Little Darlings

Check out Spring Top Week at Made by Rae

2011-05-16T10:19:00.005-04:00

Voting started today. There are 5 days of voting....4 groups spread out between 4 days and the 5th day is final vote. The final vote will determine the Best Top Award (Readers Choice)!! Check back each day and vote for your favorite top!!

Kids' Birthday

2011-04-13T00:18:00.009-04:00

My daughter celebrated her 4th birthday over spring break (end of March) and my son celebrates his 6th birthday the end of April. I had planned on doing separate parties, but time flew by way too fast and I decided to do a combined birthday. We planned the party for this past Saturday. I was going to do it at the house, Lego theme for my son and something girly (My Little Pony, Strawberry Shortcake or Tinkerbell) for my daughter, but my husband vetoed that.....I was quite happy he vetoed it when I got sick, as were as the kids, and I didn't have time to clean the house!! We decided to have it at a local gym and let each of the kids invite the number of friends for the age they turned/are turning (4 and 6), then we included siblings and our friends' boys who are the same age as our kids. A few weren't able to join us, so we ended up with 13 kids. They took care of everything except the cake and candles. I always have to do something for the kids for their party and had planned on birthday shirts. Because we were all sick last week I ended up doing the shirts Saturday (finished 45 minutes before the party.....just enough to get a shower and get to the party 5-10 minutes early!!). I also baked cupcakes Friday night and then spent Saturday morning frosting them (not just one frosting, but two.....chocolate frosting and a colored icing). They turned out delicious, but I wish I could be one of those moms that doesn't always have to be doing stuff until the last minute and would just relax. My husband gives me a hard time about working up until the time we are walking out the door, but I just can't help it!! Enough rambling from me!! Here are the kids in their birthday shirts! My son requested a crown number shirt with crystals.......

Birthday Prince

Design from Lynnie Pinnie

Birthday Princess

Designs from Lynnie Pinnie

Change

2011-03-19T14:30:00.002-04:00

When I first started my blog it started off more personal. It quickly turned into more of a business blog, so I have wanted to change the blog address for a while. I was going to set it up with my business name, but it wasn't available. I've continued to check if it has become available, but no luck.....so, today I decided I would change it to www.littledarlingdesignsbyjulie.blogspot.com. The web address better reflects by business!

Starting Monday, all business will be on the new blog. I'm going to work on setting up the new blog this weekend and post the giveaway on the new blog Monday (hopefully). Head on over and become a fan!!

Thanks for your support!!

Almost to 500 fans...

2011-03-15T12:45:00.003-04:00

First thing....we are SO close to 500 fans on my facebook page. When I reach 500 fans I'm doing another giveaway. I'll be giving away a custom outfit, plus some other items from my stock. Help us get to 500 fans!! We are at 497 last I looked!!!

Here are some things I've been working on recently. The first is my daughter modeling the owl outfit I made her. The owl design is from here. I designed the pants. At this point they are available in size 3T, but soon I'll have them available in smaller/larger sizes. If you would be interested in a pair, please e-mail me to let me know what size you would need.....still haven't decided how big I'm going on them!

Felt Owl Clips.....aren't these the cutest!!! Love them!!

Owl Clip design from here.

Knit Doll Ruffle Pants

I'll have different fabric options available for the doll pants in the near future. I'm also going to make a top to match the owl outfit above as well as a matching dress/top to go with the pants.

This dress if for a custom order I'm working on. I have one more pillowcase dress to make and two bows to complete the order.

Lots more to do this week. My to do list:

Pillowcase dress
Crayon wallets
Art totes
2 Appliqued shirts
Custom Tooth Bag
2 Personalized tooth fairy pillows
Custom order for a changing pad, fabric diaper and wipes case and a binkie holder
Custom Zebra Pillowcase Dress with matching doll dress
Atari dust cover
Custom Window Shade for my bff (way past due)
Pattern design (knit pants, knit dress, etc.)
Shirts/dress for 15"/18" dolls
Sample First Communion/Flower Girl Dress
Christening outfit for my friend's little boy

The first 5 I have to get done this week by Wednesday or Thursday!! I guess I better get busy!!

Happy Tuesday!! Have a GREAT day!!

The winnners are.....

2011-03-07T17:06:00.005-05:00

Thanks again to everybody who participated in my giveaway. I'll be doing more giveaways as I get more followers on my blog and more facebook fans on my business page. Please continue to spread the word!! I'll be doing my next giveaway when I ready 300 fb fans.....only 56 more fans until the next giveaway.

In the future I will announce the winner on my blog and will give you about 24 hours to respond and claim your prize. If I don't hear back from within that amount of time then I will draw a new winner. You will need to check my blog the day I say I'm going to announce the winner in order to see if you won. This time I e-mailed the winners Friday and gave the winners all weekend to respond and even sent out extra e-mails to those I didn't hear back from as of last night. A couple of the winners didn't claim their prize, so this morning I picked new winners. Now that all the pillows are claimed I would like to announce who they are....

(#37) Blue Pillow: Dawn, from DeDa Studios, who said "Just showing some love!!...."
(#14) Purple Pillow: CracklinRosie, from Hootie Patootie, who said "Love the pillows!"
(#33) Customized Pillow (from blog): greatdeals2010 (Kershy), who said "I visited your website and love the blue monkey taggie blanket under toys~"
(#11) Customized Pillow (from facebook): Gretchen, who said "Hey Julie- I found your site through your personal FB page since we went to school together. I love your stuff & my daughters do to...."

Congratulations to all the winners!!

Have a wonderful night!!

UPDATE: Tooth Fairy Pillows

2011-03-06T20:43:00.002-05:00

Mandi and Carli, if you don't claim you tooth fairy pillows by tomorrow morning I will be picking new winners after I drop my daughter off at school (Monday morning). Please check your e-mail for a message from julie @ littledarlingdesigns.com or jellaan @ comcast.net.

I had a wonderful weekend with family! My brother was visiting from out of town. We played UNO and lots of Wii yesterday. The kids LOVE having their uncle around and miss him living here!! My brother left this morning and we headed south to meet up with my in-laws for my mother-in-laws birthday. We did some outlet mall shopping, had a meal at Tumbleweed, shopped some more and then headed home. It was a great weekend!! I'll miss my family, but will look forward to the next visit!!

Olivia Owl Order

2011-03-05T01:37:00.002-05:00

I had plans on getting at least a couple orders done today, but ended up just getting this one shirt done. I LOVE the way this little owl shirt turned out!! Isn't it cute?!! The design is from here. I love this fabric and think I'm going either make an outfit for the shop or one for my daughter. I need to see what sizes I still have in these shirts.

Have a great weekend!!

Giveaway - Winners have been notified

2011-03-04T12:19:00.004-05:00

UPDATE: I'm going to give the winners until the end of the weekend to get back to me since I have family in town and after thinking about it some might also be busy with family. If I haven't heard from them by Monday morning I will draw new winners for the unclaimed pillows.

Winners have about 24 hours to respond to my e-mail. If I don't hear back from you I will pick a new winner.

Once I hear back from all the winners I'll announce the names.

Thanks to everybody for participating!! Please continue to spread the word about my blog and facebook page! Once I reach 300 fans on my facebook page I'll host another giveaway for one item from my craft show stock. Last I looked I was up to 236 fans....this past week Little Darling Designs went from about 130 fans to 236, so it's possible in another week we could be having another giveaway.

I don't plan on participating in craft shows this year, so I'll be posting a bunch of my stock in the ready to ship album at discounted prices as I have time. All items in the ready to ship album include shipping, so the price you see is the price you pay.

LAST day to enter the giveaway!!

2011-03-03T10:08:00.003-05:00

If you haven't entered my giveaway, today is the last day. To learn more about the giveaway click on the picture of go here, http://mommypatrol.blogspot.com/2011/02/time-for-giveaway.html. You have until 11:59 p.m. tonight. I'm also giving away one personalized tooth fairy pillow to one of my facebook fans. See my facebook page for more details.

Please Pray for Luke and updates

2011-03-03T08:57:00.009-05:00

First, I would like to ask you to pray for Luke. A couple months ago Luke, a 6 year old little boy, was diagnosed with a brain infection. While his family was driving in their car on the last day of 2010 Luke became completely nonresponsive. No movement. No blinking. No talking. Silent. Gone. His parents pulled over and called 911. Luke's father signalled for a police officer at an adjacent stop light to come help. The officer pulled Luke out of his car seat, laid him on the ground and took the phone to speak to the 911 operator. Luke was having a seizure. Luke was eventually take to the hospital in an ambulance and still remains in the hospital. Luke has been in a lot of pain and having trouble sleeping. You can read more about Luke at prayforluke.com. Here is the latest update. They will be traveling to Mayo in the near future. Please pray for Luke. Here are the family's Prayer Requests:

Sleep for Luke
Mayo travel (Rochester, MN)
Doctors at Mayo
Abram (little brother) - he will go with us on this adventure along with our friend, Lea
Answers
Complete Healing

The last couple days haven't gone as planned. I planned on getting a lot done, but have been so tired and had house cleaning and laundry to do, so I haven't gotten much done in the sewing room. The last post stated I would be posting some new designs I will be offering. Well, I haven't gotten anything else stitched out, but I did take some pictures of the other St. Patty's day shirt I stitched out. The design is from here. This shirt is a 4T and is ready to ship if anybody is interested. I stitched out 2 St. Patty's day shirts and my daughter decided she wanted the other shirt, so I'm offering this one up for sale. The shirt is $20.00 and I'm offering free shipping. I can add a bow to the shamrock and/or more crystals around the shirt if you want (free of charge). Please e-mail me if interested and I will send you an invoice.

Happy Thursday!! I'm off to finish up an order and possibly get some new items stitched up.

Welcome New Followers and new projects

2011-02-28T21:27:00.007-05:00

Welcome all new followers. Thanks for stopping by. I love to hear your comments!!

I've been working on some new projects. I bought a jewel setter at least a couple years ago and it sat in the box until just a few days ago. I don't know why I never got it out before....it's so much fun!!

This first design I stitched out for my daughter who is a March baby. I love all the crystals....what little girl doesn't love sparkles!! This will be available in my shop sometime this week. The design is from here.

This project is also going to be available in my shop just as soon as I get a chance to set it up this week. I am also giving away one of these custom shirts in a giveaway at Wild Sisters Bowtique, so go check out the giveaway. This design is from here. I also have this design in numbers, which work great for birthdays!! I'll get a picture posted tomorrow with a sample of the number design.

I'm a little late getting St. Patty's day shirts up....guess these will be ready for next year. If anybody is interested one of these shirts, please feel free to e-mail me. I'll have another St. Patty's day shirt posted tomorrow. This designs is from here.

