Zippity Doo-Da!

OK, so I accomplished my goal for February. The zipper pouch is done! It has sloppy zipper corners & my cute embellishments on the front are extremely lopsided. It was a very frustrating project for me---a newbie to the zipper world---but not as scary as I had imagined. After this trial run everything makes a little bit more sense. I just need more practice, that's all!

I changed my original choice of fabric, as you can see. I made a stop to my favorite local antique shop yesterday & purchased a handful of vintage fabrics. That first bundle of fabric on the left is SOOOOO gorgeous! I can't wait to make something from it!

Forget about finding tutorials on "how to sew a zipper". I needed a tutorial on "how to install a zipper foot"!! Seriously, I couldn't figure it out for the longest time.

I managed to have a couple tutorials for zipper pouch instruction RIGHT by my side as I was working. I used iSew's zippy tutorial--she creates tabs on either side of the zipper so as not to have wonky corners. Mine still ended up wonky though. I think I know what I did wrong & can correct the mistake on my next pouch. I also used twelve22's tutorial. Both have excellent pictures!

I tried using pins to hold the fabric together while I was sewing, but I found the pins to be getting in the way, so I ended up not using them. And I DID end up sewing the zipper inside the pouch so when I went to flip the pouch inside-out I was trapped.

And look at this random zipper stash I found! (A purchase made at a thrift store a few years ago that I haven't touched until now!)

After my zipper pouch adventures last night, I'm still not sure if I am using the zipper foot properly. It seems awkward to me. The first time I sewed the zipper on, I got it so close to the fabric that the zipper kept getting caught & wouldn't work. I think in my final result I may have sewn too far away from the zipper. Oh well. It zips & unzips & that's all I care about.

The pouch ended up being 5" x 6 3/4". Perfect to toss my camera in! I did cheat a little on the lining & just tucked the fabric inside itself & straight-stitched it closed.

Of course I had to add a vintage button to go along with my vintage fabrics. All in all I'm SUPER proud of myself! And I can't wait to make another one!

I've already come up with my goal for March too! I've never, never, ever made cupcakes from scratch. Is that sad coming from this crafty chick who's ga-ga over cupcakes? Well, it's true. I can't wait! This whole "making goals" things is quite fun!

Have a great weekend!

Rockin' it Crafty-Style for Pops!

I recently realized that I didn't get pictures of all the Christmas goodies I made for the holidays. I was SO down to the last crafty seconds makin' stuff. Literally. I finished up the last gift an hour before our family gift exchange. There was no time for photos.

So, THIS go-around I wanted to show off what I got my dad for Christmas. My pop works at the family auto mechanic shop as the service writer. I visited him yesterday for a mini photo shoot. He wanted some fingerless gloves to work in. (Little did he know they are SO in!) I got the gloves at Home Depot. They're just the cheapo pack of 6 brown pairs of jersey gloves. I knew he'd be gettting them thrashed & dirty & that's why I went that route. He got the pirate skullie pair & the hammer pair for X-mas. For his birthday at the beginning of February, I made him this nuclear pair. It's sort of cool AND a joke at the same time since our back yard is pretty much the Hanford Site. (Plutonium manufactured at the site was used in the first atom bomb. Oh, & another jolly historical fact: 53 million gallons of high-level radioactive waste remain at this site--the most contaminated nuclear site in the United States.) Doesn't that just make ya chuckle?

The gloves are made the same way I make my cupcake aprons, using iron-on fusible sheets & stitching around the edges.

So, that's my show-n-tell for today.

REMEMBER: Today at 3pm I'll unveil (even though you've seen 'em) 2 cupcake prints in the shop! UPDATE! The prints are in the shop now, in a new "Cupcake Prints" section in the shop!

P.S. I'm out the rest of the day to work on learning how to make a zipper pouch for my February goal. I indeed have all the supplies--even a zipper foot already hidden in my stash at home. At least that's what the man at the fabric store told me I had. In his "yes" reply, he didn't even look up from what he was doing, so I'm a little nervous...

