I'm having a sale!!!  The EtsyMom team is having a team wide Christmas Shopping Season Opening Sale.  I am offering 10% off every purchase, including custom orders!!!  You can also click here for a complete list of participating shops.

I had a very productive week.  I made a cellphone case for a returning customer to match the shopping cart cover and plush ball that I made her earlier.

I made two pillow covers for an Etsy client with a custom order that turned out fabulous!

I also made three custom art rolls:  a crayon roll for "Stella", a colored pencil roll for "Summer" and a marker roll for "Logan".  I LOVE making these;  it is sooo much fun to play with the different fabric combinations and to come up with ways of personalizing each one to the child receiving it!  Stella is getting a colorful crayon roll using the Very Hungry Caterpillar fabric with an applique

 heart.  Summer is getting a custom crayon roll featuring a Michael Miller print with monkeys doing yoga and her brother, Logan, is getting a marker roll featuring pirate sculls with an appliqued jolly roger symbol.

Coming up, I will be finishing a retro-style full apron in blue and gray.  I will also be framing a dress...my husband's 97 year old grandmother was going through some things the other day and came across a handmade dress that she wore when she was about 5 years old.  This dress is absolutely beautiful!!! I am waiting for fabric to be delivered that I will use for the background and the dress will be mounted on that.  I will post pictures as soon as it is complete.  

I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday and you were all able to look around you at the abundance of things to be thankful for;  sometimes it takes a holiday to truly examine our lives and see all that we "have".

This 'n That

This post is a little of this and a little of that.  

I made a gift set featuring pink and brown.  

I used Pink Paisley-Embossed Minky and backed it with a brown and pink paisley satin charmeuse and then bound it with pink satin.  I then made a matching bib and two burpers from the left over fabric.

For the boys, I made a super cute blanket using Michael Miller's Bobby Plays Pretend fabric which I backed with a denim-blue flannel and bound with red satin binding.  I appliqued a cut-out of Bobby pretending to be a baseball player.

Yesterday, I made another bag using Joel Dewberry's Ginseng fabric.  This one features the Orchid and Wildflower prints in Raspberry and Mulberry (which is really a very Cranberry color).

And...my EMCA prize arrived!!!  Yay!!! I won the first EtsyMom Curator Award for curating the most Etsy treasuries featuring EtsyMoms.  For those of you who don't know, a treasury is something you put together on the Etsy site.  It is a grouping or "exhibit" that you "curate".  You can feature sellers that you like or chose a theme or feature colors;  the possibilities are limitless.  It is a fun way to highlight fellow artists and it is also a great way to find new shops.  Anyway, as the recipient of the award I was to chose a prize from one of three sponsors and I chose this super cute frame made by Gifts From the Heart by CraftGirlAlli.

And in the prize winning vein, I also won one of the SuperGiveaways.  I won a beautiful print from FoodChic who takes spectacular artistic photographs featuring food.  Here is the link to the print that I won, it is a 7x5 vertical print of a guava.

Wow...I am totally neglecting this poor blog!

To be fair, though, I have been really busy.  Life in general has kept me pretty occupied, running kids and doing chores, etc. etc.  But, I have also found a little spare time in which I have been sewing (instead of blogging).  So I am bringing this poor, neglected blog up-to-date with the recent projects I have completed.  I also WON!!! a prize in the month-long EtsyMom Street Team SUPER GIVEAWAY!  You really should visit the EtsyMom blog;  you can enter two giveaways everyday. 

So, here we go...

The first project I completed was a set of pillows for my new sectional (which came in the day before my son's first birthday party to which we had invited 40 people!).  I used Joel Dewberry's Ginseng fabric, which I have been dying to use since it came out.  I bought pillow forms and made envelope style pillow cases (that way if I change my mind later, or some designer comes out with something I like better, I just have to make another set of cases).

When I showed my aunt the super awesome fabric I would be using for pillows, she instantly declared she wanted a bag made from that fabric.  

Then I tackled the two dresses I wanted to make my niece 

for Christmas.  For the first dress, I used a Robert Kaufman print...I love damask and my sister's favorite color combination (which she used in her wedding) is pink and black.  I used a Butterick pattern that I adapted to fit her size and also added the banding at the bottom and made it sleeveless.

