A Weekend Love Affair

It was a nice, quiet, romantic weekend. The kind of weekend a girl dreams of! Just me, and my sewing machine! Harold and Maude have nothing on the love between my OLD Singer and I.

I was feeling crafty, but wanted to do something for me, something I so rarely do anymore thanks to the wonderful world that is etsy selling. Don't get me wrong, I love making journals and jewelry - but I needed a different avenue to explore this weekend, one where everything didn't have to be absolutely perfect. One where it was ok to be a bit flawed - good thing too, because I am no master seamstress by any means!

But I did make a wonderful throw pillow out of 2 FQ's - that Brayden has pretty much claimed as his own. But that's ok, once I get my tail to Joanns and get my hands on some Star Wars fabric, I know I can bribe him with one of his own.

And in the spirit of fall a little leafy table topper (not so much a runner as its too short, lol) for my dining room table, and some Halloween totes for the kiddos to take trick or treating.

Yeah... I'd better stick to pillows, but it was fun!

My paper and bead stashes are very very jealous. But rest assure, as I pretty much blow at sewing, (but love it so!) there will be no new additions to my etsy shop courtesy of Mr Singer and I's love affair.

Check Out the New Digs!

Check out the new look! My other banner was too generic and only really meant to be used for my big shop switch-a-roo. And my blog was waaaaay too busy, so I switched things up a bit. Hope you enjoy!

Boys Only!!

I am a mom of BOYS. Boys Boys Boys. Now I love me some etsy, but why, oh why, are there a million billion dresses, and outfits, and accessories for girls out there while the little boy clothes seem to be left out. Boys like to be stylish and look cute too! - Ok, maybe I'm a little biased, but hey, I admit it!

So to celebrate all of the stylish little well dressed boys out there, here are a few amazing etsy sellers that have BOY clothing in their shops. And make sure to check out the adorable chunky monkeys modeling the clothes too!!

I think I honestly squealed in delight when I came across Oscar & Theodore!! This shop is a boys only zone - no girls allowed! And of course, with a boy in size 5 and another one in 2T I'm pretty sure they had Brayden and Gage in mind when this shop was created.... no?.... Eh, I love this shop anyways!!

I'm seriously 100% in love with all of the wonderful applique shirts and onesies over at veryKIKI! And it certainly doesn't hurt that their lil model has a set of the most pinchable cheeks ever, perfect for sweet kisses from his mommy... or that crazy lady who writes that blog, Oh Mandie.

I can see it now, my 2 sharp dressed boys, looking good in the awesome ties from Leila & Ben! Now I'm not talking just special occasions. These ties make me want to get my kiddos dressed up to go to the grocery store. I mean if we're going to go there and run up and down the aisles and cause a huge ruckus, the boys might as well do it in style!

And last but least is the awesome, and super affordable, shop PunkyMonkeykids. Awesome onesies for your little rebels without causes! And of course I, or rather Gage, is a proud owner of a Love Stinks onesie, so I can't show you just any run of the mill picture here! It's blurry, but then again, most 21 month old little boys don't sit still long enough for a picture to not be blurry.

Monday Monday

"Monday Monday, so good to me,
Monday Monday, it was all I hoped it would be"


Spent the morning crafting... this afternoon comes (ugh!) laundry. I hope Monday is treating you all well♥

You Say Tomato - I Say Salsa!

I love my garden. I love all of the prosperity that it brings all season long, and I love cooking with fresh, natural, organic ingredients. That said, I'm no health nut by any means - and I LOVE me some Taco Bell and Burger King Whoppers. But why, oh why God do all of my tomatoes in the garden which I love so very much feel the need to ripen at the exact same time leaving me with a zillion billion trillion tomatoes? Its a conspiracy I tell you!

So what to do with a ton of tomatoes? (Believe me, you can only eat so many BLT's and making spaghetti sauce takes forever, and once a summer is enough of that!) Why you make salsa but of course!

I don't have a recipe of any sorts, but if this looks yummy to you, here's what I used per jar:

2-3 Good Sized Tomatoes (I used both Better Boy and Roma)
1 Half Yellow Onion
1 Large Sweet Banana Pepper
1 Small Green Bell Pepper
1 Chili Pepper
Fresh Cilantro
Fresh Parsley

Its not an exact science, but that's whats so goooood about making salsa, you can customize it to your tastes. To a few jars I added more hot peppers - some I made chunky - and some I made Picante style. And it tastes so fresh and yummy!

Now all you need are the chips!

Weekend plans - Surprise all of my family and friends with deliveries of fresh, homemade salsa!

