Cu-Poche Gryffindor Roombox

I got a Cu-Poche Anne some months ago and decided that she needed to have a room of her own. I've been VERY inspired by MyFroggyStuff's videos on YouTube, and ended up making this room and everything in it nearly entirely from scratch. :)

Melina is a First Year who got sorted into Gryffindor, but her family were all expecting her to be a Slytherin like the rest of them. Fortunately, her mum's a very understanding woman, and though she'd already knitted her a Slytherin scarf and cushion cover, she also made Melina a Gryffindor scarf and afghan. For her own part, Melina had a bit of a hard time reconciling expectations with reality. As a result, she started the House Unity Club at Hogwarts, and though it hasn't got a lot of members yet, their ranks are growing! When Melina's mum (a very crafty witch!) learned about her daughter's club, she braided a silver and maroon rug for her room, representative of -- OK, I don't really have to explain it, LOL!

Melina is a fan of the Holyhead Harpies, and a member of the S.P.E.W. club. Later on, I'll give more detailed pics and info!

Happy Planner Joy!!

After stalking Happy Planners online for some weeks (months?) I FINALLY bought one.  I used a coupon at Hobby Lobby and managed to snag the ONLY Peony-themed one in the store.  I love it!  I LOVE IT!  I.  LOVE.  IT.

Since I'm more of a bullet journaler, I REALLY appreciate being able to move things around if I later decide I want them in different places.  I'm not a super-great organiser.  Sometimes just knowing that I have to get it all planned out and get it written in the space allowed without forgetting anything is enough to cripple me from the start.  With this planner, I haven't felt any of that.  It's so freeing! :D

I made a fun Alice-in-Wonderland-themed charm for it:

I also created a sticky-note holder that's made from a Little Twin Stars sticker I got when I was about 8 years old.  It's laminated onto cardstock, edged in washi tape, and punched to fit. I laminated and punched some other cute papers for note-making as well.

And finally, I made an adorable Sumikko Gurashi page-marker, also laminated, that's great for making daily notes in wet-erase marker.  I love it so much that I made another one for my Etsy shop:

Ah!  I just adore these little characters! :D

BJD Sewing and Sushi Mania!

I've been doing a lot of sewing lately.  Hand sewing used to drive me batty, but now (especially since mastering the backstitch), I find it really calming.  Kiki got a sweater made from 2 different socks.  Dollar Tree often has great socks to use for sewing. I made the arms nice and long to be super cosy.  LOVE how it came out! :D  I'm also working on a milk carton plushie for her.  It needs stripes and a face still, but I'm really happy with the design.

 

And then I went on a sushi binge.  Cushions for all sizes!  I think I like the orange better than the pink, but I'm really happy with all of them.

 

 And, finally, a fun planner charm or bag charm.  He's a friendly guy. ^_^  I made it with a clip on top for easy attachment.  Super happy with this guy, too. :)

Cushions, Cushions, Cushions!!

I felt the need to make some cushions of various textures.  These work great for MSD, YoSD and Playscale.   Complementary colours tie them all together.  They're SUPER squishy, too! :)

Filofax Fun

I could easily become a planner addict.  I love looking at all the amazing layouts people do, and the fun goodies they use.  And they always look so crisp and organised.  Sadly, I'm not that organised, but I do keep a bullet journal.  And I love to scrapbook, though I seem to craft in phases - sewing phase, knitting phase, scrapping phase, clay phase, etc.  I found some really fun summer papers and made some scalloped summer papers for scrapping or filofax fun.

 

Check them out at SnootyCow, my Etsy shop. :)

Mori Hats, Hair Clips, and Alpaca Bag :)

I've been caught up in my final edit.  Writing my cover letter next, then off to a publisher it goes!

