Simplie Girlie Designs

Tornado Damage

2011-05-05T10:44:00.000-05:00

Well, we got our power restored Sunday evening. Nearly a week without power was about enough to make me want to send my husband elsewhere, lol. Finally getting back into the swing of things and catching up on orders so staying very busy. Guess my post a day project is going to have to wait for a little bit anyway as I get caught up. I'm still posting items in Simplie Girlie on Etsy and on my Facebook fanpage so come on over and check things out!

For those of you wanting to see just a fraction of the damage in my area, you can see photos in this album here

http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150183690742681.296485.695567680&l=88dfc0e90b

I am still torn over being thankful that we were so fortunate while neighbors less than 1/4 of a mile from us have lost everything, and to think that our neighbors in MS and AL recieved so much more that this just makes me very sad. I can tell you one thing though. We used a neighbors shelter, but our own will be going in as soon as possible! This was just way too close for comfort, IMO.

Spring storms

2011-04-27T12:02:00.000-05:00

The last few weeks have brought more rain and storms then I care to think about. Monday night, my neighborhood was hit with a tornado and things have been pretty crazy around here. I live in Black Oaks Ranch Estates which has been shown on even national news channels as most homes here have been completely destroyed. We all have Conway addresses, but since we are in the Vilonia School District and are on Vilonia's water system, we are considered a part of Vilonia. We are still without power and who knows when it will be back on. We have had a good friend bring us a generator but they lost power in the storms that came through last night so we will be taking it back to them if they don't have power back on today. We were one of the few very fortunate families out here in that we had very minimal damage. We have been extremely thankful for that fact, but our hearts are breaking for those who have lost everything. My kids have many friends here who have lost everything. I hope to have some pictures up for everyone soon but feel my time is best spent helping my neighbors in their time of need. I was trying to post every day and will still attempt to do so. However, they will be very short.

Happy Easter!

2011-04-25T16:08:00.001-05:00

I hope everyone had as great a day as I did yesterday. After hearing a wonderful sermon at church, we came home to finish up getting the house ready for family to come over. Things were a bit delayed, which is usually the case in our family, lol. Luckily, though, the severe weather that Arkansas had yesterday managed to go just to the north of us and we had a beautiful day. We did get a few sprinkles and a small shower, but nothing that lasted very long. Instead of the traditional Easter feast including ham, potatoes, etc., we had a family BBQ and I really enjoyed that. I had some left over BBQ nachos for lunch today even - YUM!

I made a sweet little shirt for Jesse and dresses for the girls, though my oldest daughter's dress did not get finished in time for church. I had told her that this year she would be helping in the process and had reminded her daily all week that she needed to cut out her fabric. She didn't cut the last piece out until Easter morning and, while we were very, very close to finishing, we still needed to attach the bodice to the skirt and put in the zipper but ran out of time. I did finish it that evening after most of the family had left, however, and it turned out really nice. I still have those pictures to edit but will hopefully have them for you tomorrow.

I did promise pictures of some new items I have listed on Etsy, so we will do those today. Some of these I just listed today even.

First up is a girls size 6 T-shirt with an appliqued Eiffel tower. I used the frayed applique technique on this one and I believe it turned out very cute. I couldn't applique to the middle of the front of the shirt as it had a gathered neckline, but I think the placement makes it unique and fun. The shirt style also is great for those girls who aren't necessarily your more slender body type. I can make these in 4-6x and even in a couple of diferent colors. If you like this one, you can purchase it here.

Apparently, I have Paris on the brain today because I also listed this super cute Viva le France pillowcase dress today. I made this for the secretary where my husband works as she wanted one for her daughter. Since I was making one, I figured I might as well do a few more! So, this is available in a 6m, 12m, 18m, 2T and 3T ready to ship. I have more fabric, so making other sizes won't be a problem. You can purchase the 6m or 12m version here and the 18m, 2T or 3T version here.

