Newspaper Article and Giveaway!!

The newspaper article was available bright and early this morning!  I haven't seen it in actual print yet but here is the internet link to it in all it's glory. :) There are details that are wrong.  For instance, I never took a sewing class.  Overall though, it was pretty well written and very exciting to be our local newspaper!

In other news, Megan at In This Wonderful Life is hosting a giveaway for me!  If you'd like to enter, head on over and see her today!

Heart Babies

Last June, I was directed to Megan's blog to read about her son, Cohen who was born with a serious heart condition called Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome.  He passed away before he was two weeks old.  From there I found Ewan, Joshua, Bowen, and Annabelle.  Sadly, only Bowen and Annabelle are alive still.  I continue to read about each of these families on a semi daily basis. 

Bowen is scheduled for his second open heart surgery in early March.  Annabelle was recently placed on the heart transplant list.  Can you imagine?  Reading about these little one's and what they have gone through in their short lives just tares me up.  I've been praying for Bowen and Annabelle frequently.  (You can find Annabelle's button below.)


Bowen's daddy is Matt Hammitt of the Christian music group Sanctus Real.  He and his wife Sarah have decided to start a foundation to help families of children with Congenital Heart Defects.  There are way more details to be had in that last sentence but suffice it to say, there are so many ways that these families could financially use assistance. 

I was recently listing some headbands in my etsy shop and trying to creatively name them.  I was stuck on the last headband...

until I read Krista's blog entry that day...

So I decided to email her and ask if I could name this headband after her daughter, Annabelle.

If you'll notice in her button, Annabelle is wearing a large flower headband.  This headband really reminded me so much of her!  So I give you, the Annabelle. 

One thing I have learned about CHD's among children is that it is terribly under funded. 

In light of my previous statement...

I've decided to donate 50% of the sales on this headband, the Annabelle, to the foundation begun my the Hammitt family.  I will be doing this on a semi permanent basis.  (mainly because I have no idea what the future holds, so if for some unforeseen reason I had to close up shop, or whatever, obviously, I would have to stop.)

The Annabelle headband you see above is currently listed in my etsy shop.  I will be adding more soon.  I will also be adding a number of custom order listings for this headband.  If you have any questions or would like to order one, please contact me! 

Please feel free to visit any of the blogs I have referred to.  It is heart breaking but it certainly brings my life into perspective.  (Especially after days like today!)

Books! Books! Books! and a little chicken pox thrown in...

These are my favorite sewing books...I've gotten them over the course of these last 3 1/2 years.  I <3 books like this!  All the patterns come neatly inserted in an enveloped on the inside flap of the book.  The instructions are detailed...

 however there are NOT color photos for each step. 

In Stitches by Amy Butler is the first sewing book I was able to get my hands on.  This book has bag patterns, home decor patterns, and clothing patterns.  If you love Amy Butler and sewing, you'll love this book!

I would not recomend this book for a beginner.  Honestly, this recomendation has nothing to do with the skill level of a beginner but more the terminology of the book.  When I first began sewing, I was petrified of store bought patterns (still am for the most part!).  Mainly because there were terms in them I did not know.  I had never studied sewing or taken a class.  Everything I know has been self taught off the internet!  (Yikes.  That is kind of scary to read that in print.)  I made myself VERY familiar with sewing terms before I began any patterns in this book.  One good thing regarding that: there is a glossary in the back of all the sewing terms used in the book.  That IS helpful.

Not too long after receiving In Stitches, my husband bought this book for me: Little Stitches for Little Ones by Amy Butler. 

This book has 20 projects for babies and their mama's!  One I love, and made for myself is the Modern Diaper Bag.  Once again, knowing the terminology would greatly assist you in making one of these patterns.

One of the other books in that stack is 101 One Yard Wonders.  Have any of you completed a pattern from that book before?  I love the bags section! (Huh, I wonder why?)  There are some cute clothes I've got to try as well...especially with Spring coming soon...(well, soon I HOPE.)  Any tips or thoughts on that book?  I'd love to hear em! 

