BONUS Post

Why Hello again My Little Butterflies!

I'm inspired today I supposed because I turned this.....

Into these ^^^^!!!

     It's part of my Halloween costume.  I needed some funky earrings to go with my creepy doll costume.  So yeah.  Still planning on working on the other craft tonight as long as I;m not exhausted later.

I've shown you mine, now show me yours! 

Love, 

Pixie

LOOKIE WHAT I MADE!!!!!

Morning My Little Butterflies.  Wait...TWO Blog posts on the same week, two days in a row?!  WHAT?!  What is happening right now!  What's happening is I promised I would take pics and show you my new pattern weights.  And I always try to keep a promise.  So, here we go.  Forgive the photos.  The lighting was "off" in the room.  I couldn't get the right balance of light and color to make the images pop.  A little disappointed in that because I feel I take really good pics.  Anyway, Here we go.

So I gathers my supplies together, (the first 4 pics) and sat down at my sewing table to get to work.  You can't see it in the pictures, but I did lay down a sheet of wax paper to keep the glue from sticking to anything I didn't want it too and for easy clean up.  (I also do that when I'm painting or working with clay.)

Here you see the washers all in the bag.  

Here are my other supplies.  They include the afore (oooooooh fancy word!) mentioned washers, 4 rolls of ribbon, the Cool Tool glue gun and the glue sticks.

THE ELIXIR OF LIFE!!!!

My listening pleasure.  Yes I listen to old Horror movies while I craft....What?

      I started by stacking my washers in 4 groups of 4 for a total of 16.  Once my glue was "hot" I started gluing the first two together. Let me pause here and tell you how much I love my Cool Tool glue gun.  Don't get me wrong, I have other glue guns.  I use them, but I don't love them.  See, here's the thing.  I'm accident prone.  I trip over things that aren't there, I fall going up stairs and bump into anything and everything.  I also, burn the ever living SHIT out of myself on hot glue guns.  Nothing puts me in a bad mood and want to say the F word in front of Mama Pixie (AHHHH no we just don't do that)  FASTER  than burning myself on a GD glue gun.  So the Cool Tool is really great.  The glue does come out hot but not molten lava hot.  The only problem with it (which really isn't a problem) is you have to work fast with your project.  Now, with the washers being stainless steel, it cooled the glue off even faster so that was a race against the clock to get the glue placed, snap the picture and slam the other washer down before it got too cold to work with.

See?  In the back right corner of the photo? That's a stack of 4.

UGH SO BLURRY!

Bad Picture BAD!

     So, I actually tried putting the ribbon on two ways.  In the first way, I glued three of the washers together, then glued down a piece of the ribbon and glued the last washer on top thus wedging the ribbon between the 3rd and 4th washers.  The other way I did it, was I glued all the washers together then glued the ribbon to the top before wrapping the washers.  I have to say, I preferred the sandwiching method better.  The bond just felt so much better to me.

Before adding the 4th washer. 

It's a ribbon and washer sammich!

From  another angle.

Two done! 

     Ok I goofed up here.  I meant to post pictures of the actual wrapping process but got so excited when I finished two I blazed right through them.  And that's when Hubby Bubby spoke up...more on that in a sec.  So what I actually used are the mini spools of ribbon you get for like 99 cents at the fabric stores.  Four of those (full spools) were the perfect amount to wrap my washers.  I basically glued down a piece then wrapped it through the hole, under and back up, scootching over a bit every time so the ribbon overlapped just a smidgen ever time.  Turn the washer stack, repeat.

Hubby Bubby talks to GD much LOL.

     So, I've got four beautifully wrapped stacks for use as pattern weights.  I'm showing them off to Hubby Bubby and he says, "You know what would be a great idea?  Put felt on the bottoms so nothing gets snagged on the ribbons and it will glide over the fabric when you move them.  You have felt somewhere right?"  You bet your sweet ass I have felt in every GD color.  I found a piece that I have already been cutting pieces out of (cause I'm cheap and didn't want to ruin a new piece), I traced all four of my weights (no idea why I had to trace all of them.), cut out the felt, and glued those suckers to the bottom of the weights.

Hubby Bubby and his great ideas.....

The front left is a pink argyle ribbon and red roses on the right.  

The back two are purple (left) and pink (right) ribbons that say princess with crowns.  (Just in case there were any doubts.)