For Your Viewing Pleasure

I have a thing for art of all sorts, as an etsy addict I think that's pretty much something I have in common with just about everyone who reads this blog and frequents the site. Given that fact, I thought that I would share one of my favorite websites with you that houses all kinds of modern, limited edition art prints from the classic to the really funky.

For your viewing pleasure: L'Affiche Moderne
Enjoy!

The County Fair

It must be something in the air, or maybe the towns of everyone on my blog list synchronizes the event, but the county fair was in town here last week! We go every year, always have since I was a little girl when my Dad would take my brothers and I. There's just something so magical about the county fair, the sounds of the kids yelling on the rides, the flashing lights, and the sweet smell of cotton candy mixed with cow shit wafting through the air. And I love every part of it!

Brayden loves the fair, and particularly being able to see the animals and being able to feed the horses (mommy likes the goats!) And this year Gage was big enough to get in on the animal feeding action too. Because really, whats a fair without a little animal slobber and some hay?

My favorite part of the fair is easily the fresh squeezed lemonade. Now I have a serious and undying love for all things lemonade, but nothing, and I mean absolutely nothing compares to Carnie Lemonade. (Carnie food - any kind of food sold out of a transportable cart at festivals, fairs, and obviously carnivals) And but of course, wouldn't you know it, Gage swiped my lemonade-y goodness!

And when Brayden found this cow photo op inside of one of the barns, we knew we had to utilize it! And B, my little photographer even took my picture after I had taken him. Now this is totally one of those mommy secret weapon pictures that I intend to whip out in a few years and show off to all of his girlfriends!


And we capped the night off with lots and lots and lots of rides, about a zillion rounds of bumper cars and yells of "Weeee" and "Lets go on it again Mom" and "Ooooh my stomach..." All in all it was another amazing evening at the county fair. Until next year!

Leap of Faith

I've been underselling myself for a long time - that much is true and I known it from the very beginning. I did the excuse thing "well this is my hobby - not my career" when in truth this is my passion and I should value it as such. Then (do not EVER do this!) I searched etsy for other items similar to mine and based my prices off of theirs to stay competitive.

This morning I woke up with a backbone. I love what I do, and love doing it. So I'm going to take value in my work and take a giant leap of faith - so yes folks, my prices have increased a bit. If you follow my shop at all you know that they fluctuate alot, but I think I'm going to let them be for awhile.

I'm not going to measure my success in sales anymore, but rather in the smiles and the happy hours I spend doing what I love. ♥

Pass the Black Icing Please

I feel old today... really really old. I think I'm at a point in my life where time feels like its standing still but then once I stop to take it all in I find that its really passing me by without hesitation and I'm missing it. Does that make sense to anyone else but me?

My birthday is on Tuesday the 16th, and to be honest I'm kind of hoping that it won't come, like maybe the calender will get stuck and we'll all be in some horrible reproduction of the same day over and over again, kinda like that crap-tastic movie Groundhog Day (see, that's how you know you're old, when you reference old shitty movies!)

So without further hesitation (because I've wasted enough time already!) here are some wonderful etsy favorites of mine that make me feel youthful and vibrant and that make me smile rather that sit here and look out my window at the rainy grey day and feel old.

Thanks to these awesome people and their awesome prints for making me smile!

I Love U by Hide n Seek - Reminds me of being young, in love, and doodling the names of the boys I liked in my notebooks while I was in school, too enamoured to actually pay attention to whatever lesson was going on at the time. I'm sure if I look around I still have a ton of those notebooks - all with "I ♥ Mike" drawn on all of the pages. Yep, that's right, I married my high school sweetheart.

Polka Dot Cupcake from Elegant Snobbery - I dare you to look at this (or any of Marisa's drawings for that matter!) and not feel like a little girl happily playing inside of a fairy tale. And perched up on that pedestal, sitting so sweetly, I kind of of imagine that that wonderfully delicious cupcake is out of reach. Which of course brings out the Vercua Salt in me and makes me "want it NOW".



Jump Rope Girl by Tollipop - I remember a time when seriously nothing in life was more important that grabbing my jump rope, running outside with all of the other neighbor kids and spending the afternoon in a sweating, jumping frenzy. I had one of those awesome plastic ones, it was purple and sparkled in the sun and I remember thinking that the sound it made whizzing through the air must have meant that I was jumping super fast - because when you're 7 you don't really know or care about Physics. I wore my thick, curly hair in pigtails just like this little girl too.

♥ Ahh Nostalgia! - Nothing like it to beat the "I'm an old fart" blues

And Time Flies

Its been a whirlwind of a weekend, including an evening at the county fair, a day of hardcore fabric shopping, and finished off with an night of post nasal drip and a sore throat. But given the chance I'd do it all over again.

