knick knacks & ric rac

i made these fun and festive alpine inspired sweaters from two plain old pullovers i bought at the thrift store. one was a pink boucle crew neck and the other was a green v-neck heathered with blue and yellow specks.

this is what they looked like before…not very exciting…

here’s how you can do it yourself! first i cut up the center and finished the raw edge with grosgrain ribbon in the inside. this will keep the sweater from unraveling and stretching out in the front. i chose polkadot ribbon because it’s more fun than plain ribbon!

then i sewed on lots of super cute woven trim and ric rac! the green one i chose to apply the trim mostly on the upper part like a bib, and the pink one i ran a few rows of trim all the way up the front and around the neck.

then i sewed 3 buttons on each side and a chain loop to fasten them with. i think this is my favorite detail and really gives it that alpine-y feeling!

i hope you try it yourself and send me pictures!

i am so in love with these handmade veggie folk from gobbledygook creature decor!

i had already purchased the carrot and potato a while ago, then i just saw the red onion on etsy yesterday and had to get it too.

the veggie folk are handmade, from the sculpting and mold making to the casting and painting. the detail is incredible! i love their expressions! i was going to put them in the back yard, but maybe i want to keep them in the refrigerator instead. i have fake eggs in my eggholder, but they don’t look at me like these guys do…and it would make things alot more exciting when i rummage around in the fridge looking for something to eat! i love veggie people! (you may remember these fruit & veggie people portraits in my kitchen that i wrote about here).

ps-for those of you looking for stocking stuffers, imagine how great these guys would look peeking out from the top of a stocking!

i found this pretty plum colored boucle cardigan at the thrift store, which just so happens to go perfectly with my plum wycinanki skirt! the problem was two of the five buttons had fallen off. i went to find some new buttons for it at the fabric store and couldn’t believe how expensive the fancy buttons were! i needed pretty big buttons, 1 1/4″, and the ones i liked were $5 each! i need five of them so that would be $25. and then the color didn’t quite match…i decided to make my own pretty buttons using a couple of inexpensive ones…

i bought a large plain button for the bottom (2 for $1.25) and a fancier small button to sew on top (4 for $1.50). i think they came out even cuter than the expensive buttons, and the two-tone and texture mix gives it a more interesting look. even better than the buttons that were originally on it!

my best friend jenny’s award winning documentary about her dad, ‘abel raises cain’, is now available on dvd! yay! this labor of love has been nine years in the making.

watch the trailer here (and another one here) and buy a copy of it here! also, check for screenings in your area here.

Jenny Abel and her father, Alan Abel, in front of the White House (1980)

“As far back as she can remember, Jenny Abel has seen her father appear on television under a variety of aliases, fooling news reporters and talk show hosts. He was continually plotting new ways to infiltrate the media with one of his seemingly absurd causes. Throughout the years, people have accused him of being a scam artist or an impostor. But to Jenny, he was always just a father with a unique profession. Alan Abel, by trade, is a professional prankster. His hoaxing career began in the late 1950s with a campaign to clothe all animals for the sake of decency. Even though it was a satirical commentary on censorship, his slogan, “A nude horse is a rude horse,” was plastered on the front page of newspapers all over the country. Fueled by the overwhelming response he received from this simple yet silly idea, Abel continued concocting a myriad of elaborate hoaxes and schemes, all designed to provoke and amuse.”

Alan Abel on The Dennis Wholey Show demanding that all animals be fitted with underwear (1969)

i just added a few new fun goodies, take a peek at the monkeyin’ around skirt, made from fun vintage fabric featuring frolicking wild animals in the jungle. trimmed with mustard ric rac at the hip and hem.

deer brooches-choose from a handsome buck in a scalloped heart or a darling little fawn on a dark green pine tree.

and super sweet gingerbread heart necklaces and brooches, with 3-D frosting and ribbon flowers in the center.

(these look too cute with my gingerbread skirt!)

socorro made another pair of smiling snail potholders…

take a peek at them here!

i went to the thrift store yesterday and they had a bunch of cute russian clay figurines called dymkovo toys. i had never seen this type of handicraft before. i bought these two, the brown bears are my favorite…

then i thought about the other ones all night and had to go back this morning and get a few more. colorful farmyard fun!

the girl in the middle has a birdbath full of birds!

they are made from a mixture of clay and sand, then after they are dried they are whitewashed with chalk diluted in milk and painted with tempera. the final touch is gold leaf accents. festive!

another new print for fall/winter…

inspired by woven ribbon trims and ric rac. i printed this one in three colorways. coming soon! next week if i can get my act together…

i picked up a bunch of bags of glass globs at the 99cent store a while ago and decided to use them to spruce up some windows. i used them on the little windows on my front door (except for one square so i can peek out of it)…

it sparkles at night from outside! so pretty!

i also used them on the windows of my computer cabinet…do the printer and scanner really need a view? i love the combination of the shiny glass globs and the dull grout…

it’s super easy to do-i glued the glass globs to the windows with E6000 and let it dry, then grouted it with a charcoal color sanded grout. i think the dark grout really makes the colored glass pop when the light shines on it. someday i want to do my bathroom window this way.

i just finished sewing up skirt samples of one of my new prints for fall/winter. i call this one my ‘favorite things’ print, well, because it features a few of my favorite things. like toadstools and edelweiss and kissing bunnies and…see for yourself!

the red print is paired with black denim, and the green print is paired with indigo denim. the skirts zip all the way down the front with matching plastic zippers! fun! i’m working on a jacket to go with it now. i’ve been neglecting sending out update emails when i post new things, but i’m planning on fixing that-sign up for my mailing list here if you’d like to be updated!