Christmas Putz Village

My very first Putz Village! I'm very happy with it. I'm so excited to finally use the little white plastic tree I got at the $1 and Up store in Escondido. And I think the gingerbread house looks great as the center piece of the village.

I actually had a very hard time forresting my village. For some reason I really thought it needed more trees and I became obsessed. But, I guess everyone else was too, because everywhere I went was mostly sold out of Christmas village trees. I got a couple from Dollar Tree and a few from the Mission-building section at Michael's. And I was just kinda OK with my sparse foliage. But a few days ago I was wandering around Big Lots and I found a 16-piece tree set for only $5!

Even without the lights on, I think the village looks much better with lots of trees!

The first house I made was the picture window house. I made it at the same time that I made the Halloween picture window house. I really like it, but I do I wish I would have listened to Howard's suggestions and started with the begginner cottage.

This is the Peach Beach Cottage from Howard's Sandy Shores Structures. I added snow and lots of glitter and made it a Christmas village house. I made a loofah tree following Papa Ted's new tree tutorial.

The Little Charmer also has a loofah tree in it's front yard. It's by far my favorite house in the village. I pretty much copied Howard's color-scheme exactly.

The beginner cottage is actually yellow with a blue roof, but all the glitter makes it hard to see the colors. The snowman and icy tree are both from Dollar Tree.

I also made the church conversion. We're not a religious household, but I do think the church is really cute. So I just made the upstairs window round like all the rest of the houses instead of a cross.

The Bay Window house is so cute! I love the way it sits centered on it's foundation so I put a tree in each corner of the front yard.

Christmastime

Most of my supplies for extra curricular activities are in storage while we're in the condo including my gingerbread house cookie mold. So this year I decided to do it the old-fashioned way and design and build a gingerbread house from scratch. I used a recipe I found online and cut out the pieces based on a paper pattern I drafted.

I won't use that gingerbread recipe again, the one that came with my cookie mold is much better. The pieces weren't as strong as I like and they warped A LOT! But I trudged on. The over-hang on the roof was a little lacking and the front of the house was far from straight.

I did use the royal icing recipe that I always use. And, once it's covered with icing and candy, the house doesn't look too bad. I also bought a box of Pepperidge Farm ginger family cookies and stuck them in the front yard. They're cute, but there is no way they'll fit in their house. :)

We also got the tree out of storage and crammed it in to our tiny little living room. I'm so happy with how our new tree skirt turned out! I LOVE the Alexander Henry Yuletide 2D Zoo fabric I ordered from Etsy. It's the perfect combination of traditional Christmas and whimsy. Plus it doesn't smell like cat pee!

Time for some holiday sewing!

This is Hyde the Thanksgiving Owl. I just stitched him together tonight. I have decided that there are not enough happy images to symbolize the Thanksgiving season. So I'm declaring that owls are now officially added as an icon of Thanksgiving. I used this Carnivore Owl Bag how-to and just made him out of felt. He stands up on his own because he has a Spiderman ziplock bag of fish gravel in his bottom. And we named him Hyde because he's a horned-owl.

Over the weekend I started using up some of my VIP craft panels. I really love using craft panels. They come with all the colorful designs already printed. All you have to do is sew them up and stuff them. I made a turkey for each my mom and Michael's mom. They also have Spiderman ziplocks with fish gravel so they'll stand on their own.

Rudy is also a VIP craft panel. I made him specially for Michael Bacon. He looks EXACTLY like the clamation, politically incorrect, Rudolph we all remember.

(Maybe he'll like Rudolph so much he'll let me have a white plastic Christmas Tree this year)

:)

2010 Halloween Village with accessories!

The whole completed Halloween Putz village for 2010.

The How-to section over at Little Glitter Houses is amazing! I'm so grateful to Howard Lamey for sharing his creativity with everyone. I finally added all the silly little Halloween themed accessories I've been buying at Dollar Tree and the 99 Only store.

The Witch house is made with his beginner cottage tutorial. This really is the best place to start with making little houses. The house turns out adorable and has the perfect little glitter cottage shape. I painted it Halloween colors and added a rubber witch that is way too big and an over-sized foam cat. I love it though- anything ridiculous works for Halloween.

This house is by far my favorite! I used Howard's Vintage-Style house pattern and my own goofy, dollar-store accessories.

The Ghost house is the Twin Peaks Beach House from Howard's Sandy Shores Seaside structures. I glued all the trim on cock-eyed and made it a ghost house.

My Spider Church is the church conversion found at the end of the beginner cottage how-to. I added a 13-hour, spider clock, and put webs in all the windows.

Howard's picture window house was the first one that I made. I know I should have started with the beginner cottage, but I don't think it turned out too bad...