I'm really excited about the fact that I now have size tags to put in all my custom creations. Now my customers will no longer have to guess at what size their handmade item is - yeah! These are woven tags, not stamped, screen printed or a ribbon tag with the size painted on it with fabric paint. This means no matter how many times you wash it, you will always know what size it is. :)

I have also added a completely new item to my shop, a Lovie (aka tag-along or security blanket). I have actually had them for nearly a year now, but have just now taken the time to get them listed. They are made with minky on both sides so they are super soft and awesome at resisting staings. I bind them with grosgrain ribbon so they stand up great to those active toddlers! You can find the giraffe one pictured below in my Etsy store here. I can make these in all sorts of patterns and colors so send me an email (simpliegirlie@ymail.com) if you'd like one custom made. :)

Besides the custom birthday short sets that I have already talked about in my last two posts, I am working on getting several short sets listed and ready to go. These are also going to be available at Monogram It! in downtown Arkadelphia for those of you in that area. I have several plaid versions in the works and some other cute boyish fabrics. There are actually about 10+ pair that I have serged already and just need their elastic casing and hems done and they will be ready to list. Of course, I am also working on some orders in the meantime so it may take me a bit to get them finished up, though I plan on having them done by this weekend for sure. I did list this Boogie Monster set Saturday. I have them in 2T, 3T and 4T. You can choose red, blue or white for the shirt and I will add your little monsters initial or age to the front of the shirt in the same fabric as the shorts. Super cute! Find it here.

I also listed this adorable Peace sign appliqued t-shirt, tutu and hair bow combination. The bow is made by my friend Anessa Burgard of Vilonia. She does an awesome job and this bow matched the outfit absolutely perfectly. I only have this in a 12month. I do have one more shirt like this in a 3T so I can made you an outfit that size if you'd like. You can find it here.

There are several other items I have listed in the last couple of weeks. I figure for today, you've probably seen enough, lol. You can visit my online store Simplie Girlie Designs on Etsy anytime day or night. You can send me messages there as well and I try to anwer them ASAP so just send me a note if you have any questions. You can always send me an email to simpliegirlie@ymail.com as well or visit my fanpage on Facebook.

Thanks for reading and have a wonderfully blessed day!

Jesse's 3rd Birthday

2011-04-23T09:52:00.002-05:00

Woohoo! Two days in a row, can you believe it? LOL Can't get too excited yet - better wait until I've done this for at least a week to do that!!

Anyway....I promised photos of Jesse's third birthday including his cake (my very first 3D cake ever btw) and the outfit I made to make his party theme, so here we go. :)

My son loves the Disney movie Cars so we went with a Cars theme this year, which turned out to be really fun. He was very much into the entire process helping me pick out party ware at Party City in Little Rock. Everything was "Wighning MaGween" LOL I heard it everywhere every single time he saw that little red car on anything! He wanted his "MaGween Pardy" everwhere we went. For days he'd come to me (several times a day in fact) and ask "MaGween Pardy?" This lasted even after the party because every time someone opened the fridge he'd see his cake in there and he'd start asking for a party again, lol. Think maybe he liked his party?

So, I made him his own special McQueen outfit complete with shorts and an appliqued t-shirt to match. They turned out really cute.

After posting this on Facebook, I had a friend ask me to make a set for her son and had a few comments from people when I'd run into them in person so I decided to list it in my Etsy store. If you'd like one for your own little munchkin, you can find them here.

I didn't manage to get a picture of the entire outfit on him. That boy of mine is one active little booger so most pictures wound up too blurry to use even when using the sports setting. I am going to have to find some time to learn how to use the manual settings so I can get better action shots. I did manage to snap this picture before the festivities officially began.

And this one after he opened one of his presents.

For every birthday, I search the internet for pictures of cakes in the theme of the party or, in my older girl's cases, the colors they want their party. Of course, I found all sorts of Cars cakes. In my search I ran into a blog that gave a tutorial on how to do a Cars cake in the shape of the car. I must say that it looked rather intimidating to me, but we love to go above and beyond for our little squirts so I decided I would give it a go. Honestly, I thought several times of coping out just going with something more simple simply because doing this cake intimidated me so much. I had already posted a photo of the proposed birthday cake on Facebook, however, so I couldn't very well back out, lol. Gotta show 'em I can do it, right? ;)

This cake took one 9x13 cake pan and one 8x8 pan. The first hurdle was to sculpt the cake by cutting pieces of here and there and then adding cake to spots to get the basic shape of the car. I thought this part was going to make me pull out my hair, but I made it!

So, now I had to cream coat the entire thing and put it in the fridge to chill. After that I covered the entire thing in red fondant. I decided to make my life a little easier and get already made and colored fondant and I ended up using some buttercream fondant by Duff from Ace of Cakes. While fondant is not known for its flavor, I must say that this fondant was much better than the Wilton fondant I have used in the past. Of course, fondant isn't used so much for its flavor as it is for its visual appeal (imho). So, here we are after the fondant has been applied.

