That Red Bow Tho.

All who know me (and those who just happen to take a glance in to my every day) know that without a doubt, I have a thing for Hello Kitty.  She is, hands down, my favorite feline and has been since I was 5 years old.  (If only I kept my little Hello Kitty knick knacks from then!) 

The red bow tho... classic Hello Kitty.  

Maybe that's why I enjoy crocheting these pretties so much!

DIY: Sweet Little Ruffle Pillow

My sister is about to enter her 3rd year of med school in  Washintgon, DC.  (I miss her--she's my shopping/crafting/coffee & tea drinking buddy.)  While I was chatting with her the other night, I got the sense she was kind of homesick so I wanted to send her a little care package from home to help her get through the long days of rotations and sleepless nights.

 I found an old pretty pillowcase at my mom's house that she has had forever.  I thought it would be nice to send my sister something that really came from home.  Enter in this sweet little ruffle pillow.

Granted, I've never made a pillow before, but I thought I'd give it a shot. The pillowcase was pretty long (must have been for a body pillow or something) and so I just trimmed it to make it more like a mini pillowcase, but a pillow...made from a pillowcase....you'll see below! =)
(Disclaimer: My sewing technique is not very good, but I think I did alright!  Please comment below if you have any questions on my "technique" LOL!)

Supplies:
pillowcase (you'll trim this down to the size pillow you want); ruffle trim (enough for all 4 edges of the pillow); poly-fill; scissors; Fabric-Tac & pins (not pictured)

Had to get in a shot of my handy dandy sewing machine. =)

Lay your pillowcase flat and cut it to size (cutting through both layers).  I cut mine to about 14" x 16".

Cut all around until you've trimmed any excess fabric.

Turn your two pieces inside out making sure all sides match up as much as possible and then pin the corners.  This helps keep the pieces in place for sewing.

Sew the two longest sides together and one short side together, leaving about a 1/2 inch edge.  Remember to keep one short side open.

Turn your fabric outside in so that the "right" side is out.

Stuff your pillow with the poly-fill making it as fat as you'd like.  Use your hand to even out the fill so that your pillow isn't too lumpy.

Pin the open side closed.  This makes it a bit easier to sew.

Sew the open side shut making sure the poly-fill is nice and snug inside the pillow (this is about 13" x 15").

(Optional step: dab a bit of glue along the flaps of the side you just sewed to help them stay flat.  This will help when you add the ruffle trim.)

Using the Fabric-Tac, line your ruffles with a thin line of glue (to about 6 inches to start--don't add glue to your whole piece just yet).

Place your ruffles along the edge of the pillow (along the seams) adding glue and pressing down on the ruffles as you go (glue side down).  Another option is, instead of adding glue to your ruffles, you can also dab the glue along the seams of the pillow and then press your ruffles in to them.  I think this gives you more control over the glue and placement of the ruffles (I'm kind of OCD that way!)

The ruffles should lay like this, covering the seams of the pillow.

When done, the pillow should look something like this (not bad, huh?)

I decided to add a button to the pillow to give it a little bit more character.  I used a button making kit to make the button out of a piece of the ruffle.  I then sewed it through the front of the pillow to the back to give it that "pressed in" look.

Here's the package I sent to my sister: Chuao Chocolate in Rocky Road (soooo good and perfect for National Chocolate Day which was on July 28th), a hoop that I made using crochet flowers (the first hoop I've ever embroidered!), and of course, the sweet little ruffle pillow.

I spoke with my sister tonight right after she opened up the package and she talked in that high-pitched, happy/crying voice of hers when she receives a care package from family.  Needless to say, she loved her package and is probably nestling her head in her pillow while savoring her Rocky Road chocolate as she clutches her hoop to her heart--just kidding about that part, but really, she is probably doing all that as I type this.  Love my sister.

Happy Crafting!

Hello Thursday: Trifecta of Hello Kitty Favorites

I'd like to introduce to you a Trifecta of Hello Kitty Favorites:  Hello Kitty coffee/tea maker, Hello Kitty water cooler, and Hello Kitty candy tin.  I purchased these little diddies about 10 years ago--the water cooler from Target and the coffee/tea maker from Ebay.  The tin was a gift from my good friend Rosemary of Vintage Sugar and Finding Mickey, another fellow collector of Hello Kitty and all things vintage (check out her blogs--she's awesome!) =)

What I love about the water cooler--mini sized, perfect for a corner in my office, and it dispenses cold AND hot water!  Cool, right?  The coffee tea/maker does exactly that--makes both coffee AND tea.  Super convenient!  The Hello Kitty tin is simply cute--perfect for holding the right amount of candy.  (As you can see I have almost all the major holidays in there LOL).

Nothing special about what goes in to these appliances.  It's the pleasure of using these things (that actually work!) to perform such everyday, ordinary routines.  Having that mid-morning coffee (or tea) craving, then drinking some cold water to wash out your system and finally, having that nice little mint to get rid of coffee breath are made all the more enjoyable with these pink treasures.

