Oh Happy Day!

Well as crazy as the weekend was, Monday made up for it. What a great and productive day filled will all kinds of good stuff!

I started out doing my yoga and it felt good. It's getting easier each time I do it. Then I took the dogs for a mile walk. We all enjoyed that even though it was cold and damp. We had some of that freezing frost stuff this week and some of the bushes and trees are still a bit white. They look so pretty.

Back home for breakfast and some clean up and a phone call to Comcast. When we disconnect our cable TV on Saturday to get Dish Network, we will be left with just Comcast Internet. That means our special little rate goes up to the ridiculous regular rate. I didn't want my special little rate to go up so I pleaded my case to three different people and my rate will stay the same for six months and then it will go up. I figured by then maybe something else will be available out here where I live, if not, I pay the higher rate. Oh well.

Then it was etsy time. I put on my Adam Lambert CD and got to work. I listed this pillow in FourDogDay.....

and this new Itsy Bitsy Tote Bag too. Kind of a fun one.

I am still using up fabric that I have on hand for these, and that is so awesome....especially after working on my taxes this weekend and seeing how much I spent on material this year! OUCH! I have two other Itsy Bitsies done and they are my absolute favorites so far. I'll show them to you as soon as I get them photographed.

I even managed to iron all of my clothes for the week today so I don't have to worry about that every night. I hate it when I don't iron and have to do it on a nightly basis. Such a pain! Do you iron?

What do you keep busy with in the middle of January? It's back to work for me today, but I love the four day work weeks!

Make it an awesome day and be sure to do something nice for yourself today!

Using It Up

Since the new year, there has been a lot of talk about not buying more crafting and art supplies until using up the huge mounds of things we already have. Then Mary at MaryRichmondDesigns asked for people to make things out of material they already had and blog about it today. Well, I have fabric. In fact I have three good sized bags of awesome fabric. It's leftover pieces from aprons and totes and pillows, and it's nice...really, really nice...and it was killing me to have it sitting on the shelf unused.

I had already started using some of it for my new fabric clocks. All three of these are made using leftover fabric. I did have to purchase other things to make the clocks, but at least the fabric is being used. Some of the pieces I had wouldn't work for the clocks, but I still wanted to use them up.

That's when I decided to start making the Itsy Bitsy Tote Bags. I showed you this one on Sunday. I don't know about you, but when I go to the store or to the mall, I do not take a big bag. I need my hands free so I can pick things up and look at them. You sure can't put your purse down anywhere or leave it in a shopping cart, so I prefer a small, lightweight bag that I can "wear".

Here is my second Itsy Bitsy. I had this fabric left from a regular sized tote bag I had made a while ago. I'm going to keep playing around and come up with some other styles, but I think it's a great way to use up fabric that is just sitting here.

Are you being run out of your workshop by bins and boxes and crates and drawers and closets that are overflowing with leftover supplies and materials that seem to multiply all on their own? What do you do when you have more leftover materials than you know what to do with?

Hi Ho Hi Ho

It's back to work I go! After a glorious six days off, I am headed off to work this morning. The nice thing is that I only have to work two days and then I am off for four more!! That's a big Chee Hoo!

It has been a wonderful break, filled with fun and family, and even a little etsy thrown in. I've been able to organize my etsy shop, FourDogDay a bit, organize my workshop a bit and organize my life a bit. What more can one ask for?

Work should be quiet with no kids or teachers. I have some enjoyable projects to work on and then it will be time to celebrate the coming of the new year. I have put a lot of thought into my plans for the upcoming year, and I will talk about that later this week.

Do you go out to celebrate New Years Eve? We use to go out. After we got tired of doing that, we use to get together at some one's house each year to celebrate. After years of doing that we started to stay home and watched the TV celebrations together. Now Irv can barely stay awake until 9:00 and I can barely make it past the 10:00 news.... much less midnight. I can usually manage if I keep myself busy, but Irv doesn't even get close. We'll see how we do this year.

I did get a new tote bag finished up today and listed in FourDogDay, and I also finished one of my new clocks. I used the same fabric for the clock as I did for the one I made for myself. Here is mine.