And one more item...for those of you who have kids or grandkids???

Check this out.

These bite looking spots showed up this morning and have grown in size and multiplied since the first round appeared.  The last I checked they had not multiplied and the initial swelling had gone down to resemble this flat, splotchy looking rash.  A friend of mine wondered if it was chicken pox?? 

Some areas are worse than others, but there is nothing (yet) on her chest or back.  These are all on her legs and in the crease of the upper thighs.  There are three on her right arm at the elbow.  Also some on her hands and feet.  Still nothing on her chest and back. (What I read about chicken pox says that the dots START on the chest and upper back.)

Do you have any ideas?  I appologize if these photos are too...much?  I will remove them in a few days, but we are trying to figure out what's up.  If it's chicken pox, we need to know...and I was told by the doc's office NOT to bring her in if it's chicken pox.  Hello?  Can't diagnose it without a doctor!

Thanks folks :) Hope you're having a great day!

 Edited: this turned out to be an allergic reaction to an antibiotic: omnicef.  Last summer she also broke out with something similar when she got stung by a wasp.  (we never saw the wasp, but the doc said by the looks of the sites, that's what did it.)  So, this is not chicken pox but an allergic reaction probably to a food or medication if your child also has a similar rash.

Terrible Lighting=Terrible Pictures

Remember the suitcases from this post?  Well, here's what I decided to use them for.  They were storing some linens before but since I emptied out my dresser that used to store my fabric, I have oober amounts of space to store linens where they should be, near the guest bed. So with this bit of empty storage space I did...

This.

All of my fabric scraps easily fit in here and I have a whole other empty suitcase for future fabric scraps. :) Where do you keep your fabric scraps??

Remember that beastly mirror I love?  I hung it across from the window with my pregnant lady drawing below it.  It is leaning up against the wall on one of the dressers.  Obviously, I also have some of my completed bags setting on the dresser.  (Don't mind my reflection in the mirror!) 

The settings on my camera were off and it's nighttime out...so, bad pictures.  Good thing for picnik.com or they wouldn't have even been sharable!  Come back soon for some bag sewing posts. It's been a while!

Organizing and Displaying

Hehehe, can you tell this mirror has been vacuumed out and dusted?  I hope so, cause it has been!  So here's what I decided to do with this piece.

Headbands!  One of my difficulties thus far is storing the products I make until they sell.  For now, this shelf/mirror is holding all of my ready to ship headbands.

See one you're interested in?  Email me!  All my headbands sell for $10.

Ah, yes.  Who can forget the vintage aqua ball jars?  The first one has bits of ribbon.  Second holds all my zippers.  Third holds bag hardware and the fourth is holding bits of lace.  (Yes, it's missing it's zinc lid.  I'm workin' on it!)

And the vintage aqua ball jars are resting on this...

The large shelf my husband built for our first nursery.  I do plan to paint and distress this piece, but for now, it is functioning!  All of my vintage ball jars are resting on it as well as my headbands that have not been decorated yet.

Remember those cute little ladders that were made from tabacco drying shelves?  Well, they worked perfect for my thread supply!  I actually filled both the ladders up!  I've hung one of the walls on either side of my sewing table.

I love a little color.

This pegboard thing used to be used for our coats in the Living Room.  But for Christmas, we purchased black, metal hooks with each of our kids letters on it.  We don't really need it for coats anymore so how about cutting utinsels?  It's working out great so far!

On another note, wow on the amount of ladies who have offered to pattern test for me!!  Thank you so much!  I've actually already had one send me photos of the finished bag.  No stressing though guys, we've got until mid February :) It's pretty amazing to see a finished product made from my tutorial!!  Which reminds me, if anyone has used any of my tutorials to create something, please please please send me photos of your finished product!  Each of my FREE tutorials can be found here.  I'm happy to answer any questions about any of my tutorials.  Hope you're having a great week!