OH HEY Bottom center, that blue bit is the tape where I put down the wax paper.

Ready for action!

       See this up here^^^?  

     Yup those are my custom made pattern weights.  It took me just about an hour and a half what with the gluing and the pictures and all.  Once I got the hang of wrapping them, that part took no time at all. 

    I hope I've inspired you all.  Tonight, perhaps there will be another craft in the works!  We shall see.

  Have a Great Day My Little Butterflies, 

Love, 

Pixie

SO....You want to make an adult sized Pettiskirt?

Hi Kids.

Yeah I want a pettiskirt.  Yes I know I can buy one.  In fact I have one.  But no it's not what I want.  I want what is referred to as a CUPCAKE pettiskirt.  You know, like in those kid pageant shows?  Yeah....BIG and POOOOOFY!!!!!!

As many of you know, I'm a bigger girl.  Hey, no T, no Shade just pink lemonade Honey. I love my curves!  But it is hard to find a "standard" pattern for a Unique Body.

So first I tried making my own tutu.  SO much fun!  You literally can make this in ANY size and length. Longer tulle lays flatter giving you the actual skirt look.  Shorter pieces stick straight out more so you get more of a tutu effect.   It's got minimal sewing and the cutting the tulle is the hardest part here.  Gets a little tedious with tying the tulle on, but really, not hard.

Anyway, I've researched like crazy and made tons of notes from all kinds of websites and am getting ready to get started.  I'm hoping to blog about this the entire journey so forgive me if I ramble.

Part 1.  "So you need pattern weights"

     Ok, ok, you don't "NEED" pattern weights.  But having worked with pattern weights before.  I can safely say, they are the BEST!  If you know me, you know the worst part of any sewing project for me is the endless (and I mean ENDLESS) pinning and cutting.  I am so paranoid about making the wrong cuts that I end up using twice as many pins in my pattern pieces.  And those are called GD perforations!  Weights will give you the same holding power with less effort.  I love weights.

     So, here's my problem.  I had these great weights and left them at Mama Pixie's house.  Yeah they're hers now.  And that's fine.  I love my Mama Pixie and Damn it I came outta her vajayjay....she wins.

     To make a long story short (TOO LATE), I need new weights.  I found some instructions on how to do this on pintrest with good sized washers.  OFF I went to THE HOME IMPROVEMENT STORE! Since I know NOTHING about this stuff My ManCub (that's Hubby Bubby to the rest of you.) met me there.  After looking like a lost little lamb in the store (not kidding like 3 of the male workers stopped to ask me what I was looking for.) he found me and came to my rescue!  He knew exactly what to pick up, how many I would need and put them in a bag for me.  So, for less than $7, I had the pricey part of making my own weights.  Ok so I didn't leave for that amount, it was more like $13.  WHAT?!  They had stuff!!!!

     Side note here:  I'm not a big fan of dirt and grime on my hands.  I'm a bit of a germaphobe and you will see me wash my hands and use antibac stuff all the time.  So here I am in the Home Improvement store like wigging (people still say that right?) about the washers being all dirty and grimey and stuff.  Hubby is like laughing at me and says "You are so the wrong person to have in this store"  Well shit, everything has a film of dust, grime and dirt on it, AHHHHHHH and 2) is it a rule that those stores MUST be kept at about 80 bajillion degrees (all measurements of heat are not necessarily accurate) in those stores?  IN FLORIDA?!?!  Holy Balls I about burst into flames!!!!

    So tonight, with camera in hand, I'm hoping to make and finish 4 home made patterns weights. And this is before I even start cutting and sewing the pettiskirt.

     How do I get myself into these things?

Love and Peace my little Butterflies,

Pixie

Soooooo Much time has past!

Wow, OK so like I'm back...AGAIN.

Once again I will try to at least make weekly updates about what the hell is happening here.

So I have another new job.  I have to say, in the last year or so, I have discovered that people really are disgusting pieces of filth.  I mean I have been back stabbed and abused in the past year by people I thought were friends, by people I did nothing to and worked for the GD devil.

Anyway, I love my new job.  I answer phone for a funeral home.  Super easy but we get some odd ball questions sometimes.  I swear I had one about someone calling about the gold in someones teeth, how they could go about getting that.  I mean really?  How much do you really think you are going to get for that?!

