More Pink Ladies!

I finished two new little girls last night. I am really liking this new size. I did one that is even tinier but I am not happy with her yet. I think this is going to be the size I stick with for awhile, I guess I finally learned that less really is more. I am so happy that they have been well received and you guys like them! This is one of my number one favorite things about blogging. I love having someone to show my little creations to, it makes creating them even more fun!

So here they are!





I tried the pink and brown combo that seems to be popular right now. I like how she is kind of soft looking.





This Miss Polka Dots is ready for a party! Maybe one celebrating Spring? I love this happy color of pink and as you can see I covered her in pink!





So they are over in the shop waiting for new homes, I will definitely be making more. I like how they come together faster and take less of my favorite fabrics. I really don't enjoy turning their tiny little limbs. I need to teach my kids how to do it, I bet it would be easier for them with their little fingers. That is it, I could start my own little sweatshop!

I hope everyone has a wonderful Memorial Day!

Another Great Swap!

I received my mermaid swap from Tracy this week so now I can show you my treasures sent and received!

I sent Tracy off these goodies. She like teal and purple so I tried to use those colors.

I had fun painting this mermaid painting, I haven't done anything like this in awhile.

This is the fun package I received yesterday! It was just amazing!

I love the boxes she altered and I love that we both sent each other a mermaid doll! I have been so lucky with the great swaps I have done lately!

I am working on some more little dolls, I hope to have at least two in the shop tomorrow by noon. See that tiniest of the tiny one? She is making me nuts!

Throw-back Thursday, Me and Barbie

This is the little family that started it all for me! I adored Barbies! From the time this picture was taken, probably around five, until I was an embarrassingly old teenager.

Actually I guess it never really ended, William gave me a bride Barbie for Christmas the first year we were married. I would have paid good money to see him wandering down that pink Barbie aisle too!

Anyway, the Sunshine Family started it all for me. I remember them so clearly too. The Dad and the baby had such curly hair. And the mom was shaped more like a preteen than the mother of a child. I loved them! I have been thinking about my Barbies a lot as I have been working on miniatures. That became a huge part of the appeal for me. I had a cousin who taught me how to cut out the tiny little images of product that were in the paper on adds and coupons, then make little boxes and glue them to the front. Presto, Barbie could have a full pantry! Believe it or not most of them have survived and are still in residence at my mom's house. When we go to visit this summer I am taking pictures! So does Brittany love Barbies as much as her mother? Not really, but it is okay, I think I got it all out of my system when I was a kid!

Teeny-Tiny Little Miss Polka Dots!

Here she is, my littlest doll! I have sort of been obsessed with making this little doll for the last couple of days. When I signed up for Viv's miniature swap she warned me that I could become easily hooked. And I thought to myself "I really don't think so". Wrong! I am totally hooked! What is it about little tiny things? I have been wanting to make a tiny version of my original gingham girl. I have decided that there is just something I really love about a round headed doll. Weird, never would have thought I would think about the shape of a dolls head but there you are! I also really love felt hair. It never gets messed up and always looks cute. In fact I wish I could have felt hair myself. And that it could be just this color pink too! I love pink and black together. And polka dots. Are you getting the feeling that I really love all the things that make up this doll? Well I do, I am really happy with her. I thought she looked like a birthday girl so I made her a birthday cake to take along on her journey, where ever she goes. Another good idea, always bring cake!

Here she is in my hand so you can see how little she is. She is in the shop now.

I am working on an even tinier version, believe it or not! It is really hard to make clothes this tiny though so we will see if she make it or not!

**Yeah Tiny Little Miss Ginghamworld has been sent to her new home! I am glad she is so well liked! I will be starting some more!

A couple of good flicks!

I watched Iron Jawed Angels this afternoon while I worked on the project I had hoped to have finished to put in the shop today. I will have it tomorrow. This is an HBO film that start Hillary Swank, Patrick Dempsey and a few other faces you will recognize. I decided to watch it after Tif reviewed it last week. You should read her review here, it is much better than mine will be. I didn't know too much about the suffrage movement and I kept thinking that although I knew these women has fought for the right to vote for many years, I didn't think the movie would get too rough. I mean I guess I think of the turn of the century as a somewhat more civilized time. They didn't contend with porn on the Internet, nuclear bombs, terriorts and such. So surely, although I knew no one was going to roll over and just give women the vote I didn't think it would get too brutal. I was wrong. Those women really did literally fight for us all to have the right to vote, something I know I have taken for granted. It was really a good movie, made me think a bit and that is always good! Needless to say I will definitely be voting in the next election!

Last night I stayed up waaaaaay too late watching the end of Cranford, the PBS masterpiece theater series. Loved it! It just might be my favorite Judy Dench movie, and I really liked Mrs. Brown. If you missed it add it to your netflix Que. You can still see it here online too. Some of the witty little one-liners in here just killed me!

Sunday Update!

Just a few things going on around here this week.

First William had almost finished the playground/garden area this weekend.





It is looking so good now! The swingset looks so much better over here. Now we just have to finish that little area the roto-tiller is in. Probably some more dirt and a few trees.





Brittany got new glasses this week! They look waaaay too grown up!





Matthew drew this great picture of my hand during sacriment meeting. I know it is hard to see, but I had to show it as those little squiggles everywhere are apparently the veins in my hands! I guess I must be aging even faster than I thought! Hysterical to me that he had to draw them!





Mr. Joshua got a warning in nursery today at church for kicking. Apparently I am raising "that" kid. He looks too sweet doesn't he? He is saying "cheese" while I took the picture! These two boys want to wish you "Aloha" in their aloha shirts too!

Yummy Lemon Chicken!

This is one of my new favorite recipes! It started with a recipe my friend Tif's Sister-in-law's recipe for lemon chicken. I think she got it from Rachael Ray. It called for lemon curd which makes it really easy. The problem is lemon curd can be kind of hard to find. And sort of expensive in these parts. So I figured out how to make my own lemon curd. It wasn't hard because lemon curd is basically the lemony part of lemon bars. We love this recipe because I think of the crispy chicken and the yummy sauce which basically make it okay to eat dessert for dinner!

2-3 Chicken breast cut into small chunks. Salt and pepper chicken. Dip in egg, then in cornstarch. You can dip in flour but we use cornstarch because it is gluten-free and it doesn't seem to soak up the oil as much. Heat enough oil in a small sauce pan to cover the bottom about a half inch. Brown chicken chunks in the oil and then remove. I sometimes do this part in advance. Of course the last time I tried doing this Mr. Mathew snuck into my fridge and nippled his way a quarter of the way through my chicken!



If you don't want to buy the lemon curd this is how I make it. In a saucepan I combine 1 cup sugar, 5 tablespoons of lemon juice, 2 eggs. I cook it about 8-10 minutes over a pretty low heat, it will scorch easily, until it thickens a bit. Then I add 2 teaspoons of cornstarch to about a tablespoon of cold water and stir that in until it thickens more. This part can be done ahead also.



Then just before we are ready to eat I heat a tablespoon of oil in a large frying pan, add the chicken to reheat if I made it ahead. Remove that to a plate for just a minute while I add about a tablespoon of vinegar to the pan and then the lemon curd. Add the chicken back in and heat it all together, but really lower the heat because that sauce will scorch so easily. Serve over rice. A little green onion garnish on top looks nice but my kids won't eat it! This make really good leftovers except there usually aren't any!