The following little girl pillowcase dress and matching doll dress is available in my shop, but I also donated one to the auction for the Staats family going on over at Polka Dot Junkie by Megan Green. If you aren't familiar with the Staats family, they lost their 4 month old daughter when she stopped breathing at the babysitters. You can find out more about the Staats family on their blog.

Check back tomorrow for more new designs. Have a great night!!

Hoppin Weekend

2011-02-26T00:13:00.002-05:00

This Hop Opens Every Friday At 3pm PST And Stays Open Until 9pm PST Sunday Link up an type of social network!

Saturday Stalk REMIX Bloghop

2011-02-25T22:51:00.005-05:00

Happy Saturday!!

It's a Social Parade - hosted by Smart and Trendy Moms

2011-02-25T21:35:00.002-05:00

Participating in the Social Parade on Friday. Join in with me!

Facebook Hops

2011-02-25T20:21:00.004-05:00

Happy Friday!! I'm in need of Facebook fans and blog followers. If you follow me in any/both of these of these medias leave me a comment and I'll return the favor and follow you back.

Here are some of the facebook hops for today:

http://thefrugalfreegal.com/2011/02/facebook-friday-link-up-your-facebook-fan-pages-2/

Time for a GIVEAWAY!!

2011-02-24T10:32:00.004-05:00

I've thought about doing a giveaway many times and just haven't gotten around to putting one together. I decided last week that now is the time. For this giveaway I will be giving away the two tooth fairy pillows in the first picture below, plus a personalized tooth fairy pillow. There will be three winners chosen through random.org. If I reach 300 fans on my facebook page I will pick a another winner for a personalized tooth fairy pillow. Are you wondering if you read that correctly? Yes, there is a possibility for 4 winners!!

So, how do you get a chance to win? See the details below the pictures.

The winners of the personalized pillows will have the choice of a boy or a girl pillow in any color minky fabric I have in stock at the end of the giveaway. Giveaway will run for one week and winners will be drawn next Friday morning (March 4th). Once I draw the winners I will e-mail each and then post the winners.

When I reach 500 fans on my facebook page I will do another giveaway for a custom outfit (boy or girl).

Sample personalized pillows I made for customers.

Here are the details for entering this giveaway.

Mandatory:

Become a follower of my blog and then leave a message under comments that you are a follower and please include your e-mail address so I can easily get in touch with you if you are the winner.

Extra Entries:

Like my facebook page and then leave a message under comments that you did this and also include your e-mail address.
Blog about this giveaway and then leave a comment with your blog address and your e-mail address.
Share this giveaway on your facebook page and leave a message that you did this and again, include your e-mail address.
Check out my etsy shop and leave a comment what you like in the shop. Please include your e-mail address.
Visit my website, Little Darling Designs, and leave a message what you like and please include your e-mail address.
If you did all of the above, leave another comment to earn an additional chance to win. Again, please include your e-mail address.

PLEASE remember to include your e-mail address with each comment. If you forget to include your e-mail address, please delete your comment and then leave a new comment with your e-mail address. If you don't include your e-mail address I will not search for it if you are a winner and I will pick another winner. Thanks for your cooperation!!

Giveaway closes at 11:59 p.m. EST on Thursday, March 3, 2011. Any comments left after that time will not be included when I pick the winners.

That's all!! I'll be in touch with the winners on Friday, March 4, 2011.

Happy Thursday!!

Celebrate the BOY!!

2011-02-15T11:02:00.009-05:00

Do you have a boy and like sewing ideas for him? If your answer is yes, then you need to check out Made by Rae and MADE this month. They are celebrating the BOY for the next month. Each day each will have some new ideas for sewing for the boy(s) in your life.

Today Made by Rae kicks off the first day with a tutorial for dragon slippers. These would be great for the boys in your life, but with this tutorial you can make them for anybody, any size!! Aren't they cute!!!

Photo from Made by Rae

Dana at MADE kicks off the first day with a tutorial for kid's pants. Throughout the month she will share a series of pants ideas with you, each one building on each other, with tutorials and patterns. A couple years ago she shared a tutorial for making Knee Pad Pants, which I love!! Check it out here and then go here for today's tutorial.

Photo from MADE

If you missed out on last year's Celebrate the BOY click here to check it out.

Happy Sewing!!

Another custom outfit and some other orders....

2011-02-10T09:40:00.006-05:00

I haven't been good about taking the time to blog lately, so thought I would take a few minutes today to show you a few things I have worked on over the past few weeks. Here are just a few things I've completed recently. A couple of the things are for my daughter and the rest are orders.

This is one I completed a while ago, but my daughter wore it yesterday to school. I love pillowcase dresses because they can be worn all year round and can be worn for years. Once it is too short for a dress she can wear it as a top with some pants, shorts or capris.

Here is another outfit I made for my daughter recently. She wore this to school Monday. The skirt is a new pattern I am working on designing. I need to make some changes the next time around, but I love the way it turned out!! My daughter picked the bird fabric out of my stash and insisted I make her a skirt with it (although I had plants to make some ruffle pants), but on Monday she was in tears before school because she wanted a black bird (black fabric with birds on it....never seen anything like this) skirt to wear with the shirt!! The girl has a mind of her own and is very particular about what she wants these days!

The bird design is from GG Designs.

Here is a shirt a friend of mine ordered to give to her niece. I love these fabrics and think I'm going to make another shirt with this same owl and fabrics with some matching pants/capris. I think this will make a cute spring/summer outfit. What do you think?

The owl is from Planet Applique.

Here are a couple shirts I made for an order for twin girls. I've used this owl many, many times. It is one of my favorites. It is the Olivia Owl design from Lynnie Pinnie.

A friend of mine found a couple outfits she wanted for her daughter, but they were only available up to size 12-18 months and her daughter is 3. The first one was made from giraffe minky fabric and was loved by all. :) This is the second outfit I made. It has a few changes from the picture she showed me. I created my own patterns for this outfit. I haven't seen it on her daughter yet, but can't wait!!

These last two outfit were made for a customer. The bird design is from Planet Applique.

The Rocketship is from Digistitches. I got the idea for the patches on the pants from MADE. When my customer asked for pants made out of cotton fabric in size 18-24 months I thought about how many pairs of pants my son has ruined because he is so hard on the knees. It thought patches on the knees would be cute and would help the pants last longer. She liked the idea, so here is what I created.

All of these outfits can be made to order in the size and fabric of your choice. Please e-mail me if you are interested in placing an order.

Valentine

2011-01-20T22:28:00.004-05:00

I've been trying to get orders done and samples made for Valentine's products for my Etsy shop. I also finished a swap gift, over a month late! I hate getting behind, but was sick a lot back in the fall and got way behind. I got the last of my December orders out this week and now I'm working on January orders. I hope tomorrow and this weekend will be productive and I can get most of my orders done and out Monday. Wish me luck!!

For now, I'll share with you some of the hair clips and Valentine shirts I've been working on. The felt hair clips are from GG Designs.

This heart butterfly design is from Five Star Fonts.

This cupcake heart design is also from Five Star Fonts.

I've got a bunch more valentine designs to test out and hope to share those in the next few days.

Patterns

2011-01-11T12:56:00.005-05:00

One of my goals for 2011 is to create some of my own patterns to use for products in my shop. I started working on my first 2 patterns and want to share my first test run. They are both for knits.....one for a dress/top and the other for some ruffle pants.

I got started playing around with knits/minky when friend showed me a picture of an outfit she and her daughter really liked. The outfit was not available in the size she needed for her daughter. I created this outfit from a photo and used no patterns. My friend and her daughter loved the outfit!! Here is the outfit for my friend's daughter....

Here is the first run of the patterns I'm working on....

Happy New Year

2011-01-01T23:48:00.003-05:00

Welcome to 2011!! I can't believe we are starting a new year. Last year was a good year, but hoping for a better year this year. I had a wonderful Christmas with my family. After staying up until 2:30 a.m. Christmas Eve we had a wonderful Christmas morning with the kids. My in-laws came in Christmas afternoon and stayed until Monday. Then Wednesday we headed to my parents' house and spent 3 days with them, my younger brother and my older brother, niece and nephew. I always cherish the time we get to spend with all the family. I feel blessed to have wonderful family that we get to spend time with on a regular basis. I do wish everybody was closer and we got to see them more often, but I know we see them much more often then many other families. My kids love spending time with their grandparents, uncles and cousins!! We are always sad when we have to part ways!! :(

I was quite spoiled this year. I received some wonderful gifts. Some of my favorite gifts are a Mini Compaq, Nook, Keurig, Rowenta Pressure Iron & Steamer, OttLite for my sewing room and Little Girls, big style. I have several books I received for my birthday from my in-laws, along with the book I just mentioned I plan to put to good use over the next few months!! I have been collecting blue/white porceline for years. I don't add much to it any more because I don't have the room, but my husband surprised me this year with some new plates for the empty plate display in our dining room. I LOVE the plates (thanks for giving hubby the idea Mom!!)!! They are in the display, but still need the tags removed.

I have lots of goals I plan to work towards. I refuse to call them resolutions because when I do I never follow through because I loose interest or get too busy with life. I hope to work on each of my goals and may some progress this year. The first of my goals is organization!! A friend of mine told me about flylady.net. I hope flylady will help me achieve my goal of organization. My Mom and I talked about following flylady together....hoping to keep us both accountable!! One of my first task to help with this goal is to find a dresser/cabinet to put in the garage entry way to hold all the kids art supplies. I need a something about 33" wide by 18" deep. Please let me know if you have any ideas....I'm not having much luck!! A couple other goals are to get to bed earlier (by midnight) on a regular basis so I can get up 30 minutes before the rest of the family and get a workout in each morning. With both the kids in school this year I cherish my morning time while my daughter is at preschool 3 days a week. I usually spend this time sewing (orders usually) or running errands. Morning is my favorite time to work out, but I need to do it when it isn't cutting into my kid free time. One more goal I'm willing to share at this time (I'll share several others at a later time) is getting the family back to church Sunday mornings. We made it to church a couple times in December and hope to continue making it to church 3 out of 4 Sundays a month. We have always had a hard time making it to church because we like to sleep in and catch up on our sleep on the weekends. I figure if I can regularly get 7 hours of sleep a night I shouldn't need to catch up. I feel it is important not only for the kids, but for us spiritually to go to church on a regular basis.

Tomorrow we will probably be sleeping in since we just got back in town tonight, but Monday will hopefully be the start of a new routine!! Wish me luck!!

Happy New Year to you all!!

Finally starting on Christmas presents....