GIANT cookie tutorial

My grandmother loved the giant chocolate chip cookie cake I made for her birthday yesterday. I've never baked such a monstrous cookie before, so I thought you could come along on this journey with me...

I was lucky enough to score some cookie dough on sale. No baking from scratch on the agenda today. I purchased 4 Jumbo packages of Nestle Toll House cookies. (I later found out that three would have been better.)

I looked around for giant mixing bowls, giant spatulas, giant cookie sheets... but I couldn't find any. It seems the regular sized baking supplies work just fine when baking giant cookies. That's a relief!

I pulled out my large round pizza pan which had a slight lip around the edge & placed all the cookie squares side by side.
They were the "Jumbo" kind, so I took a spoon & sorta smooshed them all down a bit so the dough wouldn't be so thick & take forevers to bake.

You'll end up with this.


This is where you need to pause for the "dough stealers" & "spoon lickers" to take their appointed places. I baked the massive cookie in my cute little oven at 375 degrees for 20 minutes. Then I watched as the dough creeped to the edge of the pan & started dripping over. Ugh.

SO, I removed the cookie from the oven & cute about 1 1/4" off the entire edge. I just sliced & scooped all the crumbly bits into a bowl. These leftovers will make great toppings for ice cream! The cookie was still quite goopy in the center, so I cooked it at 325 degrees for another 10 minutes.

It came out perfect! And this handy little tool was very useful to slide between the cookie & the pan--to loosen it up a bit & prevent "stickage". I think this tool is used for icing cakes? I don't even know where it came from. My pan is so ugly & very used. How embarrassing.

I surrounded the edge of the pan with small doilies to make it look not-so-ugly.

I found this cool icing at the grocery store. After having bad luck on another baking project with the cheaper squeeze tube, I spent the extra couple bucks to get this pink can of icing. It comes with 4 tips & look how easy the tips just screw onto the top. Simply press your finger on the tip, & icing comes oozing out. The small box of "Writing Icing" was for lettering you'll see later on.

The edges of the cake weren't so nifty looking from where I had to remove excess cookie parts dribbling over the edge. Little pink dollops (I love that word!) of frosting were the perfect remedy.


My wee 5-year old helped me decorate the rest of the cake. We put all the names of the birthday girl on the cake: "Glenys, grandmother (that's what I call her), grandma, mom, G.G." There was no room for "Happy Birthday" after all that.

Grandmother loved her cake & it was yummy served with ice cream. My brother was looking around for the giant glass of milk to dip the giant cookie into. Dork.

Stuff on a Tuesday

Ta-da! Aren't the buttons super cute? They are so tiny & perfect! I'm still trying to figure out how to get my shop name on the edge in wee little letters. I'm thinking of making them the freebies in all my orders for the month of March!

And here's my button maker. Just as lovable, but not so cute. Yay for new toys!
And ANOTHER One World-One Heart blog event prize winning package arrived yesterday from Susanne. What a fun smorgasbord of crafty bits! My girls had just as much fun opening it as I did! I think my kidlets believe it's Christmas around here with all these packages arriving.

Today I received the most thoughtful gift from my super blog friend Laura at katydiddys. She sent me a housewarming gift to hang in my art studio! It's a really creative piece of artwork. Don't be too jealous--you can have one too. Laura's shop, katydid designs, is always full of sweet lovelies! I love it Laura. It just made my heart gush to receive it. I hung it up right away. And remember, people, I said I unpacked--I just haven't organized so well yet.Well, I'm off to grandmother's for a birthday party. I baked a giant chocolate chip cookie cake for her. I'll give a tutorial tomorrow. It'll be what NOT to do. haha!

Za Veeners Are...

Was my title lame? (Za=The, Veeners=Winners) Hey, it's late. What do you expect. My goofball meter is at an all-time high this late at night. Take this photo for instance.