We call this Batman's house because my husband donated his Hot Wheels Batmobile and it fits right under the over-hang like it's a carport. This is the Spook Hill Station.

I plan to finish the Christmas village over Thanksgiving break and I'll post pics when I get it set-up.

Boo Boo Kitty

I just made Ellie the cutest little black Halloween kitty for the opening of her first pumpkin patch! I found the pattern and how-to at Sew Bold. The instructions were great and the whole kitty went together in about an hour. I made it with back and orange felt and I stitched on white, green, and black felt for the eyes.
The how-to clearly showed how the dart was for the front of the head, but I wasn't paying enough attention to what I was doing and I stupidly sewed it on as the back of the head. But I just went ahead and stitched the eyes and mouth on the piece without a dart and I think it looks just fine. :) But, I'll do it right for the next kitty I make. And it's so cute, I'm sure I'll be making more of them! Thanks Sew Bold!

Halloween Putz Village Done!

This Labor Day weekend has been great! We've been hanging out in the pool, watching movies and I've been able to get some projects finished! Saturday morning I woke up and completely took apart the dress for Eve and made all the alterations before Michael even woke up. It felt really good to get it done, UFO's drive me nuts! It looks great, and I can't wait for Ivana to come over and try it on!

Saturday evening and Sunday morning I was able to take some time and finish the Halloween village. I love it! For some houses I copied the paint colors directly from the Little Glitter Houses how-to's because I thought they were perfect just the way they were, but with the rest, I did my own thing.

I've only added the "trees" and a couple accessories for now. I'll continue to add more miniature Halloween items as I find them. Michael contributed the Batmobile and the orange Hearse, and I found the rubber witch at Dollar Tree. I'm hoping to find some mini bats and ghosts somewhere. Or I could probably just make them...

I found great battery-operated LED's from Eleknuts on eBay. They are in Hong Kong and the lights take slightly longer to ship than if you were buying from a US seller. But for the price and the quality, I highly recommend them! I used one strand of white and one strand of red. I think I'll get some more for the Christmas village.

I'm sure I'll post more pictures of the Halloween village when it gets set-up for real next month.

Just Putzing Around

I've been making little glitter houses (also known as Putz houses) all week! Thanks to the AMAZING how-to's from Howard Lamey and his adorable and educational Little Glitter Houses website. They're only about 4 inches tall and you put lights in the back so that the windows and doors glow.

I remember every Christmas my Aunt Grace would put out her nativity village and I was so in love with it! Gail also has a set of the originals that are so special and nostalgic. I think Putz villages are so beautiful and really capture the spirit of Christmas, so I wanted a Putz village of my own. I'm making a set for Christmas and a set for Halloween. I finished the first house in each set tonight, and I have four more houses under construction.

When I get the other houses finished, I'll post about the completed villages.

A Summertime Visitor

I was watering our patio this afternoon and a little Pacific Tree Frog hopped out of one of the pots and enjoyed a shower from the hose. :) I guess she lives under our palm tree.

I think the herps in this area know that I'm a science geek and they're safe here. I once had a Spade Foot Toad hop right in my front door, and I found an Alligator Lizard in my Ugg boot in the living room.

Harry Elephonte, the Southbound Pachyderm

I just finished this adorable elephant for Baby Max. I downloaded the pattern from Cicada Daydream. I had a couple problems with his tusks, but other than that he turned out pretty cute. You can just print the whole pattern on one sheet of paper and make a little baby pachyderm. But, I printed it at 100% and he's a good size.
I also made Max a train quilt. Well, I can't really say I made the quilt. I purchased the pre-quilted baby quilt panel and then I applied extra wide double fold bias tape to bind the edges.

I LOVE these. The prints are always so cute and they're really sturdy quilts. These are the kind of quilts that can hold their own with kiddos. They can be used to sit on for a picnic, they can keep you warm and cuddly in the winter, and they can be puked on in the car. They hold up to being washed and re-washed and can be used hard.

I don't like to use the satin baby blanket binding anymore. I've tried a few times and I just can't get the hang of making the mitered corners look good enough. So, I use a bowl to cut the corners of the panel round, and I bind the whole thing in extra wide bias tape. Plus, bias tape is easier to find, and comes in more colors.

A Seth Aaron Original!

My Seth Aaron dress arrived today! I was so excited, I just sat and looked at the box for a little while. (I may have even smelled it) When Michael got home we opened it up and I touched it and inspected every inch of it. I was especially interested in the inside. It looks just as beautiful as the outside. Seth Aaron's construction, (as I imagined) is impeccable! The whole dress was obviously calculated precisely around the print of the plaid. The finishing details on every seam of the dress are absolutely perfect!

