New voodoo doll holiday ornaments available!

Howdy!
Well, it's been far too long since I've written. Lots of things going on.
For one, I have been working on getting some voodoo doll holiday ornaments done. I was able to make 5 between holiday gift crafting and commissions. Here they are:

So cute! I need to make some for my Christmas tree.
Unfortunately, I probably won't have much time to make anything new for awhile. I will soon be on "maternity leave" because I am having another little mischief maker, due in February. Between a newborn and a three (almost four) year old, I won't have much time for working.
I am 32 weeks as I write this:

I am working on making an Alice in Wonderland theme (with an emphasis on the Mad Hatter) for the nursery. Here's what I have so far:

I think the white rabbit needs a pocket watch.
I have been playing around with different doll patterns so that I can eventually develop my own. Hopefully it won't be too long. So, stay tuned!
If I don't get the chance to write much, happy holidays everyone!
-mischiefmaker

I'm alive, I swear (warning: photo heavy)

Wow, I am a bad, bad blogger. This blog post is WAY overdue. Sorry! I am going to have to post this very late at night since this is the only time I ever have to get on the internet.

A lot has happened since I last posted. I'll start from the beginning.

First, unfortunately, we lost our dear sweet kitty Jack.

 

Jack has had problems since day one and is extremely fortunate to have found Jess. I really don't know who else would have put up with him. Don't get me wrong, he was very sweet and a cozy cuddler who would always sit in one of our laps and we loved him to pieces. It's just his bladder and allergy problems got out of control and we finally had to face the fact that he was miserable and probably uncomfortable 99.9 % of the time. We loved him and didn't want him to suffer anymore. We will always cherish the 10 years we got to spend with him. R.I.P. my sweet pain in the ass. We love you.

As promised, here are some photos from our Halloween. The theme this year was Monty Python and the Holy Grail. It blows my mind that some people have never seen this movie. It's one of my favorites!

Here we have my sweet little Legendary Black Beast of Aaaarrrggghhh!

 Here is Jesse setting up the Knights of Ni!

 Here's a close up of the Knights of Ni!

 Even closer...

 Ni!

 We made sure to bring them a shrubbery.

Here is our Bridge of Death. It was very perilous.

 We had to have a Black Knight, of course.

 I think the highlight of our Halloween was that Jesse had a running loop of bits from the movie playing for the Knights of Ni and the Black Knight and as a jogger ran by the Black Knight, he said, "Oh, oh, I see! Running away, eh? You yellow bastards! Come back here and take what's coming to you! I'll bite your legs off!" The jogger was heard laughing as he ran away. Love it :)

Here is our Killer Rabbit of Caerbannog .

 Scary, right? Jesse rigged him up so we pushed a button and he jumped up at you.

Here is the bridge keeper.

 Bridge of Death again at night.

 Our yard wouldn't be complete without a grail...

(Bad, naughty Zoot)

 Our Halloween party wouldn't be even half as good if it weren't for these wonderful people.

 Not only do they always come up with great costumes every year, Sir Robin and his minstrels (a.k.a. Jesse's brother Tyler and his cousins Drew and Kate) make the best homemade donuts for us all. I love them so much.

Here I am (she's a witch!) and Jess.

We had a blast and hope Sam did too, even though he had no clue what was going on. I think we picked a great first Halloween costume. I wanted something other than a peanut or any of the other overly used infant costumes. 

I think I have his (and my) costume(s) picked out for next year already.

Also, I would like to add how amazing my husband is. We were under the impression that this year wouldn't be up to our usual Halloween yard standards since we couldn't spend much money this year and didn't have a whole lot of time, but somehow Jesse pulled it off. And it turned out amazing. Drew and I were pretty skeptical when Jess told us about his Bridge of Death idea, but when he started building it I was just blown away. Not to mention envious of his ingenuity and creativity. I am thoroughly convinced he can do anything. If only he could get a job that utilized these skills...

