Saturday, November 20, 2010

The Gifts, The Graphic, and The Gross

Have been itching to share what I've been working on this week! 


These were such a cinch to make & caused hardly any tears or cursing as I tried to make up my own pattern. They're mini bags or gift card bags. Aren't they cute??? They have small cardboard rectangles in their bottoms to lend sturdiness, and a bit of tissue paper to hide the goodies inside; but since I'm taking these to a craft show to sell, they're only stuffed with my business cards. 

I also made these...

... which are gift card holders for the holidays. These are to sell, too, which is why you can spy my business card within again.

Some of this was spurned by the need to find something else perhaps a little more economical to sell at the upcoming craft sale. I was feeling pretty much like a loser after spending the entire day at my stand last weekend only to sell ONE ITEM..... and that's all day.

The craft sale venue is a new one to me, and thus I was prepared for some sort of learning curve to occur. But when next to nothing sells, well..... then to me that says my items are either really bad or priced wrong, and then again, maybe it's just that we were off the beaten path & apparently there were 8 other craft shows in better locations then us????? 

No excuses, I found myself trying to brainstorm smaller (aka cheaper) items that may move faster with people in general having less to spend on ancillary items. I saw these bags & envelopes somewhere & thought I'd try my hand at making some.

In between all this furious stitching, I've had lots of company from Smokey the badly behaved boy. He likes to dig his big head into my sewing room garbage can. Knowing this, I don't put anything sharp in there (not that I can think of the last sharp thing I've stuck into a plastic garbage bag???) But he's disgusting about finding random tissues, food wrappers, and lately, even more gross, are the used Q-tips he digs out & chomps upon happily. 

Why the Q-tips in my sewing room?? I've never been so obsessed with my earholes in my entire life. Two summers ago I began symptoms which seemed to be swimmers ear. But then it seemed like more of an ear infection. Over the years of having kids I've been through the "we always medicate for ear infections" time period and the "we don't medicate for ear infections" time period. Not having health insurance for myself, I was loath to spend $80 to have a doc look in my ear, proclaim it an ear infection & send me home with instructions to "keep it as dry as possible". So I decided to self medicate. Man, maybe I shouldn't have started this... this is convoluted. Okay... long story short... it never went away, and the ears would be wet & oozy, then dry, then itchy enough to wake me at night, sore, and then they'd do it all over again. Finally this fall I got a specialist appointment. After several appointments, several new & improved medications & several hundred dollars, my ears are STILL doing all these lovely symptoms. 

All that to say I'm often preoccupied with wet, itchy ears & have thus begun carrying Q-tips as if they're akin to chapstick, tampax & my wallet --they go everywhere with me. Sometimes I forget it's not quite a socially acceptable behavior & I'll find myself digging in my ears with a Q-tip sitting at stop lights. I've even resorted to an occasional dig in there, mid-aisle, at the supermarket, like some kind of addict hiding her bad habit unable to wait to get her fix-- sometimes I swear it feels like I could itch them till I ended up hitting bone or brain or whatever one hits when one pierces their eardrum & keeps going. The itch is amazing & maddening!!

I think I went off on a tangent... started somewhere some time ago talking about how Smokey the big bad boy digs in my garbage. Most recently he'd found some extra fleece, dug it up, rolled around with it & then slept in it. And that was actually kinda cute (once I got past thinking how that fleece might have been very cozy with multiple used Q-tips and/or tissues....)





Sunday, November 07, 2010

This is what I've been up to....













My oldest daughter & I are getting ready to participate in our first craft show. I with a variety of stitched items, such as aprons, purses, grocery sacks, and quilted wall-hangings & blankets, and she with her beautifully cross-stitched, framed pieces.


Truth be told, we're a little nervous about this venture & hope we're not wasting our time. Part of me thinks I'll hate people pawing through our things "judging" them, and part of me thinks hanging out together & chatting with the people coming through will be fun. Time will tell, and then I'll tell you!

These purses are what I've worked on this week... the Autumn purse below is mine & filled with all my junk, thus the shape of the bag is a little bulgy-looking. The Poinsettia purses are to sell. There are two different sizes & two different trims on the pockets. They're so cute. If there's one that doesn't sell, guess who's keeping it??


Yesterday was a soccer & sewing kinda day. Today I'm taking a Slow Sunday. I started my day with a brisk doggie walk by the river, did my devotions & talked with God, then made a yummy potato/egg glop for brunch for the girls, the hubby, and me, cleaned it all up, and now I'm gearing up to work on some small pillows. They're to be sold too. I'll post pics once they're done.

Hope you're all having a fantastic weekend!
Denise

Monday, November 01, 2010

New month, new beginnings....

In an effort to gain some sort of control over my own life, I'm trying to implement scheduling my days. Some of this was already going on since I'm still homeschooling my 14  yo dd, however, the rest of the day not considered "school time" has been hit or miss as to what gets accomplished. On some level I enjoy this freedom & relish that I have that luxury. On the other hand I desire to accomplish something more just for me....

Don't get me wrong, I consider molding & teaching my children to be of utmost importance, however, there are a good many more hours in the day that gets swallowed up with????? Sometimes there's so much to do, I just stand looking around, head whipping back & forth wondering where to begin. It's about then that I decide to "research" something online & the hours fly away. 

One of the first changes to my daily schedule includes Smokey the spastic lab puppy. Look at that sweet face & the fabulous mess he's created in the background!! 


He's being walked daily again, and I try to do this first thing in the morning before the day gets away from me & I still have time to shower afterwards. I know the exercise is good for me, will boost my mood, yadda yadda yadda, HOWEVER, "walking" the lab isn't a regular walk. It's more like power walking & still hanging on for dear life. I've read Ceaser's book on being a Dog Whisperer & so far even my yelling (let along my whispering) hasn't resulted in tremendous change. I've even tried jogging to pick up the pace, but it's still like I'm hanging on for dear life & I'm just waiting for the wrong step that lands me prone on the ground getting a serious case of dirt rash (it's not road rash, because I usually walk/jog on the wooded trail.) 

Sounds peaceful & ideal, I know. And sometimes as my body is being punished with the high rate of speed it's traveling too early in the morning, and in between yanks on my arms that jerk my whole body out of step, and also while trying to watch for Smokey's 100 lb body coming to an abrupt halt right in front of me while investigating some fantastic smelly smell... SOMETIMES I have time to catch a glimpse of the Susquehanna River just beyond the trees I'm running amidst, and it's a beautiful, calm, serene (until I land my foot right in the middle of 3 inches of soppy mud & feel it slowly seep into my white sneaker.)