Is this an indication of my NEW YEAR?

I have been doing great getting my house together and decided that I really wanted to get a project done (that I have had on my mind for weeks).

I draw up the pattern, get it cut out, sit down at the serger.........and one of the needles is missing ??? I get another one out,get ready to sew and the needle breaks...then the next one gets bent AAAGGGGGHHH!!!! I re-thread the whole thing several times, and still ISSUES!

I get the canned air, clean it ..and then... I see it.. a little part where the thread goes through is bent a tiny bit. So I decided I am going to bend it back, WELL needless to say... if is wasn't broke,it's broke now LOL LOL.. that little piece flew across the room... somewhere?? LOL.



so I guess I will make a mock up of the project without finished seams. At midnight I will be sewing.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!

TA_DAAAAHHH

I am pretty much finished with the craft studio, I need to organize some drawers,but that is about it. it is in a place where I can start working, the garage is slowly making it's way to getting finished. I can't wait until I am able to relax and ......YEAH RIGHT! I Will always have a project going. Here are the pics of my craft studio.

Christmas Eve Memories

...and boy is mama tired.. Whew, what a day. Sabrina and I were up and at home depot at 6:30 a.m. I organized her closet today so I had to go and get a couple of hanging rods and shelves, Sabrina was so quiet (for her anyway) the minute someone walks in the aisle she says (as loud as she can) "mama why am I wearing these pants? these are sleeping pants" all I could do was laugh, and so did the guy that heard her. Am I the only one that has gone to home depot in my pajamas? LOL

We got home and I did her entire closet, went through all of the toys she was too old for , and all of the cloths that did not fit ( I am ashamed to say that some still had the tags because they were so crammed in there). I bagged everything up and put it out by the curb labeled toddler clothes and toys, I was glad to see it was gone in twenty minutes.

My mom came over and it was COOKIE TIME.....

then We had to make reindeer food ...

Spread it in the yard.......

Put out our cookies and milk for Santa in our new Christmas jammies.......

Had Cookies and Milk.........

took a few pictures under the tree......

read a Christmas story and off to bed.

Me on the other hand... I still need to finish helping Santa wrap gifts.

Merry Christmas!!!

A Home for the Holidays

OH MY GOODNESS!!! did any of you watch A Home for the Holidays? I am an absolute emotional mess!!!! Many of you might not know but, I adopted my cutie through the foster care system, so this show was sooo close to my heart. It is heart breaking to know how many children are out there waiting for a home. I just can't help but wonder where my baby would be if she never came into my life, I can't imagine where I would be, I can't remember my life before she arrived. I must have been soo bored LOL!

OK.. enough sobbing for now,back to wrapping Christmas presents (I'm such a slacker)

Craft Studio In Major Transition

Yes, I have STILL been working on getting this house together, I think it would be easier to move to a new house and start over. I feel like I am going in circles. I keeping having to move stuff from one side of the room to the other to get things accomplished. It is a VERY slow go,but I am getting there. So I took a few pictures so you could see my progress. I have go through my fabric ( some I did not even remember I had). I went to Jo-ann fabrics and got some bolt card boards FOR FREE and got my fabric organized, believe it or not I still have more to go, I also donated a bunch to the senior center.

I have also been doing the garage at the same time, trying to get shelving up and move things from my craft studio to the garage ( I plan for this to be set up warehouse style). I swear I just want to get big garbage bags and throw everything away :) but it will be sooo worth it when I am done, and I will actually be able to work in my studio instead of the living room.

Fabric

More Fabric

Just SCARY!!

under this mess is paint, brushes, stamps, Even a steam press!

I have my work cut out for me!

ok back to work .

It's Snowing !!!

A rare day in Las Vegas, IT'S SNOWING !!!! I took Sabrina out to play in the "snow" LOL.
I know my best friend Amy is laughing right now!!! She lives where it snows for real. Sabrina's first picture in the snow was at Amy's house when she was a year old.

enjoy the pictures.

Yes, I am still alive

Life has been hectic!!! I have had that Zoom lens on my mind for my camera for a week, I went to pawn shops looked on Craig's list, looked on e-bay and they were all 199.00 or more! I am one of those people, that when I want something,there is no stopping me LOL.

