Mmmm...mmmm...good!

One of my favorite lunches is a grilled cheese sandwich and a bowl of tomato soup. The soup is really more of a dipping sauce for the sandwich. There is something about the crispy, buttery bread with the gooey cheese dipped into the creamy, savory soup. All of the kids love it, too. Even the babies like it if I cut the sandwich into tiny pieces and dip it in soup for them. I was recently at a craft show and I saw a lady who was selling cans of soup. Her workmanship left a lot to be desired and she used a styrofoam cylinder to hold the shape. I could tell, because you could see it through the spaces in the stitching. It inspired me to do better. This is what I came up with.

I could never let my babies play with a toy with a styrofoam core because they would bite pieces off with their four little teeth. I use tight stitches and a structured yarn so that mine will hold it's shape in it's own. I have even thrown my toys in the washing machine to see if they would lose their shape. They came out clean and looking perfect.

I was thinking the soup would be fun in other flavors, too. How cute would it be to give a can of chicken soup to a sick friend in the hospital on diet restrictions? Or a can of mushroom soup to my mother who made a different casserole with a mushroom soup base for dinner five nights a week when I was growing up? It would even be a cute and unexpected rattle for a baby shower! Now it's your turn to tell me about your favorite soup!

Bonjour!

This is Pierre. He started out as kind of a joke. Katie told me that I should make french toast and I asked her how I could make french toast look different from regular toast. This is what we came up with: When he was done, I decided to photograph him and put him in my Etsy shop. Since photography isn't my special skill, I decided that it would be fun to find pictures of French landmarks on-line and take pictures of him standing in front of them.

I had no idea at the time that he would become one of my biggest sellers in my Etsy shop. I have sold dozens of him and shipped him all over the country and to a couple of countries in Europe. Last week a cute lady ordered him from my Etsy shop and asked if I could have him arrive quickly because she was leaving on a vacation to France and wanted to take pictures of him in front of real French landmarks. I squealed with delight when I read this and asked her if she would mind sending a couple of her photos my way. She said she would be happy to. I really hope she does. I can't wait to see them!

In other news, I updated my sidebar with my 2011 show line-up. I will be really busy, but I am excited to try some new shows and see what happens!

Tea Party!

I am never going to win any awards for keeping my blog updated, but that doesn't mean that I haven't been very busy creating new things. I had a few "product development days" last week and came up with some really cute new things for my shop and have a really full show line-up for the summer and fall with some new shows that I am really excited about.

But the thing that has really been the focus of my time and energy over the past couple weeks is getting ready for Nadia's birthday party. It started out like this:

Katie: Let's have a tea party for Nadia's birthday!
Me: OK. We can invite her three little cousins and one friend over for a little party.
Katie: Great! I'll start planning the menu!

What followed was a month of planning, baking, decorating, sewing and organizing for a party for 20 people. I really need to learn to control myself. And I have passed my disease down to Katie, who also has a tendency to go way overboard in the planning process as well.

This is the birthday girl. I made the pettiskirt. And the shirt. And the hat, too. See what I mean about needing to learn to control myself? But she looks so cute that I just can't help it!

This is the view from behind so you can see the fabulous hat. I may be out of control with my ideas, but I really know how to stick to a budget. I made a hat for each of the little girls at the party from hats I found at the dollar store and flowers that were just sitting around my house. Total cost for 11 hats: $15.

These are all of the little girls at the party in their hats. It was so cute and the girls loved being all fancy. I didn't plan any games or anything, but you know your party is a success when the guests tell their mom that they want to have their birthday party at your house!

These are my babies. I made their pettiskirts, too, but they aren't quite finished. Their birthday is coming up and they will be fabulous for their pictures. Their party is going to be amazing, too. They are going to have a birthday cake with a "Teddy Bear Picnic" scene. See... told you I have a disease. I really can't help myself.

I really wish photography was one of my skills, but sadly, it is not. This is the table with all of the food. I am not a fan of baking, but Katie is, so she got to do a lot of the baking for the party. We had finger sandwiches (cucumber, egg salad, and PB&J), fruit skewers with mini raspberry muffins and dip. mini quiches, crumpets with clotted cream and jelly (there is a great story behind that which is worthy of it's own blog post), assorted tea cookies, strawberry lemonade, and sherbet punch. All of it was served on my fancy display pieces that I have sitting around because they are all a part of my booth display. Nadia got in on the baking action the day before the party. Don't you love the chef hat and apron? She insists on wearing them every time she helps out in the kitchen. Amy made them and you can buy them from her Etsy shop. (The link is on my sidebar.)

Of course, there were cupcakes baked in teacups, big tissue paper poofs hanging from the tree branches, tables with cute eyelet tablecloths and teacup centerpieces with fresh flowers cut from my yard, and a canopy draped with flower garlands and a chandelier hanging from the center. Of course, almost all of this was stuff from my booth. Total cost of decorations: $3.

Now that that party is over and I'm done homeschooling Katie for the summer, I will post some pictures of all of my new stuff for my shop and put up info about my upcoming shows on the sidebar.

Thanksgiving Pies

I just helped my 13 year old daughter, Katie, make her very first pumpkin pie. They are still in the oven, so I don't know how they turned out, but the house smells heavenly! In honor of the occasion, I thought I would post pictures of some pies that I made last week. They don't smell nearly as good and I sure hope Katie's pies taste better, but I think they are cute.

Pumpkin pie is my favorite to eat, but I love looking at a cute cherry pie with a trellis top!

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

Lil' Brown Sugars

I am so excited about an opportunity that has come my way. At a recent show that I did, a really cute girl saw my booth and emailed me. She is opening a bakery in Santaquin and will have a small gift shop area. She wanted to know if I was interested in selling my hats in her shop. I have never offered my stuff in a store before, but I thought I would give it a try.

The bakery is Lil' Brown Sugars Bakery. Amy and I stopped by today to drop off our stuff and it is adorable. In addition to having baked goods, she will have a little gift shop area, an espresso bar, and a lunch menu. It isn't open quite yet- she is waiting for the last of her construction to be finished- but it will be open by the end of this week. Amy and I can't wait to go back down after it is open to have lunch.
The address is:
340 East Main #1 Santaquin, UT, 84655
It is really easy to find. It is just off of the Santaquin exit on I-15.
So, if anyone is in the Santaquin area, or driving through on your way to somewhere else, be sure to stop by for a salad or cupcake and check it out!

Short Stack

We have a tradition in our family. Every time the kids have an event at school, like a parent teacher conference or band concert, we finish the evening with a pancake dinner at IHOP. It started out as a way to eat out on the cheap (expecially when they were running their kids eat free special) but it turned into a tradition that we all love. This little creation is in honor of many, many pancake meals enjoyed together by my family.

On another note, I currently have a booth at the Kottage Kupboard Boutique's "Candy Cane Lane" Christmas show. The details can be found on my sidebar. If you are in the Ogden area, stop by and check out the show. There is always some seriously good shopping to be found at this show and there is just over a month until Christmas!

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!!!