custom order sneak peak

here's a little sneak peak of the custom order i was telling you about. i can't show the whole thing yet because its a surprise gift! i'll show you more after valentine's day.

2 reminders:
1 - don't forget about the giveaway!
2 - don't forget about the discount!

and i have over 30 new items going in the shop over the next few days, so be sure to visit often!

-enjoy!

giveaway!

chrissie, of flipflops & applesauce, and i have joined forces to offer you a sweet giveaway! she is giving away her 3 amazing coloring books to go along with a crayon roll of your choice! the coloring books are so super cute: a capital letters abc coloring book, a lower case abc coloring book, and a 1-20 numbers coloring book. her illustrations are adorable and, if you're like me at all, you'll want to take some of the pages to color for yourself! the winner will recieve a digital file for each of the coloring books to print and bind, or leave as individual pages, along with their choice of a crayon roll from my shop.

to enter, just leave me a comment telling me which crayon roll you'd choose. for a second entry, head on over to flipflops & applesauce for the same giveaway!

The winner will be announced in one week, on Wednesday, February 4th.

*edited to add: more crayon rolls are in the works! sorry the selection is getting low - they keep selling so quickly!*

*edited again!: voting is closed. winner will be announced tomorrow morning!

-lindsey

random ramblings

my mind is racing, but my body is resting. i'm laying in bed on a sunday afternoon, 2 kids napping, 1 watching a movie, and one tired man sleeping in a ball next to me. life is good! so here's a little compilation of my thoughts:
- i am dying to do some crafting for the house! i've been saying i want to paint the sofa table for so long. when will i ever do it?
- the girls and i need to start on their valentine's, otherwise we/i will end up doing them very last minute and not make them very special.
- what do you guys do with all your kids c.r.a.p.? i mean the little foam thing they make at friends' houses or the "treasures" they bring home from school? do you display them? how long? where? {clarification: i mean the random scribbles or something covered in stickers, or a glittered picture frame, not the artwork or special work they've done.}
- i rearranged the playroom to hopefully make it more "home school friendly". we'll see how it goes this week. i'm still waiting to get in the groove of this home school thing.
- now 2 kids are up.
- we're having dinner tonight with a very old friend and her family. she was actually our neighbor in the house i grew up in until i was 5. very weird to be meeting up with her again, but fun!
- another old friend moved back into town with her daughter. i've known her since i was 5 - we went to school together up through high school. its been really fun to start our friendship over again as moms, and to have such a long history together.
- my bedroom needs a serious makeover. i love the wall color and the big tall mirror, and like the bed frame and the curtains, but other than that... not so much. there's a bunch of leftover pieces in here, stuff that didn't fit anywhere else: an old wooden chest from my parents, a folding 6 ft plastic table (holding an artful arrangement of laundry and still-to-be-gifted christmas presents), a baby dresser that matches silas' crib, and a small wooden outdoor bistro table. i want to redo the bedding and get some replacement furniture, but there's no money for this. maybe in a few months when the garage sales pick up?
- husband's up.
- what's for dinner? probably should figure that out since guests will be here in an hour and a half. do you meal plan? how's do meals work in your family?
- i still have yet to actually do the chores on my new chore chart. tomorrow i'll start... but we did clean most of the house today. that should count for something, right?
- i need to get my few valentine's decorations up. that holiday comes and goes so quickly. i also really want to be more purposeful about loving my loved ones on valentine's day. the kids need to be treated special on that day. and sean, too.
- sitting here in bed, i can see directly into the room where my parents' bed will be when the guest house is done. hmmm... window coverings?
- kid #3 is up.
- sorry about the lame looks on my blog lately. i'm kid of in a blog funk. lookin' for my groove. i either want to go totally simple - all white - or something really fun and custom. ??? thoughts?
- have you checked out the pleated poppy lately? i have lots of new products and need to make room for another batch. there are still a few sets of valentine's posy pins left, too.
- sorry for the business plug. and now i must go!