In the meantime, I made some goodies for my store. :)

 

Another view of the Alpaca Bag, complete with dangly bag charm. ^_^

And I made a fun doughnut cushion, too!. ^_^

BJD Bag and Paper Pleasures

I love, Love, LOVE all the Alpacasso stuff that's out there!  The other day, I felt (hahahaha) inspired to make this kawaii little bag for my shop.  It's hand sewn from blue, white, pink and black felt, with a teensy embroidered nose and mouth, and has a tiny hook and loop closure.  The strap is white plastic chain, and there's a lobster clasp for easy on-and-off. :)  I couldn't stop myself from adding a super cute bag charm of tiny cubes and stars.  More pics in my Etsy lising.

 I'm definitely going to have to make some to keep.

In other news, I got this super cool book at B&N.

 It's in Dutch and English (though there's not much writing) and is crammed with yummy papers, envelopes (to cut and fold), cards, stickers, buntings, and even a pop-up dollhouse and paper dolls.  I decided to send out some Snail Mail using my new trove of paper goodies, and my first piece went out to Mollusc's Godmother today.  I can't wait 'til she gets it. :D

Almost ready to send out my book to the publisher.  For reals.

And as a final note, I learned today that one of my favourite (out of 2) professors at UW-Madison passed away in March.  Requiescat in pace, Professor Baughman.  So long, and thanks for all the fish.

Another American Girl Hat

This time a beret designed with a split in the back and a ribbon, to accommodate different hairstyles. :)

 

This way it will fit even if you give your doll thick braids. :)

I also made some BJD washcloths I'll have to post tomorrow. :D

Something for the Bigger Girls

The BJDs have been getting a lot of love lately, but now it's time for the American Girl dolls to score something.  I made a cute, lilac beret for Serafina to model.  It's newly listed in my shop. :)

I'm going to make some more AG sized stuff, and maybe some Sasha goodies, too!

New Goodies for SnootyCow!

I've been having so much fun knitting, sewing and crocheting tiny things for the shop.  Also, I was really excited to get my first commission about a month ago.  Unfortunately, after I spent about 20 hours making the blankets, the woman who ordered them had an emergency and couldn't pay.  She was supposed to be able to complete the transaction by the end of the Feb, but hasn't done so yet.  I guess I could prompt her, but honestly, I don't want to be that pushy, because I understand that sometimes stuff just happens, and although I spent a lot of time making the blankets, I can still try to sell them in my shop if she just can't buy them.  I think what I'll do is ask her if she wants me to break it up so she can buy one at a time as funds allow, and take it from there.  All I can think is what if it were me?  I'd be so embarrassed that I couldn't pay, you know?  In the grand scheme of things, not making the sale is certainly something I can shrug off.  I sure wish I could get more sales, though, and more great feedback.  (EDIT - Just heard back from her!  She still wants the order!! :D  Hooray!)

Anyway, here are some of the things I've made and listed recently:

A lacy hooded scarf for MSD sized BJD

A set of knit and crocheted cushions
The big one works nicely for a floor pillow. :)

 

Another set of cushions, this time sewn from cherry blossom fabrics. Again, the large one makes a great floor pillow:

 

Some sweet slippers for Spring to fit MSD dollies.  The centre photo shows them on both Durango and Pippa so you can see how they fit both a manly foot and a more dainty one. ^_^ 

I've also been practicing with Shrink Plastic, because I would eventually like to roll out a line of kawaii happy snail items, and some snail flair, too.  Playing around with the plastic, I found that it gets much smaller than I'd anticipated.  Kiki scored a fun new necklace!

My only complaint is that the stuff I'm using has a rough finish when it's done.  I can solve that by doming with Diamond Glaze or Triple Thick, but I think next time I'll purchase a different brand.  The clear stuff I got comes out nicely so far, but I've only made one project with it.  There's definitely a learning curve to the shrink plastic, as well as decisions to be made.  What do you want to use to colour the images?  Pencil?  Marker?  I just got some markers from Dick Blick that I'm loving!  That's what I used for Kiki's snail necklace.  They're just the store brand, and are basically a generic Copic from what I can tell.  I got a great deal since we went to Blick on their 20% off day, and the markers were buy 4 get 1 free in addition to the sale price!  

