Crazy Rabbit

I wanted to get this post up last weekend, but my ding dang sewing machine was giving me fits.

I wanted to make rabbit shirts for the girls, so I thought it would be fun to do a little applique. The only problem is that my sewing machine has been on the fritz since I made that denim rag quilt, so this project was slow going. I took pictures throughout the beginning of the project, but once the sewing began, I wasn't fit to be near my camera, so let's just pretend that part didn't happen, okay?

Since my sewing machine was being such a snot box, the rabbits look a little rustic. Rough around the edges. Psycho.

Whatever.

This is how I started. I knew I wanted just a bunny head, so I started sketching what I thought it should look like. If I've forgotten some key bunny part, please don't tell me. 

I find it's best if your pattern isn't bigger than your shirt. Stop laughing. Some of us only learn by making mistakes.

Once I had Mr. Bunny about where I wanted him, I traced over him with a Sharpie. You can see I shaved a little off the top of his head in the process. He was looking a little too Burt-from-Sesame-Street for my taste.

This was my first time using Heat N Bond. I'll never use Wonder Under again. This stuff was waaaaay easier to use.

I started by ironing a piece of the Heat N Bond to the wrong side of my fabric.

Then I pinned my pattern pieces to the right side of the fabric.

Then I cut the pieces out. I have double of everything because I'm making two shirts.

All my bunny parts are ready to go. All I had to do here was peel the backing off the pieces and iron them onto my shirts.

Just a little tip. If you iron on your pink parts before you iron the rest of the ear to the shirt, just make sure you don't peel the backing off the main ear part before you do that. If you do, you'll end up ironing your ear to the ironing board. I may or may not have done that myself. It's just a friendly little tip.

Here all my bunny parts are ironed onto the shirt. If I were to do this again, I would keep the head in one piece instead of dividing the snout and the rest of the head. You can still do an applique line if it's in one piece, and that way you won't have the Grand Canyon gap that I have between mine. Dang it.

This is where my process pictures stop and we go to the finished product.

I know he looks like he's on crack, and I've made my peace with it. Blame it on my machine. Okay, my machine and my skillz. Or lack thereof.

I like his rustic whiskers. They were the last to go on and my machine was spitting back at me at that point, so the part where I sewed the skinny ribbon whiskers onto the shirt are a leetle bit bumpy. They have character.

My sewing machine was only allowing me to sew in one-inch sections before the tension would go all wonky and I'd have to stop and rethread the whole ding dang thing. I dang near threw myself off a bridge.

Instead, I threw my machine off a bridge.

Okay, not really, but I did take it away from my sight, before something bad could happen with it, and traded it in for a new machine. Unfortunately that didn't happen until I finished the shirts. In a very bad mood.

The sad part is that I thought I had a good sewing machine. Singer was a respected name when I was growing up. In the olden days. I paid a lot of money for it originally, and I expected that it would last me for the rest of my life. Singers are supposed to be good machines, right? Apparently, they are now crap. That's the word on the street anyway.

Maybe I'll show you my new machine later this week. Once I've had my lesson and become properly acquainted with it.

I'm on spring break now, did I mention that? I am. I'm giddy about it too.

I j-pegged the Picasso Bunny pattern if you want to give it a go yourself. Just click on it before you save it to your desktop. You can pretty much print it whatever size you want it.

If you have big kids, print it big like this. Or if you have little kids, you can make it little.

Have a great weekend Peeps!

Some Things Never Change

Like this mess. Zoe Bug is still rocking at night, and waking up with this rat's nest in her hair. Awhile ago a reader suggested silk pillow cases to me, and she even told me where I could find them, but even that didn't work. I was so hopeful.

I'm so sad. Zoe Bug is so sad.

I'm a bit of a control freak, you may have noticed, and I've never let my kids out of the house without combing their hair. It's odd, I somehow feel it's a reflection on my skillz as a mother. I prefer to have their hair not only combed, but bedecked with coordinating bows or ribbon.

I'm starting to rethink that insanity. It's getting to be such a drag.

I'll try to look at it positively. It's like a perpetual crazy hair day at school.

I know. I'll improvise.

"Hurry up sweetie! Here come's the bus!"

Honey Spiced Butter

I'm just popping in for a quickie little recipe card for honey spiced butter. It's super easy to make, and well worth the effort if you want to dress up some bread.

And if you really want to go crazy, you can even squish it out through a frosting bag with a fancy decorator tip. Nobody really cares about that though, so don't bother. Everyone loves butter. Well, except for those odd people that don't (like Mattie Cake). Freaks, I tell you. Freaks.

Oh Crop-A-Dile, Why Didn't You Tell Me?

I'm feeling like a big 'ol bonehead right now. All this time, I've had a Crop-A-Dile just sitting in my craft tools, not being used to its full potential. Wasted. Unloved. Unappreciated.

