Mini me apron

For this month's Tie One On "Mini Me" theme, I made my little doggy Daisy and I matching aprons and also each one of those sassy French maid head pieces.


I had wanted this fabric for the pink lemonade themed apron for last month but it was too expensive at the time. When JoAnn's had their big sale it was still around and I was able to get it for $2 a yard! It's kinda hard to see in the photo but it has a fizzy bubble looking kinda thing going on with metallic glittery stuff in the fizz. I put the pink pompoms on to emphasize the bubbly look. I really had a specific idea and style for this apron but I couldn't get it to work out quite right so it's more of a 'concept' apron.
I don't like sewing with this type slippery fabric so I constructed it like I do Halloween costumes~minimal sewing and with the durability to last long enough to get a good photo!

updatey, matey!

Okay, the to-do list is actually getting some things scratched off! I have got the Tie one On aprons done (photo later). The Dixie Dolls are working on getting our shirts printed (photo later) and we are also slowly but surely getting our crafty stuff (photo later) done to sell this weekend. Shown above is our logo (Done!), the business cards are also Done! And I've been kicking some ass on fixin' up our myspace page also! I am really very happy with it!
But, I know.. "Photo later" is getting old , it's just that all the projects are still in the works and all at the same time. We are still working out some kinks in the crafts..Let me just say shrinky dinks are not all that they claim... And resin is a tricky SOB!
Once we get everything lookin' all purty, we'll take some photos and probably just delete this post..But for now, this is an update!

Moonshine Cookies

On the way back from a trip to my mom's I stopped off at a roadside stand that sold peaches in South Carolina. The peaches looked rank but I did find some moonshine jelly! (well, it is actually made with white wine) After making the outhouse cake, I still wanted to create something shaped like moonshine jugs and edible. So I came up with these complimentary cookies. The ones in the center of the plate are thumb print sugar cookies with the jelly and the jugs are gingerbread cookies with cream cheese icing.
I drew up a template of the jugs on a piece of cardboard and then placed it over the rolled out dough and cut each jug out with a knife. I doubt there's a prefab cookie cutter of a moonshine jug for retail! Besides, even if there was, it would be so ridiculously priced. DIY, my darlings!
These cookies are the dessert for next Sunday. I made more of each type cookie than the photo shows. What is shown was just for a lovely display! Poor souls had to eat slightly burnt chocolate chip cookies last Sunday. I figured no one would want to see photos of those...eecky and boring. I had 5 things going on at the same time while I was baking them and lost track until I smelled the disaster starting. I grabbed a few minutes here and there today to premake these since I do have so much other stuff going on. And how is all of those things coming along....You ask....Not Too Good!! I hope to make some major progress tomorrow though.
I now want to learn how to make jelly and moonshine so I can make the real deal. But I heard it's illegal to make moonshine...What?! How come it's okay to make wine and beer but you can't make the corn squeezin's?

Where are me some little elves?

I need some little elves to come out at night and help me out! I have oh ... About 20 projects going on literally and none of them really complete. So this entry is going to be a miss mash of sorts.

First of , the Dolls and I are going to Drive Invasion in 2 weeks. We have been working on a new design for our club shirts. The lovely and talented Lisa Petrucci has allowed us to use her artwork for the logo! EEEEEEH! (that's a squeal!) My friend Mike (publisher and producer of the zine Pigeonhole and hubby to Dixie Doll heather) is helping us out with the layout by using his awesome graphic artist SKILLS (say it like Napoleon). So we all are on the hunt for red baby doll shirts in town to take to the printers. Oh..What printer? We haven't gotten one yet!!! That's on Dixie Doll Kat's plate, mine's full! Oh and we're making 'business cards' to pass out ....
I have also been working on snazzin' up our Dixie Doll myspace. I'm not very computer smart. It's amazing that I learned how to do this blog! So it takes me hours of searching through the forums for tips and clues on customizing the page.
And to add to the Dixie Doll's to do list we have decided that we are going to make some crafts to sell at the drive invasion. And the crafts we picked we have all never done before! And we have only 2 weeks to go!
Okay, then I was invited by Amy of Angry Chicken to join a vintage apron group on Flickr. So I've some photos to take and put up! I also have a couple of aprons to make for this month's Tie One On.
Then I have my article due by Drive Invasion time....Add on top of that making meals, sweeping floors, and taking care of the boy (pumpkin butt) ...Um...Yeah.. I'm real busy these days!

