i'm so excited...

Excited Egg is so excited that April comes tomorrow, and that the April desktop calendar is available to download today! The printable is coming soon (as soon as I get mine together and photographed!), and the buttons are in the shop!

treasury...

After waiting for some time (all morning perhaps?), I managed to nab a Treasury List on Etsy. If you're not familiar, the Treasury is a collection of lists of items, each curated by an Etsy seller. Some revolve around a color, some a theme, and some are just the favorite items of the curator.

My list, How the Sweet Treats Felt, is a collection of sweet food items, all made with felt. Check it out!

lucky, lucky...

Today, due to family travel "stuff", we celebrated my little brother's birthday nearly a week early. I've not felt a rush to make his gift, because it has felt so far off. Now, with only 6 days left, I'm thinking it's time to get cuttin' (and sewing, and stuffing!).

For Christmas one of my gifts was the book Softies, and I've been dying to making something from it. So a few weeks back I had Max take a look through it. It was interesting to see the things he liked and the things that he didn't even take notice of. One that he seemed to find cute (and that I thought would be a good choice too!) was "Lucky Dog." Here are some Flickr pics of others that folks have made here and here. Instead of the suggested terry cloth, I'm making him out of flannel, which hopefully will stay nice and soft for Max to snuggle with.

Now, here's hoping that it happens!

the sadness of being antique audio...

Yesterday I said that the first group of miniature watercolor doodles would be done, and...it is! Hooray! Actually, it's not up on Etsy yet, but the Rueful Record is the first that will be listed (tomorrow). Dejected Cassette and Aching 8-Track will follow.

I love working with opaque watercolors on kraft paper. It has a very unique look, and it's one that I haven't seen too many others do. A potential downside is the bit of rippling that comes around the edge of the doodle, but even that is something that makes this different from other things. I like it.

Next, I'm thinking Just Desserts.

coming up...

A while back, I did some watercolors. A series of Alice in Wonderland paintings, plus others for Illustration Friday. Lately I've decided that it's time to go back to the watercolors. I have now started creating some miniature original watercolor doodles of some of the characters that I make on my computer. Currently four are drying and waiting for finishing touches. But tomorrow, expect to see them here and in the shop soon. I'm excited!

not a peep...

Easter is over, but it seems like it would be a shame to miss the opportunity to talk about my favorite marshmallow treat, Peeps. They're tasty and cute, and really, that's enough for me! Martha Stewart tells you how to make them (Yes, I've done it!), but why when you could take the pre-made Peeps and make them into something new? The official site has some ideas, but my little sister Grace had her own thought.



Peep=Play Dough!

But if you'd like something a bit more nerdy, check out "Lord of the Peeps".

Something more Japanese? Peep-igiri.

Now, I'm off to hang with my peeps. Out.

happy Easter...

Eggs, all pretty for Easter. Only a few managed to not crack with the kids dropping them into cups. But they had fun, and egg salad is more of a treat when it comes in multi-color!



That lamb cake finally got iced. It's a pound cake made with a plain white cake mix and a few extras. The coconut frosting was a perfect topping. Sadly, only half a lamb is left...



An egg in the snow...which brings me to the serious part of the post. The snow brought to mind a song: "White as snow, white as snow. Though my sins were as scarlet. Lord I know, Lord I know that I'm clean and forgiven..." The Lamb of God was sent to die, and on the third day He rose. He offers us forgiveness and a chance to be made pure. And now, as on that egg carton, we can rejoice in this day that the Lord has made.

The sun is shining, the sky is blue, and I think I can say, Spring in on the way...

Easter eve...

Treats have been made, and I think it's gonna be a good Easter.







And a lamb cake is awaiting frosting!

the second day...

...of spring and the ground is covered with snow. Perhaps this is so the Easter Bunny can be in camouflage.

a beautiful day in the neighborhood...

Sure it's the first day of spring, but that's nothing compared to this:



Mr. Rogers was truly one of the best. So many things he taught us, so many songs he sang. And so, for his birthday, I did my duty, and wore a sweater. One of my favorites, a pink cardigan. But, as I took it off the hanger, grrr...it snagged. I've still managed to "make the most of this beautiful [spring] day", but I do wish that Mr. Rogers had written a song about the way you feel when you snag your favorite sweater.

an Easter printable...

Yay! Easter is almost here! And a holiday such as this, deserves a printable!

