HELLOmynameisHeather

Crowning Around

What do you do with a bunch of party-clad toddlers when Princess, Princess, Queen (aka Duck, Duck, Goose) and King Simon Says have lost their charm? 

Jewel up some crafty crowns!

So I was going through Charlotte's birthday party photos today, archiving them into their appropriate places, when I realized that our crown craft was an idea worth sharing -- for birthday girls everywhere.  It worked out perfectly, and captivated a table full of kids for a noteworthy while.  So, for anyone with a little girl's party coming up soon, here's a great activity.

These foam crowns are from Michael's.  They're only one dollar each.  Add two buckets of foam stickers in letters & shapes (50% off right now), a couple of adults for sticker-peeling, and a big table.  That's it.  Not very tricky at all, but dern successful. 

The girls went for goopy, froo-froo crowns and the boys kept things fairly simple.  Even Max joined in, although he was already sporting the best crown ever.

On other fronts, I'm designing another fabric collection right now and it's nearly impossible to tear myself away for anything.  Yes, partly for the fun of it, only partly, but mostly because I can't stand the suspense.  I've been working away on one of the designs for five or six days now and well, I really need to step out into the sunlight.  Fun design though.  Unexpected and a bit cheeky.

Things are moving along smoothly with Trash Ties too.  We're ahead of schedule and getting orders out even earlier than promised at the moment, so that feels good.  And I've just now set up the Trash Ties photo group at Flickr, though I haven't posted any photos yet.  So, go join the group, post your Trash Ties 'dos & beat me to it.  I can't wait to see what you've dreamed up.  Like this and this and this -- you guys rock!

The more tired I get, the more exclamation points I'm tempted to use.  What's that about? !  Time for a nap, I guess. !

Sticky Sticky

Still licking the frosting off my fingers from a week of birthdays. 

Nah, I'm actually testing my willpower by avoiding it all together for a few days.  Two days down.  Detox, baby.  Ha, we'll see how that goes.  Of course you can't count fresh-squeezed tangelo juice.  My parents live in a citrus grove and my counter tops are covered with heaping bowls of oranges, grapefruit & tangelos, while the lemons on my own tree are growing as big as footballs.

Back when Laura lived nearby, we had a tradition of freezing baggies and baggies of freshly-squeezed lemon juice in one-cup measurements.  Through experimentation, we figured out how much sugar and water were needed for the perfect pitcher of lemonade so we could pop frozen lemon juice in a jug at any time and whip up some freshly-squeezed.  I'm eyeing my hand-crank squeezer now.  Hmm, what was I supposed to do tomorrow?  Oh yes, no sugar, Heather.  Whoa now.

Charlotte's party was a royal gala.  All the lords and ladies of the kingdom were in attendance, wearing their finest threads.  Little Max here, aka Lord Max of Hall, topped the parade with his bejeweled crown and emerald rings.  Have a pair of thread-bare toddler trousers flitting around somewhere?  Why, cut the waistband off and make a crown of course!  And rings, a king must have his rings. 

Ah, I loved Max's costume.

Heaven Does Exist

Gaw, isn't this gorgeous!?!  I'm ready to pack my bags & a tarp to go live in a lean-to right there by that fence in Who-Knows-Where, South Carolina.  Purple azaleas, mossy-green grass, gravel road, weathered wooden fence, misty forest...heaven.

I have this photo open on my desktop while I work and when I drift off, I drift off down that path.  Kinda nice, really.  You should try it. 

If you live somewhere as beautiful, pray, do tell where. Sigh.

Global Heart-Warming

Now here's a version that's a little more in season.  These valentine ornaments are made from my Paper Globes pattern.  These go together easily with a glue stick and a good helping of sit-around time. 

Ornament Tips: For the dangle, string beads from the top of each embroidered heart, locating a large ball-shaped bead at the end of the string of beads. Then insert that large bead into the paper globe before gluing the paper flaps on either side of it shut. Likewise, for the ribbon loop, stitch the bottom of the loop into a ball-shaped wad, then insert that part into the paper globe at a joint before gluing the paper flaps on either side of it shut.  When done, the large bead and the wadded up base of the ribbon loop are securely fastened within the paper globe where they don't show. Follow?  I probably should do some sketches.

