27
Jan 12
I made a 4-foot Finn doll for Gunner! This was my first attempt at a real “plush” sewing project, and it turned out pretty darn good (and big)! I call him Proto-Finn; I’ve made some planned adjustments to the pattern so I can make another and fix some of the wonkiness. He’ll still have the same noodle’y limbs, though — that’s the best part!!

He’s got magnets in his mouth and buttons for eyes, so we can make some other facial expressions for him, too! He still needs a backpack, and Jake the Dog will be made sometime in the future. Mathematical!
#Adventure Time #Finn #Gunner #handmade #made by me #plush #projects
Related and Recommended Posts:
27
Jan 12
I’ve added a bunch of stuff to the “Made Things” album on my Facebook page, and I wanted to post them here in the blog, too.

Scandinavian-print Tote Bag, made for my mom

Scandinavian-print Tote Bag, detail

Deluxe Marker Roll with Velcro closure

Deluxe Marker Roll, detail rolled

Superhero Mask, felt

Impromptu Dog Toys, flannel and fleece
#bags #handmade #made by me #projects #toys
Related and Recommended Posts:
18
Jan 12
In protest of the SOPA legislation, GrungeZombie.net is participating in the National American Web Strike and will be “blacked out” all day on Wednesday, January 18, 2012.

#blackout #censorship #grungezombie.net #politics #protests #website
Related and Recommended Posts:
19
Dec 11
On December 1st, I dig out our treasure box of festive media. Christmas-themed movies were one of my favorite parts of the holiday season as a child (and even still now that I’m the mom), and many of the ones we have are straight out of my childhood. I’ve added quite a few DVDs this year (marked with * in the lists below) — we might need a bigger box come January. Here’s what we’ve managed to watch thus far:
We grown-ups even managed to squeeze in the vaguely Christmas-themed Die Hard, and the loosely-associated The Shining (hey, it takes place during the winter…)
There are a few more family-favorites to cram in this week:
Gunner shredded through the collection of 20-or-so Christmas children’s books in about three sittings. We’ve also been listening to Christmas with the Chipmunks, Fisher-Price Christmas Sing-Along, and my growing database of holiday mp3s, in the car and while decorating and such.
Some people would be driven to the brink of madness by all of this (like my husband). But it’s all very comforting and festive for me, and the kids have been having a great time. Holiday spirit all-around and no “Bah-humbugs” allowed!
#Christmas #holidays #list
Related and Recommended Posts:
18
Dec 11

Thanks to thundymac for the inspiration — I was looking for a good Christmas project and this was perfect! Also thanks to Hancock Fabrics for having the best selection of Christmas fabrics in town! (and for having them on sale for 50% off) I checked at least three other places, and ended up getting all these prints from Hancock.

Also thanks to Leah Day for her binding tutorial. It was super-helpful and the binding was done right this time! I almost decided to make this into a circle skirt for Nola, but I think next year I’ll rework it into a skirt for her and make another tree skirt from some fantastic Michael Miller Christmas prints.
#
Related and Recommended Posts:
10
Dec 11
Picked up our freshly laminated posters from Staples.
Soooo shiiiiiinnyyyyy…

Why haven’t I laminated all posters ever?! This is just about the greatest decision a person could make. No more tack holes. No more poster damage. Posters forever!! Pure awesome.
Then the mail arrived, including a very special calendar swap package from Emily of cute little life. It is a gorgeous letterpress calendar made by Old School Stationers, and I could not be happier! Thank you so much, Emily!

My order from Sally J Shim’s tag sale (which ended yesterday) also arrived. It’s fantastic, of course! I wouldn’t normally buy a blind-item fabric box, but I just could not resist this destash opportunity. I’ve got so much sewing to do!

#calendar #fabric #home decor #posters
Related and Recommended Posts:
07
Dec 11
When I was a young girl, our local newspaper included “The Mini Page” with its Sunday edition. It had word finds, connect the dots, find-the-picture, trivia, jokes, even some science experiments. It kept me busy for a couple hours every Sunday after lunch, and I looked forward to it every weekend. Unfortunately, that paper hasn’t syndicated “The Mini Page” for years, so my kids will probably never have that same experience. I’ve ordered a subscription to Highlights Magazine for my 6.5-year-old son (another publication of fond childhood memory) but that won’t start arriving until January 2012.
I decided to hunt for some activity sheets online, to give him something to do while he waited patiently for me to clean up the kitchen and clear a space to put up the Christmas tree. It took me a good half-hour to find all these great printable pages! Turns out it was a good time-investment, as these activities have come in very handy in the last couple days that he’s been home sick from school.

Well, to save YOU some time, I’ve combined these printable activity pages into a single downloadable PDF file! A nice, curated collection of mostly holiday-themed activities (there are three “off-season” pages at the end, but they were too cute not to include). All you have to do is click “print” for 16 pages of fun! Print resolution for these is set for 100 dpi, so some may appear slightly choppy/grainy, but my son didn’t seem to mind.
NOTE: When printing, in the print dialog box be sure to select the formatting option “Page Scaling: None” for best results.
Sources:
http://www.allkidsnetwork.com/color-by-numbers/images/gingerbread-man-color-by-numbers.jpg
#activity #Christmas #fun #holidays #PDF #printable
Related and Recommended Posts:
03
Dec 11
Finished up Nola’s Christmas tutu this morning! And might I say, what a pain in the butt. But what a wonderful result!

Next time I think I’ll try the tie-method, as it seems a lot more simple. I went all old-school (à la le ballet), sewing together two continuous yards in four layers of each color, and bunching it with an elastic waist. It was less than dramatic at first, looking more like a netted circle skirt than a tutu. Then I used what I can only think to call the couture method to fluff it up: kind of a separating-rolling-smashing-twisting motion. After about 30 minutes of that, it is now puffy and fabulous!
I’ll hopefully get some pics of Nola modeling her Christmas tutu to post here in the next week-or-so. I tried to take a photo holding it up a little bit so you could see more of the underside layer, but I couldn’t hold my arm still enough.

Thank goodness for the low-light setting on my camera. Considering this is what it looks like outside today:

Now I’m off to do more holiday house-cleaning!
Hooray.
#costume #cute #handmade #holidays #made by me #project #tulle #tutu
Related and Recommended Posts:
03
Dec 11
Oh-so busy crafting some holiday cheer.
(in between frantic bouts of housecleaning)

#project #snapshot #tulle
Related and Recommended Posts:
27
Nov 11
I have been waiting SO LONG for this.
And, it is AWESOME (just as I suspected it would be).

I knew deep down in my heart that soon enough Mike Patton would be crooning out some holiday tunes.
Thank you, John Zorn.
Christmas is now complete.
#Christmas #holidays #John Zorn #Mike Patton
Related and Recommended Posts: