Wore: What's Black and White with a Red Bottom?

The Answer:  ME!

And not in the naughty way, cheeky monkey.  I'm talking about my outfit and shoes. ;-)

It's actually been chilly here in Atlanta the past week or so, so I've been wearing one of my favorite scarves quite a bit.  Actually, strike that.  It's been cold.  It was 18°F / -8°C when we left for work this morning.  I am so glad I got a new winter coat!

I am so glad the hustle and bustle of the last 2 months is behind me.  I am still so tired, though!  It never occurred to me how much work it would be to put together a wedding, family reunion weekend and Christmas/Yule celebration all at the same time.  But we got it done and I was even able to still make a few of my holiday gifts this year.  The theme/project for this year was cross stitch.

Unfortunately, I forgot to take pictures before I gave them away so all I have is the one I made for Andy.

It's his favorite quote from "The Departed" :)

I also made my Mom one that says "F*ck the dumb shit" but I'm not 100% convinced she liked it.

I am not one to make New year's resolutions but I've decided that instead of playing random games on my phone or tablet while we unwind in front of Netflix at night, I'm going to design and make some cross stitch pieces.  That way I'm at least being kind of productive when I should be doing chores. :D

Also in the works for this year: opening an Etsy shop to sell my Bearly Dreadfuls.  I don't have any left since they were all used as centerpieces for the wedding so I'll be working up a small inventory first.

Question for you: if you saw the Bearly Dreadfuls  online, what price would you think is reasonable?  I don't want to overprice them but I don't want to undersell, either.  Each one takes about 2-3 hours to complete.


Hope you have a fabulous 2018!  I know I plan to. :)

After they've been up for months, Sidia finally discovered the shelves I put up in the bathroom.
She spent a long time trying to figure out the screws that hold this into the wall.
Thank goodness she does not have opposable thumbs.  Or a screwdriver. 

Wore: Feeling like a lunatic

Every have one of those days where you wake up and nothing feels right?  That's what I was going through the day I wore this:

Dress: New Look
Leggings: New Look
Shrug: Torrid
Shoes: Hot Chocolate Design
Necklace: Black Box subscription box (now defunct)
Bracelet: t-shirt hem from a DIY

I mean, you can even see it in my face which is unusual.  I am one of those people who usually has a grin even in resting face mode.  I woke up with an extremely unhappy stomach only to realize that I had had wheat the night before plus Dexter** was going to be making an appearance so between those 2 things, my stomach was extremely bloated and distended.  I didn't realize I needed gas that morning so that made us run late which always makes me frazzled and people at work were just being dumb.  Everything just seemed sucky.  (I could go on about the little things that made this day crappy but I think you get the idea.)

If I had had the sick time, I would have called in sick.  Actually, I wouldn't have because I have too guilty a conscience to call in for a mental health day but I would have thought about it really hard.

I figured my full moon necklace was a good accessory for this day.  It glows in the dark but I don't get to experience that much during the day.  Stupid day star and fluorescent lighting. ;)

On a positive note for this post, I am really digging some of the clothes at New Look.  They are a UK based online store (8 day shipping to the US!) and you have to kind of dig for gothy-type wear but they are good for basics like dresses and leggings.  Their legging are some of my favorites because they are so lightweight!  In fact, I have 6-8 pairs from them now.  I also love the fact that the arm holes on their plus size dresses aren't gapingly huge like the arms of US-based plus size clothing I have.  This dress is sleeveless and I could wear it without the shrug outside of work if I wanted to without the sides of my bra showing through the arm holes.  For this particular dress, the fabric is a touch itchy for my overly-sensitive skin but I love the look of the texture.

I'm not being paid to sing their praises.  I just really like them. :)

Anyway, after having a meh day, we decided to order tacos for dinner and I made Andy sit through British murder mysteries ("Midsomer Mysteries" on Netflix this time) and I cuddled with Claude van Dumm, my mostest favoritest Bearly Dreadful that I've ever made.

What do you do to cheer yourself up?



** Dexter is the code name for my period because he's a serial killing blood spatter analyst. :)

Made: Bearly Dreadfuls for the wedding

For Halloween 2016, I dressed up as a dolly that I named Little Sally Smiles-A-Lot and carried around a frankenbear that I made named Mortimer.

People thought I was creepy (which is what I was going for) but Mortimer got all sorts of attention!  After that, Andy asked me to make him a bear which he brought to work and several of our coworkers have since purchased others from me.  I decided to call them Bearly Dreadfuls and will be opening up an Etsy shop in about 6 months at the latest.

The reason I am waiting to open up a shop is because I have been busy making a bunch of them for the wedding.

Wait... what?  Making creepy bears for a wedding?!?

Yep!  They are acting as our centerpieces, complete with paper roses that I also made.  Each one for the wedding is also decked out in a rainbow bow tie or hair bow since rainbows are an underlying theme for our shindig.  One,  I love all the colors and B) gay marriage rights are very important to us even though we, technically, are a hetero couple.

Here's a little sneak peak of a few that I finished over the weekend.

I have so much fun making these!  There's just something cathartic about cutting apart stuffed animals and sewing them back together again.

I never use brand new bears when making my Bearly Dreadfuls.  I either thrift them or take donations from people.  Even the yarn I used is reused/recycled.  I'm currently using strands from a grey sweater I picked up in a thrift shop quite a while ago.  I usually end up buying 20-30 at a time so I often wonder what the cashiers think when I come up to the counter.  In my mind, they are thinking that I am making some kids really, really happy.  Little do they know!  <insert evil laughter here>

The buttons I use for their eyes are new, though.  Mainly because it's impossible to find cheap bulk buttons in the thrift shops around me.  But I think the bears deserve something new and shiny before kiss them on the nose when they are done.

Yep, I kiss each and everyone on the nose when I am finished.  That's the magic that brings them back to life.  ;)

I only name the ones I am going to keep.  It's easier for me to let them go that way because I get way too attached.  LOL

In the Midwest where I grew up, it's common for people to take wedding centerpieces home at the end of the reception.  Apparently, that's not a thing here in Georgia so we're going to make sure we let people know that they can adopt one of the 16 wedding bears that will be there.