And all because I just didn't know what it was capable of. Look at this. Just look. Do you see those holes that I punched in my clipboard, just for the purpose of threading ribbon through in order to beribbon and prettify its clippitiness?

My Crop-a-Dile did that. I know! And it took no muscle at all. It was just a dainty little crop-a-bite. Serie. Ous. Ly.

So now I'm frantically running through the house, snapping up all my cutified clipboards so I can throw even more cute at them.

Do you want to know how I discovered this crafty tip? Well, I'm going to tell you anyway, so just sit tight. It was our Kindergarten teacher. I saw her sporting a clipboard with little crop-a-bites taken out of it, and I practically squealed with delight. Then I snatched it out of her hands so I could inspect it. Good thing she already thinks I'm a freak.

The sad thing is that she's always saying "I'm not crafty like you . . . , blah-ba-da-ba-da-ba-da." I don't know how many times I hear people exclaim this, but my response is always the same. "Who care's if you're not crafty! If you can copy, you can craft!"

In the scrapping world we call it scraplifting. In the crafting world, I'm giving it the name craftlifting. I like to make up new words. It's a passion of mine. And nicknames.

I don't just pull all my ideas out of my hoojit, I troll other blogs and craft fairs and I get half of my ideas from people not myself. I get ideas and I get inspiration. Lots of it. I craftlift regularly. It keeps my crafty limber.

Ha! I kill myself.

This is a Crop-A-Dile, just in case you're wondering what the heck I'm talking about. It's supposed to be for punching holes and setting eyelets. Scrapbooky stuff. And I hear, although I haven't tested it yet, the word on the street is that you can punch holes in tin and set eyelets in tin with this baby. Can you believe that? I can't wait to give that one a try. 

Spring break can't get here fast enough.

See, watch me crop-a-bite.

And beribbon.

And beribbon some more. Because I can.

I call this clipboard my Circus clipboard because I have every color on it. I like the bright.

And yes, I know my holes aren't lined up straight, but honestly, I don't give a rat's hairy behind if they're lined up. You can't see that beyond the ribbon unless you're a super freak. And yes, technically I noticed, but I'm letting it go. Doctor's orders.

Here's another one of my dirty little secrets. I buy clipboards in bulk. [Gasp]

Irony

Man, does Peanut Head look crazy in this picture or what?

You don't even know the half of it, let me tell you. It's why we get along so great. 

We like to use our craziness to teach our girls meaningful lessons. Yeah, that's it. Today, the lesson was about irony.

Peanut Head has a thing for shirts with jokes and witty blabbity sayings on them. Shirts that give you a peek into the scary side of his psyche. Like this one.

He came out wearing this one today and Zoe Bug picked up on it right away. She read it, processed it, and then didn't miss a beat when she let out a sarcastic "Ha!" Then she backed that up with "Dad, you should take the advice on your shirt because you're always messing that one up."

At which point I dropped to the floor, laughing hysterically. Peanut Head somehow kept from laughing and was able to put an indignant expression on his face. Yes, I've said it before and I'll say it again, he's a man of many talents.

Of course in this case, his talent is the ability to go from zero to Man, You Should Shut Up Now, in zero point six seconds. Not that I should talk or anything. I actually have an Olympic medal in sticking my foot in my mouth. I'm just saying.

This memory is now one that I will hold forever close to my heart. And relive again, and again, and again. Bwah-ha-ha-ha!

Desserts & Treats Recipe Divider Card

This is for Ali . . .  and anyone else who doesn't need multiple recipe card dividers for the sugar rush section of their recipe box. Clearly not myself.

Good luck with your project, Ali!

And here are the divider tabs with the new addition.

Oh yeah, and arendje left a comment telling me that they couldn't click on the Salsa recipe card to get the best resolution. I just fixed that so you should be able to grab that card now. Thank you so much for letting me know it wasn't loading for you.

I really appreciate it when people let me know when I screw things up. I can be a bonehead like that.

Get Your Spring On!

I've been in a bit of a funk lately. Too much to do, not enough time for fun, and summer vacation waaaaaay too far away. Spring break is right around the corner though, and I'm hoping to get my spring on, do a little recuperating, and find some time to blog hop and get inspired. I need that.

Have you been in the stores lately and noticed all the gorgeous spring stuff out? It puts me in a summer clothes shopping mood, so I decided to whip this baby up. One of my goals for spring break is to empty out the girls' closets and figure out what they have and what they need for spring and summer, and this list is going to help me do that.

If you're in need of some warmer weather clothes shopping, click on the list to get the best resolution, save it to your hard drive, and print it out as an 8-1/2 x 11 page on plain white paper. Set your printer up to print a borderless image and you'll get the best results. Enjoy!