some new creations....

Well, we finally got Austin settled in school....naps rescheduled earlier so we are awake and ready to go pick him up by 2:30 and earlier bedtimes for all. I still think it is hardest for me to wake up before everyone else in the morning, even though it is peaceful when we do. I still hate the chaos school brings of 'having' to get up and trying to get everyone ready and out the door. I just can't seem to adhere to structure...probably a major fault in a lot of eyes....can't say i'm a list-maker - more free-spirited - do as i please when i feel like it - that is what life's about, right?

With Austin going off to school we are trying to spend more time with Tyler to encourage his speech along - this is our day at the park.. he was cracking up at this!

on the other side of the teeter-totter!

me goofing around

so sweet, hmmm......mr. blue eyes

in the fort....could they be more different?

Labor Day visit with my parent's - we had so much fun!

Austin at his new desk at school - first day!

His new 'big' backpack - should last for a few years!

All ready for school - uniform and all - no worries on what to wear.

Now on to some craft things i've been doing. This is a sneak peek at the quilt i'm working on. I've wanted to do this for about 4 years now (ha) but plenty of things kept getting in my way. Now, I seem to have more time and finally got up the nerve to start it. I swear i've read the pattern about 100 times and it seemed rather confusing, but I decided to just jump in and figure it out. While, it is different, it has turned out to come together nicely. I did a few semi-complete blocks at first and now i'm chain piecing the parts together to be more efficient. The blocks will measure 12 x 12" when they are complete and I need 42" of them for a full-size quilt. Each block (like below) will be a different size depending on how it goes together so I'm going to add white around each boat until it reaches 12.5 x 12.5" (with seam allowance) and then create the rows. I ran out of sails and sky fabric yesterday and had to get some more - so i'm back at it today!

the block below is the very first one i did about 4 years ago - i realized now that i had several of the pieces going the wrong way...i was going to throw it out, but decided to add it in - i think it makes the boat look like it is in the high seas moving around. I also like to have one 'non-anticipated' mistake in every quilt - i don't think it has anything to do with being a perfectionist or not - the sewing is perfect - just the pattern is a bit off. It gives you something to find each time you use the quilt. I remember doing this as a little girl with my grandma - we would look at the quilts her mother made (my great-grandma) and find the mistakes - it was always so much fun for me and I'll remember it forever -something i'd like to pass along in my quilts!

A couple of the remaining cards I made that went into that last batch. Some of these stamps are new for the 2009-2010 Stampin Up! Catalog...I really like the robots - they make me smile!

I am getting in some supplies to start making Christmas cards tomorrow. I am hoping to put the quilting aside and do a few samples for my customers to pick from and have them up by tuesday or Wednesday! Have a great Sunday!

Projects, projects

i have, for the first time, made a list (unfortunately it's only in my head!) I can never bring myself to write my lists on paper with the sole exception of the grocery store...then I *usually* have such an inept sense of detail that once i've actually written it out i remember it and don't refer to it once in the store....occassionally this system fails me. but, i had to come up with a mental list of project to-do's, yep had to prioritize them into importance or else i would have been doing the one's i fancied most first....so i thought this was a great way of tricking myself into get the 'must-do' stuff done first so that i could do the 'really-fun' stuff later - and in reality i enjoy it all!

this is probably one of my favorites ever, but it took a long time to cut all the pieces - there is a tutorial on the website above! this paper is retired SU! by the way!

I played around quite a bit with this one - it was fun and easy to make, so i switched up the designer (patterned) paper and ribbon a bit on each one. Also, a great way to get rid of some of the million flower embellishments i have hanging around!

I have been making a lot of cards lately for an order I recently got, here are some of the one's i've made...i'll be the first to admit the more difficult ones I snagged the ideas from here, a fabulous site for fresh ideas! Of course, they have my own style and spin put into them!

the inside pulls out for the sentiment and i thought it'd make a lovely bookmark as well!

I spend way too much time hand cutting each image and designing the card itself, but i can't resist the outcome - hopefully they each go to people that appreciate the hand-made card!!

here is a really bad picture *but i was in a hurry to do the post* of the re-usable quart size ziploc bag i designed. Hopefully you can see the very cool pirate print that i'm hoping makes it too cool for austin to resist taking in his lunch this year! It has a fold down flap with velcro securing it and a waterproof liner. This one is great for chips or larger snacks...i'm going to make a *sandwich* size for sandwiches and maybe a couple snack sizes for apples, grapes, etc. I figure that at $2.00 + / box of plastic sandwich bags I should be saving about $80 a year by using these : ) I finally talked doug into 'testing' it with his lunch yesterday....the chips were gone, and he *did* bring it back home to me, but i wonder if he ate lunch by himself in a dark closet so no-one could see what his nerdy wife sent his lunch in....hee hee! it's all part of saving the earth and recession-proofing our lives!

Last, but not least, are these precious babies....they are on the top of my priority list, although I enjoy sewing them as much as anything else. So, I had to get to a certain step in the diapers in order to work on other project. If you haven't checked them out yet, you must do so at OBB diapers - click on hyena cart to check the in-stock diapers, all hand-sewn by yours truly....

**Then of course lots of pool time in this really warm weather - today the pool water was 96-98 degrees - so warm! **

Tyler wearing the finished cloth diaper - i tried to get him to stand up but he wasn't cooperating! aren't they adorable?

Austin practicing moves on his new boogie board!

That is it for now...I'm excited to start on a new quilt design hopefully the end of this week or beginning of next...i'm feeling more motivated to quilt than i have for a long time - better soak it up!

