have to make one of these to put in a pretty vase in my entry way. GORGEOUS!

And The Winner Is....

2010-03-08T09:04:00.001-08:00

#52, The Tinsley Family
True Random Number Generator Min: Max: Result: 52 Powered by RANDOM.ORG

I will let Kami from Sweet Charli know and she will get with you to work out the details.
CONGRATULATIONS!

The Love List

2010-03-05T13:18:00.000-08:00

Oh my goodness....what a fun morning! I've had the heebie-geebies all week long worrying about this Studio5 spot I was asked to participate in and it ended up being the funnest, funnest thing....not scary at all (once I was there)!

Every month Studio5 presents it's "Love List" ... local products that they love. Here is a peek at the segment if you missed it.

It was such a cool experience to get to see the behind the scenes action. Everyone was so nice. I would do it again in a heartbeat!

All of the products on todays show were things that would be great to give as baby gifts, there were some really cute things, and some super creative ladies sharing them. Here are some links if you want to take a peek.

Snuggly, yummy baby bunting by HotchPotch Girls,
Little Stinker Butt Spray (cracks me up...oops, no pun intended)
Adorable little crocheted baby booties by Curious Workmanship

Somebody Else's Cute Stuff

2010-03-04T08:20:00.000-08:00

I haven't had any time to do my own crafty playing this week so I thought I'd link you over to somebody else's fun stuff. I have been trying to lay off the sugar and can I just say that when I saw this little caterpiller dude over at food art party I could almost taste him. He's pretty good too!!!

Tami, the blog mama, over at Food Art Party has a blog chock full of "FREE" cupcake liners. You might want to hop over and take a look, she's pretty good with all that pixel/computer artsy kind of stuff. That's something I would love to learn how to do!

It's About Love

2010-03-03T06:59:00.001-08:00

I've mentioned before that I am an adoptive mother. Both of our amazing, sweet, fun sons came to us from someone else's tummy! My little Nate likes to say that my tummy is broken, sometimes that happens. You may wonder, "Well, what about those girls she has?". We wonder too, we honestly don't know how they got here...babies aren't something we are supposed to be able to do. People have asked me what it's like to have biological children and adopted children. Everyone wonders if you love them the same. The answer is YES! There is not one teeny, tiny difference in the love I have for my kids...it is exactly the same, fierce, scary, mother bear kind of love! So.....why am I telling you this? Because I'd like to introduce you to my friend Cyd and her adorable little family. They are looking for a little sister for their boys to love and protect. There's nothing like a big brother!

Ryan and Cyd have the two most adorable little boys, Noah and Jaxon. Like me, Cyd's tummy is now broken, yet they feel like they have more to give and would love to add a little girl to their family. Once in a while there is a birth mother who wants her child to have big brothers and sisters, this is the kind of family the Jones' can provide. Ryan is an awesome, involved daddy (he coaches all of their sons teams) and Cyd' is just the cutest, sweetest mom, teaching those boys to grow up to be good men. If you happen to know anyone thinking about placing a baby girl for adoption have them take a peek at Ryan and Cyd's profile. Every day I thank Heavenly Father for our sweet birth mom's, who put their babies before themselves and gave them the chance at a better life.

Not flesh of my flesh,

nor bone of my bone,

But still miraculously my own.

Child never forget,

Even for a single moment,

You didn't grow under my heart,

but in it.

Peanutbutter Bliss

2010-03-01T18:39:00.000-08:00

Today on Studio5 (I know, I know, another one of those dang Studio5 posts!!) they celebrated National Peanut Butter Lovers Day. I'm all over those crazy national holidays....last year we celebrated nat'l jellybean day, nat'l french fry day and nat'l donut day at our house! In honor of this very special day I would like to share with you one of my families favorite peanut butter recipes. I found this recipe on the blog Stephanie's Kitchen about a year ago. It has been a fav of the fam's ever since. Give her a try!!! Click here to visit Stephanie's Kitchen.

Sweet Charli Giveaway

2010-02-28T20:04:00.001-08:00

Let me introduce you to

SWEET CHARLI

another new Utah business that made me stop and look.

Why did I stop and look? Well.... there's just enough of a twist

to their products that it made me think, "Hmmm, clever, why

didn't I think of that?"

Twisted flowers out of printed fabric....

fabric ball necklaces with an attached flower....

Flower belts, but they are thick, rather than thin.

I like it when people take a trend and put a twist to it.

Sweet Charli is offering the chance to win one of the above necklaces simply for checking out their wares.

All you have to do is:

Visit their blog and tell me what you like

My followers get an extra entry.

If you would like more than two entries you can:
Become a fan of Sweet Charli on Facebook
Link to Sweet Charli on your blog
Follow their blog

Make sure you leave a comment for each entry

DON'T FORGET TO PUT YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS IN ONE OF THE COMMENTS

(giveaway ends Sunday 3/7)

Meet My Best Friend

2010-02-25T20:03:00.000-08:00

I'd like you to meet my best friend... the rolled hem foot! Love this little gadget!!! The only problem is that sometimes getting her started is a little tricky. She likes to fiddle faddle around with the bobbin thread. Some times it takes her a good inch or inch and a half to get her groove on.

The other day I was getting a little mad at her (friends sometimes do that), when I realized that all I had to do was put a piece of paper under the fabric to get her going from the very start. In the above picture I used a piece of a grocery sack, worked great....no more troubles!

We're best friends again.....sigh :)

Lil Bo Peep Is In The Building

2010-02-25T14:08:00.000-08:00

This is my little friend Katie....blue eyes to die for by the way...modeling "Lil Bo Peep" for you. I know you saw a little sneak peek last week, but I just had to share the finished product (because Katie is so stinkin' cute and because a real girl makes my skirts 1,000 times cuter)! I've had this pattern swimming around in my head for a couple of months now. It's funny how those things keep me from sleeping. I finally had to make it so that it would stop buggin' me at 2:00 am. This little skirt is now in the shop and unlike my other skirts it comes with its own iron on birdie applique. I'm hoping that with all those birdies spring will get the hint and come already!!!

Floral Wristband

2010-02-24T16:02:00.001-08:00

Tired of wearing your headbands on your head?

How about wrapping them around your wrist.

My daughters LOVE shopping at thrift stores. Erika bought this old crepe dress from the DI a couple of weeks ago. We fixed the neck to be more modest and shortened the sleeves. I decided to make her a floral headband with the left over fabric from the sleeves (kind of like the one in this old tutorial).....she decided to wear it as a wristband instead!

Apparently it got a lot of oooh's and aaaah's at the Jr High!

I love how kids these days dare to do different, funky things with their clothes, I NEVER would have dared to be different when I was 15!

Oh My Heck! ....that's Utah for "get out!!!!!"

2010-02-24T01:45:00.000-08:00

Let me preface this post by saying that I don't have a cool bone in my body!

Most people would have the ability to be all cool and nonchalant about this, but I just couldn't be cool if I tried.... so I'm not even going to try. I got an email yesterday from a producer at Studio5 telling me they'd like to feature my shop on their "things we love" segment in a couple of weeks! I am so excited! Studio5, for you non-Utahn's, is kind of like the Martha Stewart Show for local crafters. If you follow many Utah craft blogs you will read things like this all the time, "saw the cutest thing on studio5 today, can't wait to try it" or "learned how to make monkey bread on studio5 today". So, do you want to hear the extremely mature and nonchalant way I began my return email to said producer? Here it is....

"GET OUT!!! Really?"

(like I said, not a single cool bone)

Alice & The Queen All Done

2010-02-23T14:16:00.000-08:00

Hope those little dollies have fun at the premier!

Design Audition For Letty

2010-02-22T12:30:00.001-08:00

Letty....."Alice" is done and looks so sweet and cute, but I want a little more input on little miss "Queenies" skirt. I know you wanted it more understated, so tell me which of the following three you prefer (there are only two pictures, I just wrote down what idea #2 is).

Would be all black (the fabric is a black on black small floral print) with the white ruffle, as per our convo. I would add a big red heart shaped pin, so that you could take it off for regular wear.
Would be the same as #1, except that the bottom border would be a red on red floral print. (from far away it just looks red, close up you can see the flowers).
This one would use the same fabrics as above but I would round the ruffle up to meet in the middle front. Same heart shaped pin.

