jane's apron

new books

I recently purchased two books that I just have to share...

I requested that the library buy "Crafting a Business" from Country Living but became impatient waiting for it.   I  LOVE this book.  It profiles several different types of businesses and artists and, since I am so amazed at the process of creating things, I really enjoyed learning something from each of the featured business owners.  I learned that I am not the only one that likes designing something.  But making it over and over again?  Not so much.  The second part of the book presents business related items like marketing and sales.  While some of this is beyond my very small business, most of it was very, very helpful to me...and I highly recommend it...even if you are just thinking about selling your ideas or creations. 

I spotted the "Pippi Longstocking" book on the shelf at the library...the artwork is cute, colorful, and full of personality.  And the story is classic so the purchase is justified...don't you think so?

tiny dresses

I've been wanting to get back to some small-scale projects and to use my favorite stamps to make some cards.  My injury on Mother's Day gave me a chance to do it...I sat and cut lots of tiny dresses.   I have a stamp with a row of four dresses so I just stamped (in brown ink) on some paper scraps and then cut out all of the dresses.  I stamped the image again on a scalloped note flat and added one of the paper dresses to each.

I also made a few note card sets using another favorite stamp (the one that started the whole sewing pattern idea).

So now I have a few things to add to the empty "handstamped notes" section of my etsy shop.

My house is a complete mess but I'm using the broken toe excuse...and making pretty stuff is so much more fun.   

the rules are posted

I'm not chatty...like to get to the point quickly.  This is why I love succinct phrases like "seriously" and "dude"...comes in handy with two boys that are constantly doing something gross.  I also hate repeating myself...which is nearly impossible to avoid when you have kids.  I found this "Brush Your Teeth" plaque at the thrift store and thought it might help.  Instead of saying "Did you brush your teeth?" I would say "Did you do what the bunny told you?" and then "bunny?" and finally I just pointed at the sign.  I don't think it worked but the font alone is cute enough for me to keep it hanging in the bathroom.

I hope everyone had a good Mother's Day yesterday.  My son made waffles for me...at 6:15.  My daughter left the letters M - O - M spelled out in crayons on the counter for me (cute!).  My husband got my new MacBook hooked to the external drive with all of my stuff.  I don't remember running to the printer but I must have been moving fast enough because I broke my toe on the chair...and spent the rest of the day trying to keep my feet up.

tea with jane

Anyone that reads my blog has probably seen that I'm a simple girl...no frills, no bling.  But every once in a while  something completely fabulous catches my eye. 

This beautiful apron is called "Tea with Jane" and was created by Calamity Kim (talk about mad sewing skills).  This isn't just an apron...it's art...the mix of colors, textures, and vintage embellishments is simply perfect.   

Something this beautifully and skillfully handmade is a sight to see. Stop over at Kim's flickr photos for more pretty details...and then on to her etsy shop to make it your own.    

McCall's Patterns

I've worked with enough sewing pattern envelopes and drawings to say that I have a definite favorite.  McCall's patterns have the cutest most vivid illustrations...the best fonts, colors, and graphics (love the spool of thread).  I also love the Park Ave. New York, NY address on the back of the envelopes.  I can just imagine the graphic designers drawing illustrations...probably really quickly, probably lots of them, probably very old school.   

Most of the McCall's patterns I have are slightly wider than other patterns and I didn't think they would work on a small clipboard.  I changed my mind.  Now, these are my new favorite clipboards.

wedding present

After a weekend of 4 soccer games and 3 baseball games, I came home late Sunday afternoon and told my daughter we would plant the flower she bought at the garden club sale.  One thing led to another and I ended up getting everything planted...not stopping to change my good shoes or to even put garden gloves on.   After dinner I came out to sit on the swing  and ran back inside to get my camera to take a picture of our beautiful dogwood tree.  The dogwood tree is pretty but it also has a cute story...

The original owner of our house moved in when he was a teenager.  He married for the first time when he was 80 years old...and planted the dogwood tree as a wedding present to his bride. 

idiot margaritas

This recipe is not "easy bake" but it is easy.  The "idiot margarita" is a recipe from my brother-in-law and we've been making them his way for a long time now.   Easy, easy, easy and WAY better than any margarita mix, this is one of those recipes that everyone will request as in "...and bring those margaritas".   It is all based on one measure of a frozen limeade...more cans of limeade makes more margaritas.

