Barbie is READY for July 4th!

Being a plastic doll, of course, it's so not safe for Barbie to participate in the whole fireworks deal, BUT she can show her patriotic spirit with my line of red, white, and blue outfits!

This year, with the drought in our area and the wild fires further west, my husband and I have decided to forego our normal fireworks display, too. We never have really gone "all out" anyways, so there won't be a huge difference. He does have the night off (Woo Hoo!) so we'll get to spend the whole day together cooking, swimming, possibly eating outdoors if it cools off -- it's been above 100 here lately!

 My menu planned for that day includes sloppy joes and fries for dinner - I know, not my usual culinary treat, but fun for all and fairly American. For dessert, I'm planning a Layered Fruit Flag Salad that looks and sounds delish! I love fresh fruit and this one has layers of pineapple, cantaloupe, blueberries, and strawberries. YUM! The recipe serves a fairly large crowd, so it's better suited to a gathering that just my young family, but I'm sure we'll polish it off in no time!


 I'll be back next week with some recipes and an update on my Christmas in July sale!! Have a great holiday, dolls!!

Jennifer's Favorite Finds

Well, dolls, I am still reeling from this:

http://www.ksdk.com/news/article/325551/78/Jennifers-finds-for-kids

At the beginning of last month, I was contacted by Jennifer to do this segment. I was so honored that she would pick me out of so many handmade artisans in the St. Louis area (ok, I'm not technically in St. Louis, but I'm from there!). And now, after weeks of planning and sewing, the segment aired live today!! It's so very surreal. I know that it's just local TV (mind you, the St. Louis viewing area is pretty far reaching!) and not national, but it's still HUGE. Last year when I started sewing doll clothes, it was just to make my daughter happy. And then several people suggested I try selling online, which I fell in love with doing. And craft shows are fun, too. I guess I never really believed I could be very successful. I'm just me. No one special. Right?

Well, I'm still just me, I'm still not very special. But I do have a very special God-given talent to sew and create doll fashions. It feels good to know that I'm making lots of little girls (and moms, dads, and collectors) happy!

So, watch the clip. Tell me what you think. And then shop for that little girl that is special to you! (Even if she is the child within!) To celebrate this momentous occasion with me, use coupon code SHOWME for 10% your purchase now through July 2.

Wookiee Cookies and other fun Star Wars Recipes

My four-year-old is obsessed with Star Wars...

Oliver in his Star Wars Jammies

and for his recent birthday, we had of have a Star Wars theme, of course!

A friend from church learned of this wonderfully geeky obsession and loaned me a family heirloom...

The Star Wars Cookbook: Wookiee Cookies and other Galactic Recipes by Robin Davis

And of course we had to try a couple of these recipes! I haven't gone through the whole book yet, but believe me, I will! Here, I am sharing with you the two that we have tried so far: Wookiee Cookies and Yoda Soda

Ingredients:

2 1/4 c all-purpose flour

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt

1 tsp ground cinnamon

1 c unsalted butter, at room temperature

1 c packed brown sugar

1/2 c granulated sugar

2 large eggs

1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

1 c milk chocolate chips

1 c semi-sweet chocolate chips

1. Preheat the oven to 375

2. Put the flour, baking soda, salt and cinnamon in a mixing bowl. Stir with a wooden spoon until well mixed. Set aside.

3. Put the butter, brown sugar, and granulated sugar in another mixing bowl. Using an electric mixer set on high speed, beat together until well blended and creamy, about 3 minutes. (You can do this with a wooden spoon, but it will take longer.) Beat in the eggs and vanilla extract. Add the flour mixture and stir with the wooden spoon until blended. Stir in the chocolate chips. 

4. Scoop up a rounded tablespoonful of the dough and drop onto a baking sheet. Repeat until you have used up all the dough. Be sure to leave about 1 inch between the cookies because they spread as they bake. 

5. Using pot holders, put the baking sheets in the oven. Bake until golden brown, about 10 minutes.

6. Again, using pot holders, remove the baking sheets from the oven. Lift the cookies from the baking sheets with a spatula and place on cooling racks. Let cool completely.

Makes about 3 dozen cookies.

When I made these cookies, I didn't use a wooden spoon, just an electric mixer, until time to add the chocolate chips. Also, I found it best to let the cookies cool for at least one minute on the sheet before moving them onto a cooling rack to cool completely. And I ended up with almost 4 dozen cookies, not just 3!