Let me know what you think and I will get on that tomorrow morning!

FYI...Another Giveaway!

2010-02-22T09:45:00.000-08:00

Have you guys ever visited Tatertots and Jello? Love it...one of my fav's!

Sweet Jen, the Mommy of that blog, is hosting a gieaway for me this week. If your interested you'll want to hop on over for sure. And if your not interested :) you'll still want to hop over because she's one creative gal!

Alice and the Queen

2010-02-21T18:20:00.001-08:00

I'm always up for a good challenge, in fact I love it when customers ask me if I can make something that they've had swimming around in their minds. I've got a customer who is taking her daughters to the Hollywood premier of Alice In Wonderland. She asked if I could make her two skirts, one that looks like Alice's (easy) and one that looks like the Queen of Hearts. The trick is that she doesn't want them to look costumey. I'm excited to try to figure out how to turn the queens outlandish skirt into a cute little girls skirt (not costume). Very fun!

Sneak Peek For Kathy

2010-02-19T11:58:00.000-08:00

Kathy.... I am so excited about how this turned out that I can't even wait for the whole outfit to be finished to show you. Oh my goodness, it just tickles me! I will work on the top this weekend and we'll do our little photoshoot next week!

FYI... this little skirt will be in my shop in the next week or so for anyone interested. Keep your eyes peeled :)

Polka dot Shamrock - Tutorial

2010-02-19T08:13:00.000-08:00

I recently had a customer ask me if I could make a shamrock to go on her daughters skirt instead of the usual flower. My answer was, "Sure, I don't know how I'll do it, but it will be fun to figure it out!" And sure enough.... it was fun figuring it out. Now that it's "figured out", I might as well share and let you have some fun with it too.
You will need:
green fabric
thread and needle
Clover yoyo maker is optional
(Clover is the brand, not the shape. They do have a shamrock shaped yoyo maker but I thought it looked more like a flower than a shamrock. I think the heart shaped one works better.)

Make 3 heart shaped yoyo's
If you're using the yoyo maker just follow the instructions.
(obviously)

When you take it off of the yoyo maker it looks like this, so I'm thinking you could just stitch around the edge of a heart shaped piece of fabric if you didn't want to get the yoyo maker.

At this point you'll want to just pull on the thread to gather the heart into....

...a smaller, rufflier version of itself!

Lay 2 of the hearts (RIGHT SIDES TOGETHER) and hand stitch them together. Begin about 1/3 of the way down and go all the way to the point at the bottom.

This is why I wrote RIGHT SIDES TOGETHER in all caps!

OOPS....just keepin' it real. Time out while I unpick and try again.

There we go, much better. Do the same thing with the 3rd heart.

You're almost done.

For the stem you will want a rectangle approximately 2.5 x 2 inches big.

Fold it in half so that the shorter ends are meeting.

Fold the two ends in a little bit. That way you only have one raw edge and that will eventually be beneath a little circle of felt.

Starting at one end, roll the piece of fabric into a stem.

Like so.

Hand stitch all the way down the back of the stem.

Then stitch the stem onto the back of the shamrock.

And there you go.... a polka dot shamrock!

To finish it off just add a circle of felt to the back. I added a pin, since they were going on skirts, but you could do so many different things with these. You could make a giant one for your door, put a bunch on a wreath, decorate napkin holders with them...just all kinds of things!

HAVE FUN!

MIA

2010-02-16T06:48:00.000-08:00

Dear Blog,

So much to do....so little time! Custom orders backing up. Family room totally torn apart awaiting new paint (by me, not a worker guy) before furniture comes tomorrow. Somethings got to give, looks like it's gonna be you.

Love,
Me
PS...shop closed this week too.

A Little House

2010-02-13T08:19:00.001-08:00

When I saw this giveaway on Tatertots and Jello, I thought of you and all of your cute little kiddo's! My kids are way too big for one of these, but yours are just right. Run on over here if you're interested.

Who wouldn't want a "blue bird cottage"

or a "cupcakery"?

Winner!

2010-02-12T21:09:00.000-08:00

And the winner is....

minishoes1

comment #12

Chosen by random.org

Leigh will be contacting you via email.

CONGRATULATIONS!

And Yet Another Doll!

2010-02-12T16:42:00.000-08:00

Sadie's Sweet Bloomers!

I love this picture of her (can't see the bloomers, but the frosting on the toes is to die for)!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SADIE!

2010-02-12T06:49:00.000-08:00

Last day for the zpper headband giveaway.

I'd get on that if I were you!

(click picture on the left)

Adding To My Collection Of......

2010-02-11T18:54:00.000-08:00

DOLLS!!!

(sigh)

Choices For Angie

2010-02-10T14:11:00.001-08:00

Angie.... here are some onesies I made today.

Choose which 3 you want (put it in the comments section)

and then I will get them in my shop!

Post script: OK, so I'm looking at these and you can't really tell what color they are. #1 navy blue, #2 dark brown background, # 3 obvious, #4 brown background, #5 brown background.

No TV????

2010-02-09T19:07:00.001-08:00

Last Saturday our two youngest decided they weren't

going to watch TV all day (it didn't last, I'm pretty sure I

remember hearing Sponge Bob by 4:00 or so). They

had great intentions though, and made this big long

list of things they would do together. Among the

adventures was "make crayons".

HERE'S WHAT THEY DID.....

They unwrapped a bunch of broken crayons

Broke them and separated them into little condiment cups.
They then melted them in the microwave.
VERY, VERY HOT...this is a big kid or mommy job.

They started with one color, poured a little in the bottom of
each mold and let it set for a few minutes before they
poured the next color.

....and this is what they ended up with!

TV IS WAY OVERRATED!!!

Latest Trend...and a giveaway

2010-02-07T20:06:00.000-08:00

Here in Utah we have this daytime talk show called Studio5.

It's a crafty, DIY kind of show that often highlights the latest

trends in the creative/artsy world. Last week they did a little

spot on using zippers as embellishments. I thought...."Hmmm,

that's a new one to me!" Then what do you know, just like that,

I started seeing them everywhere!

That afternoon I took Liesl to the mall to get a dress and shoes

for the Sweetheart's dance, check out the shoes she fell in love with.

Yep, zippers! As we walked out to the car we passed a kiosk

filled with leather purses that were embellished with....

yep, zipper flowers. That night I searched etsy to see what

was going on in etsyland where zippers were concerned

and sure enough.....

I found zippers!

An unbelievable statement piece at Believe In Happy

(love that shop name!)

A big beautiful zipper brooch (love the leaf) from Handcraft USA

and last, but not least, a sweet demure little
zipper flower headband from Feathered Whimsy.
So ingenious....I wonder who comes up with this stuff?

HERE COMES THE GIVEAWAY PART!

You know I'm all about giving a nod to new etsy shops
and I'm kinda partial to new etsy shops from Utah.
So....guess what? Leigh from Feathered Whimsy just
happens to be a Utah girl and her shop is brand spankin'
new. She would like to give my readers the chance to win.....

The sweet little zipper flower headband pictured above.
So, here's how to enter:

Just hop over to her shop and check out all of her cute stuff.
Come back here and leave a comment letting me know
what your favorite item at Feathered Whimsy is.

My followers (as usual) get a second chance to win,
just for being awesome!! So, leave an extra comment
if you're a follower as well.

DON'T FORGET TO LEAVE AN EMAIL WHERE WE CAN REACH YOU IF YOU WIN!

GOOD LUCK!
(giveaway ends friday 2/12 at 10:00 mountain time)

Giveaway!

2010-02-06T12:25:00.000-08:00

Thought you all might like to know that Etsy Interviews is giving something from my shop away!

Sneek Peek For Emily

2010-02-05T17:10:00.001-08:00

Just as we suspected Emily.....ADORABLE!

It will be in the mail tomorrow.

More Family Fun!

2010-02-05T10:23:00.000-08:00

Remember the "gotcha pillow" from Christmas time?

If not, click the link and go to the bottom of that post to see

what we did with the pillow.

Well, in honor of the holiday of love (which by the way

I think is kind of silly, shouldn't we say I love you

everyday?)..... I've resurrected the

"gimmick", as my kids call it, in another form.

Last year I made these little hearts to hang from our light during our Valentine's Day dinner. This year I gathered them up into a bunch and tied the yarn into a loop at the top so that they can hang on a doorknob.