Once you choose your colouring medium, you need to decide how to shrink your project.  Oven?  Heat gun?  Lately I've been using the heat gun for more control, but it does tend to blow the project away if you're not careful.  I've been using wooden chopsticks to help with that, but ideally, I think a little metal mesh screen would be handy.  I think I have something in our Chemistry equipment that I can use.

That's probably more than enough for now.  This evening I get to go pick up Mollusc in Detroit for SPRING BREAK!!!!!  Hurrah!!! :D  Happy March, everyone! :)

Knitting Sweet Nothings

I'm having a lot of fun doing knitting for people both small and large.  I'm making these mitts from a Ravelry pattern for my friend Claudia in Germany.  I have a lovely Crystal Palace yarn in a blue gradient that I'm using for these.  It's a really fun pattern so far.

I got some good pics of the Strawberry Sundae Afghan for MSD-sized BJDs.  I just adore this yarn!  It has shades of Chocolate, Strawberries, Vanilla and Cream, and it's soft and easy to care for.  On top of that, this stitch is super smooshy and wonderful!  I'm seriously considering making a Big People-sized one for myself with bulky yarn.  Pippa really enjoyed modeling for this one:

I made a little tufted mattress for her (complete with buttons!)  as well as a top sheet, pillow and pillowcase so that I can use them for photoshoots for blankets and afghans.  Oh yeah, and so that she'll have a bed.  Of course.

I've been listening (quite a lot!) to Marianas Trench's new album, Astoria.  It's everything I've come to expect from them.  I think each time they release a new album, they outdo themselves a little more.   Forget Me Not is just heartbreaking, but oh so good, and there isn't a single song on the album that I want to skip or rush through.

I must dash - I have an Epistle to write, Etsy stuff to post, and, yeah, maybe I'll even finish my rewrite. :-P

Remember, Remember

I'm not sure how it came to be the 5th of November already, but that's what the computer says.  I've been watching Black Butler lately and REALLY enjoying it.  I wish I'd watched before we went to Youmacon last weekend, since we met Vic Mignogna and Todd Haberkorn there.  They were super friendly and sweet. :)  The con was a blast!  I'm really looking forward to the next one. :)  We are looking at hitting Shuto Con in the Spring as well.

One of Mollusc's clay birds sold, and the buyer was delighted!  I was really relieved, because I gave it a last-minute glazing and was concerned about my Triple-Thick being too dry.

I have some new items to list in my shop.  I made a beret and an afghan from that lovely ice-cream parfait (as I think of it) yarn.

 

There's also a LOVELY, chunky (Big People-Sized!) scarf  that I made, but I really need to get good pictures of everything.

Most of my Blogging has been over at Estrangement Epistles, lately.   I need to find bogging balance. ^_^  And the latest book that's been cooking in my head is coming along really well.  I have to get back to Random and send it off, but honestly, I'm so sick of it that it's hard to do.  First World Problems, LOL! 

Sweet Lolita and a Free Pattern

I am a closet admirer of Lolita fashions.  They aren't something I could ever get away with wearing, but I would love a world where you could see fabulous dresses like that as a matter of course.  Fortunately, my BJDs *can* get away with it, and I'm having fun making sweet little things for them.  I just put some new hair clips and a scarf in my shop.  Here's what the clips look like:

There are a few more shown in my shop, but you get the idea.


And here's the scarf: 

 

 I'd never tried the "cross stitch" before, but I adore how it looks, and I'm in love with this yarn, too.  Here's how you can make your own:

Needles: #2 (2.75mm)
Yarn: Bernat Softee Baby Little Bo Peep (or any #3 / DK yarn)

CO 7 stitches
Row 1: Slip the first stitch Kwise, *Knit into the BACK of the 2nd stitch on L needle.  Without dropping the stitch from the needle, Knit into the BACK of the 1st stitch on L needle and let both drop from L needle.*  Repeat steps between *s to end.
Row 2: Slip the 1st stitch Pwise.  *Wyif Purl into the 2nd stitch on L needle on the side NEAREST you.  Without transferring stitch, Purl into the 1st stitch on L needle on side NEAREST you, then let both drop from L needle.* Repeat steps between *s to end.