Sewing Room Makeover---A Gathering of Items

I've been gathering items from around the house over the past 2 weeks that I think might be of use/decoration in my sewing room makeover.  I love the shabby chic/distressed look but not too shabby, right?  Everything in these photos (with the exception of two pieces) were things I already had on hand.  I'm going to be putting the room together in the next couple days: things on the walls, furniture where I want it, and supplies put away.  Mainly because of the photographer who's coming next week.  I want him/her to have something of which to take a photo.  Then, over the next little while as funds become available, I'll be redoing the furniture pieces, spraypainting some of the accessories, and generally prettifying the space.  So, you will see ongoing posts about that.  Let's move on...

In this photo you'll find a beast of a mirror.  It has to be an antique.  It's painted a pale blue/green color and is already perfectly shabby.  I've also got three vintage ball jars and a blue/white graniteware pot.  The picture is one of my favorites.  It's on it's side so if you'd like a better shot of it let me know.  It's a hand drawing of me when I was pregnant with our first child.  My husband drew it for my Valentine's Day gift that year.  I love it which is why it's going to be hung in this room.  (That and when it was hung in our LR, it seemed to make visitors uncomfortable.  Who knows.) 

 

I just realized I lied to you.  The two wire baskets on top of the suitcases I recently purchased at a thrift store for $1 a piece.  The cream colored vintage suitcases and ice cream chair were items I already owned.  I forgot to get a good picture of it but to the far right of the photo is the side of a white bench.  Not sure if I'll use it but it's up there in case!

Ok, here is one of the two items that I mentioned I had recently purchased.  In fact by recent I mean, this morning. :)  I went to pick up my new/used sewing table off of craigslist and the guy had this sitting in the same room.  He had alrady mentioned that this was the room where they put the furniture they planned to sell.  I thought to myself..."Self?  That little cupboard would make some great storage.  Make an offer!"  So do you think $20 was a good deal for this?  It's about 12" wide, maybe 8" deep and 6-7' tall.  There's a ton of shelves inside...should've taken a photo of the doors open!  We'll just save that for later.

My Mama gave me this dresser when we moved last year.  I'll be using this for fabric storage and whatever else will stuff inside!

Here's another freebie!  I got this little dresser from my Mom, who got it from her neighbor, who also got it for free!  I used it for my youngest's dresser but we recently bought a tall chest of drawers off Craigslist for the girls to share.  So we moved both of their dressers into my sewing room.  Should I leave it white??

I love this thing!  I think I got it at a yardsale and I've never actually hung it or done anything with it.  It's a window mirror with a little enclosed shelf on the bottom.  I thought it may be usefull storing something.  We'll see.  Btw, the mirror isn't that cloudy...it's dusty!  Don't tell my Mom!

The third dresser is the first daughter's old dresser.  Is three dressers in one room overkill???  They're already in use.  All three already have fabric in them!  (The third one is not full yet...) At the bottom right of the dresser is a wrought iron paper towel holder with four hooks at the bottom.  This is a possible storage item.  I thought for spools of ribbon but they won't fit on it.  Something else though?  The hooks would be great for tools. 

And in the west corner are the rest of my unique storage items.  There are 2 skinny ladders made of wood from tobacco drying shelves.  An old long/narrow wooden box.  A single row of pegs on an old 2x4.  A small white/distressed shelf.  And the last piece you see (other than the white plastic drawers) is a huge shelf that my husband built for me to go in our first nursery.  WHEW

I got this photo from Craigslist...but it's the table I just purchased this morning.  Not sure if I'm gonna paint it or not.  We shall see! 

I'll soon have some bag posts up again but right now, this project is foremost in my head!  (Can you tell?)  Any thoughts on what color I should paint the room?  Remember, I'm going the shabby chic route.  How about the 3 dressers?  Any thoughts there?  Paint them?  I was thinking of leaving the white but sanding them up a bit, then glazing with a tinted glaze.  That way I don't have to buy more paint.  If I paint the walls, then the white will stand out.  I dunno....

Outfit and Haircut

I said I would share the outfit I wore for the newspaper interview so here it is.  I purchased this outfit right after Christmas this year.  The sweater is actually gold with cream leggins and my new brown boots.  It is REALLY comfortable.  I can wear it all day and still feel comfortable. 

