Shiny Happy Fit of Rage

2011-03-07T14:35:00.002-05:00

"Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid."
— Albert Einstein

Lots of changes being made around here... and not a lot of actual work getting done. Lots of new babies on the way, and lots of new baby things being made! Life has gotten stressful, but the sun is shining. I know the grass is greener on the other side of the fence... because I can see it... but mine is still covered in snow.

Photos of all the newness soon to come...

:)

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Hello Stranger!

2011-01-09T00:01:00.005-05:00

It's been a while huh? I have not fallen off the planet, just been a busy Mama. Times are changing, and life is continuing. Crazy how even the best laid plans don't work out sometimes.

Anyway, I'm back and hoping to keep this updated now.
I've opened a brand new Etsy shop also! It's empty right now, but it's soon to be super!

Introducing -- ShinyHappyFitOfRage.etsy.com!

Still a work in progress, as most things I'm making. Not sure if I'm crazy about the banner even though it is one of my favorite Amy Butler prints. I got the last scrap available at my supplier the other day. I'm thinking about framing it. I've been slightly obsessed with framing things lately. I just put up 25 frames on one wall in my living room. Why not frame fabric? Especially if I don't want to cut it up.

It's crochet season for me, so I've got lots of goodies in the works and up for sale. My slouchy hats have been very popular this year!

Thumbtacks are new to my long list of things I make also! They are so bright and pretty, I love them.

I made these guitar appliques a while back and wasn't sure what to do with them. I almost made them into a quilt, but instead I stitched them onto a bunch of t-shirts and onesies. They turned out great!!
I Heart Ipanema has been pretty good to me as well. The store is becoming pretty popular, I'm very proud, and thankful, for their success! It's nice to have somewhere local I can send people to instead of just Etsy. I've tried out a couple other opportunities, but I Heart Ipanema has been the best! If you are ever in Kalamazoo I encourage you to check it out!

Lots more to share soon! Thanks to those of you that have stuck around/returned after my long absence! <3

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Sunday Success

2010-08-01T17:37:00.005-04:00

I've been busy! Making tons of things and enjoying my summer. I even got a nap on the beach the other day - life is good!

I made this fab pouch as a custom order. I'm in love with it and I want to keep it. Darn this making-a-living BS. ;)

I was invited to a trunk show in Battle Creek yesterday at Art Center Too. What an awesome place! And they set me up right across from Sew Unique Threads, so of course, I bought fabric. This was really neat newsprint-ish fabric with some red thrown in. I cut a woman right out of the middle of it and made it into the French Smoking Girl Pouch. Which will someday hopefully get listed in my Etsy shop.

I took a couple hours today to try this tutorial from Prudent Baby. I only made one wrong cut, which was no biggie, and now I've got 10.5 beautiful yards of mustard yellow double-fold bias tape! Thanks Prudent Baby!

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Papasan Makeover! And some other goodies...

2010-07-16T21:23:00.005-04:00

So I finally made something for ME and it's amazing! What was once a boring, black papasan cushion, is now a bright, fabulous, eye-catching papasan! I had to move it to the main living room just so I could stare at it.

I used scraps for the entire thing! The smallest piece is ~0.75"x 1". The biggest is around 8"x4" and I tried to avoid using anymore of those after that one starting piece. I didn't plan it out or measure anything, just cut-sew-add until it was gigantic and wonderful! Can you tell I like it a lot? ;) I was tempted to make it into a quilt but I can't imagine quilting it all by hand since it would be too big for my machine. So I went back to Plan A and made a huge round papasan cushion pillowcase! It has a pocket back that I stitched closed with huge stitches, so I can easily remove it to wash it. Lord knows nothing stays clean with a 5 yr old in the house!

That great store I Heart Ipanema, that I've got a bunch of goodies at here, has been a pretty cool experience. Stuff is selling pretty well! One shopper didn't find what she wanted so Nicole sent her my way for a custom set for her friend's baby. I'm convinced, I make fun stuff, and that's why I get to meet the most fun people doing what I do! She was really sweet, and she loved the Pillow Cubes, Tie Bib, and Bunny Rattle!

I was surfing Noodlehead again and saw this great tutorial for Car Pillows! Since I *still* know a scary amount of pregnant women, like I seem to always these days, I made a whole car lot full of Car Pillows. Girly ones too! That's right Mamas, you're all getting pillows, I'm ahead of the game for once!

And last but not least, one of my best friends' sisters is getting married! I hemmed her Mom's dress for her... by hand I might add... and then used some of the scrap to make her a snap pouch to match the dress! I hope she loves the little surprise! Congrats soon Rachel!

Deer Creek!

2010-06-21T20:57:00.002-04:00

I've been MIA. I haven't had much to say, and I've had a heck of a lot more to do since I stopped working my second job. Not sure how that works out!

I just made it to Deer Creek 2010. For those of you not in-the-know, Deer Creek is an annual show Dave Matthews Band puts on at the Verizon Center in Indiana. This was my first year making it to Deer Creek, which has been going on with a group of my friends for many many years. The guy who started this tradition couldn't make it this year since his first baby didn't get the Deer Creek memo and was due this past week. He showed up in spirit as an almost life-size picture of his face-on-a-stick thanks to the Pub crew.

Hahahahaha!

We can't say it was boring by any stretch. The cops ran over our Ladder Golf and didn't even slow down and apologize. One of our group chased them down. Don't chase cops, they aren't nice about it. I watch far too much Cops and Inside American Jail so I was just hoping they didn't taze him.

Soon after we had to call them back to our campsite to remove the trippin' moron from across the way. We'll call him Dick from Chicago. Because that's what he was, and that was also his very fitting given name. Dick from Chicago peed his pants in my new camping chair then started smacking everyone. He got arrested and I can't think of anything more beneficial to him considering the amount of drugs he ate and the things that would soon happen...

Dick wouldn't have wanted to be in his tent during the storm that came through soon. Especially considering his tent was the first to be demolished. Not just any ol' storm with a little bit of rain either. 70 mph winds followed by a downpour for hours. EZ-Up tents can't withstand 70 mph winds no matter how well you stake them down. Our super-stakes stayed in place, while our 3 canopies became THIS twisted mess of metal:

However, our tiny tent stayed standing and mostly dry!! A quick trip to the store and some duct tape and we had shade again!! Notice the short carport! haha!

Next day... cue the heat stroke. 93* and sunny was not a good mix for me to be laying out in while drinking breakfast. Lesson learned - A Bloody Mary is not a meal, and heat stroke is a serious problem. I'm still lounging at home attempting to bring my temp down. 99.8 is better than the 104 I was at!! Ever had heat stroke? I haven't. My brain quit working. All of a sudden I was too hot. Then I needed a short nap. Then I had to yak. Then I felt alright. Took an icy cold shower. Did you know a cold shower is not a good thing when you have a fever? I didn't even know I had a fever at the time. I thought I had a lunchtime hangover from drinking my breakfast. Ended up sufficiently chilled for a moment in the shower and stomped back to my campsite in the mud. Pointless huh? It became naptime again quickly for a good chunk of the day. Heat stroke tip #2 -- Don't nap!! Heat stroke can put you in a coma. That's just not what ya wanna do when you're camping. I went all over the sickness spectrum for Saturday and Sunday. I consider myself rather intelligent, but I didn't really know a thing about heat stroke. Up til this year, I had really never had a major issue with spending hours in the sun. Heat stroke is BAD. I recommend checking it out on WebMD before you go on any outdoor vacations that are going to be hot and sunny. There were a lot of things I didn't know, and a lot of things I did wrong. Next time, I'm dragging my happy ass down to the medic before I ever get to the point that I'm at right now. And you should too, should you ever be in this situation.

Ok Dr. Delainie, that's enough.

Check out this mud!! Luckily we parked on a paved road adjacent to this muddy mess. Unfortunately this was right next to our camp and all the cars that got stuck sprayed mud all over our tent. I watched an F150 get stuck and pulled out, then immediately after that a little blue Beamer thought it could do better than a big truck. Uh-huh. Ok pal. We soon all gave up on washing our feet.

These poor little ants couldn't get out of the water. There were a ton of them! We built them a beer can and PVC pipe bridge so they could get down. They did and they did fast! Way too much water running through our site right here...

Well that's all I've got for now. I've got about 10 zillion projects in the works so I'll post about those soon! Now I need some ice cream... to get this fever down of course :)

Edit: I completely forgot to mention, we were on the news!! Or at least our campsite was since it was so completely messed up. The guy asked me to talk, but I wasn't about to show up on the news yet again looking like shit. Unfortunately that's kind of my thing. Check it out here.

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Icky.

2010-05-27T19:44:00.004-04:00

Here I sit, TV on, computer on my lap, Sudafed aplenty at my side. WTF is wrong with me?? I just can't figure it out. Mild headache, earache, dry sore throat, and nausea that only lasts for about the first 8 hours of my day. That last part scares me a bit. This has been going on for the past 3 days.

I come from a family of self-diagnosers. So naturally I asked WebMD what the deal is. Sinusitis, Tonsilitis, or Pregnant. Um what? How do they narrow it down to this?? If I have Tonsilitis I may be a medical miracle. Could they have grown back... AGAIN? Been there, done that. Hope I don't have to do that for a 3rd time. I've had a sinus infection/sinusitis before. It didn't feel like this. It left me hospitalized for a couple days of my Spring Break freshman year. I couldn't breathe, sniffle, blow my nose, or cough without the feeling that it'd be my last time ever doing it. So where does that leave me? Pregnant? Come on. What are the chances that I'm feeling symptoms less than a week after conception? According to Wiki, it happens. Eeeeeek. Please body, let me plan the next one. Not now. Not now. NOT NOW.

If I am, I know one thing for sure. I have a knack for terrible timing. That's a whole other story I'll tell if I am. Plenty of tears will be shed and I'm just not in the sort of mood (or health) to tell it right now. Plus, I'm sure my take on my past pregnancy will offend at least 3 people that I love very much that I know read my blog. So I'll keep it to myself for now since I don't want to start off another pregnancy as the super-bitch I was last time. Cross your fingers that I'm just crazy.

An update on the nasty finger smashing accident... it still looks gross. In fact, it looks really extra gross in comparison to the picture in my last post. Also the fingernail is separating from the nail bed and I'm pretty sure it's going to fall off sometime since I can't stop messing with it. Should look real pretty then!!

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Do's & Don'ts

2010-05-16T23:33:00.005-04:00

Been a long. busy week here! I've probably made 35 things this week. Some of them that involved new patterns and fabric shopping trips as well!

Learned some things. On with this week's Do's & Don'ts. I apologize for #1, it's kinda gross, but not too bad ;)

#1. DON'T shut your finger in the car door after buckling in your kid at a gas station that didn't have regular gas, the candy we wanted, or the slushies pictured on the sign outside. Luckily they did have napkins because this thing bled horror-movie style. This pic is day 2, took off the bandage, cleaned it up, and was surprised it looked as good as it did considering how bad it felt. Loss of the nail is still questionable. I can only imagine my wide-eyed "shit shit shit!" look I had when I went in for napkins. Dr. Dave hooked me up with a band-aid clearly marked non-sterile from a field kit. Niiiiice.

I want to take a photography class. Look at that pretty faded background, and that nice clear forefront. How did I do it? I don't know. My most professional looking picture I've ever taken has got to be of my crusty digit.

#2. DO make awesome market tote style bags with awesome potato and pepper fabrics in the middle of the night, hours before the baby shower you're making it for.
#2a. DO get shown up by a Grandma's absolutely amazing and huge quilt with coordinating quilted storage bag. Way to go Grandma Awesome Quilt! I wish I'd gotten a picture of it!

#3. DO talk about other people's business. Haha! I mentioned to my MIL that my dear friend CeeJay is pregnant and decorating the nursery in a veggie theme, and what-do-ya-know, she had these really neat cross-stitched veggie pictures that my Step-FIL's Mom made. She'd been trying to pawn them off on the other kids a long time ago, but apparently they were meant to belong to my friend. She loved them!

#4. DO work even farther into the night making yet another cool scrunchy front pouch. Of course I had to embroider it, it is my new obsession. And if you're going by the name CeeJay, I'm sure you're finding nothing personalized. After a day of presents all for baby, it's nice to get an all-for-you gift.

#5. DO tell your crafty friends your plans for decorating. If said crafty friend is anything like me, you've just inspired her. I'm so proud of these! A crocheted eggplant, carrot, avocado, radish, broccoli, and an ear of corn that really comes out of the husk! They were a big hit. Grandma Awesome Quilt thought they were genius which was flattering.

The baby shower was a great time! I won a big tomato plant in the nursery rhyme game! I planted it in a really classy looking white five gallon bucket. (Riiiiight.) This baby will be very loved :) I can't wait to meet him! I hope he eats veggies after all this too...

Only one Don't this week... not bad D, not bad...

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I'm Baaaaack!!

2010-05-06T19:36:00.004-04:00

Once upon a time I had this blog, and then I got all busy and neglected it. I'm back to update all of you, who I'm sure are just dying to find out where I've been -haha.

Remember that article the Kalamazoo Gazette did on me? Well it went up online a while back accidentally, and finally went to print last week. I was under the impression that it was going to be in The Ticket, which is the free entertainment section that comes out on Thursdays. Imagine my surprise when I saw it on THE FRONT PAGE!!! OMG!!

Seriously, how awesome is that?!

The article took up nearly a whole page with beautiful, colorful pictures too! Rumor has it, someone went straight to I Heart Ipanema (one of the local shops I sell at), paper in hand, and bought up my stuff already! The store doesn't even open until Friday! Thanks K-zoo Gazette, you really rocked my socks off this month.

See this sewing machine? It is my new nemesis. It's like a boyfriend thats lost his appeal. He's been around a while and isn't acting how he should, and you have to eventually kick him to the curb. Or send him to the shop and see if they can fix him. Oh if only, there were a boyfriend/husband repair shop....

See that covered up awesomeness in the background? That's my new best bud. She showed up just in time to help me out in a pinch. That one has to be like a girlfriend, seeing as I don't really know how to work her yet, and it's so much more amazing than the 'boyfriend' machine. My stepmom-in-law sent it to me. It's not just any ol machine either... it's an embroidery machine! I never thought I'd own one and I'm beyond excited that I do. I let her sit there for a week because she was intimidating, but I took her out and learned some things last night. I already embroidered!! I think my husband is hiding his things because pretty soon damn near everything in this house is bound to have intials in pretty italic letters.

We've spent a lot of time outside. Walking, swinging, just hanging out. I love spring, but I sure don't get much work done!

See this crazy dog? She's fitting into our family perfectly! I have to keep that curtain up at all times now since she shredded it while freaking out about other people using her sidewalk. She's learning to walk without dragging me down the street and she hasn't eaten my kid's face yet, so I call this one a win-win.

My latest crochet project, a work in progress, for a dear friend of mine. She's having a baby soon, and is decorating his nursery in veggies of all things. She's having a hard time finding veggie items that aren't vintage glass - not really baby friendly - so I had to work some magic. This may be the first time I've loved broccoli! Also, that eggplant is purple, it just won't photograph that way. I've got an ear of corn that really comes out of the husk in the works and a few others done too! I'm so tempted to whip up a bottle of ranch to go with these....

I've got a ton more to say, but that will have to wait. There are Ninja Pants waiting for me to make them! Stay tuned, and thanks for sticking around!!

New....

2010-04-26T19:47:00.004-04:00

So much new-ness is going on around here, I'll hopefully be back soon to elaborate! While you're waiting, check out my new favorite sewing blog Noodleheads. Thank you Noodlehead for the inspiration... even though all these new ideas are putting a halt on my must-do list. :-/

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Latest Treasuries!

2010-04-11T13:36:00.005-04:00

I'm in a couple of awesome treasuries! This first one was curated by MariaSoleil. I love these colors! Sorry I couldn't fit the entire treasury on here, I can't get a bigger screenshot with this tine netbook! Lots of the artists included are from the EtsyWMI Team.

See MariaSoleil's amazing shop here.

This next treasury is so fantastic that I already had 4 of the items in my favorites!! Abacusbeadcreations put this one together. I want to sink into that chair and stay there all day.

See abacusbeadcreations awesome shop here.

Thanks ladies for including me! Please go take a look at both of these great shops!

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Kalamazoo Gazette!!

2010-04-03T10:22:00.005-04:00

I'm in the Kalamazoo Gazette!! Well online anyway. At some point it will go to print, so it's kind of like I'm in the paper twice!! Come check out the article! Simon did a wonderful job of not making me sound too dorky. :)

Click here to see!

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It was one of those March days...

2010-03-21T00:28:00.006-04:00

... when the sun shines hot and the wind blows cold: when it is summer in the light, and winter in the shade. ~Charles Dickens

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We've been busy this Spring! Here's a quick rundown for my following friends & fam.

We've added to our family:

Sahara is officially ours! This dog is fantastic. She listens good, stays out of stuff, and she's sweet. A bit of a clinger, but that might just be a new-house phase. We love her already. :)

We've climbed our new tree. I love this tree. It's so neat looking.

Unfortunately it's a diseased tree and the top might have to go before it falls on the house. I flat-out refuse to make it a stump. Still works for climbing!

We visited a friend's house that's being built. Climbed a giant pile of dirt.

And a pile of rocks. The house is gorgeous so far! I love half-built houses, they smell so good. And I like to see what hides behind walls.

We went bowling for preschool. I was still dying from the P90X workout. Thankfully only the kids bowled, and I didn't have to embarrass myself sharing a ball with a 5 year old.

He beat Mom's average and looked good doin' it!

I used a bunch of scraps to make myself a new Spring messenger bag. I used all my favorite green and blue fabrics, with a touch of red-orange thrown in. Turned out perfect and the pattern is perfected!! I may have to make another of these to list on my quickly-emptying Etsy!

