A Night for Idea Collecting

Every once in a while I like to burrow away at my nearest Barnes and Noble armed with a Tall Caramel Light Frappuccino in one hand and my journal in the other.

I have a love of magazines, but I'm cheap. Problem. So I figured out a way to get my fix at the store for free! By the way, why are Mollie Makes and Marie Claire Idees so crazy expensive? Anyone want to make a trade for some back issues? I know a girl who has a fun shop, just sayin'!

So back to my cheap plan... I ever so carefully read them, collect my favorite ideas, and put them back on the shelf so someone with pockets a little more padded than mine can enjoy them at home. This time I found out about some great new websites... Mollie Makes and The Making Spot. Not exactly new, but new to me.
Some fun ideas...
And some books I'd like to forget I ever saw...
Oh my goodness there are just so many things wrong with that.... gag!

The New Line

Hey My Friends,

It was a productive weekend after a bonkers week and I've got lots of new goodness in the shop. You like goodness, don't you?

I subscribe to the thought that our everyday tasks need unexpected pops of color or charm; a little whimsy brings so much joy.

These are tassel push pins made from vintage steel t-pins with ultrasuede tassels, something I've never seen before and hope you like.

The colors I chose are sure to add the pop of color that your dull and dreary bulletin board may need.

I also whipped up some card holders made out of recycled synthetic leather swatches from a local upholstery shop and brightly colored grommets. Just the right size for business cards or a gift card.

You've probably seen these before. The Legendary Moleskine notebook (famed notebook of Hemingway and Picasso), but with my own twist for your lists, wonderings, dreams and reminders.

I hope you enjoy the new line. Take a little whimsy home!

Bonkers!

Hey Friends,

Is it just me or has life been extra bonkers lately? Whoa! I feel like we've been running around like chickens with our heads cut off. (Is that something only we southerners say?! Ha, now that I type it I'm picturing it and I guess it is pretty silly... and disgusting... I digress!)

Anyway, it is kind-of a pet peeve of mine that I don't like to tell people how busy I am. I mean, everybody is busy and no one really wants to have a whole conversation about who is the busiest, am I right?

This week calls for breaking the rules.... preschool research and registration riiiight before the deadline (whew!), my grandfather had a quadruple bi-pass (he's doing well now), funeral for my good friend from elementary school, planning a kitchen remodel, reorganizing my creative room, surprise fevers, organizing the registration for a big men's retreat at church, a couple knitting orders and finishing a financial report for a judicial campaign my husband and I are helping with. I mean really?! Could we squeeze a little more in there please?

But you know what I've found? When I have that much going on and I'm really asking the Lord to organize my time, give me energy and direct my steps... He does! It all got done! I didn't pull my hair out!

Proverbs 20:24 "A person’s steps are directed by the LORD.

How then can anyone understand their own way?"

I'm so glad to serve the God who cares about even the little details of my life!

P.S. The ball wreath is for my newly decorated creative room... just styrofoam balls covered in fabric and hot glued... easy peasy.

My First Show

My friend Honey Beth (yes, that's her real name... she lives up to it!) organized a night where a few of the ladies from our church who are entrepreneurs had a chance to share what they are doing with the other ladies from our church.

The idea was to support each other and share our gifts.

We had a mobile spa owner, a house cleaner and professional organizer, a wellness and life coach, a gym owner, a professional trainer and little ol' me.

Each of us had a chance to speak for two minutes, there were giveaways, coffee, sweets and mingling.

Oh and yarn, I brought lots and lots of it.

In the form of baby hats and infinity scarves.

I also brought a couple of other things I hope to get into the shop soon.

Business card holders.

Covered Moleskine journals.

All perched atop gorgeous vintage linens because they make me happy.

It was a really fun night and I learned a lot. Specifically that I want to do more shows, just not in heels!

A Good Chuckle!

Oh my friends, I got a good chuckle in my inbox this week. Can I share it with you?

"You seem to have it all together and I would assume that with all the projects you complete, that you have to have some grand method of keeping up!"

So while you may see this on my blog...

Let's take a little peek to my left, shall we? Yikes!

