chocolate shavings / quick fix

Awww.

Look at that poor little guy.

He's gonna get grated.

Sometimes life's a bummer.

But you know, if I faced the same impending doom, at least I'd be at peace knowing that I would be sprinkled on top of a cupcake.

You should be so lucky.

Anyways, for school my husband had the option to either participate in and volunteer at a chocolate fair/wine tasting, or to just bring something to submit.

He opted out for the later, and I had the opportunity to make cupcakes!

Woo.

I used my favorite chocolate cake recipe and for the frosting I used Pioneer Woman's That's the Best Frosting I've Ever Had recipe.  I'll admit that while the frosting was quite nice, I personally prefer a nice cream cheese frosting.  But everyone has their own opinions.

Well, I baked, frosted and packed the cupcakes, and then...

... and then I decided that I had to try one.

Just one you know?

Like, I made them, I can have one.

You don't think they'll notice right?

What do you mean you 'think they will'?

What's that?

An empty spot?

With a little cupcake wax?

You spotted that?

Ok fine,

... there, I fixed it.

-Becca

prototype dog

Being the child of a seamstress (hey I can call myself whatever I want, right?) can be a drag.

The above is an example of one of the toys that was bequeathed to my daughter.  In case you can't tell, it's a dog.

Often times I have this great vision in my head of a toy to make, which is great, it's the getting there that is the problem.  I start out small and practice.  The early versions of my toys are often ugly ugly ugly.  But that's the way you learn right?

All of my prototypes that are nice enough to survive go to my kids because there ain't no way I'm going to give them to anyone else.  The ones that are so ugly you can't even really tell what they are?

Well, they are recycled for the stuffing.  I don't want to waste stuffing on something that shouldn't exist. 

Heartless, I know.

Anyways, that white dog right there?  That was the first dog I ever made.

It shouldn't exist.

It was made out of an oversized overused hand-me-down maternity shirt.

Practice.

For kicks I decided to let my daughter play with it for a while before I retrieved the stuffing.  But that didn't work.

It is her dog now.

And it is loved.

-Becka

A new kind of Toddler Book

Surfing through Blog world one day, I came across this fantastic toddler book idea by Katie at Notes from a Very Red Kitchen!

I love this idea because the final product is stiff and sturdy,

and easy to clean and wipe off,

because the pages are sewn into plastic sheet covers!

The final product was cheap, easy and fun to make!

And adds another way to publish a tale for our collection.

I'm really excited about what possibilities this craft might open up for us in the near future ;)

It gives us more opportunities for handmade tales and toys to pair together!

Good guesses :)

It is a broken needle.

I broke it making this.

And it is pictured in this.

And I still have yet to dispose of it.

I don't know why, it's not like I need it anymore.  It's not like I want it any more.
It's just easy to not get rid of things.  It's easier, apparently, to find a nice safe spot on a high shelf to keep it.
I think it's because I'd have to go find some way of keeping it safe while in the garbage can.

... and that the garbage can is in the other room when I'm in the room thinking about the broken needle.

I'm not lazy.

I'm a passionate and keen woman.

And a mother.

And tired.

Like always.

-Becky

Ok fine

yes, I guess i lied.

I haven't been posting every day, but you don't understand.  

My momma is visiting.

I never see my momma.

She lives on the other side of the world.

And on that note, I thought this picture was neat.

Know what it is?

-Becka

Preschool Activity: Paper Bird Cut Outs

This week we learned about birds :)

and made birds like these

and some like these:

For some reason I thought that this simple design for a paper bird would be easy to find on the internet; the little paper bird with accordion-like wings that could move up and down seemed vaguely familiar but I have no idea where I got the idea.

So I made my own pattern for the bird and have it here to share with you.

This post is a throw back to my Preschool posts.  It provides a great activity to do with your little ones.

Just click on this image to enlarge and print it:

Cut on the solid lines and fold the wings on the dotted lines like so:

Glue it all together to make wings for your bird.

Here are two patterns for some bird bodies:

A Blue Jay:

And a Mourning Dove:

I printed these birds on cardstock, traced them on the back so that the birds were reversible and let the kids cut and color out the birds.

Folding the paper provided a great fine motor skill activity.  Once the wings were glued on, the kids had fun "flapping" them around the house.

And now the birds are hung from our ceiling fan like a giant mobile:

I added a few of these birds I was inspired to make from here.

To make the project quicker, I used cardstock for these birds instead of cardboard.

These birds were a ton of fun to make because I got to pick and assemble some of my unique, pretty scrapbooking paper ;)

Now all these birds are happily "flying" around our children's area.

I hope you all have had a great weekend!

Happy crafting,

-CK

This post has been linked up!

Check her out!  Jen's blog is FILLED with creative recipes and crafting adventures ;)

double stuffed oreos

I like this picture.

I like that it is a mellow warm color of brown.

I like that it is set sweetly by a window.

I like that it has cookies in it.  And that they are filled with cream.

When I was little I used to carefully open each cookie.  I would then take a butter knife and scrape out the cream of each of them.  I'd collect it.  I'd get the eating of the actual cookie over with, and then hunker down and eat the best part:  the cream.

It was never as good of an experience as I had envisioned it.  

Somehow the cookies and cream compliment each other.

As does the milk.

Anyways, although I like this picture, it is sort of funny in a way.  That glass and the cookies are resting on a masonite board which is balancing precariously on a small box set on top of another box.  

