Free Toys! Just add mess…

If I weren’t afraid of what all that glitter would have done to my camera lense I would have taken some pictures of the afternoon’s activities. We downloaded some fairy wand patterns from the Toymaker and then I gave the girls glue sticks, glitter and a cookie sheet to catch the mess.

Some of the mess got caught. Much was dumped on Elise’s feet right before she peed. That was difficult to clean up.

We’ve used the patterns from The Toymaker many times in the past. Mostly we’ve used fairy items, the fairy house, the wand, etc. But we’ve also done some of the cool action toys, like the spinners and pinwheels. I just print them out in black and white on scrap paper and let the girls color them. If the project becomes a favorite toy I cover it with packing tape and it lasts longer, otherwise they usually last about one play time, which is pretty good for free.

I’m not awol

I just spent a lovely long weekend with my very dear friends the Stagers. It’s always a hard thing to leave them since they have become much more family-like than just friends.

Nothing recycled has been made. I don’t know if it is the change in the year, or the awesome sale at JoAnn’s when I went to buy thread, but I have been making thing with NEW MATERIALS. Crazy. I’ll have to post the leggings I made for the girls today. They are SO cute, they look like rainbow-heart long johns. Love them! Very little girl. I asked Liv if she wanted them to be Jammies or Clothes and she said clothes. So that was what they wore today.

Hopefully I can find a picture, but JoAnn’s website is truly awful. AWFUL!

I know that I have fallen victim to marketing, because I am so sure that I remember a shockingly similar fabric from when I was a kid. They are stroking my nostalgia nerve, I can feel it. I did use recycled knit bindings for the leg openings, so I guess I’m not sewing completely out of character. It is fun to just find a print and say, I need to make something out of this. I still saved money, 2 pairs of leggings with half a yard of fabric left over for $5. Not bad!

Is it recycling if it has never been used before?

Or is it repurposing? I have been knitting fingerless mittens all day with kabob skewers because I can’t find any double pointed needles anywhere. I would have just gone and bought some but we’re all sort of sick and we just paid $170 to fix the dryer.

I’ve been pulling little splinters out of my fingers all evening.

Save Handmade!

Way to go Government! This is Olivia’s explanation of the situation:

“The government wants to tell Mom that she’s not allowed to sew. They made a mistake in their law and Mom needs to write them a letter so that they will let her sew again.”

The new law, H.R.4040, to go into effect on February 10th will make it so that I will not be able to sell my hand made clothes, dolls and slings without submitting each batch (every item being individual means each item will be a batch) for 3rd party lead and phylate testing. I agree that these items should not be in toys and clothing. That’s one of the reasons that I prefer to buy handmade and wooden toys. The other reason being my support for small and cottage businesses like my own. But H.R.4040 will place such stringent requirements on these businesses making it almost impossible to operate.You can find out more about this law and its possible repercussions here.

I’ve already contacted my Congress Person and Senator requesting a provision in the law to protect small businesses. Sherrod Brown (D- OH) has replied, though not very satisfactorily. If anyone is interested in his response leave a comment and I can email it to you. My biggest frustration is that no one is offering a step by step solution for how to bring my goods into compliance with the law. As it is right now I have to decide whether I’m going to quit selling slings and children’s materials or if I’m going to be a quality-goods bootlegger. Please contact your respective elected officials and emphasize the need for a simple way for small and cottage businesses to comply with the law.

Like I said, way to go Government! Way to make criminals out of people just trying to make their own way.

Bring Your Own Bag, from an old T-shirt

I’ve been thinking about how I always forget to bring my own bags when I go shopping because grabbing them is an extra step I have to take when I run out the door. But I always have kids clothes in my purse because I need them and they roll up small. That led to the following break through– I should make bags out of kid’s shirts. Here’s a tutorial that will show you how to make some bags that will roll up this small so you can always have one or two on hand:

2008- revisited

I’ve been looking at a bunch of wonderful photo collections from the previous year. I thought I should do my own. So without furthur ado:

January- I began with resolve to clean every room of my house to tip-top shape. I failed in this resolution, but my kitchen did look wonderful for this photo!

February- I repented.

March- Elise started potty training. Elise is STILL potty training.

April- I let the girls help me start seedlings. They were fun seedlings, but were so dense only one flower actually made it into the garden.

May-I began gardening in earnest and Rob came home from a business trip to find a sink in his front yard. Much like the time he came home to find his kitchen orange (see January).

June- I had to cut a whole branch off this tree to let my garden get full sun. I did this alone in the heat of the day while teetering on the neighbor’s fence. I’m crazy.

July- We came into possession of my Step-Mom’s old chair which has been recovered and now nestles into the office.

August- I created my first dolls that didn’t look like blobs. I love these guys!

September- Pigtails started Preschool. *sniff*

October-I probably should have posted a Halloween photo. But how could I pass up showing off the logical inconsistency of letting my toddler drink hot cocoa on a cold fall day with no shirt on?

November- I plucked feathers from our local pastured turkey.

December- We got all festive. There are a bunch of new photos from Decmeber, but they are all still on my camera. Must do something about that!

Hope you all had as colorful a year as we did. And pray you’ll all have a blessed 2009.

New beginnings

Last year was a big year for me. I realized some of my lifelong dreams. Some of them in a big way, some of them in a small way. I spent the year learning about my style and where I want to take my crafts. That was exciting. I learned that the biggest barrier to making this what I want it to be is my own lack of discipline. And since I know I can run a Marathon, which takes enormous discipline, I know that I can make the time to blog at least every other day.