So, let's get to it, shall we? I was impressed to have 19 contestants at such short notice. Thanks crafty peeps.

The winner of the fantastic cupcake postcard pack is.....Chiara!!

YAY! WooHoo!

And an 8x10 cupcake print of THEIR choice will be going to......Laura at Crafty Family Blog!!!

Alright! Way to go! Let me know which sweet cupcake you'd like to call your own.

Please email me your addresses, blah blah blah, & I'll send your cupcake prizes at the end of the week!

If you're TOTALLY bummed that you didn't win (I would be), then don't fret my little honey buns. On Thursday afternoon, 3pm PST, I'll be listing 2 different cupcake prints in the shop. It'll be like my own little gallery grand-opening!

I'll be posting later with bits of random stuff.... I'm making my grandmother a cake for her birthday party tonight. And I'll be showing off my sweet cupcake buttons! Oh, & I got more goodies in the mail!

Goodnight. Get some sleep. Or stay up. And watch some rad infomercials.

Thanks everyone! This has been fun!

HAPPY ANNI-BLOGGER-VERSARY TO ME!

I've been giving my computer the "evil eye" all day because it has not been cooperating. All I wanted to do was wish myself a bloggy happy anniversary this morning. It's now evening. I'll continue anyway...
Yay! One year! I can't believe I've blabbed for that long. Well, I kinda can believe it. This first blogging year has brought me 10,000 views (I'm sure about 2000 are from me alone...), 260 posts, numerous comments, & several swell friends. Did you know that I had NO IDEA what the heck a blog even was a year ago? I'm serious.

So thanks blog friends & blog lurkers for the occasional chat & drive-by.


My winnings from the One World-One Heart blog event have started rolling in & look what arrived this weekend! Even the OUTSIDE of the package was dripping with crafty goodness! Sandy knows how to rock the mail crafty-style! The packaging was sweet & the card was vintage inspired & awesome. And what was inside?
This cute painted strawberry tray! I think it's for decoration purposes, but I just can't let things sit around. I can't wait to use it & serve sweet froo-froo summer drinks to my girls! Thanks Sandy, it is adorable!





The unpacking is zapping my energy. I even just LOOK at a box & immediately have to go take a nap. It's not THAT bad, really. I pushed my "turbo" button this weekend & got all the boxes unpacked. Now everything just needs to be organized & put away correctly. I had to take a break though & use my button machine--still in the box!--that I got about 2 1/2 weeks ago! I can't wait to show you pics tomorrow!


My family just had to get away after a week of moving, unpacking, disorganization & disarray. So, Mr. WhiMSy love & I took the girls to Chuck E. Cheese & had a blast eating pizza & playing games. I was bummed that the batteries in my camera died. I only got a couple pics, but the cool flashing lights & crazy colors all over would make for some fun photos!

**Remember!! At 11:59 this evening I'm going to draw 2 names & announce the winners of my ONE YEAR ANNI-BLOGGER-VERSARY!!! You can enter up to the last minute!

I've Been Awarded & Tagged!

I was given two awards recently. And I must be polite & mention them.

The first was given to me by Anna at Marmadaisy & originated from Arte y Pico. This award is to be passed to those that inspire & stimulate you. Anna is full of craftiness & silliness & goofiness & all the things I really like. I feel totally honored to have ever inspired you miss Anna.

So, I pass this award to....

...Laura at katydiddys. Our love of cupcakes brought us together & I'm so glad it did! Her artwork is sweet & simple & I'm inspired by her "Just go for it! You can do it!" attitude. She is very real & grounded & honest & is always someone I can bounce ideas off of, or ask questions & often she takes my hand & leads me & I appreciate her very much.


...Jerusalem at my little life. She makes beautiful things & says beautiful things & I enjoy watching her journey because often times it is my own.


...Jeanetta at splendid things. She is a super artist & fantastic cornball. She is one of those people that I feel I've known for a long time. I always smile when I see I have a comment or email from my sweet splendid Jeanetta.

