Monday, January 13, 2014

American Girl Fashion Show

We are an American Girl family.  All three of my girls have dolls from this company.  I even have one.  We love them dearly.  What we don't love are the prices for the clothes, so with three girls worth of dolls to dress, I have to really pull out the creativity.  Thankfully patterns are cheap and easy to come by.  So here are the doll clothes they received this Christmas.

Daughter #1 is a bit of a fashionista these days so her dolls were gifted accordingly.  :)
 (bought the lace leggings and silver belt at a local doll shop)


 A last minute, late night creation adapted from a doll t-shirt pattern I found via Pinterest.  The leggings took me a couple of tries, mostly because it was way too late when I started. ;)

In our family, our kids draw names and then make something for their person.  My son insisted on sewing something for his sister, and this is what he chose.  He did almost all the sewing not to mention helped with the cutting and picked out the fabric.

He also make this cute baking set (along with some polymer clay gingerbread men).

This is my refashion.  I took an older sweater of mine and used a pattern from a Joan Hinds book.  My cute mother-in-law was so excited that I had made something new from my old clothes. 

Daughter #2 is in the Spanish Dual Immersion program at her school. My friend has a daughter in the same class.  We found the original patterns for the Josephina clothes on American Girl Playthings.  


For the shoes, I used a doll slipper pattern and added a blanket stitching around the edges to give it a slightly handcrafted look.  I wasn't thrilled with the final product, but she loved them all the same.

Josephina's Christmas dress.  My sweet mother-in-law made this one for me.  

Daughter #3 received the Bitty Twins. I made some pajamas for them and little "lovies," but that's a post for another day.  



Monday, December 30, 2013

From Page to Card

Cruising through Maggie Holme's website, I came across this cheerful scrapbook layout.  I was really hoping to scraplift it, but I have no pictures printed. :( The itch to work with paper needed to be itched though.  I wondered if I could lift a scrapbook layout and turn it into a card.  This is what I ended up with.
photo credit Maggie Holmes


  The sentiment  is from the small script set from Stampin Up!  (Not sure if they carry this one anymore.) I tried stamping it in a cream color, but it was too faint.  I carefully traced it with a white sharpie.  All fixed!  I'm really pleased with how it turned out.  This will definitely be something I try again.

Friday, December 27, 2013

Dad's Craft, too!

Hey, blogger land!  Long time no see!  Maybe we'll start posting here again.  I'm feeling nostalgic for traditional blogging. :)

This Christmas our family was surprised by not one, but TWO homemade gifts.  From our Grandpas.  Awesome!

The first is this plaque my father-in-law made for each family of his favorite saying.  Not only is it beautiful, but also sentimental.  He made it from a walnut tree cut down from his Mom's historical home in Manti, Utah.  I love sentimental gifts.

The second was the big shocker.  My dad made each of us our own walking stick.  My dad hardly does his own Christmas shopping let alone MAKE his own gifts.  He found these great sticks on different camping trips/outings with my mom and their friends.  He did all the work, including almost all of the bead work.  (My mom did have to show him how to do the beads. :) He was so excited to show us how unique each stick was and the beauty of each piece of wood.

Dads really are the best. :)

Wednesday, February 16, 2011

Larcie Bird

I have decided that I don't want to re-name Twiddle Thumbs. Instead, I have decided to create my own blog.... Larcie Bird. So, I will now be posting at....

Larcie Bird

Please come on over and follow me... and update any links or short cuts you may have! I will be slowly changing things on the blog and creating a button and such! -Anisa

Monday, February 14, 2011

Stuffed Mushrooms

I made these for a family party this past weekend and they were a big hit!!! Stuffed Mushrooms

Whole Mushrooms (about 6 packages)

1 lb. country sausage

Turkey Stuffing mix

8 oz. cream cheese

Brown sausage. Add stuffing mix and the amount of water that the box recommends (do not add butter because of the sausage grease.) Add cream cheese and stir until melted. Spoon mixture into washed and de-stemmed mushrooms. Bake at 350 for 20 minutes.

-Anisa

Friday, February 11, 2011

Burp Cloths Re-visited

Do you remember this blanket I made for my nephew, West? Well, I planned on making him some burp cloths to match... but I ended up making these burp cloths for my friend, Rachel. Well, West is in town (and sadly I don't even get to hold him because I'm sick), so I had a deadline to get his burp cloths made. It was so fun to do the owl thing with boy stuff! I added a little ric rac and that turned out cute. And yes, I know the owls are sideways, but that is all of the fabric that I had left over. And I am just loving applique right now. -Anisa

Thursday, February 10, 2011

I'm a "Stylish Blogger"

Thanks to Krista over at Mom's Mish Mash for the Stylish Blogger Award! It's always nice to know I'm loved! Along with this award, I am supposed to list eight things about myself. So here it goes......

1. I am a mom of 3 boys... I am the only daughter with 3 brothers... My husband comes from a family of 7 boys and 1 girl... We are a "boy" family.

2. I am a very simple gal... I prefer to wear t-shirts and jeans, I don't wear jewelry or accessorize at all.... kind of funny that I like to make accessories, I just don't like to wear them. The hat is a new accessory because I don't like my hair cut (see #7) 3. I don't listen to music... I find it to just be one more noise... I'd prefer total silence.

4. I don't like to exercise, but I do it so I won't weigh over 200 lbs. again.

5. I have a bit of a temper...

6. I used to be very blond as a kid.

7. I have to have a hair cut where I can tuck my hair behind my ears... it is too short to do that right now and drives me crazy! 8. I am super picky about my purses. have to have a purse that slings over my whole body... I don't want to hold it in my hand or carry it.... I also like it to have the perfect pockets. I had the perfect fossil purse and it fell apart... I bought a cheap replacement at Target, that only worked okay... My sister in law found me a super great Fossil purse for me at a consignment store and I bought a Relic purse at Kohls... I'm giddy with new purses!!! I also get the opportunity to award a "stylish blogger award" to other sites I enjoy.

1. Nanny Goat ...Super cute ideas...

2. The Coffee Shop Blog... Free Photoshop Elements and photography tutorials.

3. Prepared not Scared... this is some ward blog that I happened across, but they have great games for kids.

4. Make it and Love it... the name says it all!

5. Studio Calico... I'm too cheap to buy their kits... wish I could... but I still love all of the inspiration!

6. U Create... who doesn't visit this blog often... always where I go to find inspiration.

7. Ana White... love all of her furniture plans... still haven't built anything yet, but I promise I will some day!

8. Maggie Homes... I always nominate Maggie! She used to be my neighbor and she is so cute and creative... I love her scrapbooking style (I scraplift her ideas all the time) and I love her photography!

To claim your award, save the "Stylish Blogger Award" to your desktop. Post eight things about yourself and give the award to eight other blogs you like.

-Anisa

Quick Valentine's Card

Just thought I'd post a quick idea for a Valentine's Card!

(I'm just too cheap to spend money on cards at the store:)

I just simply used my heart punch to cut out scraps... I glued them on first, then sewed stitching through!!!

-Anisa