Shop News - a Hiccup!

I've got a hiccup in my small business adventure.  It comes in the form of "government bureaucracy".  Otherwise known as red tape.  

I just found out that I need a specific type of label on my toys.  How did I not know this before?  I have no idea.  Can I blame it on mommy-brain?  Well apparently the municipal division that takes care of this labeling thing also requires full-blown lab testing on my products.  Yikes.  That's major.  

So I'm calling this a forced vacation for my shop.  But thank God, it is only temporary - until the lab results are in an my permits are all signed, sealed, and delivered.  A hiccup in the adventure.  No big deal, right?

Fortunately, there is no red tape required to maintain my blog!  And since no blog post is complete without some eye candy from my studio, here's what I have been working on (creatively speaking):

A whimsical reindeer (yes, this is a full-sized chair - reindeer is REALLY long, about 26 inches!)

And some elves!

 

I think I have Christmas on the brain!

(This little darling is still waiting for a face, poor thing).

And another elf:

 (I mean the faceless doll, not my Spunky!)

This is her hair.  Gorgeous.  I am kind of smitten with this one, her muslin skin was dyed with RIT "chocolate brown" dye by yours truly (first time for everything, right?!) right here in my washing machine!  Praise God the dye didn't stain my washer. (My husband agrees.  Most enthusiastically :)

 And just in time for Halloween - a bat!  Keep an eye out, a tutorial for this cheerful bat is coming soon!

So, dear readers, I thank you very much for sticking with me as my shop goes on vacation.  It's good to be "surrounded" by friends (even those you have never met in person).  Prayers for my family during this adventurous time are always appreciated, hiccups or no hiccups.  

Blessings, 

:) Caren

UPDATE:  I decided to close my shop.  Thanks for your support. 

Fabric!

I love new fabric.  I love new-to-me fabric.  There is nothing like when new fabric is washed and comes out of the dryer all jumbled up with strings that you have to spend what seems like forever cutting off.  Any of you with me on this?
Here are my new fabrics:

 Savanna Bop- look at that "elephant-go-round" fabric - adorable!!!!!

  This is from the Pieces of Hope collection.

I'm going to be writing up a tutorial for making a stuffed bat with this fabric really soon!!!

This is from the collection called "Flying Free".  Love those quirky little birds, and the beaded curtain is really quite nice - I'm looking forward to making this into some kind of stuffed animal.  Still trying to figure out what kind, though.  Any thoughts?

If any of you are in the market for fabric, I'd recommend Julie's shop (The Intrepid Thread).  She's lightning fast turnaround and super easy to work with.

Be blessed!
:) Caren

My New Studio

In my past life (i.e. - before I had kids) I was a land development consultant, and I worked from home.  I needed a cell phone and a computer, paper and pen, and I was set.   Then came my children, and my home office began to breed dust bunnies.  

So when I decided to open shop I transformed my office into a studio, and now I can leave stuff out without worrying about toddlers getting into my pins, scissors, and sharpies!   Though honestly, I did have to put child-proof locks on because my littlest one just figured out how to open the door and was, in fact, walking around with pins, scissors, and a very big, very red sharpie.  True story - I had to take one of my big kitties off my shop because she got Sharpied. (Spell-checker says that's not a word, but anyone with toddlers knows IT IS SO!!!)

my online shop

My husband bought me a gorgeous cutting table off craigslist about a year ago - it has something like 19s.f. of surface area.  It is totally dreamy!  He moved it upstairs last weekend and I wanted to celebrate by taking pictures! So here, friends, is my new studio!

OK, so this is just one corner.  But in the other corners are a big corner computer desk, the door to the hallway, and the closet door - not much of interest.  Then there is the wall with my sewing machine and fabrics, but unfortunately my camera is being flaky and deleted that picture for me.  How sweet.

Here's my little corner up close.  I have some of my favorite photos, some embroidery that is in-process, my itty bitty picture frames, a big huge glass canister for buttons, and a little duck figurine that is actually a  pencil sharpener!  Oh, and since the filing cabinet is metal, I can add magnets to hold up some of my favorite sketchbook pages.  It's in process, but I like it - I like the organization - I know where things are, it's not a big jumbled mess.  Yay!

That's all for now.  Hope your week goes swimmingly!

:) Caren

A Portrait in Embroidery

I'm not quite finished with this project, but wanted to share it with you.

