Learning to Crochet

I haven't told you this yet, but I'm trying to learn how to crochet. I just ordered a pattern from Etsy yesterday for a hat and really hope I can get it down. I think it would make some great Christmas gifts for my really sweet niece and nephews! (Shhh! Don't tell them!) Anyway, I hope I can master the art of crochet after seeing this blanket by Jill of Homemade by Jill. How precious is this?! I absolutely love it. She is just way too talented.

I will keep you updated on my crochet progress. Wish me luck!

Also, Jill is one of the competing crafters on the So You Think You're Crafty blog. Go vote for your favorite Harvest entry!

Lots of Custom Orders!

I was quite busy this weekend with some special orders for friends an family.

Presenting my first ever taggy blanket!

I made it for my 6-month-old nephew and he loved it! It got lots of chewing over the weekend. I embroidered his name on it, but quickly realized I should have used the bright green thread instead because you can't really see his name at all. Oh well. Here's a close-up.

I just love the 80's cassette tape fabric! I also worked on an order for a baby's 1st birthday shirt. Another first:

Off to work on more custom orders!

Wordless Wednesday: Our 2008 Pumpkins

Mr. Savvy Stitcher's Pumpkins:

...and mine:

Yes, our services are for hire ; )

Happy Halloween!

October Crafts

Of all of the holidays, Halloween is definitely my second favorite (after Christmas, of course) and I just love all of the Halloween crafts I've seen this year on all of my favorite craft blogs. I've been so inspired! I just wish I had more time to sit and make some of these awesome goodies to decorate my own house with. Here are a couple of my favorites:

Radical Autumn Sign Redo from Dollar Store Crafts

BOO Sanitizer from Just a Girl

I better get started--only 26 days to Halloween!

Foxy!

I am so excited about the new Foxy design released at Urban Threads today. Check it out!

How cute would this be on a onesie?!

Rag Quilt Alphabet

I found this fabric alphabet tutorial the other day on Happy Together and had to share! I was so excited for a new idea for a toddler gift and will definitely be making some of these for my nephew for Christmas this year. He will be 2 1/2 so I think he will be the perfect age for these. I may even try to make him some numbers, too. This is also the perfect way to use up some fabric scraps that I just can't make myself throw away--and now I'm glad I didn't!

Let me know if you make any--I'd love to see them!

Happy Week 2009: Day 5

Happiness=a Johnny Depp movie. Who's with me?

If you haven't seen Benny & Joon you are seriously missing out. Rent it this weekend. Go. Now. I'll wait.

speaking of books....

I just bought this pendant on Etsy. Usually I just put things on my Favorites list, but I had to have it straight away! Oh, mail god, please bring it quickly!

the front

the back

Happy Week 2009: Day 4

Happiness is a house full of books!

I absolutely love to read and wish I more time to do it. Here's what is currently waiting on my bookshelf while I finish The Host:

This one is an Oprah's Book Club book, but don't hold that against it. I think it sounded great before I knew that tidbit. (Don't throw stones, I just don't usually care for Oprah's choices. I'm just saying...)

Good Omens was suggested by a friend of mine. Apparently it is a funny account of the coming Apocolypse, which, as a personal rule, do NOT read about, but this one appealed to me. Here's a blurb:

According to The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch (the world's only completely accurate book of prophecies, written in 1655, before she exploded), the world will end on a Saturday. Next Saturday, in fact. Just before dinner.

So the armies of Good and Evil are amassing, Atlantis is rising, frogs are falling, tempers are flaring. Everything appears to be going according to Divine Plan. Except a somewhat fussy angel and a fast-living demon -- both of whom have lived amongst Earth's mortals since The Beginning and have grown rather fond of the lifestyle -- are not actually looking forward to the coming Rapture. And someone seems to have misplaced the Antichrist...

This truly is right up my alley because I love dark humor. (The Royal Tennenbaums anyone?) I think I'll enjoy it.

Happy Week 2009: Day 3

Another thing that makes me happy: newborn kittens!

These little sweeties are currently living in our garage. There are 5 of them and I am in love with them all already! They are 3 weeks old today!

Think Mr. SS will let me keep them all? You're right, probably not. The momma cat, Buddie, is officially his cat, but I like to claim her as mine, too. She's precious, don't let the grimmace in this photo fool you.

Happy Week 2009: Day 2

Wanna know what makes me MOST happy? My husband. He is my best friend, my soul mate, my protector, my confidant, my very favorite person. I love him more than he will ever understand. We've been married a little over a year and it's been the best year of my life.