I also got my hair cut and colored recently.  I wanted to have it touched up in time for the photographer next week...I did not used to have bangs so I thought it would make a nice change. 

Here's the before picture...my hair has grown a bit cause this was taken last summer.  But this is before bangs :)

And now the bangs...

The interview went pretty well I thought.  The story comes out on January 31st...and on the same day, a new giveaway begins for Vibrant Designs!  Be sure and keep a lookout.  I'll announce that morning where to go and how to enter...

So...what have you been crafting lately?

What are you working on?

Here's what I've been working on today...

A removable ribbon rosette headband...this was a special order for a co-worker's daughter.  She wanted one of the lace headbands in her daughter's school color.  So since I wasn't able to find navy blue lace, we settled on ribbon.  There is a bead in the center but it is difficult to see in the photo.  (I love vintage ball jars!)

 I love the sheen of the ribbon.  Definitely gives it a dressy look.  I used 5/8" ribbon and did a basting stitch down one side.  Pull one thread to ruffle the ribbon as much or as little as you want.  Note to self...it takes about double the ribbon as it does the lace to do this project. Mainly because when you ruffle the ribbon you lose length.  So were I to do this again (and I probably will), I would use about a yard of ribbon.

This is a simple wrist strap.  A little tip of mine for hardware...I re-use hardware from yardsale finds.  Every summer, I haunt the yardsales and if I see bags and purses, I'll make my offer.  They take me up on it about half the time and I get a handfull of hardware for .50 .  Can't turn that down!  For the record, I have looked at bags in thrift stores but they usually are asking too much for them.  The swivel hook on this wrist strap was taken from another bag.  I love this because it's a great way to reuse items and save money.

So, what have you been doing today?  My husaband and I are hosting a teen activity this evening so I'm afraid this is as crafty as I'm going to get today! 

I'll post what I wore for the newspaper interview tomorrow since I did ask my readers their opinion on what I should wear.  The photographer comes next thursday so I'll probably wear the same thing. 

Pattern Testing

My Heidi Bag Tutorial is complete! I have 10 amazing ladies who have graciously offered to test run this tutorial for me! If you've never seen my Heidi Bag, here are 3 versions.  My favorite is to the right.  Part of me wishes I had kept it!  But, if I did that every time...I would run out of places to keep my bags.  I DO however, need a bag in that fabric!  It is my all time favorite fabric. 

Are you a seamstress?  Do you like making bags?  I am throwing the offer out one more time to my readers.  If you would like to try this pattern (without purchasing it!) and do a test run, please contact me.  Put Pattern Testing in the subject line and let me know you would like to test run my Heidi Bag Tutorial.  My goal is to have this bag tutorial up for sale by mid-February.  When the pattern is purchased, you will be able to make these bags for selling purposes! 

Thanks so much!  Hope you're having a great week.  We are recovering from sickness in this house...our two youngest have been ill.  The baby (15m) is going on 5 days of fevers and fatigue.  It has wiped her out!  And for anyone wondering...we have been to the doctor. Twice.  I am really hoping this fever breaks tonight!    Which Heidi Bag shown here do you like the best??

Recent Birthday gift and some questions...

Last weekend my two big kids had a birthday party to attend so I had to try out my new headbands on the little 6 year old birthday girl.  She's a hotpink kinda girl so I went with this.  These are super easy to make and you can make them removable as well. (THIS one is not removable)  If you'd like to try to make one, here's a link to a tutorial that is basically the same thing with an exception.  I changed it up in order to make the headband removable.  If you'd like to know how to do that, let me know and I'll take photos the next time I make them.

On to my questions...

Question #1

I'm sure there are a few bloggers out there who read this (I'm hoping anyways!) so tell me, what do you think about publicly sharing your faith on your craft blog?  This is something I've been considering for a while now: what to do?  My little blog is a craft/business blog.  There are some amazing Mommy blogs out there who are very open with their faith and I love that!  Would it be unwise to do that on a craft/business blog however?  I dunno...I haven't decided yet.  It's not an embarressment thing for me.  If you really wanted to know and emailed me, I would be happy to share...so, your thoughts?