Now, fondant isn't the cheapest stuff in the world by any means when you are buying already made stuff so I opted for using buttercream to do the detail work. I still have a lot of my cake decorating things in Arkadelphia so I didn't have all of my bags and things and naturally didn't think about this until after I had been to three different stores to get everything I needed and was back at home - figures. So, i had one bag, ring and couplet which meant I could only ice with one color at a time. I also didn't have any vodka handy to use with my gel color so that I could paint the color onto the lightning bolt and the numbers, so mine looked more striped instead of fading from one color to the other, but no one seemed to mind (except me of course). Also, if you noticed in the first photo, the wheels fit beautifully. Umm...not so much after the fondant was put on the car and the wheels, lol. Oh well, the birthday boy loved it so I can live with that. ;)

I must say that for my first 3D cake I managed to impress myself, lol. It's far from perfect but I managed to keep my cool during the whole process, which is a miracle all its own (just ask my husband, lol). I think after doing this one, I can actually do one of those topsy turvy cakes I've wanted to do for a few years but have just been too intimidated to try. Thanks to The Fabulous Cake Lady for posting the tutorial for this on her blog. If you want to make one of these, you can find her instructions here.

In keeping with the Cars theme, I took a break from making things for customers and for my shop and made a quilt and pair of pillows for my son. Since he is quite a bit bigger than he was when I made his last set of blankets I decided he needed something much bigger that he could use for a while. Sure his baby blankets still cover him, but only if he stays perfectly still, lol.

Here is side one of his new pillows

And side two

And here is his new quilt/blanket. The back is a solid piece of black minky dimple dot so it's super soft and cuddly. (oh, and these pics are taken after it has already been washed twice)

To give you a better idea of size (it's roughly 50x60 inches), here is a picture of my son on his blanket. He's 40.5 inches tall.

Well, that is the post for today. My plan is to be back tomorrow with some more new items in the store and a new pillowcase dress I made yesterday. Until then, I hope you have a wonderful and blessed day!

Busy Beaver

2011-04-22T13:34:00.001-05:00

As usual, things have been super busy around here. Since my last post I have been busy with my normal transcription work, finished up on a few custom orders, added some fun new things to the shop, purchased more fabric than my husband would care to think about, had a birthday party for my now 3year old son and am getting things ready for a family BBQ at our house this Easter Sunday. Oh, and we've been busy with softball practices, games and tournement (well at least the ones we have been able to get in with all the rain we've been having - ugh!).

With all of that, I have quite a few pictures to share with you. I will try to keep my comments to a minimum lest this end up being the longest blog post ever, lol.

First up, I have a screen shot of my Etsy shop. In the last week, I have been trying to add at least one product a day, usually two, in an effort to get my online inventory up. Etsy searches apparently like shops with a lot of stuff listed so I am trying to work up to having at least 100 items in my store at any given time. I have the inventory but lack the time to take and edit good photos and write up new descriptions but I've set my goal and hope to acheive it soon. Image is linked directly to my store front so feel free to click away and check it out.

Up next are some custom orders I've finished lately. Lots of cute stuff!

I didn't have time to clean up the round table we have in the barn to get a better picture of this set, but this is a 90-inch round table cloth with a grosgrain ribbon border and a 43 inch square butterfly topper for the table. I hope my customer sends me a pic of this on her little girl's table. I bet it looks so cute!

This is a set of initial bracelets each with their corresponding tin. The beads used are the recipients birthstone color as is the color chosen for the initial on the tin. These were ordered as hostess gifts for a baby shower.

This is a close up of a spa wrap that is being given as a junior brides maid gift. The band at the top is black with white polka-dots so I appliqued a heart and cross bones in matching fabric and then took the wrap to my local embroiderer and had her put the girl's name on it. My 11-year-old daughter was in love with this wrap. Maybe I will have to do something similar for her.

One of two OU blankets for a local customers not-yet-here baby boy.

A orange and hot pink tutu made to fit a customers bull dog! This was definitely a fun project. I made this tutu to where there is no tulle in the very bottom so that it doesn't interfere with tee-tee time and it features a snap closure so it's easy to put on and take off.

A very sideways view of a large custom made quilt for a local customer. I'm not sure why it loaded sideways or how to change that even, lol. Anyway, this was part of an entire bedding set done for a 1 y/o made specifically to be able to be used when her crib is converted to a full size bed. The blanket was made roughly 50x60 inches so that it can be a throw on her bed later.

Here is the bumper made to match, shown here how it would look in toddler bed mode with the front removed.

I made two valances to match the bedding and love the way they turned out. I didn't get a picture of the bed skirt on the crib, but it matches the valances. The really cool thing about the bed skirt is that it is pleated and fits the baby bed, but it converts to fit a full size bed!

