More thin leather arrived so more of our favorite necklace in shop

Mother's Two Initial Necklace on thin leather

Three Initial Mother's Necklace on Leather

Good shot of freshwater pearl dangle

Single Initial Mother's Necklace on leather

Two Initial Mother's Necklace on leather

With less than two weeks until Mother's Day we were starting to get worried that we were waiting on our favorite thin leather and eco-friendly freshwater pearls.  It all arrived!

Mom's and Grandma's alike love this simple design with the hand stamped sterling silver disc with children or grandchildren's initial.  Mother's Necklaces are very popular right now and make a great gift.  

working on better photos - do they feel organic and calm?

we have been trying to get better at photographing our sterling silver hand stamped and hand crafted jewelry.  invested in some new lenses, took time to read the manual and starting to love the results.  kids are so much easier to take pictures of.

we have also been having  fun putting new items in our ETSY shop and getting ready for some upcoming craft shows.  we have really gone pearl crazy, especially the eco-friendly variety.  they are so organic and WONDERFUL.  

New for Spring - In shop soon

Just in time for Mother's Day we have paired our Mother's  Sterling Silver Children's Initial Discs with a fun leather necklace with sterling silver findings to add a little flair.  We also have the necklaces on our simple and stylish sterling silver ball chains in our ETSY store.  These have been a huge hit and I have had friends compare them to similar necklaces they have purchased from Red Envelope and Sundance for 4X the price.  

Mom's Necklace on Darcy

Lovely little flowers, such fun and simple on sterling.

Love these organic coin pearls and on this lovely sterling chain, it is really a lovely piece.

We hope to get these into our store today, take a peek!

Getting into the Earth Day Spirit

Max was so excited for school this am and all the Earth Day events.  He picked out the most dynamic green outfit.  I mentioned that the shorts (different shade of green than his top) looked a little tight and he remarked, good we can reuse them when Sam is my size.  Isn't he sporting the most excellent toothless smile . . . it has been four days and I can't stop taking pictures of it!

He is so proud of his homework and came home today after showing them to the class and told me he needs to open a ETSY store with all his recycled and handmade baseball cards.

The assignment was to show what you do in pictures to reduce, reuse or recycle or make something from an item you recycle.  After reading the assignment he ran to get the box he was going to break down for me.  He knew exactly what he wanted to make. . . cardboard baseball cards.

this is how they came out . . . 

This is a boy who loves baseball, cutting paper and glueing, and anything Red Sox.  He left for school so proud of his creation and came home beaming with enthusiasm as all his friends requested their favorite players on the lovely cardboard canvas!

Package in Mail - So glad it is on its way!

Okay, I am pretty sure that I went a little crazy making things for my sister's baby shower.  It started out from feeling bad that we live so far away and that I wouldn't be in Seattle for the delivery, the days after, etc.  She lived in Boston when Max was born in Hartford and it was great to have her with us.  

So I felt the need to make up for not being there by sewing and knitting up a storm for her.  I made the quilt for my mom to open at the shower given by her friends, she and Karyn will have to decide where the quilt will reside.  I thought it would be a fun thing to have for the baby to play on at mom's . . . but it came out so cute, I am guessing Karyn will claim it for their house.  I will get ready to make another fun quilt for whomever gives in on this one!  The package includes all the items in the previous posts (diaper clutch like Diapees and Wipees, diaper bag, matching quilted changing pad, cute little bunny, minky blanket, bibs and soft little shoes)  I also threw in some of my favorite items from when Ellie and Sam were babies - a wonderful sleep sack, footed dwell sleeper, haba pacifier clip and Dr. Brown's bottles.  I really wish I could find a way to be in Seattle this weekend . . .   maybe I will have time to sew some things that got thrown on the back burner for "shower fest '09"

Vacation Over - Yeah for School!

Ellie is finally starting to fight back with the boys.  Sam and Max both would sit on her and she would just laugh - now she has figure out how to sit on them!  They both had a lot of fun this weekend coloring.  Really the first time it held their interest for more than a couple minutes.  We have a lovely poster with scribbles now on display!

The highlight of the weekend is Max's new smile.  He finally lost one of the top middle teeth.  His smile has quite a few gaps now and it is so CUTE!

I have officially thrown in the towel and decided I have made everything I can for the showers for my sister.  I will now be packaging it up and sending it out on Tuesday.  I will post pictures of the main gift - the quilt in the next day or so.  It is almost done and I LOVE IT!  I can't wait to get back to some projects that I want to do for me.  Isn't the little bunny peaking out cute?  So fun and so easy to make.  I will take more photos with details of how fun and easy this was.

How did I not know how to sew when my three were infants?  These bibs are so easy and fun to make.  They will for sure go with any baby gift I give from now on.  They maybe took 10 minutes total to make and now that I know how to do snaps I could probably do them faster!  For sure I will make at least a dozen each time I make them and just have some on hand.

Fun Day . . . little sewing, lots of sunshine and a fun little package in the mail

Couldn't stop myself from ordering this print done by Elsie Flannigan, don't you LOVE IT!

I am also thrilled for some vinyl wall decor with her artwork that will be going up either in Ellie's room or perhaps my creative space.  We will see how Ellie's room goes together, but regardless of where they end up, I am thrilled to have them- will post a picture once they are on a wall.

Not sure what I will do with all this, but it came as a kit on the Red Velvet Art site and it was just too fun to pass up.  I think perhaps a recap of the year's creative endeavors and goals for the coming year.  We will see, but it will become something fantastic.  For now I will just take a peek every so often and plot my project.

The kit had some stickers, fabric stamped, templates to transfer to felt, all kinds of fun!

