Spring has Sprung

What fun! I am very thankful for the opportunity to share my work with more people and make some new friends at the same time. It was also a lot of pressure being the featured seller on Etsy, knowing that everything I listed would be there on the front page.

We had a delightful Easter brunch yesterday. I made chicken and waffles! Nothing says Easter like fried chicken.

Hopping on, I did get a few new card designs in the shop. I'm really happy with how springy and cheerful they are. Hooray for Spring!




In other news, I finally ordered a Gocco. I have been trying to figure out whether or not to buy one for years and then after I decided that I must have one, it was a question of which one to buy. I think I made a good choice. I would love to have the larger one but it's considerably more expensive and I'd like to start with this one and make sure I love it before investing in the big one. I'm really excited to start using it. What has your experience been with Gocco?

The Cake

I decided that I wanted to make a cake version of my happy/sad cloud plushies. This is what we came up with. The cake was 2 layers of vanilla cake with a strawberry mascarpone filling. It was very difficult to cut into this happy little cloud, but it sure did taste good.

The eyes and mouth were made from colored white chocolate and the rosy cheeks were made by sprinkling pink sanding sugar through a paper towel tube.

The cake was a huge hit I'm happy to say. Hooray for birthdays!

Readying...

The house for my birthday party tonight. We're having cheese fondue and oil for frying. I'm making beer batter and we've got all sorts of vegetables and cheeses for dipping and frying. I even found some big round balloons at Lippman Co. They have a balloon room AND "Inflation Station".

Jenny and I snuck out last night to search the neighborhood for flowers. We found the most lovely cherry blossom tree in full bloom and paired it with some found and purchased flowers for some delightful Spring additions to the house.

Have a nice weekend, I'm off to watch the frosting of the cake. More on that to come...

Bunnies Bunnies Bunnies

The bunnies have arrived! The shop is full of sweet little rabbits of all shapes, sizes and colors. I'll be adding more this week as I seem to have a case of bunny fever.

Spring Fever

The weather has been so nice the past few days. I feel like we've finally said goodbye (!) to Winter here in the Pacific Northwest. Hooray for that!

Spring has definitely hit the shop this week:




My birthday is in a little over a week. I am having the hardest time figuring out what to do. I'm not feeling much like a party lately but I do love the opportunity to bake a cake and it is the greatest day of the year. :) An outdoor garden party sounds perfect, but I fear the weather is a bit unpredictable still. That could very well end in disaster. The only decision I've made is white balloons. I love balloons, especially perfectly round balloons like the ones the car lots have. It has long been my dream to own a giant helium tank. I know, reach for the stars, right? For a time, I wanted to be a paint mixer in a hardware store. I'm happy to say I have since overcome that desire.

The Devil's Workshop and 100

This has been a very difficult week, but I'm feeling a bit better and am trying to stay busy. As they say, "Idle hands are the devil's workshop". I love that phrase even though it's effing weird. It goes through my head a lot and always in a Southern drawl.

If you're waiting on an order from me, I apologize for the delay and it's on it's way, I promise. These are some new Easter friends who have dropped in to the shop.


Also this is my 100th post! I must say that I truly enjoy having this blog. It's so nice to have a
place to share my creations and love of crafts with like minded friends. Here's to the next 100!

Remembering

This last Thursday, we lost our sweet cat, Roly. He was having trouble breathing and we learned that he had an enlarged heart and fluid in his lungs. He was the sweetest boy kitty and our home is not the same without him.

Roly
April 11, 1996 - February 28, 2008

Hello Spring?

I picked up some snap clips last week thinking it was time that I had something other than bobby pins for my hair. Once I got started making these I couldn't quit. They're so fun and easy and make for a perfect -between projects- craft.

These are in the shop.
Here are two failed attempts at making a fat bunny. Now I've got 2 only slightly chubby bunnies. Cute, but not at all what I was going for. These are also in the shop.


This bunny talk has me thinking about Easter, which is just around the corner. I love Easter! It's the best time to find pastels in the stores. Well, sometimes it's the only time to find pastels. Look what I found at Target in the dollar bins, silicone cupcake baking cups 6 for $1, in the yummiest colors. At Michael's they are $9.99 for 8! I may have to go back and buy a few more. I'm thinking they could prove useful for all sorts of things other than baking. I've never actually baked in silicone cups I've used silicone muffin and loaf pans with no trouble. Any idea how these work? They seem like a pain to wash.

I am so very ready for Spring. More so than usual this time of year. This winter has been very wet and very gray and I'm quite done with it. The sun was shining most of the weekend and it was absolutely lovely. The first real sign that Spring is near. Hooray!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Sewing machine + paper = LOVE! I think the possibilities for this could be endless.

Hope you're having a lovely day of love!

Let's Sew Something

Crafty Wonderland was lots of fun on Sunday. It was pretty mellow but we kept busy in our little corner. I wish I'd remembered the camera so I could share pictures of our new display pieces, mostly courtesy of IKEA. Display has always proved very challenging for me. It seems I am always struggling to find pieces that will hold a lot of items but will be easy to transport. I don't know how many times I've bought a shelf or table thinking it was going to be the answer only to use it once and decide it's all wrong. On the plus side, I've got all sorts of lovely shelves around the house that I otherwise would never have bought. I think we're getting closer to having it all streamlined though which is very exciting!




I've just put six sewing sets and a few new softies in the shop. I found some lovely new fleece and wool so I'll be adding more new softies soon.

On another note, I am not sure what is the best way to reply to comments. How do you do it? I usually leave a comment on the commenter's blog, but is there a better/easier way to directly reply to comments?

