Over the river and thru the woods to Pauline's house we go!

I can officially say it is the start of the Holiday Season. Now you might be one of those fuddy duddies that says it does not start until the Day after Thanksgiving but I say It's November and Yippee! I love Thanksgiving and Especially Christmas! This year try not to let Thanksgiving zip by and not even think about it. We have so much to be thankful for in this Country! We have a wonderful freedom that has been bought by many who have given their lives for us to live like we do! We have family around us, If you are lucky enough to have a Grandchild or 2 or 4 you should be over joyous. Is that correct english? Oh well that's another thing to be thankful for. Talking how ever we want! When I was a little girl I always heard about gingerbread houses and making candy and fun holiday traditions. We had our traditions but I wanted to try out some of the other ones. So now that I am grown up, Mostly! I love to have holiday craft classes. If you or your children have not come to one, then consider this your invitation. I have put together 4 classes that will happen starting Nov.20th. I always have them on Friday night, 6:00-8:00 pm (this is by design. I figure if Mom and Dad want to go out for a couple hrs they can.) Except the Mini Crafters Classes they are Fridays 4:00-5:00
Check out the pictures. If you want all the specifics, email me. I send out details about each class and all that we do.
Nov. 20th Thanksgiving Class $20.00 Candy & Cookie Turkey, Acorn Dough Nuts & Can do Turkey Soup
Dec. 4th Mini Crafters Class $10.00 Snowman gift bag, Nativity Necklace, Decorating Gingerbread men.
Dec. 4th Christmas Popouri Angel $20.00 and Christmas necklace
Dec. 18th Decorate your own Gingerbread house and Free Gift table.$20.00 (Children take turns picking a gift from the free gift table to keep or give to someone special, nothing elaborate but the kids love this!)
If you want more info email me at psully6@cox.net
Happy Holiday's and don't forget to be thankful!

More towels

Pretty Towels, Useful Towels, Kid's Towels and More...

For years when we needed towels we went to the store and bought any towels that looked nice to us. Then about 15 years ago when I bought new curtains for my kitchen I realized something. If I bought towels that matched my curtains my kitchen would look like I was trying to decorate. Now many of you might wonder why it took me so long to realize this but up until then I was very busy with little league, popwarner football, volunteering at the kid's schools, cub scouts, girl's camp, etc... Finally when the kids were older and I had more "free" time I turned my attention to the house. So now when I go out to buy towels I only buy ones that go with my kitchen decor, or my shower curtain. You know that you need to redecorate your bathroom when you just can not find towels to match your shower curtain anymore! I now look at my shower curtain and think, what ever possessed me to buy this? My tastes have changed and I have realized that if I buy a shower curtain and towels that are in the same family colors that my counter top is It might look nicer in there.! Yes I am still evolving. There are just somethings I don't think about for several years! Even though it has taken me some time to think about decorating many of you might already be doing it! So when you come to my house and see something that might look a little interesting to you, just remember that I will probably figure it out in a couple years. I have figured out the towels. Look at all the towels I have embellished over the last year.(Minus all the ones I forgot to take a picture of!)

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BBQ Apron we can use it all year long here in California!

Check out my Embroidered BBQ aprons. I made one with a Grill Sergeant design and one that says Camp Cook. These are a nice sturdy fabric and each one comes with a fork,spatula,tongs,oven mit, and salt & pepper shakers. They have adjustable straps and can be rolled up and snaps together for taking to the beach or a picnic. Makes a nice gift. $24.00

Sewing for horses? You never know!

Well I can add sewing a costume for a horse to my list of things I have sewn. One of my little friends that I have taught sewing and crafts to, was in a horse costume show. Her horse was an angel and she was a little devil on her back. I sewed the white robe and attached the wings to the robe. Amber and her horse won 3rd prize! Now I had never sewn for a horse before but I think it came out great! So in honor of horses I made a towel set that has an embossed horse head on them. They really look nice. I showed them at a show lately here in Poway. I knew we were a horse community, but I guess I never realize how big that love of horses was. These towels are embossed instead of embroidered. It is different as the design sews around the towel and makes the towel stick up in places to create the design. And yes it is the same design on the toilet paper. Embroidered or Embossed towels make a great Christmas, Wedding or Birthday gift.

And if you are wondering...the answer to how do you emboss on toilet paper? Very carefully.

Halloween means candy corn and lot's of fun!

Well here it is October! This starts out my favorite time of the year. Halloween, Thanksgiving and then Christmas is just around the corner. I found this cute recipe for a fun way to make creative hot dogs with a Halloween theme on line. You wrap the hot dog in that pop and ready dough and bake it. They put mustard on the top to make 2 eyes and it looked like a mummy. Also there was a bowl of ranch dressing and then you put some ketchup in a small ziplock baggie and poke a hole and pipe out a big circle all the way around the edge of the bowl on the ranch and then make another circle a few inches in from that circle and keep doing it until you have the ketcup looking like a big bullseye on top of the ranch. Then you take a toothpick and starting from the inside pull it out to the edge of the bowl, do that all the way around and it looks like a spider web. You can also cut your hot dogs in half and wrap them in dough and bake and stick french's dry onions in to make it look like spider legs, them just put a couple drops of ketchup on the top to look like spider eyes. Use the spider dip for your hot dogs or have crackers or pretzels or carrots or celery for dipping. Make sure you stock up on all those fall decorations, pumpkins, candy corn, etc... so you have some left over for November. Now you say why would I want any left over? Well this is why I stock up. Grocery stores only bring in enough pumpkins to sell for Halloween and aim to have them sold by the 31st. When our children were young we had a tradition of making homemade pumpkin pies for Thanksgiving and each child picked who they were most thankful for that year. They picked a teacher at school, a church teacher or scout leader or whom ever they thought was important to them. We made little 3 X 5 cards and put stickers on it explaining our tradition and that they were the one picked this year. Everyone who got one seemed to really like it and I wanted our children to think of others at this time and not get wrapped up in the "I want" syndrome. So you could make a pumpkin pie or pumpkin bread, or pumpkin jelly roll with those pumpkins. We just used a black marker on the ones we were keeping instead of carving them. Also look at the cute things you can do with candy corn. On Kimi Coopet's blog I found this cute oreo turkey cookie and this other sugar cookie on several other sites. So stock up on candy corn too. Happy Halloween!

Zumba Anyone? Personalized Exercise Towels or Sweat Rags

Ok so if you are like me you probably do not know what Zumba is. Well I found out that My sister loves it! So I went on line and looked it up and it is an exercise class that you dance at. It looks really fun. I searched it on Google and found some videos of classes. So in honor of all those who love to exercise one way or another I have started a new line of Exercise Towels!

Sweat in style! These are just the right size for your favorite athlete. 11" X 11" 100% cotton and absorbent. These can be personalize with up to 7 Letters. Choose your sport, Zumba, Football, Baseball, Basketball, Soccer, Skating, Running Etc... They come in Teal, Orange, Brown, Red, White or Purple. Stuff them in your sport bag and you are ready to go! Makes a great Birthday present or Stocking stuffer. $15.00 each or 3 for $40.00

Pirate Costume you can make yourself.

Since I had requests for a boy's costume idea, here it is! Why not make your little boy into a Pirate for Halloween? It can be simple and easy and you can use things you already have. For the shirt use a long sleeved white t-shirt. Take some black fabric paint and paint some stipes on it going around the body and around the sleeves. Or you could sew on or use wonder under to attach some big black stips of fabric or ribbon to the t-shirt to make the stripes. Next take a black pair of pants, (you know the ones for church that are too short now) cut them at the bottom making points all the way around the legs. If they are brother's and the waist is too big get a piece of rope or twine and use it as a belt. Invest in some red & white striped fabric and rip a piece long enough to tye a round your child's waist like a sash, make sure to have it long enough to hang down a little. Then Take a stip of the striped fabric wide enough to cover your child's head and tye it down in the back. You can make your own eye patch out of black felt and some black ribbon cutting out a semi circle of felt and sewing the ribbon on either side so you can tye it around the head or you can purchase one. Here is a picture of a sword & eye patch I found on line. Ahoy matey!

How to make your own Princess Halloween Costume

Ok, so Halloween is not far away, and your little girl has decided she wants to be a princess. Now for me the ideas can be endless. So I am going to give you some ideas.

First you can make a wand by cutting out 2 stars from some poster board. You could choose yellow and then put glue all over it and sprinkle with glitter and then glue both sides around a wooden dowel so the sides with the glitter are on the outside. Then tye some pretty colored satin ribbons around the dowel just below the star. You could use blue, or pink or silver.

