Actually playing with my doll stuff, sort of

A year ago the two neighbor girls moved out of state to stay with their dad for a year. Since they were the ones who used my doll stuff, and I needed the space, I packed up all of my doll stuff and put it away a few months ago. Well today, we have them over to play, and I dragged out all (except 3) boxes of doll stuff for them to play with and told them they could take over my kitchen, dining room, and half of the hallway.
Here are the boxes on my dining room table before we unpacked them:

And here is a picture of them playing. It was two of my boys and 4 girls.

And after about 2 hours, they were done, and cleaned it all up all by themselves without me reminding them:

They had fun. It was nice to see my doll stuff being enjoyed since I barely touch it anymore. I still buy stuff I find in doll scale, but since I haven't been sewing as much and I don't have the display space anymore, it hardly gets touched.
I love that when I tell the girls where I get some of the stuff I can see their faces light up like "Oh wow, I didn't think about that!". I think their moms are going to come after me when the girls start begging to go to World Market to get doll kitchen stuff. :)

I've been crafting in my new craft area, sorta

Since I last posted, I've been trying to be creative in my newly revamped craft space. Well, so far my new arrangement functions much better than any other arrangement, but I'm still not being as crafty as I'd like to be.
I've worked on a couple of scrapbook pages at the last crop I attended. A couple of weeks ago I helped a neighbor with her display board for a science project, and thanks to my awesome Cricut skills, I'm pretty sure she got an A.
For sewing, I participated in AG Playthings Spring Sewing Swap. My recipient wanted something for 1864 Addy; something she would wear as a teenager (her character is 9 or 10). So, since Addy is dark skinned, and it's a Spring swap, I immediately thought of yellow. I made a piped dress, petticoat, and a hoop skirt.
Check out my awesome sewing skills and poor photography skills at the same time.

With flash

Without flash

Close up of piping and buttons (and the closest color match to what the dress actually looks like)

Petticoat

Side view of the hoopskirt (and my dolls poor posture)

Front view of the hoopskirt.

Last night I forced myself to be crafty and pulled out my "In progress" box. I had a fleece backed doll quilt I had almost finished, so I finished it, and it looks cute if not straight stripes and wavy quilting are your thing. I do not have a picture of it at the moment, but it's super cute I promise. Green stripes, blue stripes, and black stripes, oh  my!

I really have been busy, I promise...

So, since my post last month, I've finished rearranging my dining/craft room. Not only that, but I've started sewing in it. I've only worked on one project so far, but it's coming along nicely. An altered Vogue pattern, lots of piping, and lots of gathering. It's for the AG Playthings Summer Sewing Swap, so I can't show you until I mail it out on the 18th.

Here's my craft room right after I finished it.

Sewing room gets a makeover, again

Okay, so tonight, I turned the dining room table around, extended the leaves, and moved it against the wall. I also finished clearing off my bookshelf (doll display) upstairs and brought it down to the sewing area. The bookshelf is now on one side of my dining room table. The other bookshelf (doll display) needs to cleared off (I need a box or 2, or 3) and then it will come downstairs and go on the other side of the dining room table.
The bookshelf that I moved this evening is the one that is going to house my sewing stuff since I'm evicting my sewing desk until I get a bigger place. I can't bear to get rid of it (since it works perfectly for me) since I know I won't be able to find the same kind for the same price, so it's going to Mom's garage.
Here's how it looks so far (camera phone at night = crappy picture quality):

I took the pantry door off and put it in the storage shed since I never close the door anyways. It's my scrapbooking/cleaning/litter box closet. The rack on the right, with the hangers, will probably go since it doesn't serve the purpose I hoped it would. The mound of fabric in the middle of the table? That's the other half of my living room curtains that needs the blackout lining sewn on. The other half covers the window, but I like a gathered look, so these will go back up,eventually...

I am participating in another AG Playthings sewing swap, so I'm excited to get my space organized so I can get to work. I'm working on a historical outfit, and for some reason the color yellow keeps coming into mind. I guess I should straighten up the fabric closet before I start rummaging around in there looking for just the right fabric.

Until next time...

We have a winner!

So, Sunday night, once the craft fair was over, I had The Mom pull a card out of the jar. Our craft fair will is Denise Kelly. Her orange mu-mu is ready and waiting at Charleston Scrapbooking.

Now, for our online winner...

Melissa W. with Cherished Playtime!


Congrats winners!

Now, this week and next week will be filled with listing the remainder of my inventory on my Etsy shop, and revamping my sewing/dining room again.
Tomorrow, Amber and I are helping Mom revamp her craft space so that it works better for her, and then we are moving on to my place to do the same thing for me.Yes, I said it. My newest set up just isn't working, and right now it's looking like the sewing desk is going to go into storage. Not the sewing machine, just the sewing desk. I've almost cleared off my bookshelves upstairs and pack up most of my doll displays, and I'm playing on bringing the bookshelves downstairs and putting them on either sides of my dining room table after I extend it with the leaves. I'm planning on one shelf for my sewing stuff and one shelf for my scrapbooking stuff. My fabric and notions are still upstairs and will stay there. A lot of my scrapbooking stuff is still in the pantry (right off my my dining room) and it will stay in there, but get reorganized. Fingers are crossed that this idea works!

Day one of the craft fair!

The craft fair has begun!

This is the booth my mom and I are sharing. She is manning it today since I have the kids with me all day, but since my hubby has the day off tomorrow, I'll be able to be up there all day. I'll be up there most (if not all) of the day on Sunday.
As of right now the Clara dress and the hat and muff have sold. If you're in the area, make sure to stop by and put you name in for a chance at the giveaway outfit.