The fabric placement is different on the etsy one. I'll try to get that photographed as soon as I have some good lighting and get that listed as well.

Here is the tote. I love the new style and I love brown and pink together. I have other fabrics to make three more like this one, fabric to make quite a few clocks and even fabric to make some of my new envelope back pillow covers. Yes, I had fun at Joann's and on etsy over the break!

Well, it's time to get myself going. Make it an awesome day for yourself and I'll chat with you soon.

Happy Veterans Day

First, I want to thank all of our service men and women for all they do and our Veterans for the sacrifices they have made. My dad was in the Army and both of my brothers retired from the Navy. The commitment these men and women make to their country never ceases to amaze me. My dad carried the burden of war with him his entire life. His nightmares were the most terrifying thing I can recall as a child. You can read about it here. Yes, their sacrifices are great.

Because of those awesome men and women....I have the day off today, and it couldn't have come at a better time. I can't even begin to tell you how many things I have made since spring that I have NOT listed in my shop. No....you have no idea. I have cake stands, and brooches, and wine bags, and pin cushions, and pillows, and coasters, and tote bags, and picture frames and I'm not even sure what else....and I'm not talking one or two of each, I am talking MANY of each.

The sun is supposed to shine all day today, which means I might be able to capture some well lit photos in the morning in my workshop window and then in the early afternoon in my kitchen window. I figure if I can get most of it photographed...then over the next couple of weeks I can touch up the photos and get things listed in time for the holidays. That is the plan. We will see how it goes.

I also have given a tremendous amount of thought to my etsy shop situation and have decided to keep FourDogDay and eventually close MyOtherShop. Your comments were very helpful and gave me much to think about.

I really don't have time to promote two shops, and now that I know that fabric is really my thing..I plan to concentrate on that. I will list all of my new items in FourDogDay and slowly move other fabric things over. I feel SO great having made my decision!

So, without further hesitation....I am out of here today! Glad I charged all of the batteries for the camera. I will need them!

Have an awesome day everyone!

It's here! Chee Hoo!

Well today is Friday. Irv and I are both working a 1/2 day so we can set up our booth for the craft show this afternoon rather than on Saturday morning. I know this was a wise move for us. Michael was so sweet and took a 1/2 day off to come and help us set up, and then Bernadette is working the booth with us on Saturday and Tresa on Sunday. It's so nice to have the support of your family. :)

The truck will be piled high with the walls for the booth, all of the shelves and Irv's tools.

My little Prius will be jam packed with the little check out "table", three bins of cake stands, three huge bags of pillows, aprons, tote bags, coasters, light switch covers, bags, credit card payment stuff, my signs, my props, ruffles, skirting and me!!

We plan to arrive there around 3:30 this afternoon. If we aren't there all night setting things up, I will check in when we get home and let you know how it went and post a picture of my booth with all of my stuff in it. If you don't hear from me tonight, then you can assume set up didn't go according to plan.

Have an awesome day today and if I don't chat with you again tonight, I will pop in when we get home Saturday if I'm not too tired!

The Vision Takes Shape!

It's not quite done, but I just couldn't wait to show you. I'll show you again when I have the skirting for the lower shelves and the ruffles for the upper shelves done. This is just the most awesome craft show booth ever! I can't believe that Irv was able to take MY vision and MY sketches and create from scratch EXACTLY what I wanted!!

I couldn't get a picture of the whole thing because it is still taking up our entire one car garage. We will be taking it apart and setting it up in the driveway next weekend for a trial run, and I'll get some other pictures then. So, for now, you get it in sections.

The three big shelves on the right are for my pillows. I plan to skirt the bottom shelf for some color and so we can shove some of our bins under it. The four corner shelves are for cake stands. I am thinking I might make little ruffles for the fronts of all of the shelves. There is enough room between the pillows and cake stands for cute little hooks of some kind to hang part of my totes on.

The empty section on the back wall will be where the aprons will be hanging on these funky wood heads/bodies that we are going to make, but haven't made yet. Then we have four more corner shelves for more cake stands.

