The Shopping Bags Are Empty! What Will You Fill Them With?

I finally finished my little bag ornament set. They are so cute, and now that i've got the one done, I want to start working on the other patterns that I have. They come in a gift box, too, for a grand total price of $7 (US folks) for 10. I came up with some great ideas for them!

*A gift for that surprise guest that always shows up with a gift for you!
*A gift for the girl who's already shopped for it all!
*A great place to hide candy's
*A REALLY great place to hide an engagement ring!

There are more pics at my etsy store.

I also finally finished the little hand sewn quilt that I only started, oh, 2 months ago. It looks super cute, and even though I put HOURS into this little baby, (putting together the vintage scraps, and quilting...) I've put a price tag of only $18 USD on it. (etsy's in USD, in case you're wondering why the Canadian is pricing everything in USD!)

I hope it finds a great home!

I've got a sewing project on the go for a friend, so it might be a few days till I get to the tons of other projects I've got going (more mini beds in 1:24, some tarot card boxes, paintings, etc.) but I"m very excited for the winter selling season! Right now there's 101 items in my store. My goal is to sell at least half of that by December. :)

Lori

Crafty To the Rescue!

One of the daycare girls I'm hanging out with today brought a Webkinz who barely escaped her dog! I did some minor surgery on it's eye, and made a little pirate eye patch for the fishy. My intentions were to blanket stitch the entire length of the strap, but we want to go out and enjoy a walk first... maybe this afternoon I'll continute the blanket stitch.

CRAFTY TO THE RESCUE!!

DIY hoser OR "I Super Glued My Sewing Machine."

I super glued my sewing machine.

Just as I bragged to the pixies that my machine is about 12 years old, this horrible grinding sound came from it, and the whole world STOPPED.

Insert many swear words here. I was half way through a halloween doll blanket.

The little flippy doolally on the side that you flip up to wind a bobbin without having the needle move, broke. A little wee thinger that pokes into place, behind a big round button... I took the top and side casing off, and couldn't even get to this part. Think think think. My personal assessment was that fixing this problem was going to cost more than a new sewing machine... I super glued the little flippy doolally down, so now when I wind a bobbin, the needle will be dancing. ( I am such a DIY hoser. Red Green, and all that jazz.)

My machine is decidedly unhappy, because now the stitches are all loose, and I had to STEP AWAY from it before I swore through my teeth at it some more. (More than likely my needle needs adjusting, or I need a new needle entirely, or I've got too much thread on the bobbin) After pulling it apart, poking around at it's innards, and putting back together its casing, I think it may just have had enough of my face, and decided for both of us that that was ENOUGH.

******

We went to Walmart (bleck) today, and looked at sewing machines, all perfect and shiny and without super glue to hold them together.

I pouted.

We looked at their serger that I've been dreaming of. $299. I felt like a little girl in the doll isle swooning and dying inside for the toy I knew I wouldn't get.

I may have whined a little.

The Goddess is mysterious. I don't know what the reason is for this, but I have to trust it will all work out.

Still, I'm a little sad.

Wishes and Dreams and Can I Haz More Sleeps?

Oh Goddess, make the nights longer.

Oh wait, I forgot, ...that's happening about a week from now.

Ok, Goddess, let me get more sleep during those nights. I go to bed too late, and I get up too early. The darkened mornings only remind me that soon I'll be getting up in the dark to shovel the driveway. Uh, just the thought of that makes me barf in my mouth a little.

Autumn Equinox is the night of the 21st... first day of Autumn on the 22nd. Being the lazy pagan that I've become, I'll probably have a hot lobster bath and fall asleep to dream. (The full moon on Monday was too damn cold to go outside. I'm getting soft.) There's definintely some energy that needs to be raised, focused and put out there around here.

