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I know this isn't this best picture, hello blurry, but I've been trying to capture this crazy face Amelia makes. She makes this face when she's super excited about something. Usually her arms are straight out with her little fists clenched like she's Hulking out. Sometimes she is Hulking out, especially if you try and take away her spoon.

Lately, I've been looking on Pinterest for Halloween costume ideas for Amelia. There are so many cute ideas that I'm going to have a hard time narrowing it down.

I don't remember what my first costume was, I'll have to see if my mom remembers.
What was your first Halloween costume? What are you going to dress up as this year (if you dress up)?

PS Some of you may be thinking it's too early to be thinking about Halloween costumes, but I'm already getting into full fall mode. I'm already wishing for pumpkin spice lattes and cardigan weather. It's my favorite time of the year, so excuse my crazy ;)

That's What She Said Sunday

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When I started college in 2001, I was a psychology major, but I found the classes boring and lost interest. I was discussing changing my major with a friend, who suggested graphic design. The selling point was being able to work from home in my underwear, which sounded like a dream job.

I enjoyed the freedom of being a studio art major, and trying all sorts of new things from painting, ceramics, and screen printing. I carried this huge hot pink carpet bag and a tool box that I had taped pictures of Daniel Johns from Silverchair all over it. I made lots of friends and drank tons of coffee.

One thing I did not enjoy was most of my graphic design classes. I only specialized in graphic design, which meant taking a few more classes in that field than the other studio classes. I even had a professor tell me I would never make it as a graphic designer, and he was right. I interned at a local ad agency and hated every minute I wasted there. I didn't like the stress of pumping out a million logos in a short amount of time, and I didn't like trying to create for others.

Me in 2006 at work.

My last year of college I took at job at a new pottery studio not far from the university. I taught people to paint on pottery, fired up the kiln, designed ads, taught workshops, pretty much helped out with everything. When I graduated in 2006, I stayed and took on teaching private art lessons once a week to Pre-K through 3rd graders, and the occasional private lessons for older kids. I never dreaded going to work, and even though I didn't make very much money I felt accomplished and happy.

Life happens and it was time for me to move on to a new city and do some traveling. But I think about how happy and fulfilling that job was, and how I've been searching for another like it since.

Someday, I would love to open a studio and teach people with a passion for art, but right now I am happy being a mom and making dolls. The journey to where I am now has been a pretty rocky one, but it makes me appreciate what I have even more. I guess the moral of the story is, find what makes you happy even if the journey is a long one.

What is your passion? Dream job? I'd love to hear about it.

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My friend T took this photo of us at the farmer's market last weekend. Amelia slept through most of it, and then woke up all sassy right before we left. Can you believe she will be 8 months old on Sunday? Pretty soon I will be planning her 1st birthday party!

She is super curious and standing up by herself for over a minute. I'm teaching her patty cakes, and trying to get her to say DaDa. Sometimes she will rawr at me like a baby dinosaur. She learned that from watching Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood, which is a PBS cartoon based on Mister Rogers' Neighborhood. She's the funniest baby, and has the cutest giggle.

What were your favorite tv shows growing up?

Amelia mostly watches My Little Pony Friendship is magic. I'm pretty sure she will be the friendliest kid around, that will be able to dance you into the ground (she gets that from her dad).

I enjoyed watching Sailor Moon, Jem and the Holograms, and Kids Incorporated when I was a kiddo.

Scrawny Girl Shop Update

I've been working hard on a few new patterns I hope to share soon. In between thinking up new ideas, I've been trying to crank out a few chibi dolls.

If you missed out on the giveaway at My Life as A Teacup, you're in luck because I have another Teacup Doll that I just listed today! I only have a small amount of this fabric left, so this cutie is limited edition.

This fabric is actually from a Chelsea & Violet shirt I bought myself for my birthday a few years ago. It had a weird cut to it, so I never wore it, but it was too cute to get rid of. I am glad I am able to reuse it, and hopefully someone else will enjoy the pattern as much as I did.

Am I the only one who buys random things because they are cute?

The other doll I listed is my very first Halloween Doll! Halloween and Fall are my favorite time of the year! I found some really cute fabric, so prepare yourself for lots of spooky cuteness in the next few weeks.

After talking with my business adviser (that's my sister lol), I've decided to lower the prices in my shop. I think I was looking at too many other doll makers and what they were charging, and even though I was charging less it still seemed like too much to me. I want people to be able to afford my dolls and enjoy them! I want the doll to make your face light up like it does my daughter's each time I show her what I'm working on. With that being said, my Chibi dolls are now $8, and made with lots of love!

I've also added my first illustration for sale in the shop, at the insistence of my business adviser. ;)

You can find out more about my inspiration for the Princess Mononoke Illustration here, or purchase your very own copy here for only $5.

Lavender Sugar

All summer I've seen several posts on Twitter and Instagram about lavender coffee, and how delicious it is. As a fan of lavender, I've been dying to try it but there isn't a local coffee house that serves it.

This past weekend at the farmer's market there was a lavender booth. The family that owns the lavender farm, Thistledew Farms, were super nice and knowledgable. I ended up buying a small vial of culinary lavender and a big jar of bath salts.

She told me I could just put the lavender in my tea, coffee, and lemonade OR make lavender sugar. I wanted to share the recipe she gave me and a little step by step for anyone who has been wanting to try a little lavender in their drinks or food.

LAVENDER SUGAR RECIPE from Thistledew Farms

Materials needed:

2 cups of sugar

1 tbsp culinary lavender buds

measuring cup/spoon, blender (or food processor, spice grinder), air tight container

Measure out 1/4 cup of sugar and 1 tbsp of Lavender

Look how pretty the lavender buds are!

Put your 1/4 cup of sugar and lavender into your blender (i used a food processor), and blend for about a minute.

Add your lavender mixture to the rest of your sugar in an air tight container.

Allow the mixture to sit for 3 days to allow the lavender to infuse the sugar.

My kitchen smells amazing right now!

If you don't have a lavender farm near you, you can order products straight from the Thistledew Farms website! The small vial of lavender buds that I used is only $2 if you want to try and make your own lavender sugar.

You can learn more about why this family started Thistledew Farms here.

Have you tried lavender coffee? What did you think?

Let me know if you make this sugar, and what you think! I can't wait to try it in my coffee in a few days!

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This weekend was fun filled!

On Saturday, we had a girls day and went to the local farmers market. Clint met us for lunch and coffee at one of my favorite places Gatsby's.

LaLa and PaPa came by on Sunday and took us out for lunch to celebrate Clint's new job.

Amelia has 2 teeth coming in, and is making lots of funny sounds. We watch My Little Pony (FIM) Equestria Girls all day! She requests dancing to all the songs, its pretty cute.

Which MLP are you? I'm Pinkie Pie.

Somewhere Down The Barrel

The other day I had the itch to sketch it out, here was the result:

This was a totally different outcome than my normal sketches of cute things puked into my sketchbook.

When I was in college I had an unhealthy obsession with Daniel Johns from Silverchair. He had a side project called The Dissociatives, which was completely insane to my alternative loving self at the time, but the lyrics really spoke to me.

Here is the video to give you a visual:

Maybe my morning pages have been giving me deep thoughts, but here are a selection of lyrics that were swimming in my head while drawing:

"when everyone's a stranger
they call for you by your first name
and laugh at jokes you once made
when you were a kid"

"i'm plagued by small town fascists
like a rash on my skin"

"when paintings seem like bargains
but they're nothing but wallpaper"

The illustration reminds me of myself a long time ago. Kinda quirky, ready for crazy, and usually smiling on the outside. I've been thinking a lot about being "grown up" these days, which had me reflecting on the days where people ask you, "Where do you think you'll be in 10 years?"

Are you where you thought you'd be? Where do you think you'll be? Something to think about for sure.