SPARK: Part 1

Over the weekend I was able to participate in SPARK!

I had such a blast!

It would seem that most of my pictures are of the decor.

It was beeeeeautiful!

Here's my little booth I set up in the General Store.

The cute flowers on the tables.

Our food was even cute.

And yummy.

It was like magic at night.

It was amazing and I feel so blessed that I was able to be a part of it.

My Spark has been lit.

Exciting and busy weekend!

I set up for Piper and Chloe tonight, I love this show! Click on the picture for more info.

And I don't know why I haven't said anything about this other thing I have going on this weekend, because I am so super excited. I am going to be a show and tell artist at SPARK! So, tomorrow morning I am setting up a demo table. I will have a little sample of what I make set up at my table. Then I have been working on getting stuff together for a little project that everyone attending gets to make. And there is a General Store where my things will be for sale too. I am excited and nervous and did I say excited? I also get to attend the rest of the event!
I should say right here that I have an awesome husband. He took tomorrow off of work for me so I can go and he is going to clean up all of my things from the Piper and Chloe show too, isn't he sweet? I LOVE him!

Kay, now I must go and make sure I have everything ready for SPARK tomorrow!
And I will be sure to share pictures next week!

A challenge

Over at Tallgrass Prairie Studio, there is a UFO challenge. It came just in time for me. I have been thinking about all of my UFO's and I have wanted to get some done.

I counted 6 that I would like to get done before the new year. Here is a list so I can hold myself accountable:

* 3 lap quilts out of vintage linens for my girl's for Christmas

* Sage's bed quilt (some of the blocks are pictured above, I got them all finished today! Now I just have to sew them together, YAY!)

* my Mod Sampler quilt along quilt :)

*my quilt from A Notion or Two

Wish me luck! I will need it because I am also busy with the holiday season shows and Christmas crafting!

Sew and tell

I'm joining in on Amy's sew and tell this week! I am always sewing something :)

Here are some of the things I have been working on this week. Above are some Bird Cage Christmas ornaments, I love these, I made some for myself last year. The backs of them are vintage linens, and besides the cream fronts, the fabric for these came out of my scrap bag, which I love, I need to use up those scraps!

I have been slowly working on a quilt for my youngest Sage. I had my kids pick out their fabrics from my stash months and months ago for their new quilts. I feel bad it has taken me this long, but what do you do? I especially feel bad because Sage (who is 5) has never had a bed sized quilt of her own. What kind of a Mom am I? :) Stay tuned for the finished quilt though, I love, love all the fabrics each of my girls picked out, they are going to be so cute.

I also finished a batch of girls purses. That mushroom one is my fave. I am getting ready for all my holiday shows coming up. They start up next weekend!

Denver Aquarium

If ever in Denver, you don't want to miss out on the Aquarium.

We love it there.

I know the picture is blurry, that eel creeped me out, it was bigger than Sage.

Casey had to get a Batman painted on his arm, he's a nerd, although a pretty hot nerd :)

Also, do you see how he wears his glasses on his forehead? Does anyone else do this? He says it is because he doesn't want his hair messed up :)

This was the best picture of all of us, I think we all have red eyes in it too :)

No picture editing here folks :)

The thrifting fairies smiled on me

I had some time to kill while my two youngest were at their singing class, so I went to my favorite thrift store.

These two are my fave. I am dying over the little orange ladybugs in the bottom piece. And can you see the turtles in the top one? So. stinkin. cute.
I feel like I won a prize.

Other news of the day: My youngest daughter Sage wore a sequined devil horn headband to singing today, I didn't care one bit. It was fitting of her today because she has been quite the devilish girl today.

And I wanted to mention thanks for all your kind words about my letter I wrote last week. You guys are great!

yummy new girly shirts

Have you ever been inspired to make something and have to make it right then?

That was me with these girly pillowcase style shirts.

The original inspiration came from a stuffed bunny with this little skirt that looked like bunting. Which I guess is a bit weird because none of these look like they have bunting on them. Sometimes that is how inspiration goes for me, my projects sometimes take on a mind of their own.

Sometimes I have to try something different just for my sanity. Yes, I make a ton of pillowcase dresses. But these little pillowcase shirts are all unique. No two are alike. I even did a bit of hand stitching on them, I love all the little details. Some have pockets, some have ruffles, some have doilies, some have hearts, or vintage lace. I love all of them and they have made my weekend fun. After I finished them all I had to admire them for quite some time.

I will be a bit sad to sell them at my upcoming shows. But I guess that means I will just get to make more.

skirts, skirts, skirts.

I've been making lots of skirts, I think they are one of my favorite things to make and wear.

I made this one for me out of Amy Butler's Love using this tutorial with a few modifications. I've already worn it twice, I love it.

This skirt I made this morning before I had to pick Sage up from school. It is for Christmas. Yes I am thinking about Christmas. I have decided that the couple hours I have while Sage is at Kindergarten in the morning will now be dedicated to Christmas crafting.

I love this little mushroom skirt! The whole thing was inspired by the red and white scalloped trim on the bottom that I purchased from Stephanie of Stephmodo.

