little lovelies handmade

If I had a million dollars...

I'd dress really cute!

ABC's Of Me-J

Japanese craft inspiration
Originally uploaded by littlelovelies

Japanese Craft Book inspiration. So cute! I could make a much much bigger mosaic of the cuteness that is Japanese Craft, but I know that I would just be preaching to the choir here.

Sorry that the posts have been few and far between of late. It seems to be the blog world trend at the moment. I think everyone is busy try to enjoy their last few days of summer and if you have kids a simple blog entry can become a 5 hour ordeal. My kids are (supposed to be) napping at the moment so I have a few hours of blissful quiet to look forward to.

There is much to do in the quiet, though. We are packing up for our first camping trip as a family (most of anyway, Peanut is going to Grandma's) and there is much to do and gather and buy. Monkey is beside himself excited because he got to pick out a new fishing rod with Dad, and has some new floaty toys to play with on the lake. He won't know till we get there that I also got him some sand toys. What a lucky kid!

Busy Busy!

The sparse posting lately is due to a pretty productive crafty week, which is never a bad thing. I have several events coming up and need to make oodles of things. This week it was Yoga bags. I have the basic designs down, I just need to fancy 'em up a bit. I used vintage pillowcases and vintage trims on these. It was a great stash buster, too. I have soooooo many pillowcases right now. I hope that they are as popular at the next Sellout Buyout September 8th. The pictures I took are so bad I should be ashamed, so I am not posting them. I need to get with it and make a light box. I'll add it to my growing list of things to do...

Besides getting ready for SOBO I am working on the last deatils for Handmade Parade. Missy made an amazing postcard for us and we have a really exciting schedule of classes and demos along with the coolest vendors around! I'll be udating the HP blog with a vendor list and class schedules today. It is definitely not an event to be missed.  Isn't that postcard the cutest?

ABC's of ME- I

My creation
Originally uploaded by littlelovelies

My creation
Originally uploaded by littlelovelies. I love flickr. WHo is the blog world dosen't? I went on to make a collage for 'I' which was going to be "inspirations" and I was sidetracked by Sacramento signage that several amazing area photographers are taking. We live in the neighborhood where many of these signs were shot and over the last few years they have been slowly disappearing.

I need to start being more aggressive about taking photos of my favorite signs, but I get frustrated by my crappy camera so easily. I am going to have to start begging Aaron to let me get a new one. It may take a few months though ;).

I definitely encourage you to visit these photog's flickr accounts to see more amazing local signage. It is really really cool!

Sweet Sewing

Yesterday I went into my newly organised sewing room and began to pull out pins to pin a pattern peice when I got the idea to make pinheads out of polymer clay.   Polymer is a fairly new medium to me with the dollhouse funnel cakes I made for Club Little House being the first thing I ever made. That should explain the veeerrry rough renderings of a strawberry, cannoli, cake. mushroom, bird, cupcake and cookie. The ball is just a ball. I do have to say that is was pretty fun and that there are going to be many many more pinheads in my future! I went on flicker and checked out some things other people are making in polymer and all I can say is. Wow. WOW. People are crazy talented! Or just crazy. Either way I am impressed.

ABCs fo Me-H

Him, Him, Her and lots of Humor

This is a really old picture of my boys, but it is one of my favorites. There are a series of pictures from this day where Monkey is feeding Aaron and right when the food would get close to his lips, Monkey would yank it away really fast. He thought that teasing his dad was the funniest thing, which of course was.

This pic of peanut is from picking out the xmas tree last year. She was so funny just dangling from her little backpack. Now our kids keep us laughing with their silly little personalities.

I never knew that being a wife and mother would be so much fun and it is largely because of these three goofballs. Actually it is completely because of these three goofballs. I wouldn't be either without them!

ABCs of Me-G (and some crafts, too)

G is for Growing Pains

It has been a big week at our house. On the weekend we got a new bed for Monkey and converted Peanut's crib into a toddler bed. She has done amazingly well. Only fell out a few times, stays in bed when we put her down, but she does have a rotten habit of getting up before 6. No one is enjoying that too much. It really really sucks.

Monkey is completely potty trained at last. At home, away, #1, #2, naps. We got it all down.