Kid #1 has a belt tied around his forehead and is practicing "harate" (that's karate!) then gets sick of that and switches to hiding like a turtle under his toy box, while kid #2 looks like this. One arm in, one arm out! How did that happen?!

So now you know the truth. Psst, don't tell anyone I don't exactly have it all together!

Pinterest Weekend at the Lake!

There comes a time in every mommy's life when she's itching to go away for a weekend, leave her babies in the secure arms of her hubby and connect with girl friends. Am I right?

Throw in a sewing machine, paintbrush, some sugar, a little junking, loads of laughs and it's the stuff dreams are made of.

Alicia and I have been dreaming of just such a weekend since we met. We read each other's blogs and met a few months ago when she moved across the country to NC. Our hope is to one day soon make a weekend like this available to you crafty friends so more of us will have the chance to meet and make the things we drool over on Pinterest.

Alicia arrived to my parents lake house on Friday night. We popped some popcorn on the stove (whoa, so yummy!) and talked until the wee hours of the morning. Saturday we got right down to business. After a quick Starbucks run we went to the Flea Market to look for some good quality junk!

We did some wheelin' and dealin' to find only the best stuff and boy, did we hit the mother load! Inspiration oozed out of every corner of this place.

Pinky promise... I didn't style the typewriter for this picture, but it's perfect for me, right!?

Here are our purchases... that sewing box filled with wooden spools... $10, the vintage patterns... 3 for $1! $1 for the linen dish towel with my parent's wedding year on it. $65 for the four-shelf metal rack that's foldable! *sigh!*

How awesome is Alicia's TNT box!? I can just see it filled with a ton of her new mixed media pieces to display at her first art show. (Yes, we dreamed about that too!)

Home again after a bite to eat at Ikea, we dug in to our crafting supplies. For the next few hours and in to Sunday morning there was a flurry of needle felting, painting, sewing, wood distressing, Mod Podge-ing, and hot glue gunning while we worked on our Etsy lines.

At one point I looked up from my projects and had a "moment." The table was filled with two sewing machines, a serger and paints everywhere. I had just spent a whole weekend with a girl I met through the internet, yet it was like I had just hung out with my sister. We are on the same page. Does that make sense?

I'm always the crazy one who brings my latest project to family gatherings and is glued to my camera. This picture is for my hubby, proof that other crazies do exist! :)

It's nice to have another creative mind to bounce ideas off of. She "gets" me!

And so my friends, you have lots to look forward to! First, our Etsy lines are coming out soon. Alicia's will be filled with yummy plaids and warm felts, just perfect for winter and valentine's day. I'm still dreaming about mine, but I'm thinking that I'll release a winter line called "Paper" and in the spring it will be all about the babies!

And sometime in the near future we will have a Pinterest weekend for the masses, wanna come?

(Read Alicia's post about our weekend here. She's a much better writer than me, so it'll be good.)

It's a new year... let's organize it!

Writing lists, keeping journals, logging successes, learning from failures, setting goals, planning for the future... it's a new year, I want it to be an organized one.

Printable Lists- Office Workers by Wild Olive

I made a pretty big realization the other day after listening to this CraftyPod podcast. I'm not an organized blogger. When an idea comes to my head I'll make it, photograph it and post about it without a whole lot of forethought. I want to be better at planning out my projects and posting ahead of time, that way I'll have time to improve on my writing and hopefully a more thoughtful blog will result.

That takes discipline and planning, so I did a little Pinterest search for "blog planner" and got some ideas. Here's an awesome planner for a week at a glance.

Photo from Wild Olive

I really wanted a month at a glance so I created my own.

It has space to write in each of my posts for the month along with ongoing ideas on things to make, photo, contact, research and do.

Email me if you want a copy, for some reason Google Docs is mad at me.

Maybe I'll have a planning day at the beginning of each month to plan that month's posts. If you ever have any ideas for something you'd like to see or hear about or if you just want to know about my favorite Christmas gift, shoot me an email and maybe I'll make a whole post out of it. Oh and if you have any suggestions for improvement I guess I want those emails too... ok, seriously, I want to hear it!