Twins & Charm Bracelets...oh my!

This last weekend I visited a whole bunch of my favorite people in San Diego; the Zimlich clan...(and yes Veronica, I really am a part of the family! They told me so when I was in the family Christmas photo at Nana's a few years back ;-P )...
Anyhoo, my good friend, Rhonda, her hubby, Dave, and their 4 year old twins, Veronica and Gabriella, were visiting the rest of the "National Lampoon's extended family" for the girls' 4th birthday last week. So, I headed to San Diego with 2 very special gifts on hand...special charm bracelets for little wrists!
Veronica's bracelet:
They are actually Scrabble and Travel Scrabble tiles! Perfect for initials!
I'm thinking that I'll do custom orders on Etsy! These were a hit!

A twins moment...Here they are in onesies I made them when they were tiny (oh wait...they weren't tiny at 8 pounds each when born!), but were still adorable as hell!
And here they are now!
www.auntieemswicked.etsy.com

Way too long...

A lot has happened in my life and craft world in the last 4 months or so...
I became an auntie again at the end of April to Ameenah Jane Huntoon:
She is a beautiful girl and I look forward to spending more time with her in the future!

As for crafting, my friend Missybug, taught me to make domino and scrabble tile pendants and charms! It's a new obsession and I'm off and running... (pics to come soon!) I'm also making jewelry out of old 80s charms like cowboy boots and guns...I've got a great pair of guns dangling from my ears as we speak!!! Anyhoo...I'm looking to set up an etsy site real soon to sell multiple jewelry types and custom orders, earring frames, and possibly the ring pincushions that I posted previously. I'm toying with the name, Auntie Em's Wicked Designs... My friend, Pete, suggested the name following in the whole Auntie Em Wizard of Oz theme. So, I've got some rough ideas of business cards, website banners and such using this vintage photo of my grandma and a fairly new shot of myself...Remember it's still REALLY rough...Keep ya all posted on an etsy site and my newest creations!!!
Auntie Em

Cape for pete...

My friend Pete finished college last week so I sewed her her very own UCI alumni cape!


It's double sided so she can switch from anteater alumni to Pete the superhero very easily...


Here she is pre-graduation party last night! She looked so cute!





Post From My iPhone

My new craft space!!!

About a month ago I moved from Newport Beach to Placentia... I'm in a nice house on the border of Brea with my dad's girlfriend, Sharon. I live in a furnished room but was able to bring ALL of my crafts...To accommodate all my favorite things, I bought a craft table on clearance at JoAnn's. It took a lot to put it together but it's all set up and I have had a blast filling it! Here it is:


And today, I spent a little bit of time finally making pincushions on the tops of the jars that I wanted to use for a cute little storage and decoration fix. I think they turned out great! And, they were so easy... There is a great tutorial that is similiar at Craft Pudding.


I also made a cute little ring pincushion last week...I just used the same process as the baby jar pincushions and the bottle cap pincushions and attached the stuffed fabric to a plastic kid's ring! So cute!

My Valentine Sweethearts...

Last Saturday, (Valentine's Day), I got to spend time babysitting all 4 of my nieces and nephews with their Yaya! What a day! I can't even tell you how much I love these 4...These kids are the light of my life. Maya, 5, and Lucas, 10 months, are a product of my brother, Schon and sister-n-law, Linda. Sidney, 11, and Zurhi, 17 months, are a product of my brother, Greg and sister-n-law, Folake. We had a blast!


We watched Sid play guitar hero and I swear we were witnessing a rock star in the making. He's got the looks and the spunk to be a huge star...


I got a kick out of Maya watching and singing all the songs in Camp Rock 2 at the early age of 5. She is very dramatic and loves to act out the songs while singing along. It's as if she's putting together an interpretive dance to go along with the drama in the teeny bopper flick. She's a crack up.

Zurhi is our super tall, super active, curly haired beauty. She is so sweet and we enjoyed hearing all the words she can say and repeat. She quickly went up to her baby cousin, Lucas, and said "baby." Later in the day she was repeating "cousin Lucas." She gave all of us kisses including Lucas and Maya, which was so sweet to see. She follows her big brother around and adores the ground he walks on....

And then there is Mr. Lucas. This guy is growing up so quickly with his natural rock star mohawk and huge brown eyes! He started walking around the furniture while I was there last weekend and he "scoots" all over the place. I had the pleasure of rocking him to sleep several times over the weekend. That has always been a favorite activity when I'm with the littlest ones. Anyhoo, I just wanted to post an update on my favorite kids on earth!

Gifts from Christmas last...

Since I hadn't entered the blog world by last Christmas, I thought I'd take a couple minutes to share some of the handmade gifts I made this last year...I try to put a lot of effort in my gift decisions and these were the gifts that made the most sense to make last year:

The "She's Crafty" apron for sister-n-law, LindaLu...also embellished with Urban Threads' "Craft Ninja:"

The Zombie sock monkey emerging from the wrapping, for roommate, JJ. Equipped with stump and chewing on brains:

The Punk Rock sock monkey for my friend, Pete . Punk Rock sock monkey was made with a felt mohawk, star butt, and pipe cleaner tail for bendy action!
The Camp Fire USA wall hanging for my boss, Michelle, using Sublime Stitching camp patterns:

The pillowcase for my mom and her new husband, also made with Sublime Stitching patterns:

Here's the t-shirt tote bag that I made when I got back from the Swap-o-rama-rama in LA in November. It says "Let's Hug it Out Bitch." I gave it to my friend, Suzanne, for Christmas (Thanks for the sexy modeling SuzieQ!!!):

And, last but not least...my roommate, JJ, works for Blizzard and had to come up with a hand crafted Christmas decoration with a Blizzard theme. So, with his help, I made a Blizzard stocking made out of a Diablo shirt. I hand embroidered Blizzard in the most God forsaken metallic craft thread ever made!!! That stuff was awful to work with...but alas...we won the contest:

This year's Christmas crafting is already simmering in my brain...so more to come in the future!

