I'M DREAMING OF A WHITE CHRISTMAS

Today was a glorious Christmas with the kids. The day started out a bit rocky when Phoenix (my son) wanted to push every single nice button that I had today. But it ended with a bang at the In-Laws house. There was a lot of cheer and especially goodwill for all when I saw that I got a comforter Christmas. My son got a bike which will be great when I go for runs. 

After a day full of cookies, mac and cheese, baking, laughing, jovial hugs and kisses, crafting, and wonderful connectivity that would have verizon looking like a can company, I'm emotionally wiped out. 

I hope all of you had a wonderful Christmas!

By the way, who else is jealous that Oklahoma didn't get any snow. All of my friend east of the Mississippi seemed to get snow but us! How strange since we were the very ones to get snowed in the previous year. 

Oh well...God is a practical joker like that. 

I think I'll invite him to my next birthday party!!

THUS...AND THE DEALS KEPT ROLLING IN...

WWW.RENEGADEHANDMADE.COM

A CREATIVE WAY OF LOOKING AT BIBS...

UPDATE

Alright...

For those of you who actually read this thing, I bet your wondering what's going on, so I'll enlighten you. 

I recently moved for the third time this year (military family) and started school in Tulsa. I originally started college almost 10 years ago. I'm just now getting around to finishing. Strangely enough, I'm not majoring in anything like art (which I would rather be majoring in). I majoring in the same thing I started college in just so that I can get finished. 

Some of you may not know this, but I'm in the military. In fact, me and my husband are both in the military and one point were both active. Now that he's the only one active, I'm spending a lot of time working towards getting more rank which requires more education (even in the military). 

So I've been doing that, managing a household virtually by myself, ROTC, National Guard, two kids, and everything else that falls in place with it. 

I'm exhuasted @-) (see that...that's my crazy head). 

I've spent this time off from school trying to make my craft better. I found out that he reason why I had been having issues with my sewing wasn't because of me but because of my sewing machine. 

The sewing machine I have now is a Brother LS2000. 

Well, yesterday, when I went to go buy fabric (16 yards of mostly Alexander Henry I might add for under 100 dollars), I was talking to Trina (a solid sewing associate) and she told me that she had problems with this machine. The lower register would get tangled while the upper register would get break and pop all the time. I ended up breaking 2 needles inside of one hour. I thought it was just me. Apparently, it's because the Brother along with the Singer all use plastic internal parts which makes for flimpsy fun.  Additionally, it's very hard to get parts replaced if your machine is more than 10 years old. However, if you get a Bernina, they have stellar customer service. 

*just a little word to the wise*

Here's the machine I want (right along with my serger) Model 66:  

Hope this saves you guys some troubles. If you want plastic parts, buy a Singer or Brother.  If you want metal parts and more replacement parts, go Bernina.

 

Prudently Inspired

Prudent Baby is this wonderful website that I get a lot of my ideas from. I wish I had half the patience and ingenuity these two ladies do. They keep me inspired. They keep me crafting. Check out their website...

www.prudentbaby.com

Merry Christmas!!!

Ollie Loo Gear soon to be available

Hello All!! Long Time! I am reposting an email that my friend sent to me in support of her walk for MS. My friend, Shay, was diagnosed with MS (Multiple Sclerosis) last year and is raising money for the walk that she will be doing next weekend. But she needs help. She needs YOU!! Below is detailed info and links about the fundraiser, raffle, walk, and etsy shop. All funds and proceeds benefit MS research!! So donate!!

The MS walk is coming up next weekend, and Team SAMS has received 29 contributions for a total of $1,156! For those of you who have already helped out, thank you so much. I have been so blown away by everyone's generosity. This is such a wonderful cause, and you can feel really good about the impact your contribution will make in the lives of people living with MS.

That means we're still $844 short of our $2000 goal, and we're working double time to close that gap. Here's what we've got coming up!

1. Etsy Shop

If you're not familiar with it, Etsy is an online crafts marketplace.. it's sort of the Ebay of handmade and vintage goods. Some incredibly talented artists and craftspeople have donated handmade items for us to sell! Pictures of a few of the available items are attached below. You can see the site at www.etsy.com/shop/teamSAMS.

Any item can be shipped to you, and all proceeds go to the National MS Society and Team SAMS!

..........

2. Benefit Show

For those of you around the Amarillo area, make sure to stop by the benefit we are having at Burberry's on April 16th! Check out bellydance troupe Hypgothika, performing contemporary and traditional bellydance, as well as the music of local favorites The Deathwriters. There will be a $2 cover charge at the door - again, all proceeds to benefit the walk.

..........

