Random

I hadn't realized that I'd missed two days of blogs. I guess thinking about the blog isn't the same as typing the blog. I've thought of many blog entries in the past few days - I guess I just never found the time to sit down and write them.

So, tonight I'm going to give you a random entry with a few of my thoughts...

I've been trying the South Beach diet for the past few days (I found the book at Goodwill for less than $1!). This isn't to lose weight (it would be nice), but to try to get my health under control. I've been getting progressively worse and I figure it's time to do something about it. I've never dieted before and it's a weird change for me. Suddenly I find myself having to analyze everything I eat. It's not a bad change... just different. I've been on it for three days and I can see a noticeable difference - several pounds on the scale, looser fitting clothes and most important... I've been feeling much better. My stomach hasn't been hurting me... my nausea spells have been infrequent (maybe 1 since starting the diet). It's good... but hard. I miss bread and potatoes.

I'm looking forward to the Urban Craft Uprising tomorrow. It's their first summer show. I didn't get accepted to this one... so I'm free to stand in line for a free swag bag (YAY!). If I get one, I'll be sure to share it's contents here. If you are local - this is a don't miss event! Not only will I be in Seattle most of the day... but I'll be around crafty people - without kids. I'm really looking forward to it (not that I don't miss my kids when I'm away from them).

I've been trying this new thing where I won't let myself make any new ideas until I've listed most of my current stock. It's like self torture. But I'm trying to get this house under control and getting some of this inventory put away is a big step. I've also been working on my workspace (cleaning it out) and I think I have, yet another, configuration that I want to try out. We've also been working on clearing room on the shelves in the garage to store the plastic bins of inventory. It's a long process but I need to step it up so that I can get back to sewing. I'm really starting to miss it... and I know a few wholesale accounts have been waiting patiently.

Robbie had his final day of theater camp... and he loved is so much, he wishes he could go back everyday. We got to see a small performance at the end of the class and he was Jack from The Magic Tree House Adventures. He did a great job for it being his first experience. While I'd love to enroll him in regular classes... it's just not in the budget right now. We already have him doing martial arts and soon he'll be starting soccer - oh, and that little thing called 1st grade.

I could go on like this forever... so I'll cut off my random thoughts and go watch a movie. It's best to keep my mind occupied so that I don't think about food :)

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Wordless Wednesday - with a few words

I know, there aren't supposed to be any words, but I just have to set this up by saying that this is how Lyssie got ready to take Robbie to his first Martial Arts class. Oh - and the shovel is just in case she needs to dig up dinosaur bones.

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Tupperware

Remember Tupperware? Okay, I know it's still sold... but to me, it's a fond childhood memory. A few weeks back, a friend of mine gave Lyssie a few of the play pieces. I remember having these as a kid (although I think mine we primary colors) and was excited that Lyssie would get to enjoy them as well.

This morning I finally pulled them out to clean them. It turned into a cleaning activity for Lyssie while her brother left for camp. The perfect distraction (although, had this been a planned event... I would have put a towel on the ground :)). Lyssie had a great time scrubbing and playing with the soap suds.

They are just so cute!

Speaking of Tupperware - look what I found at Goodwill today for just .99 (not the muffin tin, the other piece). I'm not sure what it is - a small cake stand, a large cupcake stand... it really doesn't matter. It's perfect and it's sturdy because it's made by Tupperware.

I also found the round muffin tin and decided to pair the two for a fun lunch this afternoon. I turned the cake stand upside down and put the muffin tin on top.

It worked great to serve lunch and the kids loved that it turned! This will be a fun addition to our Muffin Tin Mondays and our Tea Time Thursdays. Of course, today they were willing to share because they had an early morning snack... I'm not sure sharing a muffin tin will always work for us.