  Question #2

Does anyone know what to do with a piece of wooden furniture that stinks?  With a capital S?  I purchased a small 3 drawer chest of drawers a few years back, painted it, and put baby items in it.  I didn't notice the smell until I put the clothes in it and they came out smelling.  I smelled the drawers wondering where it was coming from and vwallah...STINK.  So, the inside of the drawers stinks.  3 1/2 years after buying it, time has not done the trick.  I would really like to redo this and use it in my girls room for underclothes but not if they clothes are going to smell bad. 

HELP PLEASE!

Question #3 (and an annoucement!)  If you follow me on facebook, you may already know about this.

I woke up this morning to an interesting email.  (Honestly, I don't get that many emails so it was just cool getting an email!  On that note, if you're ever looking to blow some time, you can always email me ;) )  The email was from a reporter named Lois.  (I was DYING  to ask if her last name was Lane but I held my tongue)  She works for our local newspaper and said someone had referred my little business to her.  The paper does a local business spotlight every Monday and she wondered if I was interested in doing an interview this week for the Jan. 31st edition? 

SERIOUSLY??

So, I have an interview scheduled this Friday morning at 10am.  Did I mention my girls have been sick this week?  What am I thinking? 

My question? What should I wear for this thing?  Casual? Business Casual?  Long Black Velvet Dress?  (I am kidding with that one) 

Again...

PLEASE HELP!!

Etsy Listings and Coupon Codes

I've been working on a few new items for my Etsy shop and just got them listed today!  Yay me!  Would you like to see what they are??  Thought you might. 







I'd also like to announce that for the month of January (if you haven't alredy seen my above announcements) I am giving my followers and readers a coupon code!!  You can receive 15% off your whole purchase for the remainder of the month by simply entering this coupone code:

vibrantdesigns15

In other news, I've been reading up on various room makeover projects and planning out what items I'd like to have in my sewing room.  There are some seriously talented people out there!  WOW!  Here are a couple ideas I found that I think I'll be putting into practice...

From Primitive and Proper...


I need a tall chest of drawers for my girls room which is why I was drawn to this one.  We've decided to hold off on buying them one and trying to use what we've got. (for the time being anyways.)  But if I get one, this is what it will look like when I'm through with it!

From Serendipity Chic Designs

I DO have 3...yes...THREE...dressers like this one only there are only drawers as apposed to a door in the middle.  So I will for sure be using one of them to copy this little gem for my sewing room. 

And at Molly Lee Cards I found this...


I will definitely be trying this one out because I already have the perfect paper towel holder that we haven't used for a while.

Anybody have some great storage ideas?  I'm hoping to stay away from the ugly plastic drawers.  While they are functional, they are NOT pretty.  I would LOVE to get my hands on a card catalogue!  Any grand ideas there?  Hope you're having a great weekend!  I am holed up with two sick, feverish children who are very whiny and clingy.  Siiiighhhhh...this too shall pass.  One bonus: they love to cuddle.  (like right now, when I'm trying to type up this post!)  Happy Crafting!

Trinket Bag for my boy

This was a stocking stuffer for my son at Christmas time.  I found it over at Amazing Mae.  She calls them trinket keepers and makes them in all sizes.  I used her demensions for the mp3 player since that was what my son was getting for Christmas.  Just like the leapster bag, he works well when he has a VERY specific place to keep his items. 

The breakdown...

I used an old pair of my husband's jeans.  There was LOTS of fabric!  It's lined in plain black cotton calico.  She suggested using larger grommets than these, but I didn't have the tools to set the large grommets on hand.  So, I went with the smaller one and a smaller carabiner clip (not pictured). 

I hand embroidered his initials on the bag...hmm...the personalization aspect also lends to lopsided letters.  That's the part of handmade I HATE!  Maybe I'm a bit of a perfectionist. 