OU Blanket #2. Blogger flipped my picture again.

This blanket was done for a customer for her to give as a shower gift to a friend. I love the way this turned out. Her friend is more tomboy-ish so we tried not to be too girly but still feminine. Hope she likes it. :)

Another flipped picture...grr...They are not on my computer this way. You'd think that there would be a way for me to rotate the pics if necessary. If anyone knows how to do this PLEASE let me know. Anyway, my final picture for today is a custom made birthday outfit. I did one of these for my son and decided it would be a great item for my store. I'm very glad I did as it has turned out to be quite a popular item. If you want one of your own, click here for infant sizes and here for toddler sizes. I make them up to a child's size 8 but haven't made the listing for the larger size yet.

I'm going to leave you with those for today. I have pics of the outfit and cake that I did for my son's birthday and pics of several new items for the store but I figure this post is long enough, lol. I will do my best to be back tomorrow with some pictures from Jesse's 3rd birthday. Until then, thank you for reading and may you all have a wonderfully blessed day!

Back again

2011-03-28T18:56:00.004-05:00

Hopefully this time for good and hopefully this time I will stay active. I find it increasingly hard to balance the need to promote my Etsy shop and its items as well as make said items, keep my transcription done, keep up with my now nearly 3 y/0, etc., etc. There is so much to do these days that I often wish each day had more hours in it, lol. I am in the midst of taking an E-course on promoting my Etsy shop through the use of various social media including this blog, so hopefully that will whip me into shape and show me ways to get my items recognized by the public while taking up as little of my day as possible. So, be on the lookout for postings about new items, relisted items, etc. I hope that I will also find the time to post a bit about myself and family to try to keep this blog more personal and not so much just "here's my stuff." I know that my customers like to know who exactly it is behind the product, so I'd like to use this space to be more personal. If you have any tips for being consistent in your blogging, please feel free to share! I need all the help I can get, lol. You may wonder what else has kept me so busy that I have not made the time to post. Well, since my last posting, we have purchased a house in Conway and naturally moved. The entire process was extremely nerve racking. We put in our original offer in August and did not get to the actual closing until nearly Christmas. Four months of back and forth, round and round and all because underwriters are so very hard to deal with any more. Paperwork that was filled out and/or submitted magically disappeared from their desk and had to be resubmitted. All the gov regs have made it a much larger hassle to purchase a house, that is for sure. I hate to see what hoops we are going to have to jump through to sell our house in Arkadelphia - ugh! I am still working on getting walls painted and rooms just how I want them. I do have my office painted and nearly completely set up and our bedroom is painted with new curtains hanging. I have purchased a new headboard and am waiting for my husband to have the time to go pick it up. I will have to do a post about that with before and after pics of my bed. I absolutely hate the bed we are in now for quite a few reasons including the fact that it clashes terribly with the bedding and overall look of the room. You'll see what I mean when I blog about it. I found this lovely dark wood headboard completely by chance while searching for a long, tall sofa table for our living room. It is absolutely georgeous and fits the look of my bedroom perfectly. It also was an absolute steal at $100! I can't wait to get it set up and in use. I will have to wait until my husband can build the platform for our mattress though, so it will be a while before I actually have my headboard in use even after we get it home. The girls are dying to get their rooms painted and I am trying to choose a color for my kitchen. I want to go with a sage green for my kitchen walls but my husband is really not liking that idea because he hates green, which is funny because his eyes are green - go figure, lol. Anyway, I must get back to the world of transcription and an order for a little girl's bedding that needs to be done by Friday. You simply must see this bedding. It is SO cute. I can't wait for it to be done and put together in her room. I haven't had as much time to sew as I would like lately as my transcription work has greatly increased. I love the extra paychecks but I really wish I didn't have to work as many hours at my "real" job and could focus more on my hobby. Oh well, that is the point of all this blogging and posting my things to social media websites - so I can increase traffic and viewing of my handmade items and eventually make it my full time business. Hope you have a wonderfully blessed day (what's left of it at least).

New upcycled/recycled creation by my youngest daughter

2010-08-11T13:07:00.003-05:00

I just had to share this new creation with you. My 10 y/o daughter was about to throw out one of the cans that premeasured drink mixes like Crystal Light come it when she suddenly had an idea. "Hey mom, I could cut a hole in the lid and make this a bank for my money." Yeah! At least one of my kiddos is thinking of ways to upcycle things that we normally would just toss in the trash. Of course having the love of fabric that I do, I immediately suggested that we cover it with fabric, so off to my scrap pile she went in search of the perfect fabric for her new coin bank. She just loves anything rock n' roll and guitar so she chose this Michael Miller fabric Groovy Guitars. She cut a hole in the lid and I covered the canister part with fabric and done - one super cool upcycled coin back! We love the way it turned out so much that we decided this just has to be a new item in my store. Be looking for some to be available in a couple of weeks. :)

A funny moment...