3. Raffle

As a thank-you to everyone who has helped out, we are having a raffle! If you have contributed ANYTHING to this cause--be it time, money, or artistic skill--you are entered! Up for grabs are a beautiful afghan, currently being made by local knitters for this special cause (pictured below - cat and Shay do not come included), a Barnes & Noble gift card, and books signed by Chuck Palahniuk and Tim Gunn. On the day of the walk (April 17th) we will draw names, and if chosen, you will be given a chance to pick your prize!

..........

I'm so proud of us.

To read my story, check out the team, or make a donation, visit www.nationalmssociety.org/goto/SAMS.

Thank you so much!

-Shay

--

Revamping- a lot...

Hey guys :P

It's been a while. I'm still here. I've been revamping

a lot of my projects-trying to make things better...more

original, including my blog. I also opened two new shops

in addition to this shop. So, I'm changing the atmosphere

of this blog as to combine each of these stores. First

things first...

My new stores :)

A Stork Named Ollie

Stationary Motion

Web links:

astorknamedollie.etsy.com

stationarymotion.etsy.com

This is a hard process...finding your business spot in

the world. There are so many other shops out there doing

the same thing. When you stop trying to reinvent the wheel,

you still find that you have to work a lot harder to

make your wheel shine amongst the other wheels which is

what I'm doing. I'm trying to find my style.

I've done quite a few crafts in my absense. I will be posting

tutorials soon. I'm looking for more and better methods

of teaching my craft (as well as other crafts for that

matter.) Thank you for your patience and support

as I slowly grow as a business and a crafty lady. ?

Changing the focus of BCBB

I just wanted to make the small announcement that I will be changing the focus of my shop. Currently I have no focus, as my husband pointed out. He said it might be a little easier for me to organize myself if I only concentrated on making a few things instead of doing 50 different things. Sometimes, my husband is the smartest person I know. I was on the verge of giving up because sales aren't popping off like I hoped. But, he told me to stick with it and keep up the faith and maybe organize my shop slightly different. So, I looked around etsy and looked around my physical area and the thing that will never go out of style is babies. People will always procreate. People will always have babies. I realize there are number of baby shops on etsy, but I don't care. I'm not going to attempt to reinvent the wheel I don't suggest you do it either unless you've got a really good idea in which to invest. I would say that even though I feel like i'm selling out by doing the baby thing, I don't care because it's still mine. It's still something that's going to let me create. And, it will help me make a little bit of profit instead of having my shop that's all over the place. People are finnicky. They also, for the most part, like things to be organized for them. It's much more of a feasible idea to organize your shop for your shoppers than for them to have to look around your shop and not know specifically what your selling. I know that when I go look at a shop or search for a product, I search by product. it's very important that you allow your shop to shine through your SPECIALIZED products.

     Although my focus is changing, my goal for this blog is NOT going to change. I will still be featuring etsy sellers as often as time permits when life doesn't get in the way of my creativity. lol. I will still post some of my crafts. My next goal is to start posting other people's crafts that I absolutely LOVE. There's just so many. I find sometimes that I get a case of craft envy and want to give up all together because people have the ability to make such wonderful things with their hand. But you know what keeps me going? Just thinking about how many people are out there looking at my stuff thinking how awesome my stuff. Heck...my stuff might be posted on another site as we speak.

    :)

tomato soup, grilled cheese, and a winter day.

Best cure for any snowy winter day? I'd say it's the classic grilled cheese sandwich with a side of tomato soup. I don't like to grill my sandwiches persay. I acutally bake them. But their just as good if not better and you know exactly how much butter your putting on each sandwich. And, for someone who is watching/not really watching her weight, it's good to see those things.

***********alittlesidenote*******************************************************

Just to let a few of you in on a secret. I just recently gave birth to a healthy baby girl. Following that, it's been next to impossible to keep my formerly nonexistant sweet tooth at bay. I used to be able to walk into walmart without even taking a second look at the food section. Now I find myself checking out the cakes at every visit and not leaving before I've bought one no two candy bars that will be added to endless supply of food storing itself in my hips for the winter. ARRGGG it's maddening. The sad thing is I don't know what to do about it. I throw myself in my crafts, as you all have seen over the past few days. But I still nibble. I think it's a triumph if I can eat ONE fattening thing a day. I used to only treat myself once a week. Now I'm treating myself every day.

I guess I'm going to have to let this phase pass. I think it has a lot to do with the fact that I'm breastfeeding. After all, for the past nine months, my taste buds weren't my own. Why should I expect any differently now. She's still using me as a food machine (i.e. milk mama), so why wouldn't she want a little sugar in her tea.