-lindsey

new fabric!

i was so excited on friday when my package from sew mama sew came! look at all those pretty colors! i could hardly wait to cut into them.

here's a pic from later friday night when i was able to get out some of my other favorite fabrics, along with the new ones, and mix them all together to make new color combinations. this is probably my most favorite part about this job. i absolutely *love* playing with the fabrics and seeing how i can put together fun pieces. it makes me want to make another quilt.

i have already cut and partially assembled over 15 new zippered pouches with these fabrics. they are super cute! now i just need to finish them... that's one of my biggest struggles: not finishing a project before i move on to the next one. before i started the pouches i also had started 15 or 20 more headbands (lots with brown and black combo's). but those are still left undone, along with the pouches, and a custom order still needs to be filled.

so the plan this week: finish headbands first, then the custom order (i'll have to sneak some pics to you - its gonna be soo cute!), then the zippered pouches. i'll be back later to show some progress.

i still have lots of fabric left. what would YOU like me to make out of it?

sleepin' in

throughout my short time in motherhood, i've always wondered when the switch comes in our lives: when do we decide that sleep is a good, wonderful, glorious thing and indulge in it rather than fight it? i had decided that it must be sometime in the teen years when that is discovered, but lo and behold, gracie made an early discovery! she has been sleeping in in the mornings! her siblings will get up an hour or so before her and she'll just bury herself deeper into the covers, nestling down for a longer snuggle. when she does wake up, i hear this cinderella-esque tye of singing coming from her room, as if she were slowly stretching her arms and yawning as the birds twittered around her and fluttered about the room. she wakes up so happy and beautiful. sometimes i manage to sneak away from making breakfast and jump in bed with her to share in the warmth under the covers for a minute or two before we're joined by the 2 remaining sleep-fighters. what special times!

-lindsey

all i needed was a little PIE

PIE - perspective, inspiration, and encouragement.

we are part of an amazing school. gracie attends school with 11 other kindergartners twice a week and i home school her the other 3 days. sometimes figuring out the balance of life and schooling can be difficult, so there's a wonderful committee at the school called the PIE team and they host PIE nights, where we can get together, over dessert of course, and discuss relevant topics and get ideas, help, we can vent, some cry... its a time and place where you can relate to others in your same situation and find some sanity and encouragement.

so last week was another PIE night and i just wanted to tell you all some of the things i took away from that night, besides the super deliscious still-warm-from-the-oven brownies. the main topic was overall organization.

1. use baby wipes for everything. get the kids involved. this seriously works. all 3 of my kids have helped me clean 3 rooms, so far, from floor to ceiling with the wipes. while i'm up high on a chair cleaning above the doors and windows, they are down low wiping off fingerprints on the door jambs and cleaning my baseboards... happily!

2. don't mop your floors, skate on them. it was suggested to put wipes under your feet to slide around the floors for a quick clean, but it didn't work out well for us. instead we used damp rags under our feet and really got a good workout sliding across the floors. the girls didn't want to stop, it was so fun!

3. morning chores. we've been implementing this for awhile, but tend to fall off the wagon. before starting our day, whether its a stay-at-home day or not, my girls must make their beds and get dressed. i try to have the beds made while i'm making breakfast, but it doesn't always happen. i don't demand perfection. lily is only 3, but she can do a great job pulling up her sheets and her quilt so they lay nice and flat, then i let them get creative on how they want to decorate with their pillows each day. somedays they simply lay in a pile, other days its more couch style. it allows them some ownership to do it how they want, but still getting the job done.

4. motivatedmoms.com. so i can't really speak from experience on this one, but this was recommended by a fellow blogger recently (brianna?). over at motivatedmoms.com they have a "printable chore planning system to help you have a clean and organized home and still have time for yourself!", and its only $8 a year! what has drawn me to it is the fact that it really does seem do-able. here's today's list, for example:

-change dishcloth/towel
-change handtowels in bathrooms
-clean light fixture - hallways/entryway
-pull dead leaves off houseplants
-clip children's nails
-dust children's/guest rooms

now this is in addition to daily chores, which are:

-make beds
-load/run/empty dishwasher
-sweep kitchen and entryway
-clean kitchen sink
-plan/cook dinner
-wipeout bathroom sinks
-empty trash
-do laundry

since i am a serious procrastinator, i'm patting myself on the back for the fact that i have not only purchases the chore planning system, but have also already printed it out. now it sits next to me, waiting for all its little boxes to be checked off!

-lindsey

sunny days

i'm so sorry if you're stuck in the snow right now and are sick of us west coasters showing off our beautiful january weather, but...



we went to the beach last weekend and it was hot! like 80+ degrees hot! it made me so excited for next summer to go to the beach with the kids because they actually were very easy. the girls roamed around and played in the nearby tide pools, and silas pretty much stuck by my side, eating sandy cheerios (yuck!).

but if it makes you feel any better, we're expecting rain today and tomorrow.