Here are just a few of his wonderful qualities:

He's funny, intelligent, and outgoing.
He does ALL of the laundry because he's a bit OCD about it, which is perfect for me because I hate laundry.
He likes to clean. Yes, he really does. Again, I hate to clean. Atleast we can clean together and it feels less gruelling.
He loves movies more than I do and will even watch my girly, romantic comedies without complaint. (I mean, he took me to see Hannah Montana twice--once at the theater and once at the drive-in--but let's ignore the fact that I loved that movie, okay? What can I say, it's a guilty pleasure...)
He let me have my dog--who was living at my parents' house until I got out of college--even though he is avidly against having animals in the house.
He lets me take really long Sunday afternoon naps.
He never complains about my craft stuff laying all over the house.

...and so many more that I could never name them all.

Needless to say, I'm a very lucky gal. The luckiest. I hope each of you find what we have together.

Happy Week 2009: Day 1

This week I'm participating in Curious Girl's Happy Week=)

To join in on the fun, post a photo and words on your blog about one thing (person, idea, thought, etc.) that makes you happy. Do this each day through Saturday. If you go to her blog and tell her you are participating, she will put you on her blog roll!

So here's to Happy Monday!

This past Saturday, I participated in Western Baptist Hospital's annual Childbirth Fair. Here's me and my table!

My friend (we'll call her "A") came and helped me. There is no way I could have done it without her! She even came over Friday night to help with the finishing touches and pricing. So I guess today is really two things that make me happy:

1) a successful day at the Childbirth Fair and lots of really nice compliments from some really sweet pregnant ladies and daddies-to-be

and

2) a REALLY great friend who gave up her Friday night and Saturday morning to help me be successful at said event. We've been calling her my "marketing director" for awhile now, but after this weekend it's official! She sold my stuff way better than I could ever have done and I owe her big time!

Here she is! Ready to sell!

Doesn't she look ready with that coffee in hand? I thought so. Love you, A!

What makes you happy today?

Thursday, Thursday

I know I've been MIA, but I'm still crazy busy trying to get bibs and burp cloths made for the Childbirth Fair this weekend. Only 2 more days!

Each vendor donated a $50 value door prize for one lucky mom-to-be. Here's mine:

The "basket" is a photo box. I thought it would come in handy with a baby on the way! I included 2 burp cloths and matching onesie, and some great Etsy friends donated a diaper trash bag carrier, knit hat and headband. I hope the winner loves it! Oh! I also added some hair clippies to match the onesie. Very girlie!

On another note: Here lately I've been loving the pocket tissue holders that people have been making, and I always need tissues in my purse, so I decided to whip one up myself! Since I love owls so much, I decided I needed to make mine out of owl fabric, of course.

It turned out so great that I decided to offer one in my store! You can check it out here =)

so much to do, so little time

Things are still crazy busy with me trying to get goodies made for the Childbirth fair. Sorry I haven't had much time to blog, as of late! Hopefully everything will calm down in the next couple of weeks.

Here are some of the bibs I have been making:)

You can get the pattern here. It's very easy:) You'll love it!

Also, I recently found this site for free blogger templates, but I mostly love the free monthly calendar desktop wallpapers. Here's the one for August:

How fun is that? I'm using it right now at work. Keeps the room bright:) You should definitely get one for yourself. What's better than free?

Mystery Solved

Ok, mystery solved: Apparently there is an Etsy seller whose store is called "La Vie Ja Tun Tun". Still not sure what that means, but it is much less weird than I imagined. Still don't know what "tun tun" is. Oh well!

The Strange Land of Google Analytics

Do any of you use Google Analytics? I use it for both this blog and my Etsy store. I was really obsessed with checking it on a multi-daily basis (even though I'm fairly certain it only updates once ever 24 hours), but now it's more like once a week. I just like to make sure someone somewhere is still looking in on me. Well, today I decided to check it and as I was perusing the tab for my Etsy store, I came across the strangest keyword that has ever been used to access my store. Now, if you use Google Analytics, you know exactly what I'm talking about. If not, in a nutshell, it will tell you what someone searched on the Internet that returned your site as a result, basically. Okay, are you ready for this?

Here it is: "laviejatuntun".

Seriously, people, I cannot make this stuff up. I'm not even sure that's a real word in a foreign language. Maybe it is. Who am I to decide? What do you think?

Oh, I almost forgot! This keyword was at the top of the list, too, because it registered not only once, but twice! Perhaps from the same surfer. I can only hope. I'm pretty sure nothing in my shop has anything to do with whatever this word means.

Care to share your own crazy keywords? I'd love to hear 'em!

In other news: I'm 1/3 of the way through Stephenie Meyer's The Host. I have to say, I've not yet been "gripped." The gal who loaned it to me assures me that I'm getting close to the good stuff. I will stick it through to the end though. Here's hoping!

Friday Faves

Sweet Bird and Cage Door Hanger/Ornament by Little Bit Funky

Owl Appetizer Wood Tray by RubySueVintage

This is F CKING URGENT Notepad by TerriTaylorDesign

Hand Carved Owl Rubber Stamp by Drum Chick

Slice of Summer Set of 2 Chenille Burp Cloths by MissEmmasCloset