And least, but definitely not least... actually the best part of our week... we finally met baby Leni! Leni is world's sweetest, most beautiful baby girl, the daughter of my very best friend. David was so great with her. He even held her 3 times, covered her in kisses, and was a bit of a baby hog at times! He did not let me forget he wants a baby sister.

~~~More Soon!~~~

Day 2 -- P90X

2010-03-16T08:12:00.004-04:00

What a way to end a Monday. Kicking my own ass in the basement to my very first P90X workout DVD. Day 1 = Chest & Back. Aside from my complete lack of ability to even do a modified push-up, I managed to do half of this workout using resistance bands. It looked much easier than my hardcore hubby's real military push-ups on the floor. He was grunting and groaning and not giving in. I did 35 minutes of the workout with the bands and said "Screw this shit, I won't even be able to lift a bowling ball tomorrow when I go with my kid's preschool class. I need to stop." So I stopped. And yesterday morning I woke up thinking "Did someone try to rip my arms off in my sleep?"

I hate chest and back exercises. I thought they were my least favorite. After a mild bitch-fest on Facebook about how I didn't want to do that and how I'd rather create some buns of steel on my backside, my friend Damon suggested Disc 2- Plyometrics, telling me it's much more my style. Damon have we met? In the 20+ yrs I've known you did you have some warped idea that I like to try to kill myself through exercise? Good god, P90X are you trying to take me out?!

Mistake #1 was telling my husband to start without me and I'd be right down. I missed 5 minutes of the warm up and raced through my stretches.

Mistake #2 was pushing myself through exercises that literally made me fall on my ass. The P90X guy stresses the importance of stopping when you need to. Make it burn but don't go too far. I promise you P90X guy, I will do this next time.

Mistake #3 was to sleep on the couch. I do this most nights since my husband works 3rd shift, my bedroom is a never-ending mess, and I just prefer the couch.

When I woke up this morning unable to move I instantly regretted all the choices I made last night. What have I done to my back? How didn't I hurt my back with the Chest & Back workout, and I did hurt it with Plyometrics? If anyone wants to bump me off, today's the day to do it. I couldn't get away from you if I tried. I'm resisting getting up to get my boy a bowl of cereal. I've tried as well as I could to put Icy Hot on this very localized back injury (extremely hard to do when you can't move ANYTHING) and popped a few ibuprofen (the strongest med in my house unfortunately) and I think I will be useless on the couch all day. I do have a lunch date that I refuse to miss and some fruit to buy for my girl's night tonight, then I'm refusing to move.

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I'm full of it already. I think I'll have to remind my husband that taking the trash out is a man's job. (His words not mine, I'm just going along with this chauvinistic bullshit so I don't have to take out the trash, clean the gutters, or mow the lawn.) Enter garbage truck #1, which is thankfully always earlier than my own, so I can race outside with my own herbie curbie before my truck gets there. Every one of my close neighbors uses a different trash service. My kid is in garbage truck heaven. I'm in more of a I-will-beat-your-ass-Dave-if-you-forget-this-next-week mood. Also, Planet you are welcome, I lugged down both full recycling bins also.

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It's too early for this much bitching. Besides that, I'm pre-coffee. Never a good thing. I'll end this with an OWWWWWW.

New Packaging!

2010-03-15T13:45:00.006-04:00

I Heart Ipanema opens soon!! I spent most of the weekend packaging things and saying "OMG I made this much stuff?!?!" This is what I decided on for my magnet sets:

Simple and clean looking, so I'm happy. I did a similar thing with my Pocket Mirrors:

Everything looks so neat. And it cost me less than 3 cents each for packaging - can't beat that!! I still have Ninja Pants and Flex Frame Pouches to make and then I'm all set!! My Pillow Cubes are tagged and look fabulous (I'll get a pic soon!) and my Coaster Sets look wonderful as well.

The Kalamazoo Gazette came to do their interview last week too. I can't remember if I blogged it, but I don't think I did. I hope I didn't sound too nerdy. I'm pretty sure I referred to myself as a fabric snob. No one should ask me things and then just let me endlessly talk.

WOOF!

2010-03-13T22:25:00.004-05:00

We went to the Kalamazoo Animal Rescue event this morning to see the dogs up for adoption! We haven't been in this house for a month yet, and we've only had the new gate up for a day. I didn't think this was happening so soon!

Look at that big eared cutie! We did some pre-KAR event research to see what animals would be there and instantly loved Sahara from the pictures and description. She's a 2-ish year old lab/ husky/ sharpei mix and she's just the sweetest!

I can't help but be nervous. I haven't had a dog since I lived at home 10 yrs ago. My BFF had a couple rottweilers living with us briefly, but they weren't mine. They also made me nervous. I remember when my son was a baby and he left me thinking that babies really are like puppies. They both do a lot of eating, sleeping, farting, and noise-making. I'm excited. And nervous.

Her foster parents say she's their favorite foster dog yet. I'd wonder if they say that to every potential new home for every animal, but the process to just get this dog is crazy. Soon we will be interviewed to see if we are the right family for Sahara. Then someone will come over and see where we live to make sure we aren't animal hoarders or something. Then a few more things that I can't remember. Eventually, a few hundred dollars later and we'll be dog owners!! I'm curious to see how she is at our house as opposed to the busy Petco environment this morning. That dog is strong! She dragged me sniffing her way around this store for a while. I sense a new dog-walking workout in my future...

IT'S OURS!!

2010-02-19T00:00:00.000-05:00

Much to our surprise, we finally found a house that we both love! According to our realtor, it is just weird enough for me and just normal enough for Dave. She was right!

I cannot wait to paint and decorate, and unleash all of my ideas on this place like I couldn't do the past 10 yrs at my boring rentals. With the exception of the year I had a huge sunset mural on a wall (with a hidden door to a balcony!), I have been living in a world of white and beige, some shade of brown carpet, and a serious lack of windows.

That is finally over!!! Here's a couple pictures I snagged from online (none of this furniture is ours FYI, these are previous owner pics):

They just ripped all the carpet out for us! Look at those floors! Real hardwood that's been covered in carpet since 1960. I've always looooved hardwood floors, now I have a whole house of them!! And they're perfect! I'm envisioning yellow in here. A pretty sunshiny yellow that screams "HEY, THANKS FOR COMING IN! AREN'T I AWESOME?! WOOHOO!" or something to that effect. Dave is not sold on yellow, so I'm sitting here staring at a gallon of slate gray paint, hoping it doesn't darken up my room too much!

This here ^^ is the addition. It's got a 70s vibe to it and I'm in love. I never thought I'd like wood paneling, but I do. If it were our only living room, it'd be gone quick, but we have 2! See over by the sliding door, that brick on the floor? It's part of the hearth for the wood burning stove, shiny black brick! It's so pretty.

And a 3 season porch! It doesn't matter to me that Michigan only has 2 seasons, freezing cold and snowy- or slightly warm with no snow, I get to sit inside and enjoy the outside! I'm envisioning many summer nights sleeping here. I love to sleep outside in the summer. I don't love being the mosquito snack that I am.

I'm only including this ugly kitchen picture because sometime in the next year I'll be able to share a non-ugly kitchen picture. I don't know what's up with those cabinets. I've never seen any that didn't have flat fronts. They are not pretty. Also, carpet in the kitchen? What's up with that?! I'm willing to bet I'll spill spaghetti sauce on it within the first month. The counter will be moved to my workspace because it's so seriously awesome that I will likely never part with it. Dave hates it or I'd keep it in the kitchen forever. Mint green with gold flake, it's too fantastic. I wish I had a better picture of its awesomeness. I've got a vintage bubble mirror that will look fab with this thing.

All of the bedrooms have white walls and perfect hardwood floors. The bathroom is really pretty and white with no crazy ugly bathroom style tile and no pink (ugh so many people have pink bathrooms! Nearly every house we saw!). There's a full basement with an extra bedroom too! I can't wait to share before and after pictures!

We start painting tomorrow!!!

Comments

2010-02-11T21:19:00.004-05:00

Since a few followers have asked about it, I wanted to share that I'm now moderating comments here. My blog is being spammed like crazy and I just don't have the time to delete dozens of comments that aren't even in a language I speak. Sorry, I know it's annoying! I won't censor you, if you don't like me and feel the need to tell me, go for it. If you want to spam the crap out of my comment section, too bad! :)

Don't let this stop you from posting, I love to get your feedback!

As soon as I find my lost-again camera, I'll be posting new house pics! It's getting so close! Only 7 days away!!

New News!

2010-02-04T21:31:00.005-05:00

We bought a house! We close in 2 weeks! I have a post written up about with pictures and everything, and nothing I've had to say is more exciting than that, so I haven't been motivated to blog anything else. I don't want to jinx it blabbering on and on about how much I love it... yet.

My boy turns 5 in just over a week also! I can't believe I am the Mom of a 5 year old. The past half-decade has gone by so fast! He is the most amazing little person I have ever met and I love him more than I could ever put into words.

Instead of a party at home like we usually do, I gave him the options of a party at Chuckie Cheese or BounceLand since our house will be full of boxes for the next couple weeks. Instead he decided -- all on his own -- that he wants to go to "that big fishtank in Chicago" that I told him about a loooong time ago. So Shedd Aquarium here we come! I am too excited. That is so much better than Chuckie Cheese or BounceLand!!

I went to Chicago a lot as a kid. We always went to the Children's Museum or my all-time favorite The Museum of Science and Industry. I don't remember ever going to the aquarium. I remember being 21 and in Chicago all hungover the day after my birthday and wanting to go but we somehow ended up at Dave and Buster's. Fun, but not the aquarium. Im so excited. He is going to love it! My in-laws are going too! Have I mentioned I'm so excited?!

Ok so it's a summer picture... but the weather is so much sweeter then and he hasn't gotten any taller. :)

Nearly Silent Saturday....

2010-01-15T21:18:00.005-05:00

...or Friday, or whenever I feel like posting it...

The first quilt I want to post on Etsy. Looooove the colors/fabrics used! When I washed it the edges got crazy wrinkly though. I don't like that. Thinking of not selling it because I'm a perfectionist. Opinions?

Continued from last Saturday... This is the table runner I made for my boss for Christmas! It looks great on her table, but proved impossible to get a decent picture of.

Some mirror-image mittens I crocheted for my boy. I couldn't find any mittens that were actually long enough to cover his wrists. Problem solved. 2 pairs are in the works right now for my Etsy shop! I'm hoping to sell the pattern if/when I ever finish writing it so it makes sense to more than just me.

I made this handbag and the one below a while ago. Notice the grass? *sigh* I miss you sunshine! I want to list these on Etsy as well. I'll get to it. I love the mix of beautiful fabrics & quilting, crochet, and wood!

Flex frame pouches 0, Delainie 1. Took me a while, but I figured out how to do these right finally. Not sure why I made that so difficult before! By request I made the latest ones with blues, greens, and black, trying to be as ungirly as possible. Guitars and wheels man up the flowers right? Available here.

The rest of my time has been spent with this little dude lately. He is loving the snow. Whose kid is this? I could've swore he is mine... Proving snow-hating is not hereditary.

Wipe out! Snow is a lot more fun with him around. :)

Decisions To Make...

2010-01-08T11:40:00.008-05:00

Can I just say, I hate taxes! Well tax season anyway. Again this year I decided to be organized by throwing every receipt for every fabric I bought and ever P.O. trip I took into a box marked 2009. Yup that's it. Hundreds of receipts in a box. Then every year in January I sort them out by store and date and get started on really organizing that mess. Last year I cried. I figured out how much money I made and then how much I spent. How much I spent far exceeded how much I made. I did impressively better this year. I'm ashamed to say I have nothing to show for it but pride from people all over the world buying my items. Didn't save any of it that's for sure! What'd I buy with my earnings? Fabric. Some more fabric. Some notions. Fabric. Even more fabric. Some more fabric. Probably some clothes too. And a hell of a lot of toys. Might have paid a bill or two.

So now I'm stuck wondering if I should keep this up. I'm making money. I'm selling my things and that's awesome. But when I consider the amount of time I spend online to make this money, it's ridiculous. I probably make 10 cents an hour. I love selling my wares. I love designing, sewing, selling, packaging, shipping my wares. I don't like wasting my time. I also don't want to end up on Hoarders with this fabric obsession.

So we'll see what happens... I can't just make a decision on this quite yet...

I've made some great things for friends of mine lately. I've been so busy with Christmas gifts that I really haven't added much to my shop in the past few weeks. Here are a few of them:

A yellow submarine pillow for my Beatles fanatic friend Kristin. Technically this isn't a Christmas gift since we agreed not to do gifts and I haven't given it to her yet. It's a we're-all-friends-in-a-yellow-submarine-no-matter-how-damn-busy-we-are gift. Soft, fleecy, and awesome, with a zipper for easy laundering.

This one isn't technically a gift either since I already spoiled my Ali-cat this year. She got a peek at some of the larger quilts I've been making and asked me oh-so-sweetly for a quilt for her baby doll. Easy enough, I think it took me 20 min. tops. The smile on her face was so worth it.

And here's my goober testing out the quilt and pillow. He kept telling me "Mom, you made this quilt too small, it won't even cover my butt!"

My first ever teacher gifts! Ms. S and Ms. T got matching fabric baskets (made using a slightly modified version of this pattern from Pink Penguin. So very easy and turns out so nice! Try it! David chose magnets, pocket mirrors, and candle holders to go inside. Then he wrote his name on the tags. My boy is getting so big. His teachers are so wonderful, I wish we could've done more for them! But hey, I pay em for that right? :)

One of the table runners I made. This one went to my Grandma. I made another for my boss as well but never got a picture of it. I have one in the works for my stepmom-in-law too, just haven't had a chance- or the motivation- to finish it quite yet.

These are all fine and dandy, but check THESE out!

My Mommers made them! She is beyond awesome. This is my Mom's diet plan. Instead of eating, she is making fake food. How that keeps her mind off food is beyond me, but it's working, and I've always known she's weird. Just looking at it makes me want some mashed potatoes and a PopTart. Love you Mom!

Near Silent Saturday...

2010-01-02T20:14:00.003-05:00

Not much to say, so I'll make this near silent Saturday. This is a quilt I'm working on. I've got 6 quilts in the works! At least 2 will be listed on Etsy soon!

Big news hopefully coming soon too! (Not gonna jinx myself on this house business again!)

Merry Christmas!

2009-12-24T22:01:00.011-05:00

I hope you all have had a wonderful Christmas! We have around here! If you comment and wrote a Christmas blog as well, link me to your blog, I'm in the mood for Christmas stories! :)

For Christmas, part of my gift was kielbasa. Yup, my Mommers gave me meat for Christmas. It's just so delicious, I can't wait to cook it! I was ready to cancel the Christmas ham I want it that bad. This stuff smells so good, and I always sniff it through the butcher paper.

Mom: I got you kielbasa!
Me: MMMMMM thanks Mom! *sniff sniff OMG yum*
Mom: What are you doing?
Me: Huffing my sausage.
My Husband: I've got a sausage you can huff.

That was only the first of the awkward penis jokes on Christmas Eve.

Ahhh Christmas. I'm so blessed to be a part of 2 (ok, more like 5) wonderful (and hilarious) families!

Saw my Dad's side last Sunday. Lots of laughs and instead of the annual ham, we had BBQ Pork sandwiches! I love ham. But BBQ is even better! I hope this becomes tradition!

Today my Mom made us breakfast. Unfortunately my step-dad had to work so we didn't see him. :( We had french toast, pineapple, bacon, sausage, fried potatoes, scrambled eggs, oj, chocolate milk, coffee, AND coffee cake! It was a smorgasbord of yum. And unlike my childhood, my Mom was all about breakfast closer to 11am than the wee hours of the morning like she used to do. Proving the older we get, the better we are. (I have never been a morning person, Mom always was when I lived there. I thought she was crazy to be that awake and happy in the morning! 11am breakfast rules.)

David added 4 garbage trucks to his collection, officially forming a fleet of garbage trucks over here. Those 3 matching ones are possessed. All 3 make noise all day long and there is no off switch and you need a screwdriver to get to the batteries. So thank you for that Aunt Colie, Mom, and Doug's Mom, what'd we ever do to you guys? :) Come to think of it, this doesn't include the garbage truck ornament he scored, or the one his Dad bought for him. Or the recycling game my Mom got him that has a herbie-curbie. My kid really likes trash. He's made no secret of this obviously, since everyone knows and got him trash related toys! He sent my Dad on a different random mission this year. His request:

Me: Grandpa John wants to know what you want for Christmas.
D: I want that Transformers guy with the fire extinguisher on his back.
Me: A fire extinguisher? What color is he?
D: I don't know Mom. He has a fire extinguisher.
Me: Do you know his name?
D: Yeah, it's Fire Extinguisher Guy From Transformers.

And that's all the info. I sent along to Grandpa John as well. hehehe. I hear they got a kick out of it. Still don't know if he found that Transformer. I'd have been more helpful if I'd ever seen the cartoon or movie I'm sure.

We also got a really fantastic recycling game called "What's Rubbish?". Along with really liking garbage trucks and dumpsters, my son LOVES to recycle. He will sort everything into bins for paper, plastic, and 'liluminum', it's too cute! The game is a lot of sorting and it's great quality. I definitely encourage you to find this game for your preschoolers!

We had lunch/dinner at my inlaws. I love my inlaws, again, I'm a lucky gal. We had chili dogs. Chili dogs. On Christmas! Have I entered some sort of parallel universe where everything is awesome? Love it. Lost terribly at Simpsons Scene It and after my husband drew a very phallic gun in Pictionary and I proved my pervness to the family ("It's a penis! What's coming out of it? Ejaculation? That can't possibly be in Pictionary! Penis gun?") that game came to an end as well.

Guess what else?! My Mom got me a serger!! I can't wait to mess with it! I don't even know what to make! I was messing with it today and managed to knot the 3 threads together way up at the top. So what do I do? Snip them and prepare to rethread the serger. Exactly what my Mom said to not do. Ha! Nevermind that the only decent (or so I hear) directions are on a VHS tape. I spent 2 hours trying to rethread it using the pictures in the manual with little success. It's threaded, all the threads pull nicely through the machine, they just don't sew right. The rightmost 2 threads are turning out all loose and loopy. If anyone has experience with these things, let me know if you know how to fix that! I haven't given up yet.

I received the Martha Stewart Encyclopedia of Crafts today also! Pretty amazing book. I love Martha Stewart, she's so fabulous. I used to watch Martha everyday back when I had 2 babies that were easily pleased with using me as a jungle-gym while I watched Martha. I never see it anymore. I now need barstools. So I can cover the seats with rope. Doesn't sound terribly comfortable but it looks cool. I also want to try the rope rug. And the sailor knot bookends. I feel a nautical theme coming on!

Mom, I really am turning into you!
I think I will skip the bathroom painted so it feels like you're crapping in an aquarium.

Work In Progress....

2009-12-21T16:21:00.002-05:00

My latest work in progress! I just loooooooove my new fabrics I picked up the other night. I went shopping with my boy and he was so so so good. Which is quite the change from the last time I took him fabric shopping. That time he had to be dragged out of the store against his will, kicking and screaming "I don't want to leave the green fabric store!! I love it here!!" which I totally feel, but have the self control to not cry when I leave. I get ya kid. I feel your pain.

Anyway, these are my new fabrics and they are beyond awesome and already almost gone. I'd love to share my new projects but they are all Christmas gifts. So ya gotta wait a week, and if I'm lucky, I'll remember to get pics before I give them away!

And The Good Goes Bad...

2009-12-17T21:07:00.003-05:00

Just to update those of you that have asked today... our offer didn't get accepted on the house. The owners decided they don't want to counter offer either. Who does that? House hunting shouldn't be so depressing. If owners aren't selling houses out from under us, they are refusing to sell their house that's been on the market over a year. I don't understand it. I'm just so done. I don't want to look at anymore houses. I was so excited to finally be done after seeing every single house we could afford that we'd even consider living in that's on the market right now. Here in Michigan, that's a lot of houses. I apologize for my premature excitement. :-/

I'm convinced this is a sign that we shouldn't commit to living here forever. We should go somewhere warm and beautiful that doesn't get snow.

Where the sun always shines, money grows on trees, work is a place you never want to leave, and kids always behave and smother you with love....

I need a reality check.

On With The Good...

2009-12-16T21:22:00.005-05:00

