Petals

Superbuzy has a real life store!

2012-01-08T11:15:00.000-08:00

Tuesday morning I woke up and decided I should start the new year off right and buy some new fabric. After my little monster was down for a nap I curled up with my computer and went to my favorite online shop for finding awesomely cute Japanese prints Superbuzzy.com. I spent a good amount of time looking at every page making sure I got a good look at all my options and quickly had a cart full of awesomeness. I knew that they were local and I could pick up my order instead of paying for shipping so before checking out I went to their contact page to get their address. With great joy I found that they had recently opened up a brick and mortar shop just a 5 minute drive from house.

So I abandoned my virtual shopping cart and made it my goal to do some real life (because everything on the internet is pretend right?) shopping asap.

On Saturday I was finally able to venture out alone and witness the greatness that is Superbuzzy. I walked in and it was like my own personal heaven. It was roomy and bright with racks of the cutest fabric one could imagine and everyone in there was super friendly. When I got home I realized I should have taken some pictures but I was so distracted by the fabric that shopping was the only thing I could think of.

I browsed through the rows of fabric several times and then carefully pulled out my favorites. I tried not to over do it just so I had a reason to come back in the near future. I still bought too much but it's hard to control myself when fabric is involved.
Here are some pictures of what I got.

This one is my favorite.

Oh man. I can't wait to start sewing with these.

And they don't just have fabric. They have patterns and needle felting kits to make the cutest little animals, Japanese craft books and the cutest stationary items. I picked up a super cute birthday gift for my niece that just turned 12.

If you are in the Ventura area or visiting soon you should definitely check out Superbuzzy. It's a beautiful welcoming place and I can't wait to go back. If you aren't in the area you should check out there online shop which is also awesome.

Now I am off to get my sewing room straightened up so I can do some sewing with my new fabric.

Goodbye 20's Hello 30

2011-12-12T18:53:00.000-08:00

In a few short hours I will bid farewell to my 20's. Yep thats right I am turning 30. The idea of 30 stresses me out a bit but I will do what I can to not get to down about it.
To celebrate tomorrow we are heading down to Disneyland to party with Mickey Mouse and the Disnet princesses. As far as I am concerned there is no better way to spend the first day of your thirties.
If you would like to help me celebrate my birthday too I am having a free shipping event in my shop for the next 2 days. All domestic purchases will be shipped for free just enter the coupon code "FREESHIPPING" at check out.

And if anyone wants to make me one of these I will happily accept it

Gingerbread House

2011-12-11T21:36:00.000-08:00

Last weekend we started out our holiday preparations by making a gingerbread house with a kit I picked up from Trader Joe's.
We all had a lot of fun putting it together and it came out super cute.

Check out his little hand sneaking the candy sprinkles

He wasn't so sneaky when "sneaking" the frosting

and he got just a wee bit sugar crazy

Happy Cyber Monday!

2011-11-28T09:26:00.000-08:00

I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving holiday. To help kick holiday shopping I am having a Cyber Monday Sale in my shop. All items are 15% off today only.

I have been away from my blog for quite a while. every free moment I have had has been spent locked away in my sewing room preparing for UniqueLA. Now it is just a few days away. EEP!

If you are in the LA area you should definitely come out for some awesome shopping and lots of good fun.

Beach Fun

2011-10-05T13:03:00.000-07:00

Today it is raining and poor little Miles is sick in bed with the flu but Monday was beautiful. Miles requested a trip to the beach park and we couldn't help but to oblige. I sat back, relaxed and took joy in watching Miles race along the water's edge with his dad searching for rocks to throw into the water.

Finally working on our bedroom

2011-10-03T11:58:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I finally got up the courage to start painting our bedroom. For the past couple of months our bedroom has only been decorated by paint swatches and boxes of stuff that cant find a home until we actually paint.

The problem is that our bedroom has really high beautiful ceilings. Some might think that isn't really a problem but when you aren't really interested in hiring a professional and have to climb up a really tall rickety (its just makes a lot of noise when your on it) ladder to paint well, then it's a problem.

I bought the paint and borrowed a super tall extending ladder from my parents weeks ago so I was ready. My husband and I worked until 11:30 last night. By that point I was so tired and my back hurt so bad that I refused to move our bed so we we slept in the middle of the room. This is the scene to that I woke up to this morning.

Isn't my husband a cute sleeper.

We have a little more than a wall to paint. Which will probably have to wait until tonight my son is in bed and then I can finally start decorating. Yay!

Pumpkin Painting

2011-10-01T14:52:00.000-07:00

I am a sucker for kid's holiday crafts. I am also a suck for pumpkins. I will probably a whole bunch more before the end of November.
Today it's kind of beautiful and warm out. Perfect weather for painting pumpkins. So Miles and I sat down with a plate full of paint, some brushes and three little pumpkins. Two for Miles (to keep his attention just a little bit longer) and one for me.
Miles got right to it like a pro

He is obviously very serious about his pumpkin painting.

and getting messy

and being goofy

When our pumpkins were all finished and dry we proudly made a center piece out of them on our dinning room table.

More Halloween craftyness is coming your way.

My New Sewing Room!

2011-09-23T18:11:00.000-07:00

Completed room number two!

My sewing room has sat unloved and pretty much a huge disaster since we moved in. This weekend I decided the time had come for me to get it cleaned up and looking awesome. So moved out the furniture, cracked open a couple of paint cans and with the company of Grey's Anatomy on netflix got to work.

Today I finally fished hanging up pictures and finding places to stash my fabric and random crafting necessities. I am pretty much in love with this room now. I am not sure if it is because it is awesome or simply because it is done unlike almost every other room in the house.

Here is a view of my sewing area from the door way.

The colors are a dark teal (it was called something ocean) and a very light purple.

I love all the colors on this wall.

Here is a bunch of my fabric and my chalkboard wall.

The top of this shelf was a scratched up mess so I sanded it down and painted it the same teal as my accent wall.

and here is my button collection along with some family photos.

There is another pretty wall that I couldn't manage to get a picture of due to the sun shinning right on it. I am sure a picture will make its way onto the blog in the future though. I am off to bask in the glory of my finished sewing room.

The Great Pine Cone Hunt

2011-09-22T17:48:00.000-07:00

Last week we went to the park and Miles and I went pine cone hunting.

We got some sappy fingers but had so much fun.

Get Ready To Roar!

2011-09-16T17:21:00.000-07:00

It feels a little early to start getting ready for halloween but my thought is if I am going to put time and money into a costume then I want to get my money's worth. So this week got started on Miles' T-Rex costume. It's not quite done yet but I hope to get everything fished up this weekend.

Here's a little sneak peek.

It's been a lot of fun sewing but I pretty much never want to sew green fleece again.

I will be sure to do another post next week when it's finished.

Miles' New Room

2011-09-08T12:59:00.000-07:00

As I have mentioned before we recently moved to a new house in a new city. We bought a beautiful house with a bunch of boring white walls. So I have been very slowly and carefully picking out colors and working on decorating ideas for each of the rooms.

The first room we decided to work on was Miles' room.

I really wanted let Miles pick the color of his room as soon as we knew we were moving for sure I asked him what he wanted to do and without hesitation he yelled "Yellow!". Once we moved and were getting ready to start the whole painting process I got a little fearful of a whole yellow room. I thought I could convince Miles that a blue room would be better so I took a trip to lowes and bought some blue paint samples. When I got home I painted some blue squares on the wall and asked Miles what he thought. He looked at them thoughtfully and then asked "Where's the yellow?"

Apparently Miles was not going to be convinced that blue was a better color for his room. I made my way back to lowes and chose a beautiful bright yellow and I also grabbed a quart of blue paint so we could have a little accent wall.

