angry chicken

dolls of paper

While avoiding the long list of things I should be doing, I stumbled across this site, Printables, that links to printable paper dolls from various collections. These vintage Finnish ones are killin' me. I love them with a passion hard to describe. Please note the heart apron.

I have not tried to print these yet, so I don't know if the images are big enough to not look totally lame, must investigate this. They look so pretty as is, but I am dying to actually cut them out and make them too.

This is from the same Finnish vintage toy site. amazing.

There is a great flickr paper doll group that Liz e-mailed me about and she also mentioned that she prints out paper dolls and their clothes on thin magnetic sheets from the printer-ingenious! The tabs were always a challenge for me when I was little and I hate cutting around them.

I also read a tip about printing the doll onto sticker paper, which makes the colors more saturated, and then sticking that to card stock. Text weight paper works best for the clothes. Also, applying a thin layer of a mod podge on the doll will seal the ink and make it hold up longer.

it all worked out just fine

Thanks for all the tips! this was so easy and good, I think I might be an ice cream cake convert. I want to try both regular frosting and ganache, from the advice in e-mails and comments these sound like really good options too. Working with the ice cream was my least favorite part, so I will probably skip the ice cream frosting, unless I have kitchen access without kids. The cake is this chocolate cake recipe which is very close to my heart and has served me well for many years. It's on the back of the can of Hershey's cocoa powder and the frosting is great too. I used 8" rounds for the cake and then I frozen mint chocolate chip ice cream in a round. When they were hard, I stacked them and frosted with whipped cream. I could have used more whipped cream, but there were no complaints.

And the gift (swank shoes) I ordered online for Pete came about 10 minutes before he got home today!  I got him a book he wanted also, so there was a cake, presents, and a card all ready to go when he got home. I looked like a good wife. Not a stressed, tired, very pissy at her kids wife, which was what I was today. Longest day ever with the girls. Longest. day. ever.

Okay,the aprons are due for Tie One On this Wednesday. So, get out the old clothes and make a cool apron. a reclaimed apron. re-salvaged apron. apron re-use. You know, fill in your favorite green buzz word. I do live in Portland, you know.

I'm saying no to cool whip

Pete's birthday is tomorrow and have nothing for him. Really, nothing at all. I ordered something for him last night seconds before he got home and there is no way it will be here by tomorrow. But, he is very understanding and on Saturday we are going shopping and I know exactly what I will get him, so at least I have a plan. and shopping with the kids is so much fun, right?! and on a Saturday with all the people out in the world? gads.

But I have started his ice cream cake, which was the request this year. We always make each other's cakes and the birthday person gets to request-so, ice cream cake it is. it's a chocolate cake with mint ice cream. I found so many recipes for types of ice cream desserts and pretty much every one called for cool whip. I hate cool whip and I absolutely love cream, so I am using that instead. The big dilemma is do you frost a ice cream cake with frosting? Whip cream (or cool whip, as all the recipes say) or really soft vanilla ice cream? I am going for the second choice. I think it will freeze just fine.This has been a long time coming because I did get the HUGE upright freezer from mom when she moved so I can put about 20 ice cakes in there. freezing in layers take up a ton of room, and I've got it.

I am bummed because the kitschy cool of cool whip pies, cakes, frozen desserts,etc. is so cool and so incredibly easy. But, dang it, I can always taste it, you know? It's gross, but so cool gross. I'm just not that cool. Pete remembers going to a party as a kid where they served "strawberry shortcake" which was twinkies broken up in a huge vat with containers of cool whip on top and then strawberries in syrup mixed it. And the there were also about 200 thousand bees swarming around. wow.

the wonderful fringe is from plum party, and I don't have any of this either, but I wish I did. sorry Pete! I suck!

fabric news. . .