Ingredients:
3 limes
3 tbsp sugar
1 c sparkling water
1 scoop lime sherbet or sorbet

1. Cut limes in half and squeeze the juice from each half into a measuring cup until you have 1/4 c. juice.
2. Put the lime juice and 3 tbsp sugar in small pitcher. Stir with a wooden spoon until sugar dissolves. Add the sparkling water and stir until mixed. Taste and add more sugar, if desired.
3. Using an ice cream scoop, scoop up the sherbet and drop it into a tall glass. Pour in the lime water. Serve immediately.

Makes 1 serving.

Ok, since I'm serving 5 and not just 1, I kinda threw out this recipe. But I kept the basic idea. Here's my version:

Ingredients:
2 L Sprite
1 pint Lime Sherbet
3 limes

1. Run hot water over bottom of sherbet container to loosen the ice cream. Open container and empty into a punch bowl.
2. Pour Sprite carefully over sherbet - it will foam A LOT. Continue adding Sprite until there is no more space in your bowl. Stir to melt the sherbet some.
3. Thinly slice limes and drop into bowl for garnish. Serve immediately.

The kids LOVED it! And, honestly, the hubs and I did, too - It was fun and yummy and perfect for a family of 5 geeks! I hope you get a chance to try these recipes and I hope you love them, too!

Pork Tenderloin Piccata

I made this for dinner tonight and it was so good my husband said, "You can make this as often as you like!!" Which is a pretty big compliment from him!

Ingredients:

1/4 c all-purpose flour

2 tbsp yellow cornmeal

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp ground black pepper

1 pork tenderloin (approx 1 lb)

1/4 c butter or margarine, divided

1/2 c chicken broth

2 tbsp fresh lemon juice

2 tsp lemon zest

1 clove garlic, pressed

1 tbsp snipped fresh parsley (optional)

Directions:

1. Combine flour, cornmeal, salt and black pepper in shallow dish. Slice pork into 2-inch thick slices. Using the flat side of meat tenderizer, flatten pork to 1/4 inch thickness. Coat both sides with flour mixture, shaking off excess. 

2. Heat large skillet over medium-high heat until hot. Place 3 tbsp of the butter in skillet, swirl until melted. Add half of the pork slices to skillet; cook 3 minutes on each side or until pork is golden brown and centers are no longer pink. Remove from skillet to platter; keep warm. Repeat with remaining pork.

3. Add broth, lemon juice, zest, and garlic to skillet. Heat over medium heat 1-2 minutes. Add remaining butter to skillet; swirl until melted. If desired, sprinkle parsley over pork. Carefully pour sauce over pork slices; serve immediately.

U.S. Nutrients per serving: Calories 280, Total Fat 15 g, Saturated Fat 9 g, Cholesterol 105 mg, Carbohydrate 11 g, Protein 25 g, Sodium 550 mg, Fiber less than 1 g

We served ours with mashed potatoes and macaroni & cheese with lemonade to drink. I sliced the lemon (after zesting it) and added to the lemonade for looks and a little extra punch. It was sooo yummy! And really quick, too. From start to finish, it took approx. 30 minutes to make. I hope you get the chance to try it and I hope it's yummy for you and your family, too!

St. Louis Trip and Dance Reunion

Hello Dolls!! This week has been an interesting one, that's for sure!!

I spent Monday finishing preparations to head to St. Louis - I dressed 15 of my best dolls in their outfits for the Show Me St. Louis feature and packed them in boxes. We only planned on spending the day in St. Louis, so I didn't need to pack much in the way of clothes for us, but since we were going out Tuesday night, I did pack some nicer clothes for that. I laid out our clothes for Tuesdays trip, and packed up the car...

My husband works the night shift at a local factory, so he got off and arrived home around 7:15 Tuesday morning. By then, the kids had already been up for awhile and I was doing some last minute things to get ready. We headed out around 8, stopping for breakfast and gas. We made only 30 minutes before a small voice from the backseat said, "Mommy, I gotta pee!" So we stopped and had all three kiddos get out and take a potty break. The rest of the trip north was fairly uneventful. I dropped my dolls off with Jennifer of "Jennifer's Favorite Finds" in St. Louis and then headed to my home town.

It's been almost 10 years since I lived in the St. Louis area and things have really changed. We come back to visit every now and then - but mostly we just visit family, very rarely do we revisit places or meet up with friends. This visit was for doing just that. Since my husband had worked all night, he needed sleep so I dropped him off at my grandpa's house. From there, the kids and I went to Steak 'n' Shake to meet up with an old girlfriend, Barb.