She sells her beautiful finds (usually from France) in her etsy shop.

By the way if you haven't followed their restoration of a beautiful french cottage La Maisonnette, you should go check it out, it is amazing. I want to stay there at least once in my life.

Scrappy skirt tutorial

Here is my entry for the Sew mama Sew scrap buster contest. A scrappy skirt for little girls!

Here is what you will need:

*fabric scraps of course

* 3/4" wide elastic, I like the no roll kind

*thread

* lace for the bottom

First, dump out your scraps, it seems I have acquired a mountain of them.

Sorry the pictures aren't the best, I took them after my children were in bed because this skirt is a Christmas present for one of my girls.

You need to piece together fabrics so they are 44-45" wide. The length is determined by how long you want the finished skirt plus 2".

I wanted my skirt to have a 14" finished length, so, I wanted my fabric to be 45" wide by 16" long.

I pieced my fabrics in strips first using my serger, you could use a sewing machine, it would just take a bit longer because you probably want to zigzag the edges so they don't fray all over.

Then I pieced all the strips together again with a serger. I ended up with not enough width, so I had to piece more strips to add to get the full 45" width.

After I had a big enough piece of fabric, I carefully folded it in half and then trimmed it to the size I needed it.

Now, you'll have to excuse me I got a bit excited and forgot to take some pictures of the last steps I did. After trimming my fabric to the size I needed, I first added lace to the bottom again with the serger. Then I folded my piece in half right sides together and serged it into a tube. Then you turn it right side out and it should look like the picture above.

Now for the waistband. First fold the skirt's top edge 1/2" towards the wrong side of the fabric and press.

Now fold it over again 7/8" and press.

Now, you will stitch the waistband's lower folded edge, leaving about a 2" opening to put the elastic in.

Cut a piece of elastic your desired length, I usually just wrap the elastic around my girl's waist and cut it a couple inches shorter than their waist. I use a large safety pin attached to the end of the elastic to guide the elastic in the waistband casing. At this point, I will pin the ends of the elastic together and try the skirt on the girl it is intended for and make any adjustments to the elastic length that I need to. Then I sew together the elastic with a zigzag stitch. And stitch the casing closed.

And now you have a finished scrappy skirt!

A letter

Dear people who decided it was cool to steal from me,

It makes me sad that you think it is okay to steal from others. Not only does it hurt the people you steal from, but most of all it hurts you. It hurts your integrity. I take pride in the fact that I am an honest person and it makes me sad that others do not.

I am a stay at home Mom of three girls. Part of the reason I am able to stay home with them is because of the things that I make and sell. At times our family depends on the extra income I bring in to help pay for things we need. To me, my handmade things don't just represent the money it took to make them, they are made with my time, and lots of love. So when someone thinks it is okay to steal that away from me, it hurts.

I sincerely hope that one day you will realize the harm you are doing to yourself and others and that you can make it right.

That 's really all I have to say, I just needed to vent. Here is a good article about this.

~Amy

Weekend goings on

We made our annual fall trip up the canyon to roast marshmallows.

Casey thought he was so smart to melt his chocolate a bit, really, it just made a mess :)

Mmmmm.

I wanted a picture with each of my girls.

Then I guess Casey felt left out, and he had to sit on my lap for a picture too :)

I love these little stinkers so much I can't stand it.

Other goings on over the weekend: We went to Where the Wild things are, the kid's said they liked it, but sad to say Casey and I were kindof disappointed and were like huh? what was that? It wasn't what we expected I guess. And I decided it's not really a movie for kids, there is alot of things in it that my kids probably didn't understand.

All in all, we had a nice weekend.

Queen of Hearts and Alice in Wonderland Costume Set GIVEAWAY!!!!

Have you seen this on Grosgrain? It is amazing! Go check it out. Now.

Queen of Hearts and Alice in Wonderland Costume Set GIVEAWAY!!!!

I'm a fabric addict

As if I didn't have enough fabric, I go and buy some more today. I didn't mean to do it. I just wanted to check out the Material Girls Quilts shop. It just happened to be the Holiday Shop Hop and they were having sales. A sale and someone addicted to fabric isn't a very good mix :)

So I came out of the store with all of this. Amy Butler's Love fabric is going to be made into a skirt for me, I think right after I get done posting this. And the rest I will add to the ever growing stash.

And I have now added another quilt shop to my list of favorites.

That's it, I just wanted to share my yummy haul of goodies, and now I am off to make myself a skirt!

Cupcake and cake stand tutorial of sorts

I just love a cupcake with a stand all it's own. And it's super easy to make too.

The cupcake by the way is homemade by me, and it is part way sugar free if that makes any sense. Casey's birthday was on Monday and he requested his favorite German Chocolate. So I experimented with the Stevia baking blend again with success this time! The icing I was afraid to experiment with so that has sugar. These cupcakes are delish I tell you and you wouldn't even guess that the cake had no sugar in it. Anyways on to the tutorial.

Here's what you need:
Plates: I purchased mine at Anthropologie in the sale section months ago. The small plates went with teacups, but the teacups were missing, so I got them for a steal, and they are perfectly sized for cupcakes. You could get plates anywhere, your cupboard, the thrift store, anywhere.