2010-12-18T11:49:00.002-05:00

Last night I got started on family Christmas presents. I'm way behind this year and have a ton to do over the next 6 days!! Got my husband's grandmother's blanket done last night and it went in the mail this morning. This morning I started cutting out pants for the kids. So far I have 5 pairs of pants cut out (for the girls) and about to start cutting out the boys (5 more pair). Then I will begin sewing. I plan to embroider shirts to go with several pairs, so I've got my work cut out for me.

I'm participating in a gift exchange through one of my groups and haven't even started or figured out what I'm making for the person I'm responsible for. The package was suppose to go in the mail by the 10th, so as you can see I'm way behind!! Thanks to 2 nasty colds and the flu!!

I have a bunch of other presents to make too, cookies to bake and decorating to finish! I'm hoping to get a bunch done this weekend!! Back to work for me!!

Beautiful Dreamer and other projects

2010-11-18T12:17:00.006-05:00

Here are a few projects I've been working on lately. I have a craft show this weekend, so there are a lot more!!

Just finished testing this nightgown for Ellie Inspired. Beautiful Dreamer will be available for sale very soon.

Pattern I tested for Katie Cupcake. Urban Girl Skirt for little girls. It was cold outside, so my daughter wasn't very cooperative!!

Pattern I tested for Katie Cupcake. Urban Girl Skirt.

Sample for my Craft Show this weekend.

Miss Madeline

Yule Tree fabric by Michael Miller

Another sample for my craft show. Also, a late birthday present for my daughters little friend. I liked it so much I decided it need to be displayed at my show.

Frame from Planet Applique

This was from October, but I never showed the finished dress for my friend's daughter. LOVE how it turned out!!

Pattern Testing

2010-10-22T21:46:00.003-04:00

I have the wonderful job of testing patterns for a few pattern designers. Most recently I got the opportunity to test a couple different patterns for Ellie Inspired.

This little dress is actually from a pattern for slips, Nanny Etticoat, but I decided it would be cute as a dress for the fall for my daughter. Now I just need to find a pink cardigan for her to wear over it on cool days!! Nanny Etticoat should be available in the pattern shop at Ellie Inspired very soon.

Lil' Bluebird is such a cute pattern. It includes capri pants and a top with two different sleeve options. It is now available for sale in the pattern shop at Ellie Inspired.

Busy, busy, busy....

2010-10-07T12:02:00.003-04:00

I'm busy finishing up orders so the next week I can focus on sewing for the craft show I have next Saturday. I'm getting close to being done and hope to finish today or tomorrow. Here is one order I'm working on. The Minnie Mouse dress is a test run and the final will get finished today, hopefully!! I need to make some adjustments to the pattern for the final. Please ignore the mess and the bad quality of pictures!!

Mommy's Weekend

2010-10-01T09:29:00.002-04:00

I shouldn't even be sitting down and blogging, but it's been so long I thought I should at least write something. I haven't even packed yet and I'm getting picked up around 11:15!! I'm leaving the house a mess! I've been busy sewing orders, sewing for fall craft shows, sewing for a gift exchange and sewing for birthday parties! Busy, busy, busy. My house needs to be cleaning, but I haven't spent much time cleaning lately. A bathroom gets cleaned when it looks like it needs it, the floors get vacuumed when I can't stand it any more, dishes get done every day and laundry gets washed and dried, but is still sitting in baskets to be folded. I should be working on packing and folding laundry!!

My MOPS steering group is heading south. I think most of us feel the need to get away once in a while and what's better than a weekend with the girls!! I'm so looking forward to the weekend!! Less than two hours and my ride will be here. Off to pack and do whatever else I can find the time to do!!

Happy Friday!! Have a wonderful weekend!!

Lost tooth

2010-09-21T08:59:00.003-04:00

My little boy, who is 5 and just started kindergarten a little over a month ago, lost his first tooth last week. One of my friends had me make a tooth fairy this summer for her 5 year old who had a loose tooth and ever since my son has begged for a tooth fairy pillow of his own. I didn't see any rush in getting it done until he came up to me one day and said, "Mommy, I have a loose tooth. Have you made my tooth fairy pillow?" I didn't believe the loose tooth part until I saw for myself it was really loose and he had a tooth popping up behind it. So, I procrastinated some more until one day last week when he showed me his tooth and it was barely hanging on. That night I stitched up the front and the next day when he came home with the tooth in a plastic bag I stitched up the pillow and let him help me stuff it. Did I mention I knew this was going to be the day? I predicted it when I saw his tooth the day before! Anyway, he was very excited to loose his first tooth and also to help stuff his own pillow. He did a good job stuffing, with just a little extra stuffing from me.

These cute little pillows are going up in my Etsy shop very soon! I'll also be making up a girl version.

My first tooth fairy pillow for my friend's son.

Halloween Black Cat Skirt

2010-09-11T10:48:00.003-04:00

I saw this really cute Halloween dress someone posted on Sewforum and fell in love. I remembered I had a remnant of similar fabric, orange with white polka dots, in my fabric stash and thought I could make a skirt out of it. The person who posted the dress also mentioned she got the embroidery from Applique Momma, so I ran over to her website, got the cat and went to town. In my opinion, this little skirt turned out so cute!! I have it available in my Etsy shop, available for custom order if anybody is interested. I can even make a coordinating shirt to go with it if interested.

So, this morning as I'm working on my computer I get an e-mail from somebody through Etsy and found out my little skirt made it to this person's treasury on Etsy. You can view the treasury here, http://www.etsy.com/treasury/4c8b8a9d726c8eef9a3deec3/meow?index=0. I've never made it into a treasury on Etsy, so I'm quite excited!!

Woohoo!! I received an early birthday present....3 new craft books!!

2010-09-08T19:57:00.003-04:00

I spent my morning sewing a dress for a customer who contact me last night and wanted a dress for Sunday. My policy has always been, pay for your order then I sew it up, but since this was a rush order and I knew I had time this morning and maybe not again until Friday, I went ahead and sewed it up. She said she would send payment by 3:00 this afternoon. 3:00 came and went and finally at about 7:00 this evening I get an e-mail telling me she changed her mind. For now on, I stick to my policy!! Now I have a size 8 white pillowcase dress ready to ship if anybody is interested..... http://www.etsy.com/listing/55791883/boutique-pillowcase-dress-size-8-ready

Kids had swimming lessons tonight and they both did so great!! I'm so happy it wasn't the struggle we had this summer when they wouldn't participate unless they were in the same class. Today we had long talks about them being in different classes and I didn't want to hear any whining and it worked!! Woohoo!!

I came home and saw three craft books I've been wanting sitting on the counter. I asked hubby what they were doing there and he said they were the beginnings of my birthday present from my in-laws (more than a month early!! :-))!! Yiippee!! I can't wait to sit down, read through them and make some new things. Here are the books I just received....

Sew & Stow - 31 Fun Sewing Projects to Carry, Hold, and Organize Your Stuff, Your Home and Yourself! by Betty Oppenheimer
http://www.amazon.com/dp/1603420274/?tag=mh0b-20&hvadid=42535318&ref=pd_sl_1149ynrj3b_e

Sewing Bits & Pieces - 35 Projects Using Fabric Scraps by Sandi Henderson
http://www.amazon.com/Sewing-Bits-Pieces-Projects-Fabric/dp/0470539240/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1283991302&sr=1-1

Sewing Clothes Kids Love (includes 10 full size patterns) by Nancy J.S. Langdon & Sabine Pollehn
http://www.amazon.com/Sewing-Clothes-Kids-Love-Instructions/dp/1589234731/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1283991327&sr=1-1

Now I need to finish up a couple skirts I started earlier today and maybe move onto some other projects on my long to do list.....probably some Halloween/Fall stuff first!!

Have a wonderful night!!

First Days of School

2010-08-31T09:54:00.005-04:00

First, I apologize for the LONG post, but figured I should include both the kids first days of school (even if they were 2 weeks apart!).

I should probably start off with my son's first day of Kindergarten. He actually started a couple weeks ago and bad mommy didn't record his first day, so I'll share his first day before I get to my daughter's first day. He is in his 3rd week of school. He takes the bus to and from school every day and loves it! His first day with the bus was crazy! The information we received in the mail was incorrect. The bus number it told us to look for did not stop. This was confusing for us as parents (1st time sending a child on a bus) and for him. He was in tears because he thought he wasn't going to take the bus that morning, but another bus going to the same location stopped and he was able to take it. The system does bus transfers, which is crazy! They go to their home school (which doesn't have Kindergarten) and then transfers to a different bus to go to his school. We felt we needed to go where the he transferred buses to make sure he got where he needed to go. We had to wait a while for his bus to finally show up and then made sure he got on the transfer bus. Very nerve racking!! I talked to the bus driver of the bus I thought he was suppose to get on from our house and found out they changed routes and he should have been on a different bus. We got all that figured out....

Then after school I waited at the bus stop until about 5:15 (about 1 1/2 hours past his scheduled drop off) when he finally arrived home. When it was almost 5:00 I tried calling transportation and couldn't get anybody on the phone and was about in tears until another bus stopped to verify our address and tried to help me track him down. In the meantime his bus finally arrived. What a long day for a Kindergartner (school let out at 3:15)!!

Here he is the morning of his first day in his new embroidered t-shirt. I was going to do something like Kindergarten Rocks, but he wanted a dinosaur, so that is what he got! The embroidery is from Lynnie Pinnie.

My little girl started her first day of preschool yesterday. Part of me is sad because she is growing up so fast and I did miss having her around all morning, but I do have to say I did enjoy a few hours of kid free time! After dropping her off at school I had a few errands to run (about 5 places to stop). What would have taken me all morning with both the kids took me just over an hour!! I love getting errands done quick! I then came home and did some uninterrupted sewing. I finished an order and was able to drop it in the mail after I picked her up from school.

When I woke her up yesterday she whined for the first hour that she didn't want to go to school. This is a new experience for her, so I'm sure there were some nerves involved. After big brother left for school she settled down and got excited about school. By the time I dropped her off she was ready to play with her new friends. When I picked her up she asked if she can come back another day! As we were driving home we talked about what she did at school and she then say a song she learned. She LOVES to sing!!

Since it was her first day, she had to have a new outfit. She is in the kangaroo class, so I found a cute kangaroo applique from Sewing For Sarah. For the shorts I used the Easy Fit Pants pattern by Carla C from You Can Make This and shortened them so they hit a little below her knee. I actually wanted them a little shorted, but at least now she wear them longer.