...now off to make myself a cup of tea...=)

Happy Hello Kitty!

Yay, March 21st!

....and I woke up at 5:30am this morning picking legos up from the floor thinking, "Uggghhh, this should have been done last night.  It's my birthday." {womp womp womp}  I put my makeup on in the car thinking, "Man, I'm gonna look like crap.  It's my birthday." {insert sad violin music here}

  And then I come in to work, showered by birthday well wishes and goodies from my fabulous family of coworkers...

...and I say "Damn straight!  It is my birthday....happy birthday to me!"  I am super touched by the well wishes of my family and friends.  My core is brimming with joy and thankfulness for all these blessings. 

Legos and crooked eye-liner can't mess up my day!

Happy Birthday to me!

Hello Thursday: Vintage Hello Kitty

When I'm on the hunt for vintage Hello Kitty, my go-to place is Ebay.  Oftentimes I'm not searching for anything in particular, but these arbitrary searches lead me to Hello Kitty things I wouldn't think to know existed (ahem, Hello Kitty breast pump).  One of these random searches led me to a Hello Kitty desk organizer (1991).  Super cute with its round tiered drawers that swing open, this is a pretty sturdy piece (hard plastic) standing at about 15.5" tall.  It's still in excellent condition with a few tiny scratches.  Each drawer has a little saying on it ("It's Little Things That Make Me Happy" and "This is a Good Day 'Cause I'm With You") and has more than enough room to hold various office supplies (in my case, paper clips, correction tape, post-its, pack of gum, etc.).  It sits on my desk at work and inadvertently serves as a small conversation starter.  Seriously, my office is like the Hello Kitty version of "Where's Waldo"--she's around, but you have to look closely to spot her! 

This is definitely one of my favorite pieces! =)

Happy Hello Kitty!

Care for Some Rice?

Over the holidays, I replaced our old rice cooker with a new one...a cute one at that.  We don't each much rice in our household, but when we do, this little diddy comes out and makes pretty delicious rice.  I don't know if it's because this a new rice cooker (which is probably the case as our previous one was 9 years old), but somehow, someway, rice from a Hello Kitty rice cooker just seems to taste better.  Available here if you feel so inclined to purchase one.  =)

♥  Happy Hello Kitty! ♥ 

It's Valentine's Day Every Day!

Hubs and I don't "celebrate" Valentine's Day too much.  An exchange of little notes and candies with each other and with our littles is perfect. (With much pride in his voice, my biggest little greeted me this morning with "Happy Valentine's Day, Mommy"  and proceeded to gift me with ONE jellybean.  Yes, ONE jellybean.  Hilarious.  He cracks us up every day.)   A night out is oftentimes a luxury for us, especially with our big little and littlest little.  But, we do find those little everyday moments  to spend time together.  Today, a spur-of-the-moment-lunch was one of them--Chipotle and Starbucks--the perfect lunch time date for us!  Having been together for almost 18 years (9 of those years married), it's a fun challenge for us to reinvent how we celebrate different things.  

Coming back from lunch, I see my little Hello Kitty business card holder (picture above) and am reminded of the #1 thing Hubs and I like to do when we do go out....sit on a bench with coffee in hand and people watch.  We love doing that.  We have our favorite benches around San Diego and so while we talk we watch and talk again.  We've been doing this for as long as I can remember and though our topics of conversation have changed over the years, we still very much enjoy this time together--our "quality" time so to speak.  My little business card holder is such a cute little reminder of good times--plus, aside from the cat-like characteristics, Dear Daniel's spiky hair and Hello Kitty's rose/bow remind me of us.  =)

So, on this Valentine's Day (and every day), I wish you a lovely day filled with lots of kisses and hugs from those you love!

♥  Happy Love Day! ♥ 

Morning Coffee Just Got Cute

Momiji dolls are collectible little resin dolls that are gifted to individuals as a sign of friendship and love.  Also known as friendship dolls, each doll has a little space in its base to hide a secret message for the gift recipient.  Momiji dolls are a modern interpretation of the Japanese Kokeshi dolls

While I've seen the momiji x hello kitty dolls before, I had not seen the dolls on mugs.  So adorable with a hint of Hello Kitty, I had to scoop them up when I saw them @ my local Sanrio store, on sale even!

Each doll has a name (L to R in first photo: Chihiro, Gigi, & Stella) with their own special interests, i.e., running, music, etc.  At the bottom of each mug is Hello Kitty's face (what a nice treat to see when you reach the bottom of your mug) and a "Spread the Love" saying on each. These mugs are such a cute find!  I'll just add them to my little collection of  Hello Kitty mugs. =)

 ♥ Happy Hello Kitty! ♥ 

A Little Hello Kitty Throwback

I remember growing up in elementary and middle school, I would get excited shopping for school supplies.  My mom would drive us to Long's Drug and we would pick out spiral notebooks, pencils, pens, etc. for the new school year.  What I got really excited about was selecting that one little Hello Kitty item (or two)--whether it be a pencil, eraser, or little spiral notebook--to add to my yearly school supplies.  My mom would give me my $6.00/month allowance and I spent it however I liked.  Hello Kitty pencils were only $0.25 back then.  My splurge was usually one of those little spiral notebooks which were about $1.25.  So, for $6.00/month, I was able to pick up some pretty nifty things.