So........ I figured, if I was going to buy one for that kind of money it was going to be new with a warranty. I started going to camera shops. I went to Ritz camera and they had package for the same camera I got with one lens, but you also got a carry case, two DVDs, 18 free classes and an 55-200 lens for an extra $50.00!!!!!

Of course I went home packaged up my camera and too it back to sears!!!

So here are a couple of my practice pictures with the effect I want (sort of) it definitely practice makes perfect. I was just grabbing things off shelves and snapping away. I would like for the background to be a little more blurred and my focus items to be more "crisp".

So I have also been Working on cleaning my garage, and craft room, I am starting to feel the weight of chaos lifting off my chest. I will post pictures when I am done (which could be a while).

I got the Christmas tree up, but I am not feeling the holiday spirit this year, but Sabrina makes it fun, my tree is "special" this year Sabrina has her ornaments piled on the same branches, When I told her to spread them out she said "I can't they're friends, they want o be near each other", She would not put any on the side of the tree because "I can't see them when I am sitting on the couch"... who could argue with that?

I'd better get back to work before I want to just go to sleep.

There is a blog for everything

In my blog travels today I found the dead cart club. I not sure whats worse, the fact that this blog exists or that I stayed, read, and bookmarked it.
figured I would pass it along,sometimes we al need a good laugh.

Perfect end to a hectic day

"Mommy can you sing my birthday song one more time"? That is waht Sabrina said to me at bedtime tonight.

If you could have heard that little voice, my heart just melted, those moments just erase all of the "if I could drop kick you without going to jail" moments LOL LOL. I Know all of you parents have had one of those days.

Time flies when you only have ALL DAY to get ready!!I swear I got up at 6am and I was still rushing out the door at 1:15 for Sabrina's party at 2pm.

The first disaster ( ok it was the ony disaster) was the cake, I bought this giant cupcake pan that was going to be Sabrina's B-day cake, Well.... Being who I am, I decide that I needed two boxes of cake mix. I mixed them up and put one WHOLE box in the top and one in the bottom, looked good, I'm eating batter feeling proud, MAMA'S COOKING!!

I set the timer and I am off to complete another task. BEEP! BEEP! I run in to marvel at my beauti...... my cake was overflowing and dripping onto the pan on the bottom self of my stove that I am to lazy to put away.

So I call my mom and tell her she might be picking up a cake on the way to the party, but I had two more boxes of cake mix begging to be destroyed. So ...... I got out the directions (this time) and learned that the cake takes LESS THAN one box of mix! At this point I am scared, but I get past my fear and go for it.

So the cake was a little smaller than anticipated, and I DEFINITELY was not going to cook another one, So I had my Friend Rosa pick up a sheet cake at the store.

How come NO ONE said STOP!!! Chuck E. Cheese is a suicide mission??? That place is a madhouse!!! but Sabrina had soo much fun it was worth it.

My Last Craft Show of the Season

I just got home, and I am so tired (so I decided to blog). Set up for the show today was at 6:30a.m. In Boulder City, So I was out the door by 4:30 a.m. to get a good spot to unload. I was there at 5:30 and had the spot right in front of the door!

I hate to be a whiny baby but I HATE one day shows, it is so much work!!! I did do minimal booth display,but ti is exhausting setting up,selling and tearing down in the same day. The show turned out good for me, slow traffic,but good sales. I got to see a lot of old crafting friends that I have literally not seen in years, so it was fun.

WARNING......Complaining RANT alert..............


one of the other vendors from outside came to me and said that her neighbor told her "there is this lady inside that has these cute aprons made out of men's shirts" (ME!!!!!!), and she was going to make them and sell at her next show!!!

This has always been a problem for me,and I'm sure many of you,but it has gotten worse!!!!
I change a lot of my product every year to try to stay ahead of the game,but it gets very frustrating that some crafters wait for others to take the risk in trying new product, and "steal" it when they see it is a good seller. I just feel like there are sooo many other sources to get ideas, why would you copy someone in your own crafting community. The craft community and number of good shows in Las Vegas is so small, it is really stealing sales form the other person

UUGGGHHH!! OK, I just had to get that of my chest so I could move on :)

off to sleep.

Where did my free time go?

So... these last couple of weeks when I was just lounging and not doing much at all ( OK except painting...slow) now I am thinking, damn!! I could have gotten so much more done.

