VCC Rocks!

My hubby goes to a really cool bike shop. Not just a cool bike shop, a rockin' bike shop. These guys are awesome. This summer, they have loaned a tandem to Ross and Davis so they could ride together during a couple of the Tuesday Night Rides they have. Davis has LOVED it.

Well, one night when they got done with the ride, Davis said something like "When you're in a car, you can't really see anything, because you're going to fast, and when you're walking everything seems so far away, but when you're on a bike, you're just right". Well, Mike, at Velo City Cycles used him as a quote on their new t-shirts. Keep in mind, these t-shirts are a big deal. Once they are gone, they don't do another run. Sometimes people BEG him to do another run of a t-shirt, and he won't do it. Everyone loves these shirts. They just rock. Anyway, Davis is the first "local" to have a quote on one of the VCC shirts. How awesome is that? So here's the shirt...(in orange, since that's his favorite color!)

And below, here is Mike giving him the shirt. I don't think he quite got it at first, but as it started to 'sink in' he was feeling pretty good about himself.

When we were walking to the car, Davis said "Mom, I think it's pretty cool that I'm the first one with the t-shirt". Meaning, he was the first 'local'. I think he was very proud. So guess what my next purchase is? LOL I guess it's time for our family to have matching t-shirts. ;)

Giveaway

OMG....found this giveaway from thatdarnkat's blog. LOL...she recommends NOT entering the giveaway because she wants to win. But you get more entries if you link at your blog. You can see where this is going. :) Go visit...the bag is GORGEOUS.

http://lilatuellerdesigns.blogspot.com/

A Wonderful Party...

We planned a 40th Wedding Anniversary Party for my in-laws, and the day was WONDERFUL. The weather was beautiful. Perfect, in fact. Lots of friends and family came, and I thought it turned out great. My sister in law rented a popcorn machine, and the kids loved it! You can always entertain children with food. :)

Here's the in-law's with their gifts and the grandkids. My sister in law had the kiddos do handprints on tiles to make a table for them. I made the family tree....See this post if you haven't seen it. They look happy to me. :)

Here they are with all of the 'stuff'. :)

If you can see behind them, those are the dresses from the wedding. How cool is that? The pink one was the junior bridesmaid's and the white one was the flower girls. Here's a closeup. I just think they are gorgeous.

Her dress was in the corner, but I didn't get a good pic. :( It was a lot of fun to see all of that stuff. My parents were divorced when I was about 8, so I don't even remember my mom's wedding ring. It was fascinating to me to see it all, with the wedding album.

Besides being thier 40th anniversary on the 13th...my mother in law had her 60th birthday the day before the party. I decided we at least had to recognize it at the party...so I bought this cake. I got it from DAISYS & dots. She is AMAZING. It was perfect. We already had 2 traditional cakes and 2 pies, so we needed something different. I was THRILLED. You should check out her site. Can you tell I was happy? LOL It is comprised of 50 boxes that you can open and put in whatever you want. I filled them with hard candy that wouldn't melt in the sun.

Overall I was very happy with the day. We got to see family and friends we don't usually see, and my mother in law and father in law seemed happy, which was the best part.

Gotta love Etsy and its creative sellers...

Earlier this week I recieved an INGENIOUS piece for my daughter's closet. I LOVE this idea!






Originally, this piece was intended for clothespins for those that hang their clothes dry. Um...sorry, I'm not that ambitious. :) I barely get my clothes WASHED! LOL Anyway, in the listing, it said her daughter uses them for lingerie! My daughter has very little drawer space in her room, so this is PERFECT!!! I haven't decided yet whether it will be for socks or undies yet, but I LOVE IT! I think we may need one for each closet in our house! :) You can find yours at http://www.thegivingtree.etsy.com/ ! She takes custom orders...so you can even get one to match your decor!

Tutorial - The Perfect Picnic Blanket

Have you ever put your picnic blanket down, only to have the corners blow up and move? Everyone has! Well this is the answer! It is easily done with just a few materials.