Tillie Turtle

The little one and I were able to get out of the house and go to a thrift yesterday. I found Tillie the turtle in the craft area. I wouldn't have known she was suppose to be a turtle if the box hadn't told me, I would have guessed maybe a lizard though. I snagged it because it reminds me of scrap craft, only prepackaged (which really goes against the whole idea of scrap craft). It says on the box it is an "Easy to make kit with No gluing*No sewing*pre-cut, ready to assemble". I would guess it is from the late 60's. It was brand new and in the box still sealed (NOS to you ebayers) . Apparently the thrift store pricer briefly thought it could go for 2$, but that was then scratched out for the price of 1$.

"SIX FLUFFY FIGURES, YOU'LL WANT TO DO THEM ALL"

I really liked the photos of the other kits for ideas. However, who ever named the creatures didn't feel like getting too creative ...C'mon, "Kitty" the kitten?!

On the side of the package are recommendations as why you would want to waste your time on this craft and what uses it could have for you. "Adds charm to your home or car, swell for party decorations" So now we know who is to blame for the idea of putting up crap like stuffed animals in the back windows of cars!

Ice cream Dowdies

This recipe is from the cook booklet "150 New Ways to serve Ice Cream" by Sue Moody 1936. You mean there's more than one way? Other than eating it right out of the cartoon with a spoon? Well Sue claims to deliver "A fascinating adventure into new and thrilling ice cream recipes". (brought to you by the fine folks of Sealest Ice Cream).

The name "Dowdies" is really why I made this dessert. What kind of goofy word is that? There wasn't even a picture to go with the recipe. And that's just not like me! It's so simple to make.  You pour a can of pie filling (this one being blackberry) in a greased cake pan, pour the cake batter over it, bake, then serve with ice cream. I was hoping they would have kinda blended more together, so next time I think I am going to slightly mix the filling into the cake.

This cook booklet really does have alot of desserts I haven't heard of. The most intriguing one was a form of baked Alaska cooked inside a dish called 'Baked Ice Cream Cassoulets', no picture again though. You have to use a special baking dish called a ramekin. ummmm....What? It sounds vaguely familiar but I don't generally buy any 'specialty' cooking dishes or ingredients...I like to wing it with what I already got. I'm not going to buy a whole vat of some crazy ingredient that I only need a tsp of and then have it sit on my shelf for the next 10 years. If a recipe calls for fresh thyme..Okay something green.... dried parsley or Italian seasoning! Pretty much I substitute something in it's place that is the same color or if all else fails load it up with Tony's ! And of course for desserts just add more sugar! So these fancy schancy "ramekins" are tuna cans at my house!

There is a chapter in the booklet called "Serve Crepes Suzette" and the intro has got some odd wording that if people really talked this way life would be alot more fun:

The gourmet reaches the peak of his gastronomic delight in the combination of very thin pancakes, or crepes, with ice cream. These off-the-griddle ice cream desserts are something that you will want to spring on your most fastidious and betraveled guests some day.

I absolutely urge you all tonight, when you put dinner on the table, tell your family it's a gastronomic delight !

Getting there is half the fun

For the last week and this coming up week I am/will be working on an article for my friends zine called "pigeonhole". He doesn't have a site set up for it so I have no link to share. The zine is free and we get to write about what ever strikes our fancy. This time I am writing about cool hotels, motels, inns, motor courts...Lodging, you get the point! I thought.. .wouldn't it be nice of me to share this info, and besides...I don't have anything else to show on here right now except a headless softie I was working on while taking a break from writing!

Wigwam Village #2

I actually got to stay here a few years back and loved it! It was so fun to get to sleep in a wigwam! Here is an excert from my article:
".......I became excited when I realized that the furniture was the same as in the vintage postcards I had seen. I exclaimed to my mother-in-law,"LOOK, it's the original furniture!" She smugly says "yeah, and the original mattresses too" And she was right, the mattress were a little springish but hey ...We were sleeping in a wigwam!!!"

The Madonna Inn

The Madonna Inn has 108 room of tacky, kitschy decor. This room is called the Buffalo Room...Yes, that's a huge buffalo head overlooking the bed.
Oddly enough this room has no air conditioning... Makes me think of a hot sweaty smelly buffalo staring at me while I try to sleep.

The Shady Dell

This place is literally my dream come true...Well add a Drive-in movie theatre and I would just about never leave the premises! Vintage travel trailers restored and outfitted with early fifties decor along with a vintage record player,vintage records,vintage magazines,vintage dishes,vintage linens,vintage knick-knackys. VINTAGE! And not the fake cheesy stuff you see at "50's" diners. No poodleskirts, no images from the TV show Happy Days, no saddle shoes! The people who designed the insides were beyond that crapola!
There also is a restored vintage diner on site that is open for business! I have a 1964 Airstream travel trailer and I would love to visit The Shady Dell for ideas.

Kate's Lazy Meadow

This place is owned by Kate pierson of the B-52's and the decor shows it! Lovely! This probably sounds crazy but my favorite idea from here is that the toiletries were "picked up" from hotels Kate stayed in while on tour. I was wondering what would be good to do with all those little shampoos and shower caps! Open a bad ass hotel and save yourself some money...Well on the soaps and such!

FantaSuites

FantaSuites are normal shaped hotel rooms in normal looking hotels but have been elaborately designed to transport you to another time or place....A fantasy! The one shown above is called "Lover's Leap". It is set up to look like you are in a park, the bed is in that huge god~awful ugly car. For some reason FantaSuites like to show people in the rooms and the people they choose as models make me feel icky and to get possible vaccines just from viewing.. I mean look at that couple! I don't trust anyone with a 'Ned Flanders'! Do you really want to think about them and their "fantasy".Ewww...No!

The Shack up Inn

If these weren't boasted as novelty lodging, NO One would stay in them except homeless people..But yet here they are. They have been only updated enough inside to bring them up to the standards of having running water and electricity. The inside decor is very authentic looking but again...They look like a homeless person lives in them minus the empty bottles of Colt 45 on the floor!(see the website for interior views) As my mother-in-law would say" They expect people to PAY to sleep in those".

Ballantines Hotel

This is a snazzy hotel in California that has a less cluttered, upscale vintage look. This room is themed with pink and Marilyn Monroe prints. Apparently she actually stayed in this room a number of times.

Red Caboose Motel ~ With this motel you get to sleep in a vintage train caboose! The whole town is all about some trains, it looks like it would be a really fun for adults and children to holiday at. Sorry no photo. Go to their site and see for your self!

Well back to the article. There are soo many more places I found but I don't have room to write about them all. The way I see it, why pay $XXX to stay in a boring conglomerate Motel 6 when there may be a really cool independently owned themed place nearby for the same $XXX. Maybe even cheaper than motel 6.

Thrift score

This last weekend I got out of the house and went thrifting and fleatique-ing (that's my word for those antique flea market malls). Here are some great patterns that I got for $5 total. I want to make my son that cute little suit with the shorts (it also has built in suspenders!) and a western shirt. I got myself the Mumu pattern on the top right. I am going to start wearing this kind of stuff around the house, then when company drops in unexpectedly you just tie the belt around your middle, cover up your rat's nest head with the coordinating headkerchief and you look pulled together! The apron pattern on the bottom right would work well for this month's Tie One on. Oddly enough, it features an apron made from vinyl!
I got this canister from a thrift. It cost 1.50 which I thought was high, but I loved the colors and was mesmerized by the illustration. Everything below I got for my son:
some neat 45's. One is a set of 12 records with interesting song titles such as "Goober Peas" and "Patsy Ory Ory Aye". I have decide that 'goober peas' are boogers. In the song they sing about eating goober peas all day long... I feel that fits. I want to find him his own little record player also. He is way too young for this kind of stuff right now, but I figure~~ get it while it's available.

I thought this book was soo cute! The illustrations are adorable and I noticed they are by someone named Dagmar Wilson, which interesting enough wee wonderfuls has recently posted a doll she made named Dagmar!

Illustrations in the front and back covers

this little boy reminded me of my son. It looks like him and he is a calm quiet child (well...some of the time!)

See what I mean! By the way, I got that cute child's sized pillow with 70's animal critters on it this weekend for $.35 !

JoAnn's score

The JoAnn's near my house is moving w~a~y across town and opening up a superstore. So everything in the current location is being sold and not moved to the new location. I made out sooo good this weekend! Just about everything in the store is 80-90 % off. There wasn't a whole lot left but they had an ass load of buttons. I bought 52 cards @ $.10 a piece! It cost me 5.20 plus tax! They would have actually cost me with tax about $100 ! I got 5 appliques of hanging dice for next to nothing. JoAnn's actually had alot of these but I am not sure what I am using them for as it is, I gave some away to friends. I also got a few other things that I had been looking for (couldn't believe that they actually still had pearl snaps!) and some things (boning) that I thought one year I might find a reason to use and boy would I be happy I only paid .90 for it!