Sara

don't jinx it!

a miracle has happened at our house, but i am tempted to not even talk about it - in fear of jinxing it! Austin has never been fond of sleeping by himself...so we have had to lay down with him, let him fall asleep and sneak out of the room....the bigger problem is usually doug or i fall asleep before he does and then before we know it it is the middle of the night or morning. Doug finally decided enough was enough and designed the 'magical box'. we took a large box, taped it up, cut a hole in the top and covered it with brown packing paper. We let austin draw on it with markers, glitter glue, etc. Then we filled it with goodies. The deal was: sleep in your own bed all night and in the morning the magical box will be filled with surprises, if you don't sleep in your bed it will be empty. Last night was night 3 of the magic box and it is working!!!! Nothing short of a miracle and good old bribe. But, it is so worth it!

Now i'm just trying to make sure no one gets sick before thanksgiving. we have a thanksgiving feast at school on wednesday - so tomorrow in class we will be baking muffins and making pies and turkey hats and finishing our turkey centerpiece for wed. It should be a fun day and the feast is always lots of fun with the kids before break.

Another small miracle happened yesterday when i finally discovered why my sewing machine was skipping stitches when I was sewing this stretchy jersey wicking fabric that was also rather thin. After finally breaking down and taking my machine and what little pride i had left to quilt quarters and spending another 40 minutes troubleshooting in the store with different needles....the amazing lady finally tried a single needle throat plate (who would guess that?!) and it was fixed. this has been driving me nuts for over 2 weeks and i was beginning to think that my barely used, very nice machine was a dud! back to loving my machine and hopefully done ripping out skipped stitches for a long time!

I did a holiday vendor open house yesterday for stampin up with 9 other vendors. It was fun meeting new people as always and i was able to get a new really great lasagna soup mix and this warm artichoke dip from the tastefully simple rep and learned about a new product or company called scentsy. This product was very cool and different....similar to the old candle (wax) melters where you put the tea light in the bottom to melt the wax?! this one though is heated by a light bulb and they have ones for the bathroom to plug in. the great thing was they were actually cool looking with a ton of selections on scents. I got this one for the bathroom in black weave.

I did make several page kits for the show and didn't sell out of all of them and had some discontinued stamp sets for sale. I'm planning to post the ones that didn't sell in my etsy shop today or tomorrow - so check it out!

Saturday Fun Day

I was a lucky mom today ... got invited to a scrapping birthday party complete with Taylor Bakery cake and all! What more could I ask for on a dreary, cold Saturday? I was able to get almost 12 Christmas cards done for my mom's stash and used the new x-mas paper I got from stampin up. I will take some pics tomorrow. I wasn't sure how the paper would be in person, but it was so amazing i may order an extra pack for my x-mas pictures this year.

I have been thinking about putting together some monthly scrap kits that would be extremely reasonably priced and have a mish-mash variety of fun embellies to play with as well as designer paper and matching cardstock. this is something that has been in my mind for a few years actually and i just now have the time to do it. I am doing a holiday open house with a pampered chef friend and wanted to have them available for that. please leave me a comment if you think this sounds like a good idea and i am hoping to have the first one together in a couple weeks! I will probably post them in the etsy store as well. I am anticipating doing just a few in the beginning to see how it takes off. I thought it would be a great way to 'taste test' a lot of product without having to buy the entire bag or set. i mean really - who needs 300 felt flowers in just 3 colors : ) I also love all the paper, but rarely use the entire pack...anyway - i will try it and see how it goes! Happy scrapping ...

Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween everyone! We have had a busy day so far...I participated in Austin's class ( my last day as parent instead of teacher!) I start on Monday officially and I am very excited. I still need to get my actual crafts planned out, but I'm feeling pretty confident!

It turned out to be such a nice day today that we are sneaking out to the boat to go for a quick sail this afternoon before getting ready for trick-or-treating! I was torn between riding my bike and sailing, but the entire family will enjoy sailing more! I am hopeful the weather will be nice through the weekend and i can sneak in some riding! I am so glad it isn't going to be freezing for trick-or-treating tonight! I am such a kid and can't wait to dig through the buckets at the end ... Halloween is definately one of my more favorite holidays.

2 lucky family members are hopefully receiving these cards in the mail today if they haven't already!

new shop

i can't wait to introduce my new etsy shop! you can find it by clicking here. I was going to wait to share the news until i had the store stocked with fun stuff, but wanted to go ahead and start playing with the design and uploading items. My hope is to design a few of my own quilts and post finished quilts and cut kits. As well as some handmade scrapbook / card items and kits. So, go ahead and get yourself familiar and check back often.

It has been raining all morning and is so dark in the house - i think this week has been our first reality check that winter really is coming. My body is trying to adjust...the runny nose, dull headache {this could also be directly related to the fact that I'm out of coffee} and lack of energy. The cold weather has thrown off my exercise routine since I bike outside with the kids in the trailer...yuck!

I have some Christmas cards to finish making today and then I'm hoping to finish up some scrapbook pages I have been working on. We have a busy weekend with dinner at my brothers house tonight and then the last sailing regatta of the year this weekend with a fun costume party Saturday night. Have a great weekend!

Think Christmas time!

I did a workshop last week and we did a christmas card so i thought I would share. I have since made a couple other versions using an older stamp set! This card was mulit-dimensional and we got the idea from http://www.beate.blogs.splitcoaststampers.com/ - she has a great website and gallery with tons of ideas!

I used the Season of Joy stamp set from the Stampin Up! catalog and the Ski Slope designer paper from the holiday mini.

the cards at the bottom are done with paper from last years catalog that i had leftover and an older stamp set! I embossed the green santa and then colored the other one with ink and an aqua painter!