Certainly Not A Secret, But Worth Knowing All The Same.

Fall is here. My days of summer dreaming are at an end and I long for the cozy, busy days that signal the swift approach of the holidays. I've been meaning to tell you so many things. I have been in the blogo-sphere admiring the handiwork of my friends. Silently, I've been sympathizing upon news of their sorrows and celebrating upon news of their joys. My heart is with you.

That being said, one of the first things I need to mention is a crazy good deal from Joann's. I did not mean to keep it from you (and you may already know), I just forgot. Regularly, I think even monthly, they put an entire brand of patterns (ie. Simplicity, Vogue, Butterick) on sale for $1.99 a piece. So, as soon as the Simplicity patterns went on sale, I bought each-and-every Built By Wendy pattern for a whopping $20.00. Normally, they would have cost $150.00, so I saved $130.00 !!!

That leaves a lot of money for fabric and I hope that someone out there finds this newsworthy or useful. Hugs. xox=vv.

This Is Not A PhotoBlog. Really.

Really. It is supposed to be a craft blog. I do stuff. I make stuff. I have projects that I totally get involved in. I don't know why I have such a hard time sharing it with you. I think there are just so many talented people out there that I get overwhelmed. My little projects just can't compare.

I am going to keep trying. I am nearly finished with my Amy Butler Vintage Backpack Tote. There should be a lot of little matching projects in the future. My Moms gets here on Saturday for a week long visit and I can't wait! We are going to sew, sew, sew!

Thinking of you! Hugs. xox=vv.

Like A Breath Of Fresh Air.

Now lovelies, I did not mention it but I've been working with approximately 9 minutes of laptop battery life for longer than I can remember. My battery was recalled so I finally got a new one (free of charge. yay!) Working on the computer was a real hassle because the cheap replacement battery charger that I had just would not stay connected. So today with a new battery charger and a new battery I have 3 and a half hours of battery!!! That is 3 hours and 21 minutes more than I have had in at least 6 months!

I have my sewing machine out (we got a little table last week) and I am working on a new project. I switched from the Coats thread to the Mettler thread and now I am having stitch problems. If you have any suggestions, I could really use them.

This Amy Butler Vintage Backpack Tote is for an expectant mother who lives with her husband and adorable one year old in Jerusalem. I figured it would be nice to have a backpack with two little ones in tow. I am also planning to make her a matching head scarf and maybe some toys or blankets for the kids. We will see. The fabrics above are the outer main panels, lining and outer side panels of the bag. Hey Hugs! xox=vv.

Oh Martha, You Naughty Girl!

Well, of course, I have jumped on the Martha bandwagon. Wait till you see how crazy I went! We are watching Pan's Labyrinth and I have to hurry back, but I wanted to share this with you.

This is Martha's Photo Family Tree project re-done with a beach theme. I made it for my mother-in-law. It is not completely finished here, but I had to make preperations for wrapping and thought I better take a quick picture of it before I get too far along.

There were pluses and minuses with this project. Let's start with the pluses. It is quick and easy and even if it is not perfect I think it still comes out relatively pretty. The minuses make up a slightly longer list but it is still totally worth it. Here they are though.

1. The Martha label is glued on to the decorative frame so be very careful when removing it. Mine marred the decorative side pulling off some of the finish and I had to sand the whole thing to disguise the marks.

2. Martha tells you to use approximately 26 collectors pins for this project. However, only 6 are provided. They are WAY too long for the box though and if you cut them with wire cutters to a more appropriate length they snag the fabric on their way in.

3. Packaging is lovely but not terribly easy to open and maintain.

4. Martha does not specify which thickness of double sided adhesive foam dots to use.

This project is still an awful lot of fun and certainly worth working around the incredibly minute snafus (hmm have not ever written that word before). If you try this project and have any questions feel free to send me an e-mail.

Tomorrow, we are off for a day trip to B.C. I hope you all have a wonderful weekend. Hugs. xox=vv.

Projects Coming Soon.

None as incredible as these. I am in love.

Journey.

I picked this lovely little book up at the Kinokuniya Bookstore in Seattle. I only had a few minutes to look and I could hardly tear myself away. Actually I couldn't. Simon had to have me forcibly removed from the store.

I can not wait to go back. I think it is my favorite place on Earth. I wish I could read all the books and understand all the instructions, but it is certainly not a deal breaker. Just look at these photos.

