Plush update

Happy Saturday.  I was busy sewing last night while watching the NY Jets pre-season game.
Meet Simon the proper little bear and Finnegan, Fionna's little brother.  He has a thing for mustaches.  Not sure if it will stay the jury is out on that one.   Both Simon and Finnegan are made of light weight corduroy.

I'm already possibly re-designing Simon.  I think he's too skinny.  I might chub him up at bit.  Not sure though.  I'll be added all 3 to the shop this weekend as a pre-launch sale.  They will be available at a discount before the line is officially available.   I won't be taking orders on the plush.  I've decided to make them and list them type of item.  So if it's in the shop it will be ready to ship in approx 24-48 hours of purchase.  I'll announce shop updates of my plush here, on twitter and Facebook.

Now I have to work on doll versions of my popular kokeshi characters i.e....Disney Princesses, Red Ridding hood,  Alice in Wonderland, Leia and Han Solo ect..

Now to introduce you to Simon and Finnegan......

Finnegan

Simon

I'd love to know what you think of them!

Enjoy the weekend.

XO,

K

Shop Re-vamp & Custom Schedual

With Sept creeping up I thought I would post a reminder that I will stop accepting customs on Sept 1, 2012 to start prepping for Miss Emily to arrive.  I have a ton of things still to do #1 is move my office to the guest bedroom so I can start painting and decorating the nursery.

My store will remain open Sept 1 but I will not take any more customs.  The shop will be stocked with ready to ship items (which I have to start ) and semi - custom cake toppers.  There will be lots of Kokeshi dolls/ornaments ready for the holiday season.  I also have some new items that are non wood which I can't wait to share.  Join me on my Facebook page and twitter.  I post sneak peaks there first!

The shop will close for 2 weeks after I give birth then re-open for the holiday season.  Deadlines for holiday items will be as follows:

U.S orders must be received by Dec 1, 2012
INTL orders must be received by Nov 26, 2012

Customs will resume on Jan 1, 2013 however I will only be accepting 5-7 customs per month.  Those listing will be available the first of every month,  once they're gone new listings will not be available until the first of the next month.  It will be a sort of shop update so be sure to follow me on twitter and Facebook.  I will notify followers the day before they go up.

Hope that makes sense LOL.  Oh and here is a new little cutie I listed in the shop this week.  Miss Abigal the witch.  I just love her!  Check out her spider headband...

XO,

K

Custom fun

Happy Saturday!  It's been terribly hot here in Jersey.  I'm done will summer sad to say.  Ready to enjoy the crisp air of Fall.  Plus I'll be closer to meeting my little girl.

I wanted to pop in and share a custom I worked on today.  I'm really loving these kokeshi style dolls.  It's making me consider phasing out some styles of dolls in my shop.  I actually have a shop revamp I will be doing right before little miss E comes along.  New stuff coming stay tuned!....

Right let me get back to the custom!  I was commissioned to do a Audrey Hepburn from Breakfast at Tiffany's and a Jeremy Lin former NY Knick.  I think they came out awesome and have offered them in the Shop

How adorable are they!

Are you watching the Olympics!  I am.  Absolutely love it.  So exciting.  

GO USA!

xo,

K

Easy Crock pot Sausage and Peppers

Earlier this week I made sausage and peppers in our crock pot (love that thing)  I actually used chicken sausage but you can use your favorite regular sausage.  It's super easy and delicious!  Sausage and peppers is pretty easy not really requiring a recipe but I did follow this one from Preventionrd.com

Here we go.......

2 tsp extra-virgin olive oil, divided
2 1/2 lbs hot turkey Italian sausage (about 10 links, cut into 4 pieces each)
1 red bell pepper, cut into strips
1 green bell pepper, cut into strips
2 large yellow onions, halved and sliced
5 garlic cloves, chopped
1-15 oz can crushed tomatoes
1 Tbsp Italian seasoning
2 tsp garlic powder
1/2 cup dry white wine or chicken broth ( I like low sodium )

Directions:

Heat 1 teaspoon oil in a skillet and add half the sausage. Cook until brown on all sides, set aside. Repeat with remaining teaspoon of oil and sausage.