We are having quite a go of it over here. Some good, some bad, some ugly. I wrote up a really long post venting about all the bullshit in my life right now. I don't think that my negativity is getting me anywhere, so I deleted it. Taking a little break from the blog lately as it feels like my sounding board, and it's meant to share the beautiful things I make and find on Etsy and the good things about my family. Not a constant rant-fest as its been.

Blah. It's hard to be positive when the week goes this way. Could be worse. I'm the most positive cynic I know. Not dwelling on the bad--

On with the good--

We found a house!! After seeing dozens and dozens of them, it's finally happened! My husband and I agree 100% on it too. That never happens. Ok, not 100%, but at least 99.9%. This is how it went when we walked in:

Envision a 70s mint green with gold flake countertop in the kitchen....

Him: Wow, that's the first thing we're taking out of here!

Me: Wow! That's the only thing I want to keep in this kitchen!

Other than that, we're right on par with this house. We agreed we'd hire someone to take the counter out and reinstall it whereever my workroom ends up being, instead of smashing it out of its ugly misery as he'd like to do. There's no possible way I'm parting with that fantastic countertop. I love all things 70s. It's miiiiiiiiiine. Even if I have to hide it in the basement. I'm already picturing it paired with my bubble mirror that I shamelessly begged a former landlord for when I moved out.

I love the location, even though I swore I wouldn't be a Kalamazoo lifer. It's in Portage so not really Kzoo, right? Walking distance from a gas station (that has slushies!!), a Kohl's and an Old Navy (goodbye $!), and D's future High School. I'm also content in knowing I'll be in a city full of amazing local music and local beer. I know someone everywhere I go, and there's good potential for my business. It's also tucked back in a little subdivision on a dead end. There's already plans to set up a hockey goal and I will actually get my rollerblades on again. Prepare yourselves for a gory broken bone post in the future! I promise pictures!

We are so excited to finally have a place to call home, and have a yard!

We made an offer on Monday and are expecting a counter-offer by noon on Thursday!

*Cross your fingers!*

And because I've been too busy to really even think about Christmas cards this year, here's the picture we were going to use. Because yes, my family is crazy funny and I love them. :)

Also, I've added a new item to my Etsy shop now that I've finally perfected them! Pocket Mirrors! Only $4! Here's a little sample:

2.25" and backed with fabric (some with a layer of mylar, some without), all with a crystal clear real glass mirror! Come check them out!

3,000 Squares, Oh My!

2009-12-07T20:47:00.003-05:00

First off, I'd like to remind anyone that's interested, my magnet sets are marked down to $5 for all of December! They make a great stocking stuffer!

Now moving on... :)

I am officially insane. This has been confirmed by many of my close personal friends over the years, and again today by a few members of the Twitter community. I spent a good 5 hours of my day today cutting, cutting, cutting. 3,000 squares -- without a rotary cutter! I cherish my razor-edged titanium scissors my step-dad bought for me. Without them this wouldn't be possible and I'd have to go out and spend the $12 on a rotary cutter. I know, I should anyway.

I used up the last bits of many of my fabrics, and broke into a few I've been avoiding cutting. I'm weird like that with fabric. A lot of people have asked me if I will have quilts available in my shop. The answer is finally YES! I would've earlier, but I've loved them all so much that I kept them all for myself. I even have quilts set aside for babies I haven't even had yet. And babies I will never have, since I'm only enduring the madness of pregnancy once more. I've gifted quilts to lots of the new soon-to-come babies in my life, and now it's time for me to share with the Etsy community. So keep your eyes peeled, they're coming soon!

I blogged earlier about the Fashion Show at The Strutt. A few people have asked me how it went. Long story short - there's a reason I work alone. The girls I was working with on it are great people, so sweet! However, the details were fuzzy on tons of things and come last Tuesday I realized that in order to show a cohesive group of clothing, I was out. My stuff is wild and colorful. The group was pretty, but mild. Simple shapes, common colors, very mellow in comparison. So I backed out. I still set up a table at the show and hoped for the best.

Once I arrived I realized what a giant clusterfuck I was involved in. One group was the mild and mellow. The other collection being shown was out-there. Not my style of crazy, but gorgeous! Neither were handmade. These 2 collections mish-mashed together was NOT cohesive. If someone would've informed me of what the hell was going on (and believe me, I asked numerous times), I would've just found my own models, put my own clothes on them, and actually been in the show! I was also told that no one under 21 was allowed in the bar it was at. Then saw 15 year old models. I have a huge group of 13 year olds that would have absolutely LOVED to spend their Friday night modelling for my show. And every one of their tiny butts would've fit in the Ninja Pants I had already made. For a fleeting moment I thought of calling their moms and begging to borrow their children. It could have been done. If things were more organized and I had had some sort of clue what was happening, it really could've paid off big time. It's unfortunate things turned out the way they did.

Important Lesson Learned -- Don't say Yes so quickly. Get more info.

In the end, it was a riot though. We all had a good time, and I met some other amazing artists. I had fun and keep trying not to remind myself how much more fun it would've been had I had my things on a runway. I was just so excited for it. Won't do it again under the same circumstances.

I was all set for the Bizarre Bazaar on Sunday at my favorite bar, Bell's Brewery too. I was supposed to share a table with someone. I asked her how much space we had and was told "oh there's lots of room!" and spent Saturday night making new signage, organizing, and collecting all my show goodies that I haven't pulled out in a while. Got my car all loaded up, got my Mom to babysit, and I was on my way! Fast forward to Bell's. My "table" was more like a nightstand. 3'x4'.... seriously?! That's it? Really? For a 7 hour show you want me to put out 5% of my product? Uh no. Quick call to Mom to catch her before she zooms out of town and I'm out of that show too. Why do I bother? *sigh*

I did take something from all of this. I learned not to mix wine, tequila, and bloody marys if you don't want to have a horrendous Saturday morning. And I also decided to set back from the shows and get to work on my wholesale terms. I've had tons of people ask me for wholesale in the past, and I didn't have my terms together. So nows the time. I need to get more of my items into stores. That is my mission, so stay tuned, hopefully I have much success!

First Snow...

2009-12-04T10:00:00.002-05:00

Trying not to have a negative morning, but man do I ever hate this state! Michigan is so beautiful in the summer. We get that beautiful summer because THIS is what we have to deal with for the rest of the year. Winter is here with a vengence. The plow trucks seem to not be out yet. The entire sole of my boot fell off today leaving me with a very cold, wet foot. I bought new boots yesterday, they better show up soon! Blah. I have nothing nice to say about today's weather. I'm only here to share this pic for those crazy snow lovers that follow this blog. I know who you are, and I know you only like it because you don't get snow where you live. Get your heads checked. I love you.

Tonight is my first fashion show! Or would have been anyway. The Fashion Show at The Strutt in downtown Kalamazoo! (Formerly known as Boogie's/Ali Baba's Hookah Lounge/10,000 other names.) Cocktail hour starts at 5! Show starts at 8! If you're in the area, you should come on down and see the show! I will not be in the show anymore, as my funky loud style doesn't mesh well with the other clothes being shown and in an effort to show a cohesive collection I backed out. I will still be there helping my ladies out with the show, and I will have a table set-up with all my goodies.

I'm feeling generous today, so I've marked down a lot of items for today only!* Slapdash Wallets, Itty Bitty Snap Pouches, and Patchworky Bibs are ONLY $10! Magnet sets are $5! They make great stocking stuffers, so get your booties down there, have a beer with me, and get some Christmas shopping done!!

If you can't make it tonight, I will be showing at the Bizzare Bazaar at Bell's Brewery on Sunday 2-9pm as well! I plan to keep the same crazy low prices throughout that show only, so come take advantage of my generosity and get a fantastic deal! I won't be offering this deal again!

I hope to see some of you tonight!

*Local sale only- sorry Etsy!

Holiday Deals & Reasons I'm Insane...

2009-11-27T11:03:00.006-05:00

If you're sane and staying home today, doing your shopping online, come check out my Black Friday Sale! I'm offering free domestic shipping, and a free gift with every purchase!

I am not sane.

I went to JoAnn's thinking it wouldn't be as crazy as the Toy R Us next door. WRONG. I had fabric being held at the cutting counter, so I walked in, nearly had a heart attack when seeing the line inside, and reluctantly grabbed a ticket. They were on #83. I was #43.

After a good 20+ minutes of waiting (by then they were only on #86) a nice shopper let me know there was a line for 3 bolts or less. I hopped over there quick and had cut fabric in hand by the time the I'm-buying-too-much-fabric line I was originally in got to #1. Of course it still took a good 45 minutes in the get-me-outta-here-quick line.

I waited right in a long aisle of quilting items. I'm a self-taught, just-started quilter. I didn't even know half of this stuff existed. I learned quickly that I'm making things much more difficult than necessary. Story of my life.

I left with the 1 fabric I came for...

AND a really fabulous blue quilter's cotton I probably don't need, a super soft butterfly fleece I definitely don't need, and a cotton Christmas tree fabric I'll never use. Four spools of thread and a cool Draft N Cut ruler-thing.

Did I buy anything for anyone else? Nooooooo. Did I remember after all that time in line that I should check out the rotary cutters that are supposed to be used with the ruler? Noooooo. Did I buy the magnet parts that I needed? Noooooooo. Did I save a super huge ton of money? Noooooooo. Did I totally show up for this shopping insanity in my pjs? Yesssssss.

Happy Holidays!

And The Winner Is....

2009-11-24T11:22:00.006-05:00

EcoChicHandknits!! Thank you so much to all of you who entered my giveaway! EcoChic will be receiving a goodie from my shop as well as that AWESOME planner from AnArtfulAgenda!

Stay tuned for more giveaways after the holidays!

And since you're already here and all, why not go check out EcoChic's shop! She makes these awesome crochet bowls perfect for your little goodies! I would totally use one of these for my jewelry at night!

Photo courtesy of EcoChicHandknits. Go buy her stuff.

IT'S A SHFoR GIVEAWAY!!

2009-11-23T13:41:00.000-05:00

I'm keeping this giveaway as the top post on my blog for it's duration. If you're looking for newer posts just scroll on past this one!

My first ever giveaway! I always thought that when I finally got around to doing a giveaway that it would be for an item from my own Etsy shop, but then I bought something perfect and awesome on Etsy.

Ok ok I buy a lot of awesome from Etsy, but this I realllllly needed and it's so fabulous. So what did I do? I went back and bought 2 more! Just so I could give one away on my blog!

Meet AnArtfulAgenda. She makes amazing planners, organizers, etc. They are spiral bound with a nice thick cover. And a pen fits into the spiral which is a must for my notebooks. But that is not the best part. They are FILLED with artwork from various artists that collaborated with her on this project. Every single page has beautiful art in many different styles. It's just an amazing book. Even if I didn't seriously need a planner, I'd have bought it anyway. It is PERFECT. And I want to share.

Enter now to win your very own planner from AnArtfulAgenda! I'm planning on throwing in a goodie from my shop as well, I just haven't decided what yet. Hope you like surprises, lol.

So here's the deal. You can enter as many times as you'd like. There's a few different ways to enter:

*** Leave a comment on this blog = 1 entry

*** Start following my blog if you aren't already. Leave me a comment to let me know. = 1 entry

*** Visit AnArtfulAgenda , come back and tell me what your favorite item is (in a separate comment than above) = 1 entry

*** Visit my shop, delainie, come back and tell me what your favorite item is= 1 entry

*** Follow me on Twitter @delainie (comment here to let me know, Twitter is a madhouse of following and unfollowing!)= 1 entry

*** Blog about this giveaway on your own blog, and link me to the post in a comment = 2 entries

*** Buy something from either AnArtfulAgenda or my shop = 3 entries (If you buy from my shop, put "GIVEAWAY" in the notes to seller. If you buy from Artful, come back and comment here and let me know!)

The winner will be chosen randomly using random.org on November 24. Please note that Anonymous comments will not be entered, leave a way for me to contact you (etsy site, blog link, yahoo, email, twitter, etc.) so I can find you again if you win!! Also, EVERYONE is eligible! I'll even ship overseas since I'm nice like that :)

Good luck!

A Preschool Thanksgiving...

2009-11-22T18:47:00.004-05:00

Tomorrow is my boy's first Thanksgiving party at school! I can't believe he's growing up so fast. I asked him what he wanted me to make for his party after signing up for a dessert. He wanted candy. That seemed like the easy way out... even moreso than my typical grocery store purchase switched from the plastic tub to a fancy Christmas plate. So after a little convincing we decided Dirt Cake would be fun. My son is more likely to eat dirt than actual food so I wasn't surprised he was such an easy sell on something he'd never even tried. "Cookies?! Pudding?! GUMMY WORMS?! Yes Mom, of course I wants that!"

One giant 7 pound can of pudding, 50 smashed Oreos, and 25 gummy worms later, we had one hell of a mess and 25 individual Dirt Cakes.

They don't look too bad huh? This is about as domestic as I get. :)

Netbooks Are Awesome.

2009-11-11T13:45:00.004-05:00

So my super fantastical sissy-poo bought me a netbook. I might've shouted my thanks from the rooftops already, but here I go again. I made my lil baby netbook a case. It's so darn cutesy-woo. Yes tiny things make me talk like this. Oh little wubba wubba netbooky baby, you are now safey-wafey in your new little casey.

Ugh I'm sickening. I can only do that so long.

Anyway, awesome netbook case is finished! I made it yesterday intending to sell it online, but unsure if that could happen since my sewing machine is still all jacked up. Of course, it turned out perfect so I don't want to part with it. My sis wants to see, so here I be. Using my blog purely to show her a pic, and hopefully embarrass her with that baby talk on here. I *know* people she knows read this. Yup, that's right y'all. We're related. She's stuck with me and all my nerdy glory. Love ya sis, thanks again!

Front:

Back:

Result = 1 super padded, super quilted, super fun, netbook case. Obviously I'm a little attached. I think I'll be keeping it for myself.

Michigan Made!

2009-11-05T23:06:00.005-05:00

I'm in a really nice Michigan treasury! I've met so many talented artists from MI, I love seeing them all grouped together in treasuries. Thank you to ForrestConcepts for including my Ninja Pants inher treasury! Go check out her shop, she makes the most fab upcycled books!

That picture is so small :( The one downfall so far for my new netbook, you have to do a normal screenshot in 2-4 pieces! There's got to be another way!

Halloween 2009!

2009-11-01T12:09:00.006-05:00

HAPPY HALLOWEEN 2009!!

That's right kids. I'm baaaaaack! October is officially over, we were treated with an extra hour this morning (thank you daylight savings!), and I don't have to make another costume for approximately 11 months. All in all, November is starting out good on this basis alone. I'm choosing not to go outside into the cold yet so it can stay a good beginning.

The 6-pack pictured above is part of what kept me so busy recently! My OCD forced me to make the 'labels' as close to the actual beer as possible. There's a whole lot of copyright infringement going on here I'm sure, so don't expect these for sale next year, but they sure did turn out great! My crowning achievement is below...

...the Stroh's lion. I put this off until Friday night convinced that there was no way I could make a lion even close to the Stroh's can out of felt. This was my first try. How I managed to make it work is beyond me. Doesn't it look fantastic?! Just like I knew would happen I didn't get an individual picture of each costume. Just the Stroh's and the Guinness. Oh well. I did expect that after all.

Originally the 7 of us were going to be a 7 pack but I made my Blue Moon costume first and it didn't fit. I got it on ok, even over a sweatshirt, but then I couldn't get it off. I was stuck. Twirling around the living room with a big brown felt tube stuck halfway over me, with my arms stuck straight up. My son laughing hysterically and yelling "Mom's stuck in a beer! My Mommy's stuck in a beer!! Mom are you stuck? Mom's stuck in a beer!!" Love that kid. Didn't he used to not talk? Oh yeahhhh... those were the days....

I kid I kid.

I finally wriggled my way out of it, all of the clothes I was wearing under it coming off as well. I vowed not to get back into that Tube-of-Terror and was out of brown felt to start over with, so I needed a new and FAST costume.

Cue the white hoodie and a pair of off white Ninja Pants I had made myself years ago and was willing to sacrifice. Add to that 4 yds of bleached muslin and 1 yd of unbleached muslin. 20 minutes to shred that into pieces, and roughly 2 hours of wrapping fabric around my body. I tacked the layers in random places with a few stitches and said a little prayer that it stay together for 1 night and that people will know what I am.

Lessons Learned:
-- Stitching fabric to the ass of the pants you are wearing isn't easy and is dangerous.
-- If you're dumb enough to go to a field party in late October in Michigan, THIS is the costume to stay warm in. Too warm.
-- People are easy to impress. Anyone could make this.

Ever seen a mummy drunk on pink wine? Well now you have.

I wish I had a picture of me as a mummy rocking out to the Amish Alice in Chains cover band! My hubby the Guinness was in 90s music heaven last night.

I didn't get a picture of my son as Harold and the Purple Crayon (that really wrote!). Bad mom. How did I not get a picture of my cute little Harold?! At least I didn't eat all of his candy (not any! OMG!) this year after he went to bed.

Thank you October for ending finally, but going out with a bang!

A Wedding Story...

2009-10-28T13:43:00.001-04:00

Well, if you're getting married this year and I'm invited, chances are good you're getting pillows. I made this pair for Matt & Kim for their wedding gift this past Saturday. I asked Matt a bunch of random questions through email and found out his living room is brown and light blue, so hopefully these match! I think they look great!

The wedding was fabulous! I used to work with Matt and he is by far one of the nicest people I've ever met. Kim is beautiful and friendly and sweet as can be. It's almost sickening how cute they are together. There were a TON of TGIFriday's people at this wedding. People I hadn't seen in years! I had to quit working there unexpectedly when I was put on bedrest while pregnant with David, and many of these people kept me sane.

Look at that! Four generations of Friday's folk! Aside from the flashbacks of working there, the reception was a riot (hated working there, loved the people!) The Rumplemintz was flowing and the laughter was plentiful. With the exception of being seated between my husband and ex-boyfriend it was perfect! FYI, ex-bf's new fiancee is really nice and the seating arrangement was much less awkward than expected.

It was great to see everyone! Thought I'd pop in here and share the quick story... back to costumes for me!

October, please end already!!

Oh yeah, one more thing...

WELCOME TO THE WORLD KAITLYN MARIE!!

Born this morning at 8:45, baby #2 to my friend Michelle whom I've known since we were kidlets ourselves. I can't wait to meet and snuggle her! I hope she loves this quilt I made for her!

Oh October...

2009-10-22T15:18:00.002-04:00

Brrrr.

I have been so busy! Tuesday I spent 10 hours on Halloween costumes. Seven costumes to make, and I waited till this week. My procrastination paid off a little since everything I needed was on sale this week, but why did I think this wouldn't take that long? They aren't even close to done yet, I just got the complicated part done. Mostly. The miracle I'm trying to work with felt on one of these is just not working out. I'm holding off on posting pictures only because of their sheer awesomeness, so I'm forcing myself to wait till they're finished....

Note to self: Next year, don't wait till late October to start making costumes. You don't have time for this.

Put Some Clothes On!

2009-10-17T22:39:00.003-04:00

I finally got a picture of my alien with his new jacket and scarf! I wanted to make him a hoodie, but it turned into a really cute jacket instead. He's going to live in Wisconsin on Monday!

Soooooo.....

2009-10-17T22:16:00.004-04:00

I deleted my last post talking about my kiddie-klepto. I found my camera and I was feeling guilt for all but accusing him of hiding it. *sigh* This mom stuff is even more exhausting when ya screw up.

And now that's off my chest. Back to our regularly scheduled programming.

A New Commercial....

2009-10-14T22:06:00.004-04:00

The Aliens Have Landed...

2009-10-10T14:42:00.004-04:00

It's crochet season!

Every year when it starts getting cold, I stop sewing for a while and start crocheting more. This year I didn't get much of a choice since my sewing machine is broken again. I knew this would happen if I kept forcing quilts through it, I could just tell that stitching the binding with that machine would eventually be its demise. It's only injured as it still sews a straight stitch and will sew through 2 pieces of fabric just fine in a zig-zag also. But satin stitching? No way. I'm glad it's only halfway broken... however I managed that.

It's cold and I can't just sit here not making anything so I made this little guy. I could probably clean my house... oh well. I've got another one in the works also. One of them is going to Sheboygan, WI to live with Jen's (from jennadesigns) son Isaac. I hope he loves it!

