Bella Dia

Vintage Sewing Cards and Paper Dolls

I picked up this cute box of paper dolls on my last thrift shop outing.  It was taped up so I didn't know what I would be getting but I had a pleasant surprise.  The original doll was not in the box but almost all of the paper clothing was there, uncut, ...

and a set of 5 adorable lacing cards as well!

 

I have scanned them all in and if you'd like a copy then email me (sea[at]cox-internet[dot]com) with "Paperdolls" and/or "Lacing Cards" in the header and I will send them to you. I'm planning on putting these on Lulu for easy downloading (no charge just convenience) but until I get it done I thought I would make them available through email.

*Now available for free download here!

The doll on the cover is the correct size for the clothing so you could print her out and use her for the model.  The lacing cards should be printed on card stock and then use a small punch to make the holes.  Of course, they can be used any way you'd like just make sure it's for personal use only.  Enjoy!

Funny Food Contest!

The Crafty Crow is approaching it's three month anniversary and to celebrate I am holding my first contest ever!  It's a Funny Food contest for children and their adult helpers.  There are five categories - all fruit, all veggies, breakfast, lunch/dinner, sweets - and five winners!  Each winner will receive a tote bag stuffed full of craft supplies!  If you and your kids are interested in participating go over to The Crafty Crow and read all the details.  The deadline is June 22nd so I'll be able to announce the winner during my anniversary week.  I hope you'll help me spread the word and then get cracking on your entries! 

I've seen this meme around and thought I would do it since I so rarely do these things - not because I don't like them but I am so indecisive when it comes to thinking up answers that it takes me forever and a day to do it!  (click the image to see it larger)

The Questions:
1. What is your first name?  Cassi
2. What is your favorite food?  sushi
3. What high school did you go to? 
Corona del Mar
4. What is your favorite color? turquoise
5. Who is your celebrity crush? 
George Clooney
6. Favorite drink?  mojito
7. Dream vacation?  see the Northern lights
8. Favorite dessert? pie
9. What you want to be when you grow up? young at heart
10. What do you love most in life?
my children
11. One Word to describe you. trying
12. Your Flickr name.  Bella Dia

Click here for photo credits.

If you'd like to do it too here's what you do:

Open three windows.  One with the list of questions, another open to Flickr and ready to do an image search, and a third to Big Huge Labs' Mosaic Maker (create a mosaic with 4 columns and 3 rows).  Answer the first question, put your answer in the search field on Flickr and choose one of the images from the first page to represent your answer.  Click on the photo then copy and paste the url into the #1 spot on the Mosaic Maker.  Do that for all 12 questions, then click create and post the results to your blog!  Your kids will have fun with it too :)

I saw this other cool thing on Vintage Delights - it's a signature creator!

Enjoy!

 

Cleaning My Studio On A Snowy Evening

Whose room this is I think I know,
Can’t blame the kids - it’s mine, to sew.
I can’t believe these piles of stuff
Are filling up my studio.

My little cat must think it queer
To see me get up off my rear
Between the fabric, thread and pins
The darkest evening now is here.

I ask the kids to make some tea,
I’ll be gone awhile you see.
I must focus, no distractions,
By crafty books in Japanese.

This mess is ugly, dense and deep.
But I have paper bits to sweep,
And piles to go before I sleep,
And piles to go before I sleep.

*my version of Robert Frost's
Stopping By Woods On A Snowy Evening

More Ways to Twiddle Your Day Away...

 

More internet fun:

click here and just move your mouse!

oh my, this is mesmerizing - falling sand game - adults will love it as much as kids

I'd love to see a little more tweaking of this program because it's a great idea.  Get the image location for one of your pictures at Flickr then write in some text that you want to represent the picture and click Texturize!  Click here to go to a Flickr group for Texturized pictures and help.

Bembo's Zoo  - it's the book come to life - fun for the kids and inspirational for you too

Pandora

I think you are going to love this: Pandora! It's like having your own customized radio station. You put in some artists and/or songs that you like and Pandora will search its database for those songs plus others that are similar and create your own personalized radio station. The songs have been analyzed using up to 400 different elements and Pandora trys to match elements from your favorites to find new music. The Pandora site can explain it much better than I can and is very simple to use too. The best thing is that its free and you can have up to 100 different stations. I've only developed two so far: one is a good listen-while-you-work kind of music and the other is Christmas music (check that off my list!). You need to work with your station a little and give it feedback on the songs they play - say whether you like it or not - and before you know it you'll be hooked! I've already discovered several new artists and puchased their music through iTunes. I've said it before and I'll say it again - I love the internet!

Easy Stocking Stuffer

I got plain white thumbtacks from Target (80 for .98¢) then colored them with Sharpie markers. They dry very quickly and there was no smearing. I used the original cardboard but covered it with this very special ;) brown paper and then replaced the thumbtacks. There's room for a greeting at the top too if you want. Let me know if you try it :)

Pink and Red Quilt Mosaic

1. Vintage floral napkin, 2. pineapples, 3. Vintage Fabric, 4. Vintage Fabric, 5. Vintage Fabric, 6. girassois, 7. Flowers, Stripes, and Dots, 8. Pink Rose on Black, 9. floral, 10. Cherries and Strawberries, 11. Pink Floral, 12. vintage fabric, 13. Polished Cotton, 14. vintage fabric, 15. img152, 16. img145

I just found this cool little third party Flickr app called Mosaic Maker (while your there check out their other toys too). Now if everyone already knows about this please just humor me, sometimes I want to feel hip and ahead of the game;) Basically, you can create a variety of mosaics from any pictures that are on Flickr, then it gives you the image and the code to do with as you will. This mosaic is my pink and red quilt that I put together from the images at the Vintage Fabric group. I love too that it gives you a clickable link for each picture in the mosaic in the html code. I'm so excited thinking of all the ways I can use this and best of all...it's free!!