2010-08-10T14:11:00.007-05:00

This weekend was pretty eventful in my neck of the woods. I had my booth set up in Searcy at Rhea Lana's from Wednesday through Saturday and then had my sister-in-law's baby shower Sunday. The weekend ended with a hilarious moment that I will share with you at the end of this post, so stay tuned. :) LOL

Here is a picture of my booth in Searcy. I just bought materials yesterday to redo it and I hope it turns out. I'm getting way too many dresses, shirts and onsies to just hang them on the lattice at the back and those panels are getting too heavy and large to haul around anymore. They come apart in 4 sections (2 4x4 panels hinged together makes 1 section), but they still take up too much room and being solid wood are far too heavy for all the shows I'm doing lately. I am still sticking with the lattice, but moving to a white vinyl version so it's lighter weight and I am making PVC frames for them. I'm also making a 2-tier clothing rack out of PVC that I can take apart into 4 sections so it slides easinly into my vehicle and is easy to transport. I should have this done sometime this week so it is ready for The Memphis Flea Market in Jacksonville this weekend. I'll also have a friend with me this weekend who will share my booth space with me. She is selling her Sentsy stuff - you know those awesome smelling decorator wax burners. Ahhh...my booth is going to smell wonderful this Saturday and Sunday!!! LOL

This is a picture of my youngest daughter who attended the event with me. On Wednesday, she decided to stand up in one of those flimsy little folding chairs I take along for sitting and of course it collapsed on her. She was complaining of a lot of pain and not being able to move her wrist without it hurting. I figured she had just sprained it really well, but wanted to stabilize it since she is so active. Mommy McGyver to the rescue! I made a homemade splint out of a couple of my skirt hangers and some tulle on a roll that I keep with me. Not the most glorious bit of work I've done and it looked a bit strange, but it did the job nicely. I had given her some ibuprofen and told her to keep it elevated. She decided that having the hook on the skirt hanger attached to her arm was kind of cool after all. She hooked it around the lattice on my display so she didn't have to put any effort into keeping the wrist elevated, lol.

As I mentioned, Sunday we had a baby shower for my SIL. My mother-in-law, other sister-in-law and myself made her baby bedding for her. She is doing the room in Razorback and told me she just HAD to have one of my Minky and Razorback blankets for the baby, so we took that and ran with it, doing the blanket, bumper and bedskirt. She was an avid basketball player and her husband LOVES football, so the print we used work perfectly.

Here is a pic of my SIL showing off her baby bump by the food table. I think she looks awesome for this being her third child! By this time on my 3rd, I looked like the Goodyear blimp, lol. The diaper cake in the middle was made by a couple of ladies from her church.

This is her best friend, who is also pregnant, playing one of the games at the shower. These two have been besties since they could walk.

I just had to put this picture in here too. This is my SIL and MIL. Don't you just love the looks on their faces, lol!

And finally, that hilarious moment I was telling you about! My oldest daughter went to stay all night with a friend who is about to move. We thought my youngest daughter and son were back in his room watching a movie, but noticed that things got very quiet. We went to peek in my son's room to find my daughter sleeping in the floor but no little boy. Where was he? Well, my husband found him - in his sister's closet. By the sound of my husband's voice, my son had done something simply horrid. I headed down the hall to see my husband holding my son up off the ground but as far away from him as possible and headed to the bathroom. I joined them just as he placed our son in the tub and got to see what all the commotion was about. I nearly peed on myself laughing! Of course my husband saw nothing hilarious in my son's appearance whatsoever. He had found his sister's hot pink fingernail polish and decided that he wanted to paint his toes! He sees mommy and his sisters doing it all the time, so why not? LOL Well, his legs were nearly covered in the mess and he had spots on his torso and arms as well. I was the recipient of many dirty looks as I could barely get the fingernail polish remover and help get the polish off of him because I was laughing so much while my husband was trying to scold our son. How dare he try to paint his toes - hot pink no less!!

Now that I have given you something to smile about today, I must be off. I have medical reports and custom orders waiting. Have a great day. :D

I made a new outfit!

