free tutorial!::tgif quickie::chiclet stuffie

Remember chiclets? The horrible chewing gum disguised as pretty candy? I can still hear the rattle of the box and see them peeking out the window. Open me up, little girl...we look sooo yuuummy...

This chiclet will not disappoint! Perfect for little hands and Easter baskets. Under his wing you can tuck an extra little treat or gift, too.

Get It:

• 2 pieces of fabric cut to 5 x 6" (body)
• 2 pieces of fabric cut to 3.5" squares (wings)
• felt scraps--preferrably wool (eyes, beak and feet)
• embroidery thread (eyes)
• stuffing

Do It:

• Iron all your chicken parts. If you're using poly felt, then leave those parts out. Your iron will never forgive you. And you'll be too pissed to finish your chick. Iron your little squares into triangles. Voila! Wings.
• This is the super-easy-fun part. Make yourself a chicken sandwich: place back piece face up, layer on your feet toes-up, wings and front piece face down. Make sure your feet are in-between the back and wings (rather than wings and front). Otherwise, you will have one seriously deformed chicken foot...and no one loves a deformed chicken. Even on Easter.
• Starting at the middle of the head, sew all around but leave a hole to turn the chicken out. I make that stupid mistake more than I'd like to admit...which means it happens a LOT.
  
• Iron again and stuff the bird! Stitch closed. Cut a little diamond for a beak and some little eyes. I use my much neglected .25" hole punch to get a nice little circle. Otherwise, I never seem to get both eyes the same size. Use french knots to secure circles. And with a little treat under its wing--this quickie is finger lickin' good. Oh come on, you saw that one coming. For a nice, well-endowed chicken, put a chocolate egg under both wings. B-cup, C-cup--it's up to you.

Bok-bok. Happy Easter!

thank you from the bottom of my kitty bowl

I am completely in awe of all the visitors that have stopped by my little space to check out my tutorial. Yee-haw! Of course, the big thanks goes to Craftzine who picked it up for their blog on Monday. I'm so used to being the lurker on everyone else's blogs that I feel like I've gotten caught in the bushes with my pants down. Like--hey, hello there. Why, yes, I am wearing granny panties. But as long as you're a-looking, come back this Friday for another tgif quickie. This one will be for a little-last-minute-homemade-something for those Easter baskets. No underwear. I promise.

free tutorial!::tgif quickie::fabric collage

New and exciting! Better than housework! Every Friday I will be posting a super-easy quickie. No, not THAT kind of quickie. Get your mind out of the gutter. But you may have enough time left over for that, if you wish. Your business. Not that kind of blog. Simple stuff taking less than an hour, but still impressively cute. There ain't nothing like making something start to finish. Or getting to use the word ain't. It just feels good. And I promise there won't be a huge narrative to wade through...like this. So I'll shut up and put up. Here we go.


Get it:

• Small canvases, any size. I used these 4" squares because they came in a pack o'nine. Nice.
• Nail gun
• Mod Podge or something like that
• Brush..well, you're not gonna use your fingers, right?
• Fabric scraps and a piece large enough to wrap around the whole thing

Do it:

• Center canvas on larger fabric piece, making sure it's large enough to make it to the back on all sides.
• Pull and staple the first edge. Fold corners in hospital-like, making it super tight. Cut off excess and hammer in the staples to make them flatter, if necessary.

• Coat the front and sides with Mod Podge. While it's drying, cut out your fabric to make a little vignette. It's fun to customize it for someone. This one with the nesting birds is for a housewarming gift.
• Mod Podge pieces and slap 'em on. Coat again until it's saturated and all the wrinkles/bubbles are gone. You can seal the whole thing again later with another coat if you want.
  
• Finish the back by hot-gluing a piece of paper cut with those paper edgers left over from your scrapbooking phase. Try to cover the staples, but don't stress over it. See, I've got one sticking out.
• Attach a loop or sawtooth hanger from the hardware store. So handy to have around. There you go. Collage. You be done.

me, too.
Happy weekend.

Finally she's mine..all mine

Have I ever mentioned my childhood obsession over Mary Poppins? I watched that OCD, uptight-but-gorgeous, Bert-flirter and immediately wanted to be her. I prayed for gusty storms to blow in so I could be out there with my umbrella--certain that this would be the time I would finally take flight. She wasn't all oooey-gooey lovey like so many other heroines of my day. In fact, she had an edge. She turned reality on its head and looked at those dang kids like THEY were the ones with the problem. I loved that. She was tough. Confident. Brash. She inspired me to use the word "nonsense" a lot. Now as an adult, I'm fairly certain she also had whips and handcuffs in that giant carpet bag. Right next to her coat rack, lamp and measuring stick. She'll always be 'practically perfect' to me. And I can craft her myself! Pattern available here and here among others. Lordy lordy. The hat. The bag. Even the scarf. I would jump up and down with excitement, but I know that Mary would play it much cooler than that.

more little friends

Saturday's show had tons of traffic and wonderful live music. I didn't sell much, but had a great time chatting with Amy and Sophia. I hadn't made much new stuff and since the booth was free, who can complain? It was such a pretty evening, too. Lots of deep breaths. Can winter really be over?

As much as I love design*sponge (and typing it is fun, too!), it makes me want to push all my belongings to the curb and light them on fire. Such beautiful, clean spaces with quirky collections. Not exactly my reality--unless you count miscellaneous toy pieces and animal hair as "quirky collections". The big clean is coming but since it hasn't tapped me on the shoulder yet, I think I'll just wait a few more days to get started. And possibly cut out fabric for a few more critters.

serendipity

Last night the stars aligned and I was able to make this little guy from start to finish with no huge hassles. I am borrowing a friend's sewing machine and was a little nervous about using it for the first time. I pulled it out of the box (it's brand a spankin' new Janome) with sweaty palms and nervous anxiety--much like a first date. I read the manual cover to cover, started sewing slowly and fell completely and utterly in love. It sewed like buttah. We were like peaches and cream, frosting and sprinkles, chocolate and peanut butter...well, you get the idea. My apologies to my $99 Brother machine that is now in the closet. Get used to it.

More critters to come..

falling behind...

I haven't posted in March yet? Hmmm. I feel like a big wave is cresting behind me and I'm about to get pummeled. Going out of town and returning to mountains of laundry, crabby/sick-ish kids with busy schedules and a show coming up this weekend make me feel like I will not make it up to the surface for air in time. I know most people are celebrating the beginnings of spring--lots of beautiful pictures and words out there in blogland--but, honestly, I am finding it a bit disorienting. The in-between kills me.

Okay, whining's over. I put a few of my new pendants in the shop last week. Not much action on those or the little purses, so they'll be traveling with me on Saturday. We'll be at the Second Saturday Artist's show at McMartin Realty in Sacto (5-9 p.m.) where I'll be sharing a table with the lovely and talented Amy. I'll be making some good deals to clear the way for new creations. So stop by and say hello! I might even have cupcakes. Now you have no reason to say no.

cold mornings turn to
warm days--all life is hurried,
frantic + pushing forth