My New Favorite Purse

I never win anything. I mean never. I am just not what one would call "lucky." (Of course, I don't believe in luck. I believe in the Lord's providence. But, that's a whole different conversation ... for another day) Today, let's talk about the fact that whenever there is a contest involved, I end up losing. Don't get me wrong ... I'm not bitter about it. Really, I'm not. I just - over time - have come to accept the fact that I don't win things.

But, I haven't let my long-standing track record of losing stop me from trying ... which is why, when one of my favorite blogs announced a fun giveaway, I entered. "You have to be in it to win it," right? I read about all the fun stuff Linda was giving away, and about how she was going to draw 5 lucky winners from her comments. "Wow!" I thought ... 5 winners ... that means 5 chances to lose ... um, i mean win. (Think positive, Sara!) So, I added a comment and went about my day. A couple of days later, I got an email from Linda saying that not only had she drawn my name as a winner, but i would have first pick of all the items! I honestly didn't know what to do with myself. It was like my whole world-view was crumbling. Could I really be a winner??!!?? What do winners do when they win things? Should I have prepared an acceptance speech? Do I need to thank anyone? Are you sure you didn't mean the OTHER Sara who entered? You couldn't possibly mean me ... could you??

After a lot of jumping up and down squealing in my office, I composed myself and wrote a brief reply asking for the "lotus bag" because it was made from some of my very favorite Amy Butler fabric. I thanked her profusely for her generosity and waited patiently while the United States Postal Service transported my bag all the way from Texas. It arrived about a week later, and it has been attached to my arm ever since. I might have had to surgically remove it to take the following pictures...

Isn't it awesome??!!??
It's this fun tangerine-ish color, on an ecru background.
It's nice and big, with a roomy inside to fit all my junk.
And the shape ... isn't it fun??

Look at the fun polka-dots on the inside. makes me smile.

Linda even included a matching fabric envelope thingy to hold random stuff in.
Isn't that nice??

The only problem is that I'm running out of outfits that match it, since my wardrobe is primarily made up of black or red items. Maybe this is a good excuse to go shopping! :o)

THANKS, Linda!

Little People

We had Brett's birthday party over the weekend, and I think the little house went over well (as well as can be expected for a gift that has nothing to do with Yo Gabba Gabba, right?). I definitely was prepared for her to look at it in disgust and set it aside in favor of other store-bought gifts. But, she actually took time to play with it after she opened it, and that made me happy.

The house wouldn't have been complete without dolls to play in it, so I made a family of little people to go inside ... I figured there aren't many dolls small enough to fit in the house, and I wanted her to be able to play with it right away. SO ... I went to A.C. Moore and found these fun little wooden people shapes. They are only about an inch an a half tall. So cute ... and yet so tedious to paint! I painted them for each member of Brett's immediate family ... her mommy, daddy, sister, and brother, as well as one of herself. Mama (Brett's grandma) promptly asked where her doll was ... I guess I have to make a set of "extended family" dolls now ... with Gram, Pops, Mimi, and of course Auntie Sara. Maybe I can get that done before Christmas!



I love this picture ... it makes me laugh that the window is bigger than the dolls ... I wasn't really thinking about proportion when I made everything. ha!


Five little dolls, all in a row. I'm hoping that you won't be able to see how the eyelashes are smeared on the purple doll. I accidentally got too close with the clear spray stuff. Oops!

Brett's House

For Brett's birthday, I decided to try something new ... I found a tutorial for this fun little portable doll house made out of fabric. Unfortunately, I can't remember where I found the tutorial ... no doubt on one of the blogs I read regularly ... I just printed out the instructions and forgot to list where I found it! aargh. If I figure it out, I'll update this post with the link to the tutorial.

*** updated ... here is a link to the tutorial online ... http://uklassinus.blogspot.com/2008/08/fabric-dollhouse-tutorial.html THANKS Jen! ***

Anyway ... here it is :

Do you think I'm trying to subtly nudge Brett to love black & red as much as I do???

The house measures about 6 inches wide by 4 inches deep and maybe 7 inches high ... it's I guess about the size of a small lunchbox? Perfect for a little kiddo.

Button closures to hold it together ... I'm sure mommy will have to help with that at first, but it shouldn't be too hard.

Here's the button at the top, just below the handles ... a vintage button from my mom's collection. Love it.

And - of course - when you open it up, you can see the fun red "wallpaper" on the walls and the blue "tile" floor. I also used a green striped fabric to simulate the lawn, in case Brett wanted to pretend her dolls were playing outside. I'm sure I could have gone crazy with embellishments and stuff, but I prefer to leave all that to Brett's imagination. :o)

It wouldn't be complete without a label on it!

This was a whole lot easier to make than I thought it would be, and I'm happy with the way it came out. Now I just have to figure out how to make dolls small enough to fit in there, so that Brett can play with it!