Have a great day everyone.

Quick....Take a message

     OK for those of you who may not know, I work in an office.  I've worked in an office for most of my adult life.  Either as a receptionist, an admin assistant of sorts and even support staff for a repair shop.  Needless to say, I am familiar with the phone. But even before that, my parents taught me how to take a proper message.  This of course was before cell phones and such so sometimes, you had to take the message.  (You know back when I rode a T-Rex to school)

     In my career, I've learned the importance of not only circumventing calls for higher ups but also the importance of taking a proper phone message.

     So, in my effort to educate you all in case we all end up working together (Which really, I hope we do someday.  I mean I really want to work for myself someday and I have some fairly amazing friends who will just HAVE to come work with me.), Let me give you some examples of what is considered a proper message and what is not a proper message.  Let's start with the latter.

     Let's say, for instance, I am on the phone with someone and the other line chimes in.  As I am already on the phone, whomever is available, should answer it before the third ring (We'll get to that another time).  The callers name is Joe Mazaratz with American Access Actors (Fictitious!  [I Hope {Just in case WE ARE NOT AFFILIATED WITH THESE PEOPLE IN ANYWAY}]).  He is calling to verify the act I have heading to his event and whom the actors will be on the list.  His phone number is (123) 456-7890.

     This is NOT a proper written message to hand me;

American
Joe
123-456-7890

     ....Seriously?  I mean I have so many questions  don't even know where to start.  Joe who?  American What?  Airlines?  Is this an office number or a cell? What's the best time to call him?  (Ok trick question.  But we'll get back to that.)

     Below is a great message;

Joe with American Access Actors called.
You can reach him at 123-456-7890
RE:  Verification of actors that need to be on the list.

     AWESOME!  I know exactly who called and what they need to know.  This way I am not fumbling around trying to figure it out.  Easy Peasy Lemon Squeezy right?  SO, as far as time frames go, that will usually apply if I am out of the office for some reason, in a meeting what have you.  The time frame will tell me who called at what time and in what order I should return calls (Always the first called, first returned.) should there be more than one.

That's all for today darlings.  Should there be any questions, please feel free to ask!

All my love!,

Pixie!

Craft Stores and My Addiction

Addiction.  Yeah it's something we don't want to admit to.  I admit I love food.  We have a pretty damned amazing relationship.  So much so, if it turns on me, I truly feel betrayed.

Anyway, today, we're going to talk about another form of addiction.  

*stands*  My name is Pixie, And I'm addicted to craft supplies. *waits for the "Hi Pixie"*  

This really is on the hard side for me to admit.  Or should I say USED to be.  But now, I embrace my addiction, because Honestly?  I refuse to pay full price.  I'm also addicted to Sale Prices/ Clearance and Coupons.  

Let's take yesterday.  Yesterday was Sunday.  Now, if you know me, you know that I do not leave my house on Sunday.  That is truly my lay in bed, relax and recoup before a work week day.  I was up and at Joann's before they opened.  Why you may ask?  Well, they had McCall's patterns on sale for $.70 a pattern!  ALL of them!  Not like the spring and summers let's get rid of them for the fall and winter type of thing.  ALL OF THEM!  So, I got 10 patterns for me.  Then on a second order I got 6 for Mummy Dahling.  (Limit 10 per order, hence the 2 orders.(Yup, just used Hence correctly in a sentence.  HELLO SAT points!))  So, my total with tax was $ 7.49.  The total for mom's was $4.50.  For a total of $ 11.95.

Checking the math   $7.49

                             +$4.50

                              $11.95

Ya ever go to a store and they have the "You Saved" line on the bottom of the receipt   Sometimes it will be "Total Savings"?  Well which ever, That's my favorite part of the receipt.  I LOVE to see how much I saved.  Well, on Mummy Dahling's patterns, I Saved $98.80.  And on my patterns....Drum Roll Please....I saved....$125.75!!!!!! Let's check that math! 

   $ 98.80

+ $125.75

   $ 224.55

OMG, I think I had an O!  Better than sex I tell ya.  

I like to think of it as "Extreme Couponing"  without the cutting and the saving and the crap.  The very best, absolute, most AMAZING part?  I didn't use a single coupon!  NOT ONE!  And I had some good ones let me tell ya!    

