Vintage Patterns Made New

Am I the only person who thinks that low-rise pants are a bad idea for kids (not to mention adults)? Katie is very tall for her age, and has virtually no waistline. Every pair of pants fall down on her hips, even when the waist is tight enough. You can see her behind when she's playing and it looks like she's a wanna-be rapper.

I had a thought about vintage patterns. We didn't wear low-rise pants when I was a child, so I looked and easily found a pattern on eBay. The date was 1977.

Now for some fabric..... I love to re-purpose items, and that's how a tablecloth from the clearance aisle at Wal-Mart became a pair of children's pants. It's a nice denim fabric--not too heavy, and not too thin. I think it was around $3 for the HUGH tablecloth so I'm sure I'll be able to get some more items from it.

Back to the pants. The waist actually comes up to her waistline. They aren't skin-tight like a lot of jeans are these days. (I don't like skin-tight for adults, not to mention for little girls.) Katie says they're very comfortable.

We may be switching to all dresses in the near future. Until that happens, this will be the pattern I use for Miss Katie's pants.

Mittens at 30 Weeks

I went with my sister, Sharon, her husband (Don), her two sons (Kyle and Adam, my nephews), my mom, and Katie (my daughter who is 4) to my sister's 4D Ultrasound. She's a few days shy of 30 weeks.

Sharon drank orange juice on the way so Maggie (or "Mittens" as she's so fondly known) would be active. And, boy, was she ever active!

Maggie had her hands in front of her face for a lot of the ultrasound. If it wasn't her hands, it was part of the umbilical cord laying on her nose that would block her face. At one time, you could see her tiny hands grasping her BIG foot! Well, it looked big compared to her hand! She had one eye open and was looking around. Then she started hiccuping! You could see everything on the huge screen. You could see the parts of the umbilical cord, the chambers of her beating heart, and her perfect little spine.

Psalm 139:13-16
13 For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb.

14 I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
your works are wonderful,
I know that full well.

15 My frame was not hidden from you
when I was made in the secret place.
When I was woven together in the depths of the earth,

16 your eyes saw my unformed body.
All the days ordained for me
were written in your book
before one of them came to be.

I've Been Tagged!

Melissa has tagged me for the "5 (Useless) Things about Me" meme. Here are the rules:

1. Link to your tagger and post these rules.
2. Share 5 facts about yourself with pictures.
3. Tag 5 people at the end of your post and list their names (linking to them).
4. Let them know they’ve been tagged by leaving a comment at their blogs.

(or you can let them find out reading your blog!--I just added that part! :))

Hmmmm.......5 things.....Here goes.....

1. I can't stand to hear anyone sneeze--myself included. It's like fingernails on a chalkboard to me.
2. Speaking of fingernails, I used to be a BAD nail-biter, and then quit cold turkey. My nails got so long that they CURVED and no one would believe they were real.
3. I was once offered an outrageous amount of money to pose nude for a photo grad student at I.U. He kept telling me that it was my backside that he was interested in and no one would know it was me. (By the way, I didn't do it.)
4. Creative ideas swirl around in my mind 24/7--yes, even when I'm asleep. Sometimes the ideas keep me from sleeping.
5. I can eat popcorn every day--and usually do.

I'm tagging
Cyndi at Modern Christian Homestead
Kathy at Highlights from Higher Ground
Rick at Musings of a Vast Right-Winger
Kim at Hoppes Homestead (even though someone else recently tagged her)
and anyone else who would like to post!

The Great Toy Experiment of 2008

Saturday night was stressful around here. The girls had every single toy on their bedroom floor--or on the livingroom floor.

After spending at least 45 minutes trying to get them to start picking things up, I told them that when the timer goes off in 15 minutes, anything that was still out was MINE!

(I did this a few weeks ago and about 25% of their toys went into time-out. They earned them back by picking up things that were left out over the next few days.)

The timer went off and nothing, I mean NOTHING had been done. I was right there with them for the entire 15 minutes and short of me putting a toy in their hand and leading them to the toybox, nothing was working. In fact, that really didn't work either because I couldn't get up and walk for them.

It was turning into a test of wills.

So, anyway, the timer went off. I started dragging the toy box into their closet then tossing everything on top of it. Now they wanted to help! They thought it was fun to toss toys into the toybox that was now in a different spot. I took everything except the stuffed animals on their beds and the books that were on the shelf.

Now it's Tuesday. They've spent a lot of time coloring, making "caves" with blankets draped over the bunkbeds, playing with the stuffed animals, reading books, and making their own fun. They haven't fought any less, but they haven't fought more either.

Know what? I don't think they really miss the toys at all. Sure, they played with them when they could go from one to the next, scattering pieces and parts along the way.....but overall, I don't think they care.

