Scrapbook Design and YOU!

I am a certified Scrapbook Design and YOU instructor! I am so excited about this. I have been wanting to teach my passion for years and finally the opportunity has come up. Scrapbook Design and You is a program developed through EK Success. It is a very new program and I am lucky enough to be getting in on the ground floor. I actually had to train to become certified and I can sincerely say that I am very impressed with what EK Success has put together. The class book alone is filled with amazing amounts of information!

Here is the website for more information:

http://www.scrapbookdesignandyou.com/

If you live in the Chicago area, I'd love to have you in my class!

What else have I been up too? Well, my son turned three years old so we had a great cowboy party. The kids had a blast. I set up tee pees in the backyard and the kids drew pictures on the canvas part of it. We also had a pinata, and no one got hurt!

I have also been out to see my grandparents. I am so very fortunate to have both sets of grandparents still here on earth. Each of them is so special to me. I have not known life without having all my grandparents to call and talk to. This is one of the many great blessings in my life!

My store! I have really been working on my store and I have been loving it. I get so excited when I find great vintage items. Lately I have started purchasing vintage clothes for my store. I have been adding a lot of vintage to my own closet as well. My primary focus right now is plus size vintage. I am really happily surprised that I have been able to find a bit of it!

It's Monday, and I know it will be a great week! I hope yours is fantastic!

Adventures on a Summer Night........

This Thursday my husband, the boys and I all decided to go for a bike ride and pick some wild blackberries. We had such a great time and quite an adventure. The boys kept their eyes out for wild berries while we rode through the bike paths in our local forest preserve. We had a good amount of berries and then my five year old spilt part of a basket of them. He was pretty sad, but we convinced him a whole bunch of animals would be very happy when they found that special treat. By the time we were done picking all the berries we found, we had enough berries for a few desserts and that didn't include the spilt ones!
While we were riding along a women was on the road with her hazard lights on. She she started yelling down something to us. My husband ran up there to find out what was wrong. There was a turtle on the road that she was afraid was going to get run over. My husband saved the day and took the turtle back to it's watery home. I actually learned a few things about turtles.
1. The "fact" that they are slow, is actually a myth.
2. Their necks are grossly long and they give a whole new meaning to "oh snap!"
3. UGLY! U.G.L.Y. See picture below.

This is my husband carrying the turtle. He was acting all nonchalant about the whole thing. Then he gets (I have just decided the turtle needs a name, let's call him Mertle) Dear Hubs gets Mertle to the grass and sets him down. Problem is the grass is pretty close to where Mertle almost had a run in with afternoon rush hour. I say, "Uh, honey, why did you set it down there?" He says, are you ready for this, "The turtle saw the grass and got really excited so I thought I would put it here." Let me translate that for you. "This thing is freaking ugly and I wanna get as far away from it as possible but I need to look manly so I will come up with any excuse to put it down." The best part, he adds, "Didn't you see it's arms flapping, that means it was happy to see the grass." Uh sure honey!

Since I am telling you the stupid thing my Dear Husband says. I better tell you what I said too. My husband and the screaming to save the turtle lady are having a conversation way up on the bridge. I can only make out part of the conversation. From where I am I hear, "Look it has a leash on it." HUH? Ok, perhaps someone's pet turtle made a run for it while out on a walk. Possible? Sure. Crazier things have happened. What she actually said, "Look it has a leech on it."




See, I wasn't kidding. UGLY. And to add to the ug-factor That neck comes out about four inches. Ewww...................

We also had a tag-a-long bike riding guest. During one of our berry picking stops, my two year old says in a happy voice, "Daddy, you have a spider on you. It's big." Sure enough, my husband had made a friend of the eight legged variety while leaning into a berry bush. It was climbing up his head till he started dancing around and flicked it off (really my husband is not a wimp, he has jumped out of planes and everything). Here is a picture of his new arachnid friend, but it appears much smaller than it was in real life.

After quite a few mosquito bites, a basket full of berries, saving a life and making a new friend, we went home and had our berries with some whipped cream. It was a great night! The kind of night I plan to have more of.

Memories from growing up in the 70's & Thanks Bobbins and Bombshells!!!

These rings take me back to when I was a little girl. They are from the 70's. I adore the peace sign ring. Do you remember those little ones with the little gems in them? They came in packs with a bunch of them or in the bubble gum machines! I loved them! I always wanted to get them from the machine! It was so hard to choose between the gum and the rings!

This morning when I checked my email I got a message from Karen over at http://bobbinsandbombshells.blogspot.com/ .

She featured one of the vintage aprons I have listed on Etsy, on her blog. Her blog is the "bomb" too! I love the Etsy community. Everyone is so supportive of each other.