The one "holy grail" of school supplies for me was a pencil case that had all these little compartments, complete with built in pencil sharpener.  Oh man.  I really wanted one of those, but could never find one.  One of my friends had one of those and I would just play with that thing like there was no tomorrow.  I just had to have one!

Fast forward 30 years.....I found it!  Walking through a Sanrio store over the weekend, I caught eye of this beautiful, throwback to my childhood:

Of course, I had to buy it and at $12.95, I scooped it up!  Much cheaper than I thought it would be especially after seeing vintage types of these Hello Kitty pencil cases selling for $50+ on Ebay.  Here's how I use it:

The top compartment works well holding my crochet hooks and various embroidery needles.  The bottom compartment holds a pair of scissors.  Everything about this pencil case is just like I remember back in the day.  It's available here on the Sanrio website.  Yay for throwback Hello Kitty!

♥ Happy Hello Kitty! ♥

A Happy New Year with Hello Kitty & Talking Bacon

Happy New Year!  Being home from work for two and half weeks for the Christmas holiday was amazing.  A quick trip to Vegas (where we sat through a time share presentation to get $50), putting up more decorations around our house than we normally do (yay for Target sales!), wrapping presents (I got pretty crafty with these), eating so much yummy junk (um, almost every day of the vacation and especially on New Year's Eve with my bro's famous meatball sandwiches), witnessing the gyrations of our Filipino PSY at the annual family-and-friends-Christmas-party (yes, you know you have "that" uncle too), shopping and dinners with my sister (whom I'm so proud of!), loving my parents (thanks for the fridge!), loving my in-laws (thanks for the gift of your time!), watching my kids sleep (they are growing up so fast), experiencing my littlest little turning one and spending lazy nights watching tv with my hubs.....all of this created a memorable and very much a blessed time for us.

Christmas had it's share of Hello Kitty including, but not limited to (note: these are stock photos): 

 

♥ a new Hello Kitty rice cooker (from myself to myself)♥ 

 

♥ a Hello Kitty cupcake maker (from my bro & sis-in-law)♥ 

♥ a Hello Kitty key necklace (from my lovely sis)♥

But the most hilarious gift was Talking Bacon from a dear friend to my littlest little:

♥ Talking Bacon--genious!  You press a button and it says, "I'm Bacon".  (yes you are...delicious!)♥ 

I didn't do much crafting, but did more brainstorming for fun stuff to add to my shop in the next few weeks.  Stay tuned for cute lovelies including more crocheted hearts, flowers and sweater clips (these were best sellers over the holiday!) as well as cotton & crochet hair bows, resin rose hair pins, felt & lace hair pins, embroidery hoop art, and my favorite, fabric tape and gift tags (for all your gifting and crafting needs). It's going to be an explosion of cuteness! ♥

I hope you had a blessed Christmas with your family and friends.  Here's to a wonderful New Year!

Happy Crafting!

A Must-Have for this Holiday Season

I stumbled upon this little diddy via Sanrio and thought it was pretty cute because it appeared to be Hello Kitty next to a turkey.  Little did I know that this was no ordinary Hello Kitty, but a Hello Kitty that actually doubles as a turkey--a Hello Kitty Turkey, literally.  I must buy this just for the sake of having it because it is creatively and silly-ly awesome.

The little Hello Kitty "branding" on the Turkey's "butt" is too cute.

Happy Crafting!


 

Hello Kitty....and I thought I've seen it all!

In addition to crafting, those who know me are aware of my love of vintage Hello Kitty. I'm always on the hunt to find unique Hello Kitty pieces that bring me back to my childhood. I also have a pretty nifty collection of appliances (Hello Kitty, of course) that I do use both at work and at home which include:

COFFEE MAKER: though not the exact one I have, it does make excellent coffee and is the perfect size for my office.

TOASTER OVEN: a present from me to my husband as a housewarming gift.  LOL

TOASTER: makes excellent toast!

HOT/COLD WATER COOLER: actually works!

POPCORN MAKER: my son and nephews love this!

WAFFLE MAKER: given to me by a dear friend, it makes wonderful waffles!

SANDWICH MAKER: given to me by my husband on the night he proposed--and makes great sandwiches!

While I do love Hello Kitty, I did cringe a bit when I came across this little diddy on Ebay:

Yes my friends, this is an actual Hello Kitty breast pump.  While I do appreciate the novelty of it and am actually quite fascinated by it, I think I'll stick to my Medela. 

Happy Crafting!