New Banners and Kid's Clothes Week

In shop news, there are two new banners today. Check 'em out. I'll be listing more in the next few weeks, each with it's own color palette. I can also make custom ones for you based on colors of your choosing! Just send me a message and we'll work on something special just for you! Tomorrow is the last day I'll be listing new things for awhile, so I promise I won't bug you any more with shop talk for a bit. :)

I will however bug you quite a bit in the next few weeks about kid's clothes. The other night I was perusing the Wee Wonderfuls blog and she mentioned making plans for Kid's Clothes Week Challenge. This sounded like just the thing to get me motivated. Weeks ago when I purged and organized my office / studio I sorted all of the fabrics I've bought in the last few years into bins with each of the girls' names on them. I also threw the patterns I had been intending to use in the same bins to keep it all nice and organized. Then I put them back in the closet to be forgotten about. Ha.

So reading about the challenge helped get me motivated about the girls' summer wardrobes once again and I dug the bins back out. I purchased a few new patterns and I've been bookmarking kid clothes tutorials like a mad woman. I'm more than a little excited to use up all this beautiful fabric and save money by not having to buy oodles of new summer clothes. The challenge doesn't officially start until the second week of May but since I have two girls to sew for I thought I would get started next week. I'll focus on one girls wardrobe a week and see what happens. I hope to sneak a little sewing for myself in somewhere too but I won't get too far ahead of myself. I thought I would do some mini pattern reviews too as I go along and I'll try to share some links to some really great free tutorials I've found. This is going to be fun!

More Shop Talk

I've just listed this new quilt in the shop. They're something I've been wanting to make for such a long time and I think the perfect thing to have for sale at some of the Farmer's Markets I'm doing this summer. I've got a few more in the works that I'll hopefully be able to list in the next week or two. I can't tell you how much I enjoy making them. It's quite a lot like painting with fabric. I love choosing the colors and arranging them with no particular pattern in mind. They turn out each so unique because I don't use a pattern. They just organically come into being as I sew and piece them together. To make them even more special I've been screen printing cotton blocks with some little illustrations that are then incorporated into the quilt. I've struggled with the price a lot. I want them to be worth my time but at the same want them to be affordable. After all, I want them to be adopted and loved. That's what they're for. We'll see how it goes...

Also, if you haven't had the chance check out the new prints, bibs and toys that I added to the shop earlier in the week. There will be a few more things tomorrow and Friday as well to round out this massive update.

I'll be back later today or tomorrow to talk kid's clothes!

Shop Talk

I had originally planned on having one big, huge shop update today but I'm now going to space it out throughout the week, for a few reasons. One, these April showers are not making picture taking easy and two, there's just so much new stuff, to try to get it all listed in a day is just nuts. So, I'll be listing something new everyday. Today there's two new screen prints and some new dolls and dogs. The photo is another tiny peek at something that will be making its way into the shop this week. I hope you'll stop by for a visit!

Oh and hop over to my shop on PapernStitch for a special treat!

Winners and a Tiny Peek

And the winners are...

Pulled at random from a hat by my 5 year old...Blueberry Park and Meghan have both won a 5x7 print of choice from my shop. Thank you so much everyone who shared a recipe or favorite spring / summer food. I am so excited to try all of these yummy recipes!

In other news there will be a big shop update next Monday April 26th. I'll try to share little sneak peeks this week of some of the new things that will be included in the update. Here's the very first tiny peek...

Inspired Mondays

This week I'm so very inspired by the beautiful Etsy shop Lila Ruby King. I tweeted about this gorgeous jewelry last week and couldn't resist sharing it with you again. If the name and style of work seems familiar you'd be right. This is a sister shop to Anna Ruby King ! I've been a huge fan of her gorgeous illustrations and Gocco prints for ages and I was so delighted that she'd forayed into jewelry. Her jewelry has the same organic yet whimsical quality that I love about her illustrations and they play beautifully together. I think I may have to treat myself to an early mother's day present...

In other news, I'm keeping the comments open on the giveaway until tonight. I'll announce the winners tomorrow. If you have a chance check out the entries. There are some amazing looking recipes!

Craft Saturday was a blast and I'm so excited to do more shows in the future. I really wasn't sure if I was going to like doing it as I'm pretty shy and have a hard time working up the courage to talk to new people. But, everyone was incredibly fun and friendly and doing something a little out of my comfort zone was just the thing I needed to boost my self-esteem. It wasn't nearly as hard as I thought it would be! After seeing how amazingly talented all of the vendors were I was even more honored to be a part of such a great show. I'll be sharing some of their links with you sometime this week and some pictures of my setup.

Hope this week is starting off well with all of you!

New Necklace

This week has been "trying" to say the least and my dears, it's only Tuesday. So today I needed a little pick-me-up. I showered and actually got dressed in something other than "comfy clothes" and just that little step has made a world of difference. Yesterday afternoon this beautiful necklace arrived and I knew it was just the thing to help beautify my world today. It's a custom embroidered necklace by Corinne of September House. (shop here) I wish I could get a better photo but it's insanely hard to take a photo of something around your own neck, haha! (Disclosure: I did get a better photo but it was mostly boob so I opted not to post that one :) The stitching is tiny and oh so perfect. It was such a pleasure opening the beautiful packaging and an even bigger pleasure to put this beauty around my neck. I hope you'll stop by Corinne's shop and pick up something lovely for yourself.

Before and After - And a Giveaway

Instead of my regularly scheduled "Inspired Monday" post I have something a little different to share. I picked up these plastic wall hangings at the Goodwill this weekend for $1.99 and decided to give them a shiny new coat of paint. Granted the "before" wasn't bad (the top picture) but we've got so much brown, gold in the house now that I wanted to inject a little color for the spring season. I was able to get away with one of the teeny cans of spray paint for $2.50, so all in all the project cost me less than $5 which in my book is a success. The color I picked ended up matching the vintage paint by number I picked up during the same trip as well as the blue in the curtains pretty perfectly. I think my decision to paint them was a good one and now this little corner feels very happy. This little spot is the landing at the top of the stairs leading to our bedroom and my office. So, it's a spot I pass by dozens of times a day. I've been searching for ages for the perfect thing to hang there and I really think that this arrangement fits the bill perfectly.

In other news, this week marks my 2nd blog birthday! I can't quite believe it's been that long and although I did take a rather extended leave of absence last year I still think it's cause for celebration. I would like to give away a free print from my Etsy shop to 2 readers but there's a teeny bit of work involved. I would like for you to share a favorite spring / summer recipe. I've got my favorites that come out every year but I'd like to try some new things and I'm so excited to start seeing all of that fresh seasonal produce at the farmer's markets. So, share a recipe and be entered to win a free 5x7 print of your choice from the shop! I will randomly pick the winners next Monday the 19th. I can't wait to see what you all have to share!!

(Edit: If you don't cook much still share something that you like to eat in the Spring and Summer to be entered!)