It's like artwork. I have it hanging above my sewing machine and I really feel like Michael got me a piece of fashion history. I have the most amazing husband! Waking up early the morning after the PR finale and buying the dress for me was one of the nicest things he's ever done for me. I love my Michael Bacon!

Also this morning I took my first every Pilates class and LOVED IT!

Hunky Dory by Chez Moi

I just finished a quilt for Joe Soro's baby, Sophia who is due to arrive in just a few weeks. I bought a cute charm pack from Beverly's on Friday and just stitched them all together. It's "Hunky Dory" by Chez Moi for Moda Fabrics.

I used Warm & Natural cotton batting (of course) and a lilac-purple backing. I even figured out how to miter the corners using the backing as an easy fold-over binding.

My good old favorite Sunbeam iron with a retractable cord gave out Friday night. Instead of just failing to heat, it got stuck on the linen setting and melted the lining for the dress I was working on. I continued on and made the dress with the lining shrunken, but I was very sad about my iron. So, I stopped by the Ross dress for less in Santee after my cousin, Julie's baby shower on Saturday. Buried in the back behind the ShamWow and other as-seen-on-TV products I found another Sunbeam iron! It's a beautiful classic 3973 with a storage indicator strip and a push-button spray mist. It also has a compass in the stock and this thing which tells time...

Not really, but it did come with a handy little plastic water filler cup. I LOVE my new iron!

Private Pictures Wrapped

In the wee hours of this morning we wrapped on Private Pictures. It was a VERY long night and we didn't get to bed until 6 am, but it was such a great night of shooting.

Jennifer and Lylah were such a pleasure to have on set. They were professional and so well-prepared! There was only one line dropped the whole night! Only one! The acting talent right here in San Diego always amazes me.

We had a great crew. Rockin Roel knocked it out of the park. Tim and Joe were great. And of course, Michael Bacon was amazing all night long getting some great shots and making movie magic.

We were so lucky to enjoy Momma Sheila catering for the whole shoot. This was the spread after we demolished it. :)

Pelagic Art

I'm having an extremely productive day at work...

Four Little Cult Robes

All four cult robes are done for the shoot on Saturday! I finished the last one last night. I'm really very proud of these! I felt really good about putting my Boo Couture label on each robe. These are truly originals. Michael designed the style and look of them and I constructed them. We decided to simplify his concept a bit in the interest of saving a little money. We decided that super suede would be the best fabric choice to really give these robes the right body. At $7.98/yard, and almost 4 yards per robe we were looking at a pretty pricey set of cult robes. But I really think it was worth it. They look great.
For me, as a costumer, this is a huge accomplishment. I rely heavily on commercial patterns and sometimes use them as a crutch. I'm not confident in my drafting skills to just make things without measurements and markings created by "the big 4". But I did it this time! I used no patterns and these were constructed solely based on Michael's design sketch.

I thing making them sleeveless was a great idea. It gives them just a touch of Asian inspiration. The white stitching on the hood hem makes them look a little primitive and I think the raw rope belt will really tie the whole look together. (HAHA!)

The pointy hood is so sinister!

Amazing Weekend

Friday I got the pictures back from our desert trip with my Retinette 1A. They aren't too bad for just learning. This is my favorite:

If you're interested in seeing how some of the others turned out, here's my Flickr set.
Michael and I had a really great weekend. We got lots accomplished and really enjoyed spending time together. Saturday morning we headed down to Best Buy and got two DVD racks so that we could finally get the DVD's off the living room floor.
We got two of these and they each hold 531 DVDs. We're already close to filling both of them! It took us a couple hours to get them both assembled, and then the whole rest of the night to alphabetize all the DVDs and put them away. While we were in Best Buy Michael got a little distracted in the small appliance section and we ended coming home with the greatest popcorn popper on the planet! YUM!
(too bad it doesn't come with that metal scoop!)

Sunday was a nice quiet day. I made my first ever batch of waffles. The first ones were a little too small, but I quickly got the hang of it...

I got one 1 of the 4 cult robes done for Private Pictures and we spent a little time in the pool. It was a great weekend!

Camera Day

We've been meaning to take Michael's Cannon 1D out for some test shoots, but it seems our weekends always slip away from us. So this morning we set out for the desert. Michael loaded up his 1D with his big Kessler rig and I grabbed my dad's vintage Kodak Retinette 1A (with real-live film). Before we left Michael gave me a quick lesson on shutter speed and aperture. And I also found this Flickr group for Chrome Age Cameras. I shot a couple quick test images on our patio and we headed out.

We took the 78 through Ramona and Julian and down Banner Grade. Michael got to see our Anza Borrego Desert for the first time. I showed him the Ocotillo and California Poppies. We stopped off at a wash down in the state park. I snapped a couple shots, but there wasn't really any point of interest that would work on video for his 1D, so we started heading back up the grade. Then he asked me to pull off the road at the San Felipe Creek. There used to be a huge stand of Tamarisk trees, but they burned at some point. The landscape was really interesting and a huge old tree turned out to be a great focal point. He posted an amazing video of what he was able to capture over at his blog.