First, get yourself a blanket. Personally, I snagged a clearance quilt at Target for $15. :) Gotta love Target. ;)

Then you need a few things…
Needle nosed pliers
Wire or an old hanger
A Hammer
A Grommet Set (You can get these at Wal-Mart or craft/sewing stores)
Scissors

First, take your scissors and cut a little hole in the corner. Start with a small hole...you can always cut it larger if you need to. Leave enough area that your grommet still has a little room to ‘breathe’.

Now it’s time to put in the grommet. Lay down the base piece, then your piece with the shaft on it. Put the shaft through the hole.

Put the top piece on , and then use the tool to hammer the pieces together.

These instructions should come with your kit. When it’s done it should look like this.

Do this to all four corners. Now it’s time to make the wire pieces. Cut a length of wire.

Use the needle nose pliers to twist the wire into a spiral at one end. It doesn’t have to be perfect! It just has to be bigger than the grommet hole.

Then take the pliers and ‘fold’ it so that the straight end of the wire is now perpendicular to the spiral. Make 4.

Now you have your anchors! Lay out your blanket and push the straight part of your new anchors through the grommet hole into the ground. Do this to all 4 corners. It is secure! Now you can have your picnic without your blanket moving!

You've got to love a finished project

Over a year ago, I decided to take up rug hooking. It is such a creative process. I drew my own pattern, went and claimed old wool by shopping Goodwill for unwanted old wool skirts, cut the wool into strips and made a rug. I finished the hooking part early last summer. I was so proud of myself! Of course, then it sat in my basement for the last YEAR, with the last little finishing bits left to do. You see, as always, I had decided to take it upon myself to teach myself the process. Well, I just did not GET how to finish off the ends. When you hook a rug, you have it in a hoop and pull the pieces of wool through the holes in the fabric. Then when you are done, you trim the excess fabric then fold it under. Then you have two options, you can hold it all together with twill tape by hand sewing it on, or you can whip stitch the ends under. Or both. Oye, I did NOT want to do both. But the twill tape intimidated me, and I didn't understand what they meant by whipstitching it together. So what did I do? I shoved it in a closet in the basement. Then I went into this cute little yarn shop in Holland (MI) and they told me about a Rug Hooking Open House down the street! Instant inspiration! I went in, looked at the rugs and instantly "got it"! WOOHOOO!!!



So are you ready? Here it is! (Stop looking at my dirty floor!)







And here is a closeup...



I used 3 different pinks/reds to make the flower, and I dyed the green myself! I had read how you can dye natural fibers with kool-aid...so I went for it. It was a very interesting process. I think I would do a completely different style next time, but for my first project I am thrilled. It was so much easier than I first thought. Of course, it was time consuming, but absolutely worth it!

Hey, Another one!

How is that for a good day! I just found myself in another treasury!

http://www.etsy.com/treasury_list_west.php?room_id=16760

I think it is so flattering to be included! Somebody likes me. :) LOL

Treasuries

Hey, I'm featured in two treasuries! Check them out!

http://www.etsy.com/treasury_list_west.php?room_id=16681

http://www.etsy.com/treasury_list_west.php?room_id=16812

And I made one of my own...

http://www.etsy.com/treasury_list_west.php?room_id=16690

Aren't these artists amazing? Go check them out!

My husband, the cyclist

So about a year ago, my husband decided to start riding his bike. But of course, this is Ross...he doesn't do anything unless he does it 300%. So now he rides his bike EVERYWHERE. Middle of a Michigan Winter? No mind, he will still ride to work, 16 miles away. He has a group of guys he rides with out of Velo City Cycles in Holland MI. (Best bike shop EVER, btw). The are awesome. Well...they convinced him it would be blast to go to Gratton Raceway and do the Wednesday night ride there. It is FAST. I sat on the sidelines with the kiddos and we listened as they went by at speeds that I only go in my car. I mean, seriously, it was actually loud when they went by! Anyway, the kids had a BLAST...and so did Ross. You can read about it on his blog if you want the full details. (Listed on the right). Of course, my whole night resolved around picture taking...as Ross says, I take a picture of every breath of life. :) So here they are on the track...the crazy bastards. ;)


