VOTE!!!

I have to say, voting is Portland is awesome!! Instead of driving to a polling place and waiting in line, our ballots are sent by mail. We fill them out, and take them to designated drop offs, or we can mail them back. So much easier. Jason and I sent our ballots in yesterday (anyone who has ever met us can probably figure out who we voted for.....). Because of this system, Oregon has a high voter turn out. Rock on!!

Something that Rhymes with Monday: Halloween

This week's theme is so obvious, I'm not even going to explain......

Here is a great idea I wish I had thought of. Find this spooky little cephalopod at Happywhosits.

This guy combines both of my favorite holidays: Halloween and Dia de los Muertos. Also, I find bats fascinating and adorable....and creeeeepy. Find this one at Atomic Beasts.


For those of you with smaller ones, here is a fun little toy that will help with the constant screaming from the backseat....or is that just me? Find this I spy bag at Ainsley and Oswald.

This is one of my favorite finds. It's so simple and creative. Find this and other marble towers at Mamaroots.
These are just too fun and beautiful to pass up. Even if your kids don't put on shadow puppet shows, these would make great decorations....find them at Orange Moon Toys.


Finally, these paper dolls are incredibly charming. Not really good toys, but a fun decoration... Find these lovelies at Alissa Studio.
Happy Halloween shopping!!

my dolls

Once again...tired, but want to share.
Here are my finished for sale zombies:
And just to prove to my mom that I can make dolls that do not eat brains or turn Greeks to stone, here is my coming soon doll. I call her Autumn.....

Something that Rhymes with Monday: Dolls

Since I finally got around to making the dolls I have been planning, I decided to make today's theme....DOLLS.

I was not a doll girl growing up. My grandmother collected dolls, and I enjoyed helping her search through little antique shops to find some rare toy, or an original outfit. We would take our treasures home and wash and dress them. I loved looking at them, but rarely really played with them. However, the few I did play with were usually the floppy cloth kind. Those are the kind I like for my girls.

Lena and Pilar are TOTAL doll girls. They have approximately 3 million stuffed animals and dolls and they play with every single one. (in fact they are having a tea party as I write) I'd love to buy them dolls, but I'm tired of seeing commercials for dolls that look like tiny prostitutes, so here are a few alternatives I have found and coveted on behalf of my girls....


Here is a custom made doll by Bumblebird. I love the sweet little face and cute hair. The dolls measure approximately 20" tall (can be taller depending on hairstyle). They look so soft and huggable! She also makes a boy doll, who is equally huggable.



Arrrrr! Here is little sister Sprinkles Pirate girl. She is made from 100% wool felt and stands about 13" high. Her patch is removable and she comes with a little parrot softie. Like Bumblebird's creations, I love the sweet faces of these lilsprinkles dolls. There are also big sister sprinkles, which stand 17-18" tall. Lilsprinkles offers custom big and little sister dolls.



How can I resist a Frida Kahlo doll? I can't! She comes complete with hairbraid and unibrow and stands about 10" tall. Oh the doll lust! You can Find little Frida at GirlCalledRic, where there are also, Star Trek, Star Wars, and all around cool character dolls.



These sweet little dolls are custom made just for you and sell fast. They are just over 7" tall, perfect size for little ones to hug to sleep. so chubby! Find them at dmollison.
Last, but not least are Kooky Dolls. This here is super Kooky! She is made from 100% eco-spun felt and stands 13" tall. She is super cute!
Okay. That's my line up. Happy shopping!

Gorgon

This will be fast, 'cause I'm tired, but I'm excited about my newest addition. Meet......Medusa. Just don't look her directly in the eye.

Zombie!!!

So here is my latest prototype. This particular one is Lena's. She's been looking forward to this doll scaring the rest of her toys. I suppose since the rest of her toys don't contain brains, they're safe. She needs to be tinkered with (arms should be bigger, hair different, scar lower, etc.) but overall, I'm hoping to add her to the store soon.

Something that Rhymes with Monday

So I've been meaning to do this for a while, but I just haven't gotten around to it. There are so many great Etsy sellers out there and I wanted to include a weekly listing of my favorites here on girlloaf. I was going to do it on Fridays, and call it "five for Friday", but 1) I can't wait until Friday, and 2) there are often more than five things in a category. So, until I can think of something better, it will be called "Something that Rhymes with Monday." And, if it's not already obvious, I will post it on Mondays. So here is the first installment of (hopefully) many more to come. The theme this week.:"I'm a sneaky ninja!" which is inspired by one of my favorite Halloween photos of Lena.

1. This little guy is from Needle Noodle, who has written one on my current favorite pattern books, Creepy, Cute Crochet, which you can find on her site. I love the simplicity of this pattern, and the size is perfect for little hands and large dollhouses. I may just have to make a few to sneak into some stockings this Christmas.