When I started working on the printables for the Characteristics, I wanted to make egg stands to go along with the Excited Egg. But then I discovered the problem. Excited Egg is the April Characteristic, and Easter would fall in March. So sad. And so, I decided that there would still need to be Easter egg holders, only it would fall to the Costume Kids to make these printables all that they could be. See? All that depression yesterday paid off!

So, download and print yours out today. They'll be just the thing for all those eggs you'll be dying soon. I just don't suggest using them with the egg salad after Easter.

blogged down...

It's a bit gray outside, and it fits how I'm feeling.

You know when you just can't get anything done? And it's a little because you're tired. A little because you're just not motivated. A little because life stuff gets in the way. Anyway, that's where I'm at. Cookies were baked yesterday, and I even took a picture of the peanut butter clovers, but no blogging about it because I didn't even upload the pics. And now Easter is just days away, and there are no Easter treats even figured out!

And so I keep chugging along. Trying to come up with new creativity. Trying to draw up ideas and make them into reality. (If today goes well, tomorrow will include something fun for me to share.) Trying to just do something.

Wow. This is a depressing post.

how the bunny felt...

Last week I started this little bunny, and now, he's finished. I always think of the Easter Bunny as being chocolate, which, perhaps is a little sick. I also like it when the Easter Bunny is more traditional rabbit, on four feet, and less talkative and walking on two feet. An exception is the book The Story of the Easter Bunny...truly charming.



Although I find his face to be cute-ish, it's the backside that I love. Something about that fluffy tail. It seemed to be a bit of a challenge to get that right, but it was nothing compared to the Easter Eggs. You would think that they wouldn't be too difficult, after all, they're pretty simple. But...because they're on the small side, it was a pain (almost literally!) to poke them with a needle, and shape them into something resembling an egg. But they are all finished now, and just in time. Who would believe that it's Palm Sunday with only one week to go until Easter!?!

back to the baking...

ahh...baking. The perfect way to avoid the things that you probably should be doing. It's been a couple weeks since baking anything real, so it seemed time. I grabbed the recipe for these White Chip Chocolate Cookies from the package of chips, and let me say, it was a good one. Lots of chips (if you like white chocolate, a good thing!), and the cookie is crisp-ish, but when you really get into them, chewy. For sake of preservation, as well as sharing, here it is:

White Chip Chocolate Cookies

1 cup butter
2 cups sugar
2 eggs
2 tsp vanilla
2 cups flour
3/4 cup cocoa powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1-2/3 cups white chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. In a large bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until smooth. Beat in the eggs one at a time, then stir in the vanilla. Combine the flour, cocoa, baking soda and salt (I did this in the same bowl as the other ingredients); stir into the creamed mixture. Fold in the white chocolate chips.

Drop by rounded teaspoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheets. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes. Allow cookies to cool on baking sheet for 5 minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool completely.

yum.

jordnöts...

What's a jordnöt, you ask? Well, it's Swedish for peanut. These little illustration doodles remind me a bit of nesting dolls, but that's not what they are. They also reminded me of a peanut shape (you may have spotted one that actually looks like a peanut), but I didn't like calling them that. So I looked for a better word. My family is Swedish, and lately I've been doing some other work with a touch of "Svenska", so Swedish seemed a good language to look to. And so, the jordnöts were born.

So far, there are 12 jordnöts that are other things (animals, food, etc.), and plain, in a collection of colors. I also have a stamp made, that will become some cards/tags. And, confession: I love them.

By the way, the Svenska I hinted to will be coming along soon...but I'm thinking that it will wait until I get some new Gocco ink...because the Gocco is calling out to be used again...

needs jelly...

A little glimpse at something new I've been working on. This is just one group of doodles from a collection I call "jordnöts".

More tomorrow!

someone should have said something...

You know when you manage to miss out on big news? And you feel a bit out of it, but also a little upset because no one told you. That's how I felt when I discovered that Claire of Loobylu started blogging again. This is big news! As in, should have been on the Yahoo homepage news.

Oh well. In case you haven't had the chance to see what she's been up to the last few weeks since getting back to the blog, check it out. And be sure to see her "messy" office, it's much cleaner than mine.

but they're just so cute...

I blame Hillary (not that Hillary). I blame Catherine. But mostly, I blame the cuteness. And my intense love of tiny things.