Charleston Scrapbooking
7800 Rovers Ave. Suite 1050
North Charleston, SC

Few days until Craft Fair and one week until contest ends!

The craft starts Friday!
Yes, Friday!
As in a few days from today!
And dang it, now I have that silly Rebecca Black song stuck in my head.

So, yesterday I picked up my inventory from Charleston Scrapbooking, where I have them available for "in person" sale as consignment (the store gets a small percentage of the profit). I like that people have the opportunity to see my creations in person when they buy them. That's the only bad thing about selling mostly online.
Last night I went through all of my creations and put them all on new hangers (that I picked up last weekend at the Flowertown Festival). I'm also going through and redoing my price tags and pricing my newest creations, which is where I'm at today.

I still have a small box that has some creations in it that won't fit on hangers. I have a different display rack that I'm going to use at the craft fair so all of my outfits won't be bunched together like they are right now. I have three more things cut out that I need to get sewn this week too.

Next week is Spring Break for my kids. I'm going to be listing anything left form the craft fair into my Etsy shop and starting on some more creations (like Harry Potter robes since the second part of the final movie comes out this Summer).

Until next time...
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Friday! One week into the April giveaway!

It's Friday again! One week until the Craft Fair at Charleston Scrapbooking. Yay!
I've been working hard on getting some more outfits done. This weekend I'm concentrating on some basic button up shirts to go with the pleated wrap skirts I have already made. I'm trying a princess seamed shirt this time. Fingers crossed it comes out as cute as I hope.
In other sewing, I've been working on upcycling some PJ pants into doll clothes. I just love the prints! There are a lot of plaids, and one even has hibiscus flowers (going to make a Hawaiian shirt for Kanani with this one). I've already upcycled part of one pair into a pair of PJ pants (they came out too snug in the hips, so they are more suited for an OG doll rather than an AG doll) and a school jumper for Molly. The blouse is regular broadcloth and will get buttons down the front before next weekend.

And here are some outfits I've worked on since my last picture post.

Okay, I guess outfit. I thought I had sewn more than that. I guess with all of the craziness it just seems like I've been sewing a lot when in truth it's been a little bit a few days a week. Hmph. I work well under deadline, and my husband is going to help me cut stuff out (I trace it and he cuts it). I would like to get another historical outfit done before the craft fair too. I'm thinking a short sleeved version of Kirsten's school dress since it will work for Kirsten and Addy. 

It looks like this:

This is the long sleeve (aka original) version:

So, that's what I've done, and that's what I have planned for the next seven days. Remember to get your comments in before the contest ends! Enter here and/or here.

Until next time...

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Happy April 1st!

Hopefully you've all had your prank for today. Well, if you haven't had your prank yet, keep an eye out for one since you won't find one here.
Today is a special announcement!

In celebration of the upcoming craft fair at Charleston Scrapbooking, I'm holding a contest. And not just any contest, but a double contest. I'm holding one online and one in person. The one online starts today and the one in person starts the first day of the craft fair which is April 15th (tax day and the one year milestone since my surgery).

First, the prize!

One dress is the online prize, and the other dress is for the in person prize.

Now, for the different ways you can earn tickets for the contest:

Online, April 1st - April 17th:

• Comment on this post with your name and e-mail address (info will be hidden)
• Become a follower (current followers are automatically entered)
• Post this on your blog and comment here with the link to your post
• Make a comment on the contest announcement on my Facebook fan page
• Submit a drawing of an outfit
• Make a purchase (I do not have a lot listed right now, but if you see something I've made recently and haven't listed, just ask since I'm not listing anything until after the craft fair)

In person at the Craft Fair, April 15th - April 17th:

• Fill out a raffle ticket (name with either phone number or e-mail address)
• Submit a drawing of an outfit (I will supply paper and colored pencils)
• Tell me you heard about the contest online
• Make a purchase

Holy cow! That's 10 ways to enter! I will draw the winner of the Craft Fair dress at the end of the craft fair on Sunday April 17th, and the winner of the online dress after Midnight that night. 

Now for some rules:

• You must be 18 or older to enter. If you are under 18, please have a parent/guardian enter for you.
• You can enter both contests, but you will only be able to win one. If your name is drawn for both, the second one is void and another name will be drawn. 
• All pictures submitted become my property, and if I make an outfit based on the picture, you will get credit for designing it (so make sure your name is attached to it somehow)

If there are any questions, let me know!

Until next time...

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I caved

So today, I caved in. The contractors have been gone all week, and I have heard nothing from my landlord about the rest of the work.
So, today, I got frustrated enough to unpack my sewing room from the closet, move the cat box into the closet where is belongs, and I set my sewing/dining room up the way it was before the renovations started.
And to top it off, I actually got some sewing done. The first thing I did was a secret sewing project with one of my boys. We made a set of pillows that are going to be a gift. They are soooooo cool! He helped by stuffing them. Well, he picked out the fabric and the project too. I can't post pictures yet, but once the recipient gets them, I'll post pictures. Here's a hint, I used my Cricut to cut out the image I appliquéd onto the front. Cricut + Heat & Bond = Awesome! So awesome in fact that I'm working on an idea to teach a class on it.
Once the pillows were done, I finished cutting out the last pieces for a 30's romper and started sewing it. It's around halfway done right now, and I hope to finish it tomorrow. Only 3 weeks until the craft fair! EEEK!

Until next time...
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