It's pretty much the same thing,
different item, as the "gotcha pillow".

Who ever has the hearts hanging on their bedroom
doorknob has 1 day to do a kind deed for someone
else in the family. When they have done that deed
they hang the hearts on the recipients doorknob
and so we go again.

HERE'S TO LOVE!

Picture Perfect

2010-02-03T08:42:00.000-08:00

I love it when I get to see my work all finished and hanging on an adorable little child. If this little guy doesn't "make the world a cuter place to live" then I don't know who does! This picture was sent to me by Tiffany Hix, one of Boise's premier photographers. Her work is stunning! You can check it out at tiffanyhix.com. If you are from the Boise area, make sure you click on her blog for info on photography classes. I would if I lived there!

Creative Chaos

2010-02-02T11:09:00.000-08:00

I'm a fly by the seat of my pants, toss my scraps over my shoulder kind of gal! My creativity thrives in the middle of chaos. I try to clean my sewing room once a week (I know Mom, I should put it away right after I use it). It takes about 3 sewing sessions to have the room looking pretty much like this.....

For some odd reason I've been "nesting" lately. NO! I'm not about to give birth! It must be winter, snow, cold, I don't know...anyway, I decided that I'm going to try to create without chaos. Can it be done? I don't know, maybe this is just my way of wallowing in the middle of all the chaos, while I try to organize.

First on my "to do" list is organizing my fabric. I've separated the fabric into big pieces (1/2 yd or more), fat quarters, and scraps.

Next I made a cardstock template, the size that I want my fabric stacks to be. I fold the fabric around this template, just like the girls at AE fold shirts over their little shirt folder.

They look so nice all lined up. I just honestly don't know if I can keep them this way. Part of my sick mind sees me going berserk after a few days and tossing it all in the air. Heaven help me!

I refurbished an old cherry wood shelving system with paint, fabric and cork board. I hooked a shoe organizer on the end of the system to hold all of my fat quarts. This is still a work in progress, it will be fun to see how it all ends up!

Crossing my fingers I can keep it this way!

"Note"worthy

2010-01-31T16:33:00.000-08:00

Wondering what I did with the twigs and the old hymn book?

Well.... we have this weird empty corner in our music room

where piano meets couch, (small room, big furniture). I've

watched enough HGTV to know that my weird corner is a

no no. The problem is....we don't have money to go out and

buy new furniture, so I decided that maybe I could at least do

something to soften the assault on the eyes.

It is important to me that the things in our home have personal

meaning. So I thought that rather than go to the store and buy

a fake tree, or a screen, I would make something from things

that mean something to us. So I snipped of a bunch of limbs

from our favorite tree and found an old hymn book (we have

a bunch of them) to make into leaves, and now we have a....

"NOTE"WORTHY TREE

It's not to tough to figure out how it's done.

Just make a leaf template and trace leaves onto a page.
I cut several pages out at a time so all of them weren't

outlined.

To remedy this I just went around the edge of each

leaf with a permanent marker.

Next you put glue on the back of two leaves.
Adhere them to the end of the branch, one being the front
of the leaf, the other the back.

I didn't try to be precise and perfect with the outlining.

Problem solved....weird corner is softened.

What On Earth....

2010-01-29T10:43:00.000-08:00

...could branches from the yard, a piano and an old hymn book have in common?

You'll have to stay tuned to find out!

And here is another little dittie I'm working on.

Erika and I found the ugliest shirt ever created by man at the D.I.
(I forgot to take a picture of it before I cut into it.... but picture it with a round
t-shirt type neck and big loose short sleeves - ugh!)
We looked at eachother with glee in our eyes and nabbed that puppy up.
I'll let you see it when it's done!

THERE'S NOTHING MORE FUN THAN A TRIP TO THE THRIFT STORE!

Let The Games Begin!

2010-01-27T21:39:00.000-08:00

Here's a fun way to participate in the Olympics.

Run over to Rikrak Studio, enter the "Handmade Olympics"

and you too could bring home the gold!

You can nominate one of YOUR creations (or someone else's) in 8 different categories.

There will be a gold medal winner, silver and bronze too, and get this.....

there are $2,000 worth of prizes!

Hi, my name is Bobbi and I'm a......

2010-01-25T18:40:00.000-08:00

.....Fabricaholic!

I could care less about shoes, bags or jewelry, but set me loose in a fabric shop and well, I can really get carried away. I love designer fabric, but hate designer prices. I shopped around for super places to get the good stuff and look what I found.....

I guess you could call Fab Addiction my supplier!

She carries all the designers, flannel, fat quarter sets, wool sets, even silk sets for ties. But my favorite thing about her shop is the clearance section and the "last chance" section. HOLY COW! Designer stuff for 3.00 a yard? Really? There's nothing like a good deal.

THANKS FOR THE FIX FAB ADDICTION!!

Bless My Bloomers!

2010-01-25T14:03:00.001-08:00

OH MY CUTENESS!!!

I received a request to make a yellow diaper cover with big silk

flowers just under the waist, on the bummy side (for a photo shoot).

I love how it turned out, wish my girls still wore bloomers!!! :)

I'm thinking I need to add them to my shop!

She's A Winner!

2010-01-24T21:10:00.000-08:00

First of all, thank you, thank you to all who entered this giveaway. Liesl was so surprised that anyone would be interested in her art. She's decided that this crazy old mom of hers might know something after all and will soon be posting pricing for anyone interested.

As usual I used Random.org to find my winner and the number generated was ........

29, Patti!

Congratulations!

2010-01-24T08:47:00.000-08:00

Last day for Liesl's giveaway!

Click picture at the left for more info.

Still Feelin' Felty?

2010-01-23T18:09:00.001-08:00

I pretty much just hit the felt motherlode....thanks for the tip Jennifer!

If you're still feelin' felty, sneak on over to Paper and String!

Because I "Felt" Like It!

2010-01-22T20:17:00.000-08:00

I think felt is to fabric what pasta is to food.....comfort food!

I'm stuck in a hotel in Logan (blizzard in Sardine Canyon) and have spent some of the evening surfing for crafters comfort......so, here are some FUN FELT FINDS from etsy.

Love this little needle felted waldorf doll necklace from Rosemary 4 Remembrance.

Little squirrel wristlet from Cherryland. Too cute!

Pamela the pink pig pin from Cherry Pip

Felt tea party from It's The Small Things.

And lastly.... Pink felt pom-pom's from Little Birdie Boutique.

3 Cheers for snowstorms!

Fluffy Valentine Frame

2010-01-21T15:28:00.000-08:00

Inspired by this beautiful wreath on Tatertots And Jello, I whipped out the cupcake liners and went to town on this sweet little picture for our entry way. It was practically free too....gotta love that!!!

I wanted to see if I could do this project without spending any money and I almost, almost did it.

I ended up having to buy the cupcake liners, but still at 2 packages for 1.74 each, it was pretty cheap. I raided my stash of old frames in the basement and utilized a free clipart site, which I will link you to later in the post.

You will need:

A frame
A hot glue gun
Cupcake liners

Begin by twisting the liners at the bottom to form a tiny little "fluff".

Glue them on the frame.
I used two packages of cupcake liners, exactly 150.

One of my favorite clipart sites is Karen's Whimsy. She has free stuff, .99 cent downloads, silhouette's and a lot of vintage pictures. Love her site!

HAVE FUN!

Portrait Giveaway

2010-01-20T09:55:00.001-08:00

I've been trying to get my daughter to understand that her artwork is good enough that she could feed herself through college doing portraits for people. She doesn't believe that anyone would think she's that good. I talked her into doing a giveaway to show her that people would be interested. (Pardon the glare on the glass).

This is a self portrait she did. It looks exactly like the picture she drew from.

This is a portrait of her sister. Erika was in a group of people in the photo. Liesl singled her out and drew only her. Once again....exactly like the photo.

And this is her little brother hanging from the railing at Niagra Falls. An exact duplicate of the photo she drew from. I don't know where she gets it, I think its amazing.

So....here's the deal.
She is offering the winner of this giveaway one 8x10 drawing (unframed). The winner will email her a photo and she will draw the portrait from that.