We had lunch and the kids were very well behaved! I was so proud! It was so good to see Barb again and catch up. Mostly though, I wanted to share her with my kids so they could know one of the most important people in my childhood. Barb and I became friends when we were 8 and went through a lot together - she is the one who introduced me to my husband 10 years ago. And even though we only see each other once a year now, my children need to know her.

Me & Barb in 2007

After the meal and some chatting, the kids and I headed back to my grandpa's home to rest and get ready for the evening out. My grandparent's have cable so the kids kicked back and watched the Cartoon Network for a couple hours - a rare treat for them. I woke my sleepy man up in time for an early dinner and then we all dressed up and headed out....

This year marked 10 years since I last danced in a recital. It also marked 56 years that Denoyer Dance has been open. This is the studio that I grew up in, the teachers there formed who I am and how I move. During my time there I learned tap, ballet, jazz, musical theater, swing, and Mexican folk dancing. I also learned about music, poise, grace, laughter, movement, and practice. I spent 14 years dancing there and the last two of those years, I was a teacher's aid to preschool classes. So, Tuesday night we went to Denoyer Dance Studio's 56th recital. It was a wonderful night - I saw teachers that I hadn't seen in years, fellow students that danced with me and are now teachers, students I had taught who were teens.... I couldn't believe it!! But the absolutely best part was halfway through the show when my almost-3-year-old daughter turned to me and said, "Mommy!! They is so pretty! I want to dance like that, too..." Talk about a proud moment - thank goodness there is a studio where we live now, because otherwise, I'd be making a two-hour commute every week for her to take lessons in St. Louis. 

Unfortunately, the night had to end and we had to drive back home. I was left feeling a little homesick for my old studio and wishing I still had my tap shoes to put on and putter around the house in. But I'm looking forward to the fall when Kari will be (finally!) old enough to start lessons of her own. 

This coming Tuesday, my Barbie clothes will be featured during "Jennifer's Favorite Finds" on Show Me St. Louis. It airs at 12:30 pm central on KSDK 5, if you live in the area. I will post a link here once the powers that be have put it online. I'm so nervous!! 

Have a great weekend dolls!

New Gown to be Revealed....

... but not today!! As some of you may know, I was contacted last month to have some of my Barbie clothes featured on a semi-local television program, Show Me St. Louis, during a segment called Jennifer's Favorite Finds. I am sending her 15 outfits complete with accessories - 13 for Barbie and 2 for Ken. Included will be a brand new gown....

I'm not revealing much about the gown today, but what kinds of gowns do you like? A-line? Imperial waist? With a train? Fairy tale? Long or short? With a slit? Tiered? Peplum?

There really are so many silhouettes that a gown could have! Which is your favorite?


I'll leave you with a few to look at and a hint for my new gown...

 

 One of these last four is closest to the gown that will be revealed on air... 

but it's not dress #2.

Stay tuned on June 19th to see what the gown will look like!

How To Dress Your Doll - Jumper

Good Saturday afternoon, Dolls!! I have finally listed this adorable patchwork jumper for Barbie! It comes with a fun beaded necklace, too. I thought the dress itself was a little complicated so, I posted a tutorial on how to dress your doll. Follow the links to see how this jumper goes on differently than others...

Barbie's Boutique Basics: How To Dress Your Doll - Jumper: 

And click here to view the jumper in my shop!

Have a great rest of your weekend!

Tutorials!!

Hey dolls! Happy Memorial Weekend! I just wanted to drop in with a quick update - I will now be providing some tutorials, background stories, and how-to-dress-your-dolls pages here on my blog. Last week I blogged about my fave item from my shop - the simple, off-the-shoulder dress. Today, I added an "incomplete" tutorial to making patchwork dresses. Read on...

Barbie's Boutique Basics: Making A Patchwork Dress - An Incomplete Tutorial: As you know from reading my posts, a good friend of my mine creates adorable girls clothing that I, of course, purchase and dress my munchki...

The Story of a Dress...

  Last summer, I introduced the Off-the-Shoulder Dress designed by  yours truly. I started with basic solid colors and then added a contrasting band and then I even tried a couple prints. Today I wanted to talk about the evolution of this dress and how it can be purchased in my shop today.

These first photo is the basic black version of this dress. This is where I started. But really... it goes back before that. Back to when I first started sewing Barbie clothes in December of 2010....