I think he needs a hoodie. I've never made a hoodie for an alien before...

...but it's cold in Wisconsin!

Where's My Stuff?

2009-10-06T10:17:00.003-04:00

I've been trying to keep track of where my items have been going since I started selling on Etsy, and since I recently made my 300th sale I thought I'd share! Each gray dot represents a sale in that state! Some states were too small to fit all the dots!!

Add to this 9 UK sales, 1 sale to Germany, 1 to Japan, 1 to Greece, 5 to Australia, 1 to Switzerland, and 8 to Sweden!! I'm worldwide! And that makes me very happy!

Now Montana, Idaho, and Wyoming, where you at?! You're 3 of my all-time favorite states, don't you love me back? I once woke up screaming in North Dakota thinking I was in Hell, so maybe we just feel the same about each other. (Hey, you'd do it too if it was 75 degrees when you fell asleep and -15 when you woke up, and yes, my Hell is cold!)

Thank you all for your support! And thank you Etsy for the opportunity to share all my goodies with the world!

Chilly Chili Weather!

2009-10-03T13:18:00.004-04:00

I'm sitting in a very smelly hotel room right now watching the minutes tick by on the clock. Nothing much to do here. My boy is sleeping, hopefully for a while, and soon will get up and put on a tiny tuxedo and walk down the aisle hand-in-hand with his new buddy Lydia, doing his special ring bearer job for our friends Will and Amy's wedding this afternoon. I loooove to see my boys all dressed up. I personally would rather wear jeans, but I love to see them all decked out. Big Dave and Uncle Jon will be in their dress blues as well. I chopped up a former bridesmaid dress yesterday to make a pretty cute brown cocktail dress for myself also!

Now if only I had remembered a sweater...

Until about 5 minutes ago the rain had let up and some blue sky and sunshine peeked out. I hope this stops long enough for them to have the beautiful outdoor ceremony they spent so long planning out. It's a chilly day!

Speaking of chilly... there's been much mention of chili lately. I always break out the crock pot the first chilly week of fall. I made a half batch on Tuesday and had it for lunch, dinner, a snack, another snack. I figured since I'm sitting here at this boring hotel trying to be quiet, I might as well share my recipe for super-yummy beanless chili. You can always throw some beans in if you must I suppose, I just don't.

Here goes...

Super Yummy Beanless Chili
(hey, it's mine, I can call it whatever dorky name I want)

Ingredients:
2 12oz. cans of tomato sauce
1 jar of medium salsa (I prefer Meijer brand)
1 big onion, chopped
1 lb. of Bob Evan's Zesty Hot Sausage (I've tried others, this is the best! Comes in a roll.)
1 lb. of ground sirloin or ground beef (ground venison is even better, but I rarely have any)

Directions:
Brown the sausage. Drain and put in crock pot on low.
Brown the ground-whatever-you're-using. Drain and put in crock pot.
Add a can of tomato sauce. Add about 3/4 of the jar of salsa. Add chopped onion.
Stir.
If it doesn't look saucy enough, add some or all of the 2nd can of tomato sauce.
Cook in the crock pot on low for a few hours. All of the items are precooked, so it's pretty much done as soon as it's hot.
You can put it on high to cook it quicker, but I like to make mine in the morning and simmer it all day.
This is a family rule - Chili is to be eaten with Fritos. No spoons, no forks. Fritos.

Now I realllly want chili. Big Dave just took off to do his before wedding Best Man stuff, so I should probably get ready. Then I get to figure out all this tiny tuxedo stuff. Cuff links? Really? He's 4....

Snuggly Cheek-Pinchin Sillyness!

2009-10-02T10:14:00.004-04:00

So this morning I found out that someone verrrry close to me is pregnant!! (NO it is not me!) I can't say who since they haven't told anyone yet, BUT OMG! I thought this would happen soon, they aren't the best at hiding the evidence of trying (no I have not been snooping their trash for used uh.. things, or the lack thereof), and it's happened!! I thought this would end up being not-great news for me for a few reasons I can explain when they spill the beans, but I changed my mind. I cannot wait to snuggle with a new baby!

Like I said before, I know far too many pregnant women right now. If I ever saw any of them I'm sure I'd be so overwhelmed by the hormones that I'd run like hell to get away (kidding, sort of, I love you all.) But this baby is super special because I'll get to snuggle him or her a lot. I wish I could say that about 2 of my best friend's soon-to-be-here new babies, but one lives far away and the other I only see if I visit her. (Booo, you know who you are!) So I'm very happy to have someone I'm so close with procreating, so I don't have to.

Proving again I can write 2 paragraphs that say relatively nothing aside from someone nameless being pregnant... I had to get that out since I'm not allowed to tell anyone. :)

...to be continued!

It's Done!!

2009-10-01T16:48:00.007-04:00

Not the best picture ever, but I finally finished this quilt for my sister! She picked out all the fabrics and mailed them off to me. At first, I wasn't really crazy about it, I was even referring to it as The Ugly Quilt, but after all that work its grown on me. I hope she loves it! I really like it a lot more now that it is quilted, and I like the new way of quilting it that I tried. Looky here:

I'm pretty pleased with how straight most of my lines are without having marked them! It will go great with the asian theme in her house also. I threw in some extra goodies when I shipped it off too! One of them is a pirate-y tote bag for my sis's sis-in-law (hope she doesn't read this, not really sure if she does!). I'm even less into pirates than I am into asian prints, but I love the style! I think I'll make a few more of these soon! Plus, it's reversible!!

Oh Boy Sheboygan!

2009-09-29T10:07:00.006-04:00

Sheboygan you are so lucky. You're just across the pond (Lake MI) and I've never seen ya. But you have the coolest things. #1 is Jen from jennadesigns. And her cute kiddos. Someday I will go out there and meet them! I know I've said it before on here, but I'm saying it again. Jen is the bees knees. That was super nerdy, but I'm running out of ways to express this since I've probably blogged about her 4 times already. I can't help it, she's my favorite Twitter pal. And that's not just because she sends me awesome things like these:

It's like Christmas in my mailbox!! How great is that quilted List Taker?! I'm in love with the fabrics! Especially the yellow and brown one on the bottom right corner of the List Taker. She sent me a cool chunk of Robert Kaufman fabric with fun turtles on it too! I may make one of my Itty Bitty Snap Pouches with it today. I saved my very last frame for it! The card with the flower on it is a photo she took herself as well. I know it's basically a business card, but I'll probably frame the photo to add it to my collection. In the past year I have really expanded my collection of art from people I know. Every single piece in my living room was made by a local artist or good friend of mine.

And the best part of this awesome gift! 60 minutes of crafty music! When I opened this package I showed my son the CD. He insisted that I turn it on right then. Within the first minute it had his approval. "Oh Mom! This is a brand new song, thanks for giving it to me!" and then on to "Who sings this song?" whenever a new one started. So thank you Jen for the other gift that came with this, the great big smile on my beautiful boy's face :)

Check out this fantastic playlist! Get out your magnifying glass... I'm no computer whiz here.

This CD hasn't left my CD player since I opened the package! I'm looking forward to listening to it while I create today. Thank you so much Jen!! I love it all so much!!

What are you creating today? I've got the Ugly Quilt to bind and a dress to alter for a wedding on Saturday on my list . It's a former bridesmaid dress, so I'm crossing my fingers that the wedding party will not be in chocolate brown. A big pot of chili is on my list of to-do's today also. It's a perfect rainy and cold chili day here in MI!

From the Car?

2009-09-27T20:50:00.013-04:00

Art Prize is awesome. From the moment I heard about it I knew it would be one of the greatest things to happen to Grand Rapids.

What is Art Prize? Art Prize is a chance for artists of any medium to show their work in a number of venues around Grand Rapids. There is art shown in the streets, on the sides of buildings, and inside tons of restaurants, shops, and other buildings around town. The winners are determined by registered public vote and the winner gets $250,000!!

Look at a view from above!* This isn't even all of it, just one tiny speck of downtown! People everywhere!!

I had to see Art Prize from the car today unfortunately. My son had an award-winning attitude so we decided not to get involved in that giant mass of people. I didn't get very many good pictures from the car. I did see this awesome building covered in flowers though!

If you are in the area you should definitely check out Art Prize! I hope it becomes an annual event. Cross your fingers that next weekend I actually get the chance to see some more amazing art!

I hear the artist of this piece is living on top of this splatter painted tower till Art Prize is over. I've never understood why people do these sort of things. Where's he supposed to poo at? Why is this my first wonder upon hearing about this?

To learn more about Art Prize click here.

Since we're on the 'from the car' picture trip...

I think whoever decided to do this...

...along US131 needs to head on up to GR and see something pretty. Because the design of this is just awful. Now I know it's not supposed to be art, but come on, could it be any uglier?! I know it's fairly hard to see as I was driving down the highway when I took it, but it is a metal fence on each side of the median. The posts are connected with metal cable. Ick. In a few years when this is all rusted and nasty it will just look worse.

From what I hear it was put up to stop cars from crossing the median and going into oncoming traffic. Now I know this does happen, but come on, how often? What about when the snow flies? I'm sure accidents from crossing the median are more prevalent then but where will the cars go now when they slide off? They will either stay on the road for the rest of us to hit or maneuver around or according to this video they'll be shot back into traffic big-cable-rubberband-style. You really only need to watch the first 6 seconds of that video to see how badly this could turn out. For those that do slide off, they won't just need a tow truck to yank them out of the ditch, they'll also need a body repair shop. That fence is going to %*&# some cars up. Also, wouldn't one ugly ass fence down the center work just as well and cost half as much? Seems like it'd give a little extra space when you're being thrown back by the cable.

Maybe it is good somehow for some states, but a state covered in ice and snow for a good majority of the year? I don't want my car to be the one shot out of the median like a slingshot that's for damn sure. Saying a prayer that I'm proven wrong about this being a bad idea this winter.

Ughhhh Michigan, if you didn't bring me things like Art Prize, northern MI beauty, and my family, I'd think you were trying to chase me away!

*Picture found on Twitter. Will give credit should I ever find you again...

Magnets!

2009-09-20T23:06:00.006-04:00

I added a bunch of magnet sets to my shop tonight!

Also, for the rest of September get a FREE magnet with every purchase!

Short and sweet tonight...

Tomorrow is my son's first field trip!

We are headed to the apple orchard bright and early.

Ali is coming along too. She's so excited that she finally gets to go to school,

even if it's for one day and we'll barely see the classroom. :)

What To Do...

2009-09-17T21:01:00.007-04:00

Ok. I don't know what to do with these. I make hats every winter. I thought I was quick... but upon discussing crochet with my friend Becky from wanderlust*creations who crochets about 6,768,234 times faster than I do, I realized I'm sloooow. It hurts me to sell a hat for a mere $20 when I know how long it took me. Not that I ever sold one. So when they expired, aside from the Etsy Front Pagers, I didn't relist them. Now that it's getting colder I'm wondering what to do with them.

--give them to friends?

--have a giveaway?

--relist them on Etsy?

--start wearing a hell of a lot more hats?

--who the hell knows?

It's easier to give away a hat to someone I like than to only charge $20. Does that make any sense?

Recently I made a Facebook post saying that I was in a baby stuff making mood and if any of my friends were pregnant and I forgot/didn't yet know then they'd better tell me if they want cool stuff. Only one of my friends was ballsy enough to say "Hey my wife is pregnant, what do we get?" Happens to be my first high school boyfriend too - haha! If you want my stuff you've got to tell me. He's getting something awesome. My memory is shit and I need this all grouped into one memorable corner of my mind.

So far on my Knocked-Up List is: my best friend Megan, my ex-boyfriend Jessy, my cousin Kathy, my childhood best friend Michelle, and dang it... someone I've forgotten. That will now bother me all night.

From hats to this... how does that happen? What do I do with these hats?? Give them to the first gutsy people that scream at me "I WANT A HAT!! GIMME ONE!!"? I love them but I don't want them throwing off the feeling of my shop as it is now. Crocheted hats just seem kind of random in there. Am I being wayyy too picky?

Some Finished Works... The Things That Keep Me Busy Lately...

2009-09-15T11:12:00.010-04:00

Man I've been busy!! I went through a baby stuff stage where I just couldn't stop making pinafores, quilts, and bibs. Just can't stop. Here's the back of one of the pinafores I made. These are the cutest ever. I wish I could pull this off as an adult, it looks so comfy!! Not sure who this is for yet, but it will be gifted to one of my many pregnant friends. :)

This patchwork purse is fabulous! It is triple-stitched and double-interfaced with a quilted strap and a twist lock. This purse should survive the apocalyse. Or at least my friend Beth the Purse Destroyer. She beats the hell out of purses, so I took on this challenge. She's owned it for only 2 days so far, but I'm curious to see what sort of beating it takes. I'm hoping it works out for her since I may cry to see this many hours of hard work end in purse destruction. I'm not sure how she does this.

These were a gift to some friends for their bridal shower. They had registered for a fabulous chocolate brown super-soft blanket that I of course had to buy them. Then make them awesome pillows to match. I kinda love making patchwork pillows. Next time pillow forms are on sale I may get out of control. These turned out great and she loved them! Come to find out they reallllly needed some throw pillows too! Score one for Lane! They also unzip in the back for easy cleaning!

This quilt is a work in progress. Progress being that I cut the squares, put them in a ziploc, and let them sit here for a couple weeks. Motivation where are you? Asian prints. Funny ones, serious ones, hideous ones. I can say that since my sis is the one that picked them out. I'm not sure if I like this quilt. I promise you a quilt before the snow flies Sis! It WILL happen!

My part-time girl Ali had a birthday this weekend! She is all about princesses and Tinkerbell right now. I took her to the fabric store last Friday while my boy was in school and let her pick some things out. Who would've thought a 3 yo would have such grand ideas?! She's full of them! In the end, based on time, I was forced to choose the quickest project, which luckily she loves!! A fleece Tinkerbell pillow, with a zipper for easy washing. But I couldn't stop there. I used the extra/scraps to make her baby a pillow as well. She loves it!!

This is Egg-cellent! And I'm a dork. It does look like eggs though, right? Slightly larger than my Itty Bitty Pouches, but not much. Lined in blue. Fab. I looove this fabric. My sis recently moved to Lexington and keeps finding the BEST prints for me! It's like Christmas in my mailbox all the time. :)

Ladies ladies ladies. Another awesome fabric that my sis sent! Robert Kaufman, I love you. I just had to fit at least half a lady on a pouch. It's too cute not to!

So that's *some* of what I've been up to lately! More to come soon! I've got a pile of cozy legwarmers in the works today!

Hiiiiyahhh!

2009-09-12T21:27:00.007-04:00

Just here for a hot second to brag about some Ninja goodness. Now I don't even know if this is allowed, but my Ninja Pants are in an Etsy Treasury twice! Both my Custom Ninja Pants and my Itty Bitty Ninja Pants!

Thank you SilverSisterStudio for including me in your treasury! Seriously, go see the cuteness in her shop! This Pass The Peas pendant is such a fun mix of beads and felting. Love it!

*******************

They are also featured in this Etsy Hippie Treasury! Ninja Pants are gettin all the love this weekend! :)

Thank you CassiesAttic for this treasury feature! WOW at this shop too! Her photos are fantastic! How gorgeous is this vintage Turquoise Hippy Dress?! Makes me wish I was a dress girl. This dress could MAKE me be a dress girl. Want it want it want it! And a fellow Michigander as well- Love it!

Lovin the Ninja love.
Thanks!

First Day of Preschool and Some Frogs...

2009-09-09T19:23:00.011-04:00

630am: Drag myself out of bed. Wake up with headache. Say little prayer that it goes away fast.

710am: Still trying to drag child out of bed. Get mean. Force him into clothes. Make him smile for first day of school photos.

720am: Unsuccessfully convince child that the preschool he was SO excited about yesterday will be fun. He just wants to hang out with Ali and me.

723am: Force child into the car against his will. Tears is not a good way to start the day.

730am: Sit though the light at Milham Rd. 3 times. PNHS needs to get their act together. Forcing all student drop-offs at one place isn't working for those of us that live here.

750am: Arrive at work. Deal with more tears because boy wants to go to school NOT Ali's house.

800am: Beg child to eat breakfast faster. Repeat all rules for preschool. Keep your hands to yourself kid! Listen to Ms. Teresa!

830am: Find a cool frog. Witness my son conversing with frog. "Hey Mr. Froggyman, wanna come to school with me? There's a big boat sandbox! You can get in my backpack with my lunch! No? Ok. Bye Mr. Froggyman!!" LOL

840am: Pack 2 kids into car. Arrange for Ali to 'babysit' D's toy dumpster while he's at school.

850am: Get to school. D takes off in a cloud of dust. Mom who? Won't miss her!

900am: I have to leave the school? But I don't wanna. My baby's all grown up! OMG! Beg for kisses. Get none. Ali gets a hug and a kiss goodbye.

905am: Mom cries. Then explains to Ali that they are happy tears. She cries because she thinks I'm upset. Drive back to Ali's.

1015am: Ali wants David back. NOW. Apparently I'm less cool than she thought.

1030am: Drive to the library for storytime. It's cancelled. Successfully scare Ali with every possible puppet. Not my intention. Meet woman with flock of children. Get involved in conversation with her where she tells me that women that work don't love their children as much as stay-at-home moms and they need to get their priorities straight. She's made the assumption that because I can be at the library at 10am that I don't work. Try not to laugh in her face. Enlighten her that I work 60+ hours a week. Get the evil eye. Watch her never smiling kids look very bored. Laugh to myself.

1130am: Drive back to Ali's. Make lunch.

1200pm: It's only noon? I miss my baby boy.

1240pm: Drive back to the preschool.

100pm: MOM'S BACK! I get my hug and kiss now! Get told by mean looking blond kid in sandbox that my child is naughty and mean. He gives us both the stink eye till we leave.

105pm: Ali biffs it at the preschool. Bad broken toenail, owwie on her face. This kid should live in a bubble.

110pm: Find out that he was good not naughty. Relief!

115pm: Drive back to Ali's. Try to get D to tell us what he did. All he talks about is the back-hoe in the sandbox and Cassie, the girl who shares Cheetos. What else did they do? "Nothing exciting Mom." Oooook.

130pm: Get Ali into bed. She's soooo tired. Naptime is usually an hour ago. She wants to give David back to the preschool. Says he should go live there.

200pm: Hang out with D, try to get him to tell me more about school. Beg him to sleep.

300pm: Still trying to get D to sleep. I thought school would wear him out! All this driving is making me tired.

330pm: Move him to Ami's bed. Sleep at last! I catch a few winks. Very few. Ali's up! My headaches back.

400pm: Drag D out of bed again.

410pm: Potty breaks and shoes on. Take a walk down Ali's super long driveway. Make necessary work calls while walking.

440pm: Jump on trampoline. With headache. Feel brain bouncing around inside head and must sit. Kids make up new game called Run Lainie Over With A Truck. They are the trucks. Surprisingly less painful to my brain than jumping.

520pm: Dishes and quick clean-up before Ali's dad gets home. Find metallic green frog- very cool. Find wasps nest - very uncool.

535pm: Finally read books from library this morning.

600pm: Leave work. Drive farrr. Make other phone calls.

630pm: Go to fabric store. Don't find what I needed. Still end up $23 poorer.

700pm: Dinner! It's 7, I'm not cooking now. Taco Bob's it is. Drive home.

730pm: Eat dinner. Type this. Realize I've accomplished nothing but being a toddler chauffeur and toddler entertainment all day. Is this how the rest of this school year will be? I'm exhausted and sick of driving.

830pm: Clean up dinner. Should clean kid, but bathtime is just gonna have to wait till tomorrow. It's BEDTIME!

I'll be sewing till 2am. *yawn*

I'm not used to having to be somewhere or do something every 10-20 minutes. I like to stay in one spot and get my work done! Once the snow starts flying I'm going to spend all the rest of my time brushing snow off my car and shoveling it out of the driveway. I'm not even sure how I'll find the time to brush the snow off! Add to to-do list: Ask Ami if I can have extra stall in garage for winter. Say prayer for mild winter.

Growing Up So Fast!

2009-09-07T19:08:00.009-04:00

Here's some really cute pictures ... with a story from Little Dave's perspective.
(He helped me write it too!) Enjoy!

My first day out of that belly!

It was comfy in there but man, I couldn't wait to get out and meet

that Mommy of mine!

Plus she was always playing the drums on my big round house and it was making me crazy.

She still does this and calls it a Tummy Drum, and I'll admit, it's pretty fun.

I decided to escape that place a couple months early.

I was born impatient.

I get that from Mom.
I'm glad they put me in this warm box, it's cold outside of Mommy!

I'm just over a month old here! I'm so cute, even though I like to cry a lot.
If Mom and Megan didn't dress me up like I'm a doll I might have been happier on this visit.
Look how big my newborn overalls are!