-lindsey

fabric resources

so its no secret i love fabric. i mean, i LOVE fabric. i go into a fabric store and get so excited i have to run to the bathroom before i can really get started. every time. its ridiculous, i know. but when i can't get to a great fabric store, or my local shops don't carry what i'm looking for, i head to the trusty internet. here's a few of my favorite places to shop:

www.sewmamasew.com and if you order today or tomorrow with the code CHANGE09 you can get 15% off your order!

www.purlsoho.com

fabric shoppe on etsy

www.fabric.com

materialgirl's shop on etsy

there are lots and lots more, but these are the standards. i placed a hefty order on sewmamasew last night so in a few days i'll have a fun stash to share with you! unfortunately, the fabric above was out of stock, so i'll be searching around for more.

and i just reconfigured my website so anytime i add something new to the shop it shows up on the front page. i added a few new things today, so go check it out!

-enjoy!

viral pharyingitis

view from bed

yuck. thats what i've had for the last few days. i woke up thursday morning with a scratchy throat, then ignored it through out the day. again on friday, but it still seemed not too bad in the daytime. night time was miserable. i couldn't even swallow my own saliva without tears coming to my eyes. so i woke up saturday morning telling sean i needed to go to the e.r. or the med stop. so my wonderful husband took all 3 kids and got them to the birthday party i would be missing so i could go to the doc's, then had them the rest of the afternoon while i rested. i thought for sure i had strep throat. not that i'd had it before, but just a guess. after a couple ear checks and throat feels, and what they non-chalantly called "tickling" the back of my throat with a huge q-tip (followed by gagging and coughing in the nurse's face multiple times, and of course more tears - it really hurt), the determined it was not strep, which is good, but instead i have viral pharyngitis, which is a strep-like virus. after 3 days of steroids and loading up on vitamin c, i'd say i'm back to 95% health and can eat just about anything without my throat hurting. yay for drugs!

on a totally different note, as i'm typing this i hear silas crying. i layed him down for his nap a bit ago and thought he was probably about asleep. so i went to check on him and HE WAS OUT OF HIS CRIB!!! i had to run through in my mind quickly, "did i put him in the crib?", but of course i did. he finally figured it out. it was only a matter of time before he could get out on his own, but still! do i have to buy one of those tents to keep him in?!? crazy!

-lindsey

this is how i roll

a new batch of crayon rolls is in the shop!

-enjoy!

fabric resources

so its no secret i love fabric. i mean, i LOVE fabric. i go into a fabric store and get so excited i have to run to the bathroom before i can really get started. every time. its ridiculous, i know. but when i can't get to a great fabric store, or my local shops don't carry what i'm looking for, i head to the trusty internet. here's a few of my favorite places to shop:

www.sewmamasew.com and if you order today or tomorrow with the code CHANGE09 you can get 15% off your order!

www.purlsoho.com

fabric shoppe on etsy

www.fabric.com

materialgirl's shop on etsy

there are lots and lots more, but these are the standards. i placed a hefty order on sewmamasew last night so in a few days i'll have a fun stash to share with you! unfortunately, the fabric above was out of stock, so i'll be searching around for more.

and i just reconfigured my website so anytime i add something new to the shop it shows up on the front page. i added a few new things today, so go check it out!

-enjoy!

Ribbons And Bows Oh My!

i use grosgrain ribbon on a few of my products (zippered pouches, covered notebooks, crayon rolls) and just got a new shipment of ribbon a couple weeks ago. i was giddy when i opened the package - just look at all that fun color!

a few years ago i stumbled upon a website called ribbons and bows, oh my! and they have unbelievable prices. for a 5 yd. roll like the ribbons above (3/8") its only 99 cents! they have a huge selection of colors, too. i also like their 1 1/2" ribbon for wrapping gifts. go check them out!

muddy buddy

why is it that doing what you are NOT supposed to do is soooo much fun?!