Peanut is getting opinionated about her clothes. She now refuses to wear an outfit that she didn't pick out herself. I have tried putting clothes on her anyway because heck if I am going to let a 22 month old tell me what to do. However, when I do that she cries and whines and pulls at her clothes all day long. Some battles just aren't worth it.

We had a fab day thrifting the other day. I went to get blankets and sheets for camping and came away with sheets for the kids and a few blankets. One of which is an A-Team blanket. That's right, I said A-Team. that was my favorite show as a kid. I wanted to marry Murdoch. I know. That is completely mental. And so was he.

I'm working on my first ever quilt, the doll quilt above. My plan is to hand quilt and hand bind it. We'll see how that works out. i have a couple of embroidery projects in the works also which I am super excited about. Hopefully I'll get to a point with them this weekend that I can show it off. 

ABC's of Me-F

Favorite Shirt   

When I was in college I was a thrift store maniac. I had virtually no budget for clothes, but loved having unique stuff. Naturally thrift stores (and clearance racks) became my best friends. My favorite shirt cost me a $1 at a local thrift shop and even now, 10 years later I get all ga-ga and weird when I see this shirt. The label is in Chinese, but it is marked with an "L" (for "little", obviously, because I am an "L" now and this shirt definitely no longer fits me) and says "hand embroidered". I remember being in the thrift store and breaking out into a cold sweat until I bought it, because I was sure an employee would take it and say "Oh! That wasn't supposed to go out here!"

I haven't been able to wear it in years, but I don't care. No matter what I wore it with I always felt pretty. I probably like it so much because it reminds me of when I was younger. It's one of those things that I look at and have a slight bittersweet feeling.

  I remember my first love and all the pain that surrounded that, my best friends and how we couldn't imagine life without each other, and meeting Aaron, falling in love with him and knowing that he was the real deal. I remember what it felt like to live at home, being an adult but having no real freedom. I remember deciding to move out on my own and just doing it, even though I had no idea what I was doing. When I look at this shirt I remember being 19 and uncertain at where my life was going and what I was going to be. 

I don't remember specific times wearing it, but it certainly embodies a time in my life where I learned a lot. I don't think I own anything else that evokes that kind of memory. I was really suprised at the people and places that flooded me when I picked up the shirt and started looking at it. I'm sure 10 years from now, I'll be going through my kids stuff and find a toy or book or peice of clothing that will instantly bring me back to 2007 and this house, the friends we have now and the funny things my kids are doing. If I'm really lucky it will be something that I made by hand that will trigger the memories.   

The ABCs of Me - E

E is for Everyday Food and Eating and Enormous

I remember years ago when I was 16 and I bought my first copy of Martha Stewart's Weddings magazine and perused the pages. I remember liking her style and the attention to detail, but also feeling like it was out of reach. Nevermind that I was 16, no boyfriend in sight, and as far as my little high school brain was concerned I was never going to get married. I mean the design, the style, the life seemed out of reach. It just wasn't real life. Not mine anyway.

When Aaron and I were engaged, his mom asked me for my Christmas list and I put Martha's big ol' Bible of a cookbook on there, which I got. I perused that cookbook cover to cover and learned several things about myself. 1. I like pictures. I need pictures. I screw up food (sewing/crochet/knitting) without pictures 2. I need recipes with less than 10 ingredients and 3. Those 10 ingredients should be found in the grocery store, not online at some little grocer in NYC/Martha's Vineyard/Pakistan. Not to say all the recipes were like that, but I do remember being sidetracked a time or two because I felt like I had to order the saffron from the Turkish market in New York and that no other saffron would do. Bear in mind I was 20 when I got this cookbook. I hadn't been living on my own a whole year yet and really hadn't cooked anything resembling food more than 5 times in my life. That cook book was scary.

I'm a simple kinda gal. I am dazzled by Martha's projects and recipes, but when push comes to shove I need me some easy stuff. Enter Everyday Food. Finally. Recipes I can follow, scratch that, recipes I want to follow and either already have all the ingredients for at home or can easily run out to get at the corner store.

And that is where the eating and the enormous come in. Yum.

Etsy Update

I did a teeny tiny little Etsy Update! I listed these frames for $15 each. Head on over if you want one!