Jingle Bells

As Christmas approached I’m not going to lie, I’m pretty gosh darn excited. I just LOVE the holiday decorations on all of the homes! The warm fire and pine smell……………the sweet coca and my family actually behaving, for the most part.

I was in Hobby Lobby today and they are already stocked. I must have spent an hour wondering just memorized by all the pretty stuff. Not that we need anything. It’s just fun to look and imagine where it would go in my home or who I could give it too. After I finally made it out of that section of the store I realized one important thing. Christmas means I have to buy lots and lots of presents. Which is defiantly a fun task but is daunting emotionally and financially.  Sometimes I do wish we lived back in the days when Christmas presents were not main attraction in December.

Christmas to me has become way to commercialized. I want a fuzzy blanket on the couch with my family, you can keep the IPod. A good paperback book will do, leave the kindle at Best Buy. And someone please explain to me why I need an IPad when I have a Laptop and a Droid. Not that I’m not grateful, I just wish people would forget about those things and remember the reason for the season.

Nothing in the world can replace walking around the neighborhood, in the freezing cold, hand in hand with the love of my life watching the Christmas light twinkle as all the little ones run around with excitement.

What is your favorite part of the Holidays? The Shooping? The get togethers? Or maybe all the yummy food!

Comments?!

I have been having trouble commenting on others blogs as well as publishing my own, even following/sharing.

This problem has been going on for around 3 months now. Please know that I am not ignoring you, I just cant write back becuase Google keeps signing me out.

Is any one else having this problem or know how to fix it. I went to help and they stated "They are looking in to it" Sigh............

Sleigh Bells Ring Are You Listening?

There are 88 days until Christmas in case you’re wondering. That means that the Holiday Sales will begin in approximately 20 days. Leaving me around 40 days until I go crazy, with getting ready all the events of November and December. I haven’t started Christmas Shopping yet. I’m not that crazy. But I have wondered around on Amazon and narrowed down the list of how much I will spend on each person.

Then there is the second party of the Holiday season. Owning a shop on Etsy and having a website. I’ve already bought plenty of coffee in trying to get ready for this. I have also pretty much ignored fall in my shop to better prepare for Christmas, mostly because I’m excited to work with shiny stuff. You just can’t say enough about glitter. J

This year we I have been making more and more bows. And I love it! I love that I can use so many colors! I hope to also make some holiday themed shoes here soon for the little ones.  I want to make something cute for their feet so they can ride around the church in everyone’s arms in style.

What are you plans for this year’s Holiday season? Have you already begun your preparations?

Booties for Adults?

My weekend has been full of orders! A good thing really and I hope all my other crafter's have the same problem. But we already have so much to do at this time of the year. So as I'm sewing today the thought came across my mind, what If these booties fit me. I imagined myself curling my toes in them and walking around the house. I may even run to check the mail in them. With there slip resistant bottom, they would be perfect!

What do you think? Would you wear these shoes if they were in your size?

Independence Day

As the tempters reach a astonishing 100-112’F here in Augusta Georgia I am glad that we will be heading to the beach in the morning. Charleston South Caroline is one of our favorite places to visit in the summer. We always buy the hotel the day before and get a steal at a top notch place, kind of makes us feel fancy to be in a hotel that normally goes for $300 a night and we get it for around $150. At least there you can go for a swim, wonder down to Wet Willies or indulge at Snobs. Snobs have a phenomenal Duck by the way.

We will be there for about 3 days then were heading back to hang out at a friend’s lake house and boat to watch the fireworks.

Nothing really says America like water and a grill. I guess except an American Flag.  What are you plans for the weekend? Are you planning a big party? Or just staying in the cool AC?

Featured in a Treasury!

Come by and say hello! :)

My Thrify Light Box

My New Light Box! And it only cost me 89 Cents!

After looking for a Light Box in stores and seeing the prices I have decided to make my own. I dint have many cardboard boxes so I had to make do. First I cut the top off with the "help" of Sam. She has a bit of a box fetish. And a mommy fetish.