I am desperate for my gocco and a place to sew. A lot of my supplies are in storage and we still lack a table, chair or anyplace suitable to operate a sewing machine.

Oh well, I guess I should be cleaning anyway. I certainly have enough to do, but it is hard to ignore all of this new-found inspiration. Hugs. xox=vv.

It's Really Old, But I Did Make It.

That must mean something. I know that at some point I posted this picture of my puppies elephant, but did I also show you this coaster I made? I am not sure if I kept it during the move, but I have got to say that it was the best coaster that I have ever had.

It would absorb the water from your drink and would discolor slightly, but then a little later it would look brand new and still be conveniently free of puddles. It was a modern crafting miracle because it worked out just the way it was supposed to without prior planning or expensive tools or equipment that I did not already own. Crazy! Anyway, Hugs. xox=vv.

Sold Out.

Hello lovelies! I want to quickly thank everyone who purchased a Shy Monsters Coloring Set from Mahar Drygoods. They are all sold out again, which is fabulous! Thank you Amy and Robert!! There should be more on their way soon, but the amount will be limited. Hugs. xox=vv.

I Hear That They Are Almost Gone.

Hello there Lovelies! I almost forgot to tell you that the Shy Monsters Coloring, Journaling, Story Book is available again at Robert's delightful Mahar Dry Goods.

These photos are from his site. Aren't they wonderful? Speaking of wonderful, a big thank you to the delightful Amy Karol who mentioned the available sets on her beautiful blog today! You are a real doll! Have a wonderful day lovelies. xox=vv.

Oh Yes. There Have Been Many Projects This Month.

Have I shared them with my favorite lovelies yet? No. I am a naughty naughty blogger. I will try to add a few of them to the monthly update. In the meantime, I apologize.

I am sharing this with you though. You may or may not remember my painting for my grandfather last year. Well, this is technically it's companion piece as it is a birthday painting for my grandmother. They are similar in their sparse design, but not in their themes.

You may feel free to laugh at it heartily. All I ask is that you try not to laugh so so loudly that I can hear you all the way over here in Washington. Thank you lovelies. Hugs. xox=vv.

Mending.

Oh gosh and golly Lovelies! I am sorry that this update has taken so very long to post. I am running a bit behind. Our bed has been my constant companion as I recover from a back injury. This post is evidence that I am on the mend. I hope to post a January-in-review shortly.

Until then, here is a little postcard I made, oh goodness knows how long ago. It was promptly sent off to the charming and delightful Mrs. Dawbis as part of an on-going (I don't know how I got so lucky) postcard trade. I am soo terribly pleased that we have become friends.

Please know that you are all in my hearts and in my thoughts. I appreciate every kind word that you have shared with me. I have not forgotten them and I look forward to responding to them all. Hugs. xox=vv.

Sew New.

Hello Lovely Lovelies. Oh how I have missed you! Slowly, but surely I am re-emerging. You know how that goes! Well, we settled in to our new space before New Years, but there is still a lot of newness to encounter and resolve. Finding a place to sew was a small challenge. I quickly discovered that our little side table is just the right height to sit at the end of the bed. Luckily, I can still reach the foot pedal!

So, two projects were accomplished. 1. A mixed cd and cover for a lovely friend (who shall remain nameless at this time) and 2. A new inner and outer cover for my herbal ice pack. They were both off-the-cuff projects which I liked because of their simplicity. I hope that you like them too. Hugs. xox=vv.

Let It Snow.

Oooh hi there lovely and wonderful people! Did you know that we had six plus inches of snow this weekend and that it has stuck around for a few days now. We are expecting a bit more. It's crazy and early and delightful.

Of course, when you run out of milk before the snow comes, it is hard to wait for it to all melt before the siren song of Raisin Bran is to much to bear. So today we finally left the house for milk and I took this polaroid to share with you. I hope you like it.

Also, "Shy Monsters Coloring Sets" are re-stocked at Mahar Drygoods just in time for Christmas! We also resolved our scanner issues and the paintings in the previous post are now up-to-date.

I am still working to catch up with you and I am thinking of you all! Hugs! xox=vv.

Getting Somewhere.

Hi Lovelies. How was your Thanksgiving? How are you all doing? Today I am looking forward to catching up with you all. I have finally had a chance to sit down at the computer and add these to the new Etsy. I am still working on a new banner and logo, so please excuse my dust.