Recent Projects

2010-08-27T22:37:00.004-04:00

A friend of mine placed an order a while back. I think she placed it right after we got back from vacation the first week of July. I had hoped to get it done within a couple weeks, but things were crazy with the kids and it took a while. Thankfully she was understanding and said to enjoy the last of the summer before school started! :-) I finally finished it and sent it out last week. She received it last Saturday and sent an e-mail telling me how much her kids loved their new items. Her 3 year old daughter slept in her new robe Sunday night and wanted to take it to school with her to school the next day!! LOL!!

An extra shirt for my friend's 5 year old.

Design from Lynnie Pinnie

An extra twirl skirt (now known as the Fiona skirt after my friend's daughter).

My own design.

Robe for a 3 year old little girl. She picked the fabric.

Pattern is Simplicity? (I can check number if anybody is interested). It was pretty easy.

Tooth fairy pillow for a 5 year old little boy who just lost his first 2 teeth in August.

My own design, but the pocket and tooth are from Sewforum.

I made a similar blanket for my friend's daughter when she was a baby. She has loved it so much it is falling apart and my friend ordered a new one for her. Hopefully she loves this one just as much!!

My son started Kindergarten last week and my daughter starts preschool Monday, so I will hopefully be doing a lot more sewing starting this coming week. She will be going to school 3 half days a week, so I will have almost 12 hours of free time each week!! Yippee!! I know I'll miss her, but I will enjoy the uninterrupted sewing time (maybe even some errands without kids, maybe even a 'coffee date' with a friend once in a while). I love my kids, but I'm dreaming of all the projects I can accomplish when they aren't home interupting me every 15 minutes. :-)

Pink Leopard Skirt and Flower Embroidered Shirt

2010-08-27T22:14:00.005-04:00

I bought a 1/2 yard of this fabric sometime in the last couple years. I used some of it for another project (although I intended to fully use it to make something for my daughter). Turns out, there was enough to make a skirt for my daughter. I then debated for a week or more what I was going to embroider on a shirt to go with the skirt. Wednesday night I finally decided on a flower from Planet Applique and LOVE the way it turned out. I now have this embroidered shirt available in my Etsy shop....it's so cute!! I will be adding the outfit and matching bow to the shop too.

My daughter had her preschool open house on Thursday, so this was her outfit for the day. Isn't she cute!!

Birthday Presents - the Mia top by Pink Fig

2010-08-11T10:27:00.002-04:00

My friend's 2 little girls had birthdays back in the spring (March and May). When the youngest one turned 5 I showed her some patterns and she picked out the Mia top by Pink Fig for her present. I've been so busy and just never got it done. They moved to the other side of town and my friend started a new job working Monday through Friday instead of the weekends, so I haven't seen them since May. The last time I saw them the little 5 year old asked if I finished her top/dress and when I told her I hadn't had a chance. She asked if I could have it done by the time she started Kindergarten and I told her I would. So, I made it priority to get it done and finished the tops Monday (actually Tuesday morning around 2:30 a.m.) so I would have them when I saw her Tuesday morning before she started her first day of Kindergarten. Unfortunately, the Tuesday morning play date got cancelled. Hopefully I can give these to the girls soon!

Sewing

2010-08-04T12:14:00.003-04:00

So, I haven't gotten any sewing done the last 2+ weeks. Last week my Mom, niece and nephew were visiting, so the week was devoted to doing fun stuff with the kids. I had hoped to get some sewing done in the evenings after the kids were in bed, but I was just too exhausted (and I think a little burned out) and didn't work on anything in the evenings. My Mom and I did play around with material for the quilt (she is making), bed skirt and valances (I'll be making) for my daughter's room and also shopped at Hobby Lobby and JoAnn's. So, we didn't totally neglect crafts. My Mom did tie died shirts with the kids and they also worked on a stepping stone to create a memory from our beach trip in July. It was a fun, but exhausting, week and we look forward to doing it again next year. This was year number 2.....last year was at my parents' house, this year my house and next probably at my parents' again.

I spent the first couple days this week getting things back in order from last week, organizing some garage sale stuff and catching up on laundry. Laundry is mostly finished (washed, folded, just need to finish putting away). Downstairs is in pretty good order now (except for the toys the kids like to leave around the house), just need to do some vacuuming and scrubbing/steaming the floors. I'll have to clean the bathrooms again at the end of the week, but for now I don't plan on doing much more than running the vacuum and maybe spot cleaning the tile floors. The garage sale stuff is better organized (not taking up so much of my craft room), clothes sent home with my brother for my nephew and clothes/shoes for my kids to grow into are back in the storage closet. I'm making progress.

Today I'm going to work on some sewing. I've got 2 tops to make for 2 special little girls who have been patiently waiting for their birthday presents (one since March and the other since May). I've been so busy and they moved to the other side of town, so nothing has pushed me to get these done. I did promise the youngest I would have her's finished before Kindergarten started (1st day is Tuesday), so that is my push for getting them done this week! I let her pick out the pattern and picked up the fabrics last week at Hobby Lobby. I also have 3 orders I would like to get done this week, one I need to get done ASAP for a friend of mine from MOPS (a NOOK sleeve for her husband's birthday). Another order from a friend for a child size robe, a tooth fairy pillow and a blanket (I made a blanket for her daughter when she was born and she has loved the blanket so much that it is falling apart...luckily I have one piece of the fabric left so I can make a duplicate blanket). The last is a stuffed frog softie.

I guess I better get lunches made and then onto sewing!

Have a wonderful day!!

Up, up and away

2010-07-16T01:11:00.002-04:00

On a regular basis my daughter asks when she is going up to space. I have to explain each time that most likely she won't be going to space unless she is an astronaut. I try to explain that people don't live up in space, but it is hard for a little 3 year old (and 5 year old little boy) to understand the concept. It is funny how little minds work!! I sometimes get frustrated with all the questions my kids ask all day long. It starts from the time I get out of bed until we turn off the lights for them to go to sleep at night (and sometime even after that). But I like to remind myself that it is good for them to ask questions and they learn a lot with each question they ask. I just love little minds.....they really make us think!! :-)

Happy Anniversary!

2010-07-13T15:24:00.003-04:00

Today my husband and I celebrate 8 year of marriage! We've had some good times and some bad times and I wouldn't change a thing. He is a wonderful husband and father and I'm lucky to have him as my husband. He took the day off today, not that we have really spent any of it together since life doesn't stop even when it is your anniversary, but it's nice to have him in the house! :-) Tonight we have a date while my brother watches the kids! Happy Anniversary James!!

Happy 4th of July!!

2010-07-04T10:52:00.002-04:00

We just got back late last night from a 10 day vacation. We left on June 23rd and spent 6 nights in Myrtle Beach, then headed up the coast to the Outer Banks (Duck, NC to be exact) and spent 4 nights at a rental house with my family. We had a great time and I'm happy to be home, but I do wish we had a few more days in the Outer Banks. The time flew by really fast and I didn't get to do a lot of things I would have liked to do. Both locations we spent just about every day at the pool or the beach. The beaches in Myrtle Beach were much nicer than the ones in Duck, but the beach in Duck wasn't bad either. I got lots of pictures, but didn't get the beach pictures I wanted of the kids in the outfits I made and the ones I embroidered for my Mom. The days got away from us and we didn't make it down to the beach in the outfits I made until it was almost dark. I took a ton, but there wasn't a lot of light. I haven't had a chance to see how those pictures turned out yet. The last day we never made it down to the beach for pictures (although we did swim for hours that day) so I took them outside the restaurant as we waited to be seated. The girls never got to wear the white dresses I made them, specifically for beach pictures!! Oh well, it was fun and hopefully I have some good pictures to show.

Today I plan on getting started on cleaning out the kids rooms to collect stuff for a garage sale I plan on having sometime this summer. The kids closets are over flowing and I can't stand the constant mess!!

Hopefully tonight we will get to watch some good fireworks and just relax!!

Happy 4th!! Hope you all have a wonderful day!!

Rainy Day

2010-06-21T10:31:00.003-04:00

We are suppose to be at the park for a playdate, but a storm was rolling in and we cancelled. We're a bit bummed, but the up side is I get to spend all day sewing and I only have one child here with me today!! The guys are heading out to the pond to do some fishing. Every year my husband takes his dad fishing for Father's Day. Last year I think was the first year our son joined them. They said he ate ALL day, but he had fun and is joining them again this year. Hope it doesn't rain too much for them!!

Off to get a LOT of sewing done!!

A Skirt and Pillowcase Dresses - Custom Order

2010-06-18T10:30:00.002-04:00

I've been trying out some new style of skirts for my daughter to use as samples in my Etsy shop. I made one in white with some watermelon fabric first, then this week I finished this little one. They are so cute and and great for summer. I got the idea from the Made blog.

One of the moms from my son's preschool ordered three pillowcase dresses for her daughters (ages 5,6 and 13) to wear father's day and then on their vacation. The a friend from high school contacted me wanting to order a pillowcase dress for her daughter (age 9) to wear in a parade the end of the month. They younger girls have a ruffle on the bottom, but for the 13 year old we thought a band would be more appropriate. I also added a tie for her so it gives it a more grown up look. I can't wait to see her in the dress. Instead of using ribbon like I do a lot of the time for the pillowcase dresses I made fabric straps and love the look. The dress can be made to tie at the shoulder or in the back. For the 13 year old it ties in the back.

Pillowcase dress with a band on the bottom and tie in the back for a 13 year old.

Same dress as above, except this picture shows it with a tie around the waist.

Custom Order - Monkey Hooded Towel

2010-06-14T19:54:00.003-04:00

I've been so busy with orders, testing patterns, hanging out with the kids and everyday chores! I've had this order for a few weeks and finally got it done today.

Tonight I'll be working on two orders for a total of 4 pillowcase dresses. I may also work on a pillowcase dress for my niece for beach pictures, maybe something for my daughter and finish some that have been unfinished in my room for a while. We'll see how much I actually get done, but will definitely get the orders done so I can concentrate on sewing for me and the kids the rest of the week!

Christening Gown and Accessories

2010-06-08T00:28:00.010-04:00

A friend of mine asked me a couple months ago if I would make a Christening gown for her daughter's baptism this coming Saturday. She wanted it made out of her wedding dress. No hesitation on my part, it was a definite yes!! I love creating!! This set was to her specifications, but I had the opportunity to create it. It was fun thinking about the possibilities and then figuring out how to put it together. When she brought her wedding dress I was a little nervous at first. The thought of cutting into somebodies wedding dress is a little scary! I first sent her some links to some patterns and she responded with what she liked and didn't like. I then looked through my patterns to see if anything I had in my stash of a million patterns would get me started. I started off with the top from one pattern, lengthened the skirt and then took the sleeves from another pattern. I did a test run on the bonnet, shoes and gown for her to try on her daughter. They live 2 hours away and I haven't even seen her daughter in person, so hopefully with the test run and alterations everything will fit just right!!