I have been a crazy-nutbar trying to find out how to see the new line of fabrics denyse schmidt has coming out with free spirit and thanks to dioramarama, (via quilter's buzz) here is a sneak peek! very exciting! I agree with kim, the dotted leaves rock, as does the second one from the top. oh, I really love seeing this stuff before it comes out, especially when it's as flippin' cute as this collection is.I really really like it  a whole bunch. can't wait. can't wait.

no, seriously, now.

the band-aid that I took of Lionel (the cat) that Delia put on him.

so, I woke up to a lot of e-mails today for my kingpod  mailing list (thank you!!) and then found one e-mail that congratulated me on being a finalist in the Bloggies for best craft blog. um, okay. . .all the other finalist are FAMOUS. Holy cow and Mary Joseph! thank you all who voted for me to even make it this far, I am so very happy to be in the amazing company of Loobylu, Yarn Harlot, Make, and not martha (I will have you know that not martha was the first blog I ever read.)

Really very very cool and amazing! Head on over the the Bloggies site and vote! I realize when I actually look up from my glitter/scissors/glue/ fabric, that there are other blogs out there than just craft blogs, and they are amazing. You can vote until January (just click on the little buttons and scroll down to the bottom of the page, mom) and maybe I should just play it all cool, but I can't. whooo-hoooo!

fabric I like right now

I picked up this fabric today and am completely smitten with it. it's part of a repo civil war collection (I asume?) by Mary Koval for Windham and I am really loving it! Not just the the tree, which I really do love, but the drawing style as well. Kind of scratchy and detailed. It's making me really happy. I have no idea how to use this really, for now I am just happy looking at it. And these to, which I didn't buy, but should have-

here

this one

and this one here I love a lot!! They also have some really nice ones here.

I realize I have been digging civil war prints before.I brought a pretty good stash of civil war repros about 8 years ago, before I was really quilting all that much. I kept going back to it, but they never really made their way into my work, although I do really love how somber they are, especially if I can use them in a way that's not serious, like knee patches here and a bag lining and pleat here.

I swing back and forth between loving the mid-century modern look, and then the scales tip and I can't look at anything that's not tea-dyed, which is where I'm at right now. But, there can be a good combo too, you know? Like a really modern fabric paired with a great civil war repro. I need to make some skirts. God, my mind is all over the place. I went to anthropologie last week and I have to make some skirts. with ruffels. pronto.

Okay,so, mailorder is going full speed ahead.(yes, I am insane.) I'm not going to write about it much more until I am able to show a peek of the goods. But, I have found a good (I think?) e-mail list service. I will announce details about it here, but I will send out a e-mail to the list first when it actually is available to buy (again, we are talking first week of February, here), so if you are interested, head on over to king pod and sign up on the mailist. thanks!

**also,to the nice person who e-mailed me about how much my small quilt cards would cost to ship oversees,I lost your e-mail! sorry! I can stuff up to 2 card packs into a mailer for $5 (so it would be $15 for 1 pack or $25 for 2) so just e-mail me again and I can send you an invoice. sorry for the public announcement. wow. did I mention I am a bit insane right now?

thank you cia!

I got the sweetest package in the mail yesterday from the lovely cia, of cia's palette. She knitted this wee sweater, which she hoped would fit a dolly in the house. . . and look at it on Madeline! It's like it was made for her. Or me, I love the color and the collar, I really want one for myself! Thanks so much Cia! The deer are staying out-at least until spring, because it's still winter and I can't put them away.

Hooray, it's Friday! I got through the first week at home with the girls since Pete went to work downtown, and it's been just fine. There was an incident at Costco where I forgot the pin number on my debit card, had no cash or checks, called the bank on the phone (and no, they won't give out the pin), was almost in tears, the girls were fine, but really, I couldn't stop sweating when they really starting fussing, and so I left , temped to just run out the door, but instead had them hold the grocery cart full of weird stuff in the freezer (yes, the socks and cheese got frozen) and then we all went back later when dad got home. Sweet.

