Mother’s Day Gifts

OK, so I know I am way behind here but I am working on blogging all of my projects that I have worked on in the last year but was too busy to share!

FOUND: two pieces of leftover MDF Trim in the garage

HAD: tons of scrapbooking paper and stickers I never use anymore

BOUGHT: metal clips and thick wire

MADE: Mother’s Day Gift

Cut paper and mod-podged the background.

Used my circle punch to punch out enough circles for the letters.

Added Stickers to circles and cut out extra shapes and the heart and mod-podged them on as well.

Screwed on the metal clips and wrapped the wire for a holder and its the perfect grandma holder for all of the kids art work and treasures!

Tressa is Four and I MADE A RUFFLE CAKE!

Tressa is FOUR and my last few cakes haven’t been that homemade!

Store bought frosting for Matthew’s birthday but I did attempt some decoration:)

And Michael’s birthday is New Year’s Eve and it being right after Christmas I am totally burned out in the baking department so Grandma came through with a cupcake and candle – Sorry Michael!

So, I got it together and used this tutorial (even has a video to watch) to make my first ruffle cake. Ended up being even easier than I thought and not too much time either!

And of course we had to put some Strawberry Shortcakes on top!

Yep – I got her her very own sewing machine!! She loves it!

Christmas Dress

Two Separate Bridesmaid Dresses in the SAME color – one from my sister and one for $4.99 from Goodwill.

Ruffling all those strips. Found a really easy way to ruffle, turn your tension all the way up and your stitch length all the way up and wha – la = Ruffle!

Used the lining of the bridesmaid dress for the “under skirt” part, using the bottom for the finished hem.

This is the actual hemline of one of the dresses that I made into a hair flower.

Done!!

My one and only precious little girl! Just recently finished a fur shrug so she can wear this through the winter.

Workin' Girl!!

Getting back into the swing of things- Tons of variety in my projects!!

Check out my shop filled with a bunch of ready to ship!!! www.spiritofgiving.etsy.com

SOOOO Busy with my Babies!!!!

Yep, four kiddos is a little more than I bargained for - keeping me hoppin'! A peek at how we are coming along in our busy life!

Ethan's birth announcement

Blossom Mint Baby Announcements

Click here to browse Shutterfly birth announcement designs.

View the entire collection of cards.

Christmas Card 2010

Mod Merry Ornaments Christmas

Get custom photo Christmas cards online at Shutterfly.com.

View the entire collection of cards.

2010 Christmas Card!!!!

Mod Merry Ornaments Christmas

Shop Shutterfly for elegant custom Christmas photo cards.

View the entire collection of cards.

Packaging and Branding

I decided to invest in a custom stamp with my shop name on it. I did some searching around and settled on StampOutOnline on Etsy. She made me this super cool stamp and although I had no idea what I was doing, she recommended the clear block and I cannot thank her enough. It has made is soooo much easier to use and position. While some other sellers charged extra for proofs and extra for clear blocks and had over a four week turnaround, LIsa from StampOutOnline sent over a proof after my first inquiry after I only asked for a price on a custom stamp. I was immediately hooked since I was having a hard time with the black and white images that the others requested (me and graphics do not get along that well:) I was able to request a couple of changes and got the perfect design. Not to mention above all, I received the stamp within a week of purchase and it only took that long because it was the weekend and Columbus day!!! So…since I love instant gratification I LOVE this seller. Here is some things that I used my stamp for already. Some paper bags that I will be using for my kitchen towels at a upcoming home show.    I make circle labels/tags with a circle punch and my stamp, labels like these cost upwards of $20 for 100 and I just made 125 with some leftover cardstock and can make infinite more!!!Also stamped some gift bags and some small pillow boxes for my small hair flowers. Just in case you wondered, I got all of the bags and boxes from Labels By The Sheet, I site that sells tons of labels but also bags and boxes. All of these were on clearance and were just cents a piece!

Review of Simplecard.com

In absolute perfect timing, simplecard.com offered me a free set of postcards to try out and blog about! I was just getting ready to order some advertising postcards for our Holiday Dreams Homeshow so it worked out perfectly.

Ordering: Super easy! Uploaded the Homeshow design in a couple clicks and it was ready to go!

Quality: Perfect color and clarity - couldn't be more pleased!

Price: Starts at $19 for 25 cards full color both sides and FREE USPS shipping.