We may have been behind on Christmas, but we're looking all set for Valentine's day.  That's an notable accomplishment for us.  From December 25th through January 26th our family has Christmas (& Christmas Eve), New Year's (& New Year's Eve), our wedding anniversary and both of our kids' birthdays to sort through.  We're always a bit cross-eyed this time of year.

Paper Globes

I'm getting there.  I can just about make out the light.  Getting caught up on things can be so dangerous though;  that's when the To Do List gets frisky and starts to breed.

I spent the earlier part of the week going over fabric strike-offs, color-bossing every nuance.  The next collection is looking pretty crazy fantastic and I'm excited to push it one more step toward the finish line. There are a couple of pieces that I'm going to have to design some clothes around.  That's just it.  Can't stand it.  A fitted little cocktail jacket out of one and a flared 50s dress from another. Something to do during the wait, I guess -- draft patterns & do stomach crunches (50s dress requirement).

I've uploaded a new pattern to my sidebar called "Paper Globes."  This is one of several projects I put together for the upcoming Home Companion feature (April/May 08).  The shoot was last May.  See, everything I do takes a year these days. These are super easy and fun.

And you don't have to make a topiary.  They make great ornaments too.  In fact, this design stems from an old-fashioned tradition of creating paper kissing balls from the year's Christmas card intake.  The ones I've seen were pretty hokey though, with too many illustration styles garbled together. It's high time we modern folk take the concept further and explore other styles & uses.

Wouldn't these be great for a baby shower or a wedding?  Or strung along a garland?  (Speaking of, have you seen the Ga-Ga for Garlands photo group lately?  Amazing.)  I'd love to see some of these paper globes made from vintage children's book pages.  Or as luminaries.

I put together a few Valentine's ornaments using this pattern last week to help me get Christmas out of my system.  They're pretty fun.  Really fun, in fact.  I'll snap some photos for my next post.

Feel free to shrink or enlarge the pattern as you please.  These paper globes can be made any size you like.  You just need 20 little circles, each with a perfect isosceles equilateral triangle scored in their middles. The main trick is in assembly.  It's easier than it looks though. Download the pattern and instructions to see how it all comes together.

Try spelling isosceles from memory.  Eek.  Which reminds me... Elijah tore his way through the school spelling bee this week and has been invited to compete at the district level.  He probably hasn't heard enough "atta-boys" though, as I've been trying to warn him that the kids who win the National Spelling Bee have crazy, mean parents who make them study dictionaries all day long.  Even nice coaches with jump ropes are still probably crazy.  Oh, what do you do? 

And a big Happy Birthday to my surprise speller too.  Elijah turned 11 earlier this week.  Birthday sleepover bash tomorrow night -- all Spiderman and big-screen-projected, multi-player video games, all night long!  And junk food. 

Float Bloat

There was a tear in the time/space continuum last month that left us about two weeks behind the rest of the world in Holiday spirit.  Kick off the Holidays as late as December 22nd and you might welcome your gussied tree to hang around long past New Year's. 

Well, today was the day.  The tree has left the building. 

One last hoorah with a Gingerbread Man Float and it's onto sugar detox.  Here's hoping the Jones Soda Company brings these back next year.  Mmmm.

   

Hey-la, Hey-hello-ah

I know, I know, I've been absent from these parts for most of the last month.  Beyond taking a much needed holiday break, I've been wrapping up some big projects and structuring my world to take on the new year.  If I get some of these things done quickly this week, I just might get to tap into the new-year enthusiasm in the air before it dissipates.  That's the plan. That's the hope.  I love a new year!  And I'm happy to bury 2007.

Things will pick up here as well.  I have some great new crafts and free patterns in the works for January.  And some fun finds to share. Looking forward to it.  Thanks for hanging around : )

Happy New Year!