Look at my lips! I'm a silly boy! These are funny and I still like them.
They make me fall down in fits of giggles!

I'm a collector. All things that aren't mine should be!
I'm all set in case I ever need to make a phone call!
I look just like my Daddy.
Mommy says we are both very, very cute.
We are her favorite boys.

My Mommy kisses me ALL THE TIME.
Really, she never stops.
This time it was my turn!

Wow I'm growing up fast!
Today I told Mommy that I am going to grow up to be really old.
She seems to be very happy with this plan but told me not to do that too fast.

Wednesday I start school for my first time!
My new teacher is very nice and has pretty blonde hair.
She has lots of fun toys and wants me to write my name.
I get to eat lunch at school and then Mommy and Ali are going to come pick me up!
I hope I can show Ali my classroom because she's my best friend.
I'm going to be nice to the other kids and keep my hands to myself.
I've always had a hard time with that, but I told Mommy I would make her proud.

Then Mommy cried some more about me growing up and being so smart,
and hugged me and gave me a hundred kisses.

I told her to chill.

Waiting waiting waiting... at Worst Buy...

2009-09-06T21:02:00.008-04:00

This is what is looks like when I have no computer. I actually get work done!! LOL!

My computer conundrum is soon to be solved! It already is temporarily! My awesome, wonderful, fantastic sister loaned me her extra laptop! So I am back online in a much quicker manner than I was with the desktop and able to get some things done. So far I've only accomplished updating my Facebook and my Twitter though. It sucks not having my bookmarks or photos. I'm a little sad about all the blogs that I follow that I lost because they were only added to my bookmarks and not my blogroll. This goes to show that if you blog on Blogger you should really use that 'Follow Me' feature on your page, otherwise it's not as easy and I'm not logging in just to add you to my roll, you're just gettin a bookmark and now I've lost you! :(

I went and looked at those adorable little Netbooks on Saturday. Adorable really shouldn't be a deciding factor in buying a computer but since I don't have much else to go on with my computer knowledge, that's all I've got to work with. I dragged the kiddo to Best Buy with me to see what we could do.

That's where I met Rude Guy. Rude Guy works in the computer section and he's just that, rude. Not only did he treat me like an imbecile (whether I am a computer moron or not, he shouldn't have made it so very obvious) but he lied to me as well. Rather, he lied OR doesn't know anything about what he's trying to sell.

The requirements I have for a laptop are simple.

1. I want to log in to Etsy, and a few other sites.
2. I want to use Picasa3 to edit my photos.
3. I may occassionally want to print something someday, if and when I get a working printer.
4. I want decent internal speakers, or the ability to connect external speakers.

That is all. Yup. That's IT. Sounds pretty low-maintenance right? In all reality, the only programs I used on my other computer were Picasa and Notepad. Not even MS Office. Just Notepad. Rude Guy shows me a few things. By show me I mean he stands there with a smug look on his face, arms crossed, not offering any help. But considering he was at least standing there instead of wandering off to help one of the many other customers in that section it sort-of counts as help, right?

I found one I like. I tell Rude Guy I'd like one of those. I don't have the cash this week, but I will next week, so I march on up to the counter to get approved for a Best Buy card. Fast forward an hour and I'm finally approved and good to go. Not thrilled since I swore to myself that I would never get another credit card in my life and here I am holding an approved application for free money. See, that right there is why I shouldn't have a credit card.

I go back to Rude Guy and tell him i'm ready to buy my Netbook.

"Sorry lady, I just sold the last one about 20 minutes ago."

"But I just told you I was buying it and I would be right back as soon as I was approved."

"Sorry lady, it's gone."

"Well, can you tell me what other Netbook would be good for me to use. All I want to do with it is list some things on Etsy and edit some photos in Picasa" I explain. Again.

Rude Guy's eyes light up.

"Photo editing huh? You can't do that on these. Come here and look at these MacBooks with me, they are great for editing photos..."

"No, I'd like one of these, I don't want to spend $2500 on a photo editing machine. That's all I want to do other than surf the NET with my NETbook."

"Lady, you can't put Picasa on the Netbooks."

"I told you that's what I wanted it for earlier and you never said that."

And then HE WALKED AWAY.

Who does that?! You are a SALESMAN. You at least TRY to close your sale!! You treat your customer with respect no matter how much she knows about what she wants to buy. You are HONEST and POLITE no matter what. None of this "Lady..." business. None of this 'I want your $2500 sale or nothing' attitude.

I left. I cried. I was stressed. I just wasted 2 hours of a beautiful day trying to spend money I don't have yet on something I really needed. I sold my soul to Mastercard again to do this after not having a credit card for 8 years.

Fast forward another couple hours and here I sat. At my sloowww desktop computer. Googling "Picasa on a Netbook" and find pages and pages of people talking about how much they love using Picasa on their Netbooks. That's right, the same Picasa that you can't put on a Netbook according to Rude Guy. Someone's even running Halo on their Netbook and I KNOW (albeit unfortunately, since I have a big time gamer husband) that Halo takes up a massive amount of space. Picasa is roughly 57MB. I don't claim to know exactly what an MB is even though it's been explained to me endlessly, but I did learn that there's WAYYYYY more than enough memory to run Picasa on a Netbook. Screw you Rude Guy. *expletive*

I have wasted far too much of my life thinking and complaining about this interaction with Rude Guy, so I'll leave it at that. Just unbelievable though.

I'd like to commend the tall, dark, and handsome fella at the Geek Squad for explaining things in layman's terms so nicely even though he knew I didn't buy my broken laptop there. Instead of trying to empty my wallet, he gave me suggestions on what to do, what to buy, where to go. If I ever have a computer problem that a friend can't fix, I'd go back to this guy in a heartbeat and pay the big bucks they ask, because he treated me respectfully and was good at his job. Money wasn't the bottom line with him, and I bet that makes him the money in the end. Also, Jeremih at the Customer Service desk was helpful, knew what he was 'selling' and answered all of my questions. If he had any judgement about my terrible credit as I tried to get approved, he hid it well and I appreciate that. I'll be the first to admit my credit score is probably somewhere around a -3, but that doesn't make me any less worthy of shopping there.

It's so frustrating to shop for things I don't know much about. I'd much rather be shopping for fabric. Or spending $400 on a serger not a computer. At least there were 2 people there that redeemed Best Buy for their awful choice in hiring Rude Guy. I feel Rude Guy owes an apology to every out-of-work computer-techie-junkie-whatnot for having this job. Best Buy, you can do better. *another expletive*

Mourning the Loss...

2009-09-04T22:10:00.003-04:00

I did it. I finally did it. I have used my computer to death. I'm constantly using that stupid laptop. Probably causing my husband to kick his own ass daily for buying it for me. It was a Christmas gift, it hasn't even been a year yet!! What have I done?! It's not even a virus-y thing, I know better. It's well protected. I practice safe-surfing. Yet I still managed to break it.

It will not charge at all! The little charger-hole-thing has been a little off center for a week or so since it fell off the couch, but it was still working and useable! Don't I sound so technical? Computer genius right here kids. I wish I just needed a new cord, but I really don't think that's it.

Lugging it around in a thin tote bag w/ all my other crap for the past few months didn't do it any favors either I'm guessing.

*sigh*

*real tears*

To add some salt to the wound, my cell phone is also not charging unless I hold the charger in the phone until it's done. Which I've found takes about an hour. I did this once, then remembered "Hey dumbass! You DO own a car charger AND a car!" Of course then I would have to unplug the XM. Decisions decisions!

Whatever would I do without my stupid electronics? I suppose this week I'll find out. Somewhat. Since I immediately fired up the desktop and started furiously tap-tap-tapping away again.

OMG, I might actually have to CLEAN or WORK!! This is just terrible.

The Silver Lining(s)...

I might actually get to check out the NetBook. It's so little and cute. I know it's wrong that I only want it so I can make things for it. Little colorful NetBook sleeves! It's almost enough to dry my tears! If this computer I'm on weren't so ungodly slow, I'd probably already be on Etsy buying fabric for it already.

I listed all the goodies I made the other day on Etsy earlier. So no re-uploading and re-editing of pictures for anything, and that makes me happy. The clutch I made but haven't listed was supposed to be featured in my next blog post though and that little beauty is on the busted laptop. Oh well. Patience people, patience. It's good enough to wait for. :)

What a day....

The End of Face-to-Face Verbal Communication...

2009-08-31T21:55:00.005-04:00

I dedicate this post to my Mom and sister, who ~~asked~~ told me not to blog about them, so of course I had to.

Twitter. Facebook. Myspace. Skype. Etsy Forums. Texting.

I miss people. I miss peoples expressions, interesting character, and really f-ing stupid things I get to witness them doing. Instead people get to witness me look like a jackass. As I fail to work Skype correctly. Tweet to myself, which is much like the talking to myself I've always done except now I have willing witnesses to my madness. Fill out surveys on Myspace answering questions that I'm sure no one gives a shit about. Text so much with my fancy little slide-y phone that I actually have friends whose voices I haven't heard in weeks yet I still know what they've been up to. Partly from stalking Facebook.

Here I sit, talking on Skype. Ten minutes into the 'conversation' we are still trying to figure out why all 4 of us can't hear each other. Is it me? Am I the one messing it up?! Oh yes. It sure is. Oops. One Skyper gives up, she doesn't want to talk to us in alien voices and is going to bed. One down, can we get it to work with 3?

My sister's Skype avatar wears a straight-jacket. It's a little South Park-ish with demon wings. Probably with good reason. Hahaha.

Mine is a question mark. I haven't changed it because it's so fitting for me and my relationship with Skype.

Somehow my sister's cat joins the conversation.

Sis: What are you typing?
Me: A blog post. About this conversation.
Mom: Be nice. I don't think Delainie should be allowed to play Skype anymore. What are you saying about us? Now I don't want to talk because she's going to blog about it.
Me: I'll stop. Mom, TALK.
Mom: I hear you! Click click click click!
Sis: Stop typing or Mom's not gonna talk to us anymore.
Me: Slow down! I can't type that fast!
Mom: I'm not talking anymore.
Sis: You 2 are wrecking Sykpe for me!!

Then something about ass gaskets. And stealing them. And folding them all OCD style so they are prepared for the next pee stop.

I love my family. Even if they are ass gasket theives. Even if they made fun of me for not knowing what an ass gasket is. Do you? I thought it'd be like a fart filter... but those don't exist or my husband would have one. Now I've got the mental picture of fart filters. And having to go in for a fart filter fitting. Eek.

This post was supposed to have an actual valid point about the end of face-to-face communication, but we Skyped for so long that I forgot where I was even going with this. And they refused to continue talking if they could hear me typing. No matter what lame excuse I used about typing something else and that they weren't THAT funny. But they are, and they made me forget. I'm posting this anyway since they were oh-so-scared I was going to embarrass them or be mean to them. Which I would never do. Come on now.

I just wanna see them face-to-face, ya know?

Now I'm off to share this. In 140-characters or less of course.

The Procrastinators Spring Cleaning...

2009-08-30T15:38:00.007-04:00

As I clean this closet I'm left with a few questions.

1. WHY do I own 14 black shirts? They aren't that different from the next and 4 still have tags. One I wouldn't ever wear so I have no flippin idea why I own it. I used to have a job where I was required to wear black every day. I didn't own 14 black shirts then!

2. When did I buy a pink caridgan sweater? I mean it's not that ugly if I were to dress up as Conservative Barbie for Halloween, but otherwise, ewww. I could pair it with the high-waisted, eggplant purple, satin bridesmaid skirt I found in there. Why God, WHY? Unfortunately the pink sweater is in the keeper pile since it's slim pickins on winter wear for me here. Why do I own so many ugly winter clothes?? I seem to recall wearing the same 3 fur lined hoodies just about everyday last winter because they were warm. Who cares if it was the same shirt in 3 colors? Every. Single. Day. I was warm.

I'm having a fashion crisis here. I'm going to be found on What Not To Wear someday and all 3 weeks of secret-spy-footage I'll be in Ninja Pants and an Aero hoodie. And at least half that time in moon boots too I bet. This is a catastrophe! Someone needs to dress me.

3. Do I truly need the same slim-fit tshirt in 15 colors? I make fun of my sister for buying what she likes in every color and here I am doing the same thing!

4. Ninja Pants. I make them, I sell tons of them, I loooooooove them. Never worn pants more comfortable. I want to kick my own ass everyday for not making them sooner so I could have spent more of my life in perfect wide-legged comfort. But why do I need 20+ pairs in every color and pattern? Half of these I don't even wear or have worn to death. And again, 5 pairs in black? Why??

5. Why do I keep all these fabric scraps? Cottons ok, I've been quilting, but what about all this random stuff? I've got bags and bags of it. And I didn't part with it today.

*Sigh* So my closet is fairly clean. I give up now. 12 hours of cleaning, sorting, tossing things later and I can do no more. I have no more to say about my mess.

****Very soon I am planning on doing my first ever blog giveaway!! So keep checking back! As soon as I have the kinks worked out and the legal BS in line, I'm giving stuff away!!****

Front Page!

2009-08-26T23:23:00.004-04:00

I was on Etsy's Front Page twice in the last month and didn't even know it! This makes me happy. The front page thing, not that I'm out of the loop with where my own items are being featured. The pouch sold that day! The rug unfortunately is still chilling out in my closet. I shouldn't say unfortunately because someday, if no one ever buys it, and the kids are older, and I have my own room that people stay out of, I will keep it for myself. Of course, only I can walk on it. Ha! Everyday I think how good it would look right inside my front door, then I shudder at the thought of it getting muddy, snowy, and salty. This is Michigan afterall. I guess I'm stuck with my big, ugly, boring black boot mat.

100th Post!

2009-08-22T23:34:00.005-04:00

This is my 100th blog post! Yay me for sticking with this thing!

Now on to my post that has nothing to do with me making 100 posts since I just found out as I logged in ...

First -- Things I've Learned This Week
* Little owwies bleed bad.
* Canada has a much more interesting transportation than my area of the U.S.
* The fixing of railroad ties is quite interesting.
* Trains without graffiti do unfortunately exist.
* Many people don't agree with my views on graffiti. Oh well. I think it's beautiful.
* I've watched (and analyzed) far too much Mighty Machines Construction Trucks with Little D. Obviously.
* There's not much I dislike more than being "shhhh-ed" by a 4 year old.
* It IS possible to spend hours daydreaming about a house I can't afford based soley on the existence of a catwalk and the potential to have a store IN my house.
* Redbox is a great concept. I think I'm in love. And watching Coraline tomorrow morning.
* Payless doesn't suck this year. Dave and I BOGO-ed the other day. I found realllly cute red shoes. I feel like Dorothy -only less glittery.
* Don't order a 'golden margarita' at Brewsters. They're nasty. That's not what I wanted anyway.
* My sis living in KY sucks. BUT, they do have clearance designer fabrics at Hancocks there.
* My sis living in KY rules. ONLY because she surprised me with a box of these designer fabrics. One so awesome I squealed. For real. Like a little fabric lovin piggy.

Ok ok I may go on all day. I swear, I start every post with nothing to say and then write a flippin novel.

Anyway.

I might have to start making quilts! The response to them has been amazing! Thank you to everyone who commented, tweeted, emailed, convoed, Facebooked, Myspaced, etc.! I even got the downlow on some friends that haven't told anyone else they are expecting yet, except ME, so they can get on the list for a quilt. *evil grin* I know and YOU don't. Ha.

People pretty much know by now that when I get a project idea working, I will make a few, and then I'm done. I might make the item again sometime, I might never make it again. Slowly my friends are learning that you gotta get in when the gettins good. There's no waiting here! I wish I was able to make everything I create custom, but man, some days I just don't feel like it! When that happens I start enjoying my creations less and that's not why I work for myself. I work for myself doing what I do so I can make what I want when I want. And start working at noon. And wear flip flops to work. Or pjs if I so choose. And flat out skip work some days to go to the beach. That's right Mom, I DID find a job that I can do all that. Even after all those years of you telling me to grip reality and real jobs don't work that way. You're right a lot Mom, I find great happiness in getting my chance. Love you :)

I spent a nice chunk of this week/weekend sewing. I got a really cool patchwork-y tote bag made that I still need to photograph, and 6 new Itty Bitty Snap Pouches! I'm itching to make some pinafores with some of my new awesome fabric too. I had linings for a bunch already cut out, but I did something crazy and cleaned and now I can't find them. So pouch crazy I went...

One more day of my 4 day vacation. I'm hoping to finish an AWESOME Slapdash Clutch. I had lots and lots of requests for longer clutches but I have a hell of a time finding longer frames at a reasonable price. I wandered the mall with big Dave the other day and found a great one -- on clearance -- and as soon as I find exactly the right fabric it will be awesome. I am saving it from it's gaudy destiny as a leopard print sequin clutch. No surprise here that it was on clearance.

I shouldn't admit that I also bought leggings at the gaudy clothes store I found the clutch at. Yes, leggings. Wtf Delainie. I swore I would not welcome this trend back and now look at me! Then I tried them on and thought "hey, these are actually cute!" and tried on a bunch of other crap from my closet to see what they go with. I need an intervention. Or a really cute hoodie dress from American Apparel.

I Made An Etsy Commercial! Come See!

2009-08-20T19:52:00.005-04:00

A Picture Crazy Morning

2009-08-19T12:30:00.000-04:00

Today I took the kidlets to the park. I love going to the park. We have a playground at home that I hate. It's boring and David ALWAYS leaves covered head to toe in dirt no matter what. We have a swing set and a huge yard full of goodies at Ali's house, but it's still just not the same as a trip to a park. A new playground. New fun!

He's a happy kid! He spun us so fast I thought I'd yak.
I couldn't even get a non-blurry picture!

Still smiling, but smartly hanging on for dear life.

Cheesin while on the see-saw. I always called these tetter-totters.
David won't let me though. Both are weird names in my opinion.

Look Lainie! No hands!
We played on this thing a loooong time!

We took a walk on the railroad tracks over the river too.
This kinda scares the snot out of me as a mother of a risky kid and a klutz.
No one fell in so it was all good. And BEAUTIFUL.
Somewhere along the way David cut his foot and ended up bleeding all over me.

Ice cream cured the pain and he forgot he was bleeding.
I was still concerned. The ice cream lady gave us a bandaid.
That ice cream should've been good enough to make me forget.

And the highlight of our walk!

We got into town just in time to see not 1, not 2, but 3!! dumpsters get emptied.
When I showed David that I took this picture he simply said

"Mom, you are really really cool. I love you."

Mom's happy. Kids are happy (and tired - yay naptime!).
David's cut is just a tiny super-bleeder, so that's all good.
It's only 12:30 and today has been so wonderful.
I'm counting my blessings that this is how I get to spend my days. :)

I Did It Again!

2009-08-16T17:38:00.009-04:00

I can't stop! I'm a quilting addict already! I still don't care for machine quilting all that much, but I'm learning what my machine likes to do and what it doesn't. It likes to do loopy random quilting. It doesn't like to quilt in straight lines, which I stupidly assumed would be easier. It hates binding. Sounds like a machine gun trying to sew through it and I'm going to end up with a busted machine. I just can't stop though! This just isn't the right machine for this kind of work.

I made another quilt today anyway! It was supposed to be the mini-quilt but I made it larger than I should've. Got a little carried away :) I took out every quilting stitch twice before I thought it was good enough. *Phew*

I might make one more quilt before I stop beating the hell out of my machine. This one would be for me :) And BIIIG! I already picked out my fabrics, just need to wait on the funds for a bit till I can get started. What do you think? I might throw in a couple other random fabrics with these, depends what's left in my stash. I hope I can find them all when the time comes!

On a side note, if you're in the northern Michigan area this weekend and want to hear some excellent music with some excellent people, you should check out the Hoxeyville Music Festival! I was planning to spend the whole weekend there, but that won't be happening anymore. Time, funds, babysitters, and whatnot. I should not have looked at the Hoxey schedule, now I want to go even more! I might just have to make it work and take my boy with me for just Sunday. Robert Bradley's Blackwater Surprise and Shout Sister Shout at the same time though... I just need both! Follow that up with a little Four Finger Five, half a set each of The Macpods and May Erlewine.... then watch my kid FREAK OUT when he finally gets to see Greensky Bluegrass again! Oooh I might have to go to this! :)