I must say that Miles has good taste because I love his yellow room and more importantly he loves it too. Every time someone comes to visit he says "come see my yellow room!"

I'm back!

2011-09-07T16:33:00.000-07:00

So I didn't get back to work yesterday as promised. Instead I worked out and spent too much time grocery shopping. I did manage to get some new items listed in my etsy shop today. Before I could do any work I needed to enjoy the beautiful weather for a bit and go to the beach with my family.

I am going to miss these beautiful warm days when they are gone.

I will get back to work after the weekend

2011-09-04T19:50:00.000-07:00

Why oh why am I so easily distracted from working these days?

Playing at the beach is just way more fun than getting stuff listed in the shop.

So many changes so little time

2011-08-03T15:51:00.001-07:00

Life has been crazy and everything has changed in a matter of weeks. The most major of changes if that we have moved. We have left the Bay to settle down closer to our family in Southern California.
In the midst of this great move I was also preparing a bunch of new goodies for UniqueLA which took place this passed weekend. So I have been busy, busy, busy!
Now that is all over I now have time to help us get settled into our new home I see a lot of painting in my future. I am sure there will be many posts on household updates in the future.
I am also making time to update my etsy shop. I have a brand new product to introduce as well. New clutches!

Alright, time to get back to work. There are new wallets to list and paint chips to ponder.

Hula Hooping

2011-06-04T17:49:00.000-07:00

Today I went to target and rediscovered that I have mad hula hooping skills so I bought a hula hoop.

I feel like this when I hula hoop.

The End is here!

2011-05-21T15:04:00.000-07:00

In anticipation of the rapture that is supposedly happening Petals is having a Rapture Sale! Enter THEEND as a coupon code at checkout and get 10% off your entire purchase. Today and tomorrow (if we are still here).
Come celebrate the end of the world by buying yourself a brand new wallet.

I tried again

2011-05-20T14:22:00.000-07:00

last night I decided to make some more macarons and they came out so much better than the first ones I made.

My husband said they look like little chocolate hamburgers.

I will admit that I cheated a bit. I attempted to make a vanilla cream filling but because of my impatience it turned into a vanilla pudding. As a last resort I ran to the store and picked up a can of frosting. Oh well they were still super yummy. Way yummier than the last ones.

It's time to work

2011-05-19T14:02:00.000-07:00

Last night I interfaced a couple stacks of soon to be wallets. So today I get to sew and watch Harry Potter.

I also stocked my gum stash. I am ready!

Macarons!

2011-05-17T16:44:00.000-07:00

I mentioned in my Mother's Day post that my husband got me this macaron book as a Mother's Day gift.

With our second rainy day in a row I decided to spend the better part of my day baking.

I just made the basic recipe for the shells and the sprinkled Ghiradelli chocolate powder on top the make it pretty. They filling is a super yummy chocolate ganache. I really wanted to lick the bowl clean but for the sake of fitting into my pants tomorrow I refrained.

For my first time they came out pretty good. They weren't perfect I definitely learned a few things for my next try. Next time I want to try a blueberry filling.

Incoming.

2011-05-11T10:49:00.000-07:00

Finished up these guys yesterday so they will find their way into the shop over the next couple of days.

And here is what I am doing today...

Gnomes! They don't look too much like Santa Clause do they? The more I look at them the more christmasy they look.

Note to self...

2011-05-10T14:38:00.000-07:00

I just decided that I need to start stocking my sewing room with a good supply of gum. I like to have a minty fresh mouth when I am sewing. It makes me more comfortable I guess. Alas I have no gum.
I guess I will just have to finish up these guys without a bit of minty freshness to chew on.

Mother's Day

2011-05-09T12:41:00.000-07:00

Happy Monday! I hope everyone had a wonderful Mother's Day yesterday. After a few stressful days here at our house we were able to have a beautiful day of family fun.
Frank got up before me and got Miles dressed in his fancy outfit which is usually reserved for weddings and combed his hair. He looked like a respectable little guy.
We headed out to breakfast at one of my favorite places. Frank and Miles got me some amazing mother's day gifts including this macaron recipe book that Miles and I can't wait to try out.

After breakfast we had planned to go to the zoo but on the way there Frank said "Let's go to Monterey" and I was more than happy to agree to that. Monterey is one of my most favorite places ever. So we drove two hours south to enjoy some good times at the aquarium.

Miles loved the turtles the best.

After Miles got sick of behaving we took him to Dennis the Menace Park which is quite possibly the greatest park ever.

Hope all you moms out there had a beautiful day too.

It's a start.

2011-03-16T21:06:00.000-07:00

Like yesterday, today's goal was to get back to work. Today I actually go as far as pulling out some fabric and cutting a few wallets. Then Teen Mom 2 came on and all work stopped. Tomorrow will be more productive... I hope.

I've run away

2011-03-11T13:45:00.000-08:00

My husband and I packed up and ran away from home for a couple weeks. We are coming home on Monday and I have decided to ease myself back into work today by re-opening my shop and doing some general business stuff I have been putting off.
I would like to offer you all free shipping in the shop. Just enter the code FREESHIP at checkout. I also have this picture of my husband and I at the Vegas sign taken Elvis himself. Yes, we met and and conversed with The King. We also had another celebrity sighting I spotted Deena from the Jersey Shore wandering around the HardRock.

Hope everyone has a great weekend!

Make a little love

2011-01-26T18:21:00.000-08:00

Some new items in the shop just in time for Valentines Day.

Happy New Year?

2011-01-24T17:16:00.000-08:00

I know, I know we are nearly a month into the new year but the past few weeks I have not been on the blogging ball. I intend to get back on it now though. We'll see how that goes.
Aside from stitching up some new hair clips I haven't really been doing much crafting. Mostly I have been running up and down the state of California visiting family and attempting to have some fun adventures. Now I am ready to stay home for a while and get back to business.

As soon as I am no longer being distracted by this little lady.

My new life as a stay at home mom / crafter

2010-11-19T15:38:00.000-08:00

When Miles is napping things look like this

But when he's awake they look like this

Obviously things are much more exciting with Miles to play with.

All Done

2010-11-11T15:40:00.000-08:00

I finished some pouches today for a wholesale order.

Their zippers are so fun and colorful.

Let me make it easy for you

2010-11-10T21:50:00.000-08:00

Every one always complains about how hard I am to shop for. I admit it's true I am difficult to buy for. So with my birthday coming up in just over a month I thought I would put together a treasury to help everyone out.

Come by and check out all the goodies here.

I swear I am working.

2010-11-10T07:34:00.000-08:00

Sometimes when I don't have a constant supply of finished product I feel unproductive. I know every day I am working. Maybe I am not completing projects but I swear I am working everyday.
So, in defense of my productivity here is a sampling of what I have been working on the past few days.

See I am getting stuff done.

Don't forget I am having an Etsy-versary Sale in my Etsy shop. Everything is marked down 15% off.

Etsy-versary Sale

2010-11-06T08:40:00.000-07:00

This weekend marks my 5 year Etsy-versary. Wow, 5 years is a long time. To celebrate I am having a sale in my Etsy shop. All items are 15% now through November 12th. Come shop and celebrate with me.

A late Halloween post

2010-11-04T21:29:00.000-07:00

I purchased a costume specifically because I didn't want to make one. I didn't have time and didn't really want deal with it.
I decided I wanted to be She RA because She RA was my awesome hero when I was like 4. So I found this costume online and bought it.

Shortly after the costume arrived I realized it was designed for a mutant woman with tiny perky breasts situated somewhere on her neck.

So, it turns out I had to do some costume making anyway. I ended up having to cut out the entire top of my costume and remake it. While I was at it I decided to make proper straps, some awesome boob wings like She RA has and some awesome gold arm cuffs.

