My New Models

I haven't done much posting on my blog lately because I was working on a big project- making new models for my stuff. After 9 long months of some serious crafting, they were finally ready to make their debut. Meet Chloe Eva and Dominique Samantha. Here they are modeling the latest in baby fashion- hats with bear ears. All of the babies will be wearing them this season. Don't let your little one be the only one at the playgroup wearing one of those boring hats without ears.

Unless they are wearing this. Beanie hats are a classic- they never go out of style. The thing that makes mine unique is the cute scalloped edge around the bottom. You will see a lot of imitators out there; crappy hats that are mass produced in a factory in China by an 8-year-old. I see them at every show where I have a booth. Trust me, my handmade hats are far superior and you won't have to feel guilty about human rights violations every time your child wears their hat.

Stepping down off my soapbox. See how cute the tops of their little heads are? I spend hours a day just staring at my new little models, thinking about what a good job I did in making them cute.

Speaking of cute, I still plan to use my old model whenever possible. She gets paid in flower clippies for that fabulous head of hair.

Awww.... they're so cute when they are sleeping. Check out that huge ladybug rattle in front of them. It's really quite a small rattle, but the babies only weighed about five pounds each when this picture was taken so it looks big in comparison.

As you can see, Chloe and Dominique have been hard at work since the moment they were born. They even went with me to several farmer's markets and craft shows for some live modeling gigs. The only problem was, people we to busy admiring the babies to even look at the stuff that I was selling so I had to fire them. Now they stay at home with daddy whenever possible.

I am all geared up for the Christmas season. I have updated the list of shows were I will have a booth and will be adding several new listings to my Etsy shop. Stop by and take a look!!!

Ted the Turtle and Baby Sweater

This is Ted. Ted is a turtle. He has a soft, squishy shell where he never, ever hides. Ted loves babies and he rattles when he shakes. Ted can't run very fast because he has stubby little legs. He has a cute tail that hangs out of the back of his shell.

Ted can be found in my Etsy shop.

On another note, this is a baby sweater that I finished today. I made a similar one last winter for Nadia, but things always turn out much better the second time I make them. This sweater is no exception.

I love this pattern because it creates a really nice texture on the top and an interesting design on the bottom. It is kind of a pain to make because it requires lots of counting, but the final product is worth it.

This one is made to fit a really small baby, but I think I will make a bigger one for Nadia to wear on the cool fall days that will be coming soon. I think it will be really cute with one of Amy's pillowcase dresses and matching bloomers.

I don't think I will be offering this one in my Etsy shop because you really need to see it in person to really appreciate the beauty of it. I brought it with me to the craft store to buy the buttons and all of the ladies who work at the store were gushing over it.

This sweater will be available in my booth at the Mutton Hollow Country Barn Boutique next week. Stop by and check me out!

Curious George Puzzle Blocks

This is a project that I have been really excited to do for a long time and I finally had a chance to do it.
I recently taught myself how to decoupage and since then I have been fighting off the urge to stick cute patterned paper on every flat surface that I see. This project is merely an extension of that. I found this great vintage story book that was published in 1947 at an antique shop in Seattle. It was a little battered and had some missing pages, but I thought it would be great raw material to work with. It had several stories in it, but the one that really stood out to me was Curious George because my Katie is a huge fan of monkeys. I decided to make some ABC blocks with Curious George puzzles on them.

Four of the sides have different pictures from the book. I cut them apart and decoupaged them onto some ABC blocks.

I have made similar blocks before using just patterned paper and stickers. I cut and sanded the blocks myself in previous projects, which was a super pain in the butt. I found some ready made ABC blocks for a really great price at a craft store, so I thought I would try those out for this project- much better!

I like the fact that the storybook pages become puzzles when you take them apart. The puzzle is harder to put together than one might think because you have to figure out which side of the block matches the picture that you are putting together.

The other two sides have ABC letters. My original plan was to fancy the letters up or cover them with paper, but they were such a perfect match for the pictures that I decided to leave them how they were.

I am happy with how these turned out and I can't wait to make more out of other old story books. I will be listing them in my Etsy shop, so be sure to stop by and check them out!