Quilts!

2009-08-15T15:45:00.001-04:00

I tried my hand at quilting! It's intimidating and at times frustrating. However, both quilts turned out beautiful! I used up a LOT of my stash of favorite fabrics. Lots of designer prints, a few vintage prints, and a few just random quilter's cottons.

On Wednesday I managed to cut out 300+ squares, using scissors NOT a rotary cutter. Proving I am insane. Took forever.

I was so hesitant to cut up all my favorite fabrics since I have a tendency to start projects that I never finish. I didn't want to waste them all! Luckily Quilt #2 is a gift to a very dear friend of mine, so I had no choice but to finish it. Quilt #1 is mine. There was no way I could make a quilt from all my faves and not keep one for myself. I'll attempt to keep #1 in pristine condition since #2 is going to spend the beginnings of its life being drooled and spit up on.

I made up the stitch pattern for the quilting. Just kinda haphazardly drew all over the back with dressmaker's chalk and started stitching with the longest straight stitch my machine would do. It took hours less than I assumed it would take! It's not as bunchy as this picture makes it look. I can't wait to wash and dry them and give them that crinkly cozy quilt feel. I may just have to make a queen size quilt after all. Of course, after all that work, there's no way I'd let anyone sleep with it.

I'm going to roll this beauty up and put it in the coordinating fabric basket I blogged about in my last post. I'm hoping to throw in a super soft and cute sock monkey from The Monkey Shop and a bib (at least) from MomNMiaQuilts as well. I'm sure I'll find plenty more goodies that need to go in there too! I ran out of binding, so I ordered some more. I hope it gets here very soon so I can give this to her when she comes to Michigan at the end of the month!

As you saw in my last post, I made 2 fabric baskets. One is for another dear friend of mine whose having baby #2 in November. Before her first was born, I made an itty bitty 'quilt' for him. It wasn't quilted really, more of a backed patchwork blanket that I did a horrific job of binding. I'm wayyy too harsh of a critic when it comes to my own work. "OMG a pucker! Why did I give this to her? I should've made it perfect!" I've known her so long, of course she deserves nothing but the best, right?

Anyway. Since I've been really busy I made it a point to ask her what she'd like me to make for this baby, in case she had something in mind. She wants another mini-blanket! Her first son loved his so much, she said she took it everywhere since it was perfect size to lay him down on anywhere. He sleeps with it every night even now that he's bigger, and it's perfect because he does NOT like anything on his feet or he wakes up instantly, and the mini is now too small to cover them. Feels so good to know she/they like it so much. Makes me feel like a dumbass for doubting it so much though. Lucky for her I've got a ton of pink fabric scraps for #2's mini blanket. To be started right now...

The Game Masters.

2009-08-14T22:01:00.016-04:00

Today I sewed. A lot. I'll post my great quilting success story sometime tomorrow when I get a decent picture!

I took a few breaks from my sewing today to do some fun stuff with my boy. Ok ok, some of it was only fun for me. We took a trip to the fabric store (my third trip there in 24 hours) and later met up with big Dave and Uncle John to go to the arcade.

We all zipped around the race track a couple times...

Uncle Jon proved he is the Ticket Master and King of Big Haul... we got a wooden snake, a squishy jelly frog whose brain pops out when you squeeze him, and a whoopie cushion with those 650 tickets. FYI He used ONE token to get that fat stack. The whoopie cushion was big fun as farts usually are. Mostly for the big kids. Jon and I sat outside a while and made sure every neighbor that walked by thought we were disgusting.

I should've taken a picture of the possessed air hockey table, but alas, I always forget the good stuff. For some reason it only counted about every other of big Dave's goals. It forced the win, 9-2, and it was awesome. A victory is still a victory in my book and I am the still reigning Queen of Air Hockey.

Tags!

2009-08-10T15:00:00.000-04:00

This post is dedicated to Jenna from jennadesigns. She is so sweet and talented, always inspiring, motivating, and sharing great ideas! She's one of my fave Twitter folks and I love her blog (even when she's not blogging about me haha!). She has a fabulous Etsy shop and a great eye for fabrics and detail. I think if there wasn't a big lake separating us, we'd probably hang out everyday. :) Go check out her shop... then come back so I can brag about her more.

*************************************************

It was great wasn't it? I especially love her sachets with the little birds on them and her photography - it's absolutely stunning! She recently posted a great tutorial for fabric tags that I HAD to try! My tags turned out great! I was able to make 600 tags for a mere $6!! I've also developed a serious obsession with printable fabric. I'm even researching printers since mine is broken and I MUST make more tags and design my own fabric. I've always have a billion ideas for fabric I want, I just have never had the means to print it myself. I changed a few things when I made mine. I used Microsoft Word instead of PS, had a different brand of printer fabric, and didn't set it like I should have. Luckily it's not too late to set it! Also, it says on the back of the printer fabric to only use one sheet at a time. For whatever reason all of the printers I tried said they were out of paper with only one sheet in there. Seemed to work out fine with 2-3 sheets in there. So if you try this and have the same problem, stop following the directions on the packaging and do as I say. :)

The awesomeness doesn't stop there! She also pointed me towards a blog tutorial to make awesome fabric baskets. See Jenna's here. I've been wanting to make these since she first showed me, but just got around to it yesterday. I should really not be sharing this since they are both gifts to a couple wonderful pregnant friends of mine. I'm going to stuff them full of baby goodies. I changed the pattern a bit by enlarging the squares to 3"x3" and making 3 rows so they turned out more like tote bags than baskets, but oh well. I have to be able to fit a large gift I'm making (that I can't share quite yet) in there!

I just love how they turned out! So bright and cheery! I might make a couple of the smaller version for them too so they can serve the original purpose I had in mind. A basket for all those little baby things that tend to get lost if not kept in one place. Nail clippers, butt cream, extra pacis, thermometers, etc. I'd have lost everything without a basket for it all. Lack of sleep makes me forget where things are. Babies cause a lack of sleep. It's a downward spiral from there. lol.

Enough about me and what I've made lately...

I was lucky enough to meet my husband's nieces from TN last week. All 4 girls are so sweet, it was nice to meet them! The oldest is 15, and loves to draw. I didn't know she was drawing me till she was almost done, but she did, and it's AMAZING. I oohed and ahhed over her whole notebook for a while. I so wish I could draw!! Here is her version of my son and I:

It's pretty accurate too considering most of the time her family was here David was hanging on me and crying. I think she wanted to keep it in her notebook but I shamelessly begged for it. It's framed on the wall in my living room right now, I had to get a frame that night! I also realized that I don't have any art on my living room walls that isn't local. I know the creator of each piece I have and it makes me happy to know so many talented people that have given/sold me pieces that all mean so much to me. I am a lucky lady. :)

Dumpsters.

2009-08-09T20:32:00.004-04:00

My kid is weird. I mean, he comes by it naturally having a nut for a Mom, but wow.

A while back he was really into garages. Everything around him could in some way be made into a garage door. He'd hold it by the edges and 'open and close' the makeshift garage door in front of his face, over and over and over. Actually, he still does this. He's just a little choosier about what gets to be a garage door these days. Now his fascination has moved to dumpsters. Of all things, why dumpsters? I never realized how many dumpsters are around. It makes me sad to think of how much waste we all make. There are 6 dumpsters on my short walk from home to the post office. You better believe we visit every single one of them on our walks.

Today I spent a good chunk of time making some fabric baskets (that I promise to blog about as soon as I get pictures!) and was ready to put everything away, when I asked my son if there was anything he wanted before I cleaned up. Silly me, I knew he'd say a dumpster! So using a similar technique as the baskets I had just made, I whipped up a little blue dumpster for him.

The little brown toy dumpster was a gift from my boss. She made up some story to the guy that gave it to her about using it for her daughter's dollhouse, instead of for her babysitter's dumpster obsessed son. He is madly in love with it and fills it with all kinds of crap. When the lid (or as he calls it, "the hood") doesn't close all the way that means the dumpster is "crazy" and results in fits of giggles. I made him little trash bags as well, but they aren't as cool as throwing away a car I guess.

Since taking this picture we added 2 big navy blue buttons as the wheels and a big gold iron-on "BFI". Who knew 4 year olds had a preference in their trash service? He's insisting I add this picture also.

How wrapped around a kid's little finger does one have to be to jump up and leave the air conditioned house to go to the dollar store for iron-on letters right now when the humidity is 90% and my car has morphed into a Dodge Sauna? It is pretty darn cute for a dumpster...

Camping Fun!

2009-08-06T22:55:00.005-04:00

I finally got to go camping! I have been ridiculously busy and Dave's still on 3rd shift, so it just hasn't happened. A friend of my Mom's borrowed her camper for the week then couldn't stay the whole week. So my mom had a spot, paid for, and all set up and ready for David and I to come out to Tuesday night! Way too easy :)

Tuesday night was COLD! Remind me, it's August right? Summertime? The season formerly known as HOT? I was also sharing this rock hard bed with my son, who is quite the bed and blanket hog for being so small. It amazes me how much room he can take up when he wants to. It brings me back to the days when my parents had a camper and we would haul it up to Higgins Lake, or somewhere else as beautiful in MI, and I had to share a bed with my sister. We shared the top bunk and I just didn't wanna. I taught myself to sleep all sprawled out. They all called it Helicopter Sleeping. I was looking for a Plan B since Mom and Dad usually just made her deal with it instead of moving her to one of their beds so I could sleep alone like I wanted to. Maybe they were on to me from the very beginning? They've always been pretty smart like that. It still pissed my sister off, which at the time was acceptable consolation. Sorry Sis!

Did I mention my kidlet didn't go to bed till around midnight? My Mom almost split us up since we act like a couple of kids when we should be sleeping. He got up bright and early to make bacon and french toast with Grandma and I got to SLEEP IN! It was a beautiful morning.

We spent the day at the beach while G-ma went to run some errands. Later in the day, we helped some kids catch fish using hot dogs and Twizzlers as bait. Our site was right across from the boat launch, so it was pretty much Kid City. All Kid City inhabitants were armed with long poles and sharp hooks. I was slightly neurotic in the middle of it all. I blame this on being hooked in the cheek around age 10. Not fun. Kinda traumatic considering it was over 18 yrs ago and I still wish fishing involved helmets like some other sports ~~that I also hate~~.

My big Dave showed up in the evening- that was a nice surprise! He grilled us some delicious steaks! Since he showed up, my Mom decided to go home for the night. (For the record, my Mom and Hub have a great relationship, she was only camping because she had the free spot, and wanted us to have a night together.) So she went home and we got an impromptu first family-only camping trip! It was such a lovely time! We built up a big fire and made some S'mores. It was little David's first S'more (that I know of, G-ma's always been a fan of in-the-house S'mores, so he's probably had those.) He took about 45 minutes to eat a single one, savoring every teeny tiny bite. All that nibbling must've finally wore him out since he ASKED to go to bed at 10:30. Poor little guy couldn't make it another second. He did very well going to sleep alone in the dark camper, giving his Dad and I some time to hang out. It was great since that rarely happens anymore!

Look who remembered to take at least a few pictures!! Go me!

Look at that big smile!

Eating his first S'more! He hasn't stopped talking
about how delicious they were. He's been recommending them to everyone! :)

David took nearly an hour to eat his, and big Dave barely
tasted his as he inhaled it. I managed to get him to save a bite for a picture!

Things I learned:
* Bacon fat catches more fish than hot dogs.
* Twizzlers do actually catch fish.
* I should open a baitshop at Yankee Springs. Those kids don't quit!
* Yankee Springs Campground is louder than where I live. In the city.
* Baby catfish are super cute.
* I need to get a coffee maker for next time, I missed my coffee today.
* If this was my boy's first S'more at age 4, I am a slacker.
* If you are looking for quiet don't camp here. I got up at 6am for some quiet this morning.
* "If this campers a-rockin..." jokes to my Mom as she leaves embarrasses big Dave. Funny and worth it.

Whoa Now, I made something!

2009-07-29T14:03:00.005-04:00

It's been a while since I've had the chance to really sit down and sew. My social life and other responsibilities have been getting in the way. When living in Michigan sometimes you just have to put work off to the side and enjoy the beautiful weather when it comes your way! So I have. I spent a lovely weekend up near Petosky, a beautiful weekend in Frankfort, a few afternoons at the pool and many evenings playing ping-pong in a friend's garage. You can definetely tell this by looking at my house. Word to the wise... always do your dishes and take out your trash BEFORE you leave for the weekend. It will still be there when you get home and you will be sorry you left it that way. Took me 2 weekends to learn that. It took me roughly a week between getting back to work and my socializing to get this mess of a house cleaned up!

So yesterday, while sitting in my nice, clean house, I decided it was time to mess it up with some fabric and thread. I promised my best friend Bonnie a brown and green curtain for her youngest son's new monkey themed bedroom. So I forced myself to make a curtain. I find curtains to be tedious and boring. Straight lines straight lines straight lines. Plus, brown and green just aren't that pretty together. I couldn't get the tension right with this fabric to save my life either. I should've lined it and I think I will tonight. I'm hoping the weight of the curtain pulls the seams taut as well. Here's hoping! I'm such a perfectionist... I'm half tempted to start all over again. I really might do it over again tonight in a vertical colorblock instead of what I did here. There's a seam in both the greens and my OCD can't let that be. Maybe I'll wait and see what she says first. What do you think?

I also picked up some gorgeous orange and cream fabric, and some blue fabric with white "wheels" on it, on a whim. Impulse shopping at it's best. I should really only be allowed to carry cash into a fabric store because I can justify buying damn near anything there. I loved the combination of these 2 fabrics so ridiculously much that I made 2 identical pouches. I never do that!! But I just had to have one for me. I'm going to a wedding this weekend, I needed a new clutch of course! Not that it matches the dress I bought today AT ALL. Orange, blue, and plum... oh well. It's too fabulous, I might have to just go mis-matched. I could pretend I'm colorblind or something. Wouldn't you just to carry this?

I'm also entertaining the ~~bad~~ idea of dying the dress black tomorrow. I never checked the fabric content though. Maybe I'll just return it for something less purple and conservative. I don't think I was thinking clearly when shopping [with kids] this morning.

Pretty!

2009-07-24T11:18:00.003-04:00

It has been a super long busy week! I've hardly been online, haven't made anything new for Etsy (a couple local and custom orders did get done at least), haven't finished cleaning my messy house, managed to lose 30+ Twitter followers, and I'm really not sure where my time has gone! If this is a taste of how life will be when the Big Dave goes to Korea next month I am in for it! I head up-north again this weekend, this time for a wedding! I'm looking forward to seeing my hubby again and party with some fun people! Cross your fingers that I get a little beach weather tomorrow morning!!

Found myself in this treasury today!! Thanks to Amy of Articulations for curating this lovely treasury! Some of the featured artists are from my Etsy West Michigan Team, and I must say, we sure are talented! And YAYY!! my little blue Slapdash Wallet is right next to yarn from Spazzy. I have a weakness for Spazzy yarns, I'm sure I've blogged about it before. It's so thick, scrumptious, and pretty! I have a skein that I got for Christmas last year. It's one of those too-pretty-to-use things and just sits at the top of my yarn stash. Hopefully I get more someday so maybe I can bring myself to use the first one!

A Big Fat F.U. from MI

2009-07-20T09:32:00.004-04:00

Is it so much to ask to get a nice, hot weekend for the one vacation I get this year? I had to cancel the other one because of my Gpa's funeral, so I scheduled a new one. Went up to the gorgeous city of Petoskey and froze my ass off. In JULY! Now it's back to work with me and it's a nice, hot, beautiful day. Grrr. Hopefully we have time to get back up there with the boys before the summer is over. We were really looking forward to a lazy vacation of tanning and drinking though. Doesn't quite happen that way with kids around! Aside from the weather we had a great time!

I managed to get a picture of those pillows from a while back that I made for my friend Beth and her soon-to-be hubby John!

That's it for me today... I've got about a weeks worth of %$^* to catch up on today.

Mmmm Silk

2009-07-13T13:11:00.005-04:00

I'm kind of a fabric freak. I've been eyeing this gorgeous printed silk at a local fabric store and finally broke down and bought it. Only a half yard since it's pricey, but it's finally mine!! It's been sitting here begging to be made into a bag for over a week and yesterday I FINALLY got around to it!

I love anything with lime green and buttons. I also needed a non-messenger bag since that's pretty much all I own. I made it sort-of hobo style with antiqued brass hardware, 5 fabric buttons, and a great knotted strap! It's lined (expertly I must say, since I have a habit of screwing that part up) with natural colored cotton canvas. The outer fabric is 100% silk, but it feels like cotton canvas. That left me wondering if I'm really getting ripped off, but it was still too cool to pass up. I know a lot about fabrics, but this is the first time I've ever found a silk that feels like this. Either way, it turned out exactly like I pictured it in my head and that almost never happens. I'm going to attempt to make another soon.

I also found a new addiction. Fabric buttons! Like I need another crafty obsession. I bought a couple packs of these last week and they were so simple and quick that I immediately went back to the fabric store to buy more. Then I got home, made them all, and went on Etsy and bought even more. Tonight after work I plan to get back to the store and get MORE since I can't wait till my Etsy shipment arrives. I don't know what I will do with them all, but they sure are pretty! They are like the heroin of my craft world at the moment. There's nothing I like better than instant gratification.

Overheard in the Mall

2009-07-12T00:12:00.007-04:00

Oh the mall. I used to LOVE it. Used to beg my Dad to take my friends and I there and then beg him to disappear because OMG, we can't be seen with our DAD in the mall- what dorks! *eye roll*

That's about the last thing I want to do these days. Now I find myself researching what I want online, find the store that has it, go to only that store, hit up Aunt Annie's, and I'm outta there.

I'd still go with my Dad if he wanted to go shopping and I'd even let him walk next to me. Come to think of it, he's pretty tall, used to get a death-grip on my hand, and skip while singing his "Laner McBainer, the Wild Animal Trainer" song (A Lainie's Dad Original) much too loudly. He might still have to walk a few paces behind...

My 4yo son and I went to the mall today to go swimsuit shopping since mine got ruined this week in an unfortunate wet-bag-hot-car-runny-dye incident. It got to the point that he was holding my skirt and saying "Oh Mom, please no more" and trying to stop me from going back into that fitting room, again. Too bad Bucko, I wasn't leaving without a new suit! I was armed with pretzels and fruit snacks since I knew this would take forever. I finally found 2 swimsuits, BOTH on clearance, under $10 each piece, and all in less than 2 hours (Poor kid!).

We also got some great people watching in. For example, there's this massage booth thing in the middle of the mall. You look down on it when sitting at the Aunt Annie's tables on the level above. It was called Happy Hands or Magic Hands or Only Wanna Rub Hot Chicks Hands, I forget. This little older fella and his super hands got to work on a middle aged guy. As Mr. SuperHands is massaging, he is stopping constantly and waving over pretty women for massages. (Not one took him up on this offer.) If I were Mr. Face-Stuck-In-Massage-Chair I'd have told Mr. SuperHands to pay attention to the paying customer and get to it. Mr. Face-In-Chair kept texting and I was imagining he was tweeting all of this and laughing to myself. I watched this for a long time as it takes roughly a decade for my son to eat half a pretzel.

Even better than just people watching... is eavesdropping.

"SHE's probably the one spreading the STD's everywhere! Crabs and the Clap!" -- I caught part of this lovely conversation between 2 employees while I was RIGHT there. Ew. I left before I caught something.

"That's what kids do these days. They go on dates and they have sex. What else is there to do?" -- This was between 2 boys that couldn't have been older than 13. It was disturbing. I wanted to eavesdrop longer but David wouldn't walk fast enough.