I love Tupperware - I just wish I could afford to have more of it :)

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Muffin Tin Monday

Happy Monday! This is a busy week for us - Robbie is taking a theater class (that he loves!), he starts Martial Arts, we have several play dates scheduled... and the UCU show is this weekend (so glad that I'm not participating in this one... I don't see how I could have pulled it off following so closely after Mill Creek). But I do hope to help a friend or two prepare for it - and you can bet I'll be waiting in line for swag and shopping it!

My husband also returned to work this week. This means that I need to get us back on some sort of schedule to preserve any sanity that I have remaining. We started by having our Muffin Tin Monday lunch (thankfully, this week there wasn't a theme)

Contents: Champagne grapes, tofu, chicken nuggets, steamed carrots, noodles from last nights stir fry and Kamaboko.

It's nice when we have decent left overs in the fridge. The kids are eating it up! Click on over to Her Cup Overfloweth for more tins!

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Mill Creek Festival

I just realized that I never shared pictures from the festival I did last weekend. The Mill Creek Festival is one of my favorite festivals for many reasons... it's close to home, it brings in lots of people, and it's organized well. I can't tell you the number of times someone came around asking if the vendors wanted water - ice cold water! Both years that I have participated have been such pleasant experiences.



This festival is also one of my favorites because I do it along with several members of EtsyRAIN. I even met a few new ones - including Tammy from Its All About Glass. She doesn't currently have anything in her shop on Etsy - but hopefully she will soon. She has some really cute birds (that happen to look just like my drawings :)) .



This year I was next to Tote2Go and Its Made At Home. Two of my favorite people! Okay, that's not their real names, Marlo (although she was sick) and Meghan are the names they go by on the street - haha!

Meghan makes the best play dough ever - I swear, if it's kept in an air tight container (she sells them in one), the stuff lasts forever! It even survived the hot temperatures during the festival. She also makes these cute little fabric covered magnets (these can be found at Baubles by Hand). She has a great eye for color.

I had a hard time again this year trying to figure out what I was going to take to fill my 10x10 space. As usual, I think I brought too many different things. I included a few things from each of my three shops. I was happy with the set up - but I little disappointed with how busy the space looked - not sure what I expected. You had to spend a lot of time in my booth to see everything.

Just like last year, the mermaid tails were popular and early Sunday I had to make a trip home to pull them off my online store so that I could replenish my stock. Yay!

I also debuted the new Little Hoots that I made from recycled cashmere scraps I traded with Haute Goat. These little owls are soooo soft! I've also made sure not to use buttons so that they are baby friendly - oh, and I put little bells in their belly.

I separated out the NueToMe shop from the World of Whimm (as best I could). I'm considering two booths next year so that I can make them look more like two separate shops. I'm thinking it would be cute to have a little dress up stage with curtains in the middle of two booths for the kids to try on the costumes. What do you think?

Unfortunately, I didn't get a lot of dresses made. I think I had maybe 6-8 in each of the three sizes I'm currently offering. I had a lot of people asking to see more. Hopefully I'll start earlier next year and have a lot more to offer. The dog one in the picture is one of my favorites... and it got a lot of attention. But I still brought it home with me. I hope to have it listed in the shop soon.

I love this festival and hope to do it again next year. I'm sure that another reason I end this festival with a positive feeling is that both times we had help in town for the kids. My Mom and Dad flew up to help us out. Their help was invaluable! Thanks Mom and Dad!

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Tea Time Thursday

Dad is home - and so I made a point of having our normal Thursday Tea Time. This one had a bit of a Mexican theme as I didn't really plan ahead.


We had left over corn on the cob (I wanted to cut the halves in half, but I couldn't do it and gave up - I was going to end up hurting myself), grapes, mini tacos (made from the Costco bean dip spread onto mini tortillas. I added cheese and the left over pork from my L&L Hawaiian BBQ lunch the other day - yum!), cheese quesadillas and nachos (chips with melted cheese). I also had salsa and sour cream available for dipping. We served milk and pink lemonade for tea.