It actually came out really well. It had been a wile since I had drafted a pattern and amazingly I still knew what I was doing.

I apparently don't have any good full length pictures of me in my costume but here is one of me and Eleanor

She was dressed as a bee.

And here is one of me punching my husband Skelator in the face.

Thank you Streetcolor

2010-11-03T21:00:00.000-07:00

A couple weeks ago I posted about knit graffiti and how excited I was to see it locally. This weekend we discovered that Streetcolor did a memorial piece on the stop sign at the intersection where our son Zachary lost his life in a pedestrian accident in February of 2009.

I just wanted to say a very special thank you to Streetcolor. It means so much that you took the time to make something so beautiful in our son's memory. I know he would have loved it too.

Happy thoughts and good vibes

2010-10-22T07:36:00.000-07:00

For the rest of the day I will fill myself with happy thoughts.

These inspiring goodies are brought to you by dazeychic. Check them out for some adorable prints and happy thoughts.

A productive weekend

2010-10-19T08:33:00.000-07:00

My weekends are usually spent running around, doing chores, chasing a crazy two year old and very little sewing time is ever allowed. This weekend was different though. I think it is because I was in a bad mood all of Saturday and Sunday and no one wanted to be around me that I was able to lock my self in my sewing room for hours at a time.
I was very productive.

So, I was able to get some new things listed in my shop yesterday and there is more coming today.

Eleanor Bee

2010-10-18T08:55:00.000-07:00

I found Miss Eleanor's bee costume from last Halloween. She still hates it but darn she is cute in it.

Front Page Fun

2010-10-14T11:41:00.000-07:00

Last week I was on the front page of Etsy not one but two times.
My wallet was featured on Thursday

and on Friday the treasury I curated was featured

I was pretty excited.

Knit Graffiti

2010-10-07T08:06:00.000-07:00

I don't make it to Berkeley much now that we are living in Oakland but we wanted to visit the play ground at Zach's old school and let let Miles run free for a bit. Before I could do that though I needed to refuel with some coffee. So, we stopped at Milano on Bancroft to get me a super yummy mocha bianca. When we got out of the car I was so excited to see some super awesome knit graffiti. This was my first real life encounter so I felt the need to take pictures.

Aren't they cute? I love the ruffles and dingle berries.

New hair clips

2010-10-06T07:41:00.000-07:00

I have a bunch of new hair clips sitting around waiting to be listed in the shop

Maybe that will be my goal for the day.

A new belt for my new dress

2010-10-05T09:15:00.000-07:00

I am a sucker and a half for DIY blog posts. I love when other crafters share sewing ideas with their readers. When I saw this Bow Belt Tutorial by Tilly and the Buttons I knew I would have to try it out one day.

Well the need for a belt finally came along a couple of weeks ago. While visiting my sister we made a quick stop at a thrift store and I found the sweetest vintage plaid dress. It fits me perfectly but it was missing a belt.

So I put this tutorial to good use and made myself a pretty new belt.

I made my belt a little wider than suggested and I love the way it turned out. It was a super easy quick sew. I am sure I will be making more of these in the future.

Nothing really.

2010-09-30T08:37:00.000-07:00

I have several blog posts planned out in my had but I just can't seem to get myself together enough to actually take the pictures I need to write them. We all know that a blog post without pictures is BORING so I have neglected to post anything new. Sorry.

I have decided to post something old.

Really, all I have is a picture But I promise to post a real post soon. Something about sewing.

A couple weeks ago we went to a good friend's wedding and this is a picture of Miles and me making our get away. Miles was a bit difficult and we ended up missing the entire ceremony due to his need to run around and speak loudly. But he sure looked cute in his skinny dress pants and super scene vest.

I found you

2010-09-23T06:53:00.000-07:00

I am really bad about losing things. Or maybe I should say I am really good at losing things? That makes me sound better right? Anyway, a few weeks ago I had a couple wallets that were almost finished and I decided to leave the finishing for the following day. The next day I sat down to sew and there was only on wallet. I finished the one I had and then embarked on a frantic search to find the missing one. I wanted to find it so bad I even cleaned my sewing room (amazing I know) but the wallet was no where to be found. After a couple of days of searching I gave up. I decided the lost wallet had either fallen into the trash never to be seen again or had been taken away by the cat (she likes to steal things from my sewing room).

The other day I was getting an order ready to go. I opened up the suitcase I keep my finished wallets in and there hiding between it's finished friends was my missing wallet. I was so excited to have finally found it that I immediately sat down and finished it and I love it.

My First Magazine Feature. Woo Hoo!

2010-09-22T06:30:00.000-07:00

I was recently contacted by Diablo Magazine to be included in an an artical about handmade gifts by East Bay crafters. Well, the article came out this weekend and I must say it feels super awesome to be in print.

(hey look, that's me)

If you would like to check it out for yourself the article is in the October issue of Diablo magazine and it's here in Diablo's website.

Yay!

Busy, Busy, Busy

2010-09-16T09:49:00.000-07:00

This month has been crazy busy. We haven't been home a single weekend yet and we are leaving tomorrow afternoon for yet another weekend trip. Because of this I have done no sewing, very little cleaning and Miss Eleanor is in dire need of my affection.

The sweet little thing napped on my lap for about an hour yesterday while I watched a little TV. She didn't even get feisty when I started messing with her.

Next week I will get back on track. I will do my laundry and even put it away, I will get back to sewing and snuggle with the baby kitty as much as possible.

Train Sewing

2010-09-10T07:45:00.000-07:00

I put together this bag of sewing goodies last weekend to work on during our camping trip. I had a grand plans of sewing on the beach while enjoying the sun and the sound of the ocean. I did spend quite a bit of time on the beach enjoying the sun and sound of the ocean but it was far too windy to do any amount of productive sewing. So this poor little bag of supplies spent to weekend in the tent.

I am making up for lost productivity now though and toting this bag around with me on my daily commute. These days instead of playing Tetris and Bubble Bobble on my phone I am stitching away and somehow it is much more relaxing.

New Hair Pins

2010-08-31T07:17:00.000-07:00

I have been keeping myself very busy lately. Birthday parties, sewing, being a mommy and a wife. It's all very time consuming but awesome. I try to get in at least an hour of sewing everyday except Sunday which is my house cleaning day (cleaning is not awesome).
Last week I finished up a bunch hair pins that have been making their way into the shop.

New Labels

2010-08-30T11:04:00.000-07:00

I keep taking pictures of things that may be interesting to someone other than me with the intention of writing a post about it. Then life happens, I forget about it and it gets lost in a sea of pictures on my computer. Here is one lost item I found and remembered I wanted to share.
A couple of months ago I completely ran out of labels. I was running low on funds and I couldn't afford to spend $60 to have more made so I needed a less expensive alternative. I was inspired by this long ago read post by Blue Eyed Freckle and decided to do a simple design and print them with Spoon Flower.
I have always wanted to print something on spoon flower but always feel overwhelmed when attempting to come up with a design cool enough to print onto fabric. So, I guess printing labels is a good way to dip your toes into this whole fabric printing world.
Here is what I came up with for my first try

They are super simple but I still love them. I just interfaced the back and cut them up. This time around I just got an 8x8 test swatch for $5 and I got 30 labels out of it which is an awesome deal. I am really happy with how they cam out so I am working on a design that is a bit more interesting.

Window Shop Wednesday: Anthropologie

2010-08-18T07:14:00.000-07:00

I shouldn't do this but I do it all the time (at least once a week). I am filling up my pretend cart on the Anthropologie website and drooling over beautiful clothing that I most likely will never have the pleasure of owning. But it's fun to pretend and hey my birthday is coming up in like 4 months *wink, wink*.
Here are a few of my favorite items.

Ok, I should probably stop now. Honestly though, I could go on and on and on.