Pretty soon I'm going to have to deal with the toys in the closet. I can't get in there to find their shoes, or get any of their drawers open. I'm not ready to toss all the toys completely.

What would you do?

Etsy and Embroidery

More items have been listed in my Etsy shoppe. I've been experimenting with the photography aspect, trying to come up with just the right "photo recipe" for my handmade accessories. What do you think of the photos?

On another note, I recently purchased an embroidery machine! It's still in the box, waiting to be tested. Today is the day! Hope to post photos from my experiments later in the week. (It's also a sewing machine, so I'll probably learn how that part works first, then move on to embroidery.)

EBay Listing...and, no, it's not mine!

Ebay is raising fees. Well, technically, they're lowering insertion fees, while upping the final value fees. This means they get more money from the sellers, while trying to seem like they're charging less.

Many people, myself included, who sell handmade items on eBay are planning a boycott from February 18-25. I know, it will be a drop in eBay's bucket, but at least we can say we tried to do something.

Here's a link to an eBay listing that tells all about it!

If you buy or sell on eBay, please think about joining the boycot.

"Modern Art"

Watercolor paper: $5.00 with coupon at Hobby Lobby

Paint brushes: $3.00

Frames with mats: $3.00 each from Wally World

Modern art masterpieces painted by your own little Picassos:


PRICELESS

I took a painting class in November where we sort of learned to do modern art. Not being a fan of modern art myself, I thought this might just broaden my horizons. It did.

At the class, we listened to different musics, played with paint and different ways of applying it: brushes, feathers, Barbie shoes (Yes, Barbie shoes! It worked great!), string, and so on. The paper was about 9"x12" but when the papers were dry, we fiddled with the mats and just matted part of our painting. That way if you just liked PART of it, it still worked out great!

That's exactly what I did with the girls. I gave them larger pieces of paper, tempera paints, brushes, water, and so on, and let them have at it! They had the best time! (I wish I'd taken pictures of them actually painting the pictures. Maybe next time.)

After the papers were dry, I matted just part of the paper, making it very interesting. It looks like modern art that you'd pay a lot of money for in a gallery.

Their grandparents were here yesterday and were very impressed with the paintings. We'll have to do this again soon for Mother's and Father's Day gifts.

Note: For some reason, Blogger is putting all of my paragraphs together in one big blob. I have no idea why, and can't seem to get it fixed. I apologize if it's hard to read. I'll try again to fix it later today.

Finally--New Etsy Listings

I finally got some new headbands listed in my Etsy shop! Click on the icon in the sidebar to check out all of them.

I LOVE making headbands! It's so much fun to try out new color combinations.

It's a Girl!!!

My sister and brother-in-law are expecting a baby in May and have just learned that "Mittens", as she's been so fondly called, is a GIRL! I'm so excited for them! Isnt' she beautiful? And aren't the 3-D ultrasounds so incredibly detailed! Her name is Maggie, but she's always going to be Mittens to me!

I Won! I Won! I Won!

I actually won a joke contest over at Because I Said So! Go check it out here!

(Ok..mine was the only entry....but I still won!)

Note: I stand corrected! Mine wasn't the only entry so now I'm especially happy to have won!

One More Photo....

"I don't know why I like it...I just do..."

---A song from the '80s

The Many Faces of Vinnie

Vincent VonKitty

a.k.a. "Vinnie"

He loves the camera, don't you think?

:-s

Photos of Audrey by Katie!

Katie has been begging me to let her take pictures. So, I let her! She got better shots of Audrey than I ever have! All I did was a little cropping, removal of red-eye, and changed one to black and white. Katie definitely has my creative tendencies and I love to encourage her. (Keep in mind that she's only four years old!)

Fake It 'Til Ya Make It!

It's been seven days since posting about my uninspiredness (Is that even a word?). I'm still not really inspired to do much, but decided to "Fake it 'til I make it" today. Nothing grand happened, but I did get some headbands ready to weave, and even wove a few. Hopefully I'll have a few new things in my Etsy shoppe by sometime next week!

Uninspired

I've been feeling uninspired lately. I have a craft show coming up in March, so I should be working on replenishing my inventory from the December shows. I go out into my "Craft Cave" and feel so....blah. Does anyone else ever go through this?

M-mm Good! Homemade Tomato Soup

Today was a snowy, cold, blustery day. Perfect for tomato soup and a grilled cheese sandwich! For the record, I HATE tomato soup! Well, I hated the stuff in the can with the red label. Since trying this recipe, I now LOVE it!

Homemade Tomato Soup
2 15 ounce cans of diced tomatoes with Italian spices
½ cup carrot, chopped
½ cup diced onion
1-2 t sugar or brown sugar
½ cup butter (yes, butter!)
½ cup flour
1 t salt
4 cups milk

Boil tomatoes, carrot, onion, and sugar in a covered pan for about 15 minutes or until the carrot is tender. Process in a blender (or with a hand blender) to get the big chunks out.