I knew this was going to be hard because I cut my self, a lot. When I sew, when I cut material, when I cook. I'm not good at not cutting. But with a little patience I was able to achieve this:

Now for the sides. I tired to move Sam, again with no luck. At least I got her out of the box long enough to cut it.....

Ta Da! My thrifty light box is done! I used a poster board on the back  in a C shape. I also put white paper on the sides under the sheet. I know what your thinking and no, no children helped me make it. Thats my awesome skills at work! Next to take some pictures!

We have been Featured! Free Shipping!

We have been featured in a Open BNR feel free to drop by!

We are also offering FREE SHIPPING with the code MAY11 at Tulipsea for the duration of the weekend!

The Art of Being Cheap

Over the years I have learned that being cheap is often more fun than over spending. Now there is a happy medium you have to find. I’m cheap but my family never eats a frozen meal. We travel and hunt for deals but never stay in a slum. How so? With lots of research. For instance we recently traveled to Napa Valley and the hotels were outrageously priced! So I Goggled bed and breakfasts. Low and behold we got a wonderful bed and breakfast that was not only on Oprah but Trading Spaces! At only $100 a night. We had more than a wonderful time at the in house free wine tasting, breakfast was so delightful! And sweets were always out. YUMMY!

                                   

So I moved on to cupon-ing at fabric stores, shopping on certain days. Stocking up on the stuff that never goes on sale. All you who are on Etsy probably know what I'm talking about. Well this soon lead to clipping coupons for food. I usually save round $10-$20 a trip. And then I ran across this website: Mommy Saves Big. Good gravy I love this woman. She has put all the coupon sites in one place. I'm talking Joann's, Kroger, Manufacture, Target, Lowe's, and on and on.  My last trip to Kroger I saved $36 and spent $24. The cashier even re looked at the receipt. I do NOT over stock my pantry like those people on TLC I just shop smart. If you ever pay for cleaning products or paper products I recommend you go to Mommy Saves big and do a little research at your local grocer. I've never paid for a cleaning product or paper product.  

It took me a while to figure it out. Everyone just kept telling me to combine sales with coupons. I did this. And still didn't get anything free. I later learned its all about combining multiple coupons and store sales. Duh right? So if you want to save a few dollars or get some free stuff see the Mommy Saves Big website, also check all manufactures websites and add them on facebook and do this often. 

Here's a few fun facts about stores in my area:

Kroger(My fav): doubles the first $0.50 of the first coupon. But wont match if the coupon is for more then $.50 off :( but the do give $.10 off a gallon at the gas station for every $100 you spend. Pshh I do that often enough.

Bi-Lo: Doubles the first cupon (the produce sucks and the meat department is often a wreck so I never shop here, also Ive noticed that they up price befor a "sale" fishy yes??)

Publix: They have tons of manufature cupon machines around the store. WIN! even if you dont shop here and just take the cupons like some of us lol

French Basketeer

Give AWAY!

You know I'm all about free cute stuff, especially when I could use it everyday. So I would like to share a give away another blog is doing with you for these wonderfully cute bags.

There is a wonderful contest going on now on la chapstick fanatique. The bags are cute as can be! Perfect for a day of running around or a day at the beach!

This one one match my swim suite best: 

And they make produce bags :D

Check out the designer's official website!



Featured in a treasury!

We were featured in a treasury! Yea OK I may have made the treasury. *cough*cough*

Hey you gotta do some self promoting sometimes though :)

Check it out!

http://www.etsy.com/treasury/4dc06f0492336d9139df418b/wehadababyitsagirl

Pretty Toe’s

Lately I have fallen of the face of the earth to make some more shoes. But this time I am not just making baby shoes. I have moved on to toddler and children shoes. So much more thought goes into theses shoes. For instance the bottom, it has to be slip proof somewhat or does it? What about water proof? I’m not sure how to successful solve these problems so I have just started sewing in hopes the solutions would just come to mind.   Here is how we are looking so far:

Uhg I hate this step. I would knock a few dollars off my shoes price I could figure out how to not do this step…The rest of the shoes takes like 15-30min (depending on what else I’m doing!) but this step alone takes 30min! and that’s with no interruptions.