The test run had binding around the neck, but we both liked the way I ended up doing it much better (the idea at the time, since she hasn't seen the pictures or seen it in person yet). I added little tucks around the sleeves (around the shoulders and the bottom of the sleeves). She wanted the band around the bottom of her wedding dress on the bottom of the gown as well as incorporated into the top of the dress. I couldn't figure out a way to cut out the skirt pieces with the band on the bottom, so I had to take off the band (and then reattached it later). I couldn't use the entire band around the waist because it was too wide and couldn't figure out how to sew it into the waist and have it looking right, so I made a separate sash to tie around the waist. What do you think? I LOVE the way the sash looks around the waist and it really added to the look of the gown.

A drawstring bag to hold the gown and accessories.

Gown with sash.

The buttons on the back of the dress are from her wedding dress. I also added a button to the strap of each shoe, but I don't have a good picture of the shoes. Hopefully my friend will send me a picture of the the shoes on her daughter's little feet (I'm sure they will look much cuter on her feet).

Without the sash around the waist.

The bonnet made from another pattern (an actual Christening gown pattern). It's simple, but beautiful!!

It's Raining It's Pouring

2010-06-03T15:49:00.002-04:00

I'm sitting here at my desk trying to motivate myself. It is pouring down rain outside!! When I checked the weather about an hour ago it looked clear for the rest of the day, but we all know how wrong the weather people can be sometimes!! I'm really glad I spent 3 hours outside today raking the garden to loosen up the weeds, pulling the weeds and then adding Preen in hope that the abundance of weeds will stop!! I thought I might head out more later to do some planting, but don't think that is going to happen now!!

I spent some time this morning (before heading out to the gardens) cutting out pieces for the Christening Gown my friend is having me make for her daughter out of her wedding gown. I spent several hours last night trying to determine the best way to cut out the skirt and realized I needed to take the trim off the bottom (and then reattach later). Now that I have most (or all.....need to double check what I have cut) pieces cut out for the dress I need to cut the rest of the pieces for the bonnet, shoes and bag (for storage). My friend is hoping this dress will be passed down through generations and I feel so privileged to have the opportunity to make this for her. She hopes their next child will be a boy and hopefully I'll get the opportunity to make the boy outfit as well!!

Off to take a short nap and then sew, sew, sew......need to have the gown and accessories in the mail Saturday or Monday since the Christening is next weekend!!

Happy Memorial Day!

2010-05-31T21:57:00.002-04:00

We've had a nice weekend as a family. After being gone for a week visiting my parents it was nice to be home and see hubby. I spent some time this weekend cleaning the dirty bathrooms and attempting to unpack (not all done, but I've made progress). I spent some time Sunday night trying out a new skirt for my daughter, which she wore today. I was bad and didn't get any pictures, but I do plan on getting pictures tomorrow and will post!! I plan on making more of these skirts because they are so cute and great for the summer!! We spent the day with my in laws shopping at an outlet mall and then had a meal at Tumbleweed. We were all so hungry and order a bunch of appetizers and didn't leave much room for the main course, so we brought a lot of that home. My in laws live a couple hours away, so we met part way in between and then drove farther south to the Tumbleweed. It was a beautiful day, but on our way home we ran into some thunderstorms and delayed traffic, so the trip home took an extra 30 - 45 minutes. We made it home, put the kids to bed and are now vegging in front of the TV watching some movies we just got from the in laws. Onto movie #2!!

Hope you all had a wonderful weekend!!

Remember those who have given their lives to keep our country free and safe and thanks to those serving our country and their families!! May God bless you and keep you safe!!

Pattern Testing

2010-05-29T23:58:00.006-04:00

I had the opportunity to test a pattern this past week. I'll share more information at a later time, but wanted to share some pictures of my daughter modeling it!!

Zebra Capris and Raggie Bow

2010-05-14T11:46:00.004-04:00

This is going to be quick since I'm in the middle of working on a bunch of custom orders, but it's been a while since I posted, so I I wanted to do a short one.

I've been wanting to get a pair of zebra and pink capris made for my daughter so I can get some pictures and add them to my shop. Yesterday, while working on some orders for zebra and pink pillowcase dresses I also cut out a pair capris to throw together for my daughter. While I talked to my Mom I also played around with some raggie fabric bows to match the zebra and pink outfits I have in the my shop.

Pattern Testing

2010-04-27T23:38:00.005-04:00

Sunday morning I finished up an order of matching lounge sets for two little boys. I love how these turned out and hope my customer is happy with the end result!! I have some of the dinosaur fabric left, plus several other dinosaur fabrics in my stash, so I'll be adding this as a custom order option to my Etsy shop as soon as I have the time.

I then spent Sunday afternoon and Monday testing two patterns for The Handmade Dress. I love all of Samantha's patterns and have been lucky to test several of them. This time around she had two patterns ready to test, Miss Olivia Paige dress and Miss Claire skirt. I tested the patterns in size 3 and 7. I love how they turned out.

Miss Olivia Paige - size 7

Miss Olivia Paige back - size 3

Miss Olivia Paige - size 3

Miss Claire - size 7

I LOVE this fabric and had to go back to get some to make a skirt for myself!!

Miss Claire - size 3

Ellie Inspired Giveaway

2010-04-27T23:34:00.002-04:00

You have to check out Ellie Inspired. She has the cutest patterns!! She just released her forth pattern, Dancer, and has a giveaway going on right now. Check it out to learn how to be entered into a drawing for her four patterns and fabric to make her new skirt pattern in any size.

http://www.ellieinspired.com/apps/blog/show/3572642-it-s-done-now-time-for-a-giveaway-

Too much to do and not enough time...

2010-04-20T00:04:00.002-04:00

After having a REALLY bad craft show I decided to give facebook a try in an attempt to get more business. Well, it worked!!! I've gotten several order by setting up my business on facebook and adding a bunch of new items to my Etsy site. This week I need to do the following....

1. Several custom order I would like to get done by the beginning of next week
2. Testing two patterns (one skirt and one dress/top)
3. Sew several birthday presents (one is about 1 1/2 months late!!)
4. More sample outfits to make for my Etsy shop
5. Two hooded towels to make for my niece and nephew at my Mom's request (before Saturday)
6. A pair of pants to hem for my friend (sometime next week)
7. More ready to ship items to add to my Etsy shop
8. Continue to update my website

And the list goes on. It seemed like a lot in my head, but now that I've typed it out it seems like even more!! Busy, busy week!!! I'm loving all these new orders, but it is definitely keeping my busy!!

New addition to my Etsy shop

2010-04-14T00:26:00.005-04:00

Tonight I added a new diaper bag to my Etsy shop. Diaper bags are also available custom order in the fabric and size of your choice. You can also add a coordinating changing pad, fabric diaper and wipes case, zippered wipes case, cell phone wristlet, zippered change purse or zippered tissue case (also good for pacifiers, change, lipstick, etc.).

No more training wheels

2010-04-14T00:21:00.003-04:00

Yesterday, while hubby was home working and finishing up the swing set he and my brothers started over the week, he offered to teach our son (who will be 5 at the end of the month) how to ride his bike without training wheels. At first he said no, but after thinking about it for a little while he walks back up to daddy and says he is ready to ride without training wheels. My hubby took him onto the side street behind our house and within minutes he was riding on his own. It wasn't without a few falls, but he is now riding on all surfaces without a problem. I'm so proud of my little boy!! He is growing up!!

Receive 15% off your order through the rest of April!

2010-04-06T11:23:00.002-04:00

I just set up a fan page on facebook and will be using this fan page to share new products and monthly deals. Please check it out to learn more about this months discount.
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?ref=profile&id=1425946161#!/pages/Little-Darling-Designs/45756126813?v=wall&ref=mf

Please pass this onto your friends and family. I am working on growing my business and would appreciate your help!! The discount will be good through my Etsy shop, www.lildarlingdesigns.etsy.com, and my website, www.littledarlingdesigns.com. More details and coupon code available on my facebook fan page. Thanks!! :-)

More Etsy Updates

2010-04-06T01:01:00.003-04:00

I've been working on adding more products to my Etsy shop this past week!

Zebra Peasant Dress and Ruffle Pants

Monkey Hooded Towel

Custom Name Pillow

Wristlet

The Handmade Dress - giveaway on Wee Share

2010-04-02T16:08:00.004-04:00

For those who are not familiar with The Handmade Dress you should go check out the patterns if you like to sew. Samantha, creator of the patterns and owner of The Handmade Dress, did an interview with Wee Share. Head over to Wee Share to learn more about Samantha and learn how to win a copy of all the patterns available in her shop. All of her dresses can be made in just about 2 hours, perfect for nap time or an evening after the kids are in bed. I have three of her patterns and LOVE them all. The first one might take a little longer than 2 hours, but once you know what you are doing they come together very easy. Her directions are very easy to follow and are created for the beginner sewer, although more experienced seamstresses like them too!!

Here are a few on the dresses I have made from The Handmade Dress.

Miss Mary

(a-line view for my almost 7 year old niece)

(please excuse the wrinkles!!)

Miss Madeline

(going up in my Etsy shop this weekend)

Miss Madeline (with added ruffle)

Miss Mary (back)

Miss Mary

Etsy Update

2010-03-31T01:09:00.003-04:00

I started updating my Etsy shop last night with products from my craft show stock. I plan on adding four new postings a day, hoping to get more traffic to my shop and more sales. Check out some of the new items in my shop....

Craft Shows

2010-03-28T11:12:00.004-04:00

How many of you do craft shows? Have you found some that you do really well at year after year? I don't do a lot of craft shows, but I have been doing 1 or 2 in the Spring and 1 or 2 in the Fall each year for the past few years. I'm still searching for some really great craft shows, but thought I had found a a couple that brought in good crowds and I made decent money at. Yesterday I participated in one that I did last year. It was the best one I participated in last Spring and was excited to do it again this year. Well, it was a bad day!! I only made enough to cover my booth fee and lunch! I spent the last two weeks adding new products to my inventory, neglecting my family and staying up until 2:00 or 3:00 in the morning. Talking to the other participants and the lady in charge of the show I found out I wasn't the only one disappointed with the results of the show. It was REALLY slow and people weren't buying much. Is it a sign of the times (because so many people are out of work) or is it because it was Spring Break for the kids in the area and a lot of people were on vacation in other areas? I'm curious if others have run into this problem this year? Where do you sell your crafts and how do you advertise your website or your Etsy site? I really need some help spreading the word on my business and would appreciate any feedback you can give!! Thanks!!