All you need to do (as usual) is leave a comment. Leave two if you are a follower. Leave three if you facebook, twitter or blog about it (I really want her to know that she can do this). This drawing will end Sunday January 23 at 10:00pm mountain time.

Leave an email address in your comment so I know how to contact you.
GOOD LUCK!

Giveaway Winner!

2010-01-18T21:10:00.000-08:00

I use Random.org to choose my giveaway winners and this time the random number was

#57 Chantill Garn. I will contact you to find out which red thing you would like.

CONGRATS!

Help for Haiti

2010-01-18T18:31:00.001-08:00

Like so many of you I am just broken hearted about the recent devistation in Haiti. It has been so impressive to see the blogging community come together to help. I have decided to hop on the band wagon too. Here is how I plan to help......

From now until the end of January I will donate .25 cents per comment and .25 more cents if you come up with a way to help and blog about it (remember to leave a link to your Haiti post in your comment). Every little bit helps!

Last Chance On The Giveaway

2010-01-17T19:16:00.000-08:00

Last day to enter.

Click the picture on the left to enter to win anything RED from my shop!

New In Shop

2010-01-16T16:25:00.000-08:00

Spending the weekend working on ties.

The Valentine tie is in the shop, others coming soon!

The 3 P's

2010-01-14T14:54:00.000-08:00

Learn how to make a....

Picture Pocket Pillow

Hop on over to Rosies, get inspired to have some mommy/daughter time and learn to make a pocket pillow all at the same time!

Fluffy Flower

2010-01-13T16:17:00.001-08:00

I saw a paper lantern today that sparked this idea for a fun little fluffy fabric flower.

Cut a strip of fabric 18" x 2.5".
Fold it in half and snip into it about every quarter of an inch.

Baste, by hand, along the unsnipped edge.

When you get to the end, pull on the string.

This will gather the strip of fabric into a circle.

There's your flower!

Just add a button for the center and you're done!

Shall We Do A Giveaway?

2010-01-11T20:47:00.001-08:00

I think we shall!!

It's been a long time since I've given away something from my shop, so let's do this.....

....in honor of Valentine's Day, the winner of this giveaway may choose one RED thing from my etsy shop.

To enter: all you need to do is leave a comment.

If you're a follower leave a second comment....you get two entries.

The giveaway will end Monday January 17 at 10:00 pm mountain time.

GOOD LUCK!

Beaded Safety Pin Watch

2010-01-09T16:31:00.000-08:00

Did you ever make beaded American flags out of safety pins? I did when I was little and then again with the kids right after 9/11. Here's a fun little spin off on beaded safety pins. The girls and I have been wanting a watch (one of the joy's of teenager daughters....sharing), one that was whimsical, fun and different from everyone else's. Here's what we came up with.

A beaded safety pin watch.

You will need:

small safety pins
seed beads
stretchy jewelry floss
a watch face
needle nose pliers

I found all of these at our local craft store.

I cut two 10" pieces of floss, folded them in have and tied them to each side of the watch.

Next, I loaded beads onto the safety pins and then slightly pushed the large end of the safety pin together with needle nose pliers. This creates a small hole in the top end.

Next, I slipped the safety pins onto the floss. I would thread "every other" pin through the small hole I created with the pliers. Doing this will give the piece more stability and will make it look fluffy. I tried it only going through the middle and it ended up looking more like something you'd make at camp! Not what we were going for :)

Last.... when both sides are finished tie them together in a sturdy knot.

FUN, FUNKY AND DEFINITELY DIFFERENT!

Valentine Bracelet Cuff

2010-01-08T13:35:00.000-08:00

Here's a fun little Valentine's Day project sent to me from Angie at Treasures For Tot's

You could make one for your little "somebody" or better yet have a little mommy/daughter date and make them together for her little girlfriends. Go here for the directions!

New Little Ditties For Valentine's Day

2010-01-07T09:39:00.000-08:00

I just added a bunch of new things to my shop. Included are a few little fun ditties for Valentine's Day. That picture just doesn't do the ruffle bum diaper cover justice. Oh my goodness...it is so cute! I can't think of a sweeter Valentine's picture than a little baby wearing nothing but a bright red ruffle bum! Almost makes me want another baby! Can't happen....but still!

January Blues?

2010-01-05T09:21:00.000-08:00

Here's a fun little game we play every January to stave off the January blah's. It's called "Where In The World Is Yo Mama?", the kids just call it "Yo Mama!".

I take random pictures around town of things we often drive by, then crop them so that they are just a little bit out of context.

I put a piece of butcher paper up on the door that leads out to our garage and every few days I post one of the pictures. You could get all fancy and use scrapbook paper and die cut letters, I just don't have time.

When the kids figure out where it was taken they come and whisper the answer to me. If they tell anyone else they are out of the game. When they get one right they get a candy bar, or the money that I would have spent on that candy bar since some of us are trying to be healthy.

The kids love this game, even their friends get in on it when they are over. It's a fun way to take the blah out of January.

Oh My Word

2010-01-02T18:07:00.000-08:00

I totally despise New Years resolutions and never use the word goal. Somehow my little brain has attached those two things to another word....failure. Years ago I gave up the habit of writing down goals at the beginning of the year for the more pleasurable experience of writing down accomplishments at the end of the year.

My niece Mandy (her grown up, mother of 3.5 name is Amanda, but she'll always be Mandy to me) has also found an alternative to the dreaded "g" word. Every year she comes up with a word, which becomes her mantra for the year. Clever and positive....I love it. This year I decided that I would chose a word too, my word(s) is......

I really want to focus on living in the present moment. I want to learn to stop what I'm doing and truly listening to my children. So often I am looking at them, nodding my head saying, "uh huh, uh huh." But I don't hear a word they say. Alert the staff at "Mother of the Year", maybe I'm a candidate!

I was so excited to find a little necklace under the tree Christmas morning with my word(s) on it! My sweet Steve had gone to Katherine at Pretty Little Me (another niece and Mandy's little sister) and ordered it just for me. AWWWWWW.

Here's an example of another necklace she has in her shop. I love it, nurture....what a great word.

If you could choose a word for 2010 what would it be?

Kind Of Excited!

2009-12-22T19:36:00.001-08:00

Imagine my surprise to click on My Heritage Fabric's blog to see this picture and read this, "Bobbi's skirts were featured this morning in the local paper "HERS". section"! I squinted my eyes and said right out loud, "What the heck? Those ARE my things! Get out!" I ran in the kitchen, grabbed the paper, and sure enough....there it was. Kinda cool!!! That cute little gal with them is Nikki Weeks, the master mind behind Mindy Mae's Market.

Inside was a spread all about Mindy Mae's Market and the resurgence of "handmade"! You can read the article here.

Kind of exciting!

Hibernation Station!

2009-12-18T20:08:00.001-08:00

Our home has officially become the hibernation station..... a place to snuggle down in and enjoy the sweetest time of year with the best people I know! I'll be back after the holidays.

MERRY CHRISTMAS TO YOU ALL

2009-12-17T08:34:00.000-08:00

picture courtesy of CountryLiving Magazine

Who on earth would be afraid of Carmel's?
ME!

Somebody, somewhere along the way must have told me that carmel making was hard, because I have never dared try to make them. I have always left it to sweet Sister Brown, our little widow friend, to provide us with our favorite holiday treat.

Until....

I was thumbing through this months CountryLiving magazine and saw this recipe. I don't even think it's the "easy" one, but for some reason I thought, 'Hello? You can do that, it's just like sewing, all you have to do is try.' So I did and can I just say YUM!!!!! They are, by far, the best Carmel's I have ever tasted. So rich and melty in your mouth, salivating here just talking about it! I had to hurry and wrap them up in their little gift bags before I ate them all.

If you have any time left at all.....
YOU "GOTTA" TRY IT!

A Little Midnight Blog Cleaning

2009-12-17T02:20:00.000-08:00

Couldn't sleep tonight (this morning?) so I thought I'd do a little cleaning up of my little bloggy place. If you're wondering where your buttons went, don't worry, they're still here. I just put them under titles in the sidebar. Eyes are getting droopy now, good thing too since I have to be up in 3 hours!

Fun Shops

2009-12-17T01:41:00.000-08:00

Just moving buttons to titles in the side bar....pardon this and the next post.

Features

2009-12-17T01:29:00.000-08:00

Brilliant Kelsey!