My scanner has stopped working (one of those months I guess), so these are photos of my little paintings. The photos really do not do them any justice they are a bit more vivid than they look. The panels are a lovely white. Of course the bigger issue is if anyone will like them. I am not sure how they will do, so I am trying to be as brave as I can. xox=vv.

Update: The middle painting has sold to the lovely, talented and sweet Ashley & Drew! Thank you both a million times! I am so terribly pleased!

Our Car Done Broke.

Oh hello Lovelies! Have I mentioned lately that you are ALL on my mind? Well, you are! It is nice to have you on my mind because otherwise I would have to think about our transmission pump problem that is affecting the carburetor, the rear bumper and umm ... the glove compartment!! (?) Those are all car words right? Yes, well I am sure that they are all some how affected by whatever done broke on our car! Now Charlie is constantly barking his big scary dog bark that gets on my nerves, because He is off getting a rental car and left the dogger at home with me! Fun!!

This absolutely beautiful card is from the beautiful Miss Dawbis. It arrived today and absolutely made my heart sing! Isn't it incredibly perfect in every way? I agree, it is!! Thank you miss. You made a downhill day pick up and fly off into the clouds, where I now sit upon #9. There is a small similarity to a card that I am working on for her which I will show you later, however this card is a million times better! A million times better!!

In other news Etsy is still down, so I will share a tiny amount of goodies with you tomorrow and put them up for sale. It has been a loooong time since I have had anything available at Etsy. Also, a few more Shy Monster Sets will be on their way to Mahar DryGoods very soon! Yay!

Did I mention that I am thinking of you? Oh I did? Good! Hugs! xox=vv.

Newnessiosity.

Oooh hello again lovelies!! Are you having a nice evening? I know that I posted mere moments ago, but then I switched over to the newer version of Blogger and I felt that I should test it out.

Etsy will also be upgrading this weekend and should have a new format on Monday. I think it will even address the issue of "combined shipping." Yay! I am hoping to have a few little goodies ready around the time of the new Etsy.

I am thinking of you all! Please keep your fingers crossed that all of these changes go smoothly! Thanks and Hugs! xox=vv.

Attempting To Build A Blog 7.

I am here. Shhh ... wanna see something fun? I am working hard behind the scenes to make the vegasandvenice experience more enjoyable. I am hoping it will not be too much longer

In the meantime hope you like the new gift tags which may be available in the shop very soon! Trust me, five out of five kittens agree that these tags are fun! (Okay we only have three kittens, but we are inferring that two other kittens would also appreciate them) and this is just the prototype including my very first button! Ooh and I am trying some new things here. The goal is to make this site efficient so that I can inrease my post rate. so please continue to pardon my dust. We are much much closer now though! Miss you wonderfuls. xox=vv.

*All of your sweet comments were saved to Haloscan at the time of original post*

Attempting To Build A Blog 5.

Hello delightful people. I would like to tell you that the New & Improved Shy Monsters coloring, journaling, story books are finally here! Yay!

I am afraid that a machine malfunction and its required replacement at the printers took a little longer than expected. The coloring book was the first order to be filled with the new machinery. The printers are wonderful and fabulously helpful and I am very thankful for all their hard work. The coloring books and stickers are now available at my etsy shop. There is a reserved set of books and stickers for the people who asked to be on the mailing list. There will also be books and stickers available that are not reserved but the total amount of those books available will be based on the reserved sales. Huh? Yeah, that confused me. *smile* Hopefully, I will be all caught up here soon, which means that I can catch up with all of you dear wonderful people! xox=vv.

*All of your sweet comments were saved to Haloscan at the time of original post*

Attempting To Build A Blog 4.

Hello again wonderfuls! Is this where I get on the bandwagon? I searched for this little bit of fun a couple weeks ago with Miss Solomon's help and it arrived a couple days later along with some extra ink and a few accessories. Yipee! I can not wait to actually make a gocco print. I don't know what to make though.

I do need to get a few things finished up first, so I guess that I have some time to think about it. I am still working on the site. Obviously, it is still not perfectly perfect over here, but it is fast now! Yay. I can post in approximately four seconds and now I have the ability to upload only modified files (which was not possible with iweb). The house is a mess. An absolute mess. I've been working behind the scenes on quite a few things here and the house is certainly suffering. I look forward to returning your sweet e-mails and catching up with all of you. That will be my reward for finishing a few more of my chores. Communicating with you all is a wonderful reward. In the meantime, I am thinking of you and wishing you all well. Have a wonderful day dear ones. xox=vv.