Turnaround: Pretty fast!!! Ordered on the 15th and received them on the 20th - even faster than promised!

Other options: Greeting cards with envelopes and for a little extra they will mail all of your cards too!!

All together::: A great place to keep in mind for super professional postcards!! ( and no annoying logos from the printing company:)

I can get something done…

 

A couple firsts for me this week. I did a burp cloth with full name applique on it for a friend who just had a baby.

 

Another first was BIBS. I an definitely not a bib queen (yet) but it was really fun to try something new.

 

 

 

I got the fabric printed at Spoonflower.com and just did a swatch (8x8) for each of them. Its only $6 for the swatch and that includes shipping and I even got one free because I ordered on free swatch day!!! On the second one I added a terrycloth insert to give the bib more “soakability” .

 

Now usually four hooded towels are a walk in the park – a naptime diversion. Well….. not so much since the pregnancy. I officially started these TWO weeks ago and last night I finally buckled down and finished them. They are all for new babies at church – so fun!!

Baby on the Way!!

Well…. Tressa is super excited to be a BIG sister!! We are expecting #4 the Lord willing in March.

So if you know me at all you can probably guess that I don’t feel so well at this point. I have been able to take a couple of medications to help with the pukes and the nausea. Hopefully in a few more weeks the worst will be over. (and I won’t sleep ALL the time!)

I had an ultrasound this week that showed a little baby with a heartbeat of 170. It is still amazing to me what a tiny miracle it is to be soooo tiny and still have this beating heart. We are incredibly thankful for a healthy pregnancy thus far.

We told the kids yesterday that mom was going to have a baby and this first thing Michael says is “TODAY!!??” Thinking we are having this baby right now!! So cute. Subconsciously he must have already known because almost a month ago while I was getting ready for church in the bathroom he came in and rubbed my belly and said it looked like I was growing a baby in there. I just laughed and immediately changed my clothes! (I would have probably been in tears if I wasn’t pregnant :)

Tressa took a while to get used to it and just kept saying No like maybe I would change my mind and just let her stay the baby. At supper time while we were reading she whispers to me “ I want to hold the baby” it just melted my heart! Later at night she does a scooping motion on my tummy and them makes a cradle with her arms and says that is how she is going to hold the baby. I think she is going to be the best little mommy’s helper!

So here is my guilt list for the last couple of weeks:

***Thanks to Tricia and Ellen and Shannon who let my kids wander over by them while we were camping since mom never wanted to get out of bed in the morning! ***Sorry to Ruth who I really want to help do diaper bags for the girls at church but just can’t seem to get in the swing of things. I did manage to get some baby gifts made but that is about all the sewing I have been able to do!
***Also sorry to about the last 5 ladies at church who had babies … I made NO food – totally falling down on the job!

***I also had grand expectations of having people over for coffee and at the pool and for supper and all that fun stuff now that we have a house this summer but all that kinda fell flat too. Oh well, I guess next year will come soon enough.

Now was are going to Wisconsin for the next few days and hopefully I will be able to perk up a little bit although that is why is was necessary to let everyone know about the baby since we are going with John’s family and they would for sure guess anyway!

Well, I think that is all I have to say for now. I will keep you updated on baby’s progress and hopefully get back to more fun projects soon. I already have a few new bath things lined up for a customer in Italy, a custom tool belt that I promised someone a long time ago and have to make a pillow for Matthew for Kindergarten (can’t believe he is going to be in School!!!) I had a cute pattern and letters all picked out and he said he didn’t like it and wanted cars instead so I guess I better just do that:)

What Can Storque Do For You?

Very Unexpectedly I was featured in the Etsy Finds Storque Article  and it was about a third of the way down so not even front and center. These are the towels and the photo that was in the article (one of my favorites – and a new product that I just started making) So here is how it impacted my shop. Below is a screen shot of Craftopolis. The first day I got over 4000 page views – up from 300-500 a day. The next three days I noticed an increase as well. Not to mention the incredible amount of new shop hearts!!!This is Google Analytics – COOL! 975 Visits the first day.  So far this is the stats on the actual listing : 209 hearts!! I don’t think I have ever had over 15 on a single item before.As for sales – I am shipping to Brazil, Puerto Rico and Italy this week. My total items that I have sold in the last week is approaching 60!!!

I don’t count on Etsy to bring traffic to my shop but when they do – it is AMAZING.