Repeat rows 1 and 2 until your scarf reaches the desired length.  Add fringe to both ends! :)

In case my description is tricky to understand, here's a good video.

Shave Club Update, and KonMari

First of all, let me assure you that I was not contacted by Shave Club in any way, and that this is a completely independent review. :)

Mollusc (20) says "It was a spiritual experience.  Plus, they look freakin' sick!" :D, Slug (18) says "I'm going to have to adjust to the handle, but I didn't get any cuts or razor burn." (w00t!)   Fish (16) hasn't tried them yet, but after trying them, I'm getting him one as well, now.  And Prawn (13) says "They're amazing!  They're the nicest razors I've used."

I concur.  The handle is weighty and feels solid, but retains maneuverability.  The little rubbery ridges on its sides and "tummy" ensure that it never feels slippery in your hand.  As Sluggie noted, every differently shaped handle requires some familiarisation, but I feel that I'm already used to this one after 3 uses.  There was a free sample of Shave Butter in the box, so I tried it on one leg and soap on the other.  The Shave Butter leg felt smoother, but I'm a little wary of using it more than a few times, because it contains Golden Barley, and I have a gluten sensitivity (enough so that using conditioner with Wheat Germ Oil gave me summer allergy symptoms.)  Today I just used shaving cream from the dollar store, and will probably stick with that since it's cheap and effective.  I will say, though, that the Shave Butter feels luxurious, and if you know someone who would enjoy receiving luxury toiletries, it would make an awesome gift. 

So over-all, Shave Club gets a Double Thumbs Up from our household.  Huzzah!  I'm actually going to set our delivery to monthly rather than bi-monthly now until we have everyone covered.

And now onto KonMari.  You may have heard of this book:

I read it and loved it!  It's really changed the way I declutter.  I feel like her method gives me permission (or, more accurately, the ability to GIVE MYSELF permission) to get rid of things that cause guilt or angst ("I spent $ on that - I should wear it/use it. . .") as well as things that just don't "spark joy."  I've already had the Easter Seals come truck out once since I started, and it's coming by for another pickup on Friday.  Additionally, I've taken a box of books to the library, and have a few more to donate.  One of the kids' friends is doing her student teaching semester and said she'd love to have some for her school library, too.  Sweet!

After my first couple of sessions, I rearranged the living room and it changed the whole feel of the room.  It's a lot more relaxing now, and I'm not even done yet!  Today I'm all fired up for another session! :D  Happy Sunday, everyone!  All the happier because no one has school or work tomorrow.

I Shaved Your Wife

The weekend was pretty stressful due to getting Mollusc off to college and all.  With the flurry of last minute buying, one of the things that struck me was how FREAKING expensive razor blade cartridges are! O_O  I always used to use Venus, but I just couldn't justify spending that much anymore, so I switched to Soleil.  To be honest, the shave isn't as nice can be brutal (Wolverine victim cosplay, anyone?), and the blades are hard to find.  Adding insult to (actual) injury, they're not even that much cheaper, but I'm too stubborn to cave and go back to Venus.  Plus, there's no breathable atmosphere.

Today I was browsing Pinterest and sipping my ginger tea (as one does) and I came across the ad for Shave Club.  I'd seen their page before, had been intrigued by their whole smart, straightforward outlook, and just generally liked the concept of going Rogue (see what I did thar?), so today I clicked on the pin to check it out in detail.  First of all, the ad cracked me up:

As someone with an advertising degree, I'm pretty jaded about most commercials.  I usually find something to critique, and consequently spend more time thinking about what's wrong with the ad than what the actual product was.  So when I see one that really makes me like a product, I do take notice.