Candlesticks, votive holders, really anything that would serve as a base for your plate.
I got mine at the thrift store.

Glue: I used E6000, you could use epoxy too, not sure if one is better than the other, I just used what I had on hand.

First, make sure everything is clean and dry. Then you could take some sandpaper and rough up the spots where you will glue together. I didn't because I didn't feel like finding the sandpaper. Then just glue together.


I tried to get a shot with glue on the candlestick, didn't really work.
You want to put enough glue to get it attached good, but not too much, you don't want glue oozing out all over the place.

Then let them dry, for however long your glue says, E6000 says 24-72 hours.

Now you have some super cute cupcake or cake stands!

Now bake a yummy cake or cupcakes to put on them!

I would recommend hand washing your new plates.

Mini living room makeover

I had to find a place for my vintage loveseat I just purchased.

Doesn't it look right at home? I am loving it!

And, it didn't look quite right mixed with our other couch.

So, Casey and the girls talked me into moving the vintage sectional inside yesterday.

Even though it is not reupholstered yet. After getting it inside, I have decided that we are going to only get the cushions redone instead of the whole sectional. For a couple reasons: The gold velvet upholstery on the back of it really still looks okay, and come on, it's gold velvet! Plus, it will cost ALOT less money to just do new cushions. But, until we have some extra cash to redo them, this is how it will have to stay. It's going to be even cooler when it's done though. First, we are getting entirely new cushions because these ones are lumpy and falling apart. Then, they will each be covered in a different vintage upholstery fabric, I can't wait! And I think I am going to paint my coffee table again, maybe an aqua color. That table was made by my great grandpa out of scraps of wood, after we got it, I painted it black and added the glass top to it. Oh, and we need new rugs, the one in the picture is still okay, but we have another one on the other side of the room that is in a sad state.



I had to make new pillows for our new seating area. Luckily I already had these pillows around the house and I just had to make covers. I think this one is my favorite with a vintage doily, handkerchief, and trims.

These ones are with mostly vintage fabric and a doily.

And this one is made from vintage upholstery samples, vintage fabrics, and a bit of fabric from IKEA.

The change makes the room seem brighter and larger too, our couch and chairs before were dark green and very big. I am excited about my "new" living room, it feels much more like me.

Bags and Art Market!

Every time I make a new batch of bags, I tell Casey "these are my coolest bags yet"

Which is exactly what I told Casey last night when I finished this batch.

My favorites are the two bigger ones that I pieced together the fronts and appliqued a doily onto. And the one in the right hand corner with the banner appliqued to it.

Now they are ready to be for sale at Art Market this weekend! If you are anywhere around Salt Lake City, you need to come shop on Saturday, you will not be disappointed!

Coolest loveseat EVER!

The thrifting fairies smiled upon me today.

I went to the thrift store in search of something else, but found this most perfect loveseat.

The second I saw it, I knew it had to come home with me.

It is in perfect condition too, pretty much like brand spankin new, I think it lived at an old lady's house, and she must have had plastic covering it or something.

And you ask where is it going to go in our tiny cottage of a home?

Well, that is a very good question. I think it is time for a change, and to maybe get ready to makeover this sectional I bought awhile back (which sadly has been sitting patiently in our shed). So now, I am on a quest for yards and yards of awesome vintage upholstery fabric, I already have some, but I need more.

And did I say that I seriously heart this loveseat? Well I do.

Have I told you about the fairies?

Apparently we have fairies living in our backyard.

They even have their own pumpkin patch.

Quilting, Baking, and Hailing

I finished up the quilt block for Lolly for A Notion or two this morning.

That pear fabric in the center she designed herself, isn't it cute?

She asked for a log cabin block with a pear applique.

I tried baking with a new stevia product I found, I was a bit disappointed in the results. I made snickerdoodles. If you have seen my normal snickerdoodles, you would know what I mean. When I bake them using sugar, they spread out and fluff up and they are beautiful. These ones, not so much, they taste alright, but I think I can do better.


It has all the sudden turned cold here. It is hailing today. I guess fall has officially arrived.

Startup Princess

I'm not sure why it took me so long to post these pictures, maybe because I look pretty silly with a piece of hair flying above my head. Pictured from left to right: Annie (she makes the most cutest headbands), Heather Bailey, Becky (she makes cute stuffed animals and such), and Me.
About a month ago I attended a Startup Princess conference.

Heather Bailey was one of the speakers, and she was my favorite.

We even got silly pictures of us taken with her.

I got a little teary eyed when she spoke about coming up with her idea for trash ties.

Heather also talked about everyone having their own "special sauce"

I loved hearing her speak and meeting her in person, she is very sweet and genuine.

Going to this conference made me think alot about where I am headed with my business.

Really what it comes down to for me, is this: I sew and create things for fun, as a hobby. It is great that I can make some money at it, but I don't want it to become so big that I have to hire other people to help me. I am proud that I have created everything that I sell, and I am even happier that I can do it from home so that I can be around when my children need me.