Domo Kun

So Ludwig is a big fan of Domo and quite a while back he bought materials so that I could make him a domo doll (instead of buying the $60 one he saw in a store).

I took pictures of each step along the way, so if you want to make one, you can follow my pseudo tutorial.

First, you need to cut out shapes from your fluffy brown fabric and white, red and black (Go Pack!) felt.
I used a template made out of paper to guide my cutting.
Cut out the body shape x2 for the front and back.

Once you have cut these out, you need to figure out how wide you want your doll to be. Then cut out fabric in that width. This fabric should go all way around the body. Just think about how you would make it 3-D. Then do that ;D


Then cut out the arms. Use the shape you see here (with the fabric folded under). You don't want your arm pieces to be separate (I made this mistake the first time). If you don't understand what I mean, you will see it in an upcoming picture. Make sure to cut out two of these arm pieces.

Cut out two black circles for the eyes. And cut out your red mouth square as well as two rows of 4 white teeth. Then tack your teeth onto the red mouth piece.

Make sure to leave room above and below your teeth on the red. This is because you are going to cut a square hole in your front body piece. You will then sew the mouth piece to the inside of that hole with brown thread (this way you can't see the stitches- looks much better.

Sew the eyes on with black thread and the mouthpiece with brown thread. Then sew your teeth down with white thread.

See how the mouth is inside the body? Looks so much better!

At this point you can switch to the arms. You will want to round off the square bottom of the arm pieces (shown on the left of the picture). Then you will want to fold the arms over, line them up, pin them and sew them up! Leave the top open so you can stuff it with fluff!

When you stuff it, leave the triangle part (where you didn't sew) free of fluff. This will help when you are attempting to sew them to the sides of the body.


Now you are going to whip stitch that really long width piece all the way around the body. Make sure that you pin it to the body piece so that you don't get off track.

That is just one side whipstitched. Just keep going all the way around the body.

Then you need to whipstitch the back body piece to the width pieces. Make sure to leave a space so you can stuff your doll! I left the space at the crotch open so that I could stuff the body and legs easily.

(At this point I stopped taking pictures... sorry)

Stuff him! Make sure he is firm! Then whip stitch the arms onto the body, pin them! And make sure they are even once you have sewed one of them on!

Then Enjoy your doll!

Ludwig wasn't feeling well when he got home, so he used his doll as a pillow.

New Boots!

Ludwig got new boots! I think they are sexy. That's all!

Magic Carpet Cleaner!

As you all know I have been painting and re-upholstering chairs recently. Evidently I'm not the best at keeping my paint on my target and the brush.

There were large spots of BLACK paint all over Ludwig's dining room carpet.

Obviously I had to do something about this. It's an apartment AND it's UGLY! So Pinterest to the rescue! I found this magic carpet cleaner! So I thought, what the hey, let's give a shot!

First, you apply cornstarch or baking soda to the spot and let it absorb up any liquid you couldn't get out on your own. I waited about 15 minutes and the vacuumed up the magic white powder.

SEE how many spots there are!!!

While I was waiting I mixed up the magic cleaning solution. 2 cups of water, 1 tablespoon (clear) dishwashing liquid and 1 tablespoon white vinegar. I didn't have clear dishwashing liquid so I just used blue- it didn't affect the outcome.

After applying the solution, I scrubbed with a scrub brush. It took a little elbow grease, but a lot less than if I had used just water! All the spots came out after about 20 minutes of scrubbing (total- not per spot).

MUCH better than the painting fail it was before! Yay Pinterest!

It's been a whole year!! March 8, 2012

On March 8, Ludwig and I got to celebrate our one year anniversary. I really can't believe it has been a whole year. Ludwig has stayed with me through the really high ups and the REALLY low downs. He has loved me so well and without faltering. I am so blessed to have such a wonderful man in my life. AND I get to call him mine!!!

So, the day before our anniversary, Ludwig presented me with the gift he so thoughtfully made for me.

Then, we spent the morning at Pike Place Market on the waterfront in Seattle. We didn't get to see anyone throw fish, but we had a lot of fun looking at the crafts for sale! However, most of those vendors did not want pictures taken of their craft. So we took pictures of the fish and produce!

After our romp in the market, we dined at a market seafood restaurant. Because you can't go to the waterfront and NOT have seafood!
The view from our booth was amazing! The picture below doesn't do it justice.

The appetizer (fried calamari) was served with a DELICIOUS jalapeno sauce!

Since I'm not really seafood savvy, I ordered a tuna melt. But Ludwig ordered some really seafood-y seafood, with shells and tails and stuff.

After lunch we went below decks and found a cartoonist! We have always talked about getting a cartoon of the two of us, so our anniversary was the perfect time! Only took 6 minutes total to draw both of us drinking champagne on top of the space needle. Note: Ignore the ring in the picture, I do not actually have a ring.

Also, I'm sorry about the reflection in the glass, poor picture taking skills.

We then found a store that rivals a nerd version of a joke shop! I actually purchased my step-dad's Christmas present there. What is pictured below is NOT his present ;D

The nerd shop was our last stop in Pike Place as our parking meter ran out of time! We traveled from there to a painting shop called the Ceramic Place! I don't have any pictures of our experience there, but I will post our pieces once they are finished.

From there we went to Cinebarre, a 21 and up movie theater. We spent WAY too much money but it was totally worth it. We could order food and drinks throughout the whole movie! And their popcorn was surprisingly addicting!

The whole day was a blast! I can't wait until next year!!!

Voy a aprender Espanol!

I'm kicking it into high gear! I will learn spanish! For those of you who don't know, my boyfriend Ludiwg is from Mexico. He and his family speak spanish to each other all the time and he hopes to teach his children both spanish and english. Since I plan on being the mother of those children (... still waiting on a ring...), I figured that I need to brush up on my spanish. So, if I start speaking in spanish, just forgive me - I'm practicing.

I picked up this book, to help me get started. Soon I'll have post-it notes all around Ludwig's apartment reminding me of the spanish word for such cosas (things).