It's the Life

Grand Opening!

My store is up and ready to go! To thank all of my readers I am issuing a 15% coupon code for orders through Nov 16th.  Coupon code: GRANDOPENING.

Click HERE to shop!

Drum Roll Please...

...and the winner is...

Little Orphan Andy's!

Congratulations Sydney! Please contact me and we can work out the details of your new doll!

Thanks to everyone who contributed ideas for my store. Please watch your inbox for a special coupon you can use at my Grand Opening! (Coming Soon!!)

Let the Voting Begin!

Thank you for your votes!

The winner will be announced tomorrow, Nov 5th!

Name My Shop: Win a Doll!!

Want to win one of my custom made dolls?  Now is your chance!

I need a name for my doll shop and I want you to give me ideas! Post a comment with your shop ideas, I will pick my favorite 3-5 names and then we will have a vote.  The winner of the vote will name my shop and get a free doll!

Here are some of the dolls that already have happy owners. The "Ava" ballerina doll. The "June & Ruby" twin dolls.

"Brittany & Kyle" couple dolls. "Red", my Little Red Riding Hood doll.

I also made some Halloween dolls. Witches and Pirates! (These halloween dolls are still available, if you are interested in purchasing one of these, email me!)

Help me name my doll shop and win a custom made doll!  

Ready, set...go!

Spice Jar Labels

I decided to give my spice jars a little make over this weekend. I had small labels on the lids, but they were starting to come apart from all the twisting of the lids. This time I wanted to do something a little more permanent.

Here is what you need. 1. Spice Jars (I already had a drawer full of these, they were $0.99 each at Bed Bath and Beyond) 2. Vellum Paper 3. Adhesive sheets 4. Paper cutter 5. Printer

I created a template for my larger rounded tops as well as my strips. Then I printed the templates onto the vellum.

Using the paper cutter, I cut on either side of the black lines.

You can use a circle cutter for the circles, but I didn't have one large enough, so I cut them out  by hand.

Now you need to turn the strips and circles into stickers. I don't have a fancy sticker machine (though I've seen them at the craft stores), so I used these adhesive sheets.

Here is how they work. You strip the backing off the sheet, like so.

Then you lay a few of your strips onto the sticky part and then cut them out. (You could also cut the adhesive sheets into the same size of your strips first)

Now you have a sticker!

When you are ready to apply them to your jars, just remove the second strip from the back.

Apply the sticker to the jar. Work from the middle around to apply the sticker without any  bubbles.

When your jars are finished, fill them with spices! How cute are those? I love them.

I have a shallow but wide drawer in my kitchen island. It is a perfect place for my spices.  I found these spice jar holders for drawers at Ikea. (They also sell jars that fit in them with silver lids.)

I used four of them in my drawer, leaving room for my larger jars. (I have larger jars for things I use a lot like baking soda, poppy seeds etc)

I alphabetized my small jars, but you could do them by color or however you like.

My larger jars are organized by the amount I use them, with the sweet items on one side.

My favorite drawer in the kitchen!

Is it ever too early for Halloween?

My mom has been busy sewing Halloween hot pads and hand towels!

These and other Halloween patterns are for sale at our ETSY shop!

Harper

Meet Harper! She is my first doll officially for sale!

Don't you just love her? She would be a great birthday gift!

She comes with a removable red & white polka dot apron that matches her striped leggings!

White Mary-Janes with red buttons! If you would like her, you'll have to hurry, because I might change my mind and keep her for myself!

Check Harper out in my etsy shop!

Ava Doll

My niece turned six this month and there was a party for her this weekend. I have been dying to give her this "Ava" doll I made. Tutu and all!

 

I am really happy with the way she turned out. I was really hoping she was as excited to get her as I was go give her.

 

She looks excited to me!

Happy Birthday Gorgeous! Love you.

Miss Red Riding Hood

My best friends little girl turned nine this year and I thought it would be fun if we made something together for her birthday. I've seen doll patterns around, but I just didn't really love any of them...so I made my own!

Don't you LOVE her? I can't get over how cute she is. It was hard to tell how she was going to turn out until she was all sewn together. My first attempt I wasn't happy with, but I gave it one more try. I squealed with delight when I finally saw her complete.

I've been wanting to do something with the little red riding hood fabric line. I was so glad they still had some at my local fabric store.

I decided to make a ballerina for my niece. Her birthday is this month and I can't wait to give it to her. I'll post a photo once I've given it to her. For now, here is a little sneak peak.

Blue and pink mary jane shoes! Honestly, how could you go wrong?

Caprese Salad with Walnut Pesto

I did a tiny tiny favor for a friend the other day, and in return she took me to lunch! (I got the better end of this deal!). I ordered a caprese salad. It was delicious. Days later I was still thinking about that salad. So...I re-created it at home!

For the salad you need: Red Leaf Lettuce, Mozzarella slices, Tomato slices, Balsamic reduction & Walnut Pesto (recipe to follow)

The first thing I did was put about a cup of Balsamic Vinegar in a small pan on the stove. Bring it to a boil and then reduce the heat to simmer. Let it simmer until you only have about 1/2 a cup left. (If you were doing 2 cups, you would reduce it by half to 1 cup). Remove from heat and let cool. This will make the vinegar thicker and sweeter. Delicious.

Next, you make your pesto. Usually pesto is made with pine nuts, which is really good. The best pesto I ever had was at a place in Salt Lake City and it was a walnut pesto, so I thought I'd try it out. I was not disappointed!

 

To assemble the salad I chopped up some lettuce and added it to one side of the plate. Then I laid a few pieces of mozzarella next to it. 

With a spoon, spread some of the walnut pesto over the cheese slices. 

Add some tomato slices to the top. Sprinkle some salt & pepper. (I can't wait to make this again when my mom has tomato's in her garden...and I take some for myself!)

Lastly, spoon some of that yummy balsamic reduction over the top of the tomato's and lettuce. 

And then inhaled the whole thing!

(At the restaurant they had a balsamic dressing to go with it, but when I was eating it, I wished I had more of the reduction instead. So, I didn't bother with another dressing at home. It has plenty of flavor without an additional dressing.)