Weekends go by too fast nowadays. Having a husband who works a bazillion hours a week and two non-stop, always on the go kids makes it hard to relish in minutes of downtime I get every Saturday and Sunday when Mike is off... because lets face it, there never really is any "down time" I'm just horrified when I look back and think to myself - where has the time gone?

Anyways, the boys' birthdays are coming up in the next few months... yup, I'm already thinking about that! Brayden will be 6 in November and Gage will be 2 in December, 13 days later. Yes, their birthdays are close.

So with all of the Christmas hustle and bustle the comes with the season last year I begain thinking of little birthday things for the boys early and gathering and putting away little things over the months that I know will make their big days special. Of course the first place I've been looking is etsy! Check out all of the awesome pictures on this post of some of the most amazing party goods and of course head on down to the bottom of this post for links to these amazing shops!

**************
In other, equally as awesome news, I returned from my action packed weekend for find out that a few of my wonderfully sweet etsy/blogger friend have nominated me for some blog awards! Seriously, how cool is that - someone acctually enjoys reading my crazy rambling!

BIG thank yous to Elizabeth Jayne and Simply Sentimental the Blog and also Inki Handmade for these amazing awards --->
You like me! You really really like me!

***************

For all of the amazing party finds features on today's blog please follow the links:

HAPPY BIRTHDAY Reusable Fabric Banner by The Polka Dot Tot Spot
COWBOY Cupcake Toppers by Mary Had a Little Party
Green Candy Stripe Cupcake Liners by Layer Cake Shop
Elephant Party Package by Piggy Tales Stationary

How Does Your Garden Grow?

From humble beginnings...

To Good Eats!

Including - Red Cabbage, Broccoli, Celery, Green Bell Peppers, Sweet Banana Peppers, Zucchini, Oregano, Basil, Flat Leaf Parsley, Cilantro, Rosemary, Lavender, and one random stalk of corn that we assume grew from the manure we put down

Not pictured are my wonderfully delicious Cherry Tomatoes, Roma Tomatoes, and Better Boy Tomatoes - YUM

Sew What?

I LOVE Flickr - really I do! After etsy it's probably the website that I frequent the most. All in thanks to my brand new, uncontrollable, love for fabric swapping.

I'm a sewing novice. Last Christmas when my mother in law got a new sewing machine as a gift she passed down her old one to me, which previously belonged to Mikes late Aunt. I've certainly used sewing machines before, but as far as owning one, this is as far as I've ever got. Oh, did I mention that this thing is old as can be and mounted into a little sewing table. Its so vintage and I love it so much!

It certainly hasn't taken me much time to amass a huge collection of fabric too - its like paper is to me - ADDICTING! I can't get enough! I'm no master seamstress by any means, but I can make pillows, totes, and curtains like its nobodys business! Eventually I'll consider moving on to a few more adventurous projects... because that's what I do, take on a zillion projects and fall in love with something new over and over again only to realize that I miss and love the something old as well and then I juggle a million interests around. Others call me crazy, I call it being cultured in the way of the craft ;-)

Anyways, back to the original point of this post, if you are a fabric hoarder or like to sew, or heck, even if you just want to send and receive awesome packages in the mail you should really look into all of the amazing Fat Quarters swap groups on Flickr!

Here's one that I admin:
Crafty Girls FQ and Recipe Swap

And here are 2 that I belong to:
A Little Fabric, A Little Chocolate {Swap!}
Fat Quarters Fabric Swap!

Hope to swap some fabric with you all!

{{ They Call Me Mellow Yellow }}

I got a treasury today! Which is pretty awesome, because I don't really frequent the treasuries! I happened to be browsing through t-west and Boom :-) So I thought I'd make a list compiled of all things yellow - my favorite color!!

Click HERE to visit it - you know you wanna!

Summer Lovin'

It's officially September 1st. So I know that technically summer isn't over for a few more weeks but now that I feel like I'm a teenage again and am back on the school schedule thanks to Brayden I feel that it is. That's ok, I'm more of an autumn gal, but still this was an amazing summer so I thought that I might reflect :-)

We don't get to get away as a family too often thanks to our daily responsibilities, finances... you know, the norm. But this year was spectacular! We were able to go camping for a long weekend, spend over a week in Florida with a brief lay over in North Carolina, we've been utilizing our grill and eating outside and spending long evenings at the baseball field during little league season and late nights at the drive in movie theatre, thrown in with a few outdoor concerts. All in all it's been an amazingly fun and wonderful summer and I'm a bit sorry to see it go!

Off to bigger and better things - but oh so thankful for the memories! Now its time for the leaves to start changing!!

Mike and I this weekend at the Folkfest listing to some music :-)