I, on the other hand, can't find out how my images turn out until I take the rolls of film to be developed...

Project Runway Dress!

Michael and I watch Project Runway religiously and this season he was really into it. We both loved Seth Aaron's designs. But were so impressed with how he's just an all around great guy. He never took the cue during judging to throw another designer under the bus in fact he always defended their work. And he seemed to always have fun no matter what he was doing.

We watched the whole season and were so excited for the finale. We knew Seth Aaron would kill it. And he did! As the designs were coming down the runway I mentioned that I really liked the plaid dress. Then during the judging when Heidi said that it had hanger appeal I said that I would wear it. Well I guess Michael was listening...

He woke up early Friday morning and bought the dress for me! OMG I couldn't believe he did that! He was the first person on the site and the dress was the very first purchase! I love him so much!

Easter Eggs

I colored Easter eggs tonight!

Two years ago I got my egg coloring kit from Dollar Tree and it came with a set of deep, plastic, egg-shaped cups. They're perfect because they are exactly the right shape for eggs and they even have a fill line for adding the water.

Last year I wanted really bright eggs, so I used vinegar (like I always do) and let the eggs soak in the dye for a long time. And when I put the carton of dyed eggs in the refrigerator, the colors bled! So this year I used lemon juice instead. The colors aren't quite as bright, but maybe they won't bleed...

New Blog for Me!

This is my new blog home! You have to sign in to leave comments because I was getting lots of unwanted traffic at the old blog. If it happens again, I'll password-protect the whole blog.

If that happens and you'd like access, just email me.
Hopefully, this new blog will be a safe place where I can share what 's going on in my life.
It feels like a breath of fresh air!

Sugar Panorama Easter Eggs

I finished all my sewing projects before Spring Break officially started this year, so I spent the day yesterday making panorama sugar eggs. I made them back in 2000 for everyone in my family. I was visiting my Mom on Saturday and she had her's out on the table. They still look good 10 years later.

I knew when I did them, that I had found the instructions online, but I didn't remember where. So I just followed a recipe that looked good. Well after I molded the eggs I found the actual recipe that I used back in 2000. So the eggs this year are just sugar and water. I just added 2 tablespoons of water for each cup of sugar that I used. So far they seem to be holding up. The original recipe that I used on the first batch of eggs 10 years ago is as follows:

1 lg. egg white
3 c. granulated sugar
1 c. powdered sugar
Food coloring

You mix all the ingredients with your hands and when it's all combined and you have your desired color, the sugar should keep it's shape when squeezed.

I like to wear gloves because sometimes the food color will stain your skin and I also don't like the sugar crystals under my fingernails. Next you pack the sugar firmly into the halves of your egg mold. I didn't buy any special mold for these. The small eggs are the standard plastic easter eggs which gives you an egg in cross section, the larg eggs had easter temporary tattoos in them and they're also in cross section, and my favorite mold because it's the only longitudinal section is the medium size that had a toy car in it. I got them all in the seasonal Easter section at WalMart. They were really inexpensive and I can re-use them.

I cut the rim off a small, dessert-sized paper plate and set it on top of the egg half and inverted the whole thing. Then I put the paper plate with the egg on a wax paper lined cookie sheet and slid the egg half onto the wax paper.

Let the eggs dry for right around 2 hours. When you pick them up the outside will have started to harden, but the sugar on the inside will be soft enough to scoop out. I use either a pointed grapefruit spoon or an ice tea spoon to get the sugar out of the middle. You want to make sure you leave about a 1/4-1/2 inch think wall all around. Then I use a really sharp little paring knife to shape the opening. I lost about half as many eggs as I molded this time. I'm pretty sure it was because of the recipe I used. I definitely don't remember that many crumbling when I made them with the recipe that used egg white. Once you have them shaped, they need to dry overnight and be completely hardened before you start decorating.

Some panorama eggs have little figurines inside. My dad took me searching all over the place the first time I made these to find tiny bunnies and easter related figurines. This time I decided to just download some easter clip art. I printed them on photo paper, then glued them to cardstock.

I made up some royal icing following this recipe:

3 egg whites, room temperature
1 lb. powdered sugar
3/4 tsp. cream of tartar

Then I started decorating. I started with piping "grass" into the bottom with a start tip. I added the picture I had cut out for each egg. I "glued" the two egg halves together with color-coordinated icing. I covered the seamline with icing and decorated the edge of the panorama opening. Then I piped in leaves and flowers.

This egg is my favorite for our first Easter as Mr. & Mrs. Bacon: