Sweet polymer clay

I think I have a new hobby!

Ever since Etsy lauched its Holiday Bootcamp I am getting more and more excited about my little shop there - I should really get going and stock it! So this morning while I was wondering what to put up I came across my 1984 cook book and pondered over the Christmas pages. And there it struck me - cookies! Not the edible kind, but for decorations. Think Christmas tree, advent wreath, in the window, ...

I looked up polymer clay on the internet and set out to Michael's. What can I say, it was polymer clay heaven. They even had good old German Fimo ;) I bought a few things, hurried home to explore and, you guessed it, it was tons of fun!

When Sophia came home from school she got excited, too, and so we crafted together for quite a while. She made ice cream and cookies for her dolls.

These cookies will probably be the next item in my Etsy shop, what do you think?

Itty-bitty coin purse

Ever since I had seen the tutorial in Molly Makes I had been wanting to make my own little coin purse. Alas, I could't find the frame at Joann's online or on Etsy within my price range so I gave up on it. Until one busy morning last week when I was waiting at Joann's for my cutting table number to be called out. I browsed through the isles and suddenly bumped into a wall full of purse pieces and, yes, frames! Ding!

Today was the day, with Sophia at Kindergarten, the workers outside turning the water off just after I had gotten enough for a cup of tea, jazzradio.com in the background and a clean kitchen table - pure bliss. It was fun to sew despite of all the ruffles and turned out true to it's name: tiny ... and very cute.

Custom order, anyone? For material + shipping cost and a bar of chocolate? :)

Tuesday morning

 Ever since the little pumkin started Kindergarten I feel the need to fill my three free hours in the morning with as much as possible. Of course, this was bound to fail ... So now I am NOT getting in the car to rush to the mall to look for things to wear at the concert while watching the time and rushing back to prepare lunch we can eat in the car on our way to work before fetching Sophia from school. Instead I harvest the first of our mystery beans. Wouldn't it be fun to toss them in the soup tonight?

Then I take a look at my stash of fabric, get out a yard stick, and begin making a bag. Every day on my way from and to school I wish I had a small little bag to just fit my phone and keys, maybe my wallet. Like those hippie crochet bags we had back in high school. And now I make one. No pattern, just eyeballing. And breathing.

 It turned out just fine.

 

 

Now it is almost time to walk to school and enjoy the little bag.

True, I didn't get quite as much done as I had planned but I feel a lot more relaxed - what's better?

A friend of mine was so kind to lend me the first three issues of the magazine Molly Makes and I was smitten! You should check it out. Anyway, yesterday we found this little guy in there and there was no way Sophia would allow me to turn the page without making one for here. So there :)

Making a dog softie

What a busy week! The following project was done sometime last weekend, but it was somuch fun I wanted to share it with you. Here we go!

First I ironed freezer paper on the wrong side of the fabric, to give it a little more stability.

Then Sophia drew a dog on it with a Sharpie pen. Fun!

I cut it out and cut a second backing piece from the same fabric (Sophia insisted). It could also be a nice patterned fabric.

Right sides together ...

... and sew around it leaving a little opening for turning.

Sophia turned it "inside ouside" and filled it with "Mommel", her word for the stuffing.

Mama sewed the opening closed ...

...and the dog was loved, loved, loved ...

... all day!

It's twins!

Did I really spent half a day making two 'twin' doll outfits? Oh, right, there are doll capri pants that I have yet to make. Whoever got that book from the library?

Saturday School started today and so did the Apple Festival my two people went to. Vanilla ice cream with apples anyone?

Even though Kindergarten has been going on for three weeks now I feel we are far from having developed a routine. At least we have made it through two weeks with assigned colors to wear and thus multiple clothes changes in the wee hours before school ... 

For the love of Canning

 

This week we got a big paper bag full of pears from a friend - hooray for pears! Since I had a few canning jars waiting patiently in the cupboard, I decided to try out a recipe I found in my recent favorite cookbook from the library, Urban Pantry.

Instead of hibiscus flowers I used loose tea from Germany with dried apples and berries in addition to hibiscus. It was really easy and smelled fantastic.

Speaking of smell, right now I have three pounds of tomatoes in the oven and if I close my eyes, I am in Italy. The recipe for the oven roasted tomato sauce cn be found here.

By the way, go to Rhythm of the Home and check out their Autumn Edition, I love it!