In a time when I'm trying to buy less, I find that some things just can't be resisted. Like these tiny little foods from Re-Ment. What do you do with them, you ask? You admire their cuteness.

Because, come on, those teeny jellies in tiny molds? Cuteness.

how the fairy felt...

Last fall I tried a bit of needle felting, and liked it. So when my friend invited me to take a class with her, I was excited to give it another whirl. We each made a fairy, and it was so fun! Everyone's looked different, and even an 8-year-old made one! The class was at Esther's Place, which was a delight to simply visit. Their wool roving is grown locally, often from their own farm, and is a much nicer quality than I had previously purchased (not sure where that was even from...). And the hair is so cool...alpaca!

But since I still have some of the older, much too smooth roving, I'm going to start using it up. My first project was started today...A chocolate-looking Easter Bunny with some eggs. I just FELT that you'd like to read about this...

sharing with the Sampler...

As mentioned a couple weeks ago, I was excited that the March Sampler contained some buttons of mine. And now, I'm thrilled to say that you can read more about the process and thought behind some of the doodle creations on the Sampler blog!

And to those visiting from the Sampler, welcome!

[link]

closing in...

Must...tidy...up...desk...

It seems that the stuff on my desk is closing in more and more lately. Partly with new projects, partly with old stuff that needs to be taken care of, and everything in between. I'd kind of like to share a picture, so that when it is all nice and pretty you'll go, "WOW! That Mollie sure is good at organizing!" But truth be told, it's too bad to show a picture of the before. It'll make the blog look messy.

So the plan is to remove everything, and put it in a box. Then one item at a time will be returned, trashed or put elsewhere. Only the bare minimum. Until it gets filled again.

a bit turned around...

Did you know that Windows is more than happy to rotate your display for you? As in, while playing a game (5-year-old Max), the whole screen just flips? It's quite strange looking at everything upside down, and having your mouse function upside down. You have to reorient yourself in order to do anything. But with not too, too much searching, I discovered where to fix this. It's actually a setting for rotation, that somehow, without anyone here doing it, got set to 180 degrees instead of normal.

The thing is, when the display was back to normal, I found myself still using the mouse as if it were upside down. How quickly we adapt...

the vintage 90s...

Doing something creative every day has almost been happening. If new creations haven't happened, the start of them has. The pages above will soon become something new. Perhaps a pouch of some kind, or maybe a keychain.

The pages are taken from a Preschool Press workbook that is super retro looking. The illos and descriptions are the kind of things that they don't make for kids anymore. Not to mention the colors of printing and now yellowing pages. But this See & Know Dictionary was published in 1990. Wow. Something tells me that they weren't quite looking to be vintage hip. And maybe I'm being old here, but doesn't 1990 seem like it wasn't that long ago? Yellowed pages? Come on!

dressing up for spring...

A couple years ago, I started making "Costume Kids". Inspired by some of the little ones running about here, they are all dressed up for the holidays and seasons. The Flower Costume Kids, Chrysanthemum, Tulip and Daffodil, are the latest additions. Little Grace fell in love with Chrysanthemum, and when she saw the picture online she said, "That's mine!" (This was just after she figured out how to use the mouse on my Power Book.)



And with Easter now less than three weeks away, Easter Costume Kids are also here. The funny thing is, just a few days after I created these, Heidi from My Paper Crane made these. Great minds, eh?

you're never gonna be a sea horse...

In the movie "My Best Friend's Wedding," Julia Roberts condemns Cameron Diaz to always be "Creme Brulee", saying, "You're never gonna be Jello!" Tonight, we had Jello. Red Jello. This brought about some great conversation. It went something like this:

Me: "Do you want some Jello?"

Sister: "No, it's strawberry."

Me: "You don't like strawberry?"

Sister: "I don't like Jello."

Me: "Then what does it being strawberry have to do with anything?"

Brother: "Because I really like sea horses."

Um, yeah. Can you say ADD?

cautious clover printable...

And it's here! The March Printable is ready for you to download and print. Just follow the instructions and you'll be all set to make a St. Patrick's Day fortune teller/cootie catcher. For more information about these fun little toys, see this entry.



Start by choosing a color (I'm calling these Gold, Lime, Green, and Kelly). Spell out the color you've chosen and open/close the fortune teller once for each letter.



Next choose a number and open/close as you count out the number.



Finally, choose a number and open the flap to find your fortune, or a surprise!