Doll Show and Tell

fridge and sink
Originally uploaded by Corgipants

Oh dear. Sometimes days just don't go as we planned. I had planned an outdoor photo shoot with my two girls but wouldn't you know today was dreary and gloomy and no good. You see, today is the day of Faerie Window's Dolly Day. We were all to show off our dolls and I have to show you old pictures, how dreary, just like the day is today.

So here is a past picture of Astrid showing off her fridge and sink, so cute! Astrid is a Fisher Price My Friend Doll, a Jenny to be precise. I have two Jenny dolls, one's name is....Jenny! And this is Astrid. Jenny is a very simple girl, she likes plain dresses, aprons, leggings and solid colors. Astrid has green highlights in her hair and likes loud patterns, colorful shoes and lots of jewelry and ribbons! Jenny is my original My Friend Doll that I got for my 2nd birthday.

Astrid was an ebay purchase and what I really wanted from the lot she was in were the Fisher Price My Friend Doll clothes patterns that you used to be able to buy at the toy store. Now I can make them all sorts of new outfits and swap them with friends! But I'm glad I got another doll with the package deal because they both have VERY different personalities and it gives me an excuse to make all types of clothes for them!

Tune in.

This Friday, the Oprah show will be about puppy mills. Thanks to a billboard placed by Main Line Animal Rescue of Pennsylvania, this topic is getting some greatly-needed mainstream media attention. (Lancaster county, Pennsylvania has the highest concentration of puppy mills of any county in the US, but Missouri has more then any other state.) If you know of someone in the market for a puppy (and are worried they may be tempted by an online puppy or a pet store) suggest they tune in on Friday for the whole story.

Corgi fix for the day

Staged photo
Originally uploaded by Corgipants

Here's your tri-color corgi fix for the day. I LOVE moss and Sully is in one of my favorites parts of the new house, the moss brick courtyard outside the back door. We met with a landscape person yesterday and have formulated a plan for spring which includes taking out a tree, removing a shed and replacing it with a vegetable garden and pruning back some hedges quite a bit to give them a more sculptural feel. Sully's favorite part of the new yard is the LARGE open space to frap and chase tennis balls. He's not very fond of the walnut tree or all the walnuts underneath it, hard to walk for little legs when there are round things all over the ground!

New swap!

So, before and during the move I really tried to cut down on my swaps. I didn't do ANY for about a month. But now that the craft room is unpacked and I the dreary weather is ripe for crafting, I just couldn't pass up Yarn Miracle's Wee Tiny Sock Swap! I bought my knitting-at-work friend and I each one of these adorable sock blocker keychains for Christmas and I whipped one up last night. So cute! I can just imagine a few of these little devils on a wreath in the craft room!

New Giveaways!

I LOVE Watkins! Anyone who knows me knows I slather Watkins Petro-Carbo salve on any cut, scrape, infected area or ailment! And their vanilla can't be beat! Check out Eleisia's Watkins Spring Giveaway. She's giving away a LOAD of Watkins stuff!

And Kate of the Clean Plate Club is giving away a $50 gift certificate to Williams-Sonoma! She's giving us all a LOT of time to browse as the giveaway doesn't close until May 1! I had a bit of a browse and am in dire need of round layer cake pans (I have two but they are puny, tiny ones that make dinky cakes.) and I was also quite taken with the Emile Henry Auberge Pie Dishes.

Birthday week!

Laundry
Originally uploaded by Corgipants

It's my birthday this week, Thursday to be more precise. What?! I hadn't told you yet? Well, I've been a little busy but I am not ready to kick off a weekend-long birthday bash! I'm on a mission to get a few projects done around the house so that I will feel comfortable opening it up to people for a house warming! I have limited myself to just a few items that I require to be complete before inviting guests: curtains on all the windows, at least some art hanging in every room and curio cabinet full of tchotchkes. This is a picture of my newly completed laundry room valances made from thrift store sheets! Very retro and fun colors!

I've also been busy planning another Drop In & Decorate party at work! This time we're doing Easter/spring cookies! So far I have enough people signed up to bring over 200 cookies! Our total last time was around 150.

I've also been busy making a few cards for Keikicards. I figure it will take me a while to make enough cards to be a large enough package worth sending but if I make a couple each week, I will have a good variety at least!

And Sully and I have been gearing up for our seminar in Chicago this weekend where we will be learning a little more about freestyle from the World Canine Freestyle Organization! I'm very excited to learn more about the requirements as far as moves and also how to choose music and set moves to the music you've chosen! I'm not exactly musically inclined, but they say you don't need to be so we'll see. :)

Crafting!

I've been crafting a bit lately. These are three cards, each for a different card challenge going on right now.
This first one if for Kim's sketch challenge. I got some embossing powders from my mom and am sort of addicted to them!
This next one is for Nikki's blog candy challenge to use something you have in your stash that you don't like. For me, it's these kind of creepy crayons. I got the stamped images in a stamped image swap on PaperCraftsMag and their faces creep me out! I tried to perk them up with some embossing! The inside says "When I see you smile". And this one is for Enfys' challenge to use black and white along with one accent color. Of course my color is pink! This is sort of a late Valentine's card that will wait until next year. Yet more embossing!
And at the sewing machine, I created a prototype for a pattern I am working on. I am calling it the Gretel hood. It's a hood with scarf ends attached to each side and it's got a Black Forest red-riding-hood vibe going on with it's pointy hood and ribbon accent. It needs reworked though but for a first draft, it's pretty nice. Warm too!

Two more

Cause you know you need a new apron!
Over at the Apronista, they are giving away an absolutely adorable Marie-Madeline apron! Enter to win!

And if you're into stamping, etc. Leann's got a little blog candy giveaway that includes an adorable cupcake stamp!! Enter here!

Sheetload of cards!

Don't you just love that name? Sheetload of Cards is sponsoring a giveaway
for an awesome pack of 15 (15!) stamp sets from Studio G! Enter to win by Friday.

Apronful post!

This is one post chock full of apron content! I finished this apron tonight. It's is from the Susan Branch pattern you can find free here!

I think the pattern is really simple but there is a ton of small seam binding and I'm not too fond of that stuff, especially trying to catch both layers of fabric while sewing in on! But the apron is really fun and really flattering for fuller figures!

In other apron news, I got my Valentine's mini aprons swap package! This was a swap held on the Mary Jane's Farm forum. All those little aprons, so cute!!

And in non-apron news, today's project besides the apron was to recover my garage sale find vintage Cosco step stool chair. It had yucky dark green vinyl that was ripped and taped back together. Is this fabric vintage or anywhere near the original? No. But it sure does go with my new laundry room color scheme!