One of the biggest things to happen on the sewing front this week, was to decide and get going on a quilt for Max.  Since I started this whole learn to sew kick in November, I have made Ellie, Sam, Steve, my cousin's new baby, fabulous coin quilt yet to be determined where it will live, birthday quilt/banner for Ellie and hot off the machine a quilt for my sister's baby shower (week from today in Seattle) YET I haven't made a thing for oldest son (6) Max.  The main reason is he asked for a baseball quilt, specifically Red Sox.  The thought of doing a novelty quilt just didn't appeal to me.  I wanted to find a way to make Max (and Steve) happy, yet enjoy doing it and making something I could live with.  I think the plan and the fabrics I have collected with work great.  Now all I can think of is finding the time to make this quilt.  Almost all the pieces are cut and now I just have to find the time to get sewing.

Finally I made a stroller blanket for the shower.  The fabric is a fun print from Sandi Henderson's line and the back is a hot pink minky dot.  It is my third blanket made with minky and this time it didn't go all that well.  I am hoping that my sister and her soon to be born little girl won't be that critical and will be taken in by the fun print and the soft minky.  If she looks close she will see that it is homemade with love!  Just thrilled to have another item finished and on its way.

I have always wanted to try this . . . so easy with a little help from the blogworld!

My obsession with making items for my sister's upcoming shower continues.  I am down to a few days before I have to mail everything, so the projects are all starting to come together.  I can check diaper envelope/clutch off the list.  Thanks so much to Amy who has posted on her Diary of a Quilter blog, this wonderful diaper clutch tutorial, find it here.  I had found a few and this was such a great resource, great directions, straight forward and easy to follow.

Filled it looks so awesome and will be such a practical gift.  Perfect for those quick diaper changes, when you don't want to haul the whole big diaper bag!

Fits two size 1 diapers and a hard case package of travel wipes.  When I make another one (probably tonight) I will make it a little longer and adjust the velcro a bit.

Lined with another Tina Given's fabric, with darling birds in brown on pink and cream polka dots.

Empty it looks like this and is so cute!  Love the Tina Given's fabric

This is how Sam and Ellie's diapers look like . . . I stash them everywhere and never carry a diaper bag.  I am going to have to make a little bit bigger bag for myself next!

Tina Given's Fabric makes for an awesome diaper bag!

As I look at this picture the brown circles are starting to creep me out . . . but in person this bag is SUPER cute!  I have to say I am really thrilled with myself on this one.  If you have been following my saga of guilt over living across the country from my sister who is due to give birth to her first child on my birthday in June . . . I am trying to make up for it, by creating wonderful and useful handmade gifts for her two showers.  Of course I will need to send everything in less than a week, so I am just really getting going.  I have a quilt that is about to go on the long arm to be quilted, this wonderful diaper bag, a cute pair of shoes, a knit hat and lots of ideas and fabric, but limited time!  Any ideas would be welcomed . . . I am hoping to do a few bibs, some burb cloths, a blanket with one side minky, a taggie, a diaper clutch and a changing pad. Send me some good sewing karma, I think I will need it.  or someone to take care of my children and household duties for the next week.  Whatever happens at least I will have one cute diaper bag to send her way! (still need to topstitch and iron)

Happy Easter!

We hope everyone had a wonderful Easter with loved ones.  

Lots of fun was had around here . . . I must be very tired, too tired to sew, knit, or even read or plan projects.  

Circus Quilt Pinks/Purple Top and Back done!

Can't wait to finish this one.  I really wish I would have waited to make my own kids quilts until I had been sewing a little more.  I am loving the recent quilts and it is so hard to give them up, when the quilts I wrap my own children in shout "learning curve"!  This is either for my mother to open at my sister's shower or for my sister.  One way or another my soon to be niece will be rolling and playing on it.

This is the back.  I love doing stripped backs, but really thought the circus fabric was too fun to just show a little of.  Also LOVE the purple polka dots!

Really enjoyed doing this block and the fussy cuts, I think I will try and create the baseball quilt my oldest wants using lots of white space, red, blue and the occasional baseball print.  I really don't want to use novelty fabric, but have the long arm quilting with a baseball theme, hope for it to be subtle.  Anyway this type of block will appear for sure.

Any thoughts on which fabric to use as the binding?  Maybe a combo of a few?  Will probably wait until the quilting is done and then hopefully it will come to me and I will have enough to actually create binding with!  Just now as I look at the photo I am throwing out my first thoughts of the multi-colored stripe, or the pink batik dots for the white fabric with the multi-colored polka dots.  It is an awful lot of color and perhaps the white might give your eye a rest.  hmmmm . . . 

I am just happy that it will probably be done and mailed in time for the shower.  I feel bad that we live so far away and I can't be with my sister and family in Seattle to share this event.  She was with my husband and mom for my delivery of our oldest (and came right after the adoptions of both babies), it is just so hard to travel with three kids and then take care of them while traveling and waiting for Taylor to arrive.  We have to figure a way to Seattle this summer, or I think I will lose it - I miss family and the Northwest way too much!

Off to a neighbors for a beer and a bonfire!

Floating Elmo is freaking us out, is it just us?

This Elmo balloon has been hanging around since last week and it is starting to freak both Steve and I out.  Last night while watching baseball Steve had to leave the room, Elmo got to him.  I was sewing easter baskets, bunnies and finishing a quilt and every time I walked through the room to get to the ironing board, I jumped.  At breakfast this am, we both confessed to the other that Elmo had to go.  Too funny we didn't know the other felt the same way. . . what do you think- hanging Elmo is creepy right?  (all three kids love him and are thrilled he is still airborne)