Hello Hello

I've got all sorts of new lovelies for the shop (including the above pictured), which I will be posting next week. I'm busily getting ready for Crafty Wonderland tomorrow. Do stop by and say hello if you're in Portland. It's at the Doug Fir Lounge from 11 - 4. Fun!

Warm and Cozy

I am not sure if I have ever welcomed the month of January so warmly. 2008 is off to a nice, slow start so far. I've been crocheting, knitting, sewing and planning some new projects. I've even got some Valentine's day projects in mind. It's nice to feel prepared for a holiday rather than panicking at the mere thought (ahem, Christmas 2007 for example).

The craft room project is now underway after being abandoned for coaster making and order processing way back in September. We're back to choosing paint colors. I'm still liking grey it's just a matter of finding the right grey. Who knew there were so many shades of grey?

I've been making these coffee cup sleeves from sweaters. Super fun to make and totally addictive.



There's all sorts of new stuff in the Little Acorn Vintage Shop. Stop by and take a look. I've listed some vintage and Japanese fabrics, trims and housewares. I'm trying to add new stuff daily.

Ambitious

I don't like to set New Year's goals, because I generally like to avoid
the feeling of failure. I do find myself thinking about things I'd like to do
or do differently in the new year.
A few of those things are:
Use my cookbooks more and eat out less (this is a hard one for me, it's so great to have someone else cook)
Clean out the garage and basement for the love of god
Get my shit together in time to design and print a calendar
Make a quilt

On another note, I LOVE online shopping, don't you? Is there anything greater than buying something online and having it delivered? I've spent so much less time and gas driving around trying to find things that I can literally find in 2 clicks on the wonderful internet. Where would we be without it? I often find myself wondering how the hell we got on without it. I did so much online shopping this year for gifts that it got to the point where I was expecting something to be delivered every day. And that's great.

On that note, there are a couple of penguins in the shop right now. This might be it for the penguins until next year but we'll see. They are the perfect movie watching hand sewing project.

2008

I hope you had a relaxed and merry holiday season. I have been enjoying the post holiday calm immensely. The new year was quietly rung in while watching movies, in bed with some new yarn and fabrics. Perfect.

I've added the first batch of new goodies to the shop. There is much more to come as I sort through the craft sale leftovers and work on new projects, like hand sewn wool and linen mushrooms.



Today was spent deconstructing our Christmas wonderland. I'm sad to see it go but I know that it will hardly seem like a year has gone by when we bring it all out again. The house looks so magical and festive with the decorations up. It takes me a few days to adjust to the "plainness" of our everyday decor.

The Finish Line

Craft Wonderland is today!
I'll be there so stop by and say hello if you're in the neighborhood.
111 NE 11th

After today, I'm all yours. I'll try to post regularly and get those
house photos up and I'll even do another shop update. Yippee!

Oh and the winning commenter numbers are 3 and 8. Kim and Jessica send me your addresses and I'll get your treats off in the mail this week.

Happy 9 days until Christmas!

Shop Update

Nearing the Finish

Of the insane work season, that is. We have been utterly consumed with the filling of wholesale orders for Robot Candy. I haven't had any time for the crafting that I love, the sewing, knitting and crochet. I am very much looking forward to January and the relaxed creative time it holds. I did find time to get these little penguin friends sewn up. They are made with the 100% wool felt I love so much. I've got a shop update planned for Monday at 12 noon, it will be small but there will be some penguins for sure.

We did manage to get a tree and all the decorations up. There has been non stop Christmas music playing and we even put together two volumes of a Christmas music mix for our friends and family. It's a good one, too. In fact, I think it's time for and definitely the season for another fun giveaway...leave me a comment with your most and least favorite thing about the holidays. My favorite thing is decorating and my least favorite is probably the god forsaken traffic. I'll include a Christmas cd and some other holiday lovelies for two lucky winners.

I was tagged by Jessica for 10 weird or little known things about me. Here goes:
1:: I love hippos and always have. I really like that they will eat people who venture too close.
2:: I grew up in a cult-like church called the World Wide Church of God, we didn't celebrate Christmas, Halloween or celebrate birthdays. Pretty. Awesome.
3:: I will not mix types of pasta. Which makes it inconvenient for using up those last bits
4:: I have never seen Star Wars and dislike all things sci-fi
5:: I don't like any of the Peanuts holiday specials, I know, it's very unAmerican
6:: I think Justin Timberlake is super cute
7:: I hate Sushi and most seafood. The cult-church also forbade the eating of pork and shellfish but I do like pork
8:: I'm 1/4 Mexican
9:: I have a scar on my chin from where I hit it on the edge of the counter trying to get to the cookie jar when I was 3
10:: I hate to fly, and don't really like to travel in general.

I'm going to sprint to the coaster finish line, we've got 7 orders to go, I think I can do it.
Next post will be a tour of the Christmas decor, hooray!

Happy Holidays!

I can't believe I haven't posted since the 9th. I started the month out strong, but it's so busy this time of year. I think we'll try the daily posts again post holidays.
Here's a little preview of some holiday goodies coming soon. I'm going to try to do 2 shop updates this holiday season.

Are you all ready for Thanksgiving? We're leaving town so I'm frantically trying to get orders shipped and on their way. I do not like traveling during the holidays. In fact, I hate it. We're driving which means possibly treacherous road conditions. But it also means getting to see family and friends and eat turkey. Mmmm...turkey.

Have a safe and yummy Thanksgiving.

A New Toy

I now own one of these. I love it, it's amazing and so very thin.

I am a Sewing Nerd

Tonight, I waited in line with lots of other crafty Portlanders to have Amy sign my book! It was very nice to meet her, she is super sweet in person.

I've never gotten a book signed by the author before. Is that weird?