It's based on a photograph, but it is amazing how different and "flat" things are without shading and lighting.  I am not great at the perspective and shading stuff that so many of you are.  I just copied what I thought to be the best lines from the photo, right onto the fabric, and went from there.  

Now the question is - how should I finish it?  Should I frame it?  Make it a wall hanging?  What do you think?  If you have any other ideas, please let me know.  (Or this one might be hanging, unfinished, on my file cabinet forever).  

Cheers!

:) Caren

Embroidery Firsts

I have been working on making some fabric postcards lately, and I have so much to share with you!
First of all, how many of you like when you embroider something and little floss "tails" show through to the front?  I don't.  Not at all.  So this is the first time I used a tear-away stabilizer, and it worked great, plus, the extra layer helped to make that light fabric more opaque.

This is also the first time I have used a machine satin stitch.  Yep, I've never done any machine embroidery at all, just hand-work.  It didn't turn out perfect, but the theme for this project is "handmade holidays", so it totally works!

And then there is this cute reverse-applique porcupine on a scooter.  It was my first go at itty bitty words.  Can you read it?  "Hugs 25 cents"

 Here's the back.  Pretty much the same for all of them, except I wrote a little on the others.  I like my little "stamp".  That was made from printable fabric (Avery and Staples both have their own version).

Though this is not my first time working with Stick-n-Washaway product, I wanted to talk about it because I really do like it, and maybe you've not heard of it.  It is like a fabric sticky note - you stick it on, stitch through it, and then just wash it off.  I used it on this particular piece because my Spunky drew this picture (he named it "Robot Retractable Arm Malfunction" - have I mentioned how much I love that boy?!!) I really like the picture, but it was too big for a postcard, so I took a picture of it on my digital camera, uploaded it to the computer, re-sized it, and printed it right onto the Stick-n-Washaway!  Sweet, right?

(Sorry if that sounded a little like an infomercial.  I never can tell how much to share!)  Oh, but since I'm writing this in the middle of the night and that's when I tend to ramble... did you notice my buttons on the picture (above)?  Those were glued on (E-9000, not hot glue).  The picture just needed something extra....

I'd better get to bed now, or this will turn into a novel (and I wouldn't be surprised if I lost more than a few followers!). So anywhoooo, you all have a great Sunday.  I'll be praising the Lord from my piano at church.  Maybe I'll see you there!

:) Caren

Going Batty!

Since this was our first week of "back to school", I got a little time to sew (yippee!!!).  Just wanted to share a little bat I whipped up with some scrap fabric I received from a friend in the mail a while ago.

I'm thinking about putting together a tutorial for this little guy.  He's cute - if I do say so myself!

I don't know, though.  It seems that every pattern I do I look at the final and think that there is something I want to change about it.

Spunky sure likes him, though.  As a matter of fact, Sunshine and Sprout are quite fond of him too.

(photo taken before I embroidered his face)

One day not long after finishing up the bat, Sunshine walked up to me and said "Where's the kitty?".    "What kitty?" I ask. (We don't have cats, just one great big dog).  "The kitty with wings!" she says.
It finally dawned on me - she thinks that BAT means CAT (with wings).
Toddlers are so funny :)

Have a great weekend!
:) Caren

Button, Button, Who's Got the Button?

I've been so crazy busy with my little ones this summer.  Anyone else out there like me?  Well, I haven't been able to do much sewing, but I did get to subliminally pass my love of sewing on to my toddlers this week with button games.

We put buttons in our toes.  It was great fun, so we continued it to our hands.

Then Sprout woke up from his nap, and he was so excited about the buttons that he climbed onto the table to get at them!  (For safety I use a bucket of super big plastic buttons for these play times - Sprout puts them in his mouth).

It was a great opportunity to teach things like colors, shapes, sharing, and asking for help.

 Calisthenics: reach, stretch, climb!

 Sunshine pretended the buttons were flowers, so we were "sniffing" them.

Can Sprout look any happier?  I tell ya, these little ones are so easy to please (sometimes).  

And I thank God who gives me days of peace like this one, when my kids have fun playing together.  Often they are at odds and its so nice to have a break in the storm.  

Now that the summer is coming to an end I may just have time to get some sewing done!  In the next week or two, my Spunky is going off to 1st grade and Sprout is going to early intervention school (to help him develop his speech/language skills).  And I'll have this little Sunshine all to myself for a couple of hours!

So what are your plans for this fall?  Got any fun projects going?

Cheers!

:) Caren