2009-12-16T08:12:00.000-08:00

I know you know this already, but I love teenagers. Especially those who are brave enough to think a little bit outside of the box and be themselves. You've read about Erika's adventures in refashioning old clothes (when I see her heading to my closet with scissors in hand I know that the creative juices are flowing!).

Now I want to introduce you to a cute little gal who has found a use for her old Barbie shoes. Meet Kelsey McKay, daughter of my bloggy/facebook friend Kristine. Kristine is amazingly crafty (you will definitely want to check out her web site) and it looks as if there's a little "like mother, like daughter" thing going on. You can read the whole tale here.

NOTE TO KELSEY: I told your mom this once, but I want to tell you..... you keep being your funky little self. I love that you aren't afraid to be yourself (especially as a 7th grader). What you'll find is that kids will naturally gravitate towards you. If you are comfortable just being you and not having to "fit into the mold" then they will feel comfortable around you. I have two girls (boys too, but they don't count in this post), a senior and a 9th grader, their favorite place to shop is the DI! For non-Utah types, the D.I. is a thrift store. Last Monday Erika (she's the 9th grader, and an SBO, so kids must not think she's too weird, LOL) sent this text to everybody (not just her friends), "Ugly sweater Tuesday, see ya at the DI". Sure enough, the next day there were about 20 ugly sweater kids at school and more that told Erika, "oh man, I should have known you would really do it....I'm wearing one next week for sure". How fun is that? So, you just keep being you Miss Kelsey..... cuz you rock!

Deep Breath In....

2009-12-15T11:51:00.000-08:00

.....and RELAX!!!!

Oh my goodness....they are done!!!!!

Remember when I was so excited to make these?

I think they turned out so cute, but I will never make them again!

I am way too impatient. There were too many pieces (cut 4 of each), too much adhering (iron on and spray adhesive), too much having to pay attention to the grain and way too much thinking involved.

Am I glad I did it? YES! I think they are so cute and will definitely be unique. I got to practice some sewing techniques that I don't usually do.... and some I used to hate (bias)! I think I may actually be a fan of bias tape now, imagine that.

SHOULD YOU TRY THEM?

If you are an experienced seamstress.....yes.
If you are patient....yes.

If you realize you won't finish them in one sitting....yes.

If you are new to sewing.....no.

If you are impatient.....at your own risk :)

If you need them tomorrow.......no.

I was right about one thing though. The girls will difinitely go GA-GA!

Fun Friend Gift For Kids

2009-12-12T17:29:00.001-08:00

It snowed ALL day today and felt so Christmasy, I loved it! After a little Christmas shopping, sledding and hot cocoa, Nater Gater and I sat down to make his friend gifts. This is not a new idea, in fact every one of our older kids made this same gift for their friends when they were little. But maybe some of you haven't ever seen it, so I thought I would share.

How To Make Money Soap

You will need:

Clear glycerin soap and soap dye (I got both at Michael's).
Some sort of mold. I used a Christmas tree cupcake mold but you could use ice cube trays, muffin tins, really any small container.
Coins.

The glycerin will come in a great big block. Cut it into small squares. It is soft enough that Nate could cut through it with a butter knife, otherwise I would have done the cutting.

Put glycerin cubes in a microwave safe bowl and melt according to directions on the box.

Add desired color and stir.

Carefully pour melted glycerin into molds. It is hot so you might want to do this part if your children are very little.

Slip coins into the soap before it begins to harden. If you have waited too long just skim the hardened top off and slip the coin in.

Nate used the left over soap to make himself a funky tie died bar in a condiment bowl. He put a couple of drops of blue into the green glycerin and swirled it around a little with a knife. You can't really tell in this picture, but it looked kind of cool.

The soap hardens up after about a half an hour. We'll slip them in cellophane bags with a wash cloth and call it good!

Tortellini Anyone?

2009-12-10T17:28:00.000-08:00

I'm sure you all know that felt food is all the rage these days when it comes to toys. Angie over at Treasures For Tot's sent me a link to this tutorial she created. Now you can learn to make your own no sew felt tortellini!

For Jennifer

2009-12-09T09:40:00.000-08:00

How To Make Vivian A Tutu :)

You will need:

About 6 yards of tulle (netting). I like them super fluffy and end up using somewhere between 5 & 6 yards. If you have extra, just make a tutu for her baby.
Non-roll elastic 1" wide. Cut a piece 1" smaller than her waist.

You could tie the tulle onto a long ribbon and tie the tutu around her waist. But I know you're dying to try out some mad sewing skills!

If you are going the elastic route, sew the ends of the elastic together. I sew a square so that it is really secure.

It's easier to cut if you do it as follows. Lay your tulle out as shown. One end is raw, the other end is a fold.

Cut a 6 inch strip.

Snip through the folded end, which would give you two pieces of tulle.

Fold the strip in half and lay it under the elastic (or ribbon), creating a loop at the top.

Pull the two ends up through the loop and pull taut.

There you go..... now just do it a zillion more times until you fill the elastic up!

Super Duper Easy!

2009-12-08T08:48:00.001-08:00

Letting the house go to pot today while I figure these little puppies out....

WISH ME LUCK!

POST SCRIPT: 3 hours later.....almost time to pick up Jr. High carpool.....only half way done with one pair.....have to hide them.....must finish another day.....but at the rate their going I should say "finish after another 4 days".......GRRRRRRRR. My inner Grinch is showing!

Modern Essence Purse Giveaway $36.00 value

2009-12-06T18:54:00.000-08:00

Offering giveaways is kind of a "pay it forward" thing for me. My etsy shop really took off when a couple of bloggers were interested enough in my skirts to feature them and offer a giveaway. So, in return, I surf etsy looking for shops that haven't had many sales yet and offer them some exposure, no strings attached.

You're going to LOVE this one.

Modern Essence is offering a free mini purse ($36.00 value) to one of my lucky readers. Check out how cute her work is.

To enter you must:

Visit her etsy shop and leave a comment here, telling me what your favorite item in her shop is.

For extra entries you can:

Heart her shop
Facebook or Twitter about this giveaway
All of my followers get an extra entry

Make sure you leave a comment for your original entry and all extra entries. That way Random.org will count you. Also leave me your email address so that we can get in touch with you! Giveaway ends at 10:00 mst

GOOD LUCK!

2009-12-04T21:16:00.000-08:00

Here's something festive and fun for you to do while I'm off to market....

Click here to Check out 30 of the best advent calendars over on Whipup.net

2009-12-03T21:08:00.000-08:00

Mindy Mae's Market..... Friday night and all day Saturday in Clinton. If you plan on coming make sure you stop by and say hi. I'll be the girl with the door full of skirts! It's going to be a great show, 70 vendors, all super cute stuff. Click below for directions

Who Said Money Doesn't Grow On Trees???

2009-12-02T18:17:00.000-08:00

Does your family help a needy family each Christmas? Looking for a creative way to share with others? How about a money tree? Wouldn't it be fun to find a family having a hard time, put a money tree on their porch, ring the doorbell and run?

This little tree was a graduation gift last May to a family friend. You can "winterfie" the idea by:

choosing a bare branch and spray painting it red.
filling the vase with red and green M&M's.
wrapping a pretty red ribbon around it.
You could get all crazy and fold the money origami style (I probably won't, but you could)!

My kids love getting money from Grandma and Grandpa each Christmas, this would be a fun way to give it. What about that starving college student you know? Bet they'd appreciate a money tree.

Now that I think of it..... I want a money tree! Saaaaantaaaaah!!!

Sewing 101 and a Christmas Idea

2009-11-30T18:50:00.000-08:00

I have come to find out that many of you are young mom's, either wanting to learn how to sew, or just barely beginning. I think that is so great! So, in honor of you, I am posting a tutorial for the easiest thing in the world that you can sew..... a pillowcase.

And.....stay tuned at the end of the tutorial for a fun Christmas idea you can use this pillow case for. So, let's get started.....

Most store bought regular size pillow cases measure about 24" x 19".

You will need:

1 rectangle, for your main fabric, measuring 20" x 38".
1 rectangle of fabric (red in my case) measuring 38" x 8"
1 rectangle of fabric (green in my case) measuring 38" x 1.5"

Next you will lay the red and the green strips out and fold them in half (wrong sides together) so that they now measure 38" x 4" (red) and 38" x 3/4" (green). Iron them with a nice crisp crease.