2010-08-09T14:09:00.003-05:00

This week was another busy one! I had custom orders to complete and I set a booth up at Rhea Lana's in Searcy from Wednesday through Saturday. While I was there, I did a ton of keychains and a few other new items that I'll show you below. We also had my sister-in-law's baby shower yesterday. With all of that and my medical reports, I have had one super busy week. This one doesn't seem to be shaping up to be much less hectic. I am setting up at The Memphis Flea Market in Jacksonville this weekend and am redoing my booth displays. Since I have so many more dresses and now the appliqued tops and outfits, I am heading to Home Depot to buy the supplies to make a three-tier clothes bar to make the most out of my booth space. I am also redoing my backdrops that I use to display some of my stuff. I have been using wooden lattice backdrops my husband made for me which work great but they are a bit on the heavy and awkward side. When I first started, I was driving an Explorer so they fit just fine still leaving me enough space to stack other things on top of them. Now, however, I drive a Journey and, while the fit just fint, I don't have the space to stack much on top of them. So, I am changing to a lighter weight vinyl lattice and making a light weight easy to set up frame. I'm rather anxious to see how it turns out!

I shipped out a few custom orders this week including this bracelet which was an order on Etsy.

I also did a couple of Razorback hooded towels for a local customer. This picture just shows what the towel looks like on (and I just like to show off my super cute little man, lol).

This is what her towels looked like.

And this is the personalization on the back under the hood. My embroiderer, Mindy, did these for me while I was out on vacation. I had my hubby drop the towels off with her so when I got home I just had to add the Razorback fabric and ship them out. It worked out great and the customer just loved them, which is the best part of all. ;)

I also had her embroider another towel for me that I sold on Etsy just as I was leaving town.

My first order in Searcy was for 2 Razorback wall hangings. I had an "E" already done and for sale in the booth so she purchased it and I made an "H" for her as well. Here is the "H"

I found a few shirts on sale while I was in Branson and brought some along with me to applique while at Rhea Lana's and this is one that I made while there. Isn't it cute? The shirt is by JK Baby and is normally $12. I have added frayed applique and passed my savings on to my customers. This shirt is for sale for $15. It is a 12 month. I also have a 24 month that I have not put anything on if you would like one in that size.

And here, is the outfit I am most excited about! I found the top and skimmers on sale in Branson. I let out the cuff on the pants and added a zebra ruffle to the bottom of each pant leg to make some super cute capris. Then I added a peace sign applique to the top in the same zebra fabric. Isn't it just adorable??!! The top and pants are by Jumping Beans and are normally $12 each. I am selling this outfit for $25. It is a girl's size 5.

Well, those are all the sewing pictures I have for the last week. I took pictures of the keychains but don't want to load you all down with those, lol. I must be off now. Time to head into Conway to purchase my supplies for my new booth displays and pick up some fabric for some custom dress orders! See you all later. Hope you have a wonderful day!!

Hello out there...

2010-08-01T10:43:00.002-05:00

Oh my, it has been way too long since I have posted here! Things have been so absolutely crazy in so many different areas that I forget to get on here and post or I have my hands in the middle of something and can't get to it. Seems I'm always in the middle of something these days (sigh). With the kids, a full time job and my sewing......well, the time just seems to slip away.

I think I am going to try to post at least a little something each day about what that day has brought in my life and what new things I have been creating. With 3 kids in the house, one of which is a 2 y/o, something funny or crazy is always happening. I think making this more of a place where I can journal about the happenings of my life, is more of the direction I want to take this blog.

I also have been trying to decide just what it is I want this blog to be. It needs to help promote my business but I want it to also show people a bit of who I am as a person instead of just posting the same photos I post on Etsy and Facebook with the same information in it. I need to use it to promote what I do, but I don't want to post the exact same information I do everywhere else either. To me that's boring and its spammy and I really don't want people thinking I am trying to spam them. :)

I also want the look of my blog to be much more creative and represent more of me and not just look like a boring landing spot on the web. These templates are so very boring! I seriously need the help of someone who writes HTML. I love to design the look myself and have the software to create the background, banners and such; it's just writing the code so it all goes just where I want it that seems to be a problem. If you have experience in this area or have any tips PLEASE let me know!!!
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So, in the spirit of making this a daily journaling, sharing spot for me, here is a short run down of some of the recent happenings in my life. I know, you're thrilled, right! All those months of no posting and your going to sum it up now?? LOL. Well, to keep it short, we're going to stick to the last few days, lol.