The trinket bag with it's trinket...an mp3 player.  We loaded up some of his favorite songs to it before Christmas morning.  So glad we did cause he had no idea what the thing was for.  It was nice to be able to show him right away.

The carabiner is not shown because it doesn't work well with the mp3 player inside and having the clip on.  It works out well when the player is in the bag, with the clip, and the wires can come out of the top.  The child can listen to it with the player inside and clipped to their belt loop.  I think I would make it a little bit wider if I had it to do over again.  The problem is that you can not remove the player from the bag when the carabiner clip is attached.  That is quite frustrating for a 5 year old who has trouble with fine motor skills. 

This is also extremely dificult to maneuver around a sewing machine.  It kept trying to pull out from underneath my presser foot.  Hence the reason why it is not topstitched.  It would have looked atrocious!!

The good part: he uses it and likes it.  And that's what I'm going for each and every time!

It has begun...

Oh dear...my neck of the woods is preparing for a snow storm...and it has effectively ruined my plans for the day!  My husband and I were supposed to drive north to see some friends and drop off a LARGE clothing donation to their clinic/center.  That is not to happen...

So, in an effort to help brighten my mood and went browsing through my computer for a good picture and found my house in the bloom of Springtime!!  Now, doesn't this help??  I love the trees in our yard!  And the red front door...that was there when we moved in :) Sure brightens it up...especially in the drap winter months. 

We just took the Christmas tree down last night.  It doesn't make me sad because I am happy to have that corner of my living room back again.  Woohoo! 

 a

In other awesome news this morning...my husband and I decided that now that our youngest has officially moved in with her big sister, I can use her old room for my new sewing room!  I didn't think I would be this excited...but I AM!  She really just slept in there and it doubled as a guest room.   Well, most recently our guests have slept in our basement with the addition of a great couch that lays out flat like a bed.  (A cross between a futon and a hideaway couch.)  There's a barebones bathroom down there as well...so there's not a lot of point in using the upstairs guest room. 

Soooooo....would you be interested in a weekly series of posts chronicling the Craft/Sewing Room Makeover?  My goal is to use as much as I already have on hand as possible and if I have to buy something, to buy it used.  I am COMPLETELY open to ideas for this 'makeover' as well.  Please send your thoughts my way! 

Well, here's hoping you aren't housebound by the snow like I am on this chilly January day! 

Haircessories...Oh My!

Back in November I think, we took a drive up to Amish Country to a fabric wearhouse.  While I was there, I purchased some lace because of a small tutorial I had seen on a lace hair pin.  The finished product was about the size of a quarter and was too cute!  Well, once I sat down to make my version, I couldn't find the tutorial!!  So basically, I wung it...wang it?   How about, I had to wing it. :) THAT sounds better! 

I love the skinny metal headbands with large accessories so here is my attempt at something like that.

The finished flower is about 3" across.  I made one of these plain and one with a pearl bead in the center.  Not sure which one I like better...

This is the set of barrettes I made for my daughter.  Yes, the one who's favorite color is yellow.  I hope she actually wants to wear them!  These each have a small barrette on the back of them.

I really like how they turned out.  I hope she does as well...even though she did pick out the lace while at the fabric wearhouse!  We'll see in the morning.   

ME modeling the headband...scary eh?  I LOVE the headband though...wondering if I should throw this in my Etsy shop???  What do you think? 

This is my  medium size set of barrettes.  I had an abundance of this lace. (Enough to make two headbands and two barrettes) So, I made these first to make sure I got it right.  I only had 1 yard of the yellow lace to work with.  These barrettes are about 2" across and I used a copper colored bead in the center.  Trying to decide if I like them. (the beads that is)  And once again, should I add these to my etsy shop?  I've pretty much stuck to bags thus far but have recently been working on other accessories and jewelry. 

Thoughts anyone?  Expand the shop?  And what to charge on something like this?  Do you like them?  A little feedback would be great :)

Hope you all are having a GREAT first of the year!  Have you entered to win my Heidi Bag over at Twelve Crafts?  Or the $25 gift certificate at Boufee Bambini?  Both the giveaways end this week so be sure to enter them both!