I had been a working mom of three and after 5 years of struggling and fighting to make that work, I gave in and listened to what my heart was saying - I decided to be a stay at home mom (SAHM). This was the hardest and scariest decision ever... aside from the possible financial woes and the stress of taking care of three small children (at the time they were 4, 2, and 1), there was the question of "What am I going to do all    day?".

I started making Barbie clothes after going to the local craft fair and seeing that there was no one making these anymore. It was something I had looked forward to buying for my daughter when she got older. The second pattern that I bought had the pieces to make a shirt similar to the dress we're talking about today. I had never sewn with knit fabrics before and had no clue where to begin. And there was the issue of my dinosaur of a sewing machine (it's 25 years old!) - it was chugging along ok, but it did not like these stretchy knits, especially when doing hems!! So I strayed away from that top and that fabric and moved on. But I kept coming back to wanting to work with these knits. They were so soft and there was so much I could do with them, if only I could get it to work!

Finally, I decided I would hand-stitch the hems. My machine was handling the seams just fine, so I would do the rest by hand. And I did! The first six dresses like this were made with hand sewn hems. My stitches were uneven at first, but they gradually got better. Oh, was I excited! But it was so time-consuming. How could I keep up with demand? How could I afford a cost-effective product? Well, I limited myself to just those six. If they sold, I may decide to remake them, but I wouldn't add any colors just yet.

In November of 2011, just 6 months ago, I bought myself a new machine - a Singer Stylist. Those first few nights sewing with it were a dream! All the issues I had been having with my ancient Kenmore were just distant gripes. I began to get more creative and I designed many more styles of dresses and skirts. I introduced a boutique style line of doll clothing that was made with brilliantly colored and patterned fabric.

Meanwhile, this Off-the-Shoulder dress of mine was selling. And selling often. And I was getting requests to make it in other colors! So the royal blue one came next. While all the others so far were made with cotton, this one is a polyester blend knit. It is still soft and stretchy, but it is more clingy - almost like Lycra, but not really. It is slippery and a little more difficult to work with that regular cotton, but it is so beautiful!

Now, I have begun adding more colorful versions of this dress - as you can see below! I have tried yellow with a white band and a peach ribbon, purple with a white band a lavender ribbon, and lime green with a navy band and lime green ribbon. Today, I took photos of two more of this dress - hot pink with a black band and ribbon, and pale pink with an ivory band and rose colored ribbon. They are too pretty, if I do say so myself.

So, how do you buy it, you ask? Simple! For a basic solid color dress, click here and be sure to specify which color you'd like! You can find the other dresses pictured here. Each dress is $11 plus shipping. And please remember, since these dresses are made brand new each time one is ordered, allow up to one week for completion. Normally it doesn't take me that long, but you never know what may happen and I like to give myself plenty of "just in case" time.

That's all for today, dolls! Thanks for letting me tell you about this fun, simple, and chic dress!

Purple Wall Paper Print

Hello again, dolls! I promised I would be back with more photos for your viewing pleasure, and here I am! 

This first dress, I absolutely LOVE! It features a peasant-style bodice and a patchwork skirt. It's OOAK in that those fabrics will not be used for this style of dress again. I used nine different fabrics to create this look! It comes with the beaded necklace you see on Barbie. Now I know you all are dying to have this dress.... but it sold first thing this morning! Sorry dolls!

This next dress is a simple strip dress with cap sleeves and a ribbon sash that ties in front - though really, you could tie it to the side or in back if you'd like. The dress is created with strips of three different, but coordinating fabrics. The bodice fabric is seen repeated in the skirt of the dress. I love the simply chic style of this unique dress.

This two piece outfit features a purple wallpaper print pleated skirt - wow, say that 3 times fast! I love this fabric and used it on several pieces lately. The waistband is made with a yellow fabric spotted with purple, white, and blue dots. It's embellished with a purple ribbon bow at the waist. A purple off-the-shoulder t-shirt is paired with this skirt. I think it looks best tucked in, so as to show off the ribbon and waistband, but, Doll, you can wear it however! A beaded necklace is matched with this outfit, too.

Do you see a theme here? Clearly I found a fun fabric and used it up! This outfit is actually three pieces - bolero, midriff halter, and skirt. The bolero and skirt are made with this same wallpaper print fabric and the halter is made with yellow fabric that you saw in the two outfits above. The halter ties around barbie's neck with a length of purple ribbon. The skirt is trimmed with black vintage lace. The lace and ribbon came from my favorite supply shop, Griffith Gardens.