For the second dress, I used a fun Alexander Henry print and just patterned a very basic jumper.  I am hoping that she can use them as dresses with tights and/or leggings and long sleeve shirts this winter and then as dresses in the summer and I think I left enough room that in the fall they can be long, oversized shirts she can pair with leggings.  I am having a fellow EtsyMom team member (and seamstress) make matching headbands.  You can check out WeezaWear's Etsy shop for some great items!

So, hopefully, that will bring us up-to-date.  I have several projects awaiting my attention:  I am assembling a blanket for friend for Christmas, I have 2 no-sew fleece blankets to make for gifts, and several blankets to be made for my Etsy shop.  I also have some lovely fabric that wants to be an apron. 

It's Been A While...

Well.....it has been a while!  My computer crashed and I have been trying to replace it (changing over files, setting up a new system, switching to a wireless network...all of which is pretty new to me).  Then my kids have been sick........again.  In the midst of all that, we threw a 1st birthday party and celebrated Halloween.  Baby Boy did not want to get his hands dirty and snubbed the mess cake in a brutal fashion.  He did enjoy opening his presents;  chewing on the boxes is the BEST!  And while we didn't have a single duplicate 1st birthday card....he go 4, count 'em 4, Fisher Price Tool sets (daddy's a big time carpenter, big sis got her first hammer on her first birthday).  

Halloween was way too cute!  The baby tolerated the Mickey ears for waaay longer than I expected and a meek-looking (the fever disappeared right before we went out) big sister enjoyed trick or treating.

Hopefully, next week will be back to normal and I can get back down into the sewing cave (a.k.a. the basement) and possibly get something done!  In the meantime, enjoy:

Oh...don't forget to stop by the EtsyMom Street Team blog and enter the SUPER GIVEAWAY!!! We are giving away 2 prizes every day the whole month of November!!!!!  Don't miss out!

Feeling Good...

I won!!! I won the EMCA (Etsy Mom Curator Award) for curating Treasuries featuring Etsymoms. I won the October award and it is such an honor to be recognized for promoting the team...especially because it was sooo much fun! You can check out the new EMCA blog for screenshots of all the participating entries and to view some the items created by talented teammates. I won the choice of a prize from one of the three sponsors; I chose a painted frame from CraftGirlAlli and I can't wait to see it in person!!
I would also like give a big thanks to Kimberly, from CinnamonSpice for featuring me on her blog!!!! She also has an Etsy shop: Cinnamon & Spice Crafts. She makes beautiful photo albums, scrapbooks, keepsakes and much more!

On a separate note, I had a productive week. I was able to complete two blankets, a set of burpers, and a tote bag!

EtsyMom SUPER GIVEAWAY!!!!

Etsymom SUPERGIVEAWAY is coming!
The Etsymom Street Team is prepping for the holidays by taking the time-honored tradition of gift-giving to another level! Riding the wave of unity, harmony and excitement inspired by the Etsymom Trunk Show in September, our team tossed around a few ideas about our next team event. A little idea of having a giveway, where Moms would donate an item to be given away each day of November on our blog has morphed into a SUPER GIVEAWAY!! When the call for volunteers went out we had an overwhelming response of over 60 shops willing to donate a $10.00 in value item to this cause. Two winners will be randomly chosen everday to receive one of over 50 prizes. Donations will range from an assortment of hand embroidery, vintage finds, hair clippies, baby accessories, papercrafts, earthenware pottery and more. Perfect for gift-giving! There is a little bit of everything, so whether you like trendy, shabby chic, traditional or retro styles, you're sure to find something! Don't miss this ONLINE EXTRAVAGANZA. Visit us here beginning November 1st for giveaway rules and deadlines!

"Feels Like I'm Falling For Fall...."

For those of you with pre-schoolers, you may recognize the title as the lyrics from Moose A. Moose's fall song on Noggin (It runs through my head all day!)  But it is so befitting of the lovely weekend we had this past weekend which we capped off on Sunday with a family trip to a local state park for a picnic and a hike.  Most leaves were just barely starting to turn, but some were in full color and falling down, down, down.  We made a game of who could find the most colors and we collected leaves for a scrapbook.  We even found a fuzzy caterpillar!  And my kids, my city kids who don't always know the difference between a horse and cow, got to see horses on the trails! (I grew up on a farm and we now live in town and I am constantly amazed at how much of a city kid my daughter is.)