excuses and new addictions

I've been a bit negligent in keeping up with the blog lately.  I have a few reasons (meaning excuses)

1) The husband's been out of town, so I haven't had much time for crafting or blogging

2) I've been much better at making lists of ideas for new puppets and other crafts than actually making any of them

3) I also do wedding flowers (wanna see?) and I have my first post-baby wedding this weekend, so I've been getting things ready for that

4) I did something I probably shouldn't have.  I created an account on Polyvore.  And now I'm addicted.  Are any of you on there?  It's lots of fun, and very addicting, and now I want to get rid of approximately 80% of my wardrobe and go on a shopping spree!  Who's in?

But I do have some new puppet designs in the works, plus some awesome Halloween costumes I've started working on (seriously, they're going to be epic!) and some other projects I'm hoping to get done and listed in the shop before the holiday season hits.  So maybe I'll pull myself away from Polyvore and actually get some things done!

halloween puppets

Halloween is one of my favorite holidays.  The crisp fall air, the fun costumes, the candy (of course!), the colorful leaves, the spooky decorations, carving pumpkins, and eating all sorts of pumpkin-flavored goodies.  I love it.  Which is kind of weird, because I really dislike being scared, or even most scary movies.  I have to cover my eyes during anything gross in a movie or show. But I love Halloween!  Maybe because I avoid the haunted houses, and instead make costumes and delicious treats.

And this year to get ready, I also made some Halloween finger puppets!  I shared a sneak peek a few posts ago, but now they're finished.  I love the way they turned out.  Very Halloweeny (I know, it's not a word...) but not at all scary!  My kind of Halloween.

10 Halloween puppets and a haunted house that's a pouch to hold all the puppets

My favorite thing about this set is all the little details - the fishing line whiskers on the cat, the googley eyes on the monster, the scar on Frankenstein's forehead, the spider web in the window of the house... It was so fun to come up with the little details that really make this set feel complete!

All the puppets in the house pouch

Here's a few close-ups

Frankenstein puppet

Dracula puppet

Monster puppet

I'm so excited for Halloween!

And yes, they're available in my shop.  :)

Now to start on the awesome costumes I have planned for this year!

special day

This past Sunday was a special day for our family.  It was our baby's blessing day!  In some churches, babies are christened or baptized.  In our church, babies are blessed, usually by their fathers.  We were so grateful to have many of our relatives come for the weekend to meet little Sam and be there for our special day!

Some of our family who came.  So glad you could come!

A few months ago, I decided to make him a little outfit for his blessing.  At the time it seemed like a great idea!  I had loads of time!  But you know how these things always go, and of course I was finishing it Saturday night.  But it was finished and ready for his big day!  And in spite of the fact that it was a little big still, I think it turned out pretty well.

I used a Simplicity pattern, and I'm fairly certain whoever designed the pattern thinks all babies have enormously fat legs.  My babies do not... so it was a little big around his scrawny legs.  But he likes to be wrapped up in a blanket anyway, so you couldn't really tell.

Does it get much more precious than that?  A glimpse of heaven right there.