Love conquers all!!!

The latest project with the students in my sewing club is making Monsters and Ninjas... My friend (and instructor), Jessica, had her sister and mom come volunteer in our program last week and we started our felt softies... So I shrunk my Mon Softie pattern down and Jessica's sister, Nichole, brought her Ninja pattern and the kids went to town... So that the kids could watch the project in action while they made their own, I made a Ninja with them... Here is the result: the Love Ninja!!!
The love ninja fights with love cuz love conquers all!!!! CHEESY...

A Great Weekend....

I had a really productive weekend and that always makes this girl feel good!

First I did some relaxing Saturday morning and a little bit of laundry before heading to meet up with some crafty chicas also from Orange County...I hung with about 5 girls at the Gypsy Den in Santa Ana...(amazing food btw)...We talked craft geekiness for a couple of hours and had a blast. Knit With Love put the group meeting together and also attending was Craft Pig and Wet Paint. It was good to connect to some women with similar interests!

Next was movie night with the boyfriend...always quality time!!! I worked on and finished this cupcake hat on the knifty knitter...It was based on a picture of the Strawberry Sundae Delight that I saw on Ravelry.com ... I also added the heart shaped pom-pom; idea compliments of Zakka Life.

Then, this morning I called up my friend Pete and invited her over to bake and watch 27 dresses...We've had an awesome day cooking and baking since we decided to make 6 different things! That's right...a little overboard but fun nonetheless!

We made:
1. Cream cheese pinwheels to snack on whilest baking/cooking...
an appetizer my mom taught me to make:
mix one 16 oz. cream cheese with
one small can chopped olives (which we forgot) and
one small can chopped green onions
spread on tortillas
add a couple slices of ham
roll tortillas up (we used sun dried tomato tortillas) and
cut into small "pinwheels"
serve with salsa (we used mango peach salsa)
2. Bacon Wrapped Hot Dogs in the slow cooker...
3. Brownies but in a silicone Lego shaped baking form














4. Pumpkin Chocolate Chip cookies (which were really the reason for the baking festivities in the first place)
5. Oreo Truffles in heart shaped ice cube trays!
(these are better when dipped in regular melted chocolate - not the baker's chocolate!...and easy to dip when rolled in balls and refrigerated for 30-60min. before dipping...fyi)
6. and Mimi's Buttermilk Spice Muffins again!

Success all around...made new friends, quality time with bf, finished a hat, had a girlie day, cooked/baked 6 things and watched a movie!!!

Introducing....Mon Cheri!

In an effort to create a sewing project that encompasses learning a little sewing, embroidery, applique, and adding buttons, Mon Cheri was created! (Tutorial to come soon...) I thought up Mon Cheri this week while contemplating beginner sewing projects for the children that I work with. Right now I'm helping with an enrichment sewing club for 3rd-5th graders in the after school program that I coordinate for at an elementary school in Tustin, CA. Out of my 100 students, 20 of them are participating in the "Stitch it Up" club with myself and one of my instructors. It's a lot to handle teaching 20 children to sew with only one other body, but we're having a blast! My instructor is catching the craft fever and my brain is constantly working overtime for this club.

...Anyways, back to Mon Cheri...the first of my Mon Softies (AKA Monster Softies)!
Name: Mon Cheri
AKA: Monster Cherry
AKA: My Sweetheart (in French ;-) )
Quote: Life is just a bowl of cherries...
Interests: Trying to scare at least a fly, but unsuccessful due to the nature of being totally cute!
Hopes and Dreams: That my maker will create my offspring from real wool felt since this crappy craft felt sucks!
Friends: Mon Laddie (introductions soon)

Mimi's amazing Buttermilk Spice muffins...

I made my favorite restaurant muffins from Mimi's cafe last night! For those of you who don't know what Mimi's cafe is or that their Buttermilk Spice muffins are amazing, check out their website at http://www.mimiscafe.com/ . Their muffins are posted under the "Chef's Corner" tab on the website. I'm proud of this accomplishment since I'm a mix-in-a-box muffin maker generally...

My latest kick...

I bought myself my first knifty knitter about a week and a half ago...I started with the purple rectangular KK and made the mini scarflet from Purling Sprite Designs http://isela.typepad.com/looming_crafts/free-patterns.html ...It was so easy and turned out beautiful! It was made with Lion Brand Homespun "Florida Keys Green." I have never knitted, but always loved the elegance of hand knitted items...I picked crocheting initially for the instant gratification factor and now I'm even more instantly gratified with the Knifty Knitter!

So, on my trip to Tahoe, my best friend, Suzanne, gave me a beanie she made on the KK round looms...Intrigued again! When we made it to the city, I bought the round looms set...I've been making beanies like crazy since. I've made 4 beanies so far, and am gifting and taking orders from friends already! Here are some basic KK beanies...

New Years Tahoe!

I've been hanging with some of my favorite people over the past 2 days...I'm staying at my best friend Suzanne's house where she lives with her fiance, Ryan. Ryan's sister, Rhonda, also flew in yesterday and happens to be another one of my best friends. Rhonda and Ryan's sister, Kim, and her son, Cory, are here and I love to see them a couple times a year too. Then, in flew their dad and stepmom, and our friends Daniela and Eddy drove up too. It's a full house to say the least! We're having a great time just hanging out, trying to teach some of our friends to snowboard, and sucking in the beautiful scenery. Just checking in for the first post of the new year...