Thanksgiving was pretty low key, although we had two or three of them and I ended up getting the stomach flu and was only able to eat a small portion of mashed potatoes :(

Christmas was pretty fun, despite the usual hurried-traveling-to-each-house-thing and Sam missing his afternoon nap. He did very well and I am proud of him. I must say, Christmas on my side of the family is definitely more fun with a little one to celebrate with.

Gus even got in the spirit.

Unfortunately we are now a one-income family since, if I were to get a job, I would only be working to pay for a babysitter or daycare and therefore I would rather stay home and raise my son myself. I make a little money here and there through my Etsy shop, but not enough. And Jesse makes just enough for us to keep our house. Usually. Sigh. Needless to say, I was having a very hard time buying Christmas presents since the only things I buy anymore are baby food and gas for my car. And since I don't bring in the money, I feel super guilty buying myself anything anymore.

So, I ended up making a majority of the presents I gave out. It took forever and I was working like a mad woman.

Here's what I made for my sister-in-law.

 I used the images from this book. 

My Mom asked for potholders since she burned hers. I made her this.

The other side.

 And this.

 The other side.

I found the pattern for these here.

I made my Aunt a dishcloth and dishtowel.

 And potholders.

Whew! I feel very tired but, strangely enough, very satisfied. Handmade gifts are the best :)

I even had time to make a cherry pie for my friend's birthday and a pecan pie and pear pie with gruyere baked into the crust for Christmas (I was channeling my inner Chuck. How dare they cancel Pushing Daisies after only two seasons), with the help of my wonderful husband who kept the little one busy so I could bake, and also wrapped all the presents for me. I don't know what I would do without him.

Now I plan to get down to business and start designing patterns to sell in my shop. I am really trying hard to bring in more money for my family, and really hope to make my little home business a lucrative business. It would be my dream job!

We'll see how that goes with an eight-month old...

I am dreadfully unorganized so that means I might go awhile without blogging or leaving my house. Don't worry, if that happens it just means I am being productive! Or that Sam is keeping my extra busy.

 This one is a little blurry, but still cute. He loves his ugly doll.

Times may be tough, tougher than I have ever experienced before, but my babies make it all worth it. Especially when I wake up to things like this.

Oh, and I am excited because my cousin got me this book for Christmas:

Holy crap I want to make EVERYTHING in this book!! And I plan on it, assuming I can find the time (and the yarn). Why do all these books always suggest the most expensive yarn??? And you always need like fifty skeins of it too. How do these people afford it? I'm just hoping I can find yarn in my own stash that will work.

Anyway, I hope everyone had a fantastic holiday and a wonderful (and safe) New Years Eve! I will leave you with our family Christmas card (if only we could have gotten the dog and cat in there).

Fa la la la braaaaaaaains!

As the Christmas season comes upon us yet again, I am overwhelmed with things I planned on getting done but ran out of time and didn't. Nothing new there.
But I did manage to get a tree skirt made!

 I posted the pattern on Etsy but had a lot of requests for me to sell the actual tree skirt. Maybe next year.
Unfortunately, the tree skirt will cost a pretty penny because I used chunky wool and a lot of it.
I also made a zombie Santa:

He sold pretty fast. If I get a chance before Christmas, I'll have to make another one.
In need of a stocking stuffer? How about a zombie head key chain?

I plan on making a bunch of these guys since they don't take me long. And I have a bunch of key chain parts to use up. So if anyone is interested, check out my Etsy store.
I am excited that I now know a secret and can make a bunch of stuff I couldn't before. Let me explain.
My husband and I went to the doctor today and found out that we are having a baby boy. So now I can knit and crochet a bunch of baby boy stuff. I was kind of hoping for a girl because there are too many boys on my husband's side of the family (he has two brothers and two nephews), but that's okay because we like boys too :) I just have to resist the urge to put him in pink ruffled baby bloomers...
If anyone wants to know, no we don't have any names yet because boy names are really hard to think of for us, but once we decide we will probably keep that a secret. It just keeps us from second guessing ourselves in case others don't like the name.
I am due April 22nd and we haven't gotten anything done. Doh! Oh well. At least we can pick out baby stuff now.
So, that's my update for now. Keep checking the store for new zombie head key chains!
Have a very Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!

