Crafty Carnival

Pencil Toppers!

First... it's almost the 1st, so GLITTER updated on Glitter and Grunge!  Please come check out my things and those of my fun and fabulous folk arty friends!  and onto the pencil toppers now :).....

Fun Fun Fun... I made these simple little pencil toppers just for fun, and then my 5 year old Gracie thought they would be great teacher gifts... and she's right! So here's the real quick how to... not that you need it :)  Make a paper template that's just the style of triangle you think looks good!  Then pin it to a double layer of felt.  Sew around it on a sewing machine being careful not to sew on the paper... just around the outer edges.  Leave the bottom middle open for stuffing and inserting the pencil.   Clip the tree out with pinking sheers.  Stuff it with poly fil and embelish it!  I used sequins, silver beads, and I even embroidered on one of them!  I added a felt star on one tree, and a few bows on the other two.  Finally, I put a pencil in the bottom opening and whip stitched the hole closed.  These plain wood pencils are pretty easy to find if you are looking for them, and they are cheap too!  Wrap them in a cello bag, add a ribbon or a tag and have some fun with them!  If you have any questions or you are new to crafting and need help, fell free to drop me a line!  If you make your own, share a pic!  That would be great!  And if you don't craft and you want some... well you are in luck!  I have them on Glitter and Grunge for $6 for a set of 3 and that includes shipping!

Mohair Circus gets a makeover

I decided to give Mohair Circus a little makeover.  I've been working on a website for some friends, Jenny and Aaron, and so that got me lookin at fonts (Thank you Jenny :)  so I found some better circus-y ones than the one I was using... and one thing led to another!!  It's still not what I'm really envisioning, but I don't want to make it too busy... which is what I'm really envisioning... lol!  Anyway, go check it out when you get a chance!  I added a few new bears too (including this cute lil sleepy one) ... and they are adorable... and all of the Halloween stuff is super cheap on the all new BIG BIG SALE page.  I guess black Friday put me in the mood... lol!  I even have a little ugly bear on ebay!

Thanks for looking!  Missy

My friend Margo!

I met Margo at a show in Anaheim and her stuff is just fabulous! She has such a knack for putting together prim and whimsy and fun and style all into each one of the things that she makes! I'm lucky enough to have one of her witches and one of her little mohair bunnies, and I just adore them both! Margo just opened up a website called Bought the Farm! So please go check it out when you have time... you'll love it!

Happy Birthday to my BFF!

Happy Birthday to my best friend in the whole wide world!!  NICOLE!  Hop of over to her blog.  Her son made her cupcakes and there's some really cute pics.... I'm working on her present, but when she gets it, I'll post pics.... I know.. I'm always late :(  But I love ya!!!

Grunge in November!

Here is a freebie graphic for you!  Just right click it and save it to your computer! Then use it on your website, or your business cards or whatever makes you happy! 

Please check out Glitter and Grunge when you have a chance!  Grunge was updated yesterday and it really is the best it has ever been!  The artists have really done a great job this month!  I especially love Deb's ornaments!  VERY fun!

  I made a few bears, of which Minty is my favorite.  He's a really cute mint green color with red accents :)  He's pictured below with another little bear I made from the same fabric, but I didn't trim the fur as much on the green and blue one.  It's really fun to trim the furs and get the different looks, but it makes my nose VERY itchy too!  LOL!

Halloween Munchkins!

I'm posting a lot today because I have a few things I need to catch you all up on!  I really wanted to post  a few pics of my kids' Halloween costumes!  They were super cute as Cinderella before she went tot he ball, and the Fairy Godmother (or Godmudder as Daisy says it :)  Then I have a few more posts I have to make just to get you all caught up and then it's back to only once a week or so, I promise!!!  I just want to start you off with lots of eye candy!

And a big shout out to Mom for making the costumes, and by that I mean my mom... I can't sew clothes to save my life!

The Real Deal

So here's the real deal!  The goal of this blog is to share with others what I have learned and what I'm up to!  So here are just a few of the things you can look forward to in future posts:

• Tips and techniques for doll making (I'm pretty good at this!)
• Pictures of new creations and stuff in the works!
• A sort of journal about my bear making.  I'm new to making Mohair bears, and I want to share my trials and tribulations, so maybe you won't make the same mistakes I'm making along the way :)
• Updates on my websites! (When Glitter and Grunge updates, I'll post, or if I add new things to my doll and bear sites, I'll post that too!  And I'm planning on offering up some free holiday graphics too... so when I'm done with that I'll post!)
• Free projects!

If you would like to be notified when I post new things on this blog, just sign up by entering your email address in the upper right hand corner where it says "Get Email Updates ."   You will be asked to follow a few simple steps and ta-da!  It's done!  Every time I post a new journal entry here, you will recieve an email telling you that I did!  If it ever gets to be too much for you, then it's very easy to unsubscribe... there's a link at the end of every email!

Why this is important:  It's very hard for me to email everyone on my email list because there are too many, and I get kicked out for spamming.  SO, to avoid this whole headache, I've decided to do the updates with my blog!  I hope this works!!!!! (fingers are crossed :)

Wow... are you bored yet?  That was long!

The Paper Garden

I just have to share with you that we had a fabulous new store open here in Sacramento!  It is called The Paper Garden, and it's owned by Stephanie Nishakawa!  She was a journalist for a long time, but more recently decided to step down from that to spend more time with her ADORABLE son, Miles!  The store is stock FULL of beautiful papers, stamps, and accesories for paper crafting!  It's all done up in vintage colors too!  Talk about EYE CANDY!  She has some of my bears and dolls in her shop too, and I'm going to make a paper banner for her that is just going to be so adorable... and I'm telling you, if you like sock monkeys like I do... she's got a bunch of them too!  LOVE IT!   Here's some pics of my stuff in her store and an over all view! 

Click on the pictures for a larger view!

Sock Monkey Dress

I just had to share this!  Some people might think no... but I say HECK YA!!!  It's just toooo fun!  I was going through my favorites trying to plump up my blog and found it :) here at Hazel and Melvin :)