Now for the skirt. Go to the fabric store and get 2-3 times your child's waist measurement of tule or some princess looking fabric. Get 1 time around your child's waist plus 2 inches of elastic. 1/2 inch to 3/4 inch wide would work and some 3 inch satin ribbon, or bias tape that is close in color. I think the satin ribbon would be pretty and you should be able to get it in a color that is close to the skirt. Come home and sew the fabric together at the ends so you have a really big circle. Then on one of the long sides. Run a very loose stitch, weaving the needle in and out of the fabric so that you can gather it up. When you get it about 6 inches bigger than your child's waist sew the thread in to the fabric so it will not come out or loosen up. Then take the satin ribbon and turn it under on both of the short ends and sew them down so the ends do not fray. pin the right side of the ribbon to the right side of the top of the skirt. Pin it all the way around and sew it making a seam so that when you are done it looks like a skirt with a big waist band. Then take the satin ribbon and fold it in half to the back of the skirt so that the seam is inside the waistband and sew it down on the back of the skirt so that you make a casing for elastic. Remember you have made this about 6 inches bigger than your child's waist, so after you make the casing take your elastic and hook a safety pin in one end and use it to thread the elastic thru the casing you made with the ribbon. Pin the end without the safety pin to the end of the skirt so you don't accidently pull the elastic all the way thru. When you have threaded the elastic all the way around thru the casing have your child try it on. Adjust the elastic to fit your child's waist. Sew the elastic to the ends of the casing. now if there is a little gap at the back you can sew on some hooks & eyes. Cut the skirt length to fit your child. You can make it short and have them wear shorts under it. Leggings would look cute. Pink skirt & white leggings or blue and white, any combination would look cute. Here is a picture of a tiara I found on oriental trading co. use your imagination or you can order one on line. Try this I bet you will find that you have more craftiness inside you than you thought! Happy Crafting!

How to have a fun Halloween!

I can't believe summer is almost over and fall is just around the corner! I love fall! Carmel apples, carmel corn, apple cider. I have always loved Halloween and the cooling weather. As my children were growing up we celebrated halloween and always had a lot of fun. Of course we had homemade costumes and it just would not be the same if one of our kids did not wait until the last minute and say, I don't have a costume. Since we had the newspaper route in our neighborhood for many years we had a hat and paper carrier, the kind that you put your head in and big pockets hung down in the front and back of the person wearing it. That get up seemed to be the one costume that got used every year and a great last minute costume. They loved to roll up a couple newspapers and have them stick out the front pocket and it was a great place to put all the candy! It was fun to go trick or treating around the neighborhood and everyone knew us.

Now days we don't get too many trick or treaters, but it is still a lot of fun to open the door and see all the fun and creative costumes. Since my love of the holidays is apparent I have started to plan my holiday craft classes for Kids for this year.

The first one will be Oct. 9th, 2009 What a blast we will have! Each child will make one of the pumpkin brothers, a decopaged candy corn candle holder and spider cookies. Take a look at the cool things I have planned. Email me for more information.

Fun with Butterflies!

Check out this cute multi colored girl's skirt with purple satin trim and removeable embroidered butterflies! Waist is 24" and length is 15". $15.00 it would make a great summer outfit paired with this purple peasant blouse $12.00 or a color coordinating t-shirt. I had so much fun with this butterfly I sewed it in different colors on baby burp cloths and a onesie. $24.00 Butterflies are free to fly!!! Fly away!! Bye Bye!!!

Remake Vintage Girl"s Skirts

Here are 2 Girl's skirts made from vintage fabric. These were remade from vintage adult skirt. I love the feel of the older cotton. It just seems to be so much softer. These are fun and cute when pared with a peasant blouse. $ 10.00 each.

How to give the perfect Wedding Gift.

Well here it is May and the beginning of the Wedding Season. One year I was invited to 10 weddings! Well I guess it comes with having 4 children very close in age. As they have gotten married so have all their friends. That year the gift of choice was crockpots. Since then I have decided it is nice to give something a little personal. I like to look at the gift lists that the Bride and Groom have registered for. I Check out what colors of towels, kitchen gadgets, or even the shower curtain that they have listed, that way I have a good Idea of their likes. I choose a set of towels in their colors and Monogram them, or put some motif on them that they are known to like. His and Hers are fun for Newlyweds. One friend said the favorite gift her son and daughter-in-law received was Monogrammed Robes. It may take a little extra investigating but it will make the gift special. If you know the Bride's Mother well, you can ask if there is any unique characters or designs that the Bride really likes. One of my sons and his friends were down for a wedding recently and as they were talking about some of the wedding plans, I said, "you know it is really all about the Bride!" I was listening to a speaker recently and he said, "Happy Wife, Happy Life!" I have to say that Being the "Wife" I loved the saying! Check out this gift set. 2 Sets of Towels made in to something special! Set included 2 Bath towels, 2 embroidered & Monogramed Hand towels and 2 Wash cloths. $52.00

Sewing repairs can prolong the life of your clothes

I read some place that all good business have a clear and defined mission statement. I had not been able to come up with one until now.