I would like to add that I did give out a bunch of business cards and several people said they would be contacting me to place orders in the future, so I'm hopeful the craft show wasn't a total waste of time! :-)

This week I will be working on adding products to my Etsy store and updating my website with new products.

The Design Girl Giveaway

2010-03-28T11:08:00.002-04:00

Are you in need of a blog makeover? Visit The Design Girl blog and become a follower, leave a comment and you could win a $50 credit toward a new look for your blog.

Luna's Light

2010-03-22T14:12:00.002-04:00

A friend from high school and her sister started Luna's Light when their 22 year old sister Shannon unexpectedly died from complications after tonsillectomy surgery in 2003. A few months after Shannon's death Kelly was overcome by grief and felt like she needed to wear something on her body that signified she was hurting from the loss of Shannon - especially on the day of returning to work or in other social situations. Kelly could not find what she was looking for, so she and her sister Michele started researching bereavement gifts and were amazed by the lack of comfort gifts in the marketplace. So, Michele moved back to Cleveland from Seattle and Luna's Light was launched. To learn more about Luna's Light and see what they have to offer visit:

http://www.lunaslight.com

Kelly has asked her friends to help bring more traffic at Luna's Light main website to increase their page rankings - they dropped tremendously when they had to switch servers.

Thanks!

Sick Kids

2010-03-09T21:19:00.002-05:00

Today I decided it was time to take the kids to the doctor. My son has been fighting a cold for the last 3 to 4 weeks and it just wasn't getting better. On top of that, my daughter closed the door on my son's finger last week (right on the cuticle), so I wanted to make sure that wasn't infected as well. My daughter finally came down with it 3 or 4 days ago. I was more concerned about my son's cold and wanted to make sure it wasn't settling in his chest, but since I was going I wanted to get my daughter checked because she felt like she was running a fever. My son came down with an ear infection last night and since he has tubes in his ears we were able to start him on ear drops last night. Today he was diagnosed with sinus infection and my daughter has an ear infection. Oh, the fun. I love dealing with sick fussy kids!! They are both on antibiotics for the next 10 days. I'm not a fan of antibiotics, but sometimes they are necessary! Hopefully tomorrow they won't be so fussy and I can get some sewing done!! I have a craft fair in 2 1/2 weeks and haven't gotten much done to add to my stock and have lots of things I want to get done. I'm at least sewing some tonight, so back to sewing!!

Go Vote for the Lil Blue Boo / Dharma Trading Design Challenge

2010-03-03T15:40:00.002-05:00

http://lilblueboo.blogspot.com/2010/03/lbb-dharma-trading-design-challenge.html

Atari Covers complete

2010-03-03T15:32:00.004-05:00

Last night I finally embroidered the last 2 Atari covers. They are being delivered to my husband's friends tomorrow. Glad to have them done, although I would happily do some more! Now, it's time to move onto trying out new patterns and making stuff for my first (and possibly only) craft show March 27. Motivate, motivate, motivate!! I need to get off this computer!!

Woohoo!!

2010-03-03T15:14:00.005-05:00

I finally got the code for my button to show in my scroll box!!

Weekend

2010-03-01T00:08:00.002-05:00

Since I wasn't traveling to visit my parents this weekend I high hopes of getting lots of sewing done! Well, it didn't happen!! I think the Olympics played was part of the reason, but I really could not get focussed. I got one Atari cover embroidered Saturday and today it took me 4 attempts to get another Atari cover sewn up!! Two Atari covers need to be embroidered still, but those will have to wait until my mind can focus. I'm hoping tomorrow my mind is more free since the Olympics are over!! Wish me luck!

For now, here is the one Atari cover I embroidered Saturday....

Deer

2010-02-27T18:12:00.005-05:00

As we were eating breakfast today one of our neighbors called to tell us we had six deer in our yard. A couple of the neighbors call us once in a while about the deer so the kids can see them. They started in the back of the house, but quickly moved to the front and then into the neighbors yard. It was so neat because once they got to the neighbor's yard they stopped and just looked at us. I was able to run upstairs, grab my camera and get my SD card out of my computer and then back downstairs without them disappearing. We opened the front door and I was able to snap a bunch of pictures. The kids enjoyed watching the deer as they posed for us.

Unproductive week!!!

2010-02-26T18:53:00.002-05:00

I really hoped to get a bunch of sewing done this week, but no matter what I just couldn't motivate myself! I think the late nights catching up on the Olympics wore me out, plus I've slowly been trying to get the house back in order and laundry folded and put away. I'm feeling like the house is almost in shape and hopefully I can motivate myself to get the rest of the laundry folded tonight in front of the tv and the next two days I can go crazy on the sewing. I REALLY need to get going on stuff for my first (and maybe only) spring craft show in a month, so wish me luck!!

I was suppose to be out of town this weekend with the kids visiting my parents and seeing a couple friends, but with the accumulating snow where my parents live I decided not to travel. I woke up this morning and noticed many friends talking about snow days in that area, so I feel like I made the right decision. I'm sad I'm not going to get to see everybody, but the up side is I get to sew and hopefully accomplish a lot this weekend!

Catching up.....

2010-02-23T23:23:00.002-05:00

A couple Fridays ago my son's school had a pj day and then had movie night that week. Most of the pjs I've made him in the past are getting short, so I wanted to make him a new set for school that day. Since I was volunteering in his class that day and my daughter was going with me I couldn't get away with making pjs just for my son. So, that Thursday night before I threw together two sets of pjs for my kids. I let each of the kids pick out their material and then found a coordinating applique for the shirt. Lucky for me, I knew exactly which appliques I wanted to use and didn't have to spend an hour searching for the right applique. The kids loved their new pjs and has a fun time at movie night with their friends!

At the beginning of February I decided I was making my daughter a Valentine's outfit for her to wear several times throughout the month. Fortunately, it is an outfit she can wear all year round because she only wore it once before Valentine's day and then we didn't make it out on Valentine's Day for dinner. She has worn it one time since and should get lots more wear out of it!! The dress pattern is from The Handmade Dress, Miss Madeline, with an added ruffle.

MOPS Donation

2010-02-23T22:47:00.006-05:00

Last week I actually got several items sewn to take as samples to my MOPS meeting. Every meeting we have some giveaways from local businesses and last week I volunteered to donate an item. I decided to donate a custom outfit for one of the MOPS members little ones. I wanted to have a bunch of samples for the winner to look through and decide what she wanted. It turned out there wasn't a lot of time and I didn't get to show off much of my work, but a few did look through my samples. I do a lot of girl outfits and not nearly enough for boys. Of course the winner was a mommy of two boys, so she chose a custom lounge outfit. Since she has two boys she wanted to pay for a second outfit for her other boy. Yeah for me!! I e-mailed her some fabric options for matching lounge outfits and I'm waiting for her choice of fabrics along with her boys measurements so I can hopefully get these made up for the next meeting.

Since I haven't blogged much lately and haven't followed through on posting pictures of things I have made over that last few months I thought I would show some of my most recent projects. Not much has been done these last few days, but hopefully the next few I will accomplish a lot!!

Attempting to create a button

2010-02-02T23:57:00.009-05:00

Cole's Corner recently posted a link to a tutorial on how to create a button, so I thought I would give it a try. Let me see if this works.

Craft Hope for Haiti

2010-01-20T17:32:00.005-05:00

For those of you who aren't familiar with Craft Hope, crafthope.com, you should check it out. They set up an Etsy shop to raise money for Doctors Without Borders in Haiti and things are just flying out of the shop, http://www.crafthope.etsy.com/! They have been taking donations for the shop from crafters around the world in hopes to raise a few hundred dollars to help the cause and last I read at 745 sales they have raised over $15,000. The shop shows over a 1,000 sales now, so they are continuing to raise a lot more money. I'm am amazed at everybody's generosity!!! I donated a couple items to the shop this week. They are so overloaded that it took almost 3 days to get it posted in the shop and it sold in less than 4 hours! WOW!! I sent another item for sale last night, so it will probably be Friday before it gets posted. Last I read they plan to stop taking donations for two week as of this evening, Wednesday, January 20, 2010, so they can regroup.... take a break and organize their thoughts, their systems, and their mission in order to serve the community better.

Please check out Craft Hope for Haiti to see if there is anything you want to purchase to help raise money for the cause!

Happy New Year!

2010-01-04T11:03:00.002-05:00

Well, the end of the year didn't end so well for our family, but the new year hasn't started off too bad. The week before Christmas we were all fighting colds, but we recovered in time for Christmas and a visit with my in-laws. Then two days after Christmas my daughter and I came down with the flu! Yuck!! Luckily it was more fatigue for me. For 4 days I couldn't do much more than sleep and sit on the couch in front of the TV. We both spent the 4 days on a very bland diet. By the evening of New Year's Eve I finally got some energy back and by the 2nd I had so much energy I was cleaning the kitchen and refrigerator, which was in bad need of a good clean!! Unfortunately, due to the flu we had to reschedule our Christmas get together with my family for this coming weekend. We lose a day with my brother and his kids because my niece and nephew started back to school today, so they can't come in until Friday evening, but my parents should be arriving Thursday night and staying until Sunday. I can't wait to see my family!! I was very disappointed we had to cancel, but didn't want the rest of the family to get sick!!

Due to sickness I was unable to get all my Christmas presents made, but hope to get everything I wanted to make done this week. The downside to working on it this week is hubby is back to work, so there are a lot more distractions with the kids and housework to do. Oh well, whatever gets done gets done!!

I did get some things done before Christmas. I made 4 pairs of pajamas, one for each of my kids and my niece and nephew. I also completed 2 outfits for my kids to wear Christmas day. I'll have to share some pictures of the outfits in my next post, after I get laundry done and take pictures of the kids pjs. I'll also have some pictures of presents I have completed in the last couple days, once I figure out if I have a way to get pictures off the SD card from my new camera.

Happy Monday!!

Peppermint outfit

2009-12-18T19:48:00.004-05:00

Here is one of my recent projects. I made this one for a friend's daughter who turned 2 in November (late birthday present). The pants pattern I made from a pair of my daughter's knit pants. I realized after making the pants how easy it is to take a pair of pants I like and make my own pattern. I'm going to try to do this more now, although I do have a pants pattern I love and have been using a lot lately, but this worked great for knit pants since I didn't have a knit pants pattern. The applique on the shirt is from Lynnie Pinnie. I made this same outfit for my daughter, except it has an M on the peppermint and it is a different style shirt. The knit fabric I used for the pants is from Chez Ami, love the fabric!!

Back to baking cookies and hopefully get some more sewing done later tonight!