The pork tacos were my favorite. The left over pork was perfect and gave them lots of flavor. I made the tortillas by using a circle cookie cutter. We buy the uncooked tortillas from Costco, so they cooked up looking just like mini tortillas - really cute!

My husband took a break from his yard work to have a cup of tea with his little girl. He got a little goofy during this very serious affair :)

I'll be sad when he has to go back to work. It's been nice having him around. But the kids have a busy schedule this summer, so I'm sure their busy schedules will help keep them occupied. Robbie starts Theater camp next week - oh, and Martial Arts. Lyssie has been loving her dance class and getting together with her preschool classmates every week.

I have been trying to get back to listing things in the stores... and working on things for wholesale. Oh, and I hope to have a few more tutorials to post within the next week or two.

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Wordless Wednesday

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Muffin Tin Monday

On Monday following a busy weekend (we vended at the Mill Creek Festival) I normally don't jump right back into my routine easily. This week is no exception. Thankfully, my husband is home for one more week. So this Monday he decided he'd do his first Muffin Tin Meal. I think he did a great job. Of course, I didn't let him know what the theme was (I had actually forgotten it was Monday) - so even better that he had a dip in his since this week's theme was Sauces and Dips. Go Daddy!

Contents: Grapes, carrots (I think he steamed them), chicken nuggets, french bread, edamame and BBQ sauce.

This kids (well, at least Robbie) ate it all. You really can't please Lyssie these days, so we don't really try. She'll have to figure it all out on her own.

I'm hoping that today is the only day I need for decompressing. I hope to get some pictures taken, some items listed, some wholesale orders completed and well... anything else off my list done. I still have my parents here until Wednesday and I am shamelessly taking advantage of their presence. They have been helping me with the kids as well as with the business. It's been great. I'm feeling a bit spoiled - parents and husband here... what more could a girl ask for? Well, maybe for it to continue... but I know that won't happen. I'll just enjoy it why I can.

Remember to check out Her Cup Overfloweth for more muffin tins!

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It's all in the details

No secret - I've been preparing for the big Mill Creek show this weekend. This means that I've been a sewing mad-woman (literally at times). I've been concentrating a lot on my recycled tshirt dresses from my NueToMe site. Not only do I need to make enough for the Mill Creek show, but I also have several wholesale accounts interested.

What I love about my NueToMe line is that I use all recycled materials. Mostly tshirts - and I use nearly every last piece. It makes me happy. It's also nice that my son recognizes the need for recycling more...and when he sees me doing it, he tells me he's proud of me. I'm not sure there's a better feeling than having your own child proud of something you are doing... especially something that has so much meaning.

With all these new dresses, I need tags. And for me, it's all in the details. This is a line of clothing using recycled materials... and I think even the tags need to be just as eco friendly. So... I make my own. I use paper that is otherwise garbage (just a few lines printed on it) and I use cereal boxes. Granted... this takes longer. But it's fun and I feel like it gives my items more meaning.

So, this is what I've been working on this morning. I'm still sewing of course... but I have a fairly short attention span at times - do having multiple projects in the works is the best way for me to work.

I'll be picking up my parents from the airport today. They are coming into town to help us out during the show (and of course, to spend lots of time with their grandchildren).

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Ready for the park

I am sooooo happy to have my husband home! Especially since it's the weekend before Mill Creek. Yesterday he was kind enough to keep the kids so that I could attend the Etsy Summer Tour in Seattle. I had the chance to meet a few of the Etsy Admins - I had such a great time and enjoyed hearing about the things they are working on behind the scenes. Good things are in store for Etsy!

Today, my husband took the kids to my daughter's preschool play date at the park so that I could get some sewing done. I feel bad (just a little :)) that he is taking on so much of the responsibility with the kids right now - but I'm also so happy to have the opportunity to work on things without a three year old hanging off my back.

I did pack them lunch before they left though. I didn't get pictures of all the bentos I made (I made 4) - but I had to take a picture of this one as I though it was cute. Not only that, it contained things I was pretty sure the kids would eat.