Pin the two together as shown with the folded edge facing up, the raw edges together. If you would like you could baste them very close to the edge or....

...Skip that part and lay them on top of the 38" side of your big rectangle (right sides together) and sew all three pieces together about 1/4" from the edge, as shown below.

When you are finished it will look like this. Give it another once over with the iron, this will make it lay nice and flat once it's finished. You should now have one big 38" x 24" rectangle
.

Fold that in half with right sides together. Sew along the bottom and the long side, obviously leaving the red side open for the pillow. There you have it. The easiest thing to sew!

HERE'S YOUR CHRISTMAS IDEA.......

Every year I come up with some sort of fun "gimmick" (that's what the kids call it) that will get them excited about serving each other. After all that's what Christmas is about and if you can't be nice to the people in your own home then what's the point of being nice to anybody else. That seems kind of hypocritical to me.

So, tonight for family night, I introduced the kids to the "gotcha pillow" (oh yeah, there was eye rolling!!! but also smiling and laughing, so we're all good). Here's how the "gotcha pillow" works. I will start it tomorrow by doing some sort of kind deed for someone in the family. When I'm done I will slip the pillow case on their bed pillow (kind of like saying "gotcha!"). It will then be their turn to do a kind deed for someone else and give them the pillow case.

My prediction is this .... they will humor me for about 2 weeks, then we will slowly forget about it. We'll find the pillow case next season when we unpack the Christmas boxes and someone will say, "Hey mom, wasn't this last years gimmick?" But that's OK, because one day when they're parents I KNOW they will be asking, "Do you still have that gotcha pillow? Can I borrow it?"

Tear Jerker Giveaway

2009-11-27T23:28:00.000-08:00

I am an adoptive mom. I am naturally drawn to childless couples, birthmom's, and adopted children....I just am. So, last week I was stopped in my tracks during Studio 5 when the following segment aired. (You have to watch the tail end of an add before the real segment comes on...sorry about that).

I was so touched by Kelly's positive attitude that before they could move on to the next story I was on her blog asking if I could introduce her to you. Not only did she say I could share her story, but she told me she would like to offer you a giveaway! The winner may choose the card design of their choice and Kelly will email you the pdf file and send you a disc so that you can have them professionally printed or print them out yourself.

HOW TO ENTER: Check out her blog and her etsy shop and tell me what you think. That's all you have to do to enter. You can get an extra entry by facebooking or tweeting about Kelly. I really want to help her get the word out...not just about her cards, but even more so about her desire for a child. Somewhere out there, there is a birthmom who would be the luckiest girl ever to find Kelly and her cute husband.

Make sure that you leave a comment about your initial entry and one about your extra entry. Please have an email address in one of your comments so that I can get you and Kelly together.

GOOD LUCK! Giveaway ends Friday Dec 4 at 10:00 pm

$100 Gift Card!

2009-11-27T22:51:00.000-08:00

I'm totally breaking my holiday rule (no bobbity-blogging over the long holiday weekend), but I really need to let you locals in on this.

You know how I've been getting ready for Mindy Mae's Market? Well I just found out that there is a $100 gift card to Mindy Mae's Clinton show on Pinching Your Pennies. Check it out here.

This is going to be one amazing gift show. It is so big that they are using TWO model homes to house all of the booths. Click on Mindy Mae's button on my left sidebar to see some of the vendors.

I'm going to cross my fingers that one of my readers wins the gift card.... how cool would that be? GOOD LUCK!

In the Spirit of Thanksgiving

2009-11-24T19:05:00.000-08:00

Wishing you a wonderful Thanksgiving. See you on Monday. Don't for get to enter Budz and Blossoms giveaway, it ends Friday night.

Hope you enjoy this Thanksgiving thought. I hope you watch it to the end. It makes me a little tearful every time I watch it. It is sweet.

While The Bread Sticks Baked.....

2009-11-23T19:13:00.000-08:00

...We made some leg warmers.

(just that fast)

Liesl found this bright, big, bulky sweater at the D.I.

She bought it, not because it was cute, but because she saw

something else in it. Leg warmers and a sweater vest.

So, we cut off the sleeves.

Zig-zagged the raw edge. This was one loosely woven sweater.

We then turned the zig-zagged edge under about an inch and
a half. If she had wanted them to stay up I would have slipped
some wide elastic in the casing. But she wanted them to
slouch down so we just left them with a wide hem.

And before the dinger dinged (bread sticks remember)
......she had some leg warmers.

It's The Season Of Bows!

2009-11-22T20:23:00.000-08:00

So I thought a bow giveaway would be appropriate.

Let me introduce you to Chandi, from Budz and Blossoms. There are lots of bow ladies, but she is THE bow lady around these parts. You can find her booth at every craft fair, Raspberry Days at Bear Lake, Peach Days in Brigham City, Cherry Days here in North Ogden (we're kind of a fruity bunch aren't we?). Where ever there is a craft fair you will find Buds and Blossoms. And of course.....you can find her on etsy.

The thing that makes Chandi unique is that you are absolutely assured a quality product from her. She heat seals the ends of every ribbon and attaches them super securely.

So, in honor of bow season.....lets give one away, shall we?

To enter to win you must do the following

visit her shop and then comment back here on your favorite bow.
make sure you leave an email address in your comment so that I can reach you

For extra entries you can

facebook or tweet about this giveaway
follow my blog
heart her etsy shop

Make sure that you comment for every entry, that's the only way random.org can count you! This giveaway will end Friday the 27th at 10:00 pm.

GOOD LUCK!

All Different Kinds Of Creative

2009-11-21T21:01:00.001-08:00

This little gal, A.K.A. Grandma is super great at creating memories for her family. Every year she makes a room full of gingerbread houses. The Saturday after Thanksgiving we all gather in her giant great room to decorate them. One of the funnest traditions ever!

Not only does she share her baking talent with us, many of these will go to families in the neighborhood so that they can make a masterpiece as well.

THANKS GRANDMA.....I WANT TO BE JUST LIKE YOU WHEN I GROW UP!

She's A Winner!

2009-11-20T22:42:00.001-08:00

Julie is the winner of this weeks giveaway!

And she really is a winner....I know this girl!

Grammie will be emailing you to work out the details.

Congrats!

Ruffle Neck Onesie

2009-11-20T09:18:00.000-08:00

It seems as though the whole sewing world is making knit ruffles these days.

I often wonder who comes up with idea's. My personal opinion is that there are no original idea's. One idea spawns a thought in another crafter, who tweaks it, which inspires another crafter to tweak it again, etc. etc. I love watching things like this evolve, I think it is so interesting.

So, here's a sneak peak at my tweak. I've been rufflin' my guts out getting ready for Mindy Mae's Market on Dec 4-5. These ruffles are actually made from ribbed knee high stockings. Go figure! Cut strips about an inch and a half wide. Sew the ends together to create one long strip, then all you have to do is bast down the center and pull your string. The trick to making it look so fluffy is to hand stitch the ruffle onto the onesie. That way there are no machine stitches to be seen. I would love to see what ruffley tweak you're working on....leave me a link.

2009-11-20T07:09:00.000-08:00

Last day to enter for Grammies jewelry giveaway! Click button on the left.

The Girls Are Going To Go Ga-Ga!

2009-11-19T17:33:00.000-08:00

I met a friend in Salt Lake for lunch today and decided to stop by, the highly RAVED about, Material Girls fabric shop. All I can say is... OH MY! I'm sure my tongue was waggin' and drool was flying as my head swished this way and that trying to take it all in.

I found this adorable boot pattern by Lila Tueller and had to buy it.

Luckily Liesl and Erika don't read this blog or they would know one of their Christmas presents. These boots just scream Liesl and Erika. I can't start them though until I finish all my Mindy Mae's Market stuff. I've been having fun will all kinds of new designs for Mindy Mae's, but now I can't wait to be done with it all so that I can start this project.

I think I have crafters A.D.D. --- I should be medicated (or would that be fabricated?)

Great Teacher Gift

2009-11-18T11:09:00.000-08:00

Every year I give the same thing to our children's teachers (when they are in elementary school anyway, there are just too many teachers once they hit jr high)... I give them a rice pack....just in case my kids give them headaches! (Except for the one year that Big B's 4th grade teacher got a roll of duct tape, but that's another story for another day! :)

What is a rice pack? It is a cloth bag filled with

rice, which you heat in the microwave, to soothe

aches and pains, or just warm up cold toes.

