Sew Cute Creations Giveaway!

I absolutely love this etsy shop: http://www.etsy.com/shop/sewcutecreations. I have been eyeing the above tank dress for awhile, and now she is doing a giveaway here: http://thevillageofmoms.com/2010/06/sew-cute-creations-giveaway.html. The winner will recieve a fully customized t shirt from her shop. And you get to choose! If I win, I will get a shirt for Odin and then most likely buy a personalized tank dress for Ally :) Have fun entering!

Featuring...BedBuggs!

Hello everyone! Today I am featuring a fellow etsy shop called BedBuggs. She sells tutus, hairbows, and my favorite...owl pillows (and butterfly and ladybug ones too!). The owl pillows are so cute, I am hoping to eventually buy one for my kids :)

I asked Krista, owner of BedBuggs, a few questions, and here is what she said:

I am a SAHM of two beautiful kids, and I call them my BedBuggs because every morning they end up in bed with my husband and I. I love creating fun items for them, just to make them smile. The past couple years have been tough on our little family with health problems and my husband's job loss. I'm a fighter so instead of throwing in the towel on my dreams of being a SAHM I decided to start selling my stuff on Etsy. My favorite item to create is definately my Owl Pillows, they make me and my BedBuggs smile no matter what our mood, I'm sure that you'll find something in my shop that will make you smile too!

This is her blog: http://bedbuggs.blogspot.com/ (she also featured me on her blog!) and her etsy shop: http://www.etsy.com/shop/bedbuggs

What's your favorite item in her shop?

Love these headbands...

I have been admiring these headbands by Oh, Sweet Joy on etsy. They are so fun and she is having a giveaway! Here it is:

http://yellowsongbird.blogspot.com/2010/06/impromptu-giveaway.html

My Baby Brother Graduated!

High school, that is. I still remember when he would walk down the driveway in his diaper to get the newspaper for our dad. And his mullet with those adorable curls. Also, the time he tricked Madi into stepping into a mud puddle (Madi, you still haven't gotten him back! :D). And the time we went mini golfing and he stomped off in a huff because he was losing. Once, in Michigan, we went tubing and dad was driving the boat "too fast" so Andre got off the tube and said he was swimming back to shore. Good times, Andre. We love you and congrats! Enjoy Purdue but come visit us in Arizona.

I made some new clothes for the shop, also. A 4th of July dress that I can still make in time for the holiday, and a cute skirt that matches some of Gymboree's stuff.

Busy Sewing

Things are slowing way down in my etsy shop, but I have been busy sewing anyway :) I'm working on a few custom orders, and trying to create as much as I can for an upcoming craft show. This will be my first one, so any tips or ideas will be much appreciated! I'm glad I have a handy husband who can help me with the display! In fact, I saw something neat on a blog: http://www.blogmimigreen.com/blog/2008/05/craft-show-good.html. She doesn't sell the same stuff I do, but I liked the thingy made with PVC pipe. I could hang smaller dresses and skirts on something like that, and borrow a rolling hanger from someone to hang some other stuff, as well as placing things on the table. I also plan to make some hair accesories. (for girls and women!)

I am also finally getting some of the professional photos of some clothes I made awhile ago. The little girl is such an adorable model, and the photographer is great! The pictures above are some that she took along with a dress I just made for the craft show. In the meantime, I am praying for more online sales to come my way so I can buy the supplies I need! :D

Aaaand just so everyone knows, right now I am doing a summer special: spend $30 or more in the shop and recieve 15% off. So even if you only spend $30, you still get at least $4.50 off! This does not include shopping.

Pretty Dress

I recently made a new dress for a customer. It is the double ruffle knot dress, but she chose the fabrics. She chose some from Nicey Jane, which is currently my favorite line! Anyway, it turned out pretty cute.

I am considering doing a craft show pretty soon. I am just nervous about putting so much money/work into it and then not making sales! Especially money...we just don't have a lot, and we are trying to scrape together every penny for our trip this summer. It gives me anxiety to think about it, and I am just so frustrated because we try so hard and it's never enough. Something comes up and suddenly we are overdrafted because we didn't transfer enough money in time! And online banking is a little deceiving because sometimes they do not show the transaction until a day later, but the date is still from the day before. Anyway, if we were like normal people, maybe we would not have to transfer money from savings at all! I'm so tired of this.

Odin is doing really well with potty training, finally! He has been dry all day so far and peeing in the potty, so I'm pretty excited about that! Hopefully it's enough to cheer me up for now.

I'm being lazy

But laziness is no excuse to not update my blog. The thing is, in every other part of my life I am not being lazy. I'm keeping the house clean (for the most part), writing, sewing, spending time with family...lots of reading, but that doesn't exert much effort. I love to read and am now on a reading kick, which is why I had to force myself to narrow my library holds to 6. I should be getting those this week :) I also have tons of books that are not available at the library that I want to purchase, so I am doing my best to find them used on Amazon. I love Amazon!

Recently Adam and I and the kids all went to dinner with a favorite author, Bryan Davis, and his daughter and another family was there also. It was really neat to be able to ask whatever questions I wanted, discuss my own writing, etc. I don't really know any other writers (I'm talking about people like me, not "famous" ones), so I didn't realize how enjoyable it is to talk about writing with someone who does it...especially someone who is experienced with it. I wish I had a writer friends to correspond with, or at least someone who loves books as much as I do. Bryan Davis wrote the Dragons in Our Midst series, as well as a few others that I love. Christian fantasy is my favorite genre to read AND write, although I read secular fantasy as well, as long as it is "clean." I just don't enjoy reading books with graphic scenes or horrible language...that's just me. The Christian books also have wonderful messages, so I'm saving them on the shelf for my kids. And our bookshelf is overflowing...sigh.

As far as my writing goes, I am seeking out an agent or publisher by querying whomever I can find that represents my type of writing! I am working on the second book in my series, which is loosely titled Brenechia, and I am not opposed to changing the title. If you're wondering, I will only give you the bare bones: it's about a family that escapes to another world because they're being pursue by some bad guys, and in this new world (Brenechia) every believer has powerful gifts. I make it clear that the gifts come from God, and the characters must use their gifts together to fight evil. You might say it's been done before, but I think the characters are unique and the plot is more complicated than it sounds. The main characters are the siblings (two teenagers and two young adults, and the spouse of one of the daughters). So that's all I'm telling the public right now...I am just a little protective of my story :) And it's one I believe in!

As for sewing...my shop is doing fine for now. I don't expect it to ever be a full fledged business, and with my writing, I don't have time for that anyway, but I do enjoy it and really need the money from it right now! I've included a photo of a new top. The kids are doing well, but Ally is still not waking. She's stubborn like her mommy!