Ten little things that make me happy today

Free Lunch – It’s only fair that I get a sandwich too, after the guys at my work forgot to tell me that they had this big meeting today and I had to scramble to get lunch for them.


People named “Kermit” – Seriously. I got a letter today at work from a man named “Kermit.” That’s awesome.


The thought of going to see my family – Jess and I are going to Arizona for Thanksgiving and he finally gets to meet some more of my Mom’s side of the family. My Uncle Curt will be there, my cousin Shane and his wife (whom I’ve never met), and possibly even my cousin Josh. Jess hasn’t met any of them yet and I'm excited!

Friends coming back from other states and distant countries – Yay friends! I've missed you!

Vetoing a money-induced Christmas that starts before Halloween is even over – That was ridiculous. It was the day before Halloween and some of the stores I went to were already taking down the Halloween stuff and putting up nothing but Christmas stuff. What the crap?!? So, Thanksgiving doesn’t even count anymore? There are still people who buy Halloween stuff the day before Halloween. I would be dorky enough to do that.
Because of this and the fact that the radio is already playing Christmas music (and because we are extremely broke), I am going to spend as little money as possible on Christmas decorations and paraphernalia and make my own. Plus, I don’t have to have Santas and reindeer and all the other overdone symbols of Christmas and just make spooky decorations so that Halloween is three months long instead. Ha! Take that Christmas!! But my “Hallow-mas” is awesome because you not only get candy, you get presents too!!!
Don’t get me wrong, it’s not that I don’t like Christmas. It’s just that the stupid stores, radio stations, T.V. commercials and everything else that starts with the Christmas sh!t way too early have a tendency to ruin it for me. It’s overkill, and you know the only reason they make such a big deal about Christmas is so that we’ll spend more money. That’s not what Christmas should be about. Oh! I forgot about all the people in my family who are Scrooges and big downers and ruin the whole thing for me too. My family is not that big and the Scrooges outnumber the non-Scrooges. I think it’s probably because we don’t have any little ones in our family. It’s too bad that grownups need children around to get them in the holiday spirit.


Finding friends who share the same interests – The internet is an amazing thing. Without it, I would truly feel like an outcast. Who knew there were so many weirdoes out there just like me who love to create and make things out of paper, thread, paint, yarn, buttons, etc., who love to cook and bake like I do, who love all these obscure bands just like me, who know and love movies that not many people have heard of, and who still are a bit on the childish side. And oddly enough, a lot of them have birthdays in October too. Weird!



My kitty sleeping (and purring) at my side or in my lap– This is the first pet that's been mine and only mine. My other pets belonged to the whole family, not just me (well, technically, Sally belongs to Jesse too, but he's my other half, so it counts). I never knew how comforting it is to have a purring kitty at your side until I had one. It’s meditative, like knitting. She's so sweet and loving and mischievous and bratty, just like me ;)




New projects -Don't get me wrong, I love my current projects. But when it comes to crafting, I have a form of ADD. I am easily distracted, especially when I find a really cool pattern for a scarf or get it in my head that I need to play with sculpy right now! That would be why I have so many unfinished projects. *sigh*



Soup – I love soup. Especially Jesse’s homemade potato soup. It’s never the same every time he makes it. Sometimes it’s potato and leek soup, sometimes he uses sweet potatoes, sometimes he adds celery; but every time it’s scrumptious. With so many varieties, I could eat it for every meal and never get sick of it.


Ghost Hunters - I am addicted to that show now. I blame Brian. It just gives me more reason to believe in ghosts. Like I really needed one ;)