Wild horses couldn't drag me away

I'm going to put in a quick plug for my shop, and then we'll get to the fun stuff, ok?

I'm taking Hot Butter to Denver for Fancy Tiger's Holiday Handmade starting Friday night. That means I'll be putting my shop on vacation mode sometime Friday and won't turn it back on until Sunday or Monday. When I do, I'm sure hoping that I don't have much stuff left to sell. So if Hot Butter is on your holiday gift buying list, please check out my shop this week. Thank you so much for supporting handmade this season!

I was in the middle of uploading some random pictures off my camera when my trusty apple lappy had a sudden fit of narcolepsy. When I turned it back on, it said something about my iPhoto being unreadable or some junk. It was pretty easy to fix, this time. I fear my dear lappy may not be with us for a whole lot longer.

Anyway, here are some random pictures I've been holding hostage.



This is my glorious wild horses thundering across my thighs skirt. It's friends with the cat lady skirt. Pardon the flashy picture, the strings on the rug, and the keytar. Apparently the editing I did to this photo was sacrificed in the Great Narcolepsy Event of 2010. We're friends, and friends pretend not to see that stuff, ok? :)





I painted up this pretty brown vintage clutch/wristlet the other day, and I kind of wants to keep it for myself.



Here's my one (also flashy) picture of the star of the Thanksgiving feast roster (in my opinion), my turkey. This is my second year making my very own turkey, and I think I might be awesome at it. Like maybe better than my mom (I don't think she reads this, but if she does, I'm sorry. Let me make you a turkey?).

Bonus prize:



Purple striped necktie ninja sighted at the Chainsaw's birthday feast.

Oh Ferdinand

In the middle of wallet assembly line creation last week, I was overcome with the urge to make a new friend. So I did!



Please allow me the pleasure of introducing you to Ferdinand. He is made from a handmade vintage table runner. I found several sets of owl faces for macrame at a thrift store, which I sewed onto his face with embroidery floss. The beak only had a top hole, so I hammered a hole into the bottom of it with a hammer so I could attach it more securely.



I think he's pretty handsome.







I have a few more long wallets in my shop, including a couple with the pretty pretty Kokka cupcakes we all love. I'm off to work on button earrings. Happy Monday!

The Crazy Cat Lady Skirt

My friend Martina of EyeLab was wearing a glorious cat skirt the day I met her, and I happened to notice the same kitty kitty fabric at JoAnn the other day. Now I too can claim the glory of wearing a cat skirt, which I did at work last night. It's another exposed elastic waist skirt, for the record.



My sweet Double Rainbow is getting so big! I would have like to have gotten a picture of me in the cat skirt holding all my cats, but I don't think Jezebel Lincoln would stand for such humiliation.

And to change the subject completely, Felix once admired a hat in a picture of my friend Matt. Matt got a new green hat and ever so nicely passed his old one on to Felix.



Matt predicted Felix wearing it all the time, and that guy should probably invest in a crystal ball and get a job telling the future. Felix loves it and has already written an adorable thank you note complete with drawing of the hat.

Mega super shop update

I have been super busy this week working on wallets, pouches, and top secret Christmas gifts. Of course, the Christmas gifts are what I'm REALLY excited about, but I have to try to keep a couple surprises.





I have amassed a doily collection and tried to put it to good use here. I think these turned out super cute, and I'll for sure have to make some more soon!



I have a couple Owl and the Pussycat wallets. I super dooper love these and may end up with one for myself soon!





This is just a random selection. Please go check out my shop if you want to see everything. My shop is at it's all time high on stock. It's glorious!

I made a couple more exposed elastic waist skirts yesterday in new and exciting themes. Stay tuned, kids.

Wristlets

I finally finished (only) most of the partially done wristlets that have taken over my table for that last uh..way too long, ok?



My topstitching looks funky on this one because the purple fabric hid almost all of the stitches, so the few that are showing look kind of funny in pictures. Oh well! It's super cute.



I love this green and white fabric. It looks like a glorious little forrest on my wrist.



A very nice lady asked me if I'd be interested in upholstery samples at a craft fair a long time ago. The universes aligned, and she wasn't joking when she said she had tons she didn't want to throw away. I still need to make her a special thank you present now that I think about it. Let's add that to the never ending to do list, shall we?

These ladies are present in the newly updated Wristlet section of my shop.

I haven't taken any awesome photos of these yet, but here's a sneak peek at some of the skeleton key necklaces I made yesterday.



I finished six yesterday afternoon and am presently waiting on the rest of my favorite keys to unrustify themselves in a glass of vinegar. I scrubbed them with baking soda first, which got a bunch of it off. Any advice on how to make this happen quicker? Sand paper? I do not want to go buy toxic rust removing chemicals.



I'm going to have a giveaway for one of these soon! Keep your eyes peeled.

Everything that is awesome and delicious

I haven't been actively seeking garage/estate sales lately, but I do try to stop if I see a sign and have a few doubloons in my pocket. The last two I've been to happened to be on their last leg, which means 50% off!

Thursday I spotted an estate sale sign on my way to pick Felix up from school. On our way home, we stopped, and we happened to have 10 minutes before they were done. I found this beautiful ivory leather coat. It didn't have a price tag.



It's missing a button, which the lady told me popped off that day when someone else was trying it on. I'll be repairing it soon! So anywho, I left the coat on while asking it's price in an attempt to convince the lady that I needed this coat and I needed it for a sweet deal. Then the universe parted the clouds and answered my prayers. She gave it to me for $3!

I had the other night off and chose to focus my domestic energies on dessert. That's right, I said dessert. First I made a delicious vanilla custard to chill in my fridge before becoming delicious ice cream/frozen custard/the best thing ever. Then I got out my super awesome apple peeler/corer/slicer and went to down on a bag of apples, which quickly became the best apple pie ever, recipe courtesy of my friend Mike.

Mike highly suggested the lattice crust top, and that guy only speaks the truth when it comes to apple pie.



I don't have the fancy outer crust making skills, but my pie plate was kind of huge (and I use my Grandma's secret crust recipe- Pillsbury, the kind that's rolled up). The flour/sugar mixture becomes some kind of delicious compote like substance under the crust. Double duty extra awesome, ya'll.

Then I made my man folk grilled ham and cheese sandwiches because that's all the energy my heart had left.

I'm making skeleton key necklaces out of the sweet collection of skeleton keys I risked my life for in Grandpa LeRoy's storage unit. I think he'd think they're awesome. Pictures soon!

Halloween and Unicorns

My owl costume turned out fabulous, if I may say so myself. I used this tutorial for the dress. For the wings I cut out pieces of felt. I interfaced the bottom piece of felt and added a snap and a loop of elastic to keep it in place. I put the other part of the snap on the shoulders of my dress to anchor the top of the wing to the dress. I think bigger wings would have looked better, but it was a last minute idea and I used what I had.



I've been working on painting some of my vintage bags for the upcoming holiday market I'll be participating in. I'm kind of in looooove with this unicorn. Do you think our babies would have rainbow hair?