***********************************************sidenoteended*************************

I also like eating tuna fish sandwiches with tomato soup. In fact, tomato soup goes well with most things in a cold day including the one you love.

take that as you will :)

Blogger Love Hate Relationship

I love blogger and have for years although I never really blogged as prolifically before now. I'm actually making a concentrated effort this year as a fulfillment of one of my many new years resolutions. But, my relationship with Blogger has almost been like a "two strangers passing in the night." I thought I knew it until I KNEW it after I began using it on a semi regular basis. Now that me and Mr. Blogger are on a first name basis and out of the honeymoon stage, I have discovered that blogger does have it's faults after all including the annoying fact that you cannot upload more than one picture at the same time. Another thing i hate is that you cannot see how your pictures will really appear once their up. For instance, the other day when I was trying to post stuff for feature on decorating the son's room, I had the pictures nicely placed to where the wording was going to show up just under the picture. Publishing the post, on the other hand, was a different story. I found that all the pictures were either bunched together in a digital massacre, or that they were spaced out like I had just posed as my 5th grade self. I'm sure there are better computer savvy genius out there who have figured out how to coexist with blogger. As for me, it's still a shot in the dark and I'm officially a blonde to computers until further notice (no insult to blondes out there).

xox me

Pillow Top Napkins: Remodel your Pillow Cases for Next to Nothing.

Today, I was ripping up some old pillow cases and decided, Hey why not make some napkins!! It was actually really fun. This project can be done for free as long as you have two old pillows. You cn also use scraps to embellish. I chose to use a little bit of zizag embroidery to get my inspiration. I reccomend that you all try this.  And boy did I! Here is how my pillow to napkin project turned out. These napkins are available for sale. They are not posted on my etsy site If you're interested, just email me or leave comment and I'll post it on etsy for you to purchase. Tak a look at the pic below.

the white pillow cases were cut apart and ironed. I made sure to cut of the serger sewed seams. 

a nice neat stack

here is the pillow sham i tore apart and ironed

here are the napkins after I used the white pillow cases as the back side and the brown backings from the shams as the front of the napkins.

Redecorate ANY room for $40 dollars or less: Remodeling of My Son's Room

This blog is going to be apart of a 4 part series that will include my son's room, my bathroom, my living room, and my kitchen. Stay tuned for the tutorials on everything that I do which will be thrown in there every so often. Two days ago, I decided it was time that my son's room got a makeover. This decision was a long time approaching. Here a few pictures from before....

The first picture is a shot of his bed. It's an air mattress that was there until we got our new bed. Keep in mind that the new photos will have him with a single bed. The single bed will not be there next week once our new bed. So imagine his new setup with a queen sized bed.

This is a homemade bulletin board. At the time, it seemed like a great idea. But after a few weeks of looking at it, it really got on my nerves.

This is his organization spot. This has been moved to the laundry room to become a towel rack. This is his tool box to give you kind of a placement of the room. the Room has four corners, so you're looking at the third corner and the clock is above that corner.

Basically, the room was just BLAH. I was tired of looking at it and I can't stand disorganization. So I decided to start this series on remodeling. I will have tutorial on each of the projects in his room .Unfortunately, I can't really take pictures of ALL my processes because I haven't an extra person to take the pictures while I actually make them. SORRY. maybe one day.
Now...here are the new pictures....

Notice the homemade bunting hanging over his bed to give it that creative look. I coordinated everything in his room around this bunting. Although his comforter is red, I decided RED was best. Included in that, i made a cover for his toychest out of an old paint drop cloth. To tie it together with the theme of the room, I added a piece of fabric that matched his bunting (Michael Miller, LOVE HIM). To make it almost look like a window sette, I added a couple of pillows and a homemade white pillow to make it look stylish.

Look at the mirror. Every kid loves a mirror. Also look at the bulletin board. I think that a bulletin board makes a kid feel special when they have something to post on it. Although Phoenix's board is empty, it won't be for long. He loves drawing his pictures and displaying them. Just make sure that that board is secured. For the time being, although you can't tell, it is not secured.

I got rid of the big storage shelf and replaced it with a smaller bookshelf (which will be replaced with another bookshelf to match his room better). Above his shelf, again, I'm trying the theme together with canvas pictures. I bought painter's canvas and decoupaged some cut fabric to them to make it look like they were drawn. I will have a tutorial on that at a later date. Stay tuned.
All in all, I loved doing this room. It took me the better part of a day to get it exactly the way that I wanted it. When my husband came home, the living room looked like a tornado hit. Even so, it was great to walk through the mess and see the organization that came out of it.






Price:


bunting: 1.50

cover: free

mirror: 9.00

cork bulletin board: 9.00

canvas boards: 10.00 for two
final price: 29.50

Day of Love Fast Approaching

xxoo