I was also given this award from Kara at Innocent Charms Chats. Thanks Kara--I'm happy to be associated with anything sparkly!




Scrappy Sue also tagged me. So, here are 7 random facts about me...
1. OK, here's a pet peeve. You know how when you leave a comment on someones blog & every once in a while you have to type in a "code" of letters that are sort of twisted & blurred for their "security" purposes? You know what I'm talking about? It's to insure you aren't some robot computer trying to have your way with their computer. Well, sometimes I cannot even understand the letters that are all twisted & blurred. Sometimes it takes me, like 4 or 5 tries to figure out if I'm looking at a "w" or two "v's". Am I making any sense here? Or is it just me?

2. I used to be a SUPER clean person as a kid/teen. I was such an awful perfectionist. That has all changed. I am trying to put a date on it, but I think it was around the time I got married that I just let it go. I think all those years of HAVING to have to everything in its proper spot just filled me up & I'm over it now. I'm not a slob. I don't live in a pigsty, but I can accept a bit of a mess.

3. I can't dance. But as a teen I always thought it would be the coolest thing to be a dancer. Not ballroom, but like on Broadway or in my favorite show ever--STOMP! I love watching all those dance shows on TV now too--especially that Randy Jackson one, America's Best Dance Crew.

4. Egg rolls are one of my favoritest foods ever. Have I mentioned this one before? Frozen, served at a restaurant, made from scratch...I don't care. As long as they are yummy. I like to dip them in ketchup or really good sweet-n-sour sauce. If a restaurant has crappy egg rolls, I'll probably never eat there again.

5. I had an ingrown toenail surgically removed about 5 years ago. How does that topic sit after reading about egg rolls?

6. When I was in about the 5th grade my friend & I decided to make eyeshadow & blush out of crushed pieces of chalk. We thought we were so clever. Until her mom overheard us talking about our concoction & told us to stop. I was obsessed with playing with makeup as a kid with my friends. I wasn't allowed to wear makeup until the 7th grade though, when I was 13.

7.No matter how "weighty" or thin I've been my whole life, I've always had chubby knees.

Speaking of awards & such, Mr. WhiMSy love is actually going to sit with me this evening & watch the Oscars. I'll be sure & do something crafty 'cause I can't just sit still & do nothin'!

**Remember to CLICK HERE & leave a comment to be entered in the contest celebrating my ONE YEAR ANNI-BLOGGER-VERSARY! You have until 11:59 p.m. on the 25th!

ONE-YEAR BLOG-VERSARY CONTEST!!

OK, is it "blog-versary"? "Blog-i-versary"? "Bloggerversary"? Who knows. But, I'm celebrating my first year of blogging (or "blabbing") on Feb. 25th!! I goofed yesterday & thought is was on the 28th, but it's not.

I started this blog as a friend to my Etsy shop, 'WhiMSy love', which I opened shortly after. And, oh, it was a lonely first few months here. I seriously heard the wind whistling through blogland as I wrote those early posts. I love being able to express myself in this way & to have made many friends! Thanks to everyone who reads this stuff! And thanks for all the comments--they really keep this crafty gal smilin'!

I realize that Feb. 25th is RIGHT around the corner, but I'm gonna have a drawing anyway. I don't expect many participants, so your odds of winning are in the "Super-Duper" category! Especially since I'm drawing TWO names!!!

This is also sort of a launch & celebration of my first-ever watercolor adventures. My cupcake watercolors will be arriving to WhiMSy love next week! I am really proud of them. So, one winner receive a postcard pack of all 8 of my most recent cupcake watercolors: "Cup Meets Cake", "Ballerina Princess Cupcake", "Monsieur Cupcake", "Superhero Cupcake Boy", "Girly Girl Cupcake", "Miss Diva Cupcake", "Mr. Clowny Cupcake" & "Jealous Muffin". Another winner will receive an 8x10 print of one of the cupcake watercolors of THEIR choice (except for "Girly Girl Cupcake"--I'm having trouble getting her colors printed correctly on the white background). They aren't even in the shop yet, so count yourself lucky!

