Shop Update!

As promised, I have updated the shop with ghosties, mini narwhals, and NEW ghost kitties! 

There is a limited number of each of these, so when they are gone, they are gone!  You can find them in the Big Cartel shop.  

I hope you all have a superb weekend!  xoxo Katie

P.S.  If you haven't had the privilege of checking out my sponsors, I would highly recommend doing so!  There are some real gems in there!  <3

Shoe Clips DIY

I love dressing up things in my wardrobe for a fun twist.  Shoe clips are some of my favorite "dress-up" accessories, because one pair of shoes can suddenly feel like multiples!

If you have access to real shoe clips, by all means, please use those.  They weren't available to me, so I decided to be resourceful and use clip-on earrings.  If you go this route you will need to straighten them out like this:

Next, you will cut out your shapes from the felt and fabric to form a panda (or any animal, really).  Glue your fabric circle to a felt backing.  After you have glued that, stitch on the eye patches, eyes, and ears.  Now it's time for the shoe clips (earrings).  I cheated and used hot glue, but you could easily sew these on if you prefer.  Now, do it again!  You need two matching clips!

Voila!  Now you have adorable shoe clips.  You could use this same template with different shapes.  Hearts, bows, and stars make great shoe clips!

 Just cut your shapes, sew or glue together, and then add your clips to the back!

Happy crafting, friends!  If you make these and want to leave a link in the comments, I'd love to see your work!!  xoxo Katie

P.S. These are my pretty Blowfish Shoes.  They are perfect for clippies!

Weekly Wears: Extra Fancy

I have been looking for any excuse to use my new sewing machine lately.  My plush gig is mostly a hand-sewn job, so I've been delving into the pile of fixer-uppers.  I bought this dress online recently and it was most unflattering on me.  And while my sewing machine skills may be slightly lacking, it was fun altering it all the same.  Plus, a bow tie makes every dress feel extra fancy.  ;)

Dress:  Vintage (from Fancy Tree House)

Cardigan:  Free People

Tights:  c/o We Love Colors

Shoes:  c/o Blowfish Shoes

This is what the dress originally looked like:

(Coury's photo)
While the dress looked great on her, it was less than stellar on me.  I removed the sleeves, slimmed the body (because the bust was too big), and changed the neckline.  There you have it-- an unwearable dress turned wearable!  :)

Now it's time to make someone's day!  The winner for the Little Luck Tree Holga giveaway is:

Jo, I've passed your email address on to Shannon!

Have a great day, friends!  xoxo Katie

Little Poe: 8 Months Old

Oh, little Poe... you keep me on my toes...

Teething, putting everything in your mouth, screams, crawling everywhere, high fives, serious hair pulling, sleepy smiles after naps, shouting "MA-MA" when you cry, giggles, excitement over drinks of water... I love EVERY, SINGLE THING about you.  You are a treasure.  Happy 8 months, Button. 

Love, Mama (aka: AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!)

Music Monday: OK Go

Ok Go

Also, I am currently accepting medium and small sponsors for the month of October.  You can check out my sponsor page or email sponsorskunkboy@gmail.com with any questions!
Happy Monday!!  xoxo Katie

Sponsored Giveaway: Little Luck Tree

This month I'm happy to introduce Shannon from Little Luck Tree as my featured sponsor.  Shannon is a super sweet, crafty girl who is currently celebrating her 1 year blogiversary!

 In celebration she is sharing a special giveaway with you here!  This is what you're playing for:

 

A Holga 120!  All you have to do to enter is visit Shannon's blog... then come back here and leave a comment  sharing which blog post from her blogiversary posts this week you enjoyed the most!  Easy peasy! 

For an additional entry you can tweet this:

"Enter to win a Holga camera from @Luck_Tree on @skunkboy's blog! http://tinyurl.com/3aqdak9"

You can also gain an extra entry by following Shannon's blog through Google Friend Connect.  

Be sure to leave separate comments for each entry and include your email address in your comment(s)!  The winner will be drawn on Wednesday, September 27th.  Good luck!  xoxo Katie

Weekly Wears: Hidden Treasures

Sometimes my favorite outfits come from the items hiding in back of my closet.  I've had this shirt for years, this skirt was a random gift from a friend, the necklace was a gift from my MIL, and the boots I've had for years.  There you go.  Treasures in the back of the closet.  :)

Shirt, Skirt, Necklace: Vintage

Boots:  Miss Sixty

Sunglasses: c/o Tumbleweeds

 If you haven't checked out Tumbleweeds sunglasses, you should.  I seriously love mine!  Not to mention, Beca is just about the nicest person you could ever talk to!  I adore her.

Have a great day, friends!  My new sewing machine showed up yesterday, so I'll be spending my day sewing up ghosties for the shop update.  I'll announce the date next week!  xoxo Katie

DIY Crown

Hi people!  It's Hope here again!  Today I want to share a fun crown that you can make yourself!

First you need a tin pie pan and some scissors.  Cut the pie pan like a pizza with the end of the scissors.  BE VERY CAREFUL.  The edges are very sharp!