*All of your sweet comments were saved to Haloscan at the time of original post*

Attempting To Build A Blog 2.

All right, I am pretty sure this is a battle, but still completely unsure of who is winning. Am I getting closer? Gosh and golly, I hope so. We may need to make a book exchange tomorrow. The ones I have are a bit too "tutorial." As in, "Now open the site that we have created and click on some of the type. Go up to the toolbar and hit the "center" button and change the format of the text to center it on the page." I mean, I know that is not so bad, but first of all come on ... page 225? You have got to be kidding me! Is there still anyone out there who does not know how to center text on a page? Also, I don't want to open your training site. I want to work on my site. I do not need a tutorial on everything. Just please tell me how to edit the css and the xml (both of which I figured out the majority of on the first day sans books). I want all the details but I don't need to open three other programs to learn how to center the font.

Oh yeah, and here is a postcard I made. not to be a tease, but I am sure there will be more on that later. I am exhausted. well, all my love to all you lovelies! xox=vv.

*All of your sweet comments were saved to Haloscan at the time of original post*

The Paper Source Of All My Joy.

Oh, the Paper Source ... hmmm ... happiness! I have some more goodies but these were on hand during the photo shoot. Anyway, I will tell you more about the purpose of these items at a later date.

There is more pressing news right now. Did you notice the new main page? What do you think? There may be quite a few changes to come which stem from my overwhelming need to post in less than 4 hours. In the meantime I thought I would try out a bit of the new design on the front page while I work on the whole site on a bigger scale. That way, if you hate it or you hurt yourself pointing and laughing, I have time to change it before to many people get hurt! I am curious to know what you think.

p.s. We keep getting orders and we are very close to printing now!
So, please email me at vegasandvenice@comcast.net if you are interested in purchasing a Shy Monsters coloring book or stickers in the next run. I will keep the run very limited again and only order the amount requested. Thank you very much! Have a wonderful day!!

*All of your sweet comments were saved to Haloscan at the time of original post*

Pia.

Look who came to live with us! Her name is Pia and she came all the way from Fiona at hop skip jump via Mahar Drygoods. She was packed in her very own little green suitcase with it’s eggplant colored stitching and handle!! Yay!

p.s. The order will be placed shortly! So, please email me at vegasandvenice@comcast.net if you are interested in purchasing a Shy Monsters coloring book or stickers in the next run. I will keep the run very limited again and only order the amount requested. Thank you very much! Have a wonderful day!!

*All of your sweet comments were saved to Haloscan at the time of original post*

Alpha-Betters.

Last Matilda-esque picture for a little while I promise! I really have more important things to show you. Anyway though, this is the prototype of a little sticker set that I have been drawing obsessively. They are so much fun!! I call them alpha-betters and they are little personalized monogramed hand drawn stickers. This one is on Matilda’s skirt and you may have already guessed that M is for Matilda *smile* See, I told you yesterday that you were a smart little carrot and I was right!!

Speaking of carrots, most kittens don’t like water but mine are doing the backstroke in their dish. Why it that? Must they splash around? Doesn’t that seem unnatural? What does this have to do with carrots? hmmm ... pondering.

p.s. The order will be placed shortly! So, please email me at vegasandvenice@comcast.net if you are interested in purchasing a Shy Monsters coloring book or stickers in the next run. I will keep the run very limited again and only order the amount requested. Thank you very much! Have a wonderful day!!

*All of your sweet comments were saved to Haloscan at the time of original post*

Matilda Monday.

So, I have decided to impart the same advice to you as I did to Miss Solomon and I quote “I know that pirates are ALL the rage right now, but I am not 100% positive that eye patches are really all that comfortable! You have to pace yourself. Point and then laugh. Wait till you are done laughing before attempting to point again and then repeat the cycle!” Lastly, please don’t make me draw a diagram!

Here she is, Matilda. Now you may be asking yourself “Self? Is that ONE stripey sock that I see Matilda wearing?” Because, I can not read your mind (at least that’s what I tell people) you will have to answer yourself. So tell yourself “Self, that IS one stripey sock that Matilda is wearing. It looks as though it was lovingly and painstakingly embroidered right on her leg.” And ya know what, if I could read your mind, I would tell you that you are a very very smart little cookie to have figured that out so fast!