The big shelf on the left side will be for the coasters and I will skirt that one too, and then it's a little hard to see them, but there are three skinny shelves above the big shelf and that is where all of my light switch covers will go. I am really excited that they will be standing upright facing people rather than laying on a table. It also has two little front sections where I will be able to "showcase" an apron and a couple of tote bags so people can see them as they stroll by.

Remember that cute little sewing machine cabinet I "removed" from our neighbors garbage? That will be my check out table....there isn't much room for anything else. This show only gives you an 8 x 10 spot, and that isn't much in the grand scheme of things. The cabinet is being painted white right now. It will be skirted on three sides and I'll keep my bags and things under it.

So I am sending out a gigantic CHEE HOO to my wonderful husband Irv for all of his hard work on this project....and even if I don't sell one thing...I will have the best looking booth at the show...but that better not happen or I will be in BIG trouble!!

Oh, and just so you don't think that Irv is some kind of God or something...I was teasing him yesterday and he told me that if I kept it up, he wouldn't finish the booth and he would just hand me the keys to the truck on the day of the show and I would have to figure out how to set it up myself! The nerve of the guy!

It's Getting Better

Well, we are back from the craft show and I am exhausted so this is going to be short. It actually went pretty well. Once again the sales weren't super, but I used Tresa's suggestions and definitely saw a difference. It was a pretty good show too. There were people around all day long. I wasn't in the main area, but still had plenty of traffic.

I sold a few cake stands, a pillow, a couple of sets of coasters, some switchplates and even some pin cushions! I either have to get a nice display stand for my cards, or not even bring them. People won't take the time to flip through them in a display box. Not sure what to do about the photos either.

My next show is an indoor show in September. Irv and I talked today about what kind of displays we want to create. It will be entirely different than the outdoor shows under a tent. I'm thinking, dog eared cedar fence panels painted white for a oouple of the walls so we could hang shelves on them. The space at the next show is only 8 X 10....that isn't a lot of room.

Well friends, I have got to go get my jammies on and chill out for a while. We are going over to Michael and Bernadette's house tomorrow morning. They closed and moved in on Friday. It's their first house and they are so excited! I am so excited for them!!

Have an awesome evening and I'll chat with you tomorrow!

Do you?

I do. If you do iron...what do you iron? I iron most of my clothes, although I am a master at the "Open, grab, shut and hang" technique. You have to be quick with the dryer still running....just open it up and before it stops, you grab one article of clothing, slam it shut so it keeps running and hang the item up....then you do it again, and again, until the dryer is empty! Works beautifully and makes for less ironing.

My old boss sent all of her laundry out so she never had to iron anything. My mother-in-law use to iron just about everything including her cotton bras. My grandma use to "sprinkle" the clothes with water, roll them in tight little "tubes" , put them in the laundry basket and then go iron them while they were damp.The summer after my freshman year of high school I was a "Mother's Helper". I was hired to watch the kids, but ended up being the maid as well. I ironed my little heart out that summer. That lady ironed everything, including sheets and pillowcases.

Since I started making pillows for MyOtherShop and now the aprons...I've been ironing a lot, but this is fun ironing. I like ironing nice flat things that don't have sleeves or lumpy pockets or cuffs.

I had to buy a new iron this weekend and man I hate to spend my money on stuff like that, but the old one didn't get hot enough, didn't steam properly and leaked occasionally. I spent $30 for one that was on sale and let me tell you...this thing is so shiny and slippery that one of these days it's going to flying right off the ironing board!

So, do you?

Counting Down...

My posts are going to be short and sweet this week as we enter the home stretch for my first craft show! Irv and I drove out to Woodstock yesterday to scope out my spot. It's really very nice for having been on the waiting list. The town square is so pretty with cobblestone streets, cute shops and the park right in the middle with a big gazebo. My spot is right across the sidewalk from the gazebo.