If you are interested in getting me and early birthday gift you know where to go. Contact me for sizes.

Happy Birthday Baby Miles!

2010-08-17T06:59:00.000-07:00

Today is my baby's birthday. I did a little post on my personal blog if you would like to see some sweet pictures here.

Window Shop: Peeko Apparel

2010-08-13T07:02:00.000-07:00

I have always admired obi belts but recently I lost a few pounds and have decided that maybe it is time for me to stop admiring and actually buy one. Then I saw one of Peeko Apparel's obi belts on the front page and I fell in love.

So in love.

Yesterday: A day of awesome productivity

2010-08-10T08:47:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I got so much done. I actually went to bed last night feeling totally accomplished which is a rare thing. I usually lay in bed stressing about all the things I wasn't able to get to.
Yesterday, while watch far too many episodes of The Hills on netflix, I was able to finish up all these wallets.

Here are a couple of my favorite styles (really I love them all).

If that wasn't enough productivity I also mopped to floors with my 35 pound almost 2 year old on my back.

After all that Miles and got away for a chocolaty treat. Strawberry and chocolate frozen yogurt with brownie bits and chocolate syrup on top. Num num num.

Window Shop Wednesday

2010-08-04T16:48:00.000-07:00

Hey look at me! Posting a window shop post on Wednesday.

So I made a sweet little treasury this morning and quickly realized I always use the same colors in my treasuries. Always some kind of blue or green and a splash of yellow. I guess I subconsciously like those colors more than I thought I did.

I really love everything in this treasury but I am ever so slightly obsessed with this dress in Flour Clothing's vintage shop

Isn't it just perfect?

Now go on over and check out the other lovelies I included in my treasury.

2010-08-02T07:52:00.000-07:00

It's been a while since I have posted anything. I have been busy though. I spent every free moment of last week camped out in my living room, watching season two of Bones on netflix and cutting a huge pile of new stuff to sew.

Scary huh? That is a stack of 49 wallets and 5 pouches. I think I may have gotten a little carried away with the cutting. But I had so much great fabric I wanted to use that I just could stop myself. At least I will be ready for the holiday season right?

Before I was able to get started on sewing I had to tidy up my sewing room. I had become a mini disaster zone fabric and ribbon tossed around. It is clean now though and ready for a sewing fest and a new disaster to be made.

I took this picture as the sun was setting on my clean little sewing room yesterday evening.

Oh what a pretty little pin cushion.

New Orange Goodies

2010-07-21T08:42:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I finally got around to finishing a stack of wallets that had been taunting me all weekend. After I finished them I realized that almost everything I have made the last couple of weeks has had an orange theme to it. Strange and completely unintentional but I like it.

And the only non orange one of the bunch

Ok well maybe there is a little orange in that on too.

I will be getting these new guys listed on the shop over the next couple of days.

Window Shop: Frolicking in the Forest

2010-07-09T17:44:00.000-07:00

For this weeks window shopping experience I made treasury that I love. I have had hiking on my mind. I think it's a summer thing.

If you would like to check out the amazing shops I included please visit my treasury here.

Work Place Inspired Pinwheels

2010-07-09T08:20:00.000-07:00

I am not often creatively inspired by my day job. There are rows of cubicle and fluorescent lights that make everything seem more sleepy. The other day I was sitting here surrounded by the short beige walls of my cubicle with a brightly colored stack of post-it notes sitting front of me and I suddenly had the urge to make pinwheels. So, I grabbed the first post-it of the stack and my scissors and molded that little piece of paper into a little bit of fun. I tacked the finished pinwheel to my bulletin board and boy did it look pretty. I needed more. I searched my drawers for post-its in other colors and different sizes and created a mini pinwheel garden in my boring old cubicle.

Please excuse the poor quality of this picture I took it with my phone. Aren't the pinwheels fun though?

When I got home that day I couldn't stop the pinwheel fun. So, I sat on the living room floor with my bag of felt and a jar of buttons and went to town making little pinwheel flowers.

Here they are. Sweet little pinwheel flower hair pretties.

A weekend well spent

2010-07-08T08:19:00.000-07:00

I am a little delayed in getting this post together about my 4th of July weekend so I will make it quick with more pictures than words.

For the long 4th of July weekend I had a few things on my list of needs to do

-Spend time with friends and family

-Make some yummy pies

-Spend time outdoors

Saturday was my pie day. We had decided to have and BBQ at the lake on Sunday so the husband and I spent a good portion of Saturday in the kitchen getting some good eats ready. I decided to make two pies, one apple and one berry pie. Everyone was very impressed with my apple peeling skills.

I have never really made fruit pies so I decided to save myself some drama and bought some premade pastry dough. That left me with the filling. I used this recipe for the apple pie. I was a little leery of the recipe for one reason, no cinnamon. I am not too sure how you have a perfect apple pie without cinnamon so I added some in along with a bit of nutmeg.

For the berry pie I used this recipe. Instead of just blue berries I added strawberries and black berries.

Both pies were so awesomely yummy all I want to do is make more.

Sunday was the big BBQ. The Boys got up early so we could get a good spot and good holiday fun and food was had by all that attended.

Chris brought his Polaroid camera and captured some awesome images of just about everyone.

On Monday we decided to have an adventure. So, we headed north and did some light hiking in Muir woods. I am pretty much in love with Muir woods. Frank and I went a couple weeks ago during our anniversary celebrating and I enjoyed it so much and I wanted to share it with Mile and our good friends. So I strapped Miles into his babyhawk and went for a walk in the trees.

Here is me and Miles at the end of our journey

Look he is still smiling.

We really had a wonderful weekend.

New goodies to come

2010-07-02T13:27:00.000-07:00

I have been working hard the past few days getting some new wallets made. Here is what I am working on today. I am so pleased with how these are coming along.

I am so excited for the holiday weekend. I plan on spend a lot of time with friends and family and enjoying some summer fun outdoors as much as possible.

Have a great weekend!

Quilt Update!

2010-07-01T14:04:00.000-07:00

I am happy to announce that I finished on of my quilts. I actually finished a couple weeks back because it was a wedding gift for our good friends and roommates Chris and Stacy. Today I finally decided to disturb their bed, where the quilt now lives and take some pictures of it to share.

Here is the back side

And if you look closely you can see Miss Eleanor trying to get in on the quilt action. I am not sure why she insists on joining the fun every time I try to take pictures of these quilts but she sure is cute when she does.

Now I just need to get up the energy to get my own quilt finished.

Window Shopping: That Old Blue House

2010-06-29T08:31:00.000-07:00

I would like to be one of those people that could consistanly do a weekly themed post. You know the ones that are cleverly named to correspond with the day of the week? Like Friday Favorites (I think Dainty Squid does those) or I don't know... other clever things that I just can't think of right now.
I really enjoyed doing that Window Shopping post a couple weeks ago. I was thinking about making it a weekly thing and calling it "Window Shop Wednesday". That's clever right? I am sure I am not the first person to think of it but I will pretend I am.
Anyway, last week I was all ready to start my new weekly feature "Window Shop Wednesday" and then Wednesday came and went and I wrote nothing. Trust me, I did plenty of window shopping. I just didn't share any of it with you.
So, I have decided that perhaps I am just not consistant enough to do a clever sounding weekly feature. Even after deciding this about myself I refuse to give up. I will still try to do my weekly wondow shopping blog but I will not restrict myself to posting it on a certain day. I will post my window shopping finds whenever I darn well feel like it.
We'll see how this works out.

Today I would like to share with you That Old Blue House 2. I have been seeing this shop around Etsy and everytime I see one of ther peices I add it to my favorites. These button necklaces have been on my wishlist for a while now

But recently I discovered these necklaces made from bits of vintage quilts and lace and now I want them too.