After you finish cutting, push the points up so that they are standing.  Again, BE VERY CAREFUL.  When all of your points are standing now it's time to decorate it to make it sparkly and pretty!  You can also leave it plain.  I looks great both ways!

After I finished my crown it was time to put on my Max costume and BE A WILD THING!

This DIY is great for Halloween costumes, parties, and just dressing up.  You can be a wild thing or even a posh lady!

Happy crafting!  --Hope

Red Hair 101

I get lots and lots of emails and comments asking about my hair, so I thought it was about time I devoted a post to it.  I am not a hair dresser, heck, I don't even know if the things I'm doing are just plain horrible for my hair.  So, if you do follow any of my tips, be warned that your hair might fall out.  Okay, probably not... but you never know...  ;))

My hair is naturally a light brown color (maaaaybe you could call it dark blonde-- it's kinda hard to say at this point).  Lucky for me, I my current red color goes right over my natural color, so there is no bleaching or lightening.  If there were, I probably would have quit a long time ago.  I'm lazy.  And not rich.  Oh, and I color every 4-6 weeks.  It just depends on how motivated I am.

Here are some pictures from past hair:

 Yep, that short cut up top is me.  Let's not talk about it.  

I know some of you are hoping I'll tell you what box color works the best for me, but I can't.  My friend is a hairdresser (and also happens to be MY hairdresser) and she gets really mad at me when I buy a box.  So I don't.  My color is some sort of copper red.  I was handed a book of hair, told to point to the color I was wanting, and it's been my go-to ever since.  I guess I got lucky there.  

If you are wanting to change your hair color, but you haven't settled on one, I would suggest finding a reputable hair person and asking their opinion.  I'll be the first to admit that a big change is scary and bad things can happen.  The last thing you want to do is run down to the local drugstore, diy, and then hide your head in a bag for weeks.  

^^^

This is the shampoo/conditioner I use.  I started on level 2, but one day the store was out of 2 so I bought 3.  They smell pretty and seem to work great.  I know there are better "red helpers" out there, but they are expensive.  Bed Head seems to be in my price range so that's what I use.

Now, here are some pictures of my current hair:

(Truth be told, I make this face a lot.)

So, you can see there are color variations.  The red starts bright and fades to a pretty nice, soft shade by the end.  I wouldn't even mind it if it weren't for those not-so-red roots!  

I know it's funny, but I feel more like "myself" with this color than I ever did with natural, dark, or lighter hair.  I've thought about changing the shade, but I'm pretty certain I'll be sticking with some sort of red for a while.  :)

This was fun!  Thanks for reading about my hair stuff.  I actually LOVE talking about hair.  ;)
xoxo Katie

Music Monday: Fitz and the Tantrums

This album has been playing around our house a lot lately.  It'll get you moving.  ;)


Fitz and the Tantrums

Happy Monday!  xoxo Katie

Feature Friday: Good Finds

Yay, it's Friday!  That doesn't mean much to people who work through the weekend (like me), but there is just something exciting about Friday, anyway.  Maybe we've just been conditioned growing up in school to love the weekends, but I still do.  :)

For this Feature Friday I thought I'd share some crazy good things from around the web this week: 

1.  Elsie gets double love.  The fishtail braid with the yarn is SO CUTE, and the lookbook just makes me grin.  The clothes are perfect, the song is perfect... oh, and every time I watch it I just want to squeeze Sarah.  She is so darn cute. 

Red Velvet Lookbook / Fall 2011 from elsie larson on Vimeo.

2.  I am so excited about this Tim Burton blog party coming next month!  Paper Sparrow is one of my favorite blogs (I'm stoked to have her as a sponsor this month!).  I thought the Wes Anderson blog party last month was so, so fun!  

3.  I love these photo an hour posts from Kaylah and Elycia.  I love when blogger friends are real life friends (obviously) and they are totally adorable!

4.  This Mocktail recipe on Sunshine and Carousels looks so yummy!  I think I need to make this happen for myself soon.  ;)

5.  Oh, and I'm sure you'd like to know who won the Studio M.M.E. giveaway, right?  The winner is Jenni:

Jenni, I'll pass your info onto Megan and she'll get you your pattern.  Happy embroidering!

I hope you all have a great weekend!  We have a pretty full schedule, but I'm looking forward to it!  xoxo Katie

Weekly Wears: Woodland Creatures

The best part about being pregnant last Fall (you know, besides the resulting baby) is loving all of my Fall clothes all over again.  I mean, I did take a year off from them.  ;)

This was my first Dear Creatures dress, and I still love it as much as the first day it showed up on my doorstep (I'm currently reminding myself that it's a dress, not a puppy).  There is something magical about getting a special dress every now and then.  This one was a prize for 500 Etsy sales (I think).

 Dress:  Dear Creatures

Purse:  Lune Vintage

Tights:  c/o We Love Colors

Shoes:  Thrifted

I wore this dress for our date last week.  We ended the night in a smokey bar watching a really fun band.  Most of the members of said band were able to take advantage of the senior discount at the Golden Corral up the street.  It was great. 

Alright, back to sewing for me!  xoxo Katie