Sometimes I wish I could see what is really going on in the background of a picture.

I like this blog.  I wonder sometimes what others must think of it.  The title might sound misleading.  When I started this blog I had plans.  Life has a way of changing plans without telling you.  Sometimes all you can do is set down your project and follow along.

I still have plans though.

Sometimes when I read a blog I wish I could see what was going on behind the window.  

I set up scenes to take pictures.  Sometimes I am in my pajamas until 2pm (really, who's going to see me?), there are cracker crumbs all over the house, and I lay out a pretty piece of fabric in front of the window so that I can take a nice picture.  

I should take a picture of me taking a picture...

Anyways, my point is that if I absolutely had to choose, I'd take double stuffed oreos over regular (single stuffed?) oreos any day.

I mean, who wouldn't?

-Becka - who keeps forgetting to sign her posts.  Poor CK probably goes nuts because she is blamed for them all.

Okay okay

I had a minute so I wanted to show a few more of the things I made with the giveaway scraps:
A clip for a Christmas gift.  Video tutorial on how to make fabric flowers found here.  *Warning*- this project uses a lot more fabric than you would think.  I didn't realize I would be using so much of this pretty mustard yellow on a hair clip.

And a traveling companion!

Over the Christmas break our family spent quite a bit of time traveling.  I was wary of letting my daughter bring any of her toys for fear that she would lose one in an airport.  So this bear was made to keep her company and be her sleeping buddy and ride around on my daughter's backpack a la Stinky Pete mode.

And she came with her own backpack!

Okay okay, I'm done now :)

Scraps

While on the subject of Craftiness is Not Optional, a few weeks ago I won a 'little' bag of scraps that Jess was giving away.  I don't enter giveaways all that often, but entering and winning this one was just plain awesome!

Scraps are usually what I work with, and for making toys that is usually all you ever need.  But being given a few choice pieces that are a little on the higher end of things just blew me away!

Makes me think that I may need to be getting rid of a few scraps myself.

Here are a few of the projects I've picked up and run with.

A fob.

And a brooch.

There are actually a few more things I've used the scraps for, but you'll see some more of them in other posts.

My absolute favorite piece was this little beauty here:

Oh how my heart goes pitter pat.  

I saw this and just knew that it needs to be on a pillowcase.  I've been so tempted to use it on other things, but I've been wanting to make a pillowcase for a long time, and this stuff is just rad.

Reminds me of a more citrus version of Strawberry Shortcake 

...or something.

-Becka

Sadie Shirt Dress

For a while there my daughter had grown out of all of her dresses.  I noticed this when I went to put one on her one Sunday and you could see her little diaper poking out from the bottom... waaaay too short.  So after having to wear her only dress that did fit for a few weeks in a row, I decided it was time for me to have another attempt at sewing something practical, like an article of clothing.

Clothes scare me.

I usually sew toys because they can be wonky and mismatchy and that just adds to their charm.

Clothes are not that way.

Well, I headed over to here from Craftiness is not Optional and used the Sadie Shirt Sew Along to draw from.  The only differences I made from the Sadie Shirt was to use heavier fabric (for obvious reasons, it's winter), 

and I lengthened the shirt so that it was a dress... 

and I added pleat things...

and longer sleeves...

and cuffs.

Ok, I may have changed a few things to make it all into a warm winter dress, but I cannot tell you how amazing this tutorial is.  I've never been able to understand patterns, but Jess teaches you how to use one of your own daughter's shirts to make your own pattern.  It's fabulous.  And her design for a placket is adorable!  Okay okay, here's mine:

I have a lot of practicing to do, but this was a good start.  It turned out well enough that I actually let her wear it to church on Sunday :)

if they could talk...

...what would be said?

monsters!

I was introduced to this book when I worked at my high school day care, it instantly became one of my favorites.  The copy you might be familiar with is a thin Little Golden Book, this copy I have here has been updated into a pop-up book.

So clever!

And what's not to love about grover?  He is my all time favorite muppet, horrible grammar, shaggy fur and all.  I remember one time when I was little, a friend of mine told me grover had died.

I was devastated.

Until I found out that that wasn't true.

Anyways, I just love this book so much I thought I'd share it with you.

Along with this video:

And just as a tidbit of more info, did you know this existed?  It's amazingly fun to waste time looking up muppets and the humans that perform them.  You'd never guess some of those people could make such cute voices!  And it's so neat to finally be able to see pictures of how muppets work, like on this page.

Now go to, and waste time!

blue duck

To kick off the year 2011, I resolve to write and publish a blog post to share with you every day of this year!...

*Ok, I'll be honest, I just can't do that, but I'm sure it would be fun.*

As you can see, I haven't posted a blog post since Dec. 25.  Let me explain... no, let me sum-up.  I was across the country visiting family for the holidays, CK was at her house hosting family for the holidays, we laughed, we played, we celebrated... and as you can see, I've done a horrible job of posting anything since Christmas.  So to make it up to you, dear readers, I have over 10 drafts in my blog edit page right now as I type.  I'll get these posted daily asap!!!

And as long as I'm doling out excuses, let me just say that the only computer I had access to for the past two weeks was so slow that I would type a sentence with my hands, look up, and then see the words popping up on the screen that I had written 10 seconds before.  It was slow.  Painfully so.  So much that I have over 70 unanswered emails in my box right now.

Ok, I'll stop now.

Just know that I still care.  And I'll post more often.

The End.

     Sincerely,

          Becka