Place onions and bell peppers into the crock pot. Top with sausage and remaining ingredients. Cook on low for 5-7 hours. Serve with pasta or bread.

Yield: 7 servings (~6 pieces of turkey sausage with 1/2 cup peppers and onions).

Nutrition Information (per serving): 259 calories; 12.7 g. fat; 79 mg. cholesterol; 647 mg. sodium; 11.7 g. carbohydrate; 2.9 g. fiber; 23.7 g. protein

** SIDE NOTES***

1.  After I browned my sausage I cut it into bite size pieces before putting in the crock pot

2.  Theres a lot of liquid once the dish is finished cooking.  If you like a thicker "sauce" add a      table spoon of the last 10 min of cooking to thicken it up a bit or if it's too much liquid for you omit the wine/chicken broth

3.  Add some potatoes diced up for a hearty meal

4.  I think the 5-7 hour cooking time is too long.  I would suggest 2-3 hours on high

5. If you don't have a crock pot you can cook this in a casserole dish in the oven.  Put the oven on 350 and cook for about 2 hours or until sausage is cook through and peppers and onions are soft.

BON APPETIT!

K

Customs

Wow where's the summer going.  I can't believe it's the endish of July.  Only 4 months left to we meet little Emily.

I've been working on a lot of super fun customs other than brides and grooms and wanted to share.
today I finished a custom for the show Supernatural.  This lovely customer is a super fan and will be attending a convention this fall.  She wants to have all of the actors sign each of there character pegs.

From left to right you have.....

Balthazar, Castiel, Crowley, Dean, Sam and Bobby.  I think they came out pretty well.

Legend of Zelda Kokeshi

New Plush line coming......

Meet Fiona the bunny

I started to teach myself to sew.  I want to make some things like curtains and blankets for the baby but I also want to start a plush line eventually turning my kokeshi style dolls in to stuffed lovable dolls.

Fiona the bunny is my first attempt at a plush and I think she came out really well.  Not sure when she'll be in the shop (soon)  I want to make a few in different patterns to have ready to ship.  I'm also working on her brother Finnegan and a Bear called Simon.  He's a proper bear.  Never leaves the house without his bow tie and is thinking of growing a handlebar mustache. (hee,hee)

It's my Mother-in-law's 84th birthday today.  Happy birthday MOM!  I'm off to get ready and celebrate.  Going to dinner then back to our house for cake.  YUM

XO,

K

Nursery Decorating

My daughter will be arriving in early November.  My office will become the nursery and my office will move to our other spare bedroom and be a shared office/guest room.  I already have some plans on how to decorate both rooms.

First I'm concentrating on the Nursery.  I'm not an overly pink person so the room will remain yellow(one of my favorite colors) but just get a refresher paint job.  Some of the walls have some rouge paint splatters from painting my little pegs.  I'm a bit messy when I paint.   I'll add touches of pink here and there.  So the theme will be yellow and pink.  I have a few favorite artists on etsy that I plan on buying art prints from.  I also want to get individual black and white photos of both sides of the family. Make a mini art gallery.

With my new sewing machine I want to make a bunting flag to go hand across the curtains.  Not sure if I'll leave it plain, add her name or add some cute animal appliqués.  I'll see what mood hits me while I'm making it.  The crib will be white (haven't picked one yet).  Not in a rush because she'll be in a bassinet in our room for a while.   I'm taking a white dresser from our other spare bedroom to use as a dresser/changing table.  My brother and sister-in-law are buying us a rocker!

The room is small so a crib, large dresser also posing as a changing table, and rocker will fit perfectly.  We want to replace the rug.  Some how it took a few hits of paint, wonder how that happened????

When my mom came up from Florida last month she brought the cutest child's rocker.  Someone in her  community was throwing it out.  It's in perfect condition.  All she did was clean it up.  I'm going to spray paint it white to match the room.  I'll share a tutorial when I do it later this summer.

Here are some nurseries I googled for inspiration.... The pink in the third picture is a little too bright for me.  I would definitely tone it down.

Enjoy your sunday!

XO,

K

4th of July Sale!

The Shop is having an early fourth of July sale.  Now until 7-4-12 get 10% off your order.  Enter offer code USA2012 at check out.  Offer ends midnight 7-4-12!