"Shit girl. I woke up in his bed and I don't think the sheets have been washed in a year. No I'm not drinking tonight." -- Again, EWW. Do people not realize that just because they are alone in their little fitting room that we can still hear their cell conversations?

"I saw your butttt! I saw a ninnieeee! Does Dad have ninnies? Does Grandma have ninnies? Does Grandpa have ninnies? Does Aunt ____ have ninnies? Does Kristin have ninnies? Does ________ (x 100) have ninnies? Look! I have ninnies!" -- this one was my very own son, in the fitting room. He's way interested in nipples lately. I wonder if someone's blogging about our conversation right now.

Holy Freakin Cuteness!

2009-07-08T09:36:00.006-04:00

Ok, tell me she's not the cutest little thing ever. Really. Try it. I wouldn't believe ya for a second even if it were possible to speak such lies. :) Now, as many of you know, I'm a mom to a boy and happy to be. I've said many times that I'd like another boy someday. The more adorable stuff I make for Ali-cat the more that changes ever so slightly. Anytime I show up at her house in anything other than jeans she MUST have one in her size. You better believe that everyday last week she asked daily where her 'blue dress' was! I had to wear my blue skirt that I whipped up last week and royally screwed up the hem on, so I had to add a petticoat that I don't like much. So now we are all matchy-matchy for the day and look kinda dorky. I promised them they could use their free pizza coupons from the library today as well, so I have to go out in public dressed like a 2 yr old. At least I don't have to cook!

I also *finally* finished this great Slapdash Messenger Bag for a custom order. I'm almost embarrassed how long it took me to finish with all of last weeks drama, and show preparation taking up most of my other time, but it is DONE! I know I say this a lot, but I don't like pink. Then I made this and I almost have to like pink. It turned out so nice!! This is at least the 4th pink bag that I've wanted to keep. What are you people doin to me?! I even bought pink fabric for a skirt yesterday. Ahhhh the horror! It's actually quite beautiful, with white, yellow, and silver in it too. I can't wait to show it off! I have to finish up the crocheted waistband and then I'm ready to sew! Now if only I could find some burnt orange cotton gauze...

I was really hoping to update with a picture from this post but then I gave my friend Beth the AWESOME pillows I had made her and never got a picture of them! Boooo! So my apologies to anyone that really wanted to see them. I pinky-promise they were fabulous. I'm hoping to make one for me, I'll show that one off then! It's on my mile-long list of things I want that I don't have time to make. Someday...

Lifesavers

2009-07-04T05:42:00.003-04:00

Have you ever had someone in your life that is just always there at the perfect time, exactly when you need them, without even having to call? I do. I met her nearly 3 years ago and I'm blessed to spend a few days of every week with her family, keeping them safe, sound, happy, and fed. Her and I do most of our "hanging out" through the phone, when she calls to check on the kids, plus our 20 minutes in the morning before she rushes off to work. A few weeks ago she showed up at my FSAM show. She was shopping with her mom and the kids, but she took over my booth for 15 minutes so I could meet some of my Etsy West Michigan Team that was at the show. In that 15 minutes I was able to meet some amazing artists, spend some money on cool stuff, and come back to find out she was selling things like crazy! Then last night, at my Grandpa's funeral, she appeared again. Like an angel she showed up as I was dragging my screaming child out of the funeral parlor, tears streaming down my face, and my husband following behind us with a "kid, quit doing this to your mother" look on his face. She had come to pay her condolences to my dad, which she quickly did, then whisked away my kid so fast to spend some time at her house. WHY did I take a 4 year old to a funeral? Who the hell knows. Lesson learned. Don't do it. And if you do, don't be so overwhelmed with the situation that you don't think to bring ANYTHING to occupy him. Somehow in my moment of grief I thought that a small ziploc of cheerios was going to keep my kid busy for hours. Ha. Haven't I ever met this kid? I know better than that. He gladly left with Ami, I think he's either sick of seeing, or just plain confused, why Mommy keeps crying this week. She was truly a lifesaver by taking him off my hands for a couple hours so I could grieve with my family like I needed to. My Grandpa was such a special man, we're all going to miss him dearly. I don't know how Ami does it, but she always shows up when I need her most. I must be doing something right to have people in my life like her! Thanks Ami!

On a sidenote... I will be at FSAM again this Sunday! (Fulton Street Artisans Market) It is located in Grand Rapids on Fulton and Fuller. My twin sis has offered to help me out with my booth too! We'll be there from 11-3 so come on down and see us! I'll be taking custom orders for Ninja Pants, and I'll have everything from my Etsy site, along with a few other things that have yet to be listed! Last time I was at FSAM I learned that I'm becoming known as 'The Pants Lady' so come on down and order a pair! Mention this blog and I'll give you $5 off or free shipping! Hope to see you there!

Saying Goodbye

2009-07-02T13:13:00.004-04:00

This week my family lost a wonderful man. After 2 years of sickness and continous hospital visits and nursing home stays, my Grandpa King has passed away. He was an amazing man and we will all miss him dearly. It's been a long time coming, but that doesn't make it any easier. I'm just glad every one of us had a chance to go see him before he passed. My family is too great. We didn't just sit in his hospital room and cry. We shared memories, stories, laughs, and tears. We celebrated the time we've had with him and got to say goodbye. It was his choice not to be resusitated, and we respected that even though it is so hard to let someone go. They took him off dialysis and kept him comfortable and out of pain. He was surrounded by people that love him when he went. It has been a very long week for us all. I want to thank everyone that sent prayers, thoughts, and condolences to me through this blog, Twitter, Etsy, Facebook, Myspace, and everywhere else. It's a great feeling to know he's touched so many lives through the years, I'm very lucky to have had him in my life for 28 yrs! I had planned to write a much more heartfelt blog about this, but I'm just too cried-out and exhausted to do that now.

Again thank you to everyone for your friendship and support. *huge bear hugs to you all*

I wonder if he's got all the angels in heaven eating fruitcake toast?

Blue Moon, You Saw Me Standing Alone...

2009-06-27T21:12:00.006-04:00

Bom-ma-bom, a-bom-bom-a-bom, ba-ba-bom-bom-a-bomp, b-dang-a-dang-dang, b-ding-a-dong-ding..... bluuuuuuue mooooooonnn

Soooo one of my most favorite songs to sing. Especially when my husband is around and I can embarrass him in public. I met the drummer from The Marcels today at my art show! He was incredibly interesting to talk to and very entertaining! Not many people want to break into song as much as MaryLou and I do, but he did! I have dorky songs, mostly that I've made up, and Lou loves to belt out Zepplin, but we all got down with some doo-wop this afternoon! And we have been ever since -- it may be permanently etched in my brain. Bom-ma-bom, a-bom-bom-a-bom....

I also got to meet some fellow Etsy sellers, discovered Yard Golf, got some scrumptious beef jerky, discovered an all natural skin cream that I hope to blog about later if it does as promised, and got to hang out outside all day. It was absolutely perfect weather! Apparently not money-spending weather though, because this show itself was a bust. It's unfortunate since we've been looking forward to it for so long. I make more money while I'm asleep (because hey, even then I've got the chance at an Etsy sale). Boo hiss, nice knowin ya Milham Park, I won't be sellin my wares on your beautiful grassy hills anymore.

Tomorrow is a new day. I'm making myself that skirt I wanted a few posts ago. Hopefully all goes well! I found the petticoat I wanted to use with it FINALLY in a box marked "Lane's Summer Shit" in the basement. (What a descriptive label huh?) It was like Christmas in June! I forgot I even owned this stuff. Even better, it's not hideous and it still fits! Score!

It's Showtime!

2009-06-26T13:37:00.004-04:00

I've got another show coming up tomorrow! It is Milham Art in the Park held at Milham Park in Portage. I hear it's a HUGE show! I haven't actually ever made it to this show in all the years I've been in Kalamazoo, but I sure have heard about it from damn near everyone. It was a major PITA to get into, mostly because of the booth sharing confusion my partner and I caused, but I was finally confirmed yesterday and will be there bright and early tomorrow morning! I hope it's as good as I've been told! Wish me luck!

I've blogged about JennaDesigns before, but man, she just gets better! I met her through Twitter and a mutual love for fabric and sewing machines, and look what she sent me the other day! I had complimented this fabric on her blog, but I never expected her to send me some! AWESOME! I don't know what I'm going to use it for, it's so neat I don't want to cut it up! Whatever it is that I end up doing with it, it really made my day. So thanks Jenna! Hope you are having fun with your new serger!

Back From the Dead & A Soap Story

2009-06-20T14:26:00.007-04:00

My camera has been fixed! Not only has it been fixed to near-perfection, but my husband is the one that fixed it! Now, he's a smart guy and an engineer, he builds massive bridges for cryin out loud, but I can't say I actually SEE him fix anything ever. I anticipated fear when he took my ziploc full of camera pieces and my chincy $1 screwdriver set I bought to *attempt* to fix this camera myself, along with the glue I planned to use on whatever the screwdriver didn't work for, and he sat down at the kitchen table and went to work. I sat on the couch researching where to buy my brand new - hopefully orange - Canon Powershot SD1200IS for the cheapest price while this went on, fully convinced that as soon as he gave up I'd be headed towards the nearest Canon camera bargain. Imagine my surprise when not even 15 minutes later he was showing me a still half assembled but WORKING camera! Only 10 minutes after that and a quick lecture about how I should not just pull the camera apart when I got to a point of stripping a screw, I had a complete working camera again! I'm not lying when I say I jumped and squealed with joy. Welcome back to life little camera!

I managed to drag myself out of bed this morning on about 3 hours of sleep to go to the farmer's market FINALLY. I've been wanting to get there for a couple weeks specifically to pick up my Whipped Cream Soap from Laura at Shower Treat Soap. She's been holding onto some jasmine scented greatness for me! This stuff is awesome! It smells fantastic and the feel of it is nice and fluffy and light! I kinda can't wait to shave my legs... I don't think I've ever said that in my life. I also picked up a fantastic green apple vegan lip balm too! It smells extra good and it's not sticky at all. Plus, everytime I see Laura she's got a smile on her face, an absolute pleasure to be around, so nice to see her today! :)

I tried to include a picture of Laura's whipped soap, but the html won't work and I'm not computer whiz, so here's a pic of my newest item instead. Why this picture works and the other one doesn't is beyond me. But hey, aren't the rockets cool too?

Other than that I'm having one of those if-you-don't-have-anything-nice-to-say... sort of days. Mom would be proud, I'll keep the negative to myself today. Maybe I'll call her to bitch later as repayment for teaching me that lesson. Love ya Mommers :) I'm off to the fabric store with my 50% coupon, I'm in the mood for some retail therapy and a new, maybe royal blue, princess skirt.

RIP Canon Powershot, I Miss You Already.

2009-06-16T12:09:00.006-04:00

Can I come here and cry a minute? I have yet to cry real tears about this, but I'm sure they are on their way. 2 yrs ago my hub bought me a new digital camera. I did tons of research and asked specifically for this camera when he asked what I wanted. I am in love with it. Seriously. If you didn't think you could love an inanimate object, I'm living proof. I am IN LOVE with my camera.

2 yr olds by nature are impatient and excitable. I told the little one I nanny for that she could take a picture of me since she asked so sweetly. She grabbed that camera out of my hand so fast it went crashing to the ground. The lens is all bent up, a piece broke off, and it won't close.

I called around and starting rate for opening it up and LOOKING at it is around $200. I'm ~~cheap~~ frugal, so I ran to Walmart and bought the teensiest screwdriver I could find, and some superglue. My poor little camera. May you rest in peace. Or pieces, since I already took you apart and I'm failing at fixing you.

*sniffle*

On the upside... Look how much fun we were having right before the camera got broken! It's a regular ol dance party around here. The kids also love my skirt today. They say I look like a princess. And my son thinks it doubles as a garage and keeps parking his cars under me. I've now been begged to make Ali a tiny size skirt like mine- in blue. Lord knows she will not forget either.

FSAM Fabulousness

2009-06-15T13:42:00.004-04:00

A very blue tinted photo of my booth... without me in it. Ohhh well. I think I need bright blue table coverings. Light blue just isn't circus-y enough for me.

So Opening Day of FSAM has finally come and gone. It was such a great time! Perfect, windless, sunny weather! My Dad showed up before I did and helped a bunch of people put up tarps (he rules! Thanks Dad!) and then helped me do a bunch of set up for my booth before taking off with my bambino for the day. It was so nice to see him and so nice to meet a bunch of the ladies from my Etsy West Michigan Team. I wish I had gotten a chance to meet everyone! It was just too hard to get away from my booth since I was all alone. I saw so many teammates with their husbands there, I think it's time I put mine to work! I wonder what he'll say to becoming my craft show partner? I'm guessing..... no.

SO MANY people stopped by to say "HEY! YOU'RE THE PANTS LADY!" It was great! I had no idea so many people had seen my Ninja Pants on my site. It was such a pleasure to hear all the wonderful things people had to say about my items. One girl even pretended to karate chop me while doing ninja moves- tooo funny!

My boss stopped by and took over my booth for a few minutes so I could go say some quick hellos which was very sweet of her. She sold a whole bunch of things in the 10 minutes I was gone! I told her that maybe on weekends I should be HER boss now.

My scratcher cards were a big hit! I managed to get all 4 winners by 2pm! That means well over 100 people visited my booth! Not too bad!

I have 3 missing items as well. I really hope they weren't stolen. Who does that? I work my little booty off making things, I don't appreciate being ripped off. Fortunately one of the missing items is possibly World's Ugliest Slapash Wallet soooooo Congrats Proud Theiving Owner of an Ugly Wallet. Karma will repay you. :) Maybe that's what I deserve for making a wallet so hideous. Neon green thread... really now? No Delainie, just no.

All in all, I learned a lot, had a wonderful time, met some fantastic artists, got a tan that looks like I've been relaxing on the beach all week, and made some $. Can't complain!

Next on the agenda -- Milham Art in the Park! This show is BIG!! My partner MaryLou has been wanting to do this show for years and finally decided to go for it this year. We are splitting a booth again. I'm still trying to get my paperwork in order for it (the fax # I was given doesn't work) and then I'm in! I've already been juried and accepted, they just need me to sign stuff! I'm thinking I might take on the Avenue for the Arts in Grand Rapids coming up as well. Who wouldn't want to hang out on dirty ol Division Ave. peddling wares? Sounds like the place for me- haha!

What's that thing?

2009-06-09T19:13:00.010-04:00

A little sneak peek at the bridal shower gift I'm making for some friends of mine! I wish I could show all of it since I *finally* finished and it's truly awesome. I hope she likes them since she asked me not to buy off her registry but didn't actually tell me what she wanted me to make. I tried to make it not too girly so he would like them too. I think I suceeded. I'm waiting for Dave to wake up and give his opinion...

The Fulton Street Artisans Market (FSAM) is kicking off on Sunday, June 14th! I've been so excited for this show -- and so very busy preparing for it! The gloomy gray weather we've been having has really been helping me get work done, hopefully we get some sunshine for the show! I had some requests for camera cases at my last show, so I whipped up this (and 2 others) today:

I should have 3-10 more Slapdash Wallets done by the end of the week. Depending on how hard I feel like working. :)

Instead of working too much on Monday, I helped the kiddos do one of my least favorite things. Baking. Not even REAL baking, since it was from a box and I only added eggs, water, and applesauce, but I did bake it, so that counts right? M&M Brownies... they weren't cool enough to cut by the time I left work so I hope there are some left when I get to work in the morning! Mmmm brownies and coffee...

Too flippin cute. That was right before we covered the counter with brownie batter dust. What a mess!

Artsy Beat

2009-06-02T20:10:00.003-04:00

So last week I was contacted by ArtsyBeat.com about my Locker Hooked Rugs and wanted to do an interview with me about them! Of course I accepted, especially after seeing the other artists they've featured - Amazing! I'm still in shock a little to be lumped in with them!

See my Artisan Spotlight/Interview here!

That's it for me today, short and sweet, I've got a super-fantastically-awesome bridal shower gift to get to work on tonight! I was requested to not buy off their registry since the bride says whatever I make her will be more awesome than anything from a store. I can't wait to share this project, I really hope they love it!

My First Show!

2009-06-01T10:41:00.005-04:00

My first show of the summer went pretty well! It was a first time show for the church that hosted it also, so it wasn't exactly a hopping sales venue, but I met some awesome people! There was a caricature booth right next to ours and the artist working there, Jenny Powers, was AMAZING! My husband and son stopped by with breakfast for my partner and I, and my business cards that I forgot, and she did a fantastic family caricature of us! She even does parties, so now I can't stop thinking of what kind of party I need to have that I can 'order her'. Maybe Megan's bridal shower? It would be fun! Who doesn't like a caricature??

My booth set up was pretty quick and painless. It was really windy and luckily only a few of my items blew away and I was able to catch them! I saw a couple tents topple over and helped stop one from taking off also. I sure hope it's not that windy at FSAM, I had to alter my table set up and it looked too bare this way! Wish I'd gotten a better picture!

I did an interview with ArtsyBeat.com last week that should go live today! I'll post again if it's up today!

Quick Update - I'm a Warm Weather Blog Slacker

2009-05-26T15:52:00.005-04:00

Warm weather does not encourage blogging. It does encourage very much time spent laying in the sun, smelling flowers, and getting dirty though! I've been on another motorcycle ride and thought much less about dying during it! Maybe I need to go far more often in order to conquer this fear. I also made my friend go at what he calls "beach cruiser" speed, that helps! Apparently I am not the most fun person to ride with. Ah well... can't be so bad or I wouldn't be invited anymore!

Something a little more my pace - a bicycle surrey! Now I know I go on and on about these things, but really I don't think they'll ever get old to me. It's not very often that I find something that can hold my attention for a long time. What I really need to do is buy my own surrey so I'm not confined to the short trail they allow them on at the park. We go around the loop twice everytime and that's still not far enough! Dave heard enough about me and MY surrey this last time that he got a little annoyed. Some of my favorite bloggers have nicknames for their husbands when they blog... mine is well on his way to the title of CrankyAss. At least *I* am having a fun summer. Look who else is too! (I ALWAYS forget my camera when we go rent a surrey- check out the awesome pics my new cellphone takes-wowza!)

I got some scratcher 'lotto' cards made for one of my craft shows! I used this amazing tutorial from Art Mind. I had no idea it was so easy to do this! I also for some reason thought it would only take me a half hour or so to make 100 of them (HAHAHA). Some valuable things I learned along the way:

***Watercolor paper is nice, but not appropriate for stamping on. It takes FOREVER for the ink to dry, if it ever does dry fully. I ended up using some recycled ACEO cards I got on Etsy from EssemDesign. This isn't a supply shop, but if you like glitter and fun jewelry you should check it out. It was quick shipping with friendly service. And I was able to use recycled materials so I'm happy!

***It is NOT faster to paint a big sheet of contact paper and cut it into squares and apply it to the cards. The paint chipped off whenever I bent the big sheet and it ended up in the trash can. Blah.

***Cheap paintbrushes make for bubbly streaky paint, a small foam brush might work better. I haven't tested this, but I do plan to make more, so I'll update when I know for sure!

Here's a peek at what I came up with. I'm not crazy with my uneven paint jobs, not to mention my sloppy stamping, but I've set my OCD aside this time since these will probably get tossed if they are losing cards anyhow.

FYI-- I got that "Buy Handmade! delainie.etsy.com" stamp from AutumnWhispers! It's a beautiful stamp, but a bit hard to hold. I'm going to have to figure out some sort of handle because I'm going to use this thing till it falls apart!!

I went thrift store shopping for some display ideas and found a great wooden serving platter with a metal handle sticking out of the middle for $1.99. I'm planning to make a "WIN A FREE WALLET -- Ask Me How!" sign to attach to the handle. I plan to give those that ask a scratcher card, and also another to anyone that buys something. Should I put the odds of winning on the sign?

Also, I found a make-your-own stamp set at Walmart on CLEARANCE for a mere $7! It came with TONS of letters, numbers, and symbols in a convenient case, with an inkpad and little letter pluckin tweezers. Man I love a good deal! Sure saved me a lot of time making these scratcher cards as well! I would've just printed them out like the tutorial explained but my printer is having issues. It's only got a black cartridge in it, yet it only prints in red. Figure that one out...