Craft Show followup

2009-11-25T00:24:00.008-05:00

So, I haven't been good about blogging the last few months. Life is busy with two kids, running a small business and everyday life. The craft show I did a couple weeks ago was a success. It was my best show to date and I've received enough custom orders from the show to keep me busy. We are spending Thanksgiving with my family, so once it is over I will be very busy completing orders and sewing as many Christmas presents as possible.

For the craft show I made lots of new products and some sample dresses/outfits for display. Below are two of my favorite products I recently started selling and have been added to my etsy shop.

Countdown...

2009-11-06T14:53:00.002-05:00

I'm participating in only one craft show this fall and it is on Nov. 14th and still have a bunch of stuff I would like to make. I always do well under pressure, so hoping the next 7 days I can get a lot of things made to sell or have as samples for special orders. My mom is coming in on Wednesday to participate in the craft show and she is just getting started today on making more things to sell....talk about leaving it to the last minute! :-) I started 3 months ago and thought I would have a lot more done by now, but between orders, presents and doing things with the kids and everyday life I haven't gotten nearly as many things done as I hoped. Wish me luck....getting things made and selling lots at the craft show!!

Have a great weekend everybody!!

Tinker Bell Costume

2009-10-27T17:14:00.003-04:00

I originally bought a costume for my daughter from Wal-mart, but it fell apart within 2 hours of putting it on, so I returned it. I then went to Joann's and bought fabric to make a Tinker Bell costume for my daughter. I didn't want to wait until the last minute to make it, especially since we need it Thursday to go trick-or-treating at daddy's office. So, I spent time this weekend make it and finally got some modeling shots today. I didn't use any pattern, just winged it and I'm quite pleased!! The only part of the costume that isn't handmade are the wings and I'm going to have to make some adjustments to those since they are too big and won't stay up on her shoulders.

Neglect

2009-10-22T23:22:00.003-04:00

I've been neglecting my blog. Life has been busy and I haven't taken the time to sit down the past month and blog. Not going to say much tonight, but hope to get back to blogging tomorrow! I've been trying to get some projects finished, some orders have been completed, but they weren't great for taking pictures at my house. One was a valence and table runner for my best friend, another was embroidering aprons and a table cloth for a customer....maybe one of these days I'll get some pictures to share from my friend and customer of what they look like hung up/on. Until tomorrow.....hope to have pictures of some completed projects.

Sweet Boy

2009-09-26T16:37:00.003-04:00

On Friday I picked my son up from preschool. I love hearing what the teachers have to say each day. He is doing so well and adjusted very quick to preschool. Thankfully, we haven't had any problems and have heard all good things about him from the teachers. As we were leaving one of the teachers from the other preschool class told me sweet story that took place on the playground a week ago. She said my son was waiting in line to get on the monkey bars. A girl was on the bar in front of him and when she leaned her head back her hair fell in her face. My son walks up and moves the hair out of her face and told her she was pretty. Such a sweet thing to say!!

Knot Dress - attempt #2

2009-09-23T23:38:00.003-04:00

I've attempted my own design of the Knot Dress tonight. I downsized the pattern quite a bit since the other one was way too big. Hoping it fits my daughter!! The embroidery designs are from Lynnie Pinnie (www.lynniepinnie.com). Thought they were perfect for a fall outfit. The little pumpkin is on the top back of the dress, which may not have been the brightest idea on my part since my daughter has long hair and will most likely cover the design, unless I put it up. Oh well! Hope to have modeling pictures tomorrow.

Knot Dress

2009-09-22T16:58:00.003-04:00

I've see a lot of knot dresses lately and didn't have a pattern for one, so I drew up my own pattern. This was my first attempt and turned out way too big for my daughter, so it may go up in my etsy store. I'll be making a smaller one soon for my daughter to wear this fall.

New Baby Set

2009-09-22T16:46:00.003-04:00

I joined a MOPS (Mother of PreSchoolers) group this month and one of the ladies from the group ordered a baby set for a baby shower she is attending in October. The expecting couple are fans of Purdue, so we put together a Purdue baby set for the gift. She liked it so much she ordered an embroidered onesie for her daughter, which I'll have to show soon.

Made by Rae Jackpack Backpack GUEST GIVEAWAY!!!!

2009-09-08T17:09:00.000-04:00

Made by Rae Jackpack Backpack GUEST GIVEAWAY!!!!

Playing with friends....

2009-09-06T19:31:00.005-04:00

Thursday, while my son was at preschool, my daughter and I went to the playground to meet up with some friends. Since my son is gone 1/2 day three days a week I'm trying to get out some with my daughter so she can play with some kids around her age. We all had fun and my friend got some awesome pictures of my daughter and her girls. Aren't these the best pictures!!?? Now, which ones should I print??? I'm a big fan of the black and white ones!!

What are they up to???

Deep in thought!

1st Day of Preschool

2009-09-02T00:24:00.003-04:00

Today was the first day of preschool for my 4 year old son. My husband was out of town yesterday and wasn't going to make it home in time to take my son to school this morning, so I had to take him. I wasn't looking forward to dropping him off because I was afraid he was going to latch onto me and not let go.......he hasn't always done well when we leave him at church, so I was expecting the same routine. It was a wonderful surprise this morning when he was all happy before school and even when I left him at school. The hardest part this morning was getting him to eat his breakfast (I'm guessing he was a little nervous!!). I had to force him to drink his smoothie this morning and he wouldn't touch anything else. He usually eats a ton in the morning, so this was a big surprise. The next hardest part was getting my 2 year old out of his classroom. She wanted to stay and play! Here are a few pics (in revers order)... of course little miss 2 year old had to hop in most of them! :-)

Atari Baby Set

2009-08-27T14:39:00.003-04:00

One of my husband's friends wanted me to make him some Atari computer covers for several different computers with the Atari logo embroidered on the covers. When he first asked, I hadn't gotten around to learning how to digitize with the software I got for Christmas. So, I asked one of my groups if anybody knew where I could find the digitized logo. I got one response, but didn't like the way it stitched out. It was free, so no complaints, but this was all it took for me to take many hours to learn my software. I've only digitized one thing so far, but really like the way it turned out and my husband's friend is happy with his new covers.

Other friends of my husband's are expecting their first baby in a few weeks. He mentioned they might be interested in some of my products and maybe I should embroider the Atari logo on a onesie for their baby girl. I added baby to the logo and stitched it out onto a onesie, bib and burp. What do you think? It's going in the mail as soon as I get around to adding snaps to the bib.

New Products

2009-08-21T20:26:00.004-04:00

I'm addicted to remnants and have a hard time passing them up when I find ones I like at Joann's, especially when the fabric is already on sale!! The great thing about Joann's as compared to the other fabric stores is you get the sale price at 50% off, so a really great deal. I have a 58 qt. box overflowing with remnants (can probably fill 2 if I wanted to). My Mom buys me remnants too, so that just adds to the pile.....not complaining one bit because she find me some great fabrics too!! :-)

There are so many things you can do with the remnants and I'm trying to put as many to use now as I can as I prepare for the craft shows this fall. I'm also trying to use up a good bit of my flannel since I have so much of it too (at least 8 28 qt. bins plus some small bins with overflow). Earlier this week I made a flannel/plush blanket with a matching bib and burp. I still plan on adding a toy and maybe something else to the set. The back of the bib and burp I use a left over piece of flannel from another set a made a while back. Really trying to use up some scrap pieces!

Then a couple nights ago I worked on a purse, which I will post later, once I have a better picture. I use a home decor remnant I got recently. It was normally $9.99 and was 30% off. At the remnant price I got it 50% off the $6.99 a yard sale price. What a steal!!! It was under a yard, but there was still plenty left to make some wristlets. Here is my first wristlet....more to come! This was my first ever wristlet, so it's not perfect, but I'm sure each one will get better!

It's been a while...

2009-08-14T15:03:00.002-04:00

So, life has been busy and I haven't posted in a couple weeks! We had a wonderful trip to visit my parents, although I was exhausted when I got home. My brother's kids were there with us all week too, so the kids had a blast. We spent the 2nd weekend at my parents' camper at the campground and went to the flea market. I always love going to the flea market.....never know what kind of deals you are going to find, plus they have some wonderful fresh produce. I always come home with fresh fruits and vegetables and enjoy them so much. We arrived home Sunday afternoon to a nice clean house, thanks to my hubby!!

This year I planted a bunch of tomato plants (big tomatoes and some grape tomatoes), green peppers and red peppers. We had our first tomato last night, which my 4 year old son and I enjoyed. He was so excited to have a tomato from our own garden. It was so tasty!!! We have a ton of green, some very large, tomatoes and I'm looking forward to more fresh tomatoes. We have some peppers too, but they aren't ready yet, at least from what I can tell. With 13 regular tomato plants, 6 grape tomato plants, 3 green pepper plants and 6 red pepper plants, I'll be doing lots of canning this year!!! I may even head over to the farmers market to try to sell some...we'll see! I'm looking forward to next year when we have a garden with a wide variety of fruits and vegetables!!

I'm so thankful for our friends who have a pool. I'm not against a public pool, but it's not cheap to go on a regular basis. Because our friends have a pool, we get to swim on a regular basis throughout the summer. She's had her girls in swimming lessons and the oldest two have made so much progress this year. Her middle child, who is the same age as my son, started swimming a couple weeks ago, which we got to see for the first time on Monday. Seeing what your peers can do has really been great for my son because yesterday he started doing some floating and kneeling on the bottom of the pool all on his own. He did the rocket ship (floating on belly with arms above the head and kicking). I'm so proud of him and know now that he is really ready for swimming lessons. I will definitely be enrolling him in swimming lessons this fall!!

Guess I better get back to sewing!!

Heading to Cleveland....

2009-07-29T23:54:00.002-04:00

I've been working since last weekend trying to get some orders done before we head to my parents' house, outside of Cleveland, Ohio. One of my husband's friends wanted some covers for his old Atari computers. My husband has all the covers, but I had to create patterns out of each cover. I spent a bunch of time over the weekend working on the covers and today was the first day I've during the week I've really had to time to get back to them. It's taking some time to tweak them so they fit each computer just right, but they are coming together. I also did my first digitizing job....the Atari logo for the covers. I'm quite pleased with myself that I figured out the digitizing software I got for Christmas from my in-laws. I definitely have a lot to learn, but the logo turned out nice and my husband said it looks good (and he's quite picky, so yeah for me!!). Tomorrow I will hopefully finish the covers and get the logo stitched on them!!