This Matilda was created specifically for Miss Korallin who really helped me out when decision time came around for the Shy Monster coloring books. Which may have another run very soon. So this jazzy little cupcake of a doll is going to be traveling to this jazzy little cupcake of a doll very soon! Thank you again Miss!

P.S. Please email me at vegasandvenice@comcast.net if you are interested in purchasing a Shy Monsters coloring book or stickers in the next run. I will keep the run very limited again and only order the amount requested. Thank you very much!

*All of your sweet comments were saved to Haloscan at the time of original post*

Don’t Hurt Yourself.

On this site, laughing is always encouraged. Always! If you were to hurt yourself, however, while you were laughing and pointing at my Matilda doll, well then I would be simply unable to forgive myself. I would find it hard to continue on! So please I beg of you, be careful when you are laughing and pointing. You could accidentally poke an eye out! Scary!

Now then, this first Matilda did not work out as well as I hoped. I sewed her on the machine stitch by stitch (i.e. needle up, needle down ... repeat, repeat, repeat ...). Her little limbs were to thin to hold the extra fabric required to turn them and we had a little bit of seam burst-age. It is a shame! She looked cuddly! So back to the drawing board, or photo-copier, as I attempt to enlarge her! *pout* Please send happy thoughts *smile*!

*All of your sweet comments were saved to Haloscan at the time of original post*

Pink Bubbly Champagne.

My Etsy shop is open!! Yippee ka doo! There is the very limited run of 25 coloring books for sale along with a few packs of stickers. My goal is to add new types of items weekly (jewelry, books, plushies etc.) so I hope that you keep checking back. I also have a lot of favorites. If something of mine does not interest you, please check out those other incredible artists!

And yes, if you enter the word “Yippee” into the “Message to Seller” box during checkout you will get one Free Shy Monsters Coloring Sticker with each item purchased!

I hope the champagne does not make you tipsy for shopping *wink wink* Thank you for your support, for your encouragement, and for joining me in this celebration!

*All of your sweet comments were saved to Haloscan at the time of original post*

Wip It ... Wip It Real Good.

We made this book for Si a couple days ago. It is a nice natural card stock outside, with an inner liner sheet of pale green vellum. Inside there is 40 spaces for the various birds he comes across.

We expected it to last quite a while, but in one week he has almost filled the whole thing. I am considering the possibility of making a few more of these books for different subjects, but I guess I better make another one of these first or we might have a backlog. It needs a couple of improvements so this is a quick example of one of my wips (works in progress). There are a lot of them right now, but this is the only one I have a photo of right now. Sorry!

Okay, something a bit more interesting on it’s way, I promise! I am a WIP and so is this site! Are you bearing with me? If so, thank you!! It means the world to me!

*All of your sweet comments were saved to Haloscan at the time of original post*

Crushing.

Last week, I bought three books to study at Barnes & Noble for 85 dollars. When I went home I looked them up on Amazon and ordered them from there instead. Free 2 day shipping, I got EIGHT books for a hundred dollars. Five more books for just 15 dollars more. Crazy good prices! We returned those original three books today and when I saw this one, I had to have it. I wanted it right away and so I completely did not care that I was paying the Barnes & Noble price.

Am I the only one totally crushing on this book? Have you been holding out on me?

It is absolutely lovely and very well designed inside. The pictures of the projects are fabulous and the illustrations from vintage children’s books are incredible! This is the best book ever!! I love it so very completely. It is called See and Sew by Tina Davis. She has another book called Look and Cook which will have to go on my wish list! Please tell me that I am not the only one who drooled all over my keyboard!

*All of your sweet comments were saved to Haloscan at the time of original post*

They Are Here.

Yippee Ka Doo! The coloring books came back from the printers today. I am very excited! I am still pretty nervous about the whole thing, as I have the frightening feeling that they will be here gathering dust for years to come.

I realized today, that if I was really trying to market the book, then I would have made the cover bright and fun and attractive. However, I was really hoping that people would color the cover in the colors that they love. Even if it is not all that exciting from a sales point of view. Ah well. I simply can not wait to get them up in the shop. I would like to maybe have a couple other things there too over the next few days!

I have a ton and a half of packages to get out. It’s on it’s way tomorrow, I promise! So I will address that first and then get together a miniature group of things for the official shop opening *eek*! I think that I will have a miniature “Grand Opening” party and send out tiny little flyers and virtual glasses of champagne! What do you think?

*All of your sweet comments were saved to Haloscan at the time of original post*

For Lisa If She Would Like.

