I usually buy stocking stuffers but I need to do homemade this year and I have no idea what to make beyond food.

I need ideas for an 18 month old, a 4 year old and my husband, but this thread can be a general list for ideas if there isn't one kicking around already.

I know there are lots of Totoro fans at Craftster so I thought I'd post the cake we made for my daughter's 1st birthday.



It's a chocolate cake with chocolate frosting, everything is fondant except the bushes which were made from candy melts. 

Thanks for looking.

In 2005 we moved into this house and the first thing we did was rip up the ugly shag carpet, refinished the hardwood underneath and painted over the grey walls.

That's as far as we got.

I've been dreaming of a cozy libraryesque living room forever and finally decided to move on it. It should be complete by Monday. Here are the pics so far.

Before we moved in (blech);



After initial fix up;


As of last night;





Still left to do;

put doors on the tv cabinet
replace curtains
build 2 end tables (one for the mac) and a table for behind the sofa (where the blue paintings will go)
refinish thrift store coffee table
finish staining the bookshelves
organize everything to go on bookshelves

I'll post the final pics when it's complete. It is now really warm and cozy in here. I've always felt little privacy in this room because we are so close to the street but this isolates us a bit and it's wonderful.

My husband who does not read (ever) said today that the room makes him want to curl up with a good book! If only we had a fireplace...

I hate not using patterns.  This was the biggest pain in the butt to make as I had no plan going in.  It didn't turn out quite as I pictured it but it's close enough.  It's still a little loose so I need to take it some more and edit the stitching at the top edge, maybe trim the top with something.



It's for Halloween but I feel odd wearing it.  I just turned 28 and I have two young children.  Is this something that I should leave for someone younger to wear?

Also I'm not quite happy with the way the tulle turned out.  Should I pull it or leave it be?

Plastic boning, corset bones and bias tape for lacing...Used a tute from somewhere on this site to draft the pattern.

After fearing corset making forever I feel took the plunge.  It was far easier and turned out way better than I could have expected. 

It's a little big and I need to get a better shirt to wear with it, but I love it.  It originally had bias tape on the top and bottom but I can never figure out how to get that stuff to work properly so I removed it and put in the rick rack.

Now I just need to do figure out a skirt to make with the yard of pumpkin fabric that I bought.  Then I'll be all set for Halloween.

This was insanely easy.  I bought a large ladies black velvet shirt from Value Village for $5, the broom was $2 (bought it last year for decor), had some red scrap fabric and we already had a cute stuffed cat.

The Kiki dress has shorter sleeves than this but it'll be pretty cold on Halloween so I left them long.  I took in the sleeve width, length, shoulders and the neck to fit my daughter.

She's so cute!

$36 in supplies, 30 minutes to build.

It's early but I need time to plan if I can do this.  I'd like to throw a summer party with a luau/tiki (I can merge these themes yes?) theme. 

I need ideas preferably ones that involve me spending as little money as possible!  Any ideas for decor/food/props/games/music?

I'm so tempted to dump this stupid old metal Kenmore and get a new fangled plastic sewing machine that'll last me more than a couple weeks before it breaks.

In the meantime out of nowhere I'm having serious issues keeping my fabric running straight.  The feed dogs are up and looking fine but the fabric is all over the place.  When I guide it with my hands it's vaguely straight but not like it used to be and if I lift my hand for a second the line goes all over the place.  It's never done this before. 

Any ideas? 

My dh is building a toy kitchen for my 2 year old for Christmas.  All we are buying is the mdf everything else has to come from salvage.  I have the burners and sink ready but I need to provide a faucet, stove knobs, oven tray and door pull.  They can't be so small that she can choke on them if removed and I need to make/steal them from something in my house.  I have a kitchen, workshop and sewing/craft room to steal from. 

Any ideas?