They are just so simple and sweet. I love them and want them all.

Custom Orders

2010-06-28T09:21:00.000-07:00

My first custom order didn't go so well. I had agreed to make a bag for a customer and, I just wasn't a big fan of her ideas for it. Regardless of me feelings on the style of the bag I made it and for some stupid reason didn't have the customer pay for the item upfront. After I finished the bag I contacted the customer and let her know it was finished and ready for her pay for. Sadly the customer dropped off the face of the earth and left me with what I felt was the ugliest thing I had ever made. It eventually sold (I guess there is a customer for everything) but it left me a little leery of doing future custom orders.

I have since started requesting payment upfront and I am much more honest with my custom order customers about what I feel comfortable doing style wise. Thankfully since that first horrible experience I have had many really good experiences with custom orders.

This weekend I finished a custom order that I was especially happy with. The only request the customer had was that I make her a wallet with red felt flowers on it. So I showed her some fabrics I thought would go well and made her this pretty little piece

I made and extra one with a yellow flower along with some other goodies I will start listing in my etsy shop this afternoon.

Window Shopping: Thimble and Acorn

2010-06-17T08:03:00.000-07:00

I have been doing a lot of window shopping on Etsy recently. One shop that has become the object of my affection in Thimble and Acorn. Everything in this shop is so stinking cute I can't even handle it. Here are a couple of my favorite items

Of course both of them have sold already but there many other goodies pulling for my attention.

2010-06-16T10:02:00.000-07:00

I feel like I have been out of crafting commission for a long time. For good reason though, I was spending my time to stressing over and do anything I could to help my good friends and roomates with their wedding planning. Well that is done now. This weeking they finally got hitched and it was an amazing event. I am so happy I was able to be part of it. Everything from making thousands of oragami stars to keeping the brides train off the ground was an honor.

A while back I posted about the hair piece I made for Stacy that bride. Well, I have some pictures of it in action I wanted to share.

Isn't Stacy beautiful? She looked amazing and I am so happy with how the hair piece turned out.

I sure am going to miss helping with wedding plans and wedding crafts and I refuse to give up on my wedding blog addiction.

Hey, I made a dress.

2010-05-19T07:35:00.000-07:00

A couple of years ago I was somehow inspired to make myself a dress. So I went to the fabric store and pick out a simple pattern and gathered up some vintage fabrics that I thought looked strangely nice together. I ever went as far as to cut out all the pieces. Then I folded them up and put them in a Ross bag and hid them under my sewing table to be forgotten about.
Recently I was digging around looking for some fabric and I unearthed this nearly forgotten unsewen dress. I thought it might be nice to actually make it so I pulled it out and put it on top of my sewing table where it would yell at me every time I looked in it's direction.

Eventually I took the pieces out of the bag. I had to cut it down a couple sizes (I have thankfully lost weight) and re-notch it and 2 days ago I actually sewed it. I was having a bad day and I wanted to make something that was just for me. So, I made myself a dress.

I had some trouble with it. For some reason the directions didn't tell me how to sew the front waist band and skirt together. Luckily I went to school for this and I was able to figure it out. Maybe that degree in fashion design is worth something after all?

Overall I am pretty happy with how it turned out. I wasn't sure how I would like the fabrics together in something as large as a dress but I kinda of love the together. The only think I don't like is the width of the waist band. I think it would look better if it were a little more narrow. That could just be me and my wonky seam allowances though.

Now I just need to commit to a length and sew up the hem. That may take a couple more years though.

Mother's Day Wishes

2010-05-07T09:27:00.000-07:00

This week I decided to try my hand with the treasury east on Etsy. I am pretty much in love with it. I like that its not flash based. Not that I have anything against flash but I can't view it at work or on my droid. So this new treasury gives me more ways to play.
For my very first treasury east I put together my Mother's Day wish list. After I finished I looked at it and realized I had pust together a beautiful Mother's Day outfit. Now someone just needs to buy it for me (wink wink)

Dress : clevernettle

Belt: heart of light

Shoes: small earth vintage

Bag: Jenny N Design

If you would like to see the rest of my Mother's Day picks have a look here. I hope everyone has a wonderfull weekend and Mother's Day.

Wedding Pretties

2010-04-29T08:32:00.000-07:00

My roommates and good friends are getting married in oh, five weeks. Weddings are hard work. It's not even my wedding and I am exhausted by it. But after many months of planning, deciding and obsessively (at least on my part) pouring over wedding blogs things are coming together. It's a good thing because five weeks isn't a lot of time.

Stacy (the bride) wanted flowers in her hair in some way and after seeing this picture on oncewed she knew exactly what she wanted.

And I said "we can do that".

So Stacy and I headed out to our local Michaels and with a gift card I got for Christmas 2008 (I knew I was saving that thing for a good reason) we bought enough fake flowers to make three hair pieces. Options are always a good idea.

In all honetsy, I had never worked with fake flowers before and I wasn't entirely sure how to go about making such a thing. I am generally confident in my crafting abilites and pretty handy with a glue gun. I could handle this. So after several days of staring at those darned flowers trying to mentally plan out what to do I finally did it.

Stacy and I are quite happy with how it came out.

And doesn't it look extra pretty on my quilt?

As Promised

2010-04-28T16:22:00.000-07:00

As promised I took some better pictures of the quilts today and I got a little more work done on them. And of course as soon as I laid the quilts out Eleanor felt the need to nap on them.
In an attempt to get her to move along I took and insane amount of pictures of her.

I had hoped that the beeping and flashy light the camera emitted would annoy her enough to leave.
It didn't work.
So here are the quilts with a kitty on top

I fought the quilt and I won.

2010-04-27T20:12:00.000-07:00

I was finally able to get my quilt pieced together. Here are some pictures of how they both look now (Please excuse the horrible pictures. It was dark and I am using my roommate's camera)

I am still working on a couple rows of border. I hope to get that done tomorrow and then maybe get some better pictures.

Quilting Woes

2010-04-23T06:42:00.000-07:00

I have been working hard all week but I am just not getting things completed. Which isn’t true because I have finished all of this hair clips. I have even photographed them and started getting them into the shop.

It is just that darn quilt that is bringing me down.

My goal is to have both quilt tops pieced this week. It’s Friday already so time is almost up here.
I got the smaller and the easier quilt top sewn together last week. I want to put a border on it and I still need to figure out what that is going to be but I think it will be easy to execute so I am not too worried.

But, dang, this other quilt is kicking my butt. Right before I started sewing the finished quilt blocks together I decided I wanted to have some separation between the blocks. In typical Jodie fashion I decided not to research and figure out what would be the best way to do this. I winged it. Now I am stuffed with a giant quilted jigsaw puzzle that I just can’t fit together. I have some to the conclusion that I am just going to have to jimmy it and for it to work for me. Today after I get off work I will make this quilt happen. Maybe then I can bring myself to take some new pictures of it.

My Glasses Have Arrived

2010-04-13T11:16:00.000-07:00

As I mentioned in this post about my finds at the vintage expo I bought a pair of vintage frames that had to stay behind to have my perscription lenses put in them. Well, after weeks of anticipation they finally arrived and I love them.

Now I feel like I should do something to make myself took cool enough for then. I think a ne hair cut is needed. A new hair cut that oozes cool to match my spiffy new glasses.

Spring flowers

2010-04-12T08:45:00.000-07:00

I am a girl that isn't afraid to buy herself some pretty flowers. I love fresh flowers around the house. They sort of just brighten a room and lift your spirits. My current floral obsession is ranunculas. Lucky for me trader joes has kept themsleves well stock with sweet little bunches of ranunclas.

They are oh so pretty.

I especially love the bold red orange one.

Next I will get some lilac branches. I spotted some yesterday and now I feel like I need to have them.

