An entire day to ourselves!!

My mom has been so great at helping out this winter!! This Saturday she watched the kids so Matt and I could spend the day out and about:) I know, you are thinking Corrina could be watching them. HA!!!! Yes, she will be 14 this July, but she is like any other teenager that has their cellphone attached to their fingertips. She can watch them when I run errands in town here, but when I will be gone for the day we need some mature eyes on the kiddos. My mom showed up bright and early at 8:45!! She was not alone she also had Zhaina that day:) Zhaina is the girl version of Preston, so my mom had her hands full with those 2 alone. Little did I know that she had half the neighborhood over here. The girls each had a friend over. We called around supper time to see how it was going and it sounded like a circus show!!! I couldn't hang up fast enough and thank God that I was not there:/
We finally made it home around 8:30:) It was a really great day! We accomplished a lot. Here are some of our treasures.I saw something like these in Pottery Barn magazine and had planned on getting one. This one came from Pier 1 for almost half the price!! I LOVE it. We couldn't leave with just one.I may even have to get a third one:) I also bought these glass balls to put in my glass vase. I LOVE these too:) I know it looks a little awkward. When the kids went to bed Saturday night I started putting up our new items and have moved them around like 20 times. Still working on it. I tired to take a picture so you could tell how huge this glass jar is!! It just doesn't do it justice. The cashier said they just put it out that morning. Lucky me:) Again, I am sure this will not be the last place it sits. But, I do like it in this room against the orange walls:)

Loving this glass cylinder with all these dried little thingies.

We also went to Home Depot and got a bunch of things to redo are downstairs bathroom with. I would have rather been at Pier 1:/ But, we left with what we needed, a toilet and other things. It was so funny, on the ride home, I was telling Matt I couldn't wait to go home and look at all the new stuff and Matt said, "I can't wait and look at my.............toilet". Ya, he has A LOT of projects ahead of him. He did mange to put the new bench together the next day. It's a good start Matty:)

Thank you Mom, for spending the day watching my kids (and others). I really appreciate it:)))

How my days are spent

We really have a pretty good life. I get to stay home with my kids, a husband that takes care of us all so well and I have a job that I LOVE! Could I ask for anything more? I know I like to complain a lot about how hard it is to be a parent. Some days, I think, "WHAT THE HECK AM I DOING???". And the guilt, oh the guilt. Never feeling like I am doing a good enough job. The other day I missed something that one of kids had going on at school and I have never felt like such a failure. I cried and cried some more the next day. She of course said it was ok and that she knew it was an accident. I understand that everyone makes mistakes. Matt always tells me I am good mother and we are doing the best that we can.

Luckily everyday I get to start over and try to do a better job. The first part of my days are spent with this little guy:)Lately I have noticed that he is turning into a "real boy". I feel a little sad that I no longer have a baby. He just is getting sooo big.

I have been busy sewing and I just mailed a few custom orders yesterday. I may be adding some owls that look like this.
He is a chubby little bookend. I like his big belly. I made 2 chubby bookends for a special customer.

These to are regular bookends, but they have cute little hearts on their belly. I think I may need to add some of these to the shop.

Today I have A LOT of sewing to do, but first I am going to get my morning cuddle time with this sweet boy:)

Inspiration!

I know it has been hit or miss with me keeping up on here. What can I say, it has just been busy around here. The winter weather does not help my mood much either. BUT, today is sunny!!!! As I was cutting away in my studio I thought to take some pictures to show you what inspires me:)
SOME of my fabric stash:)) I love looking at these and I LOVE getting them in the mail:)))
I have lots of little jars of flowers, buttons, stamps, ribbons and other things.
Most of these are for my scrapbooking that I have neglected:/ Notice they are in jars as well:)
Another thing I have neglaected are my handmade cards. I REALLY wish I had more time in the day, but very thankful for how well I Sew Lucky is doing:) BUTTONS! I used to keep these in little tiny jars, but realized that this is much more efficient. Not to say you won't still find little jars of buttons throughout my house:)
More jars:)
Owl garlands in progress.
What inspires you?

I put some new items up in the shop today!! 2 Owl Bookends with this super cute Riley Blake fabric:)
This is the last of the cute polka dot fabric by Riley Blake. I put this little minky one in the shop earlier and has already sold:) YAY!! Love my job!!!

I would really love to hear what inspires you:)

Where have I been???

Stuck in the house:/ Winter is never ending:/ But, today as you all know is Valentine's Day and thought I would share a little photo of Matt and I:)

Not the best quality, but it is one of my favorites of us over the last 15 yrs. This was about 5 yrs ago at the airport, on the way back from Disney World.

Here is one of the kids yesterday doing their Valentine's cards. Corrina of course is too old, so she is not in the pic.

Notice Jonathan's "outfit", I am not the only one ready for summer:)

Have a very Happy Valentine's Day!

GIVEAWAY!!

Over at Take Heart, Danielle is hosting a giveaway for I Sew Lucky!! She did such a cute job on displaying items from my shop. Pop over to her blog and see if you will can be the lucky winner:)

Winter blues

Every year I have the winter blues in February. This year it came early. Living here in northern Minnesota, the winters are soooo long. Mornings are usually gloomy which has made it really hard for me to get on the dreaded elliptical trainer (have yet to hop on). We did however get a Wii fit and it has become a big hit with the kids. Me, not so much:/ It is really hard to get motivated. But, I have been very motivated in the studio:)) I added 26 NEW items to the shop yesterday!! The chenille owls have become the most sot after. They are pretty dang cute:) I only had a couple girl ones in the shop and finally got around to making some little hoots for the boys. You can also find them in white, blue and some other little girl ones in pink and yellow.

I only had 1 mini owl in the shop and add some requests so I have added a few of these also.The perfect little something for Valentines day or for any day.

The chubby owls are another popular item in the shop, so I had to add a few of them as well.Don't forget about the small hoots!I LOVE this color combo! Amy Butler's fabric with Riley Blake's, so cute!Hooty Hoot Riley Blake is another popular one.

Can you ever go wrong with black and pink? Check out this other pink and grey combo!

I also added 2 bookends. I am working on more, but have a wholesale order I need to finish first.

SO my question to you is how do you handle the winter blues if you don't live in a nice warm sunny place?

New things for the New Year!!

I have been busy in the studio sewing and cutting!! I thought it would be a little slow after the holiday but no break for me. It is a good thing:) I wanted something new for the shop so here it is! Chubby Medium Owl!

The chubby ones are quite popular so I thought a medium one would fit right in.

Annnnnd do you see the little tag on the side??? I had a design made for sewn in tags. The front:)

The back:)
I LOVE them!! You can check her shop out here. She also did my business cards earlier this year. I will have to share those one of these days.
What do you have in store for the New Year? Good things I hope:))