Foxy Christmas

I still don't have Christmas cards.  I was thinking about just throwing in the towel and shooting for President's Day cards (again) until I saw these little Christmas miracles from Foxy Blunt:

Home for the Holidays
where peace & tranquility go to die.

Silent Night
holy hangover

Amazing.

Christmas Craft: Intel

I survived my first craft fair!  I did more than survive...I met some amazing people, got great ideas and only ate one of the delicious cookies they had out for everyone.  And by 'one' I mean one per day.

I am currently working on two of these custom cactus plates for a lovely lady that had family visiting Arizona for the holidays.

I finished a rush order of the snowflake plate to be given this weekend to a visitor from England.  I am so excited that a piece of my art will be in England!  So excited that I forgot to sign the back before I handed it over...I guess William and Kate won't be calling for an order as soon as I thought.

Browsers thought these two designs were fun and festive:

Generally, I label my style as sassy and contemporary rather than cute, but I would call the snow people ornaments I made 'cute' ... or 'cutetastic' and I love them.  So much that I just want to keep making variations all day.  My husband would be so pleased if I did that...maybe.

Next step etsy site.

Auf Wiedersehen Snuggie

It is not that I hate the Snuggie.  I really do think it is fantastic.  However, I keep finding amazing alternatives...like this chic little number that I might need for my holiday travels to Minnesota.

via anzu

DIY Gift Idea: Thong Joggers

Do you have a friend that recently moved to the Midwest? Or maybe just want to spice things up at home but it is just too dang cold?

Make some thong joggers.

I made these for one of my sisters that lives in South Dakota for Christmas last year. (Stop feeling bad for her.  I used them to cushion a big bottle of vodka.)

Supplies:

• One pair of joggers
• Small piece of sequin fabric
• Matching ribbon

Instructions:

Hand sew it on in whatever suggestive way that you prefer.

Screw the Snuggie; they are shapeless.  Thong joggers keep you lookin' HOT.

I ♥ Butt Vases

A couple of days ago I got my weekly Jonathon Adler email newsletter and perused his new pottery collection.  Imagine my delight when I came across this gem...Kiki's Derriere.

After I got done dreaming about if the day would ever come when I would spend $195 for a vase, I shifted into thoughts questioning what other crazily awesome ceramics might be out there.  I didn't have to dream for long though because Apartment Therapy answered my sweet thoughts today with these masterpieces.

Tea Time by Jorine Oosterhoff

It is the tiny gold shoes that seal the deal on this dessert stand for me.

by Blaue Blume

While the following two designs from Anja Lubach creaped me out...

finger bowl

body beakers

...nothing creaped me out as much as this:

Arms and Crafts baking tin by KRASZNAI

Who is ready to add some body parts to your holidays?!

NewLandOcean Gang - Boater's Delight

If you want to give this post 100% then you will set up the back ground music here before you continue.

OK, good.

Each Friday I volunteer at my favorite 3rd grade classroom to help make sure that today's kids get the attention, education and inspiration that they need to someday support my social security checks and keep the entertainment activities at my assisted living center top notch.  I love them.

Last week their teacher was trying to think of a game that we could make to help them remember all the explorers they were learning about as well as other math and spelling endeavours. 

Vasco da Gama - Portuguese explorer to first sail directly from Europe to India.  Yeah...never heard of him.

Three minutes of excited brainstorming had us envisioning a giant board where they could move their explorer game pieces around on the actual routes while getting scurvy and making crew members walk the plant.  Sadly, we couldn't work in the scurvy or planks (yet) so we went with the giant cloth gameboard with a whole lot of learning.

We cut out rough (real rough) paper templates for continents to position on our giant piece of blue (ocean) scrap fabric.

Fast forward through the next steps:

• Sew on pink felt fabric continents
• Color code the explorers and their routes.
• Marker the colored routes onto the fabric
• Add six felt stops along each explorer's route
• Print and laminate the explorer pictures with their coordinating colors
• Glue a small chunk of 'rough side' Velcro to the back of the explorers

Then, you will get this:

Before the kids could put their selected explorer on the board they had to say where he was from and what he was famous for.  They are so smart.

Each small group of kids answered all the questions on their handheld whiteboards in hopes that the explorer group whose turn it was would get it wrong so they could send them back a space.  It was quiet and intense, which is not the norm.  We played for a good chunk of the afternoon and there still wasn't a winner so the game was on pause until today.  I hope they are playing now.

The kids were into it and that makes me very happy.  But, not as happy as knowing that I am one step closer to cashing in that SS check at my local bingo hall.

Dumb As a Doorknob?

Doorknobs have officially passed us up.

This one, designed by Naomi Thellier de Poncheville, does it gracefully with a handshake.  It says, "Thanks so much for playing.  But...I'm going to go ahead and be smarter than you now."

On the other hand, Hideyuki Nakayama's glass knob makes you feel like a preschooler at a physics conference; excited about the free pens but no idea what is going on.  It reflects the room you are about to enter like it is trapped shrunken inside the little glass ball.

Is someone walking up to answer the door?  Yep, and you can see them coming in the door knob.  Genius!  Wait.  Is that heidi stuffing magazines under her couch to make the living room appear cleaner?  Busted.

I guess I had better stick to the glass private knobs of yesteryear.

look in the attic

thanks Spoon & Tamago

Babies Can't Read Price Tags

Jennifer wanted something special to bring to the baby shower for her future niece Olivia, but didn't want to spend her monthly grocery budget to do it.  Before knowing the gender her SIL had registered for the bedding set below for $189.

from Babies R Us

What Jennifer was hoping for was something more girly, cute and comfortable without the high price tag. With approval from her SIL she came to me and we figured out on an alternative that matched, was softer, personalized and partially made by Jennifer herself.

We bought the $20 blanket that matched the original quilt, less than $30 of extra fabric and used random fabric strips from home. (Plus two bottles of wine and some guacamole from Trader Joe's).

Next time we won't even worry about buying the matching blanket since we know we can rock out an amazing matching quilt from scratch at a fraction of the cost.  Little Olivia will feel snugly and loved...while Jennifer pulls into a comfortable lead in the race for favorite aunt with the silky ruffle edging.  Well played Jennifer.

♦ intro ♦ buckle up...

Welcome to heidi schatze!  I'm heidi, your treasure hunt director, here to guide you to your first stop...the magical online gathering place for you and I to take the imagination train to the home, life and closets of our dreams where we chat about the amazing treasures we find there.  Sometimes we will create masterpieces, shares the amazing things that inspire us, travel together and always laugh.

I treasure this time and hope that you will too.

So, buckle mein friends!