Have You Risked Your Life Lately?

2009-05-21T22:49:00.004-04:00

I did today. Fresh air, hot sun, fast motorcycle. I don't know what it is about motorcycles. They really scare the shit out of me. It's like a mind test where I try to enjoy the ride and NOT think about crashing. Or what I'd look like splattered on the pavement. Or what I think I'd break first. How they'd figure out who I am since I left anything identifiable in my car. It really can't be healthy to put myself in these situations. When I can stop thinking about those things... I LOVE MOTORCYCLES. I never want to drive one though. I like having a bug sheild sitting in front of me. Speaking of, I feel like I inhaled a bug. A tiny one, but it seriously feels like something went all the way up my nose. Maybe I've got a new visitor living in my sinus. Isn't this a pleasant story?

A few days ago at the fabric store, David and I were shopping for a bunch of things we didn't need. After chit-chatting with my fabric store ladies (who I see more than my own family these days) David and I were leaving and my sweet boy says "Thanks for the fabric! I eat my boogers! Bye!" Leaving me standing there with a why-in-the-world-would-you-say-that?! look on my face. This is the silliest age yet, by far.

I should've titled this post "Nose Stories."

It's late... I've got much more to say later, but no more about noses. Goodnight :)

Frank and Beans

2009-05-15T13:14:00.004-04:00

Those are the names of my sister's giant bellied bug-eyed goldfish. One of them is no longer with us, but I forget which one. Look at this adorable fabric!! I found it in the scrap bag I had blogged about earlier and it was just perfect to make my sis an Itty Bitty Frank and Beans Pouch! I haven't seen my sis in over a month and I miss her bunches. She's moving to KY soon, so I should really just get used to it. Instead, I thought maybe I'd make her something, as a bribe to please oh please come see me. :)

I'm almost ready for my summer shows! My first show is on May 30th. I'm not even positive where this one is since I'm not the one that signed up for it, but my partner-in-crime Mary Lou from Hidden Gem Studios has all the dirty details for me to share soon! I've been working my tiny-heiny off trying to work up stock for the summer so I don't have to spend it all inside at my machine. However, Mary Lou did offer me some workspace at her house where I could escape to to get some uninterupted work done, AND her workshop has garage doors on either end so fresh air flows through! I may just take her up on that.

The military is finally working in my favor this summer as well! Originally my hubby was getting sent on an AT in June, interupting my convenient babysitting for show season. Now, he's been specially chosen to go to Korea instead in September. I think that means his AT will be about 4 weeks longer than originally planned, but it sure is more convenient for me so far!

Happy Mom's Day!

2009-05-10T09:49:00.004-04:00

Happy Mother's Day to all my Mama readers! I hope you feel extra appreciated today, get lots of snuggles from your babies, and maybe even sleep in or get some time to yourself!

My Mother's Day is going to be spent working I'm sure... but it's show season and that's to be expected. I think I may have over extended myself for this summer- there's so much going on! It occured to me last night that I need to make a huge stack of coasters still too, so that's the plan for today. Somewhere around here I've got a big bag full of coasters that only need to be topstitched and then they'll be all done. Why did I stop right before they were finished? Story of my life I guess -- if I didn't have 30 unfinished projects laying around then I just wouldn't be me.

I'd love to type up a whole tribute to my Mommers today, but I think I'll just call her myself so I can spend my time snuggling with that cutie up there on the left. I'll steal a snuggle from my part-time baby tomorrow. :)

Have a wonderful day Mamas!

Front Page!

2009-05-07T09:49:00.003-04:00

So I was waking up with my coffee this morning, trying to not get a caffeine withdrawl headache today, and what did I find? I'm on Etsy's Front Page! RIGHT NOW! And right at the top in one of the best spots! I'll admit, I'm guilty of rarely scrolling down past the first 3 spots that show unless I'm genuinely interested in the color scheme going on. What a nice thing to wake up to! My hubby's also waking up early so we can take a surrey ride- today is a good day!

Welcome to My Circus!

2009-05-04T14:19:00.008-04:00

I've been doing lots of custom work lately! Usually I forget to get pictures, but I finally remembered this time! I made a great trade with MomNMiaQuilts and whipped up a pink Itty Bitty Snap Pouch for her, and sold a personalized one as well!

Thanks to the lovely help from my Etsy West Michigan Team, I have realized that I am ill prepared for FSAM that kicks off on June 14th. In my typical fashion I have now gotten carried away and I'm afraid my booth may resemble a circus. It's got a ton of color! Yesterday, I made a bunting. I didn't know it was called a bunting, I was referring to it as "my triangles on a string." So technical aren't I? It's so bright and fun! I haven't added the "string" yet, just couldn't wait to share it.

I want to get it done tonight. I have a lunch date with my friend Mary Lou from Hidden Gem Studios tomorrow and I want to show her what I've got going for our shows this summer. She's my new show buddy- we are going to bank this summer and have an excellent time doing so!

My FSAM table covering is in the works as well. I decided to go with wide vertical stripes of sea green, medium blue, and tan. Possibly with this satin stitched on in black.

I think it's fantastic, but again with the circus-y feel. We shall see... what do you think?

TGIF!

2009-05-01T08:49:00.004-04:00

It's Friday! Finally! This week started off great and progressively got worse. My son was on a mission to make my head explode yesterday. I won, it didn't. But I am more than glad that it's a new day today! WWIII may start once school gets out however, I'm trying not to think about that right now. Oh teenagers. They can be so lovely.

Check out this GORGEOUS treasury I'm in! It was curated by LaShelle from my Etsy West Michigan Team. She makes the most beautiful treasuries and I just looooove the colors in this one! Beautiful jewelry, cute puppies, and OMG look at that Temari! Temari is an art that I just can't wrap my mind around. I always check out Julie's new items and I just can't figure out how she does it. They are so intricate and I imagine they take forever!

Technically Challenged.

2009-04-28T20:44:00.007-04:00

I'm a technical nightmare today! Earlier I couldn't add an image to my blog post. Then I couldn't add a Byhand Spotlight. Then I couldn't add an Etsy Mini. THEN I couldn't use Twitter to contact Byhand to find out what I'm doing wrong!

Is it so wrong that I just want a clickable showcase to show off all the things I want to buy for my pregnant best friend? That's right- my very best friend - my BFF if you will - is knockered up! I love her to bits and I can't wait to spoil her little kidlet rotten! It's close to my only chance to be Aunt Lainie. Took me ages to pick only 9 items, but here's my top favorites! I bought the 1st one already in green, I just couldn't wait! I got it in a 3T for Ali though, not for my BFF. I think I should wait on some of my shopping till she's more than 7 weeks along!

And since I couldn't get any sort of clickable showcase to work, here are links to each shop I featured here!

#1 Aliyah'sHopeChest

#2 AmyRoseDesigns

#3 2CraftyChix

#4 PieceUnique

#5 happyfamily

#6 TidaBellaMonkey

#7 jennadesigns

#8 MomNMiasQuilts

#9 THEMONKEYSHOP

Let's hope tomorrow I can work a computer better! I'm going to eat a caramel chocolate marshmallow from firstfruitsllc and pretend that it didn't actually take me 10x longer than it should have to get things done today.

On With the Show!

2009-04-28T13:20:00.007-04:00

I have been a blog slacker. The weather is so beautiful, I've been outside enjoying every second of it that I can. Even got a touch of sunburn the other day! Never been so excited about that! It's been such a dull, dreary winter, it's just so nice to see the sun again!

I've been dragging the kids outside for early morning workouts as well. I feel goooooood. I've discovered Michael Franti this week too, and his music just makes me move! The kids seem to like it too so that's a plus! Usually they are asking me for Rhianna's Disturbia over and over (they call it Bumbaneeya (goofy kids!)). And other equally horrible songs that make me want to rip my ears off. It's nice when we find one we all like! So, Michael Franti, I love you. My ears thank you.

On the Etsy front- I made my 200th sale last week! It's such a great feeling knowing that beautiful things I've made with my own 2 hands are all over the world being appreciated by others. I haven't recounted in a while, but I think I've now sold to 41 states and 9 countries!! I wanted to add some treasury screenshots on here, but Blogger really truly hates me right now and keeps freezing when I try to add an image. Booo at you Blogger. Jerk. I refuse to try to do it again and retype this entire thing for a third time.

As Seen on TV update- I once lived in a teeny tiny apartment. Quite possibly world's smallest. It had no oven! I didn't know this when I moved in and managed to 'make it work' using a toaster oven. The only thing I couldn't make was a decent pizza. I had to cut them in half and cook half at a time. My stepdad got me a Pizza Pizazz for Christmas and at first, I thought it was a joke since I'm always wanting something I've seen on a late night infomercial. It was the real deal! I could cook pizza again! I've had the thing for 6 yrs and it took an unfortunate turn a couple months ago. I am stubborn. I refused to throw it out. The other day, due to my lack of cupboard space, I thought I should give it one final chance and see if it .... I don't know... fixed itself? I'm a dreamer, I know. Would believe that it really did? It's back and working perfectly! Over the past few years, this is by far my most used kistchen appliance other than my toaster oven. I'd suggest it to anyone! MMMmmm crispy pizza crust *drool*.

To my loyal blog follower Erika... My hubby is a Marine. And a dang good one at that. :) I'm very proud of him and all his accomplishments, doing things I know I could never do! Also, I think you should really get to work on that locker hooking, I know it takes an eternity, but you'll have such a great, long lasting rug when you're all done! I love getting that "you MADE that?!?!" look from people when they see mine, it's part of what drives me. That being said, there's no way in hell I'm making another one! LOL!

Step Away From the Sewing Machine...

2009-04-22T14:33:00.006-04:00

... and make something new. Inspired by a tutorial on Craftster, posted by weighanchor (a super talented and awesome Etsian), I just HAD to try this watercolor. I haven't painted anything since 8th grade art class so I didn't have very high hopes. I shocked myself! Aside from the faces, it's not too bad! My hubby looks hot in his uniform even in watercolor and with no lips too. If only my hair could really be that full! I'm going to frame it and put it on my too-naked living room wall.

My tiny Picasso is painting obsessed. When I bought the supplies for this I had to get him his own paints as well. I picked them up the other night right before bed, so he couldn't paint that night. I told him he could paint in the morning after breakfast. Wouldn't you know it, that child was out of bed and waking me up at 6am yesterday. "Mommy, can I have some Cheerios, so I can paint now PLEEEEASE?" He painted me 20+ pictures yesterday! I'm tempted to make them into a notebook. I've bound everything else cardboard in my house by now with that damn binding machine. I have also really cut down on putting things into recycling though since everything becomes a notebook!

Speaking of, HAPPY EARTH DAY! Go plant a tree. Pick up litter. Work in your garden. Do something good for this Earth we're lucky to have!

Kid Smiles

2009-04-19T22:33:00.006-04:00

She loves it, she really loves it! I knew she would, I was excited to see Ali's smiley little face today when I gave her her new bag! She promptly filled it with 'lipstuff' and gum, her 2 obsessions, and hasn't put it down yet!

I made the body for another mini-messenger bag like this, but the strap was just too difficult to sew on with my machine and still get it to look clean enough to sell, so Ali's is the only one I'm making till I figure something else out. I have an idea... just need to get some supplies. I already made the body of that bag into a notebook, so who knows? May never happen!

We've had some lovely weather around here. I always take too many pictures when it's sunny out since everything looks so bright and colorful. Obviously I took way too many pictures the other day becuase D wasn't havin it anymore! I wish there was audio for this one "Moooommmmm please stop it. When I say STOP I mean STOP!" Now where did he learn that line?

Sunshine! Beautiful Sunshine!

2009-04-18T21:08:00.008-04:00

That's right. Michigan has finally thawed! We even had 2 days in a row of 70+ weather and SUNSHINE! I almost forgot what that was. Of course this sunshine didn't come out much when I was on Spring Break the past 2 weeks! I hear the U.P. still has around 30" of snow!!

I was going to participate in another Strutt show today, but it was far too nice outside to commit myself to a day of sitting inside. I got to visit a friend and see her new place. Her new place is amazing! Like a smaller version of exactly what I'm looking for in a house right now. It's got a great creative vibe, lots of beautiful wood, and COLOR! I cannot wait till Dave and I finally find a house and can end this existence of tan carpet and beige walls. We've both whole-heartedly agreed that no walls in our new house will be anywhere near beige, ever. He did shoot down my kiwi green living room idea... but we'll see. I may win that war yet.

I finally got to try Chicago Subs today. Not that I've ever found myself saying "Hey! That little dumpy building looks like a great place for a tasty meal!" but nonetheless, I ended up there for lunch. My gyro was ginormous and excellent. It also made me feel slightly better after the comment this 'friend' made about some new items I've made, that I brought to show her. Basically, she scoffed at my prices even though I was offering her a very generous discount. She followed that up with a request for Ninja Pants at half price, using a fabric that costs more than twice the cost of the fabric I normally use. Oh how I'd love to go into more detail about this insulting conversation - I'm laughing really - but I'm not one to talk smack about someone I do care about, whether or not she understands what it means to make something with your own 2 hands. My mom would be so proud of me today. I just kept repeating "if you haven't got anything nice to say, don't say anything at all" over and over and over in my brain. Now that I'm back home I kinda wish I'd have told her off, especially since this isn't the first time she and I have had this conversation. I've had far too much success to let one person's uneducated opinion of handmade affect me too much.

The item I had in the Etsy Gift Guide sold! I was a little sad to lose that exposure, and then found out that I'm back in it! Yay! I'm right underneath an Etsy artist named hine. I bought a camera case from her a while back that is so freaking cool! It looks just like a camera! Except of course it's handstitched felt and buttons! Check out her shop, look at the pictures of the backs of the camera cases too! Such a neat idea!

All Yours!

2009-04-15T10:53:00.005-04:00

I've decided to offer some personalized Itty Bitty Snap Pouches! I was inspired by a potential customer that wanted to use them to package her wedding parties gifts. I hadn't even thought of stitching names on! Too easy to not run with the idea!

Erin was in luck yet again. She seems to get her name tested on most things I personalize since she's got such a short name, and well, I like her! Lucky gal! I stitched both names freehand, they turned out pretty well!!

I'm much more inspired to alter the wedding dress I've been holding out on. The girl (my twin sissy's best friend) told me I could keep all the scraps. In fact, she looked at me like I was nuts when I asked all excitedly if I got to keep what I cut off. "Uh Delainie, what the heck am I going to do with a pile of fabric scraps?" Guess we're even since I looked at her with that same "Are you fekking insane?" when she brought me this gorgeous (5 layer!!) dress and told me to chop it up. Oh the trust... the pressure... the nervousness! I just wanna use the scraps to make little pouches though!!

Internet Time-suck...

2009-04-13T21:14:00.008-04:00

How can I spend so much time on the internet, without getting any actual work done?

Why won't I eat food that's been in the fridge more than a few days, but I love blue cheese, which is really just mold?

Why am I always ready for a nap at 7pm, but never ready for bed at 9pm, even when I skip the 7pm nap?

Just a few random wonderments of mine tonight.

I just found out I made the Front Page of Etsy last week! I didn't even know it! My fourth time on the front page, and the second time for this item! Somehow every one of my items that has made the front page has been yellow and gray.

I added a few goodies to my shop today as well! It was bittersweet making a clutch this weekend, as it is the very last frame of this style that I have. That, and it turned out so great I want to keep it for myself!! I was getting the frames somewhere completely random, and they no longer have any, so I guess that line is done! I have one more that is broken, I'm hoping my bro-in-law can fix it for me when he gets home from Africa soon.

Off to bed with me- my last day of Spring Break is tomorrow- I have to spend it cleaning! Boooo!

Bookbinding Bliss

2009-04-09T22:53:00.004-04:00

I love my new binding machine! These are just a few of the notebooks I've made since yesterday afternoon. I pretty much cut up anything cardboard that I could find. This afternoon I went to the thrift store and found some interesting, and some hilarious, album covers to use. I stopped at Wendy's on my way home from and the lady working there made a comment about the albums I had stacked on the seat and I told her about my binding machine. Apparently she's got a bunch of great album covers (without the records) that she's keeping only because she can't bring herself to throw them away. She loved the idea of making them into notebooks and I ended up with her number and she wants me to have them! I'm going to find out which is her favorite and make it into a notebook for her. My favorites so far are the one made with a park Livery schedule (it has green pages!) and the jumping guy with guitars (very odd record!).

I made a couple slapdash style covers with grommets and all also. Putting grommets that close together isn't much fun, and spacing them out looks better but doesn't open as well. I need to come up with a better plan for those!

Wednesday Top 10

2009-04-08T17:02:00.004-04:00

My Top 10 list! A few members of my amazing Etsy West Michigan Team have a blog topic today! The top 10 things that make us happy - so here goes!

1. David and Alli... and of course Tay when I get to see her
2. Laughing till I can't breathe
3. Kids laughing so hard that they fall right over
4. Fabric!
5. Waking up in the sunspot on the bed. I will not buy a house that doesn't face the right direction. (Not coming in very handy right now, as we are house shopping)
6. Road trips
7. Sunshine
8. Open-minded, fun-to-be-around, creative, amazing people
9. Mountains. Oh what I would do to be back in Missoula- even just for a while.
10. Creating things. Whether it's for me, my shop, local orders, anything. Pants, dresses, bags, wallets, reupholstering RVs, I don't care. I just need to create.

This all reminds me that it's been wayyy too long since I've had a great belly laugh or a vacation.
At least my babys laughing!! He's extra silly today- I think it's lack of sleep. My Mom surprised us with a visit today and we skipped naptime so we could hang with her!

Update on the #1 thing that does not make me happy. Potty training. I told David that we are out of diapers and can't buy any more because he's just too old for them. I don' t like to lie to my baby, but man, I have to do something. I've tried it all! He really thinks that the store won't let me buy any more and that is fine by me! 1 diaperless night down- and we all lived through it!

I was up at 2am fixing the potty. I still can't explain what happened to it, I'm just glad I figured out how to stop the water before it made it to the hallway. My Shamwows came in handy finally! I knew I'd regret wanting a reason to use them! Dave got home this morning and just did that "I love you... moron" head shake at me and fixed it the right way. Gotta love him.

THE UPS MAN HAS ARRIVED! I must go punch some holes in paper. OOOhhhh I cannot wait!

Impatiently Waiting

2009-04-07T19:43:00.006-04:00

It's like my birthday is never-ending! Last night I finally checked the mail (after my Dad made me) and found a check from him for my birthday! I love birthday money. For the longest time, I have wanted a bookbinding machine. I've bought enough notebooks on Etsy by now that I could've bought one long ago.

Last night, the time came! I finally found the one I want, that doesn't use those icky CombBind things. I wanted double-O wire spirals! I spent hours researching machines and managed to find one for half the price that all the rest were listed for. Score! I am soon to be a proud owner of a SircleBind WR-60 Manual Wire-O Binding Machine. YAY!!! I'm impatiently waiting for my tracking # so I can stalk my machine all the way to my house. I've been thinking of all kinds of crazy ways to make notebooks while still using fabric too. So. Many. Awesome. Ideas. I need to get my other sewing machine fixed so I can beat the snot out of it trying some of these ideas out. I can't wait to share! OOOHH SO MANY IDEAS!!

I made some new Slapdash Zip Wallets yesterday! Got some pics today and got em listed. I really love these with zippers! I wanted to call this one "My Precious" since I love it so much, but instead it's "All The Rage" since I didn't think it had much to do with a LOTR reference. Sure is pretty,isn't it? :)

I Feel Treasured :)

2009-04-05T22:36:00.006-04:00

I love Craftopolis. I never had the time to check the Etsy treasury lists hunting for little stars signifying that I've been featured, and this snazzy site just tells me in a click! Here's a few of the most recent! I believe all but the 2nd one are Etsy West Michigan Team Treasuries - look how much talent we've got going on! Very fun and inspirational team to be a part of! The 2nd one made it to the Front Page of Etsy!! I need to find a way to make these clickable... seems I could recreate them on byhand.me, but there's got to be an easier way. Someone clue me in!