wear purple! stop the bullying and win a fabulous neck wrap!!!!!

What is Spirit Day?

(via gladd)Millions of Americans wear purple on Spirit Day as a sign of support for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) youth and to speak out against bullying. Spirit Day was started in 2010 by teenager Brittany McMillan as a response to the young people who had taken their own lives. Observed annually on October 20, individuals, schools, organizations, corporations, media professionals and celebrities wear purple, which symbolizes spirit on the rainbow flag. Getting involved is easy -- participants are asked to simply "go purple" on October 20 as we work to create a world in which LGBT teens are celebrated and accepted for who they are. Learn more & go purple at www.glaad.org/spiritday.

~In support of spirit day, I made a purple neck and head wrap to giveaway! These knit wraps are super versitale and perfect for some freaky fall weather!! This scraf /wrap was made from 100% recycled scraps; vintage , new and re-purposed. All one needs to do to in order to enter to win is go PURPLE TODAY!!!!! That means wear purple and enter, Post about spirit day somewheres in the social media mecca!!!! leave a comment and let me know about it! If you do It multiple times on multiple places you can enter multiple times! I will post the winner tomorrow!

~As some of you might know, This is our first year in any sort of real school situation and I must admit the issues around bullying are baffling and terrifying to say the least. It seems such like an incredible waste of time that creates tremendous loss, yet it is real and grows. The bullying seems to exist in an ( or what should be)altered state of reality where logic is incommunicable and the pack mentality rules. I believe LBGT are the hardest hit by these malicious packs, but all are impacted by the negativity; It darkens our cultural soul. Somehow we as a society need to eradicate the ignorance and cruelty that pervades our culture and engulfs our children.

I would like to mention the it gets better project ....It is helping the helpless and making change happen. IF you have never heard of it go there and take the pledge, give your support, and spread the word!!

*******And now my new favorite star will make us smile...MILES JAI HERE~!!!...

the white ninja

Burger decied he wanted to be a white Ninja this year;
~his inspiration.....





My inspiration.....This was the first fitting and slay test(notice the slain dragon in the lower left corner)
The finished costume is a surprise for his up coming birthday...if I can wait!! I designed the pattern myself ...basically I just used old PJ's of burger's as a pattern. I designed the tunic to be loose and created the applique template of the dragon from a slew of clip art inspiration. I kinda love him...the ninja(of course) and the dragon

We searched all the local Halloween joints for a white ninja, but to no avail. I did find several white Ninja costumes online however I was worried since I was ordering late the costume would not arrive in time for his birthday; which is when he usually starts his 2 week long Halloween celebration. Now mind you, this is really only the second time(first time flashback) I have been allowed to make Halloween costumes for him....and I am bursting over the results and his response!! Usually the boys enjoy getting store bought which is just fine with me ( sniff sniff)
~during the little fitting he turned to me in the most earnest way and said "i loooove it!" yeah that felt real good! I think with the addition dragon I will get a nice giant beaming smile!!!! and maybe the priviledge of making the next costume!

home-made trading cards

~ A few weeks back while helping a friend pack up her kids' room I stumbled across his homemade trading cards that were AWESOME! I loved everything about them from concept to completion.
Ironically, that same week burger was begging to go buy some new trading cards. I asked,"what kind?" he responded "baseball, no ...Bakugan, no ....monsters!" I said" monsters! those would be awesome,but I am not sure they make them".
I then explained about the friends cards and to as a lovely surprise he was super stoked. That day 2 weeks ago we bought some new skinny markers and a package of cards. We have since bought 2 more packages of cards! he cannot get enough. Everyday, several times a day, he sits and makes cards. he almost always works in series. Sometimes we join in(grackles) or he asks us to label them. However the last few days he has been labeling them himself. I am loving it. Here are a few of the first ones.

All you need
3x5 Note cards
markers

~Dinosaur Cards
~Monster cards



~Shark Cards

Get Your Own Pet ; Cards


*PS the pictures up top are some new faves; The leviathan( we just bought mythic miniature toy creatures in a tube) ...the cheetah chasing the gazelle is the 4Th or 5Th rendering of this concept...this morning he pronounced this was his best cheetah yet!