This last week, we have been in Branson at my mother's. I have not been able to stay here for more than a couple of days on the weekend here and there because there has been no reliable internet connection at their house. My brother has a router with a booster so he can pick up signal from those in the neighborhood who don't have secured networks in order for them to have internet at the house without paying an arm and a leg. Not the way I would advise one to get their internet, but it isn't my decision to make for them. Well, inevitably I end up going home earlier than planned in order to complete my "real" work (medical transcription) which requires me to have internet. Before this last trip, I decided I was not going to end up making the 3 hour trip back home at the last minute to allow me just enough time to get my work done because my brother's internet system had failed me yet again, so I changed my internet over the AT&T laptop card so I knew I would be able to work without relying on his internet. Wouldn't you know it, this entire week I have had a full signal but my internet has been as slow as dial up, which is making me absolutely nuts. I seriously do not have the time to sit here waiting on a job to load - UGH! All this time, however, my brother's internet has kept a strong signal and worked the entire time!!! Seriously??? If I had not changed my internet, I long ago would have had to head back to Arkansas because of a lack of internet signal. I switch to a more expensive internet service and now his works the entire time. Go figure! AT&T is definitely going to be hearing from me this week, though. No way am I going to spend $20 a month more for my internet and have to sit here waiting....and waiting.....and waiting in order to get my work done. I just don't have the time (or the patience, lol).

Since I was able to stay longer this time, I was able to have breakfast and spend a few hours with a good friend whom I hardly ever get to see and it was great. I wish we had more time to sit and talk. We took the kids to Silver Dollar City and boy was it HOT! We decided, of course, that the first thing to do was ride one of the water rides. Once we got wet, it wasn't so bad. Everyone had a good time and, as usual, the day ended before we could do everything we wanted. We also attended the wedding of one of my husband's close childhood friends while we were here and it was beautiful, as was the bride. :) It was great seeing several people I had not seen in years and hanging out with some adults for a change, lol. We had never met the woman he was going to marry until after the wedding was over. After watching them together for just a short time, however, they seem perfect for eachother and I wish them many happy years together. She lives fairly close to us and he now will be closer to us as well so I am hoping we will all be able to get together more often. Maybe we can start our own monthly Texas Hold 'em tournament. I know he and my husband would really enjoy that and I must say that I enjoy a night of it myself, lol.

We also did a ton of back to school shopping while here and saved a ton of money - yeah! I think I just about have everything done - well, until they actually start school and the teachers tell them some other things they need to get! Seems they never manage to get everything on the list that should be there. On top of being able to still do my regular job while here, I have received several orders for my sewing business, which is awesome. I truly believe that I need to leave town more often as that seems to be when I get the majority of my orders, lol. Since I introduced my hooded towel, I have sold just a few. Suddenly since last Sunday, I now have orders for 12! I also have had orders for 3 more pillowcase dresses and maybe one bed canopy, though I have not heard for certain on that one yet. I'll be one busy beaver when I get home!

Home. I love to get away, but I love to return! We head home today and I must say that I can't wait to get back. Well, that means I must get off of here. I have at least a 3 hour drive ahead of me, a few hours of typing that needs to be done and some embroidery to pick up tonight so I can mail out some orders. Hope you all have a wonderful day.

New lower prices

2010-01-14T16:56:00.003-06:00

This year, I am working to make items in my shop cost less for my customers. I have found some new suppliers where I can get fabrics and such at a much lower cost than I had been using and I am passing the savings on to you. :)

I have lowered the prices of all Minky blankets already this year and now I have lowered the price of all my childrens aprons as well. Take a peek at the aprons below. You can click on the pictures to be taken to that item in my store.

For the little Princess in your life who loves to cook,
craft, or do anything where you need to keep her
clothes looking nice and clean.

For the Rock and Roll diva

And, of course, for the ultimate Razorback fan!

Booty time

2010-01-14T13:22:00.004-06:00

While looking through the forums on Etsy today, I ran into this cool shop ImoTime. This seller makes clocks out of all sorts of things cool and unusual and I just love it. Here is one of the very unusual clocks found in this store

Its called 36 - 24 - 36. Now who would have ever thought of taking a discarded body form and turning it into a clock? Just goes to show you that there are some very imaginative and creative people floating around Etsy land. When I have a minute or two, I love to see what unique items I can find and I am never disappointed. It is hard to believe that when I first signed up with Etsy, there were only about 30,000 users! That number has increased so much. As of today, Etsy is only 11 shops short of the 200,000 mark!!! WOW! I believe if you can't find it anywhere else, you can definitely find it on Etsy. If you have trouble finding what your after, you can go to the custom section of Etsy and create a post asking for your item to be made.