Okay-mailorder is in the works, so look for updates here on the blog for now. I am trying to get a mailing list set up that is a 3rd party thing, because I can't really handle sending them all out in batches-so, if you have signed up on my kingpod mail-list, you may get a 3rd party asking if you want to stay on it-I'm not sure who I am using, free would be nice, but notify.com hasn't gotten back to me yet about integrating a existing list. . .and I don't totally understand how yahoo groups does this-need to explore more.

thanks again for all the enthusiasm this week! and if I can get the sweater pattern out of cia's genius brain, I will post it for sure!

don't worry!

wow!
I am so excited and happy people are so into this idea of mailorder. Here's a few things: I will happily ship oversees, I just need to figure out the additional shipping cost. No, you don't need a blog, and I still need to get all the "welcome to mailorder membership" packets together, update the kingpod website, all that stuff, so we are a couple weeks out here.

There is no "sign-up" I will just announce when it's all ready to go, and then you can just buy it (and I'm still thinking about offering a special price break/additional fun stuff for subscribers who can pre-pay the first 3 packets)

T-shirts,are a brilliant idea! There are so many idea, really it's hard to keep a lid on it. so stay tuned and I'm thinking given the response, to limit the packet amount to 100 this first time around. I do think that will probably cover it, and again, I will give you a few days notice before I actually start selling.(but it will probably be in very early Feb, after I do the tie one on gallery)

mailorder. coming soon.

I have had this idea brewing in my mind for a couple months now and it's getting closer to becoming real. I love getting mail and I love clubs. not exclusive clubs, but membership clubs, with id cards, secret codes, projects, newsletters and all that. I also have been wanting to work with paper more and was trying to figure out how all this could come together. The answer is mailorder. I could do this all from PDF's but, really, no fun in that! This is about getting mail every 2 months and looking forward to that big red envelope in your mailbox. (I already have these red envelopes, of course. priorities, you know)

It's a "recipe, sewing pattern, & paper project" club. The idea being; you get, every 2 months, a packet with a recipe and a project, or pattern, and/or stickers, or something else fun to make. It might be a sewing pattern, or a paper craft pattern, but you get to cut, glue, staple, and sew, to your heart's content. These projects, patterns and additional silliness would all be designed and drawn by me, I'm not just copying clip art here. If enough people get into it, it would be fun to have a flickr group for show and tell.

My initial thought is 6 times a year, each packet being $8 +$2 shipping. paper only (not supplies) There would be contests/giveaways and/or some secret shenanigans. Possibly you could earn funny $$ to get addition patterns, Really I could go on, because this kind of thing makes me so crazy happy I can't stand it. There will be a price break to subscribers and a cool additional membership packet (with id card), still figuring this part out.

okay, lots of words here. I'm going to work on the details (like if each packet should be a limited edition, that way I could do more and when it's gone, it's gone) but it's coming. Soon. Like, hopefully I will start shipping next month and get started on the bonnet pattern I have in mind for the second packet (in time for Easter) sound like fun? let me know what you all think . .cause it's all for you!

**update: holly cow! I am so happy this sounds like good fun to you all! thanks so much! okay, I will sort out the details (and figure out international shipping) and then get it set up hopefully by the end of this month. I may limit the number of subscribers or packets this first month (50-75?) so I can see what I am really in for-but I will give you all fair warning if I do that. It's on!

since it's so dreary outside-

it's so gloomy here (and still raining) that I have been framing and moving around artwork, trying to freshen up the look of the inside of the house, since we never see the outside anymore. We all went for a walk for the first time in 2 weeks yesterday (the kids were in the double stroller all wrapped in plastic.) I need some sun, pronto! Vitamin d is depleting as I type this. We are like the kids in that ray bradbury short story that only see the sun one day a year. God, what a sad story that was, now that I think of it.

One the bright side is these new pieces I have recently put up. This amazing "portrait of a girl" by jen corace, is now matted and framed and up in the living room.

And over the holidays I finally caught up with the talented  amy ruppel, who I see way too infrequently, for her being in town and all. We exchanged holiday gifts and we received this lovely owl encaustic from her. The four owls are our little family. So wonderful, thoughtful and extra cool. I am really digging the new way she is framing these out as well, they really project out from the wall, like about 3-4".Very, very cool.

So, it's looking pretty good on the walls around here, but the floors are a totally different issue, how much laundry/toys/books can we actually have laying around? Well, it turns out a whole heck of a lot.