NOW.. reality has hit, and I have the Doodle Bug Craft Bazaar this weekend, and my BABY is turning the big 4 on Sunday!!!!

I said I was not doing a party this year, but I started to feel guilty, so she is going to have a tiny(microscopic) Party at Chuck E. Cheese on Sunday, there is going to be more adults that children LOL 4 kids including Sabrina and one of them is an infant.

Last year I spent over three hundred dollars for her party and she could have cared less :) So this year no real party, I KNOW, I KNOW some of you would say I am a mean bad parent,but I am sure Sabrina won't care. The kid would appreciate a slice of cake and a stack of empty boxes LOL.

Sabrina 9months with my best friend Amy

I LOVE this picture

Sabrina Today.... where does the time go??

I'd better stop before I flood my keyboard :(

Totally not on task!!!

For all of you inquiring minds..... the wall is not finished yet, ok.. it does have some photos up for the shrine to Sabrina,but I am looking for a round, or oval frame to complete the look.

I haven't been working very hard on it,because I have yet another thing to occupy my time!! When we went shopping on Friday, I became the proud new owner of a Nikon D40, My first professional (semi professional) Camera. the photos are so crisp and clean!

I read the manual,went to the book store and got a book about the camera and read that. For those of you laughing right now, I CAN read I just choose not to! I used to have the excuse when I was in college that I save my reading skills for required reading,but now I have to admit that I am just not fan of reading........ok except blogs (short term commitment)

So after spending soo much money on this camera I have discovered that to take the photos with the effect I want, I need another lens that cost several hundred dollars!!! What is a poor broke girl to do???

For now I am going to practice with what I have, there is a lot to learn!! I have a wiling subject in Sabrina, any time I pick up the camera she is posing.

stay tuned... am I working on the house? Playing with the camera??? finding another project???

so where have I been you ask...

NOT RELAXING!!!!

I have issues!!! The time that I can take a little break, before my next show, I decide it is time to start painting my house. I have gotten slow in my old age, when I first bought my house 5 years ago, I painted almost the entire house in a day....and now I swear I have been working on the living room and hallway for three days!! If you have been to my house you would laugh,because it is not big.

I have gotten rid of a big comfy chair that I have, and bought two smaller chairs to re-upholster. got rid of the coffee table and using my big ottoman (with a big platter on top, soooo cute!).

I have a Burgundy wall, and I am changing the color, I am a bold color person.....

so here is a tiny tease... I felt the urge to have a stripe on this wall, it is going to ROCK when it gets done! (whenever that is). The shrine to sabrina will be all this wall, all black frames (I think)

No work tomorrow! shopping with my mommy :)

Happy Thanksgiving!

I'm in LOVE with a vampire!!

OMG!!! I will admit that I was one of the few that has not read the book yet, but could not resist going to the midnight opening with a couple of friends. It was us and all of the kids, we were some of the "old people" there LOL The movie was fabulous,but I did feel a little left out at the end when everyone was talking about the differences between the movie and book, soooo... this morning I ran out and got the book. Typically I am not a reader (you can't read and craft at the same time) but I am in LOVE.

Crafters Market over, Ready for #3

Wow, what a week! I was soooo tired,but it was totally worth it! We spent 8 hours yesterday sorting vendor tags,and cutting vendor checks. This show generated a lot of interest for the next show, and I am amped to get busy as soon as a date is confirmed. Here are a few more show pictures:

My house is a TOTAL DISASTER!!!!!! and the sad thing is that I don't want to clean it LOL. I have two more craft shows scheduled for the year and I can't wait to get my house in order so I can move forward.

Plans for my house:

Paint the living room, hallway, and Kitchen ( that's the plan anyway)

COMPLETELY re-do my craft studio ( I can't even work in there)

Clean my garage, I seriously need to clear everything out and start over ( I would show a picture,but it is too embarrassing) I used to have a small path,but now I can't even walk in there. You know those people you drive by their house and you see a wall of junk!!!!! I am now that GHETTO-FABULOUS person.

This all needs to be done by the end of January LOL.

Tomorrow I will be going to work a shift at Behind the Picket Fence Craft Boutique. A friend of mine has been doing this show for years and it is one not to be missed! Go and check it out.

And the winner is .....