Today is a full day. This morning the little girl I watch occasionally arrived at 6:30. I've got Cleaning (STILL... I TOLD YOU, I was on strike all summer and did nothing, so there's a whole season of cleaning to do. ) I have a serious grocery shopping that needs completing, then pick up the kids from school (the little girl stays until 7pm) carry on with the laundry, dinner, dinner mess (I have an inspection of my rental tomorrow, and I'm freakin a little.)... all the while just wanting to crawl into bed.

I wish I was getting paid for all this labour.

Oh well... at least I've got dreams.

L

A Spooky Little Girl Like YOU.

Haha! Look what I garbage picked last week! It was up the street, just put out at the end of the road. It was like 9 at night, and we came outside to hit the A&W, and even from the distance and with the dark I KNEW what it was.... It had some odds and ends in it (this is approx 1:24 scale) that might actually be salvageable, too.

The carpets are bleck, and the wall coverings are totally coming off... and I'm very curious about the BARRED windows in the right-most bedroom (hehe.) but the main structure is PERFECT. I'm going to strip this sucker down, repaint the exterior, and make it BEEEEAUTIFUL.

And ringing in my ears is my girlfriend Mag saying to me some years ago... "you can garbage pick, just not from your own neighbourhood!" hahahahhaha....OH WELL... I'm creepy that way.

The top section is going to be a patio.

I'll even let the girls play with it. :)



I also finally finished my Creepy Doll House furniture set. It took SOOOO long. Paper mache drying, paint drying, paint touch ups, paint details, and then 2 days of varnishing... but..

TA DAAAAAAAAAAAA!

I am SO happy with how it turned out. It's listed right now at etsy.

I'm not sure if I'll have the stamina or attention span to do another! (and what a mess I made of the kitchen while these where being put together. ) It really was the paper macheing that drove me a little bonkers... all the little corners and crevaces to cover up. HOURS.

Go see go see!!!

L

A Helluvalotta Work.

The pixies are home sick today, and since they were sick last night (and I was stuffy, too.) I got about 3 whole hours of sleep. shortly I'm going to send them back up to bed so that I can command the couch for a nap.

I've painted the spots on my doll house furniture I've been working on, and am going to add the rhinestones, and then hopefully get to the varnishing today. I'm painfully eager to get this little set finished. After that, I just have a little mattress to figure out, and maybe a little spooky bedspread and pillows to go with the whole bunch, and then I can get it on etsy. I figure I'm going to ask $40 US for it. (It's been a helluvalotta work.)

Also, a friend has contacted me, and we are going to chat about some costumes he needs for a movie project he's working on. The actual sewing that I'll need to do doesn't look like it's going to be that difficult (pretty straight forward stuff) but it will be a whole lot of fun brainstorming together with everyone on all the other aspects of the costume design and costume props. Yum.

Enough hokey pokeying around already... (oh, Hokey reminds me of Hockey... First leafs game is on Sept 22, I believe.... FAAAAAANTASTIC!)

(I just attend for the hungry man dinners, chips and dip, and Arizon Iced Green Tea) hehe.

L

All Over the Map.

Yesterday I tidied up most of the basement. (There is that little area that is a laundry mess... that never seems to diminish in size regardless of how much time I spend down there.) I'm pretty excited about it, because I'm finally setting up an area for my etsy business. Ooooh yeah, I've discovered another online sales site that is similar to ebay but without all the damn fees. So the boxes of gear that have been in the basement in bins that are not allowed on etsy will go and live there, too... anyway, I digress.

So, I'm trying to get prepared for the winter season, because it is ofcourse the busiest selling season. As soon as the basement is organized and I get my table in place I'll feel so much better. (I have to go through all the toys down there, and decide what is staying and going. That reminds me, I have a vintage dresser down there that will be in need of a home. )

I'm all over the map today. I ate a bowl of stew and a flakie today and I don't think it's doing it for me. I forget to feed myself when I'm the only one around. Having the house all to myself all day is WEIRD. I'll need to keep in mind to make a little extra dinner so that there's left overs at lunch time, so there's no excuse not to feed myself.

I canned Chow Chow all day.
You can read that adventure here
because I'm not writing all that out again !

L