And here they are coming around the bend...oh wait, the other group is coming. What was he thinking...I am trying to take a cool picture here! LOL





And here's the kids being goofy. They were adorable. They ran next to Ross every time he'd go by. Ross' friend Mike said he thought Davis ran more than they rode. :)



I should add that I made Haley's shirt. I LOVE this pattern. It is from ThatDarnKat. Bless her. My daughter is so skinny, it is hard to find shirts that fit, and this one can be lengthened SO EASY. I am thrilled. Oh, and if you are wondering, that's Davis' patch for his lazy eye. No, he is not going for a pirate look...he'd much rather throw the thing in the trash. I'm pretty sure the only reason I can get him to wear it these days is because I made it in orange.


So after we sat down to watch the race, Davis says he needs to use the bathroom. So, being the mean mom I am, I make him hold it awhile. I wanted to get pictures! LOL So after my husband goes around a bunch of times, I think, okay, I'll bring you the mile to the bathrooms. So what happens? As we are walking, my husband moves to the front of the pack and is leading the group. HELLO???? I don't have my camera for the trip to the bathroom!!! So of course, I miss the peak picture taking moment. You snooze, you lose, I guess. Here is another pic just to show you that I THOUGHT I had gotten some good ones, before I missed the best one. LOL


And then the storm came. :) So what did I do...I took a pic before it started to rain, of course! LOL

My Fortune...

So today I opened up a fortune cookie. It said, "You are capable, competent, creative, careful. Prove it." Pressure, much? :)

Normally, I wouldn't read too much into it. But with how my shop is doing, I agree! I am capable, I'm getting more confident, I feel more creative than ever, and I'm just careful enough to be good. :) And darn it, I'm proving it! LOL

My goal was to sell about 15 items a month. At this month I am one week past 3 months and I have reached 50 sales! I am ecstatic. I have found that you get out of it what you put in. If I spend an hour on the computer every night relisting and hanging out in the forums, I usually make a sale. If I don't...well, I don't! :) I have to love a business that is like that. I have definitely had jobs that didn't give me the return I put in! Anyway, life is good. :) Thanks for sharing it with me. :)

Oh, and my in-laws loved the tree! I think I even saw a tear. SCORE!

Family Tree

This weekend is my in-laws 40th wedding anniversary. They are amazing people...you know, the kind of marriage you hope you will always have. What do you do for a couple that is like that? Well...I wish I knew! But I decided that making something would at least show them that I care. My mother-in-law is really into family heritage, and frankly, family in general. (Yes, this is the mother-in-law you all wish you had!) So I decided to make her a Family Tree. I put them at the top, and then my husband, me and our kids, and his sister, and her family on there. Then at the bottom it says "all because two people fell in love...", which I thought was fitting since it is their anniversary. :)

I'm not sure if you can see the detail, but I sewed detail on each leaf, and then sewed on the buttons. I thought it would just give it that extra detail. Now I just have to hope she doesn't find my blog before Sunday! :)

Honored to be Featured

I was recently featured on SweetFigments Blog! You should definitely check out the site...all sorts of amazing finds! You can find the link on the right!

New Pillows...

I have wanted new pillows for my couch for a while now. The previous version that I had made were done QUICKLY and were not an envelope back, so I couldn't wash them. Needless to say, they did not fair well with two (three, really) children in the house. Anyway, after watching ThatDarnKat's blog (see my list on the right) where she posted some BEAUTIFUL pillows, I decided a patchwork design would be great. I had no idea how long it took to assemble strips of fabric and then topstitch them all. Bless all quilters. It is so time consuming! Anyway, here is the result...

They are made with Sandi Henderson's new Ginger Blossom line. I LOVE this line. I think my hubby could do without the pink...but I love it. :)

Fourth Of July Sale on Etsy!!!

Hi there! I am having a Fourth of July Sale on Etsy...FREE SHIPPING! So if you've been holding back on that bag you want...buy it now!