2. Here is Alphie Ninja. You can find him as Sewsewcrafty. He's a little round ball of stealth!

You should check out this Etsy seller for more of her amazingly cute designs. There are also a batman and robin Alphie, as well as a Yeti Alphie. But I still think Ninja Alphie here is my favorite.

3. A sock monkey ROCKS! But a sock ninja? DOUBLE ROCK!

You can find this guy at Uppity Woman Designs (How can I not include a store with such a great name...) along with his sock bretheren.

4. This is Moriko. He is a glum ninja. I LOVE him and his sneaky ways. Especially that little smirk.You can find Moriko, and many more glum ninjas at Plushplex. From his maker's profile:

"I LIKE TO MAKE THE MONSTERS IN MY MIND REAL."

That makes me disturbingly happy.

5. What could be better than 2 ninjas in love? Nothing comes to mind. Here are two tiny little ninja lovebirds.

I call them tweedliver and Prudence. You can call them whatever you wish. Find them and oh so many awesome things at Smeeta.

So that's my lineup. Go forth and shop!

Cool giveaway

No, not from me, but from one of my favorite on-line gift sites, Craftsbury kids. Their items are sometimes on the pricey side, so maybe not great for a shoppping spree, but fantastic for finding beautiful and often unique kid and baby items.



Now, they are having a giveaway! Yay! go to this link for Little Ida to enter. For those of you with princessy girls like mine, this is an oportunity to have have your Christmas shopping finished in October! Good luck!

Fall

Fall has so very arrived here in Portland. While I love the summer here (not too hot, long days, a ridiculous number of berry brambles...)The fall is probably my favorite season. I don't even mind the rain...yet. Even though we're pretty much finished with berry season, apples and pears are here!! Last week Jason and the girls made applesauce.
I"m not overly fond, of applesauce (it's the texture not the taste) and even I liked it. Jason and the girls have eaten at least one bowl every day, so they're probably ready to move on. Next up, something with pears I think. Any ideas?

Pilar's Birthday

Today Pilar turned 2. We plan to have a family dinner with her aunt and uncles soon, so today was pretty low key. First, we made cupcakes.
Here the girls prepare to mix the batter.Then the decorating......
And of course, the best part. Eating the cupcakes.
Lena is too old for messy eating, but not too old to make fish lips for the camera.

I am strong for that!!!

So we are now on day three of Cinderellathon. Lena finally allowed us to take The Little Mermaid back and exchange it for another movie. That movie is Cinderella, which she keeps seeing advertised on TV. We've told her that we will not buy her anything that is on a commercial. Unfortunately, this does not stop her from asking 20 times in 30 seconds. She has, however, figured out when something is a movie and not a toy (not alway an obvious distinction) and so knows that she can ask to trade her current movie in for a different movie.... thus, Cinderella. My parents bought her some pink and purple plastic heels for her birthday and they have magically morphed into a lost glass slipper and/or princess shoes. She has seen the movie once already today and finally let us put Spirited Away in instead, so maybe the worst is over.

Lena has entered an interesting stage (at least I hope it's a stage). She can go from cuddly, to cranky, to all out tantrum in 2 minutes. It's fairly amazing and totally confusing. I'm hoping it's just a 4 year old thing. Today, she had a complete meltdown at about noon. Finally, we put her down for a nap with a "childproof" door lock on the inside. She yelled, screamed and clawed at the door for about half an hour. When Jason went to check, her door was open, though she was in her bed. As he put the "door lock" back on she yelled and yelled for him to stop. Finally, she did her best Rosie the Riveter pose and screamed, "I got that off!! I am strong for that!!" Then she fell asleep.

I am in toddler hell.

Some projects finished, still more to go

So I finished the pancakes for my customer, I think they came out pretty well.
I also got to see how the soap my friend and I made this weekend came out. 2 of them came out very well (I think), one...not so good. They are only 3 days old, so I suppose they can change and/or improve... We'll see. I'll keep you posted...

above is the calendula soap. it is kumquat scented from brambleberry, which is a beautiful fragrance. However, this soap is also VERY soft. It did not trace properly so I am not surprised. I'm holding out hope.
This is our oatmeal soap. It is scented with lavender and rosemary essential oil. I wanted to see the difference between essential oil and fragrance oil. So far they both smell good and strong.
This last one is my favorite. We went for a ghosty, halloweeny look. I think it came out very close to what we wanted. we used spellbound woods, also from Brambleberry. It smelled great in the bottle, but I'm not so fond of it now. I'm hoping it improves because I LOVE this soap.

This post has taken hours, through 2 baths, 6 books and one cup of juice. I have to go to bed now...