Contents: pita chips (they are on the bottom to help push the food up higher - this keeps the contents from getting mixed up), a jelly sandwich (this was my mountain - I got this sandwich cutter from the dollar store), Grapes (for the grass), string cheese (for the clouds) and two little cheese giraffes.

So much fun!

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Monday, Monday, Monday

Okay, today is supposed to be a Muffin Tin Monday post... but I'm lucky enough today to be able to pass the childcare responsibility to my husband so that I can focus on work. So, here's a glimpse of what I've got going on this week.

Last week I started making vines from old pipecleaners they kids had and t-shirt scraps. I'm using them to decorate a few of my display pieces... like the owl display (provided I finish enough owls to take them.

Thanks to Julia for loaning her Serger... it's making a higher quality dress and it's a little quicker. Yay! Let's hope I do well enough at the fair to buy my own :)

Lots of crowns going together - I made a vine for one of them and I love the look. Perhaps I'll have time to make a few more that way.

Dresses, dresses and more dresses! This is what I'm putting most of my time into - I have narrowed my dresses down to just 3 sizes for the fair. It's a little easier on me this way.

All this in preparation for the Mill Creek Festival. Let's hope for nice weather!

Are you in the greater Seattle area? A few Etsy admins are coming into town to talk about Etsy, what's in store in the future and answer questions - join us! You can get more information here.

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Bento will make it better

It's a bit frustrating... I tried to get the kids outside to play a bit and it was like pulling teeth to get my son outside. He wants to use the computer, he wants to play Star Wars, he wants to do anything he can to remain inside.

Lyssie was fine - I opened the sand box and off she went (granted I wasn't happy that she dumped sand all over the table where I was planning on serving them lunch). I forced my son to play with her and to get dirty. The horror of it all! He does not like to get dirty and he pouted most of the time he was outside. I feel a little bad... but I'd really like him to be outside, get dirty and be a kid.

So, to make up for being such a mean mom, I made them a bento lunch. Bentos seem to make everything better in this household... I'm so fortunate for an easy fix.

Contents: Mini Grill Cheese Sandwiches (my husband will pick up anything that comes small as it makes for perfect lunch items for the kids) with sauteed hot dogs, grapes and carrots.

Super simple, but it went over well. The little character toothpicks help a great deal in the enjoyment of their meal :)

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Kiki Magazine

While on vacation, the kids and I walked through our share of book stores. We love books and a book store is one of those things you do when you are looking for something a bit slower pace.


Of course, we end up spending all our time in the children's section... and I can only occupy myself for so long before I start to nod off and read myself to sleep. So I was pleasantly surprised to find this magazine "Kiki Magazine". Not only did it have a feature on Seattle, but the entire magazine is dedicated to being green (not like Kermit).

I would have bought it had it been geared toward both boys and girls, but sadly... it is geared toward girls - mainly teens I think - as it has lots of fashion. To the editors of this magazine - boys wear clothes too :)

Anyhow, if you have a teen girl, I recommend this magazine. Oh - and I also like that I found this magazine in the children's section among all the books... not in the magazine area where you find all the crazy celebrity gossip.

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Tea Time Thursday - Orange

While preparing for our tea party today, my son asked what the theme was. I guess he prefers there to be a theme... so I told him it was orange since most of what I was making included something orange.

So they dined on orange juice (for the tea), salmon cakes, salmon sushi (made from left over salmon from last night - yay for using leftovers!), grapes (in an orange cup), carrots and quesadillas made from orange cheese. Not too bad considering I wasn't planning a theme in the first place.

Robbie helped make our first ever sushi (without a sushi making instrument). I just mixed some of the salmon from last night's dinner with some mayonnaise. I cut some carrots from the same dinner into thin slices and we rolled them up with some sushi rice (mixed equal parts of rice vinegar and sugar into some cooled rice). They turned out great for our first attempt.