I called one of the organizers to ask a couple of questions and found out that people start entering the "staging area" oh, around 2:00 a.m. I had a feeling it was going to be like that. Can you imagine how nuts it must be when you try to get 350 crafters and their vehicles (probably 2 each) into 4 little town blocks? I don't know what time we are going to go sit, but it won't be 2:00 a.m. for sure.

Irv did an awesome job on the hanging dowel rods for my pillows. It's so nice to have a husband that is handy AND supports your efforts. He also made some great hanging foam board displays for my photos and cards.

When I asked the coordinator how busy the park area got during the show...the word "congested" came up. I was more looking for the words "crowded with shoppers."...but congested came up when we were talking about the activities that take place in the gazebo all day. Not sure my spot is going to be the best for sales, but it could be a lot of fun!

It's time to stuff more pillows! Have an awesome evening!

Trying To Smile

Well, Irv took my car in for an oil change this weekend. The guy there said my transmission was leaking. Irv took the car to our mechanic and he said it looked like it and to go to battle with Toyota. We are 2500 miles over our warranty. The car is leased and the lease in done in 3 months. He called Toyota and they said to bring it in...that the transmission would be under the 5 year warranty. Okay, so that was good news.

Toyota called today though and said it isn't the trans that's leaking, it's the power steering and now whatever I need will run $900. ARE YOU KIDDING ME??? The guy told Irv he will talk to the boss when he comes in tomorrow and let us now what they can do for us.

What they can do is fix the darn thing for FREE! I am not spending $900 to repair something that shouldn't be breaking at 38,000 miles! UGH! Anyway, I am trying to be calm and wait to see what the guy says tomorrow. Then if it isn't the news we want to hear....Irv will be calling someone else at Toyota.

Then just as I am about to walk out the door at work, the place that I ordered my canopy for the craft show from calls. Sorry, the canopy you want is out of stock and we won't have them in until June! JUNE???? ARE YOU KIDDING ME???? The show is May 17th. They would be happy to sell me this other one that is actually a better canopy than the one I ordered for less money. Oh, really?? I went home and looked at it online. NOPE...it isn't better. I want the other one.

So, I found it somewhere else and ordered it. It says it's in stock, but I won't have it until the end of April or the beginning of May. That was not my plan. I wanted it early so we could practice setting it up and I could see if my lay out works. I am NOT happy, but I really am trying to be calm. Getting hysterical really won't fix my car or get me my canopy any sooner, so I'll deal with whatever happens.

It was a less than wonderful afternoon. Now I am about to start making the zillion pillows I cut out last night. Here is a sneak peek at some of the other ones I have finished that I probably won't be listing on etsy. I am really lovin' the pillow thing right now!

Breathe.....stay calm.....happy thoughts....smile.....go make some pillows. :)

It's a Bad Back Kind Of Day

Short post today....on Wednesday at work I was working on my archive room project...moving lots and lots of boxes. Well, on Thursday my back felt a bit tight....then yesterday I was having a hard time getting around. Today it is just slightly better, but it's a mess. I have a very weak low back with some very sensitive discs. They obviously did not like what I was doing and are just letting me know.

I tried to work on some pillows today and I did get some done. My daughter-in-law saw one of them and said it looks just like something from Pottery Barn....I will take that compliment any day. I haven't photographed them yet, but as soon as I do I will share. I'm pretty excited about them. I didn't get as much done as I would have liked, but I can't sit for long or stand for long so it was a day of constant moving from here to there.

I also had coasters in the garage where I was spraying them with sealer, and got them all done...so I guess all in all, it was a fairly productive day considering.

Today is Irv's birthday. We celebrated last weekend, but Michael and Bernadette stopped by this afternoon with Dairy Queen for all of us. The dogs played outside and we had a nice visit.

Well, that is going to be it for today. I think I am going to take a shower, get in my jammies , curl up on the couch and watch the movie, "Milk". I watched "Slumdog Millionaire" last night and it was awesome!

I'm thinking spring!! The picture is Michael and Bernadette when we went to visit them in Virginia where they were living last spring. The cherry blossoms in D.C. are amazing! Have a good one and I'll chat with you soon.