This is Mrs. Johnson Christmas gift this year.

It's easy, cute and contains no calories.

I thought I would share with you how to make one.

Decide what motif you want on the front. Iron a piece of 'wonder under' on the back side of your fabric, draw your motif and cut it out. I am making each of our kids one to stick in the toe of their stockings this year. Theirs will have their initials on them because we fight over rice packs at our house.
I zig-zagged a stem, peeled the 'wonder under' off the back of my apple and leaf then ironed them in the center of a flannel rectangle.

Top stitch around each piece.

Pin right sides of two pieces of flannel together. The size doesn't matter. I have made them big, little, rounded to lay around the neck and shoulders. Any size will do.

Stitch all of the way around the fabric, leaving a 1.5" opening in an inconspicuous place. Clip all four corners. This will ensure that you have nice sharp corners once you turn the piece. Then flip it right side out.

Uh oh!!!! Look what I did. I didn't center the apple. Oh well, that's an easy fix.

I just ironed on a worm (if your iron is totally free of water - no steam - you don't need to sew it on).

Next you will need

rice (you could use flax seeds or lavender if you like)
a funnel (yes that's a Gatorade bottle - reduce, reuse, recycle)
and some sort of cup for pouring

Fill the bag about 3/4 of the way up with rice.

If you fill it too full it won't mold around the body part that you're using it on.

Whip stitch your opening closed and......

You're done!

Man Towels

2009-11-17T19:36:00.001-08:00

Yesterday I visited Brandi, from Rosie's. I got to see her latest creation, her adorable little kids, and her new stash of vintage patterns. She taught me how to use elastic thread (although it still isn't working on my machine) and we talked all things handmade. I enjoyed myself so much, what a doll. She told me that ever since she made Madi one of her little bath towel sets all Mad's wants to do is take a bath. I told her that she had inspired me to make Nate and Big B each a "man towel" (you know the kind that wrap around the middle like a...dare I say...skirt).

So, that's what I did.

(They wouldn't be caught dead modeling, sorry!)

They are super simple, another one of those "if you can sew a straight line you can sew this" projects . I bought two $3.00 towels from you know where. I cut B's in half length wise, since he's a bigger guy (he's got the body of an NFL player) and for Nate's I just cut the end off of the other towel.

I surged the raw edges, put a strip of hook and loop tape on both of the top corners and sewed a big monogram on the corner. And there you have it.....A MAN TOWEL.

Cute Is Overrated

2009-11-17T06:54:00.001-08:00

Here's a little confession for you......I don't like my tag line (do your part to make the world a cuter place to live). I think it's great for the shop, after all I do make cute little skirts, but in general I don't think cute is all that important.

I sometimes wonder if we over emphasize things that just aren't important. The other day I was at Wally-world. There was a mom there (dressed to the nines) with a little girl who was all decked out in the latest fashions. The mom was cranky with her and all up tight. She kept saying, "Don't wrinkle your shirt. Stop that, you'll get dirty", etc, etc. I felt a little sorry for the little girl (I like to think they were on their way to a photo shoot or something....that could make any mom crazy).

As I wandered through boys underwear and past the little girls section I ran into another mom. She had two little ones in the cart and a little girl running behind her in footie pajama's with a tutu on top. That mom seemed like she had not a care in the world. I just giggled to myself. How cute is that!

The dressing rule at our house goes like this...... I don't care what you wear as long as

it's modest
it's clean
and it doesn't cost an arm and a leg

I have to bite my tongue A LOT. Some of the get ups these kids go out the door in..... oh my! But one thing is for sure, they know that their value doesn't come from what they wear. They are of value just because they exist, because Heavenly Father made them.

So there you have it...... sometimes cute is overrated!

Spot On!

2009-11-15T16:50:00.000-08:00

One of the things I love about the handmade bloggy world is that we are all happy to help each other out. My new friend at Glitter By Grammie asked if I would do a product review/giveaway for her. In return she would make a custom necklace/bracelet set for one of my girls. Heck yeah! I asked her to make something for Liesl, A.K.A. Funky Hippy Girl. I was interested to see what she would come up with since Liesl is not a girly-girl, or a froo-froo, in any way. Liesl is a nature girl. I told "Grammie" all about Liesl and then waited to see what she came up with...... She rose to the challenge and was spot on!

One of the many things I told her about Liesl was that she was a big Twilight fan. So the necklace she got was entitled, "Edwards Tear". Perfect!
Grammie sent Liesl a personal note with the set, explaining the name and meaning behind it. It made Liesl feel so special to think that someone she didn't even know took the time to make her happy. I was impressed with the workmanship as well. You do good work Miss Grammie!!

This weeks giveaway is a custom made necklace/bracelet set just for you, made by Grammie herself.

To enter you must visit Glitter By Grammie's shop, check out her stuff and then comment here on my blog as to which of her necklaces you like best.

For extra entries you can:

Heart Grammie's shop
Follow my blog
Facebook or Twitter about this giveaway

Make sure that you leave a comment for every entry you have, that way it will be counted when I use Random.org.

This giveaway will end at midnight on Friday Nov 20th.

Mindy Mae's Market

2009-11-14T13:16:00.000-08:00

I was recently invited to join Mindy Mae's Market.

That doesn't mean anything to most of you, but here, it's the

next big thing in northern Utah. Mindy Mae's was

featured last week on Studio 5's week long segment,

"What's New In Your Neighborhood".

What is Mindy Mae's Market?..... click below to find out!

So, I've spent this snowy Saturday afternoon trying to

figure out how to display my wares in a 5' x 2' space.

I decided to go vertical! This trusty door has come in

handy so many times, last time it was placed on

saw horses and used as a table at our grown up lemonade stand.

I've also been busy coming up with some new tags.

HERE'S A HEADS UP...... I will be closing my shop for the holidays on Dec 1st. I'll reopen January 1st. So, if you have been planning on buying something you might want to get on that. For you locals, I will be at Mindy Mae's Clinton show on Dec 4 & 5. I'll post more about that as it gets closer.

You Are Not The Biggest Loser....

2009-11-13T23:02:00.000-08:00

.....Kelly!

You are the lucky winner of a 20$ gift card from Rosies. I will give Brandi your email address and the two of you can work out the details!

Yay you!

As Promised

2009-11-13T10:25:00.000-08:00

As promised here are a few of my new little creations.

I have been having so much fun trying hard not to make any of them alike.

You know where to find them!

Last Day

2009-11-12T16:33:00.000-08:00

Rosies giveaway ends Friday at midnight. Don't be a looser....enter!

Click on photo to the left.

Idea's That Are Better Than Mine!

2009-11-12T01:21:00.000-08:00

I got my Country Living magazine today..... MMMM, I sat outside "Grandma's Closet", a local boutique where Miss Erika takes guitar lessons, sipped a D.C., watched the leaves fall and flipped through it's idea packed pages.

I love planning Thanksgiving.....the table scapes, the food, the fun.....just love it.

So, here are a couple of idea's I'll be adding to the "cute butter" this year.

How simple, but also elegant is this? This came from their website so I'm not exactly sure what it is. It looks almost like masking tape (?), whatever it is.....I'm using it!

Love this table scape. I've done the napkin rings with big monograms before, but not the line up of candles. You'd have to put your food on a side table, but I like that better anyway.

We aren't at the "kid's table" stage yet, but when we are I will remember this..... to cute!

New Item and Another Giveaway

2009-11-11T09:00:00.000-08:00

Thanks to Tasha at "Catch The Drift" for hosting a giveaway for me.

Another Bobbityboo skirt up for grabs!

ALSO....

Here is the first of my new baby gown line to roll out of the sewing room door! I love a new baby in bright, big prints. It just screams "I've got a hip mommy!"

I've got 5 others all lined up down in the sewing room just waiting for their one of a kind look. The fun think about these gowns is that after I get the simple base sewn I can embellish them in so many different ways. This one is pretty plain (plain is sweet) but some of the others have many of my signature embellishments. You'll just have to check back to see what I mean.

