clothespin dolls

After seeing these cutest ornaments on Martha Stewart, I tried to make some. The orange one is a woodland fairy, and the pink one is a ballerina. I thought of many different ways to decorate them, so I will probably have more photos of others soon. There really are endless possibilities. Fun.

Liam saw me making the dolls and wanted to make an Anakin Skywalker doll. I personally love the bead light saber. He is already making plans for the rest of the characters. I usually make an Christmas ornament for the kids each year. I think we will have this be Liam's. What better way to sum up this year for him?

Christmas Cards

Some Christmas cards I made. The red one with a gift is a pop-up. The snowflakes were printed on my fathers printing press a couple years ago with silver ink. I outlined and embossed the black snowflake with white, and the white card with silver.

Beaded Bracelet

3 strand, purple and pink bracelet made for one of Zoe's friends.

Thanksgiving Pies

I just think a pie is a beautiful thing. Cherry with lattice-top.

Sour cream-apple with Struesel topping.

Another cherry, and pecan. One cherry pie is being traded for a pumpkin, from a friend.

More booties

A different pattern for baby booties.

Thanksgiving Banner

I found this idea in a Pottery Barn and was indignant that it cost so much. So I made it. They are wool felt squares with ribbon, felt, embroidery, beads, buttons, jute, etc. forming the letters.

Here is a close up of a few letters.

Baby booties

So many friends having babies! These were fun to make.

Zoe's birthday pinata

Again, I love a theme. This was a straighforward shape to make. Zoe helped me paint it. You can't see really well, but there is glitter all over, too.

Zoe's birthday party invites

Zoe is having a tea party birthday so I try to stick to the theme at any cost. These invites I decorated, but she decorated a couple too. We tried to do it together. There is a little pocket in the back that helps the "lid" slide in and out. I love how these turned out.

I am so annoyed but everytime I downloaded this photo, it changed it to a verticle format. You get the idea.

nesting dolls

When Mom came to visit she brought some nesting dolls with her. Lydia became obsessed and carried them everywhere with her, calling them her "puppets". Shortly after I found this pattern online that I purchased and made. I decided to put our families faces on them instead of the same face on all of them. Lydia loves them, but they are the kind of toy that are fun to take apart but difficult to put back together, so they are always apart.

necklace with handmade bead

I have had this bead for awhile. Made and given to me by a friend. I wish you could see the details of this bead. There is glitter, and stripey leaves and multicolored flowers. Amazing.
The necklace I made as a quickie for a birthday, but am quite pleased by how it turned out. The colors worked really well together.

Cards

None of the paper is handmade (by me). I just threw together some cards for some birthdays and thank you's. Here are a few.

Peach syrup

My first attempt at peach syrup. It wasn't peachy enough.
Recipe for Peach Syrup
1.Take all the peels, pits, bruised parts, anything that will be discarded after prepping peaches for canning, pies, freezing.
2. Put in a large saucepan.
3.Cover with water.
4. Boil until the essence of peach has been transferred from the peaches to the water.
5. Drain liquid from chunks. Discard chunks.
6. Measure liquid. Add equal parts sugar to liquid. 1:1
7. Boil until sugar is dissolved.
It is pretty runny. You could find a way to thicken it up.
I had problems with #4. I didn't boil it long enough. I boiled mine for an hour maybe. If you want it really peachy I would try longer.

Peach Pies

These are peach pies, and although they are lovely they were not delicious. I don't love peach pies. I think peaches should be used fresh, but I had so many and I love to make a pie. It is one thing I feel confident saying I do well. Maybe because it is the something that is recongnized by my family and talked about.
My favorite pies to make (that do taste good) are cherry and rhubarb. Yum.

My first attempt at selling

These pictures are all pretty terrible but at the time I took them I wasn't planning on posting them. (These got sold at the auction)

A friend of mine challenged me to make some earrings for selling. He said anyone could have a business if it was something they were passionate about. I took the advise and made a whole bunch of jewelry to sell at a party I was having. I think I sold two or three pairs. Over all I was pretty discouraged. I ended up donating the rest of them to our family reunion auction. So my sisters and sisters in law have them. That is great with me. But I probably won't sell them again.

(I kept the pink ones, and love them. A friend bought the middle pair. The others...auction.)

I love these bracelets. I actually gave the middle one to Amie for her birthday. The other two my mom and sister have.

I kept these.

The two on the right I sold. I don't remember who got the others.

The ones on the left are my favorite. Did Sarah get the other two pairs?