Long story short, in a blur of inspiration, ten paintings also possibly soon to be link buttons “hung” in a link gallery. Lastly, could there maybe a story book here? I may show you a few more of these tomorrow.

This one is almost finished it needs touch ups, but it is almost ready to mail to Lisa if she would like it. She may take one look at it and say “no. you keep it.” I doubt that though because she is just so much sweetness! Unfortunately this had to be redone and did not turn out as great as the first attempt. I may have to redo it later. I apologize for the horrible photo.

Would be all to pleased to know if you would want to read a story about “lisa and the lovely pink coat”?

*All of your sweet comments were saved to Haloscan at the time of original post*

Help Please.

Sorry about the delay on my pretty oddities and Panty O’ scopes (I will have to put them on hold till Monday). It is 4 o’clock in the afternoon here and I am still trying to catch up with all of you busy bloggers! I don’t know how you all do it! I am mostly caught up with e-mail (except for a few that I want to contemplate a tiny bit more) and I have earmarked 80 of your posts to comment on. I had better get going!

Anyway I have a quick question for you about the coloring book. Currently it is formatted at 8.5 x 5.5 inches. Do you think 8.5 x 11 would be preferable? Also, I am new to binding so do you have any ideas that would work well with 12 sheets of card stock, that could lie flat for coloring? I was thinking about even tying it with a ribbon (through punched holes) so that you could take it apart and work on a single page and then easily tie it back together.

Yesterday was a designated Monster day. I wrote all of the text and sent it off to Moms for editing. I work on some other little designs. I designed the activity book, the membership card, the secret monster code, a couple little stickers and some more mailing labels, some iron-on transfers and a paper doll. I guess I just went drawing crazy with the monsters to see what kind of fun things I could come up with. I called the printers and am pretty ready to go on that. So I just need to make a few last decisions and then I hope to get going. If you are interested in the idea of being notified when the coloring book is available please let me know!

Thank you all so incredibly much for your encouragement!! You may have created a “Monster” (still awfully shy though ... I am still worried about posting any drawings).

*All of your sweet comments were saved to Haloscan at the time of original post*

B.F.F.

After Lisa’s comment yesterday that I better “REVEAL MORE!!!!!!!! [or else]” I thought I would share this with you.

Why? Well, first of all I don’t want to be on Lisa’s danger side (did you see the [or else]???) and secondly, I want to virtually send you all one of these. Although, we quickly decided that Lisa’s danger side was probably as fun and lovable as she is ALL the time and I know virtual necklaces aren’t easily wearable (just open this page, attach a chain or rope to your computer monitor or laptop and then simply wear around your neck ... not that difficult after all, I guess.)

Last July, I had the fabulous idea of making shrinky dink resin necklaces. Well, a year later and we are still hoping the resin will set ... brilliant huh? Not sure where to go with these today (an idea and design I still want to explore). So in the meantime, I send them to you virtually for all of your sweet, sweet comments about the coloring book! I am still shy and I am starting slow with this old drawing, but boy are you ever encouraging!! Thank you!

This is the drawing of my b.f.f. necklaces. Made in all sorts of colors each person would get a half heart in the colors of their choice. Since the shrinky dinks are already made you might see a bit more of these later!

However, you are all my b.f.f. now (whether you like it or not). I l.y.l.a.s. and I hope you k.i.t.!!

P.S. Translations ... b.f.f.= best friends forever and l.y.l.a.s. = love ya like a sister and k.i.t.= keep in touch. *smile* Oh, weekly Panty O’Scopes later today along with some beautiful oddities that I got yesterday! I continue work on “Shy Monsters” this week and hope to make them available very soon! ~TTFN! (ta ta for now!)

*All of your sweet comments were saved to Haloscan at the time of original post*

Super Duper Scary.

This is the most frightening thing that I have ever done. That is saying a lot because not only have I para-sailed, but on that same trip I spent four days in a very very small cabin (which included only one window that would not open) with both my mother and my husband on a cruise ship and I am claustrophobic.

I am very reserved about putting anything I create on this website. I am very afraid that you will all laugh and laugh and laugh at me (not to mention all the pointing and staring). I am trying to be a bit braver, but there are so many incredibly talented people out there and that is overwhelming. A few days ago I decided that I was going to finally create the coloring story book that I had thought about so many times. It is 12 pages of hand drawn illustrations. I still need to add the text, but I am stepping back for a couple days. This book will be a child/parent participation book. There will be spaces to share your own thoughts with the monsters and a couple big words.