POST SCRIPT: Fast forward 5 hours. I line my little gowns all up on the kitchen table and say to the kids, "Look! Didn't they turn out cute?" They all get these blank looks on their faces and Braden (19) ventures out to say, "I don't get it. What is it a carrying case? Do you hold them by their feet or something?" I'm shaking my head in wonder.

They've Come Out The Other Side!!!

2009-11-10T08:31:00.001-08:00

Long before pillowcase dresses were in vogue I made these fun little numbers for the girls to wear on a cruise. I didn't realize it at the time, but that was the last time I made my girls matching clothes. (I hate last's because you never know that that's what they are until years pass and you think, "wow, that was the last time I ever....whatever it was").

Shortly after that Miss Liesl, who was about 8 at the time, announced that nobody else wears home made clothes and she didn't like it. I was so sad that that part of my mommyhood was over.

Well, I was wrong! Apparently they go through this weird little pre-teen/teenage vortex and eventually come out the other side. In my case, begging me to make them clothes! I was so excited that I got right on that!!!!

Here they are in their little knit jumpers, with ruffly hems. The fun thing is that aside from the fabric being different (colorful for Erika because, well, she's colorful and tie die for Liesl since she's my funky hippy girl) they wanted matching dresses. Ahhhhhh....my little girls are back (insert tear wiping here)!

These dresses were so easy.....no pattern needed! One of these days I'll whip up a tutorial for them.

Erika, my scissor happy fashionista.

Liesl, my funky hippy girl.

And there's Nate, my little line backer.

(Big B was snoring away during this little photo shoot, he's not big on pictures.)

Rosie's Feeling Generous!

2009-11-09T08:21:00.000-08:00

I have been so excited for this giveaway. I have blogged about Rosies before. Rosies is the brainchild of my sister and her daughter, but I promise you...I rave about their stuff because it's adorable, not because I'm biased! If you get to know Deana and Brandi (read the purpose of their name- it's about my mama) you will quickly see that we're cut from the same cloth (no pun intended). Just like me they are all about taking a little piece of nothing and turning it into something adorable. Just like me they would rather take something old and turn it into something new.

Just yesterday at church a girl came up to me and asked where she could find the cute little chef's outfit that we had at our outdoor fair. Rosies....duh!
Another of my neighbors commissioned them to make up some college tutu's. This one is from the University of Utah, but they can replicate what ever school you choose.

Well, and.....I don't know what's cuter....Max or the bow tie. Is that BYU Max??? Tsk,tsk,tsk!

It is your lucky day because Brandi and Deana are offering you a free gift card for 20$ to go towards anything in their shop! That's right....ANYTHING! They've got a bunch of cute stuff, so be excited.

Here's the deal..... to enter you must

visit their shop and then post a comment here on my blog about what you think their cutest item is.

For additional entries you can

Become a follower of my blog
Become a follower of their blog They choose one of their followers every month as a winner of something in their shop too, so that's a good thing to do.
Heart their etsy shop
Tell your facebook friends about the giveaway.

Make sure you leave a comment below for each entry, telling me what you did (facebooked about it, etc). Also leave an email address or some way to contact you in one of your comments!

This giveaway will end Friday the 13th at midnight.

Good luck!!

How To Make Cute Butter

2009-11-07T17:52:00.001-08:00

"Do Your Part To Make Your Butter A Cuter Food To Eat!"

Most of us have a fancy dinner coming up soon. If you are like me, you have already started thinking of ways to make it special for your family. I thought I'd share one of our children's favorite parts of Thanksgiving dinner.......CUTE BUTTER!

You begin with a plastic candy mold and room temperature butter. I used to have a turkey mold, but I can't find it, so I found a rose one that works almost as well.

Fill the mold with the soft butter. Make sure to get it in all the little nooks and holes of your mold.

Pop it in the freezer and in about 15 minutes it will be ready to pop out of the mold. I just turn the mold over and hit it down onto the counter. They usually fall right out, if not just keep whacking....they'll eventually fall out.

And there you've got it.....

CUTE BUTTER!

Holy Photography Batman!

2009-11-06T13:33:00.000-08:00

You HAVE to check this out.....my skirts have never looked so cute! Tammy Mitchell is hosting a product review and giveaway of one of my skirts on her photoblog. Amazing talent Tammy!

Midwest Adorable meet SoCal Cutie!

2009-11-06T12:51:00.000-08:00

I've got the cutest customers in the whole world.

Just look at these little dolls!

Here's my cute little friend Viv, who lives in Michigan.

Her mommy, Jennifer, has dubbed me Viv's honorary

"Auntie Bobbi". That just tickles me. They bought this

outfit for a photo shoot and...oh my goodness those pictures

turned out so, so cute. You can see her whole shoot at

captureproductions.typepad.com.

This little So-CAl cutie is the daughter of Tammy from

Tammymitchellphotography.com.

Tammy is doing a product review and giveaway for me right this very minute on her web site. This girl, Tammy, is one talented

photographer. I could sit and look at her pictures forever.

She even makes mac-n-cheese look good.

Thanks girls for sending me your pics.

It makes me happy:)

Cut It Out!

2009-11-04T22:33:00.000-08:00

A month or so ago, Scissors and I went window shopping at Urban Outfitters. (For those new to my blog, "Scissors" is my 15 year old daughter who loves to cut up all of our old clothes and turn them into new clothes). We love their funky, outside of the box kinda clothing. The problem is that it seems like their cutest things are almost always immodest, so we rarely shop there. We just look, get ideas and then go home to recreate them in a more modest version.

Well, on that particular hunting trip we came across an adorable embellishment idea, but it was spread across a tank so tiny that you could see the girls (not my girls..."the" girls) and all their neighbors!!

So, I took about an hour tonight and turned a plain T into something

not quite so plain and definitely unique.
First I cut the neck band off which took it from sporty
to something a little more feminine. The great thing about
knit fabric is that it doesn't fray. For this particular look you don't
need to re-enforce it or hem it, just cut away. The original shirt
also had raw edges.

Taking a cue from my girls, who always cut a V into their t-shirt
necks, I too cut a little notch in the middle of the neckline.

Next I ironed "Wonder Under" on the back side of a large rectangle of cotton. I didn't measure, but you will get the whole size idea in the coming pictures.

Lay the cotton on top of your t-shirt and cut a rough pattern of the neckline. You don't have to be precise at all because in just one minute you are going to cut the heck out of it and you can fiddle with it throughout the process to get it right where you want it to be.

pardon the fuzzy picture, I'm still kind of shaky from the flu.

Now the fun part begins. Cut a random, uneven shape all around the outer edge, then cut little holes out of the center as shown below.

fuzzy again, sorry!

I took it up and over the shoulders as well so that it spills out a little on the back.

Next, you peel the Wonder Under off of the back side.

Position it exactly where you want it on the shirt and iron

it on. You could stop there, but I think it looks

tacky if you don't sew it on as well. So.....

Rev up the old machine and stitch along the center of the whole embellishment piece. Clip all of your threads and there you have it... a unique little T.

I think it will be cute under a Levi jacket with some silver jewelry, or with a big old fabric flower pinned to one side. I saved the neck for just this reason, but haven't gotten around to turning it into a flower. Just think of all the applications for this. You could do it all around the hem of a T or down the sleeves. You could punch it up with color, use patterned fabric as I did or go with plain fabric. The possibilities are endless. Now you go out and try it and remember what Scissors says, "don't be afraid to cut"!

She Lives!

2009-11-04T10:50:00.000-08:00

Hallelujah, raise the roof, I'm better!

All my poor little forgotten customers who have been

waiting for your orders, wait no more. They are finished

and flying to you as I type.

I also just put a couple of brand new skirts in the shop.

Well, they aren't brand new, both of them were made before

I got the flu, they've just been waiting patiently

to be adored!

The Black and White one I call "Opposites Attract" because it is such a mix

of taylored, clean lines and funky, raw edge ruffles. I love the waist tie, which is

meant to be tied just like Daddy's necktie. Everytime I look at this skirt it

reminds me of something you would see in Urban Outfitters. Classy and hip, all at the same time.

Then there's this little baby! Holy cow, there's so much

twirlability in this skirt your little girl will be absolutely giddy

(probably dizzy too)!!

Do you want to know the trick to super twirly skirts????

Each panel is slightly triangular!

Now you know!