Then, when I looked at what it would cost, I was sold!  The girls and I will split the first package (I did order an extra handle) to see how we like them.  And I think we'll end up changing frequency to less often than once per month because I'm cheap thrifty and try to squeeze every last dying breath out of my razors.  I also added a bottle of repair serum because Sluggie gets razor burn on her legs (possibly because of my thriftiness) and my old toner trick hasn't worked for her.  I'll let you know how it goes when our package arrives!

If you decide to try it, you can click the link below to shower me with money!  Actually, it will give me and the girls a $5 credit, so think of it as shaving a needy college student if you like.  Wow.  That's a bit disturbing.  Forget I said that.  Yeah, I've been reduced to whoring out my blog for free razors.  What was in that tea?

Shave me from myshelf!

Ticcing Away

My baby has Tourette Syndrome.  OK, so she's not a baby, she's 13, but she's my youngest.

It took me a long time to post about this.  Why?  Maybe because writing it down makes it concrete.  Makes it real.  Makes we want to cry, not for me, but for her.  I know she has a lot ahead of her.  And I don't want any of my kids to walk in on me crying at the computer, (so of course one just did) but damn if it doesn't just suck.

I think any time parents are faced with something like this, we all ask ourselves, "What did I do wrong?  What could I have changed?  How could I have prevented this?"  God knows I've asked myself those questions about Mollusc's Sensory Processing Disorder, about Sluggie's digestive issues, about Fishy's speech issues (though he's grown out of all but a slight lisp), and about this.  And I guess the answer is "nothing."  But a niggling voice inside of me says that it's like the Romans dying of lead poisoning due to lead plumbing pipes - it was from something they did.  They just didn't know any better at the time.

For my kiddo, her tics manifest (currently - they change a bit over time) as facial grimacing and vocal squealing or grunting.  Mostly she disguises this as enthusiasm over something, and I must say her BFF is really awesome about it, because, man, I hate to admit it, but the noises can really drive you bat-guano crazy sometimes.  So I have that to feel guilty about as well.

Why?  That's what I'd like to know.  Just. . . why? 

Once Sluggie's done with her acupuncture, I plan to have the doc check out Prawn.  I've heard that quite a few people get good results with acupuncture for TS.  It's just too pricey to add her until then.  There's also habit-reversal therapy.  That might be covered by insurance.  I'm still looking into it.   In the meantime, what a blessing that we homeschool! 

Here are a few famous people with Tourette Syndrome: Tim Howard (US Men's National Soccer Team Goalie and Goalie for England's Everton club), Dan Aykroyd (Blues Brother and Ghostbuster extraordinaire), Dash Mihok (Actor type guy - apparently quite famous - I'm just not in the TV series loop at all), possibly Mozart (Musician Most Marvelous), and possibly Dr. Samuel Johnson (Mr. Dictionary), Michael Wolff (Jazz pianist), Mahmoud Abdul-Raouf (Basketball player), Jim Eisenreich (Baseball player), and Steve Wallace (NASCAR driver).

Almost all of those guys have really demanding jobs where they're under close scrutiny, or where they have to have extraordinary physical control, or both.  And look what they've done!  So that's cool.

For now, I need to talk to her about what she'd like to say when people mistake her grimace for something else.  Because people aren't always bashful about making comments when they don't know better.  "Wow!  That face!" is the most common one.  I suppose they think she's being a "typical teenager" and sneering at something.  Maybe she can tell them, "It's just a tic."  Or maybe she doesn't need to tell them anything at all. 

It's in the Bag!

Now that it's back to school time, I thought some kawaii bags were in order, so I made a bunch of cute star bags for 1/4 and 1/6 size BJDs.  I got some adorable plastic chain to use for the straps, though some of them will also have really cool anodized aluminum chain.  I used sterling silver jump rings to attach the straps to the bags.  These were super fun to make! 

Wow, I really need to decide on a name for my sweet girl.  

I spent most of yesterday tearing apart the BILLY bookcases in the living room and rearranging everything.  Dags helped me disassemble and reassemble one that MuNKi and I had put together partly upside-down years ago. :-/  Although you could only tell by looking at it from the stairs or loft, it's good to finally have it fixed, LOL!