Thanks so much Karen!!!

Today I listed a few more things in my store. I have a lot more to list. I am soon going to start listing some fabrics and trims. Oh, and this weekend I found the most adorable owl pillow ever. Here are a few of the items I will be listing soon. I love the hippy headband! Now that is truly vintage!

More accesories from the 70's. I can totally picture the people at Woodstock wearing these!

Can you believe I found the ring with the original little book! I couldn't! It still works too!

Junk in the Trunk!!! Sewing for Peace!!

It was a junkin' day today. I got up early (not usual for me) and went out on my own, meaning no children. It was peaceful and full of a lot of Kid Rock music turned up high on the stereo.

I found this little rug. I think I am going to put it in my son's room when we get around to doing it over again. I am really excited because I keep picking up little things for it here and there. I know when it comes time to actually re-do his room he is gonna want Spiderman or something like that!

The lady that had this rug says that she remembers the woman who handmade this rug. She said it was a very long time ago. I could not believe how it was in such great condition! I am thinking if I took that much time to make something, I don't think I would let anyone walk on it either!!

More finds from today:

See the bookends? The ducks. I was going to order them this week from an online source. I didn't do it for some odd reason. Today at a sale, I spotted them out of the corner of my eye. I thought there was no way that I could possibly have found the exact same ones. Sure enough! Now my mom has her bookends! I also got a huge vintage chalkboard. I have been looking for a good size one for a while now. This thing has to be 3 feet x four feet! I love how used it looks.

One of my favorite finds today:

I love them. They are perfect too! It is probably hard to tell in the picture but they are smaller than the normal ornaments. These are probably only a few inches big.

Sewing for Peace!

The other day on Etsy I came across a woman who was selling handmade flag banners for free! I ordered one right away but I was very touched by the reason she was doing this. She decided to hold a "sew-in" as a protest against nuclear weapons and to plea for peace. She is very concerned about the North Korea situation, especially since she lives in Hawaii. Here is her Etsy store, if you get a chance, give her a visit!

http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=6604480

Here is the beautiful banner she made. It is proudly hanging on my front door in honor of our country:

Call Me the Bag Lady!

I have been doing a lot of sewing lately, mostly bags. I don't use patterns. Usually as I am falling asleep at night I visualize how I want the bag to turn out and then I put it together in my head. After that I jump in with both feet, start cutting fabric, and hope it works out. Same with cooking. In cooking, I just make recipes up as I go. For some reason, patterns (and recipes) are more difficult for me to follow than visual directions. Case in point. I have made a few lined zippered pouches to match each bag. I don't ever use a pattern. Instead I use a video posted on SIS. I must have watched that video 20 times by now and still watch it step by step each time I make a pouch. I need to see each step rather than have them explained to me. Besides, when Rhi says, "I like to live on the edge." I crack up every time!

Here are two of the bags I just recently made. The pink one above is for my niece. She picked out the fabrics and I got to work. I think she picked a couple of great fabrics. I hope she likes how it turned out. The one below if for a friend. I made it out of some sheets from the 70's. I love the pattern and how summery it is.

I still have a couple more to make for other people (Yes Mom, yours is next) and I am excited to try out some new designs. My next design is going to be a bag with all ruffles (No Mom, yours will not have any ruffles).

I hope everyone is staying cool in this crazy heat!!!

I adore long summer days!

I am so very thankful it is summer. So far the weather has been stormy but beautiful. Today was our first real hot and humid day. I loved it. The boys played in the sprinkler and in the old galvanized tub I have. My three year old called it his "tub". It was a perfect fit for the two little ones.

Most of my day today was spent listing more items in my Etsy shop. I still have plenty more to list. Today I went to an estate sale and found some really adorable vintage invitations. It was a huge box full of them. Some had never been opened, all of them were perfectly wonderful finds. I also found some great vintage fabric and some very old children clothes that I am falling in love with!

Here are some pictures of some more items I have to get listed in my shop. There is a whole lot to list! I haven't even started on the fabric or trims!I hope everyone has a Happy Father's Day. We have a day planned full of games, bbq, and fun!

My New Ride!

Did you think I meant a new car? Don't I wish! I love the vintage look of this bike and the basket is so useful! We go on bike rides a lot these days and during the weekend, we try to take a picnic with us. I can fit the picnic and the blanket into my basket. My bike is super comfortable and easy to ride. I am so glad my husband and kids got it for me. It was actually my Mother's Day gift.

It is raining here again. So we won't be riding tonight. I am hoping to get started on a new sewing project. I have actually been getting requests for bags. Now I have to get started actually making them.

I hope all is good with you and yours!