In the meantime, melt butter and whisk in flour and salt. Stir often until the flour turns a golden color. Add milk about 1 cup at a time, whisking until smooth after each addition. Cook until slightly thick.

Add milk mixture to tomato mixture and stir thoroughly. Serve with a sprinkling of parmesan cheese and sour cream.

This recipe is great just as it is. I think I’ll try to get some of the fat out by substituting evaporated milk for some of the white sauce. Halving the recipe would be great for 2-3 people if you had a sandwich as a side.

Take the Test: How Creative are You?

You Are 79% Creative

You are beyond creative. You are a true artist - even if it's not in the conventional sense of the word. You love creating for its own sake, and you find yourself quite inspired at times.

How Creative Are You?

Fruitcake that's Not Scary!

No joke—this fruitcake is one you’ll actually want to eat! I've always been a little afraid of fruitcake myself. Rick, however, is a fan of fruitcake and says this is the best he’s ever tasted! There are no icky lime peels or lemon pieces in this fruitcake. No dates or raisins either. This recipe came from the moderator of a Yahoo! Group that I belong to: Christmas to the Max. Thanks, Melody!

(One day I’m going to post a recipe in the manner of The Pioneer Woman. She’s one of my favorites!)


Candy Orange Slice Fruitcake
1 c. butter or margarine, softened
2 c. sugar
2 c. applesauce
4 eggs
1/2 c. buttermilk
1 pound candy orange slices (chopped)
2 c. chopped pecans
1 1/2 c. candied cherries (chopped)
3 1/2 c. all-purpose flour, divided
1 t. baking soda
1/8 t. salt

In a mixing bowl, cream the butter and sugar. Beat in the applesauce, eggs and buttermilk.

In another bowl, combine the chopped orange slices, pecans, cherries and 1 cup of flour; toss to coat.

Combine the baking soda, salt and remaining flour; add to the buttermilk mixture. Fold in orange slice mixture.

Pour into a greased and floured 10-inch tube pan. Bake at 300 degrees for 1 3/4 hours to 2 hours or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean. Cool for 10 minutes before removing from pan to a wire rack to cool completely.

What I Did:
Well, first of all, I didn’t have quite a pound of orange slices, so I added a few extra cherries.

I used Butter Flavor Crisco instead of butter or margarine. When you use BFC, you are supposed to add 6 teaspoons of water per cup of shortening to make up for the moisture that butter has and shortening doesn’t. Water sounded boring so I used the 6 teaspoons of the juice from the cherries instead.

I didn’t have pecans, so I used walnuts.

Can you tell that I’m all about substitutions?

I think I undercooked my fruitcake, too. It’s very moist, but this one was exceptionally moist. Next time I think I'll make it in an angelfood cake pan. Since the pan separates, it might make it easier to get the cake out of the pan. The bundt pan that I used was just a tiny bit small, in my opinion. Rick thinks the cake is perfect though.

Try it…you just might like it!

A Candy Cat-astrophe!

Yesterday was spent making the candies and cookies for gift tins. I made coconut balls and Katie and I had dipped them in chocolate and put sprinkles on them. The were on the kitchen table on waxed paper waiting for the chocolate to set up. Then.....one of the cats hopped up on the table (a BIG NO-NO!), hit the waxed paper, slid across the table, and onto the floor. Of course the candies ended up face-down on the floor in a big blob! UGH!

Have you ever tried to clean partially-set chocolate off linoleum...or a cat??? :-)

Needless to say, I'm not working from the kitchen table any more!

Here's the recipe if you'd like to make your own coconut balls.

Coconut Balls

1/2 cup cold mashed potatoes

1/2 cup softened butter

2 pounds powdered sugar

1 t vanilla

1 1/2 cups coconut

12 ounce package chocolate chips

2 T shortening

Mix mashed potatoes and butter together. Add in powdered sugar a little at a time, beating until smooth after each addition. Add in vanilla and coconut. You may need to stir it with a wooden spoon at this point. It gets stiff.

Roll into small balls. Refrigerate until firm. (The original recipe said to freeze them for 4 hours, but I don't think that's necessary.)

In a double boiler or in the microwave, melt chips and shortening together, stirring until smooth.

Roll balls in chocolate and place on waxed paper to set. We put sprinkles on ours, just for the fun of it!

Note:

My mom reminded me that when she makes Coconut Balls, they're actually Coconut Squares. She pats the mixture into a 9"x13" cake pan and cuts then into squares before dipping them in the chocolate. There's a reason for this. She makes Buckeyes (or Peanut Butter Balls, as we call them) and you can't tell them apart unless the Coconut Candies are square. Smart woman, eh?

My Snow Angels