The salmon cakes were made because I found a few packages of salmon in the back of the pantry and felt like I needed to use them before we got close to their expiration date (it could have been buried for another year if I didn't use them now). Besides, I wanted to something different than I normally do for this tea party.

The quesadillas were because I knew that Lyssie wouldn't eat anything else.

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BBQin' - Teriyaki Sauce Recipe

I love summer here in Washington. I used to dread it a bit more when I lived in California - the hot weather always made me a bit uncomfortable. But we've made Washington home and I now look forward to summer every year. The nice weather, growing our garden (green makes me happy), all the free activities in the area... and of course, BBQing. I love the taste of food off the grill - my favorites being grilled veggies and kabobs.

Last weekend we cooked up some chicken teriyaki kabobs with peppers and pineapple - and they delicious, if I do say so myself. I thought I'd share my versatile teriyaki recipe here (the one I grew up on). Each time I change it up a bit.

Teriyaki Sauce

Ingredients:

• Soy Sauce
• Brown Sugar
• Wine (I use a White Zin because that's what I usually have on hand - but you can try different kinds)

Measure equal parts soy sauce, brown sugar and wine. Heat (I often use the microwave to save time) to combine. I let the sauce cool a bit before I marinate in it. Or you can put the chicken (pork, beef, salmon all taste great too) in a fry pan, poor in some sauce and cook it up... yum!

For the kabobs I added a bit of orange juice (idea was my dad's). I also normally add some ginger because I like the flavor. I use the recipe as a base and I alter it a little each time. I'd love to hear your ideas for changing it up a bit!

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Wordless Wednesday

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ZooParent Adoption

As you may know, my son LOVES animals. He plans on being a Paleontologist and an Elephant Zoo keeper (and he plans on owning his own zoo to help save animals). I am always looking out for ways that my son can get involved in charity work - most importantly, things that interest him. He has been helping the local shelter, we hope to do a Farmer's Market in August to help him raise funds for the Humane Society... and his goal this summer is to become a ZooParent.

Woodland Park Zoo has a program called ZooParent Adoption. For $100, you can adopt an animal (Robbie is choosing the African Wild Dogs - his favorite exhibit at the zoo) and you get a picture of the animal, some animal facts, a stuffed animal, your name at the zoo as a ZooParent... and more. It's perfect for Robbie and he's excited. While we aren't doing this for Lyssie yet, she's excited too and is playing along like she is going to adopt her favorite Humbolt Penguin.

So, today we made a chart for Robbie to monitor his goal. He received $1 from the tooth fairy last night (notice his gap :)) and immediately wanted the money to go toward the adoption. He was a little disappointed this morning when he found that the tooth fairy didn't leave $100 so that he could adopt right away :). Luckily, he's willing to work toward the goal.

I am hopeful that this new motivation will last. I would like him to get excited about helping his community - animals included. He loves to recycle and has intentions of making a difference in this world... I am doing what I can to lead by example and to help him realize that he can make a difference. Unfortunately, like everything else - it takes time and patience. This chart should be a good starting point.

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The Giant Artichoke

During "vacation" we took the kids to the Monterey Aquarium... and on the way home, we stopped at one of my old childhood memories - The Giant Artichoke. I have to admit, this place really only holds a soft place in my heart because it includes memories of my Grandfather and older brother... but it was worth stopping for lunch. AND it gave me a great opportunity to introduce a new food to my kids.

In addition to a normal meal (I had meatloaf), I tried artichoke soup. Robbie tried it, Lyssie didn't. It was good - but probably not memorable good.

And of course, we tried the deep dried artichoke hearts. Again, I was proud of Robbie for trying it while Lyssie scrunched her face. Again, good... but not memorable good.

I think the most memorable part of the stop was Robbie's $1 chocolate dipped strawberry that he went up to the counter and bought by himself. Look at that thing - it's huge! I'm happy to report that he dropped it halfway through and wasn't able to eat the whole thing. Haha - looks like Yoda is ready to attack it in the photo - I think it was the size of Yoda.

