when insanity strikes

We have a lot of Little Golden Books we've collected over the years, including both "collectible" (i.e. very expensive to replace and Emily can't have them) and junky reading copies. But one of our favorites is a tatty copy of "A Year In The City", which is dear to our hearts because someone -- a parent or teacher -- went nuts and started crossing out everything they obviously didn't think should be read aloud to children! Mostly the edits are completely inexplicable to me. See the best ones here.

oh, those wacky kids

Who needs Devo 2.0 when you've already got the Mini-Pops?

clothing make-overs!

I've always been really into the idea of cutting down old clothes that still had some wear left in them into kid's clothes -- but until now, I didn't have a kid to re-make anything for! Now that I do, I've started experimenting with the idea. I already had cut down some old pajamas into a pair of pants, which worked out great (and also remade a pair of footed leggings into cuffed pants, making them last an extra 3-4 months!). And this week I finished the best project so far, this cute little geek-baby Boba Fett jumper! The pattern came from a Japanese pattern magazine; the fabric came from this ILM staff shirt someone gave Evan a while back. It was very cool, but big and starting to wear around the collar. So I decided it was the perfect subject.

First, I made a test jumper, using a very old and raggedy cotton shirt I'd bought at Pearl River Mart maybe a decade ago. It came out cute, but halfway through I realized the fabric was worse off than I'd thought, so I cheated and used velcro on the tabs. It looks good on her anyway. And once that came out well, I went for the Boba shirt.

I only had two real challenges: first, the back had the ILM logo across it, so I had to piece the jumper's back to avoid it. Second, I haven't sewn a buttonhole in so long, I apparently forgot how. Several test buttonholes later, I decided to cheat! So those are actually fakes, with snaps sewn on underneath. Maybe next time...

Now we have a small stack of favorite-but-worn t-shirts to be made-over for the next few years. Evan can't wait til I get to his Batboy shirt, but it's so huge, I don't think she'll be getting that one til she's 3 or 4. Jumpers ahoy!

Welcome to Eltingville

The [adult swim] special (a.k.a. failed pilot) "Welcome To Eltingville" is up on You Tube now, for all those who never got a chance to see it. I'm posting it here because it can't be put on Evan's LJ...if you want to watch it, click below!

Warning absolutely no cuteness ahead. At all. Also, it's about 23 minutes, and kind of LOUD.

a bug for the baby

Isn't this illustration adorable? It's the cover of the latest Babybug -- a junior-junior version of Cricket (if you remember that) for 1-3 year olds. We got Emily a subscription right before her 1st birthday when I got a good price on it through the mail, and she loves every little issue. They're like little books, and mostly are really cute and not too painful to read and re-read. (With a few notable exceptions.) This cover is by far my favorite illustration we've seen so far! The artist, Holly Berry (for real!) also does a two-page spread inside that's great, it could totally be from an old Golden Book or something. I found out very little about her, but she's illustrated at least a dozen children's books, (check out this page from The Impudent Rooster! So pretty!) some of which will definitely be going on Emily's wishlist!

sugar shock!

Reader Sandy T alerted me to Pancake Meow--a collection of handcrafted miniature fake food jewelry!! And as we all know, there's not much I love more than mini fake foods...but what to get? There's an amazing array of confections which you can buy (or use) as necklaces, earrings or charms. As a bonus, you can get them scented (although that's not for me--ugh). A bunch can even be customized! I'm personally leaning towards a pink cupcake with white icing (see the one on the left in the pic)...what would you get? Oh, and if the cuteness that artist Leslie makes herself isn't enough, she's going to start carrying an adorable line of Japanese goods from Decole soon. I am so there.

Best. Tarot. Deck. Ever.

My galpal Mary discovered this incredibly cool retro-licious Housewives Tarot and it only took me about 2 minutes to add the (real) deck to my Amazon shopping list! You can also do a reading right on the site, which is pretty fun. Here's my reading!