knick knacks & ric rac

target has me going crazy with their mushroom garden stuff. they’ve really enabled me to live out my enchanted forest back yard fantasies. first it was the mushroom furniture last year, and this year they haven’t stopped with the mushroom statues. here’s the newest mushroom statues i just picked up and painted. the tall one is 18½” tall.

i put them here last night and was going to move them into the back yard today but i kinda like them nestled in this corner of the kitchen so i think i’ll leave them here for a while. earlier this year i also picked up these mushroom statues from target.

at last count i had over 50 (fake) mushrooms of various sizes in the back yard. do i have a problem?

first there’s an interview with me that christine just posted on her blog ‘blisschick’. her questions got me thinking about stuff i don’t think about too much, they’re not your average interview questions.

then my friend jen sent me an email with a page from the latest ‘elle’ magazine…look what she spotted! it’s asuka wearing her toadstool skirt!

and in case you’re wondering when i’ll have some new designs, i’m *this* close to finishing up a few new prints…here’s a peek at some of the inspiration…

how many posts featuring mushrooms can one little ol’ blog really have? well here’s one more! for years i’ve been using a big plastic jug full of thistle seeds as a doorstop for the back door. i finally decided to make a cute doorstop and settled on-you guessed it-a toadstool!

the tall one is about 10 inches tall, the short one is about 8½ inches tall. The bases are made using a 32oz yogurt container and a 16oz earth balance container. i filled them with gravel to give them some weight.

the pattern i made for them is here http://www.madewithlovebyhannah.com/toastooldoorstop.pdf  so you can print it out and make one yourself! the letters in the directions below refer to the pattern pieces.

first fill the container with something heavy, i used gravel but sand or rocks would work well too. put on the top and tape it on securely.

sew the stem sides (A) together on both sides, then sew on the stem top (B). turn right side out and insert your container. pin the stem bottom (C) on and stitch by hand.

sew the 5 cap pieces (D) together, meeting together at the top. then sew the cap bottom (E) on a little more than half way around, leave about a 6-7 inch opening.

turn right side out, and insert the cardboard piece (C) so it sits inside at the bottom of the cap. stuff the cap. sew up the opening by hand.

glue the top to the base.

i decided to glue some cute trim around the edge of the cap and some ric-rac ‘grass’ around the bottom. it’s really hard for me to make something and not put ric-rac on it. i couldn’t help topping them off with a pair of sleepy pixies! whee!

sometimes i find things i love and need to have them. that happened when i stumbled into betty jo’s lino forest. one day i want to own one of everything. i think i’m well on my way…

liz’s brooches, necklaces and clocks are all made from recycled vintage linoleum and decorated with cute bits of embroidery and buttons. her things are right up my alley, featuring matryoshkas, cuckoo clocks and cute critters. i’m dying over this working lino cuckoo clock, but for now i’ve satisfied myself with these two newest additions to my collection, an adorable cuckoo clock necklace and an apple tree brooch.

get some cuteness for yourself here and here!

i always get really excited when i have a piece of vintage fabric, and then while stumbling around on the internet or in a thrift store, i see the same fabric in action. it doesn’t take much to get me excited! today, while i should have been working, i was looking at bathing suits on etsy and i saw this really cute girls swimsuit…

and i thought…hey, haven’t i seen that fabric somewhere before? so i looked under the pile of stuff on my cutting table and sure enough…

i’d like to dig out my vintage bathing suit patterns and see if i can recreate a similar one for myself. so cute! did i mention it doesn’t take much to get me excited?

hi! i’m back from my trip!

i wanted to show you this amazing tablecloth that my great-aunt deda gave to me while i was in germany. she embroidered it when she was about 12 or 13 years old.

i can’t get over how much i adore it! i see a new skirt print brewing…

i also wanted to show you these super cute toadstool potholders that socorro whipped up and will be available on my website in the next couple of weeks (if i don’t keep them all for myself!). she sewed on little buttons for the dots!

and i wanted to show you this most adorable purse i found a while ago with my trip in mind. i wanted something that i could carry my camera and travel necessities around in so this one is pretty roomy. the original handle was cracked so i replaced it with one i made from an old tooled leather belt. it worked out perfectly. i might start using it as my everyday purse even though it’s kind of big. the pictures are woven like a tapestry but it feels looped like a rug. i guess that would make it a carpet bag.

this may very well become one of my favorite websites. i read about spoonflower a while ago in true up and was pretty excited to learn about it. i’ve been anxiously awaiting an invitation to try out their services during the testing stage, and when it arrived in my inbox last night i was thrilled and whipped up this print. i call it ‘knick knack extravaganza’.

i just placed my order for a yard of it, i can’t wait to see what it comes out like!

okay, i can hear a rooster crowing, i’d better go to bed!

i found a few yards of this fabric at a thrift store a long time ago (about 20 years ago!) you can imagine i almost fainted when i got my hands on it. i love many different fabrics and prints but i think i can safely say this is my all time favorite piece of fabric in the whole world. it’s one of the things that really inspired me to make my own prints. 

it’s a border print, the design is on the bottom half of the fabric and is about 21″ high, the rest of it is white.

my friend nikki gave me a huge stash of fancy patterned ric rac a while ago, so i couldn’t resist trying out a few of these flowers with it. check them out!

i just finished adding some new skirts to my website…take a peek at the fairytale forest skirt

and some more limited edition skirts…

fruit stripe skirt-this one reminds me of the tasty gum!

wallpaper print skirt featuring a fantastic vintage wallpaper print fabric i wrote about last year

purple posies skirt featuring my lazy daisy print on bright aqua and fuschia fabric (that i dyed a little too deep by accident but came out really great anyways!) and trimmed with jumbo purple ric rac

parfait skirt print mix with pink gingham, purple flowers and a solid minty green hem