Sleevies 2000 vs. Snuggies 2009

Okay, there are SOME of you that will believe me when I tell you that a friend and I dreamed up these crazy blankets with sleeves when I lived in Santa Barbara in 2000. And there are some of you that WON'T believe me, but check out my HAIR! It was very long at the time as you can see, and I'm totally 9 years younger in these pics.

Believe it or NOT, we really did dream it up (and obviously some other people did too) when we were watching those commercials about the funny sleeping bag thingies to set around in during the cold weather.

Well, we went so far as to do this cheeeeze waddy photo shoot as you see here, and then went to the LA fabric market to source felt fabrics, get pricing, and create the pattern. I sewed up several SLEEVIES and sent the presentation to a buyer at one of the craft chains and they said YES!

The only problem is, we needed about 100K to purchase, package and ship these things we called SLEEVIES, and we just didn't have the moolah!

The Aleene's Creative Living Show that we were working on, had been canceled and my friend and I certainly didn't have the cash or enough friends to float the loan. Preeeety sad, huh?

Soooo, we ended up canning the idea and forgetting all about it until this winter when the SNUGGIES commercials hit the airways. Geeeeez! Had we only known! Wah. We threw a little pity party and moaned when we started seeing them show up everywhere, and even witnessed a pub crawl right here in our town a few weeks ago. We ultimately missed out on a million do$$ar once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to make it BIG!

Oh well! Chalk it up to being HIGH on ideas, and LOW on cash.

Clipboard Wall

Isn't this a great wall? I totally love this, and Scott snapped a picture when he was waiting for me to try on a cute jacket at Anthropologie in Nashville last weekend. It's just such a great idea that I want to copy it in my studio. It's all different sizes of clipboards nailed to 2 x 4's and then drawings are displayed in each one. By the way, I bought the terrific jacket for ten bucks! Yes!

Speaking of my my studio, Scott also took a pic of my urn of tools. He said it was art. My favorite tool is my snowman scissors his mutti gave to me. They make me smile every time I use them.

Scott..... wearing a Rainbow Color Selector on his head. Yep, he's loony bins.

Everything's better with tassels...

Just when you think that a shawl can't be any prettier, add tassels, and you'll turn it into gorgeous!

Pom Pom Boa

This pompom boa is so fast and easy to make, you will not be able to stop with just one. You can make them is all different sizes, colors, and types of yarn. You can even use up all of the left-over yarns in your stash for a beautiful and unique boa, by tying several different colors of pompoms onto one boa. Also, if you brush the fibers when you're finished, it will make a completely different look for your boa. Have fun!

Steps:
1. Cut one strand of yarn 60" long. Lay aside.
2. Wind yarn around the PattieWack Pom Pom Tool at the 4-inch width, until it is nice and full. Count the number of times you wind the yarn, to reference the rest of the pom poms for an equal size. Cut off the yarn when you have the fullness you want.
3. Cut a 16-inch strand of yarn, double it, and use it to tie around the center of the pom pom.
4. Cut the yarn at the top and bottom of the pom pom, and pull it away from the tool.
5. Tie the pom pom to the end of the strand from Step #1. Fluff the pompom with your fingers and trim any long strands.
6. Continue to make pom poms and closely tie them onto the strand, until it is the length that you want, after adding the tassels.
7. Wind yarn around the PattieWack™ Tassel Tool at the 5-inch length, until nice and full.
8. Cut a 10-inch strand of yarn and tightly tie it around the top of the tassel.
9. Cut a 12-inch strand of yarn and bind the neck of the tassel.
10. Push the tassel down the PattieWack™ Tassel Tool, very slightly. Cut the bottom of the tassel, and pull the tassel off the tool. Trim the bottom if needed.
11. Tie the tassel to one end of the boa, using the loose strands at the top of the tassel.
12. Repeat Step# 7 thru Step# 10 to create a second tassel, and tie it to the other end of the boa to complete.

GUIDE FOR NUMBER OF POMPOMS NEEDED:

2-inch Pompoms = 36
3-inch Pompoms = 26
4-inch Pompoms = 22
Add two 5-inch tassels to create a 58-inch Boa

This is only an estimated guide.
The size and weight of your yarn
will vary the amount of pompoms needed.

Outrageous Ceramics!

My mouth flew open when I saw these outrageous ceramics. They are inspired by mathematical patterns and ratios found in nature, and created by Dutch artist, Anouk Omlo.

To read more about it, go to Inhabitat.com and get ready for your mouth to fly open, too!