Idiot Margaritas

frozen limeade
beer
tequila
water/club soda/ice

Empty one can of frozen limeade into a pitcher or mixer.   Fill the can with tequila and add to mix.  Fill the can with beer and add to the mix.  Mix or stir and serve over ice.

The secret to this recipe is the beer...it makes the margaritas nice and foamy.  Adjust the tequila amount by adding less than a can but be sure to fill the partially full can with water or club soda.  Of course, garnish with fresh limes and margarita salt. 

As always, I'd love to hear from anybody that makes these...let me know!  And happy Cinco de Mayo.

clipboards & buttons

Just a quick post today to try out the new Firefox browser (that allows rich text editing in TypePad)....so far, so good.

I am in the mood to make clipboards so I'm just going along with it...running to the store for more supplies before I lose my clipboard mojo.   I talked before about how I have used buttons to cover the manufacturer's name on some clipboard hardware.  I dumped out my small vintage button stash looking for a black button and had one on its original little card...so I just threaded the whole thing with checked ribbon and put it over the clip.  I love stumbling on a new idea that way.

I added two of these legal-sized (big!) clipboards to my etsy shop yesterday...

robin's egg train case

I finished the cool robin's egg blue train case that you might have seen in the vodcast at diystyle.net and here.

I love to see and hear about the process of making things so I thought I'd share a little of that for this project. Of course, the train case is the base of the design...robin's egg blue with silver specs, perfect inside and out, a tray for holding lots of goodies and, as an added bonus, it has its original key. I didn't want to completely cover the case and chose oranges, reds, and yellows to contrast with the blue. My favorite pattern images are very 1960s...not too kitchy...kind of modern...kind of cool. Just look at the image on the side of the case...the red patterned blouse and gypsy earrings are straight out of an Anthropologie catalog.

I cut out the images I might use and then arrange them until they look right to my eye. I added a few extras...paper edges and cutouts and such to define spaces a little more. I cut out the "It's Young Fashion!" statement for the front of the case.

There are sometimes images of the back of a sewing project and I love to use those on the back of the case.

Finally, the train case had its original tray but it was a little stained. I covered the tray in sewing pattern tissue...so cute for what might be used as a sewing kit. I used a small scrap to make a tag for the key (tied with black and white baker's twine).

I am listing this case and another fun "patchwork" one in my etsy shop today. With Mother's Day approaching quickly, I hope to list lots of new stuff throughout the week also.

On the technical front, the Mac or PC decision was made and I'm waiting on a new MacBook...also waiting on a new Photoshop Elements (in the mean time, all I seem to have is "edge blur" in iPhoto so be patient with my photos over the next week or so). For some reason, I'm only getting an html editor when creating a post in TypePad (had a choice on the PC)...this is little too irritating so early in the morning...am I doing something wrong?...looks like TypePad does not support rich text formatting on Safari...oopsie.

mac or pc

There is never a good time for your computer to just stop working but there are definitely times that are worse than others. Our notebook PC has completely lost its power supply. I have all my data stored on an external hard drive...but can't get to any of it...and I was in the middle of working on all of the certificates and signs for our school auction this weekend. So I've had to move all work over to our iMac. Now the big question around here is what to replace the notebook with...a PC or a Mac? I spent all day yesterday creating auction documents in Word:Mac and it wasn't too hard to make the transition. I even uploaded one picture from my camera...no Photoshop though. Has anyone jumped from a PC to a Mac and not liked it?

Other than the auction stuff, I have also been busy this week finishing up not one, but two, altered train cases. I am using the paper squares pictured to make a nice patchwork background on one of them. The other is the pretty robin's egg blue case I posted about a few weeks ago. I've been contacted by a few readers about my train cases and decided to create an email list to send information about etsy shop updates and such. Just check out my sidebar on the left for information about getting on the list...I promise not to pester you with lots of emails and, of course, will never share your email address. If I can figure this whole Mac thing out, I hope to have a big update to my shop on Monday.

Now, I've got to get busy on those auctions documents. Have a good spring weekend!