What Christmas is All About

The shipping boxes, obviously. This is just so classic, I had to share it. My 18-month old exploring the big box, never mind what came in it.

It Takes a Paper Village

To remind me how cheap Christmas can be. Wait, that didn't come out right. I meant to say that you don't have to spend a lot to have fun at Christmas. And here's the proof. It's Claudine Hellmuth's answer to those spendy plastic (Micheal's) or ceramic (Studio 56) miniature Christmas villages you see that are so weirdly adorable, kind of the way Disneyland is.

Some single pieces are upwards of $75! Yike! And you could make this instead, this cute paper village with houses in violation of strict Victorian palettes, with funny Dr. Suess flowers drawn on the side. And she lights them with those adorable little battery-operated tealights. We just got some of those the other day, they're fun. They sort of throb more than flicker, but I'm sure it looks better behind the window of a Christmas village house.

My Zine Bookstore Thief Got A Review!

I am so thrilled! And from this great indie zine that I just discovered and love to death, Croq Zine. So it's a short review but it's good. You know you want one now. Go to my Etsy store and buy your copy now!

Addicted to Making Fabric Hearts

Here's my latest batch. It was made for J.'s stepmom for her birthday. I just love making these things. I tried doing one with the seams inside and it just wasn't as good-looking as the raw edges. I have started cutting out all the hearts with pinking shears so they have that nice edge. I didn't put these on sticks like the ones for my mom, but instead put them in a shallow pottery bowl I found at the thrift store. M. likes sheep and has sheep things all over her house, and this bowl has a simple painting of a sheep on the bottom, so I thought it would be perfect. Come to find out that it's a pie dish! She knew that, I didn't. She a fab cook, so it's even better that I found it.

My next batch of hearts are in progress: made of felt with ribbon embellishments. I of course had to buy more ribbon with Christmas themes. I'm addicted to ribbon now. I'm also hand-sewing the seams with embroidery floss so they really stand out against the solid colors of the felt. And I glue (and sew) a piece of organdy ribbon at the top so you can hang it on the Christmas tree (or wherever).

I am looking back over my writing and it's kinda funky. It's because I have a headache and I'm on drugs for it. Can't think real clearly. Anyway, good talk. See you in the morning.

Craft Fair Funnies

This last weekend I went to two local craft fairs and bought most of my Christmas presents for my family. Of course, I bought some stuff for myself, but only a couple hair pins and pin-on pins, those little ones. There were a couple of really cheeky vendors that made me laugh really hard and I wish I could have bought their stuff. One was called Maybe You Should Die, and they had great cards that had the usual hip graphics, pale colors and nice typesetting, but they said things like "Thank you" with the word "thank" added after the word "F--k" was crossed out. Or a similar one with a crossed out word that used to say "Thinking of Beyonce," and "Beyonce" is crossed out and "you" is added over the top. You really should go look at them at their Etsy store. The even funnier "mean bags" are a hoot, with nicely embroidered foul language on little bean bags, as shown above.

Making Tiny Things

I just made these from patterns in my book The Cute Book by Aronzi Aronzo. I've been dying to make some of these and they were really fun. A bit hard to cut out some of the tiny pieces but worth it. And I'm quite proud of myself for finally doing a french knot. In fact, the monkey has double french knots for his eyes, and the doggie's nose is a triple french knot! I just always thought those were so intimidating to do (anything French is) but I did it good!

I just love the dog. I also put magnets on the back of them (those thick round ones that are pretty strong) and they make really cute little fridge mascots. Or, if you have magnetic paint on some of your walls like we do (am I a little obsessed with magnets? Yes), you can put them lots of places. I'm sure my daughter will move these all around the house.