This being the first day of 2009, the occasion of declaring this year’s plans is upon us. I never used to be a resolution person because I never cared about the same things in April as I had in January. Or if  I did care it was because I had resolved to leave behind some vice, and not to put more effort into something I love. Vices die on their own as you get busier or more mature, but making your loves a priority is something you have to fight for. The people who love you have to make them a priority as well. That is the most important thing because when life gets urgent, peoplearesickandbillsaredueandschoolbeginsin10minutesandnoonehascombedtheirhair, it’s very easy to let the things that take effort fall to the side just to get by. It’s easy to spend naptime reading instead of sewing or writing.

This year I don’t want to let that happen. Rob bought me a mino video recorder that I want to use to make video tutorials. I bought a dreamhost subscription for 2009 and I want to move my craft blog to its own domain so I can have more control over it and hopefully neglect it less. I want to remember to post on Love and Blunder because I love that blog. It’s like a part of my family or an old friend and I need to stop by and visit more often. I also want to spend more time learning what other people are doing, and letting myself be inspired. I’m getting a ton more sleep now that the Elise-Beast is getting older, I think I can spend some of my newly found brain activity on learning something new.

Have a blessed New Year! I can’t wait to see how it changes us.

Someone cool

Every once in a while I get that feeling that I am a little un-cool. Maybe more than a little. Usually it is when I see someone very cool, doing something that I wish I had done.

Maybe this year’s New Years Resolution should be to be cooler. I’ve succeeded in acomplishing my New Year’s Resolutions for the two previous years. This might be my chance to get cooler if I can keep up the momentum. Step one: have my clothes/accessories/slings shown again, not in a Hardware store. Though Lehman’s was truly fun, and Sue is really cool (genuinely), if I want to be a Mini-Martha I have to keep showing my stuff and networking.

Step two: have cooler hair. I think I need to keep coloring it red. I like having red hair.

Step three: So, what’s with the pictures of my kids in this post about how bad I want to be cool? These are unchosen pics from my annual Christmas card that I design. I usually use photoshop, but I know that I really need to be using InDesign. Step three is to learn to use InDesign so that I can make a monthly, or bi-weekly webzine. Things that end in “zine” are cool and if I did one that would up my cool factor by at least 30 degrees. Plus, I just like to post pictures of my awesome kids. I think that having cool kids makes me a little cooler, so I’ll post pictures of them on my blog and ride the wave of their popularity.

Advent- not Christmas

The Lutheran (and ex-Catholic) in me is very deliberate to keep Advent separate from Christmas. I know that most of the country is decked out for the “Christmas Season” and has dove head over heals into shopping and caroling. Not to mention decorating.

I have to admit that I have shopped and decorated with the best of them. Our tree was put up today, photos forthcoming, and the Christmas Village is on the mantel. But right now I am thinking about Advent and it’s special place in my heart. We don’t have a calendar, because I’m too stubborn to buy one and I haven’t made one yet, but we do have a wreath.

Every year I try to make a new wreath. Last year it was with faux pine and sitting on an antique silver serving tray. The year before that it was just surrounded with ball ornaments. This year my Mother-in-Law gave me a few dozen pine cones she found at her parents’ house. So the girls and I painted them with acrylic paint in gold, red and antique gold. I piled the pine cones and candles on top of the antique copper chaffing dish handed down to me from my grandmother. It’s elegant and just enough non-traditional that I find it makes an attractive center piece. Not to mention it was free.

I encourage everyone to take the time to think about Advent. It’s actually well suited to Christmas shopping and decorating because it is a season of preparation. Preparing for the coming of Christ, on Christmas and His second coming. One of the ways we can prepare is not only to decorate and shop, but also to be deliberate in the ways we decorate and shop. Try to be responsible, try to be thoughtful. Especially, try not to be wasteful. Above all, meditate on the good things that we have been given– pass them on! And, look forward to a joyful Christmas season, it is coming soon enough!

Eating in Season- Locally

I’ve been making a point of eating in season, which has become a little easier since I have been buying most of my produce and meat from Ohio growers. It brings variety to our table and makes me learn to cook new things, since not every season lends itself to Mexican food or Chili, or whatever other cooking I am comfortable doing.

This meal was a bit of a stretch for me and for my family. Olivia ate the sausage and some mashed potatoes that I also served with this meal. Elise ate it all, though not as it is here presented, hers was all chopped up and blended on her plate. The actual meal was acorn squash, baked and stuffed with Cortland apples and maple seasoned pork. After assembling attractively on the plate I drizzled it with syrup and served with mashed potatoes. Looks good, tastes good, does a planet good. Everything on the plate came from our county or the county to the west of us.

Likewise, our Thanksgiving dinner was local. That’s a meal that’s easy to do locally, excepting cranberries which came from Wisconsin, because the traditional menu is based on Fall harvest vegetables. The turkey was pastured and organic. Everyone said it was the best tasting bird they’ve ever had. It was definitely the best looking.

On a non-food note, I have a show in two days at the Lehman’s Hardware store in Kidron. Look for me, out by the cash registers. I’ll be selling Daddy’s Old Shirt dresses, aprons (that I’m considering naming Sassy Chef aprons) made from upcycled cotton dresses, and notebook covers made from scraps and old ties. Whatever isn’t sold on Friday will be posted in my etsy store for the Christmas season. Buy local, buy handmade!