My Mission statement is:

To Create, To Embelish, To Repair.

To Repair: I have noticed in these economic tight times that it can be better to spend $10.-20.00 to have something repaired than to go out and spend $40.-50.00 on something new. I have had several repair jobs lately. I have a friend who's hem came out of her pants and another who's daughter had a hoodie that needed some seams restitched, come to me and ask if these could be fixed. They were ready to throw them away because they could not sew or mend it themselves. Sometimes we just have that one shirt or outfit that we just love and can't bear to part with even though it needs some repair. I worked at a Bridal shop for awhile and learned to repair a lot of garments. Brides can be hard on clothes! So if you need some pants hemmed, seams restitched, Boy or Girl scout patches sewn on, or some other sewing need, email me and we can get together.

I ran across the old saying that I think is great to remember these days.

"Use it up, wear it out, make it do, or do without!"

His & Hers Towel set

Here is a great gift for that special bride and groom. This set was made with white towels and black and silver embroidery. It is a hit with the young couples. Of course it might be nice for those celebrating their 50th wedding anniversary. I can change the colors to be silver or gold or whatever their color scheme is. $85.00 for the set.

Cute Baby Onesies Boy or Girl

Now here is a deal! I have Pink, Blue or White short sleeved Baby Onesies with snaps that have musical sayings embroidered on them. They are embroidered in the same color, cute on their own or you can use them under something. These are 100% cotton and $3.00 each They have little musical notes next to the sayings on the front and 3 little notes on the back-bottom! They are packaged and already to go! These would make a nice gift for someone special or your own bundle of joy! And at this price you can afford several.

The sayings are-

Musical genius at work!

My Mom rocks & I roll!

Your really rock my world!

I'll be Bach!

I'm a sucker for tunes!

Email me at

psully6@cox.net if your are interested.

Pictures of the past, Costumes to remember!

Digging thru old pictures I ran across this one of a costume I made for one of my daughters. She just had to be Rainbow Brite. Now if you are old enough to know who she was you probably loved watching the cartoon. She was the biggest deal for girls around 1988 or so. This costume was a true labor of love and work of art. From the wig to the boots. My daughter was in heaven that halloween night. Just look at her face! I have tried to install the love of sewing with my girls but a lass to no avail. I asked my daughter, "What are you going to say when your little girl says, Mommy I want to be a princess for Halloween?" She laughingly said, "Call up Grandma! She loves making those kinds of things!" Ha Ha! Well it is true! I have already decided that my soon to be 1 yr old Granddaughter is going to be Dorothy for this Halloween. I have the fabric and a little basket that will hold all her candy. I am just looking for a stuffed dog that looks like Toto.

The nice thing about hand made costumes is that they last a lot longer and you can pass them down to younger family members. The elementary school my children went to did not celebrate halloween a couple years, they decided to have a book parade. Each child was to pick their favorite book and bring it to school and dress like their favorite character. It was really fun and everyone got pretty creative on the costumes. That was the year my other daughter loved the book Snow White. The hardback book of Snow White had her dressed in a greenish yellow dress with blue top and the sleeves had pink little insets, quite different than the red and yellow one that is now so popular. I made the dress to match the book. That dress was worn for several years and then we handed it down to a family that had 6 girls and they loved it too. Costumes are really fun to make and wear. Think about a head about what you want to be for this Halloween, instead of making that mad dash to the store at the last minute and spending $30-40.00 on a cheap costume.

Embroidered Blessing or Christening Dress

This is a Blessing dress I just finished. Her Mommy could not find one in her size. This dress was made out of a light satin and has overlays of organza embroidered with scalloped hem. The bodice is lined and the neckline is trimed with little pearls with an organza ribbon at the waist. This is one of my favorite things to sew. Little Girl's special occasion dresses. Her Mommy added the white headband with an organza flower and a small pearl bracelet.

The back has convenient snaps hidden by pearl buttons. Isn't she just a cutie! Her Mommy said she everyone loved the dress!

Theme aprons-great gifts!

I was asked to make 5 different gift baskets for guys. The themes were, A cartoon golf cart with 2 guys inside with the words, Mike at the Masters, A
Harley Davidson Motorcycle with Don -Wild Hog,
Fishing boat that said Mark -Born to fish forced to work,
BBQ -Eddie -Grill Sargent and
Camping- Al -Camp Cook. Here are some of the baskets. Each had an apron with corresponding embroidered design to fit the person's personality. Aprons are between $15-20.00 depending on the design.
I had a good time making these! Click on the picture to see it in better detail.