Evil Princess Lady Barbie

So just to keep you on your toes, I've actually working on what I said I would work on in my last entry. Although I kind of forgot to post on Thursday.....

No matter!

Now there is actually something to post about! Ha!

I think sewing a villain doll is making me talk more like a villain in my head. And I write the way I speak. My apologies that you have to deal with this. Anyway, after two failed attempts (curses!) to create a bodice this morning, I got some coffee and finished the majority of the dress for Evil Princess Lady.

She looks evil, right??

The ribbon belt is a stand-in until I actually make one, which will be black. Although maybe I will use the ribbon somehow? I kind of like the contrast. I haven't really decided. I also haven't decided whether to give the dress sleeves—that's why the edges are unfinished on one side of the sleeves of the overdress. Everything needs to be ironed so that it doesn't stick out, and so that the seams are flat.

The underdress is actually two pieces, since sewing them together would have been too much work. No idea what the fabric for either is—it's all from my scraps. I think I might also add in some black embroidery on the black overdress. I know it won't photograph well, but I think it will look fancy and evil when I play with her in person.

And one more pic of her, for putting up with me so far. :P 

holy crap!

So I actually got some stuff done this weekend! 


First, and most importantly, I started to clean out my craft room, so it is no longer  the Pit Of Chaos, Cardboard, And Also Polystyrene, but the Home of Some Mild Cardboard-Related Chaos. Now I can walk out to my balcony without having to employ any wiggle maneuvers to get there. I still have a bunch of boxes though... how did I get so many!? If anyone needs some boxes (or giant pieces of cardboard), I am your go-to person right now. My floor is still covered in fleece scraps, though, because I finally finished the.....

NINJA BUNNIES!!!!!1111ELEVENTYONE!!

I am FINALLY mailing these puppies out to the folks in the craft chain I am doing. They are so soft and cuddly. I want to keep one for myself. They are also sneaky!

Those sneaks snuck into my living room!

They are made of fleece, and their ears are held up with recycled cardboard. :P Their tails are little pom poms. I love their little bums tails, and I got a photo of one as it was running away!

bun bun bum bum

Anyway, I also did crazy hair and makeup this weekend, and took a bunch of photos, but I don't think that is the sort of thing I should post here... And I also started drafting out a dress for my Evil Princess Lady Barbie, from that Novel I Haven't Actually Written Yet. She should be easy, though—I'm only doing a partial repaint, and I am leaving her hair as-is. Gotta say, though, I am not a fan of the Model Muse bodies... chicken legs! And no bendy limbs! :( Hopefully her dress will be done by Thursday, or at least started.

Just a lil' tease.

I did some quick embroidery tonight. Since the cloth is translucent, I couldn't be lazy about about the stitches look from behind, like usual.

I haven't decided what I'm going to do with this piece yet. Probably I will sew it on to some of the fabric I just got from etsy and hang it on my wall.

I like how the piece dangling in front of the face is actually just dangling there.

Hey mom!

Well, this weekend contained Maternal Figure Day. (My PC term, since not everyone has/likes their mother.) Since I am in the happy position of having a wonderful mother, I celebrated the day with her. And of course, since I’m me, I couldn’t just buy her some fancy-pants present; I had to make something. Well, more than one something.

First, I decided to remember how to do embroidery. Embroidery is actually something I really enjoy doing, it’s just so tedious that I tend to get lazy and not finish. Also, I really need to sketch out what I’m going to embroider in detail, and I’m always lazy and use a pen, and then the pen bleeds and it looks crappy. (And yes, I made that mistake this time, again… -sigh-)

I forgot to take work-in-progress pictures, which is too bad, since you would be able to see how I totally changed my mind while approaching the end of the piece and decided to fill in the branches with a poorly-done staggered satin stitch. (I know that’s not the proper name, but I can’t for the life of me remember what it is!)

Anyway, here is the finished piece:
Probably the best part was filling in the bluebird with crayon. (Note to self: next time, do that before finishing all of the embroidery.)

My mom really loves it, and it’s already on display in the kitchen. I put black cloth on the back so that you can’t see my messy stitches in the back, and it makes the cloth look kind of dirty. And I keep looking at it and getting irritated, because I can see all of my mistakes and how easy it would have been to fix them. I was on a schedule, though, and I just barely finished it in time (1am, Friday night). Why did it need to be finished by Friday night, you ask? Oh, because I had to make these:
Mmmm. I used vanilla bean seeds for the first time in these cupcakes. My mom was really happy. I hope she doesn’t mind me posting a picture with her in it!

These tasted pretty good, but served as a life lesson: don’t try to bake or make meringue buttercream when it is REALLY FREAKING HUMID. Also, don’t forget to put in the last egg white when making said meringue buttercream… >_> In other news, Swiss buttercream was a lot easier to make than I thought it would be, and delicious to boot. I’m bringing in the leftover cuppies for a meeting tomorrow! :D

(And see that cupcake in the bottom-left corner? That's the one my brother ate. Because it had the most frosting. Of course!)

Should I be making a New Year's resolution to write here more? Nah.

So, for Christmas my parents gave me a sewing machine. Oh yes. You know how this is going to turn out. My plan is to set up a little craft area in my basement, because my room is really just too small for me to do crafts in. So hopefully, I will start churning out those angels and demons soon.
I did a lot of cooking for Christmas, and even took a couple of neat pictures. I love deviled eggs, and I got a new cookie-maker-pump-thingy device from my sister. It is my new best friend, and I used it to make swirly centers in the deviled eggs. :D

And (of course) I made cupcakes, too. I was lazy and used cake mix and premade frosting. My sister was happy. She loves the crap stuff. Eventually I will convert her to my delicious baked goods.
This weekend I have some grandiose plans with Heather to make an excessive amount of baked goods, all magnificently decorated. I'm not sure how well it will work out, but at the very least, I'm gonna make some more cupcakes. We're also making a fancy-pants cornish hen dinner for our double date. I'm crossing my fingers for success.