The Grackle; on paper and fabric

yummy carrot muffins recipe

~I have been trying to do partial or whole flour substitutions(wheat for white) in some of our recipes to try and sneak some healthy grains in my man's diet (burger likes whole grain just fine). I really like this whole wheat white flour for being a sneaky snake. We made a great whole wheat pizza dough recipe and we thought the dough was very workable and was super tasty.
~Moving on...Burger had been asking for carrot cake cupcakes and I figured I might could trick him with a muffin(totally worked or at least he liked them very well). He took them to school everyday that week...and actually ate them. We have had quite a time wrangling that boy into eating at school!
~What I really liked about this recipe from Martha was the inclusion of yogurt and the lowish sugar it called for...I made it Greek for more protein and loosened it with buttermilk so the batter was not to thick.I also halved the white sugar and added brown as the other half. As a matter of fact, IN my recipe adaptation I substituted and added quite a lot so you can check and compare to see all that went on in there. Martha gives us a little tip for making pumpkin spice..."To make your own pumpkin-pie spice, combine one and a half teaspoons ground cinnamon with one-quarter teaspoon each ground ginger and nutmeg."

Ingredients

• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 3/4 cup whole wheat flour
  
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
  
• 2 teaspoons pumpkin-pie spice
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 3/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 cups plain Greek yogurt
• 1/4 cup buttermilk
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 4 tablespoons melted unsalted butter
• 1 large egg
• 2 cups peeled, shredded carrots (about 5 medium)
• 1 cup raisins
• 1 tsp Cinnamon combined with
• 2 tbs sugar for topping

Directions

1. Prepare 12 a muffin tin and a 12 mini muffin tin with spray and flour or liners. You can make just 12 jumbo muffins but we love the 12 mini muffins for burger to have in his lunchbox...doing this this just made my big muffins a little smaller. In a large bowl, stir together flour, sugar, pumpkin-pie spice, baking powder, baking soda, and salt; set aside.
2. In a separate bowl, whisk together yogurt, butter milk, butter, vanilla and egg. Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients and add yogurt mixture. Stir until just combined. Fold in carrots and raisins.
3. Spoon batter into prepared muffin cups,sprinkle the tops of muffins with your sugar cinnamon mixture and baked in a 375-degree oven for about 20 minutes.Check with tooth pick for doneness.
   
4. Transfer to a rack. Serve warm or at room temperature

little lovely thang in dusty fields

~I wanted to share a very special dress that I recently added to my shop. The entire dress is made from re-purposed cotton fabrics. The bodice is contemporary lawn cotton. The skirt is lined with a layer of Egyptian cotton and the top layer of the skirt is a vintage lawn dating back to at least 1950's. The lawn fabric is a sheer field of dusty florals. It is really a sight to see. It is a size 0-4 with elastic shirring at the waist and on the back panel, the straps are fold over elastic and the bodice is trimmed in stretch lace.


~I would like to thank my hawt model...Dr Laaaaura

the 'dre dress in black and gray and my ropers

~I wanted to share the 'dre dress finished in black and gray. I made one obi to go with both dresses. The client is a server at an upscale food shop in downtown Austin. The dress was made to be worn with no apron and the over sized pockets were made to hold a moleskin book and a wine key. I also made myself one and it is a my favorite thing to pair with my new to me lace up ropers!



And I also bring to your attention especially if you are from the other part of the world known around here as "Not Texas".



~Things have been pretty crazy over the last week in Central Texas. You may have heard of the devastating wild fires that we have had that have destroy over 1,500 homes in our area. If you would like to help some of these families you can find organizations to donate food, clothing, time or money to on the Austin statesman website. You can also find more updated info and post info on the Central Texas Wildfire Recovery Facebook page......my thoughts are with all the families who have lost so much in the last week... And I am in awe of all the brave men and women who have been fighting these fires.