A fun filled quilting weekend.

2010-04-12T08:18:00.000-07:00

The fabric I ordered for my quilts arrived last week and due to bad weather I was able to put off the yard work I had halfway been planning on doing and worked on quilting instead. I cut out block boarders and even started piecing squares together on one of my quilts.

Of course, as soon as I put this bit out to admire Eleanor had to plop down on it.

Ahhh Spring

2010-04-01T07:21:00.000-07:00

I keep dreaming of beautiful spring time clothes but it just keeps raining.

Window shopping http://www.anthropologie.com/

Commitment Phobic

2010-03-31T09:20:00.000-07:00

My quilt productivity has completely stopped because for some reason I can not commit to what fabrics I want to use for the borders and back sides.

I originally wanted to make a quilt because I had this fabric that was very special to me.

Two years ago for my birthday Zachary insisted on buying me fabric for my gift. He knew that I loved to sew and he thought that would be the best gift ever. He was right. So Frank took him to the fabric store and let him pick out 2 pieces of fabric for me. He was so proud of himself and I was so proud of have amazingly thoughtful he was.

For months I thought and thought about how to use these fabrics. I knew I wanted to keep them but I knew that Zachary would want them to be used. I finally decided to make a quilt, a very special Zachary quilt.
Now I am almost done sewing the blocks together I think I have like three left to do and now I am left trying to figure out what to do with the boarder and the back side. I am going use what I have left of these two fabrics I just want to find something that will tie them together better.

This is what I have in my shopping cart at http://www.fabric.com/

I am leaning towards the first one but I think I may just have to get them both and see which one looks better

in real life.

But there is still more trouble! As I mentioned in this post one quilt has turned into two.

And this one is giving me trouble. I think I want to make the main boarder and background colors yellow and brown but I can only find fabrics I like in yellow. Here is what I have picked out

I am thinking I can just fill it in with brown scraps that I have already but like I said I am unable to make a commitment.

Monterey

2010-03-29T11:16:00.000-07:00

This weekend we took a trip to Monterey. I made a post about it on my other blog and because I am a lazy blogger I amd just going to post a link to it here http://watchingmilesgrow.blogspot.com/2010/03/little-trip-to-monterey.html

And this piture!

Some Productivity

2010-03-22T11:09:00.000-07:00

I finally finished this little stack of wallets this weekend. They should be making their way into my esty shop over the next couple of days.

Vintage Expo 2010

2010-03-22T06:59:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I tricked Frank and Miles into going out with me and our friend Caitlin to the vintage expo in San Francisco. Frank quickly retreated to a quite table and did some reading while Miles and I did some shopping with Caitlin. I mainly like to go to admire all the pretty things but this year even with a baby tied to my back I managed to find a few goodies.
I picked up some fabric

Isn't it cute?

and some buttons

Some pretty necklaces

And this tank top!

Is is even possible to no to a tank top with little pink bears on it? No, I don't think so.

I also picked up a pair of vintage glasses which are off getting some lenses put in them. I didn't think to take pictures of them but I will try to remember to share some when I get them in a couple weeks.

New wallets on their way to the shop

2010-02-23T07:58:00.000-08:00

This weekend I finished up a few things for my etsy shop and yesterday I started listing it. Here are the wallets that are on their way.

So check out the shop for new goodies.

More Hair Clips

2010-02-18T20:22:00.000-08:00

Well I mustered up the energy to finish the hair clips I had started and I love them. I just want to keep them all for myself and wear them all the time But I know that would be silly.
It was cloudy and gray all day today so there wasn't any good sun the take pictures so I just have this sad little poorly lit picture to share with you

hopefully I can get some good pictures tomorrow and get whet I am willing to part with into the shop. I sort of have a soft spot for hair clips.

Since this is a short post I think there is some room here for Eleanor

Oh the baby kitty!

Felt Fun!

2010-02-17T21:18:00.000-08:00

This week I started a new schedule at work and these hours have me all out of whack. I went from working three eight hour shifts a week to working 6 AM to 12 Monday through Friday. This means I now have to wake up at 4:30 in the morning. Goodness this is screwing with how I live my life. I know once I get used to it and get used to going to bed and getting up so gosh darn early it won't be so bad. But for today I am not liking it.

I decided this weekend it was finally time to sit down and play with the felt I bought a few weeks back from giantdwarf and now I just can't get enough of it. I started out cutting out some bits to use for applique on some wallets I had been working on and the I decided I needed to make myself a new hair clip.

I ended up making a couple so I could keep one for myself and put one in the shop. This one I decided to list in the shop.

This felt is so fun to work with and the colors are so amazing. I love color! I cut out and sewed a few more pieces to make into hair clips tonight. Hopefully the baby will nap tomorrow and I will have the energy to get them finished. Then we will just have to see if I am willing to part with them and list them on etsy.

For now I am off to bed so I can wake up bright (although it is very, very dark) and early tomorrow morning. Goodnight and sweet dreams.

Oh, one more thing. I marked down a bunch of items in my shop today so head over and check out my sale section.

Sluggishly getting back to work

2010-02-08T14:17:00.000-08:00

I spent my spare time Friday working on and finishing up a few wallets that have been staring me down for a couple weeks. Now they are working on finding their way into the shop along with some other items I had stashed away. Here is a picture of everything I finished

I always feel so accomplished when i see it all laid out. It just makes me feel good inside. I then proceded to spend the rest of the weekend half heartedly attempting to get new projects started but in reality not really doing anything productive aside from making small messes of fabric around the house.

I have decided my recent lack of productivity is due to the cluttered and messy state of my bedroom and sewing room. It is so hard to word creativly when you are surrounded by mess. I think I will spend time this week getting my space organized and perhaps invest in a new babygate so that Miles no longer has the ability to wander from room to room leaving his own special trai of destruction.

And the winner is....

2010-01-27T11:48:00.000-08:00

Lauren from Shooting Stars Mag!

I just want to say thank you to everyone for who participated. It was a lot of fun and I look forward to doing other giveaways in the future.

Finally a reason for whales

2010-01-26T14:28:00.000-08:00

A couple months back I had found this pattern for a stuffed whale from small dream factory. I wanted so badly to make it but didn't really have a purpose for it. So I tucked the blog link away for when just the right purpose arose and it did!

A friend of mine is having a baby very soon. She is having a little boy and they are decorating the nursery in a nautical theme. Yay a reason for me to make a whale! I like to do things in twos when I am sewing so I cut two little whales. This way I get to keep one for myself and I am happy I do because these little guys are super cute.

Now that I have bored you with way too many pictures of a stuffed whale you should go check out small dream factorie's blog. They have a bunch of other fun tutorials that I can't wait to try out. Have fun!

Incase you have already entered today is the very last day of my bloggy giveaway so do what you need to do.

Getting new fun and trying new things

2010-01-25T21:36:00.000-08:00

I intended to do a lot of sewing this weekend but I didn't really work out that way. I got a little bit of work done on by quilts and some progress made on a pile of wallets but nothing ever finished or completed.
Mostly I did some etsy shopping for fun fabrics and supplies. My first package of crafting goodness arrived today from Giantdwarf. I ordered a beautiful lot of fancy colorful felt. I am oh so excited to do some fun applique with it.

Earlier last week I decided to make a pattern for a mini wallet or card holder. I have had some requests for them at shows. So I decided to finally create them. I am pretty happy with the way the came out. They are super cute and compact.

Tomorrow is the last day of my super awesome bloggy giveaway. So get your butt in gear and enter your name into the drawing.

Just keep sewing

2010-01-20T13:09:00.000-08:00

I had the last two of my wisdom teeth pulled on Friday and I haven't yet fully recovered. But I am attempting to work through the nagging pain in my mouth and keep up with my many sewing projects. I have been regularly working on my quilts and amazingly I have almost enough quilt blocks finished to start piecing it together.

