Shake your butter

What to do when kiddo is on the verge of a boredom induced mutiny and you're stuck in the house? Why, let's make some butter! Butter is fun, right?

As it turns out, yes it is.

Step 1: Pour heavy whipping cream into a clean empty jar, seal the lid tight, aaaaaannnnd
2. shake shake shake!
3. shake shake shake!4. shake your butter!Until it makes a *thunk* sound and you've got yourself a big ol' ball o' butter.

4. Try to say that three times fast.

5. Use cheesecloth to separate the butter from the buttermilk, and voila! Buttery goodness. Save the buttermilk for baking or give it to your cat or something. I think cats like buttermilk.Mmmm, toast. At this point you can add salt, herbs, garlic, or any other flavoring to your butter, or just leave it plain. Unless you own a cow making your own butter isn't exactly cost effective, but it's pretty cool and it'll keep a kid occupied for a good half hour or so. Plus if you use organic cream you won't have all the funky preservatives and crap that's usually in butter.

My hands still smell buttery. Not sure if that's a good thing.

Happy Earth Day!

Let's celebrate with a few of my favorite green Etsy finds.

From top left:

1. T-shirt dish scrubbies from RightBrainThinker

2. Glass bottle serving dish from Biolum

3. Plantable greeting cards by Retrowhale

4. Bamboo flatware set from Ponyup

5. Snack bag coin purses by MoJoTrashion

6. Perrier bottle glasses by Bottlebottoms

7. Shopping totes from AndyEatsOnlyCandy

8. Recycled skateboard pendant from 2ReVert

9. Recycled balloon necklace from NormalIsBoring

Stay green!

Itsy Bitsy Teeny Weeny Pink and Orange and Yellow Polka Dot....Backpack....with a cat....

This little backpack is a gift for Adam's niece Sunny, who will be turning four next month. Autumn drew the picture on the pocket for her because "Sunny just loves cats and pink."
I'm afraid I may have made the straps a bit too long, but other than that I'm happy with it. I'm planning on filling it up with art supplies, including a coloring book and some homemade crayons. Would it be silly to buy a new box of crayons just so I can melt them down into cuter ones? I think not.
The funniest thing was that one of our friends saw the backpack and thought I drew the picture on the pocket. Oh yes, I did it all by myself! See how I've been practicing my "y"s?

Autumn's favorite joke

Dawn of the Dollies

I have a confession to make, dear readers. I have been keeping a secret from you. No, this isn't the thing that's been stressing me out lately (that problem is, for the most part, over with). This is a much happier secret.

Lately I've been thinking about my Etsy shop and the direction in which it was going, and I was feeling stuck. I realized that I was focused more on making things that I thought other people would like instead of making things that I enjoy. I was bored with the cutesy pastel stuff. It just isn't me. That's not to say that I don't like the precious, pastelly things--I do like them, and I use them quite a bit. But I don't love them. Making them doesn't necessarily bring me any joy. I have pink hair and I listen to the Sex Pistols, for pete's sake. After much thought I've decided that it's time for a change. Yes, Sugar and Snails will be closing its virtual doors this year. It's a bittersweet end, but it's for the best, because I think my next project will bring me a lot of happiness. So with great excitement I'd like to introduce you to my newest crafty business venture...
Zombie dolls! Oh, come on, you saw it coming. I know they're not everyone's cup of tea, but I love these little girls, and I know there's a niche market out there for them. I've always liked combining the cute and cuddly with the dark and macabre, and I think these are the perfect mix. Gross and snuggly at the same time! So you can now find me and my bloody little orphans at the Zombunny Orphanage for the Undead.

Each doll I make will be one-of-a-kind, with their own unique names and personalities. Most of them will be inspired by real people. Friends, family, acquaintances, strangers, people who picked on me in high school, no one is safe from being zombified. In fact, there's already a little me available for adoption. Can you guess which one it is?


Since listing my first three dolls the response has been overwhelmingly positive--in fact, Tara has already been adopted! To me, that's a definite sign that I'm doing the right thing. Thanks so much to Adam for helping me through the anxiety about my Etsy move, to Adam's sister-in-law for encouraging me to sell my zombies in the first place, to PixelbyPixel for helping me design my awesome logo and to Autumn for telling me my zombies are cute. Now I'm off to the fabric store to buy more felt!

Turn that frown upside down

Life hasn't been too happy for me lately. I'm not sure I want to talk about it here just yet, but suffice it to say that Adam and I have been under a lot of stress recently, and probably will be for the next few weeks. I could use some cheering up, so how 'bout a list (in no particular order) of things that have been making me smile? Here we go.


1. Autumn in her Easter dress. The kid may be a tomboy, but I can't help but squeal when I see her in something so deliciously girly. More Easter pictures here.

2. This very funny and very informative bias tape tutorial over at Angry Chicken.

3. This conversation I had with Autumn today.

Her: Why do kids have parents?
Me: Kids have parents because they need adults to love them and take care of them.
Her: But I didn't always have parents.
Me: What do you mean? I've always been your mom.
Her: No, not when I was a baby and I was at the baby doctor.
Me: You mean the hospital?
Her: Yeah that.
Me: I was your mommy then too!
Her: No I mean when all the babies are in a room next to each other, and you picked me out and you buyed me.

Of course even though her thoughts on the origin of babies were completely adorable, I went on to explain to her that babies start out in their mommies' tummies and then come out when they're big enough. She thought this was hilarious, but didn't feel the need to ask any further questions. This was our first "Where do babies come from?" conversation. As she's gotten older and more inquisitive I'd been wondering when the inevitable questions would start, and now here it is. This was the easy one. The more detailed (and less comfortable) conversations will occur as she gets older, I'm sure.

4. Frank's video of Oliver rolling over. So sweet! I watched it three times in a row. Wait, I have to go watch it again. Okay, four times.

5. The pincushion belt I made for The Beast. I officially lost my old pincushion along with all of my pins, so when I came home with a fresh supply I decided to make myself a cushion I can't lose. I used some scrap felt and my favorite Alexander Henry fabric (Skull-finity). I must say he looks quite stylish in it. And yes, those are devil horns on my sewing machine.

6. The weekend. Today the three of us are driving up to Pennsylvania to visit my grandmother. I think all of us could use a little mini vacation. Hopefully the quiet and the fresh air will do us some good.
7. My newest zombie doll, Sarah. She's the cutest zombie ever (well, second cutest) if I do say so myself. I think I'll make a whole army of these. Spattering her with fake blood was a little too much fun.

Well. Seven things! That was easy. Maybe this won't be so bad after all.

Hello Spring!

So good to see you!