These may be up in the shop (not yet online) individually or in a pack that may include some or all of the following: a cloth monster bag, the coloring book, an activity book, crayons, a small pencil, stickers, labels and a monster membership card.

I am very frightened about revealing this to you, mostly because of the laughing and pointing, and really I would love to know what you think. Am I making a fool of myself?

Thanks for letting me share! Hope to catch up with blogs and comments and emails soon!

Update: This book is definitely for adults. I was simply afraid that you would wonder about a couple of the big words being appropriate for children too (like salutations). I am continuing work on these this week and I hope they will be out very soon! Thanks so much for all of your sweet comments!

*All of your sweet comments were saved to Haloscan at the time of original post*

Happy Friggin Birthday.

My beautiful precious vegasandvenice.com celebrated it’s very first birthday this week. I wanted to do something special, something nice, something well ... celebratory. So I put together this little party.

Next, I turned my attention to birthday presents. I wanted to buy lots of gifts. I was thinking of clothes, but what size jumper does a one year old domain name wear? I thought of sweet stuffed animals, but I wondered what kind of creature would a domain name like to cuddle. Do domain names even know how to cuddle?

Perhaps in the end I got a little disenchanted with the whole idea, this entire domain name birthday thing became a little bit more difficult than I planned. This whole party was hand assembled from the chandelier, to the framed panties, to the paper birthday cake (real cake has way to many calories, and for some reason it does not taste as good 3 weeks and 6 days after it has been on display). Honestly though, I gave up all together. What’s in the boxes you ask? Nothing. She won’t know. She is only one year old for goodness sakes. She’ll probably just want to play with the boxes anyway.

So happy friggin birthday... I mean happy birthday vegasandvenice.com. I need a break!

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When You’ve Got It, Flaunt It.

Yeah baby. I’ve still got it. The stomach flu. Yep, pretty impressed aren’t you? Oh sure some people only get the stomach flu for 24 hours but mine has stuck around all week. I think it’s cause we just really, ya know, click. We are opposites so we just attract. I like long walks on the beach and he enjoys quick sprints to the ladies room. It was clearly meant to be, or so I thought.

He has been treating me bad lately. I have heard some of the other girls around here talking about him. Now, I am not sure he is being faithful. Some of my friends are saying I should kick him to the curb, but it’s just so hard. I think we should maybe just start with counseling. I feel like I can change him.

In the meantime, I am sorry the Random Panty Color Generator has also been out sick! We have GOT to stop sharing our drinks. When one of us gets sick, the other one follows quickly behind. I hope we can both update more often but we both get queasy just moving around (which means that taking photos can be really tough). I will also have to catch us up on the daily photo colors later. Until then I thought I would show you the bib that I was up till 3 am embroidering for Abby. The pattern is from Jenny Hart’s stitch-it-kit. It is my very favorite. I was hoping to come up with a new pattern, but I just was not up to it. I added the text “feed me” and it still needs a nice backing sewn on, but HE won’t ALLOW me to use my sewing machine right now!

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I Must Express My Everyday Creativity.

These hand-embroidered cotton panties will gently remind you to express your Everyday Creativity, while also providing a discreet, yet fashionable, hiding place for your beloved pinking shears or perhaps your favorite knitting needles.

This is my entry for the whip-up whiplash. Why you ask? I wanted to explore the very real consequences of unexpressed creativity. The original idea for this project was embroidered toilet paper or panties with pockets for various craft supplies and so this combined concept was born (read: toilet paper was harder to embroider than previously expected).

I am not feeling so hot (read: stomach flu) and tomorrow or so, I will catch you up on all the reasons this project was doomed to fail. All I ask is that in the mean time, please, do not hurt yourself while laughing or pointing at these pictures. That would make me sad! Please take in to consideration that the writing looks much better on the models uhh ... twin cities (read: gluteul region), but she refused to be photographed (read: I don’t want you to see the twin cities).

Update: I wore my new panties yesterday and they were quite functional and comfortable. No body noticed my secret knitting needles and when I had a free moment I simply pulled the balls of yarn out of my bra and knitted up a quick pair of socks (read: the perfect on-the-go hiding spot for a few of my favorite rubber stamps)*wink*

Lastly, don’t miss the chance to catch a glimpse of my beautiful new niece in Thursday’s post (read: go now and have a nice day)!

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