These pictures are a week or so old so I do have more blocks now but I just haven't taken the time to take more recent pictures.

I have also started working on stuff for my shop again. I have a few wallets I am finishing up and last night I finally finished this race cart tote I have had sitting on my sewing table for a couple months.

I am currently doing a giveaway if you haven't entered your name into the drawing yet you should and you could win a super awesome new wallet check it out http://petalspurses.blogspot.com/2010/01/super-awsome-bloggy-giveaway.html

A Super Awsome Bloggy Giveaway

2010-01-19T15:27:00.000-08:00

I have been itching to do a giveaway for months now but things just keep popping up that cause me to put it off constantly. But I am going to do it and I am going to do it right now.
Here is how the awesomeness works...

When: The super awesome bloggy giveaways will be now until midnight January 26th, 2010

What: Well I couldn't decide what goodness I wanted to give away so I decided to leave it up to you and let you pick. I will be giving away one bi-fold wallet of your choice. As long as the bi-fold wallet is in my shop at the end of you giveaway it could be yours. How excited are you about that?

How: All you have to do is leave a comment here with your e-mail address so I can contact you if you win (I will not publish this information) and you will get one entry into the give away.

Extras!: I know for some of you though one entry simply is not enough so I decided to offer you other ways to play here is what else you can do
Follow me - follow my blog, follow me on twitter, become my fan on facebook
Talk about me- post about this giveaway somewhere else (your blog, twitter, facebook) and get your friends to join in.
For each additional entry post and sperate comment here so can keep track of it.

Anyone can win I am willing to ship overseas so get to it and enter.

A little quilting update.

2010-01-12T11:33:00.000-08:00

I have been steadily working on my quilts. It is my goal to do at least one square per quilt a day. Some days it doesn't quite work out that way but there are days when I get crazy and do an extra couple of squares so it evens out. I find that work to be a little tedious but I am still enjoying it and I have been able to watch seasons 1 and 2 of Weeds while sewing and doing other craft related work.
Here are a couple glimpses of what I have so far

I am loving the mix of new and vintage fabrics and I absolutely adore all the Japanese prints in there. It is so much fun. Ever time I get a few squares done I take all of them and lay them out on the floor and imagine the greatness they will become.

New items to come

2010-01-04T20:14:00.000-08:00

I have been busily taking and editing pictures of new items to list in my shop.

And this isn't even all of it.

The scrap quilting has begun!

2010-01-04T10:19:00.000-08:00

One of the few things I promised myself I would do the this year is make a quilt. I even kinda planned things out for this event. For a while now I have been holding onto and hiding away Little bits of fabric and I did research!
I had decided that I would use 2 different blocks in my quilt. I love me a good pinwheel quilt

But it seemed like it would be a lot of work so I decided I would mix the pinwheel in with a simpler roman square quilt block

So I made myself some little patterns. I had decided to do 12 inch blocks since this is my first full sized quilt. I pressed out my fabrics and got to cutting. When I got a good sized pile of pieces cut out I decided it was time to test my quilting abilities.
It turns out my quilting abilities are pretty good but my math or maybe just my direction following abilities aren't so good. My pinwheel block came out to be a 12 inch square but my roman square block was only 9 inches. Apparently I was looking at the wrong measurements when I made my pattern piece for that one. Oops!

Here are my first 4 blocks

At this point I decided that I had cut too many pieces to scrap the roman square and I liked to way it turned out. So I came to the decision to make 2 quilts (yes I know I am nuts) at the same time. I will keep the pinwheel for myself and give the other as a super special surprise for someone.
We'll see how it all turns out but I am super excited and enjoying the process so far.

25 Day of Chrismas Days 10, 11 & 12

2009-12-17T12:04:00.000-08:00

Some days I wish I could just fill my life with cute things that make me smile. Like today I put this picture of my baby kitty on my desktop at work.

So now every time I unearth my desktop I am greeted by her cute little face and I smile.

I think it is good to surround yourself with things that bring you joy. Whether that be a good friend or an impossibly cute necklace it is good to find happiness surrounding you.

Today I wanted to share with you a few items that I am sure would bring on the smiles if they were around me.
EM&Sprout is a great little etsy shop filled with cute. I am absolutely in love with there amazing maryjanes dressed up as cute little creatures. I think my favorite would have to be the little chihuahua shoe.

I can just imagine my feet skipping down the street (because skipping is the only way to travel in something this cute) in these bringing happiness to the world.

Next on my smile list is an amazing necklace from yellowgoat. This fly away with me necklace is so dreamy.

yellowgoat's entire etsy shop is filled with amazing imaginative items that I am sure will make anyone happy.

I have just one more item on my smile list today. Look at this amazing ladybug rug from peanutbutterdynamite

Oh so cute! I wish I could just cover my floors in all of their rug creatures.

25 Days of Christmas make up (again) days 7, 8 and 9

2009-12-15T14:11:00.000-08:00

Once again life has gotten in the way of my blogging intentions. Not only have a been busy with Renegade preparations but I also had my wisdom teeth pulled last week (which kinda just stopped all productivity) and had a birthday on Sunday. I have been quite busy and sadly my 25 Days of Christmas just didn't work out as I had hoped.

I am back today though I am excited to share with you 3 new crafters with some super awesome items.

One thing that I am truly missing this year is a super awesome Christmas baking fest. With the way things are going I am afraid that I am going to have to miss out on it completely but that doesn't stop me from pining after some amazing baking gear.

The first item on my list of baking is this amazingly cute set of measuring spoons from beehivekitchenware

I just think they are the cutest things and I would love to see them hanging in my kitchen.

When it comes to my personal life and items I am very unorganized. Professionally I am able to keep it together and be organized. But when I go home I am a mess. I rarely put away my clothes and if there is paperwork I need I usually have no idea where it is. My recipe collection is no exception. My current method of recipe storage is shoving them into the back of my most used recipe book. When I am ready to back something I pull out this book and sort though about 50 recipes I have crammed into this poor book.

A few months back I actually bought an adorable vintage recipe card box but I haven't taken the next step of buying recipe cards. That is why I need these recipe cards from boygirlparty

I am pretty sure if I did have them my recipe collection would be the most organized recipe collection ever.

The next on my list of baking essentials comes from CupcakeSocial. Let me just tell you now that I love this shop just look at this

How could you not want to make cupcakes in liners like this? An even better question would be how couple you not want to eat cupcakes in lines like these? But they don't just have amazing cupcake liners they also have the sweetest cupcake toppers and oh my goodness cookie cutters.

I will attempt to make up for the rest of the days I have missed but I can't make any promises.

Renegade!

2009-12-15T14:00:00.000-08:00

Renegade is just days away and I am currently working myself into a frenzy of productivity. I was taken out of the game for a few days but I am back now and ready to sew. Now if I could just stop adding things to my to do list that do nothing but cause me more stress.

25 Days of Christmas make up Days 4, 5 and 6

2009-12-07T15:41:00.000-08:00

Ok I now feel like a huge failure. I didn’t just miss one or two days of my holiday cheer inducing 25 days of Christmas I missed three whole days. Perhaps the lack of holiday cheer is the reason for the funk I have been in. Well probably not but perhaps it is a contributing factor. Well because I am a such a super slacker I will use today as make up day and give you a whole collection of goodies that are sure to bring you warm and fuzzy feelings.

The days have gotten cold here in the bay and the nights are even colder. So I am on a constant search to find thing to warm me on me treks to the office and playtime at the park.

