New Patterns

I've been dreaming about coordinated Christmas patterns for awhile and I finally had some time to get them out of my brain and onto the computer. I've ordered some Spoonflower swatches so we'll see how they turn out. I'm thinking little craft packs of swatches would be fun for the shop. 

A Trio of Terrariums

The weather today isn't exactly the best for taking pictures but I was just too excited about these to wait for better picture-taking weather! I've been obsessing about terrariums for awhile. There's something just so magical about them, which I understand is kind of wacky. I've been coveting one for myself for awhile, specifically one from Made by Mavis. She has some amazingly gorgeous terrariums in her shop. Unfortunately funds are limited so I decided to try and make my own. While mine aren't quite as nice I'm thrilled to bits with them! For about $16 I was able to make three of them. The moss was free and pulled right out of my side yard, as were the rocks and soil. I bought some activated carbon from a pet store and found the jars at the thrift shop for $.99 a piece. The best part I think are the tiny ceramic mushrooms that I bought from Mudpuppy, here. How stinkin' cute are those!? If these keep doing well and don't die (like every houseplant I've ever had!) I really want to make more for Christmas gifts. It's just so wonderful to come into my office in the morning for the work day and see these little happy bits of green.

It's rainy and dreary just like outside in the tiny terrarium today.
Look! I have a slug friend! He crawled out into the open for the first time today much to my surprise! He must have been in the soil that I dug up under the moss. I was really quite worried about him until I did some slug research and found that he should actually thrive in this environment. I really think he needs a name...

Weekend in Pictures

As far as weekends go this one was pretty good...

Halloween lollipop cookies were made. They were rather droopy
looking but tasted delicious.
Then again, you can't really go wrong with anything on a stick.

Leaves were swept off the deck,
Sparkly shoes were scored at a garage sale for 50 cents,
Halloween PJs were made for my little witch,

and gratuitous pug pictures were taken.

Pretty successful I think. The husband and I were even able to have some time alone, which didn't happen hardly ever when we lived in Chicago. We saw a hockey game with my brother and even went to a movie. Wow, when I write it all down, this weekend was pretty jam-packed. No wonder I'm ready for bed.

No progress was made on the shop but there was a lot of shop-related thinking and I think I have some good ideas for new stuff. The house is finally shaping up enough where I think I can start focusing on making things again.

Thanks so much to all who responded to my last post. If anything, I'm just so glad I'm not the only one who has had trouble with responding to comments on blogger. Hopefully they'll come up with a solution in the future. In the meantime, I suppose we'll all make do. :)

Cry for Help!

So, I'm normally really good with teaching myself how to use new computer programs and up until recently I would have said I'm pretty web savvy. But now, I'm crying "Uncle" and admitting I need help. For the life of me I cannot figure out a good way to respond to comments left on this here blog. It really means so much to me when folks stop by to read my ramblings and I want to be able to say "Thank You!" and respond to the great stories, or just kind comments that you leave. So, for anyone who is familiar with blogger, How is the heck do I respond to comments!? 

These are the Moments...

...That make me so proud to be a mom. I was working on my cross stitch project one night while we were having family TV time and Brodi asked me ever so sweetly if I would teach her how to "sew". I thought my heart was going to burst. I got so excited that I ran out and bought her her own plastic hoop, some inexpensive muslin and a few blunt tapestry needles. Her attention span is pretty short but she has so much fun sewing just like mommy. We're working just on remembering to go back through the same side we just brought the needle through but she's making progress and I can't tell you how fun it is to sit and sew on the floor together! I tie the embroidery floss to the needle so she doesn't have to worry about the thread coming out, I figure we'll work on threading the needle at a later date! Just when I think she's got too much of her daddy's wild nature she goes and suprises me, I love that we can share these little quiet momments occastionally and I hope there are many many more to come.

Sweetly Brilliant

I've started one of these.
Such an amazing idea to write down all those funny little things that kids say and throw them in a jar to be revisited later when those magical moments have been forgotten. Or, as Brooke says they're good for a chuckle when you're having a crummy day. I just have a few slips of paper so far but it's already made me more mindful of the limited number of days we have with our children. It goes so fast and some of these things are just too precious to get lost in whirlwind.

Open for Business!

The shop is finally back up and running. There's nothing new as of yet but I promise new things will be coming soon. We're battling the flu here in addition to unpacking and my day job has really picked up with tons of work, so much to my disappointment crafting has taken a bit of a backseat. Hopefully it's not for long!