 I hope to be making womens shoes by next month and can not wait!

The Basic's on Sewing.

You have to check out this awesome sewing room by Sewmanyways! Its not mine but a girl can dream :0)

A lot of people have been admiring my awesome sewing skills. This I find hard to believe because it seems like every time I turn around I have to take apart a seam or fix the thread. So I figured I would offer a few tips for this task that took me long hard road to learn.

First: DON’T RUSH. I know you just want to finish but you also want to make something nice.

Second: PRE-WASH. Yea most project this won’t matter but when making anything with cotton that you want to keep longer than a month, Just pre-wash it and save the fuss. I usually wash mine with my towels If  I don't have a lot of material.

Third: IRON. IRON. IRON. I hate hate hate ironing everything 50 times too. But trust me skipping this step will only make your life more difficult down the road.

Finally: READ AND FOLLOW THE DIRECTIONS. I can't count how many times I missed a simple step or tried to do something "different" and I ended up with a big mess.

If you can remember these three things I promise you can make anything. You may end up with a bunch of scraps from failed attempts like me but don’t worry they make great quilts down the road J

O and I did I mention to remember IRON EVERY STEP! This year alone I've had to buy two irons but there worth every penny on saving you time and major headaches.

You like my awsome sewing room? Ok It's not my sewing room but I sure wish it was I loooooove this room. I want to just run in and sew my little heart out...... but I may never leave... lol

Spring Time

It is spring time! Warmer weather, blooming flowers, birds chirping what else could you ask for? I love warm weather. Not hot weather let me be clear on that. With warm weather you can open the windows, dig in the yard, wear cute skirts, take a trip to the beach and I could go on and on. But the possibilities are endless!

While I enjoy this time I also tend to freak out a little bit. Spring time means one thing in a crafter's mind.....Start or the Craft Show game. Uhg this will be my first year so I'm only doing one. And maybe I'll sell at the farmers market. Even though I'm only doing one I still am a little freaked out.

Will I have enough supply? Will anyone buy? Will I have a good setup...What am I gonna do about my set up anyway? Will my Etsy shop ever take off? Will my website ever get completed? Will I ever get caught up on my supply? Am I even going in the right direction?? And that's just to name a few question going through my mind all because its spring time.


Or maybe I'll just wear my pretty skirts and sit on my pretty porch and admire the pretty flowers blooming as the sun sets over the pretty trees.

Diaper Swappers

I know what you’re thinking. Really Nicole? But BEFOR you judge let me explain.

So recently I ran across a website called Diaper Swappers. I was in search of cheap flat cloth diapers for a craft project. The site is dedicated to parents (mostly moms) who use cloth diapers.  They also have people selling baby/children stuff on their used and new. So this intrigued me. I wondered around for a while and found out that this sight was not just about cloth diapers and moms! It’s a social network for parents. There are stores, yard sales, chat rooms, tade's, forums on everything; even most the ad’s are not name brands but WAHM’s. (Work at home moms)

They use a lot of lingo on there and give a lot of advice about where to get everything from diapers to soda. Who’s having a sale and who is over pricing there soap.

In short I joined but can’t post my store until I reach 30 posts to the forum. Which shouldn’t be a problem since I know all the sales too ;)

If you get a chance check it out!

Masters in Augusta

It’s that time again in Augusta Georgia. Masters week! For all of you not living near us, your lucky. I do appreciate that it help our economy however the traffic and heart ache is hard sometimes. The Master course is obscenely gorgeous.

I made a cute little treasury on Etsy in honor of this week and women everywhere.

Till next week when all the traffice and BMW's clear I'll be in the house with my sanity.

Were on Etsy!

Etsy soofttie