The first thing on me list today is a beautiful versatile set of arm warmers from xmittens on etsy

I don't know about you but I am always in the market for a pair of arm warmers (obviously, this is the second time I have featured them in my 25 days of Christmas) but these ones are extra awesome because of their versatility. They are long so if you are hooked on three quarter length jackets and cardigans as I am you can just slip on these bad boys and still get the full coverage warmth you need on winter days. My other reason for needing a pair of these is for tattoo coverage. I am an inked up girl that works in an office where things like that aren't really supposed to show. I think these would be a nice alternative to the long sleeved cardigans that have become my daily uniform.

Next up for today is lizarietz. This shop is amazing and one I been drooling over for way too long. lizarietz makes the most beautiful and amazing cloche hats I have seen. If you look at this shop and don't want at least five of these things well, I don't know if I can be your friend. Here is my favorite one today

I have been telling myself for the past 2 years that I am going to buy one. Why I don't have one is beyond me.

Over the past couple of months I have found a lot of comfort in hoodies. They have become something of a security blanket for me. If I am able to I am wearing one of my many hoodies.
I recently discovered an etsy shop blackmarketbaby that make this amazing asymmetrical hoodie

I am just in love with the over sized hood and cut and construction just looks amazing.

Alrighty, that is all I have for now I will be back later on this evening with another item for day 7 of my 25 days of Christmas.

My cute little fatty

2009-12-05T10:37:00.000-08:00

Today I decided to move Eleanor's bed from Frank's office where she never uses it to the sewing room where she spends most of her time. I think she is happy with the change. She followed me up the stairs and immediately crawled into bed and went to sleep.

Looking at her sleeping I am amazed at how she has grown from a little peanut of a kitten to a giant fatty cat in just a few months.

25 Days of Christmas Day 3

2009-12-03T14:05:00.000-08:00

I am having a rough day today so, I decided for my third day of 25 days of Christmas I wanted to feature a product that could make me laugh out loud. After abusing the Pounce feature on etsy I finally got a good giggle out of this item from HipChickCrochet

Oh my goodness that is one of the cutest most adorable things I have ever seen. In addition to elf ears you can also decorate your little one with reindeer antlers or cute little mouse ears. Everyone of these sweet little hats makes me wish my little Miles didn't yank off every hat I put on his head.

Stressed

2009-12-03T11:53:00.000-08:00

This is what happened when I realized that Renegade is about 2 weeks away leaving me with only 16 days to prepare.

And here is a completely unnecessary picture of my cat in a box.

25 days of Christmas day 2

2009-12-02T17:56:00.000-08:00

I am a sucker for pockets. Pockets are always a good thing. They give you a place to store all your daily essentials like you ipod or cellphone maybe even some lip gloss. Whenever I happen to dress myself in an outfit without pockets I feel as the world has been turned upside down. Extra pockets are always welcome as far as I am concerned. That is why for day 2 I would like to talk about PollyDanger. I am pretty sure that PollyDanger is an etsy shop that prides its self in making all that is handy. Of instance these amazing aprons.

I am pretty sure I need an apron. Just look at all those pockets. It is oh so handy. Just imagine all the things you can stick those pockets ready for you to grab whenever you may need them.
But don't you start thinking the handiness ends with this lovely pocket apron PollyDanger also has these super awesome Mini Fix Kits

and coupon organizers! Oh my Oh my.

All the super handy options just amaze me.

25 Days of Christams Day 1

2009-12-01T13:58:00.000-08:00

I am finding it hard to get into the holiday spirit this year. Yes I know it is only December 1st but usually I by November 30th I have fetched the Christmas boxes from storage and had Christmas music ringing in my ears since Thanksgiving. This year though for obvious reasons I would prefer to just cancel Christmas all together. But, I am afraid that Christmas just isn’t something you can or should hide from especially if you have little one at home. I would feel tremendous guilt if I didn’t at least attempt to give him the Christmas he deserves.

So, in an attempt to brighten my spirits and maybe yours I have decided to do my own little 25 days of Christmas. Every day from now until Christmas day I will post some crafty finds that I wouldn’t mind having under my tree this year.

For my first day of Christmas I would like to feature my craft crush Giant Dwarf. I have been in love and ever so slightly obsessed with Giant Dwarf's etsy shop for a while now. I have one of her fascinators in purple that I absolutely love and get complimented on every time I wear it. I would love to have one in every color if my finances would allow. In addition to her beautiful fascinators she also makes sweet little hats and fingerless gloves that I have been drooling over for weeks.

I am sure you all agree with me on the greatness of Gaint Dwarf. Now you should come back tomorrow for more greatness.

Super yummy sweet potatoes

2009-11-24T10:38:00.000-08:00

Thanksgiving is just a couple days away so I thought I would share a little something with you all. If you don’t know already you should know that I make some of the most awesome sweet potatoes ever. If you usually are opposed to sweet potatoes I can almost guarantee that you will love mine. So I decided I would share my “recipe” with you so you can spread the goodness around. Now I am going to warn you here I put recipe in quotations back there because I have never worked from a written recipe I usually just throw everything together and then keep adding more till it tastes right. So with this it is best not to be a rigid recipe follower. Ok, now that the warning is out of the way lets get started.

Ingredients:
3-4 sweet potatoes (I prefer white sweet potatoes but it doesn’t really matter which you get
2 eggs
½ cup milk
½ cup(1 stick) sliced butter
¾ cup brown sugar
1-2 tsp vanilla (I love vanilla so I always twice as much as I should)
1-2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp nutmeg
1 cup chopped pecans or cashews
About ½ a bag of marshmallows (These are optional but super awesome)

And here we go…
- Cut off the end bits and discard. Chop up sweet potatoes (don’t peel) so they fit in a large pot.
-Cover potatoes with water and boil until they are soft. You should be able to easily slide a fork in the middle if they are done.
- Drain water and set potatoes aside to cool
-Once the sweet potatoes are cool enough to touch you can go ahead and pull the skin off. It should easily pull off.
- In a large mixing bowl mash the sweet potatoes adding the eggs milk and butter.
- Add brown sugar, vanilla, cinnamon and nutmeg and mix until potatoes are smooth.
At this point you should take a little taste and see what you think. I usually add a little more sugar, cinnamon and vanilla I like my sweet potatoes to taste like candy.
- Once you are good with the flavor transfer your sweet potatoes into a 13 x 9 buttered baking dish. Smooth them out and sprinkle top with brown sugar, cinnamon, and chopped nuts.
- Cover pan with foil and bake for about 35 minutes at 350 (I usually just throw them in with the turkey so the temp doesn’t need to be exact)
- After about 35 minutes remove foil and bake another 15 minutes

At this point you could be done it you want or you could go super crazy and the marshmallows. If you are super crazy like me cover the top of the potatoes with marshmallows and put them back in the oven until they are lightly browned (about 5 minutes).

Now you are done and it is time to enjoy your super yummy sweet potatoes.
My brother in-law describes these as a delicious, cinnamony, vanillay sweet potato pudding

Enjoy!

MmmmMMMmm Cinnamon Rolls

2009-11-22T12:59:00.000-08:00

A couple months ago found this recipe online for Cinnamon Rolls . I saved the link to my favorites and every so often I go back and drool over the oh so delicious looking pictures. I decided I should make them this weekend and make half for us here at the house and take the other half south with me to share with the family for Thanksgiving.

So, I woke up this morning prepared for some intense baking of cinnamon rolls and boy was it intense. I think I got started before 8 am and they were not ready to serve until after noon. But we all agreed it was worth the wait.

There were just a couple changes that I made
- I added delicious pecans
- I backed them at 375 for 20 minutes
- I was fresh out of maple extract for the frosting so I just used maple syrup

Also, next time I think I will only use 1 cup of butter instead of 1 1/2 cups. It just made a buttery sugary mess all over my counter. While some may not me opposed to such messes it was no fun to clean up.