All in all, it was nice to take the kids to a place that lives in my childhood memories. However, I think it will remain there as I didn't really feel a need to return. Of course, who can resist the fun pictures in front of the Giant Artichoke. I think we have pictures of my brother and me in front of it was well.

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Fabric Mushroom Tutorial

This past year, I've been a bit obsessed with recreating fun and whimsical things from nature. Whether it's the mushroom pincushions, the recycled fabric owls, pixie costumes, and so many more things that have never made it to a shop. So, while I was on vacation, I had an idea to incorporate some mushrooms into my pixie hats and maybe even the tiaras.

The idea for making these cute little mushrooms were inspired by my mom (she makes all the yo-yos for our crowns and feathered headbands). I plan on replacing the fleece with recycled wool felted sweaters so that I can felt dots on to them. Stitching fleece dots didn't give me the look I wanted and sewing french knots on the top was cute - but still not the look I wanted.

Anyhow, while I am playing around with the details for my actual costumes, I thought I might offer these in the store as play food for kids. I also thought it would a nice tutorial to share here on my blog. They are really easy, fast and the result is so rewarding... you'll get addicted to making them, I'm sure. I'm hoping you are able to click on the photos to enlarge them. If not and you have a question about a step, please just ask.

Materials:
Scrap fleece (or wool)
Scrap cotton
Thread

Step 1: Cut a circle from the fleece. The one I used to demonstrate was three inches and made a slightly larger mushroom than I was making previously... I think my previous circles were 2.5 inches. But I cut them freehand, so I can't be sure. Save the scraps!

Step 2: Place the fleece circle on top of the cotton (cotton should be facing up) leaving at least half an inch around the edges.

Step 3: Stitch around the circle stopping with about an inch to two inches remaining (I used a zig zag stitch because I like the look of it when the mushroom is complete). Drop the needle so that the fabric doesn't move.

Step 4: Take the fleece scraps you made from cutting the circle and stuff them under the fleece. You don't need a lot, just enough to give it some depth. The amount of scraps you stuff will also depend on how firm you want your mushroom.

Step 5: Complete the stitch around the circle, enclosing the scraps inside.

Step 6: Trim the cotton around the circle about half an inch to three quarters of an inch from the fleece.

Step 7: Cut another scrap of fleece for the stem. I make it with the bottom slightly longer than the top so that when rolled, the bottom is a little wider than the top (see step 7 for example).

Step 8: Tightly roll the fleece starting with the longest side.

Step 9: Hand stitch the edge closed to form the stem. I start from the bottom of the stem and work my way up to the top, knotting it... but not cutting the thread.

Step 10: Trim the ends of the stem so that they are flat on both sides.

Step 11: Sew the stem onto the bottom side of the mushroom cap placing it in the center. Do not sew through all layers... just the cotton layer. Tie it off and cut it.

Step 12: The mushroom should look like picture 12 with the stem attached to the center, and the top of the mushroom showing no stitches.

Step 13: Start yo-yoing around the underside of the mushroom. When I yo-yo, I turn the edge about an eighth to a quarter of an inch and loosely stitch around the edge. (If you don't know how to make a yo-yo, here's a link - they also sell little gadgets to help... but I find them more cumbersome).

Step 14: As you pull the thread tighter, you will see the mushroom start to form and the fleece start to pull over the edge.

Step 15: Tie off the thread and pull it through the mushroom to cut so that the thread does not show. You might have to work the mushroom cap a bit with your fingers to straighten out the yo-yo stitches.

And you now have a fabric mushroom! I'd love to hear if you make these, how the tutorial worked for you and what you did with them when you were done - pictures would be even better! Have fun!

** Note - some of the mushrooms in the photo were made while I was on the road. Since I couldn't use a machine, I hand stitched the fleece on to the cotton. It worked fine, but I prefer the look of the zig-zag stitch.

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