And it's only appropriate that my cupcakes become the prizes since blogging is where I first started an affection for cupcakes & all things sweet & dessert-like. So, leave a comment my little bonbons for a chance to win!

Cozy Toes & Zipper Pouches

My girls & I awoke to a crisp & rainy morning. We donned our slippers socks (Valentine clearance at Target! woot! woot!), waffles are in the works & I see a glorious day ahead!

OK, one more shot of the cupcake slipper socks. Look at the quilted runner my granny sent me! It's covered in sweet desserts! Yum!

I have been wanting to show off some gifts that arrived recently. They actually came at a perfect time--right in the middle of all the moving. Happy mail, ya know? The first is a super "Happy Birthday" banner made by Jerusalem at Storia Home. It is so precious & I can't wait to use it! In fact, I do believe I will be the first in the fam to use it as I'm the next in line for a celebration! I'll have to wait until April...

The NEXT super fun giftie I got was from Joanne at Reindeergirl Designs. She made this very pink & girly necklace & bought me this awesomely adorable cupcake snap pouch for my biz cards from Oh So Retro. Joanne is my favoritest reindeer EVERS! Thanks ladies for totally makin' me smile!

And did you think I was going to put off my February goal of learning how to make a zipper pouch? Nope. Even though half of my crafty supplies are still packed in boxes, I dug around until I came up with some suitable supplies. The vintage blue fabric will be the inside of the pouch, & the vintage-inspired paper doll fabric (from my BFF Beck at Little Daisy Chains) will be the outside fabric. My fabric combos are a LITTLE crazy, but what can a crafty girl up to her waist in unpacked moving boxes do? I still need to purchase a zipper foot though. I'm really scared. I was up all night searching through zipper pouch tutorials, reading comments from zipper pouch novices & pros & freaking out at some of their comments. From what I hear, zippers are SUPER hard. Ugh. I've only got about 8 days left. And half of those 8 days will be spent reading & re-reading & re-re-reading & re-re-re-reading the instructions. I have to read it until I can picture it in my head & understand what is what. That's just how I roll.

And before I go, I am announcing a CONTEST!! YAY! On February 28th I will be celebrating my 1-year blog-a-versary. Tomorrow will be the official contest post & all the details & prizes will be revealed. Stay tuned!

Jolly Good Fun! Not.

Mr. WhiMSy love & I had a hot date last night. We spent a couple sweaty hours....cleaning our old house. It was not really fun at all. (Except for the part AFTER cleaning when we went to Zip's & I got a bacon double cheesburger, tater tots with tarter sauce & a butterscotch milkshake!) I hate cleaning. For reals. So, I tried to make it a bit more fun & we decided that we were a cleaning crew & needed a name. So, we named ourselves "The Dust Bunnies". OK. I named us, Mr. WhiMSy love just went along with it.

As we were cleaning I found myself singing a verse from a song in the movie "The Wizard of Oz" & it's called "The Merry Old Land of Oz". I decided this would be our theme song, or at least the verse I was singing would be our theme verse. And it has nothing to do with "dust" OR "bunnies". It goes like this: "We get up at twelve, And start to work at one, Take an hour for lunch, And then at two we're done, Jolly good fun!" I really appreciate the munchkins' work ethic.

We vacuumed. We wiped. We sanitized. We washed. We sprayed. We scrubbed. We swept. You'll never really realize how dirty your house is until everything is empty from its insides. Seriously, take a weekend & just remove all the belongings from your home & then stand in awe at the giant crumbs-n-things you were living with. So gross.

But now that the dirty deed is done, I am happy to come home to my NEW happy little pink house. And I open my door as little friends hippity-hop inside.... Welcome, little crumbs, to your new home.

Valentine Clearance!

Come check out the sweet clearance deals at 'WhiMSy love'!