ROBBIE!!!!!!!
you must have done something nice for Sabrina this time,because she chose your name for the boutique apron CONGRATS!!!

CRAFTY GIVEAWAY #3

I can barely keep my eyes open!! the craft show was great today, I just finished processing credit cards (at least the ones I am doing tonight) and now I NEED my pillow. I woke up at 4a.m. (just worrying about show stuff, I am a TOTAL worry wart). Tomorrow the show runs from 10a.m.-4p.m. and then it is tear down and clean up :(



My crafty giveaway is one of my new Boutique aprons!


if you don't have kids I am sure you know someone that has a little girl who loves to stand out in a crowd.
Leave me a comment by 11/17/08 and you will be entered to win this apron.

Good Luck!

Show and Tell Crafters Market Day #1

Today was AWESOME!!!! and we had LIGHT!!! the lights came on about 9a.m.

We had lots of customers, and I hope tomorrow is even better. Here are a few pics of my finished booth.

I have got to go to bed... it has been a long day:)

Day three of set up

DRAMA!!! I was feeling sooo good about the way setup was going, I was relaxed, no stress...and then..... I called the Realtor to find out when the power would be on, because the last time it was on two days before. Well this time she forgot to put in the order!!! agghhhh!!! She called and we are praying that it will be on tomorrow.Keep us in your prayers (as if God does not have bigger things to deal with)

On a happier note the show is starting to look great, a few of our crafty friends came and started their booths today. Here is sneak peek........

If you want to buy handmade this hoiday season, you do not want to miss this show!

Day two of set up

I put in a 10 hour day today! We are so excited about this show,sooo it is all worth it. I have most of my booth set up. Here are a few pictures of our start.

I might post before the weekend is over, if I can keep my eyes open :)
hope to see you all there.

Show & Tell Crafters Market

Day one! the count down is on! Crystal and I started getting ready for our craft show this weekend. We have done everything possible to prepare and it is finally here. We went in and taped off spaces, it only took us about three hours ( a far cry from all day for our July show).
Tomorrow will be a long day, getting display walls ready, setting up the check out, prepping signs, and getting our own booths ready, Whew! We are so excited about this show we are already making plans for next year.
Check out our show Blog for a sneak peek of our show vendors.
If you are in Vegas, check out the show this weekend!

Can't win them all

So this weekend I participated in the pomegranate festival in Logandale, Set up was on Thursday and the show was Friday and Saturday. My mom was out of town so Sabrina had to come to the show both days.

We will just say that the show had a MATURE audience, I think I was the youngest adult there:) I was told that on Saturday there would be a younger crowd,because kids were performing and their parents would be there to watch, well...... Saturday was pretty much a replay of Friday.

We did have a giggle on Saturday... there was this girl, maybe 12 or 13 years old, she came to my booth several times by herself, then brought some of her friends, came by herself again, she was asking for the price of things and if the signs were made in smaller sizes. After about two hours of back and forth, my brother said to me "I wish she would go ahead and steal something already, so we can stop watching her" LOL. She brought another sign to us that was six dollars and asked if we had one that size for girls, I didn't. Then my brother says "I think she wants to buy something". HE WAS RIGHT!!!!! this girl only had $6.00 and was dying to buy something from me, and was bringing all of her friends to see my stuff!!!!

I felt so bad for thinking the worst of her, I let her buy the sign she originally wanted ($13.00) for $6.00. The look on her face was PRICELESS, she said "you would really do that?" . it was a sign about sisters, she was giving it to her older sister who just had a baby. It was soo sweet.

So that and these pictures were the best part of the weekend.....

Sabrina got her face painted both days of the show, it turned out sooo cute!

The Halloween candy is taunting me!

I try to look away.... I swear I do, but that orange bag keeps calling my name. I swear my child has had three pieces of her loot (seriously)!

I keep digging out Tootsie Rolls, Skittles, and even chocolate ( I don't even really like chocolate!).
I eat the sneaky candy, the ones that I can pop in my mouth and Sabrina can't see, and ask for some ( it's all about being a good mom you know, I don't want her teeth to rot).

I really need to toss this orange candy bag, I swear Sabrina wouldn't even notice, what I really need is candyholics anonymous! HELP!!!

HISTORY IS MADE!!!!

I bet, none of us will ever forget what where we were and what we were doing 11/4/08