This outfit is too fun! A cropped tee with cap sleeves is paired with short-shorts. The shorts are embellished with a purple ribbon bow and the whole outfit is completed with a sterling silver beaded necklace.

These outfits will be posted on Etsy in the coming week.

Well, there you have it, Dolls! This is what I have been up to, when I'm not fulfilling orders. This week I'm working on a line of new pink items. I spent this afternoon on two new dresses that I hope to post on Facebook tonight - they are too cute! Hope to see you there!

Happy Birthday! Happy Mother's Day!

Good Morning, Dolls!  I took last week off from everything (except responding to sales and convos!). It was my birthday and it was a wonderful day! I spent it with my sweet man and my children. My husband helped the kids make candles for me and they used flowers and leaves from the garden to decorate. Here, my boys are presenting me with one of their creations:

That night, my man and I went to see Marvel's The Avengers - we are both big nerds, I know! But it was such a GREAT movie! The actors were wonderful, the story line was good, the humor and fan service was perfect and well-delivered. After the film, we went to eat at Olive Garden. We don't normally eat out and we never eat at Olive Garden, so this really was special for us. I got the Stuffed Chicken Marsala and - yum!! - it was so good. We don't drink, so I can't tell you how good the wine was, but everything else about the meal was wonderful. After dinner, we just drove around town, talking and getting to know each other again. It's hard, in our busy lives and with opposite schedules (he works nights), to be able to spend time everyday with each other and just talk. So these rare moments that we have are full of us chatting and talking and even deep discussions - almost like we were dating again! It was a perfect night!!

The next day was a family day - we went out to several garage sales and found some good deals and we also hit the local farmers market down by the river. After that, we went to a local nursery - they have a special kids event on the first Saturday of every month. This time, my kids got to plant plants (impatients and marigolds) to take home with them. They also picked out a packet of seeds each. Guess what we did that afternoon? Yep! We planted!

Sunday was another wonderful day. We had a great service at church, with my sweet man as the liturgist. It was the first weekend, so we had communion. As Methodists, we do not have communion every Sunday, just the first of the month, but we allow all Christians to partake because Christ would never turn away anyone from his table. Because my husband was the liturgist, he got to assist in serving the communion. An older couple also served us. After service, my daughter and I were privileged to be invited to a Mother-Daughter Tea Party at The Glenn House. This house was built in the 1880s and has been restored and refurnished. It is now used for tours and events like the tea party. So, Kari and I got all dolled up and headed out with two of the most prominent women from our church. It was a wonderful time! Kari was so well-behaved! She was too cute drinking her tea and nibbling her sweets! I was very proud of her! After the tea, we went to tour the house. The highlight was of course the little girl's room that was full of old dolls, doll houses, toys, and even an old puppet theater! Kari just loved it all, of course!!

Well, I'm getting long-winded and haven't even posted some photos that I promised, so I will leave you with a few to look at! I'll post more later!

 Have a very wonderful Mother's Day, dolls!!

New Dresses!

Hello, dear reader! How was your weekend? Mine was full of love and laughter and I hope yours was, too! This weekend, my darling daughter was in her 2nd ever fashion show...

Mine is the one in the red & white - isn't she just precious? Her outfit came from Kids Bazaar, my favorite consignment shop! The fashion show was for the ABC expo and all the kiddos wore something from Kids Bazaar. My boys even walked the cat walk!

This weekend was my husband's weekend off, so we spent a lot of time just being together. He works nights and sleeps days so we just get a few evening hours with each other through the week, so it was very special to get time together this weekend.


I promised you all on Friday, that I would finish up a new dress and post photos, so here goes!

This is a peasant style strip dress with a solid yellow bodice. The strips come from two different fabrics - a yellow "rainy day" fabric and a periwinkle blue with lime dots. The umbrella fabric is pleated over the blue at the waist. A turquoise ribbon belt ties around Barbie's waist and a beaded necklace completes the outfit. I'm just in love with this fabric! It is scraps from this outfit which was made by Frog Kisses:

Yes, this is my obnoxious - I mean, precious - little angel. 

Two more things before I go tonight! I updated my shop banner. What do you think?

AND, I designed a new dress!! I think I really like this...

What do you think? It's a fairly simple halter dress that features a ruffle down the center vertical line of the dress. I think it's fun and different, which is kind of what I'm all about! Does it need anything different? Don't pick on the colors - I can do different colors. But tell me what you think about the style of the dress. Leave your comments below! I'd love to know what you think. 

And now, good night, Dear Reader. Sweet dreams...