And now that it's Fall-ish, I've restarted the Harry Potter series AGAIN.  Love, love, LOVE that world!  

I'm still fixing up a shelf for the doll's home.  It's really coming along nicely!  And my use of The Secret for bringing in cash has bagged me another birthday party gig at the dojang.  Huzzah!  Now to sell some star bags! ^_^

Pin-Up Girls

I was tired of only finding oversized (for my taste) hair clips for BJDs, so I made some adorable little hairclips with sweets on them.  So far, I've only listed the biscuits, but I really love how they turned out.  The clips are only 2 cm long, and with the added embellishments, they still come in under 2.5 cm!  They're lightweight, too, so they don't weigh down the dolls' hair.  I'm really tickled with them!  The others have little cakes, doughnuts, popsicles and waffles.  I'm hoping to get some pics and get them listed tomorrow.  The biscuit clips (pictured) come in Candyfloss, Chocolate, Lemon, Grape, and Mint.  Pippa and her friend really like them. :)  Yeah, the little one badly needs a name.  I just love her to bits.  I haven't settled on her eye colour though.  She came with violet, but I may switch them out.  In fact, she may get Pippa's, and Pippa might get green. Or brown.  Or. . . ^_^

In other news, it's time for finalizing loans for Mollusc for the remainder of her tuition.  Gulp!  And we need to get a wee laptop for Gordo to use for note-taking, and make sure that he and Kacey have everything they need for school.  Orientation is THIS FRIDAY! O_O

I recently listened to the Ruby Red trilogy (by Kerstin Geir) and now I'm listening to Book 2 of the Dust Lands Trilogy.

We're also watching Fullmetal Alchemist.  I've read up through book 22, but I'd better finish before we catch up on the vids!

Sisterly Singing Success!

So my sister, who is an incredibly talented musician, is going to be heading out to Montana to sing at Gabrielle Anwar's wedding!  How cool is that?  I guess she's a fan of Loreena McKennitt's music, and not a lot of singers are capable of performing that style of music, but my sis landed the job after sending a demo. Huzzah!  Go, Sheila!  You rock!

In other news, Fish and Sluggie start back to school on Friday for orientation, and Mollusc's move-in day is the following weekend. O_O  Fishy and Sluggie are dual enrolled, and this is Sluggie's final year.  She'll graduate with a hefty # of college credits under her belt, all free of charge!  I'm really pleased with the program.  It ranked 3rd in the nation in a recent study.  Cool!  This will be Fishy's first year at an institutional school, but it's nothing like public high school.  I'm really glad we had this option.  On his entrance Compass test, he already achieved the scores he needs to graduate, LOL!  I'm confident he'll do just fine. ^_^

This weekend, however, is going to be a lot of soccer, as Prawnie has a tournament in Hamburg.  The girls lost some players this year, and have a lot of new players.  This should be a nice way to get them solidified as a team before the season starts.

Have a great weekend, everyone! :-)

Have Your Cake and Wear it, Too

I just partnered with Pixie Faire™ so that I can make things from their patterns to sell in my Etsy shop!  They have some really adorable patterns, and I've already listed this Chocolate Cupcake Beret that I modified from one of the patts on their site.

I love how the white yarn has confetti sprinkles already worked into it. :)  I had a hard time getting the doll to pose for me, but she finally cooperated when I offered her a cookie. ^_^

In other news, I came up with this IKEA SCRAPBOOKING HACK:

 

These are all things from IKEA's kitchen section!  They are: A packet of grid-lined paper lunch bags, a roll of date stickers (fill in the last 2 of the year, circle the month and day), and a set of tags.  I'm using them to make some paper bag albums for the grandmas. :) #Winning!

And HEY!  It's Fishy's 16th birthday today!  Can you believe it?  Here's a pic of him and Mollusc from our WI trip:

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, GOGO!!!!