-lindsey

what is going on?!?

yes, another blog change. just going back to the basics for now. stay tuned...
-linds

surprise party

last weekend i was able to help a good friend throw a surprise 30th birthday party for another friend. joy and i used to "do" showers together all the time, when so many of us were poppin' out babies. she is incredible with the food - amazing, really - and i would help with the decorations. we would pool together our resources - serving pieces, paper lanterns, linens, candles - and throw really pretty showers (if i do say so myself!). so we had another fun chance to do that on friday.
although joy had a HUGE amount of prep work and cooking to do, my work was fairly simple. she already had about 25 paper lanterns from a previous party and i used a cricut machine to cut out "30"s in varying sizes. we hung the lanterns in a line above her dining table, which had a centerpiece of silver candlesticks and votives and silver footed bowls filled with treats. we also hung a few lanterns over the bar area and all the rest of the lanterns and "30"s in the main living room. unfortunatley, my camera was struggling with the dim light so my pics are lousy and i didn't get a decent pic of the birthday girl (and i totally forgot to take pictures until way too late in the evening). and she looked amazing, too! picture a prego mama (with #4!) in a shirt dress with a ruffle placket and hot pink satin heels - so cute!
-lindsey

99

ok, now my "feminine product" header is really starting to bug me. anyone know how i can fix it?

anyhoo, i've seen this on a few blogs recently and i thought it was fun, so here's my shot at it. its a list of things i've already done, want to do and never want to do. join in if you'd like!

Things you've already done: bold
Things you want to do: italicize
Things you haven't done and don't want to - leave in plain font

1. started your own blog - two, in fact
2. slept under the stars
3. played in a band - not musically talented, never will be
4. visited hawaii
5. watched a meteor shower
6. given more than you can afford to charity
7. been to disneyland/world

8. climbed a mountain

9. held a praying mantis - seen a few, but don't want to hold one, thanks.
10. sang a solo - does in my car count?
11. bungee jumped
12. visited paris

13. watched a lightning storm at sea
14. taught yourself an art from scratch
15. adopted a child - interested in this, but probably not going to happen. i think its wonderful though.
16. had food poisoning
17. walked to the top of the statue of liberty
18. grown your own vegetables
19. seen the mona lisa in france
20. slept on an overnight train
21. had a pillow fight
22. hitch hiked
23. taken a sick day when you’re not ill - maybe in college
24. built a snow fort - i grew up in the mountains
25. held a lamb
26. gone skinny dipping - our childhood house is also on a lake.
27. run a marathon - does a 1/2 count?
28. ridden a gondola in venice
29. seen a total eclipse
30. watched a sunrise or sunset

31. hit a home run
32. been on a cruise
33. seen niagara falls in person
34. visited the birthplace of your ancestors
35. seen an amish community
36. taught yourself a new language
37. had enough money to be truly satisfied
38. seen the leaning tower of pisa in person
39. gone rock climbing

40. seen michelangelo's david in person
41. sung karaoke - a horribly embarrassing experience
42. seen old faithful geyser erupt
43. bought a stranger a meal in a restaurant - we bought one for a homeless person outside a restaurant
44. visited africa
45. walked on a beach by moonlight
46. been transported in an ambulance - who would want to do this?
47. had your portrait painted - does a charicature count?
48. gone deep sea fishing
49. seen the sistene chapel in person
50. been to the top of the eiffel tower in paris

51. gone scuba diving or snorkeling
52. kissed in the rain
53. played in the mud

54. gone to a drive-in theatre - last i saw was e.t.
55. been in a movie - tiny little extra in "the great outdoors"
56. visited the great wall of china
57. started a business

58. taken a martial arts class
59. visited russia
60. served at a soup kitchen
61. sold girl scout cookies
62. gone whale watching - tried, but the ocean was too choppy
63. gotten flowers for no reason
64. donated blood
65. gone sky diving - not sure if i want to...
66. visited a nazi concentration camp
67. bounced a check
68. flown in a helicopter
69. saved a favorite childhood toy
70. visited the lincoln memorial - awe.some.
71. eaten caviar - too salty
72. pieced a quilt

73. stood in times square
74. toured the everglades
75. been fired from a job
76. seen the changing of the guard in london
77. broken a bone
78. been on a speeding motorcycle
79. seen the grand canyon in person
80. published a book
81. visited the vatican
82. bought a brand new car
83. walked in jerusalem
84. had your picture in the newspaper
85. read the entire bible
86. visited the white house
87. killed and prepared an animal for eating
88. had chickenpox
89. saved someone’s life
90. sat on a jury
91. met someone famous
92. joined a book club - do they have magazine clubs?
93. lost a loved one
94. had a baby

95. seen the alamo in person.
96. swum in the great salt lake.
97. been involved in a law suit
98. owned a cell phone
99. been stung by a bee

oh, anthropologie!

anthro inspiration by the pleated poppy


you are endlessly inspiring!

check. check.

