Missing Your Mustache?

My good friend Beth absolutely adores mustaches. Always on the lookout for a ‘stache to add to her stash, I was perusing Etsy.com and came up with this little list. So on this Monday before April Fools Day, get hip to the hairy upper lip tip and settle in for some mustache must haves.

First up is Melanie Favreau. She has this great “incognito” ring. I’ve been trying to convince Beth to get a tattooed mustache on her finger, but this would work, too.

It’s raining, it’s pouring – Mama’s gone thrift store-ing

Wow! It rained so hard today; almost like we were in the Midwest or something. So unexpected, but completely lovely. Spring is in the air, even if my feet are in rain boots. Yancey and I took our tots to this great little fabric thrift store, Knittin’ Kitten, this morning. So fun! I got a great haul – lots of vintage fabric, ribbon, tape, straps, braid, elastic, gold ric rac!, different weight interfacing, some cool vintage children’s clothing patterns, and a Buhoogee quilting hoop – all for $60! If you live in Portland, you’ve gotta go here.

The Handmade Experiment – It’s spreading!

Just wanted to post a quick note about the awesome compliment I got today. Yancey, a crafty mama and artist friend of mine, came over with her family for dinner tonight and she told me that my Handmade Experiment blog and projects have inspired her to finally sew the “creatures” she paints into 3D objects. She showed me a prototype of her first one and it is very cute.

So cool! I’ve been getting such great feedback from everyone. People have told me they’ve been starting new projects and wanting to learn how to sew or do recycled crayons or something else they’ve read about here. It is just amazing to me. I’m doing a wiggly finger dance and spreading the handmade lovin’ right now. (which sounds a lot more bizarre than it really is, I assure you.)

Alright, enough of that. I’ve got a lot of work planned for this weekend. Cory and I are headed out to Knittin’ Kitten tomorrow on a cool notions hunt. I’ve got a tutu and a super hero cape to make for a double birthday party next week and I’ve got my first seamstress gig. A friend saw the bloomers I made last week and says she’ll buy fabric enough for two pairs if I make her one. Pretty good deal. I’m feeling good. Think I’ll just dance my way out of here. Night!

wiggly fingers….wiggly fingers….clap, clap, twirl.

Cowgirl Small and Frog Britches

I should have posted this a while ago, but am just getting to it now. End of January, I had little Hannah’s third birthday to make something for. I wanted to try my hand at a simple sewing project, my first in two years, and I remembered that one of Hannah’s favorite books was Cowboy Small by Lois Lenski. I found Jackie Clark’s Britches and Bloomers pattern and some cute cowgirl fabric from Fabric Depot. Not only were these the first pants I’d ever made, it was also my first experience making ruffles. It was actually pretty easy! My favorite part of the project though, was the pockets. I am quickly realizing just how important using an iron is to press as you go.

Weekend Bloomers

Last night I finished my Heather Ross, Weekend project, only a couple of weekends (and one week day) late. I am so excited about these bloomers because they are so so so cute and they actually fit both my 8 month old with her cloth diaper and my 3 year old. Yay! I used this really cute red and white stripped fabric from Wilmington’s Back Porch Prints series and now I totally want to do them in green and white and blue and white stripes. I think I’m either going to make the smock from Amy Karol‘s, Bend the Rules Sewing book or the little swing top from Kitschy Coo to go with the bloomers. Ah…so many projects and so little time!

Q is holding herself up here!

Spring Cleaning: Which Handmade Cleaning Supplies are a Must Have this Spring

As an ode to the first day of spring, (yes, I know I’m a tad late), and a perfect list for that “I’ll do it Monday” mentality, here are my top 9 of 2009 Spring Cleaning handmade buys.

These storage bins from Sewing Momma are sew cute! I love all the fabrics and that they can be rolled down to size. I’d love to see a tutorial on that one!

Rainy Day Roundup

Since I’m eating Sundrops, which is highly appropriate since in typical Portland fashion it is rainy and sunny all at the same time, and procrastinating, I decided that a shout out to all the crafty artists who’ve made the great handmade gifts we’ve received this year would both take some time and be an inspiration.

Queen for a day or Turning the Big 3

I can’t believe my baby is 3 already! We had family in to celebrate and although we didn’t have her party until the Sunday after her birthday, on the actual day we did have lunch at Airplay Cafe. The girls enjoyed the band, Josh and Blake, and we all got to eat and dance and sing along. They had one song in particular called Ten Toes which was especially cute.

PZ in her birthday crown with cousin Lauren

Brown: the color of love

We made regular paper Valentines with catchy notes like, “Hello. How are you doing?” (my three year old’s version of a love note), but these heart shaped crayons were a big hit with the kids and the parents. I found a silicone muffin tin with heart shaped holes at our local Fred Meyer‘s and got a basket-full of old broken crayons at SCRAP. Then with the help of PZ and Hubby, we broke and sorted all the crayons, microwaved them, and poured them into the muffin tin. They popped right out after cooling and are totally cute!

Disclaimer: If you have an old microwave, like really on its last legs, this project could do it in. Um…and feel free to tell your Hubby I said so. It was REALLY old. And we needed a new one anyway.

Muno Mania

*Cheerios Underfoot is having a crafty Yo Gabba Gabba giveaway. Comments are open until 12/07/09. Good luck!

Little Miss O, another little girl in PZ’s playgroup, had her third birthday party on the 15th. We had a great time at the Children’s Gym. PZ especially enjoyed the trampoline and Q was just happy to get out of the Ergo and onto the mat. For this little girl, an avid Yo Gabba Gabba enthusiast, I made a Muno pillow. I found the no-sew pattern on the Nick Jr. website and printed the pattern out. It was super easy, although I did sew mine just because I didn’t really like the flattened edges of the no-sew pictures. I just used craft felt that I had left over from making Solstice decorations and Elmer’s School glue for the eye, mouth, and teeth. Muno came out so cute. Now PZ really wants one. They have patterns for Foofa and Brobee, too!