So those of you who know me, now know why I have 2 two drawer and 1 three drawer filing cabinets full of patterns.  Because when I need them, I have them.  

So what do you buy en mass when you can?  

I luh me some eBay!

     Well hello again Fans.  Or Fan...Whichever...I'm ok with both.  If I can bring you a little bit of joy and humor while trying to clear the cobwebs out of my brain , well, that's pretty darned ok too.

     I have a confession to make...I love eBay.  No, really.  It's a little sick. 

     Here's the thing.  I like to craft right?  So, in my crafting enjoyment, I need to buy supplies right? 

See where the thinking is going now?

 

     So let's say I go to the two major local craft stores in my area.  I go when stuff is on clearance or on a major sale (Like 5 for $5 patterns).  I also only buy bigger stuff when I have a 40% or 50% off coupon. 

 

     As some of you may know, I've been wanting to put together an act again.  Just something we can do locally, maybe at a few of the Period Festivals.  I got to thinking.  I want something sparkly.  NO really like super duper OMG WTF type of sparkly.  So I ordered some really lovely rhinestones on eBay.  I guess the worst part about eBay is the fact that you can't really get a good look.  Meaning, I can't touch and judge and feel.  Does that make sense?  Had I been able to compare, I would have realized that 2mm stones are MINISCULE!  OMG these things are tiny!  I can use them on my nails...That's about it.  So I've ordered more.  Bigger this time thank Badness.  I also ordered specialty pencils, yes for crafting.  Ordered 4 then saw a deal for a package of ten so I have ten more heading my way.  I plan on everyone coming to my house to craft.  What FUN!!!!  I also bought some adorable ribbon for anklets and more rhinestones.  Whoever said you could have too many?  SO while digging through the craft room the other night I stumbled across a small plasticware container...FULL OF BIG RHINESTONES!  Like I said...never too many!  The thing with these stone is they are acrylic.  Which is a fancy name for plastic.  VERY pretty, not really crystal.  So those will get glued on.  Probably to props and the like. 

 

    The second lesson I learned from buying stones on eBay.  Mixed will usually mean not only a mix of colors, but they basically toss all the colors into a baggie and ship it to you.  I wanted to CRY when I saw two bags of those tiny stones all tossed in together.  I can't even with those things at the moment.  They are set aside til I can get my brain wrapped about the fact that I'm going to eventually separate them out so I can use them.  So, what did I do?  I bought another mixed lot!  BUT, before you die laughing, I ordered them larger as well so they will be much easier to separate. 

 

     While I was surfing eBay for crafting things...I came upon some light work out videos.  Now, I'm not sure how many of you know, but I'm not exactly thin.  Ok, Ok, I'm down right Ruebenesque.  So I want to get back into shape but because I have the flattest feet in the entire existence of humans ever so it seems, I have to start off with something that is not going to kill me....I bought 4 different dvd's.   I'm going to do this if it KILLS me.   Besides, in the price that I paid for 4 DVD's and shipping and handling, I still paid less that I would have if I had gone somewhere and bought one DVD.  So BONUS!!!!

 

     Annnnd while looking at the jewelry findings and stones (I want to make some kick butt custom stuff) I came across......feathers.  Not like the feathers you buy in a bag at the craft stores.  Feathers, Long and beautiful, soft and fluffy just begging to be made into something fun.  I ordered black and white ones....Shut Up I needed them!  They are ostrich plumes and LOVELY!  WAIT til you see what I have planned for these. 

 

     My next acquisition (as soon as I can get them to a price I am willing to pay) will be a lot (50 to 100) of peacock feathers.  They will be the finishing touches to my...OOPS  nope, can't tell you just yet.  Have to wait to I can make it happen.

 

WOW!  I had a lot to say today.  Must have had too much coffee LOL.  Send help I'm trapped by eBay! 

 

With All My Love,

 

Pixie

HAPPY....Third of July.

Cause Badness knows if I'm even going to make it on here at any point this weekend.

So I've decided I want to learn to belly dance.  I know, sounds a little weird but I've always loved it.  And for the weight loss aspect.  Ya see,  I'm what we call Ruebenesque.  The problem with that is it's very difficult what with the boobers and the flat feet to do anything too terribly strenuous.  So I figured belly dancing would be a nice gentle way to build up my strength to possibly move on to something harder. 