2 things checked off my to do list already! on monday i finished my custom orders, and yesterday i made 8 new reversible headbands in really sweet prints, and got them all on my website! along with those i added a few little things i've finished here and there: checkbook covers, clips, slippers, zippered pouches. so go check out the new items!

while you're there, you'll see i added a place to order my custom super hero capes and all the fun embellishments for them. remember these as great birthday gifts!

next on my list: crayon rolls! i've got 10 that i'm working on tonight (definitely NOT going to finish!), so check back soon for them.

have a great day, er, night!

to do

here's a peek at my list. what else would you like me to add to it?

christmas cards

its not looking good. i have these cards about halfway done, and my other to-do's are quickly gaining importance above sending out last year's christmas cards. all hope is not lost, after all, i already spent money on printing them at kinkos, so i can't quit. i just am not motivated to continue, so i thought i'd let you see where i'm at on them. all of the pictures were taken by a sweet friend of mine. didn't they turn out fun?! you can see some of the pictures better on her site.

"what's left to do", you ask? my original plan was to print these pictures on cardstock, double sided, cut 'em out and send them off. but the cardstock made the pictures even grainier and harder to see, so now i have 2 sides of the card, mostly all cut out, then i need to cut a piece of cardstock for between the paper because its pretty flimsy, then i want to stitch with my machine around the edges to hold the layers all together. oh, and i still need to get envelopes and address them. and gather all the addresses. so, not much to do. (obviously i'm avoiding any kind of work right now, because i'm here blogging and not working.) my son is sleeping, the girls are at school, I HAVE GOT TO GET TO WORK!

new year's resolutions and goals

this list is probably a little bit more for me than you. its kinda therapeutic to get this stuff down on (virtual) paper.
*spend time with my husband EVERY night after the kids go to bed. talk about the day, the kids, and the days ahead.
*nmbk j kj (that would be silas getting on my computer. again.)
*plan homeschool work the night before, not the morning of or during. i'm super lazy. i should say, "plan homeschool work on sunday nights", but i just said i was lazy and i know thats not realistic.
*have a clean kitchen before going to bed
*don't buy sweets. i can make them or they can be given to me (i got a "cookie of the month" gift this year!).
*be content. with my house, my cooking skills, my stage of life.
*buy less. food, clothes, junk, unneccessary things.
*buy smarter.
*play more with my kids.
*respond quicker to my kids. less "just a minute"s.
*do more crafts with the kids.
*be a better gift giver. be a better birthday remeberer. be more thoughtful.
*be more tactful. use a filter before talking.
*no gossipping.
*use kind words.
*learn to enjoy what i do more, and do more of what i enjoy.
*craft more for the home, not just for work.
*blog more. aim for 3-4 times a week.
*learn to be more business minded. ask for help.
*deepen friendships that need to be invested in.
*get more involved in school.
*be more consistent - in discipline, in work hours, in educating, in cleaning, in grocery shopping.
*depend on God. i've tried, a lot, and i just can't do this all by myself.
*get last year's christmas cards out this month. better late than never, right?


-lindsey

two zoos

we have annual passes to the tiny little zoo here. although the zoo isn't much to blog about, its affiliates are. when you buy a pass for our little zoo, it also is good for other zoos throughout the state and nationwide. so on our way to visit family, we stopped for a quick trip to the santa barbara zoo. the kids were stoked and needed to stretch their legs for a bit. we loved the free entry.

the girls now each have their own cameras (thanks, nana and gramps!), so photo ops were of the utmost importance. so fun! check out the giraffe doing the splits!

while visiting my m.i.l., she had the brilliant idea to check if their local zoo was affiliated with ours. and guess what? it was! so in a matter of a week or so, we got to go to 2 zoos! and what's even better is that at the second zoo we got to on an elephant ride. for a small fortune, we got to take one teeny tiny lap around a ring on an elephant. i think i was more excited than the girls. it was amazing for the minute and a half that it lasted. i couldn't stop thanking my husband. seriously, it was so much fun!

-lindsey