So, Friday morning we are heading out mid morning, hopefully around 10:00 a.m. and should arrive at my parents' house around 3:30 or 4:00 p.m. I'm really looking forward to the week. Hopefully I'll get to see some friends, spend time with my parents and I'll get to see my aunt and uncle who are visiting this week and then my older brother and his kids are coming in as well. It will be a house full for the weekend, but then everybody leaves except for me, my kids and my niece and nephew (and of course my parents will be there). There is no set agenda for the week, only next weekend when we go camping and visit the flea market on Saturday! I'm so looking forward to a week without having to accomplish anything!! :-)

The Design Girl

2009-07-23T17:03:00.001-04:00

The Design Girl is having a giveaway for reaching 500 followers. She is giving away 5 pre-made blog templates. Check out the giveaway, http://designgirlblog.blogspot.com/2009/07/500-followers-giveaway-yes-another.html.

Happy 1 year anniversary...

2009-07-23T10:56:00.002-04:00

As of today we have been in our new house for one year! We had a brutal awakening this morning around 8:10 a.m. when the smoke alarms went off....now we need to figure out why they went off!! One screaming 4 year old wondering what the sound was and why it was making the horrible noise, a 2 year old still laying silently in bed and mommy and daddy trying to figure out why the alarms sounded for just seconds!!

It's been a great year in this beautiful house. We finally have some nice grass growing in after spending lots of money to hire somebody to add top soil, till and grade the property (two acres) and seed everywhere. We've added some more seed in some areas and will surely have to add more in other areas as we figure out where the patches are going to be. I'll be happy when the grass in nice and thick throughout the entire yard. We finally got some good rain the last couple days, so I've had a break from watering duty for a couple days.....time to get some laundry done!! Expecting more rain on Saturday and praying we get a nice shower again!!

I'm patiently waiting for some fresh tomatoes and peppers from our garden. We will have large tomatoes (not sure exactly what kind they are since the neighbor brought over the starter plants), grape tomatoes, green peppers and red peppers. Yum, yum....can't wait!! Next year I'm planning on a full garden with many more vegetables. This year everything is in temporary gardens because I wasn't planning on a vegetable garden until my neighbor brought over a bunch of tomato and green pepper plants he had left. Since the yard was still in the process of being finished I put the plants in the gardens around the house that I was working on setting up. Looking forward to a full garden next year!!

Questions from a 4 year old...

2009-07-22T18:13:00.003-04:00

Yesterday my 4 year old son was full of questions. I can't remember all of them, but I do remember a couple.....

Why did God make me a boy????

When can I get my ears pierced?

The Big Giveaway

2009-07-21T12:36:00.002-04:00

Do you love giveaways? They are always fun to participate in and you can win some fun things. Found this blog through another blog I read daily. Check out the big giveaway, http://designgirlblog.blogspot.com/2009/07/big-giveaway.html. The giveaway ends today, so hurry on over to see what they are giving away!!

Baby Gift

2009-07-21T11:33:00.006-04:00

One of the doctors at the chiropractor's office I go to had a baby in June. The office purchased a personalized tag blanket from me and because I love making and giving baby gifts I made a few things as a present from me for baby Ava. I love when people are so grateful for handmade baby gifts....the family loved the gifts! I made up a bib and burp to match the back of the tag blanket, a softie owl (an in-the-hoop design from Digistitches, www.digistitches.com) and monogrammed and added the date of birth to a blanket I had in my stash (not pictured).

Pretzel Jello Salad

2009-07-21T09:57:00.002-04:00

Also known as Raspberry Jello Salad.
This is one of my all time favorite jello salads.

Note: also good with strawberries or cranberries

Crust:
3 cups crushed stick pretzels
3 tbsp sugar
1 ½ sticks margarine

Filling:
2 cups cool whip
1 pkg. (8 oz) cream cheese
1 cup sugar

1 large box (6 oz) raspberry jello
2 cups boiling water
2 (10 – 12 oz) pkgs. Frozen raspberries

Crust: Put pretzels in blender on grind until they are of crumb consistency. Mix crushed pretzels, 3 tablespoons sugar and margarine together and pat into an 11x13 pan. Bake in a 350 degrees F oven for 10 minutes. Let crust cool

Filling: Thoroughly mix the cool whip, cream cheese and 1 cup sugar together and pour over cooled crust. Chill.

Dissolve jello in boiling water. Stir in 2 packages of frozen raspberries and continue stirring until raspberries are thawed and jello starts to thicken. Pour mixture slowly over chilled cream cheese layer and refrigerate until set.

Start here with your content. Replace this paragraph, and everything down to AND INCLUDING the word: STOP. DO NOT REMOVE OR CHANGE THE CODE BEYOND THE WORD STOP BELOW! This has been the most requested theme, so I hope we have a record turnout. Please put up a post with your favorite recipe, or if you don't have the recipe, a photo of your favorite dish and a description. Here's a sample post I did for you: http://www.mcklinkyblog.com/2009/07/mcklinky-blog-hop-for-july-21-2009.html Also, be sure to submit your recipe here too: http://www.mcklinky.com/recipes.asp! I WILL CREATE A MckLinky RECIPE BOOK, AND MAKE IT AVAILABLE TO ALL BLOG HOPPERS FOR FREE! ...STOP

Bit of Whimsy Dolls Giveaway

2009-07-20T15:58:00.003-04:00

This week Bit of Whimsy is have a Christmas in July giveway. Each day she will be giving away something different. You can be entered into the drawing by leaving a comment on her post. Check it out....http://www.bitofwhimsydolls.com/blog/2009/7/20/giveaway-day-one.html?lastPage=true#comment4870257. She has the cutest patterns for making dolls, lots of different dolls!!

Question of the day....

2009-07-17T18:34:00.002-04:00

My 4 year old asked me today if he would have a big head like Daddy when he grows up????

Larger picture of outfits...

2009-07-11T01:26:00.001-04:00

Here is a larger picture of the outfits since I can't figure out why the pictures don't open up larger when you click on them.

4th of July outfits

2009-07-11T01:08:00.004-04:00

I planned on making the kids some matching outfits for the 4th of July and finally got around to it just a few days before the 4th. The 4th was so rushed I didn't get a chance to get the kids in the outfits, but still wanted to share. The owl on the shirt and the dress is from Sewing for Sarah Embroidery (http://www.sewingforsarahembroidery.com/). She has some really cute designs (which I have a ton of!!)!! My son wore the owl shirt with a pair of jean shorts, but my daughter had to have a totally matching outfit. The dress is my own design. I took the top of an a-line dress and added two layers for the skirt of the dress. This was the first time I've made this dress, but I'm sure I will be making more! :-) I also made some matching bloomers to go with the dress, which I LOVE! I really like these bloomers (they are longer than the other bloomers I've made) and plan on making more! Please excuse the wrinkles....I just got pictures today after they came out of the dryer. I'll probably have the kids in these outfits tomorrow, so hopefully I can get some cute pictures of them!

Grass, hopefully soon!!

2009-06-26T21:57:00.002-04:00

Part of our property is tilled, grated and seeded. It's been a long project due to all the rain we've had this past month. I say only part, because we live on two acres and the big open area to the south (I think it is south....I'm horrible with directions, but I think that is right) of the house, where we hope to put up some volleyball nets and play some other games later in the summer, isn't done yet. That is the area of our property we have had the most problems with drainage, so it is taken forever for it to dry out enough to till it. I'm ok with it not being done because we have plenty of property around our house that needs to be watered each day. I spent all day from 8:15/8:30 this morning and I'm still watering a few areas outside that still look dry. The days have been so hot around here lately (up in the 90's) that it is hard to keep everything damp all day. Although it is recommended you don't water during the day, when you are growing grass you don't really have a choice but to water all day, especially when you live on a large piece of land. Hopefully in a week or so I'll have some pictures to show the grass growing!!

Growing pizza!!

2009-06-23T13:49:00.002-04:00

I went out to water (fertilize) my plants this morning and the kids stood at the window watching. When I came inside my 4 year old son asked what the green stuff was. I explained it was fertilizer for the plants....it's their food. I don't recall every word that came out of his mouth, but he eventually asked if we could grow pizza!! I told him we can't grow pizza, but that was a nice thought! LOL!!

Monogrammed Onesies

2009-06-22T11:27:00.004-04:00

I took all my handmade items to the garage sale I participated in at my parents' last weekend and sold quite a few things. One customer bought a couple of the onesies with ribbon sewn on them and wanted them monogrammed with a P on the front for a friend who had a baby that day. I was hoping to use my mom embroidery machine while I was visiting, but I'm not familiar with her software and at 11:00 p.m. Sunday night was too tired to figure out if her software would do what I needed done. So, the onesies came home with me and I finally got them embroidered last night. I tried contacting the customer to get her e-mail address so she could see what the monogram would look like, but never heard back from her. Hopefully she likes the way they turned out!! I think next time I will go a little smaller, but I think they look cute the way they turned out for these.

Yesterday I got together with a couple friends I haven't seen in well over a year (maybe over two!!). One lives out of town and was driving through on her way home from St. Louis. She is expecting her first child in September and since I'm not sure when I will see her next I wanted to give her a few handmade things for her baby girl. I took most of her present from my stash because I didn't have a lot of time to throw things together, but I did manager to monogram a onesie. It was a big hit (as well as everything else) and I love how it turned out. I really need to start doing more with monogramming!! She loved receiving handmade presents and I love to hear how much people appreciate handmade presents!!

Monsters in my closet

2009-06-22T10:27:00.002-04:00

My daughter is 2 years old and has a very active imagination. The only things my kids watch regularly is PBS (Sesame Street, Word World, sometimes Dragon Tales, Caliou or Arther). We were out of town at my parents for almost a week and got back home last Monday night (late). Tuesday or Wednesday she started talking about monsters in her room. She doesn't get upset, just says there are monsters in her room and continues to talk about them until I (or my husband) go into her to check under her bed and her closet. Once we check everything out the topic is no longer discussed until she "sees" monsters in her room again. I'm not sure where she has come up with monsters in her room, but we think it's funny and cute!

More halter tops and Hannah Montana outfit....

2009-06-06T15:30:00.005-04:00

This week I've had a busy week of sewing. I always have a never ending list of things I want to accomplish, but never get to each thing when I plan on it. I did, however, have a pretty good week and hope this weekend to get some more things done. I've been needing a break from the constant interruptions from the kids, so my husband took the kids to a local indoor play gym with bouncy houses, climbing areas, slides, bowling, laser tag and I'm sure I'm forgetting something. They've been gone since noon and are just getting back home as I type. It's been a nice break and although I haven't gotten any sewing done I have gotten laundry put away, a shower, watered some plants, some things cleaned up in my room, some new blog posts and a couple e-mails sent out. Now the kids are down for naps and hopefully I can get some more things done!

Here are a couple tops I made for my daughter this week and a Hannah Montana outfit I made for my friend's daughter who turned 6 a month ago (yes, I'm a little late....better late than never!!).