And now I wait for my videos to show up.  I luuuuuuuuuuuv me some Ebay. 

Friday I'll be out with a bunch of my HoS peeps supporting WIT Improv. 

I've decided not to let negative things be they events, situations, or people, hold me down anymore.  I mean, everything happens for a reason right?  Well here's the thing, I'm sure I will still have moments of anger, self doubt and frustration.  But maybe if I can use that energy to work towards my goals, things will work out the way I would like them to.  It's solid in theory anyway.

So, in closing, I'm hoping to be much more active on here.  We'll See!

With Love

Hello and Welcome to 40.....

Oye!  Ya know, this whole getting older thing, it's for the birds!  I;m not sure who decided at 40 that they suddenly wanted to start playing with the thermostat in my body, but they need to knock it off!  This hot then cold flash dance suuuuuuuuuucks!

Of course, someone suggested I go to a dr and get hormones.  Uh, No thank you, I'll pass.  Ya see, menopause is like puberty...in reverse.  Can you imagine having to deal with that crap over years?!?!  Not to mention, Hello?  I'm Latin.  I'm hairy enough!!!  If I took hormones Jaxie Boo would be able to braid the GD hair on my back!!!  And Jinxie Boo would like put beads and bows in it!!!!  Told you my friends are hysterical! 

So, in closing, allow me to regale you with what happened at the salon today.  So, I went to get my eyebrows and lip done (or get de-yetified as Hubby Bubby (that's Frank to the rest of you) and I so affectionately call it.)  I did mention I was Latin right?   I lay down on the little bed thing and the girl is looking at my face and we have the following conversation.....

Her -  Oh...I be right back....

Me - Uh...Ok

Her- (calls out from the little room in Vietnamese)

In comes the owner of the salon, they talk the owner comes over and looks at my face.

Owner - Oh Honey (She couldn't remember my name if her life depended on it...Just sayin)  you have red on you face by you eye.  Like rash o irritation.  (hands me a mirror)

Me-  WHAT?!  (grabs mirror and looks) Uh...no...that's eyeshadow! 

Yup..that just happened about an hour again.  My life I tell ya.  And it wasn't even red eyeshadow, it was dark pink! 

I mean really?  Is it me?!

And Welcome Back to you too...

PHEW!  Ya ever been so busy you don't know whether to wind your ass or scratch your watch?  Yup that me lately...ALL the TIME.  I saw on FB somewhere about  "If you want to know what a creative person's mind is like, just picture a browser with 2857 windows open, all at once all the time."  Truer words were never spoken!  I feel like that 24/7.  Half the time the reason I can't sleep is because my brain won't shut up long enough for me to fall down the rabbit hole.

Things that have happened lately?  Well Jaxie Boo's youngest lil Sweetheart turned a year old.  AH MAZING!  Can't wait to see the mini Boo's I love so very much.  *waves* Titi loves you!

My other Bestie Boo. We'll call her Jinxie Boo for the sake of anonymity she is doing amazing and is finished with the Festival so I finally get Jinxie Boo time!  VERY IMPORTANT.

OH And Gramma is coming into town for Mother's day.  VERY exciting!  It's been two years and I'm trying to get all the time I can with her.  And of course Mother's Day with the most amazing MAMI in the entire world the rest of you can suck it!   Just sayin...

OH I almost forgot!!!!  My temporary job?  Yeah...it became permanent on the 29th of April.  Not even here a month and they decided to keep me!  I am thrilled!!!

My pal, we'll call him Jimmy here, had what he calls an "incident".  I had no idea "incident" translated into MILD STROKE.  I am happy to report Jimmy is feeling much better and doing AWESOME!

Spring/Summer is doing it;s thing here in St. Petersburg, FL.  That means several things...
1)  My pollen allergies are kicking my BUTT!
2) We'll be getting into the rain pattern here which means it will pour from 2-4 and then be steamy.  Time to make sure all the A/C's in the cars have freon or what have you.
3) The Costuming bug is eating me alive!  I have to get my sewing room cleaned up so I can start working on stuff.  I have all kinds of ideas.  Everything from the evil snobby McSpiffy piratical era family, to the burlesque troupe (Yet unnamed) to the Saloon girls in the Old West and the Pub girls of the Renissamce period.  LOTS of sewing!!!!

What are you guys up to?