Hapee Burthdaz !

some members of the fam have their "burthdaz" very close to one another this week so i had a combined party for them last night. I, of coarse, made the cake! One member is from Kentucky and we all have this running joke about him being an undercover hillbilly. I kinda like making strange cakes....once for welcome home cake I made a 3D bowling pin shaped cake and placed plastic roaches on it in the shape of a heart. it was well received , many thought it was strange, but liked it. (No picture exists though, darn it!)

So let's talk construction because I know you all want to run out and make a Outhouse cake for your loved ones! The outhouses are made from melted white chocolate in the mold (from a local cake shop) you see below. They are then assembled together with more melted white chocolate for "glue". The dirt underneath the outhouses is crushed up oreo cookie tops and bottoms. The grass blades (yeah, that's what they are suppose to be ) are made out of gum drops. I cheated on the "stepping stones" and made them out of paper. I was running out of time and icing! It isn't too clear but I carved "maw" and "paw" on the doors.
Also on this mold, but I didn't use, are 2 over the toilet signs that say "women" and "men". I was going to make a couple of rolls of toilet paper from mini marshmallows but it didn't work out quite right. I also wanted to make some jugs of 'shine but ran out of time. And, NO!, I didn't put a surprise in the toilet.....Thought about it, but decided against it! I just thought of what would have been perfect to have in the toilet! A hersey's chocolate kiss, a swirled one...Like caramel and chocolate!!! Man, I'm brilliant... I guess that will have to wait till next time I have a need to make an outhouse cake!

One good wristcuff!!

Looky, Looky!! I got this in the mail today!! I ordered it from Katey over at One good bumblebee ! It has been awhile since I have bought something from an another crafty type gal. I usually see things and think " I can DIM (Do it Myself!) " . But when I saw this wristcuff I fell in love with it! Beautiful vintage fabric, vintage buttons, lovely colors, should I go on? Okay why not! It is also so well made and thought out! I love the wavy quilting on it and the color combination she used. You can't tell too much from the photo but the wavy stitching is in a brownish~orange and the buttons are sewn on with a peachy~brown. The buttons that look black in the photo are actually 2 different shades of brown. One shade is a brownish~rust and the other darker one has a rhinestone in the middle! All the buttons have interesting textures or sheens to them. To wear the wrist cuff it has a button closure. When I first put it on and buttoned it on the first button I got sad because it was too loose, then I realized (which I'm not sure if it was intentional) but I could use the next button up to make it tighter ! I now need a lot of clothes with brown in them so I can wear it all the time!

Oh! And she also sent a One Good bumblebee post card and a brown jeweled matching hair clip! So sweet! If you go over to her site and look in the jewelry area and click on the Claudia Wristcuff it will say SOLD! Too bad suckers because it's all mine! and I love it, love it, love it!

Can you tell yet that I love coconut?!

So here is this last Sunday's dessert. It appears to just be a modest coconut cake but oh no! This is the best cake I have ever eaten! I generally don't like to toot my own horn but this was some good shit!! The kind of good that wakes you up in the middle of the night and makes you think that it could use some company in the kitchen! The cake is just a prepackaged coconut cake mix. I haven't got brave enough yet to do one entirely from scratch. The icing is also prefab but it's cream cheese. But the filling I made myself! It was so fun! As it was turning from cloudy liquid to clear gel I ran the saucepan into the livingroom to show any victims that i could get to listen to me! Yeah, I really need to get out more! It is pineapple and the recipe came from the same vintage Betty Crocker cookbook I used for the Baked Alaska. I don't have 3 cake pans so I had to spilt the cake by hand which wasn't hard but not something I thought was a good time. I was really disappointed that I didn't plan ahead to make the filling that ugly mustard color as shown in the cookbook photo! My goal is for my desserts to look as color saturated as the cookbook photos depict!

recipe for pineapple filling

1/2 cup sugar * 3 tbsp cornstarch * 1/2 tsp salt * 3/4 cup pineapple juice * 1 cup well drained crushed pineapple * 1 tbsp butter * 1 tsp lemon juice

Mix sugar, cornstarch and salt in saucepan. Gradually stir in pineapple juice. Bring to boil over direct heat, stirring constantly. Boil 1 min. Remove from heat. Stir in butter and crushed pineapple. Gradually add lemon juice. Cool thoroughly.