Anyway, the seller of this clock started a thread in the Etsy forums asking "Do you know anyone who is 36-24-36?" Those were the days! You see, I used to be these exact measurements. Of course 3 kids later, I am far from that figure! I know I can get closer to that number if I just had or rather made the time to get up and exercise. Of course with all the booty time I spend - typing for a living and then sewing for my Etsy shop require a TON of this - it's a wonder I am not big as a horse, lol. I guess that will have to be one of my goals for the year - taking time to exercise on a regular basis - ok, at least a somewhat regular basis. ;)

Speaking of booty time, mine was a bit productive yesterday. I finished a pink and brown argyle print minky blanket for a toddler which turned out quite cute. I didn't snap a picture because I figured I'd be getting it back to sew up the side as I had to leave it open for it to be monogrammed on. I also did a blue and white minky pillow case for a customer who is giving it to a niece who has a cloud themed room and I finished a pink and brown zebra blanket I will be adding to the store hopefully today.

Well, we are going to keep it shorter today (you are cheering, I know, lol) because I need to get some of these doctor reports typed before the older kiddos are home from school. The hubby and I are going to look at a house and some land this evening so I won't have as much time to get things done later. Hope you all have a wonderful and blessed day. :)

2010 is shaping up

2010-01-12T12:26:00.004-06:00

...to be a great year here at Simplie Girlie. Here we are only 12 days into the new year and I have already shipped or delivered 1 custom reversible jumper, 1 diaper bag, 3 receiving blankets, 1 minky lap blanket, 3 minky baby blankets and 4 travel pillows. Yeah! I have 3 rooms now to do curtains for, another baby blanket, a toddler blanket, a standard pillow case and a shopping cart cover.

I am in LOVE with Michael Miller's dandy damask fabric in black and have ordered a bunch of this fabric. I am hoping to use it to make some blankets, cart covers, changing pads, burp clothes and a new item I hope to add to the store soon - changing table covers. I have one for my changing table that my mother made with my first child 13 years ago! Needless to say, it is time for an update and I am going to do one with a minky fabric edged with a western print since he has a cowboy room. I can't wait to make one with hot pink dimple dot and the black damask for the shop!

I have a ton of plans for the shop this year. Not only do I want to add the changing table cover, but I want to add cart covers, bibs, burp cloths, diaper bags, receiving blankets, boy's rompers, toddler blankets, lap blankets, several new dress designs and more wipe cases. We will see how much of this I actually get done since I have been so busy with custom orders lately and I still do have my transcription to do every weekday. Hopefully, I will get to do some of these things soon.

I have added some new blankets to the shop this week. Click the previews to be taken to the shop for more information and/or purchase.

I am will have a brown and pink zebra blanket ready to sew and it should be in the store soon. I also will have the zebra and the toile above with red minky done soon as well so be on the lookout for those.

I wanted to share with you the picture of the diaper bag and receiving blankets I sent out this weekend, a picture of two of the blankets I delivered this weekend and a picture of a custom lap blanket I sent out last week. I didn't have my camera with me to take pictures of the other 2 blankets or the travel pillows but maybe the buyer will send me some pics later if she has time.

Oh, and this is a blanket I did for a customer as a custom order for Christmas. She just sent me the picture (again, didn't have my camera with me) and I wanted to share. It is a lap blanket made with Razorback fabric and black minky. I love the way this turned out. I also did a similar blanket with a different print for her sister's birthday and hope to have a picture of it to show you soon.

Well, that is it for now. I have reports to type and a little boy who is placing his father's chess pieces on their board (too cute!). Gotta make sure he doesn't break any of them or I'm the one in the doghouse, lol. Hope you all have a wonderful and blessed day. :)

Circle of Moms on Facebook | April 2008 Babies

2010-01-12T12:19:00.000-06:00

Circle of Moms on Facebook | April 2008 Babies

It's official....

2010-01-06T08:56:00.020-06:00

I am the world's worst blogger! I know I should really pay more attention to this part of my hobby/business but I get so busy with everything else that posting gets pushed back. Well, hopefully that will change in 2010.

Since my last post, things have been pretty busy around here. We have now moved from Arkadelphia to Vilonia to be closer to my husband's work. Since I can do my job anywhere I have a computer and internet connection, it doesn't matter where we live - which is great. No more daycare bills either - awesome! On top of that, I am actually getting a larger paycheck without the extra expenses involved with working in an office like professional looking clothing (I can now work in PJs- HA!), gas and, as mentioned, daycare. That is sure a relief as we are renting a place here until we find a place we want to buy and still have the mortgage on the house in Arkadelphia. Plus, we have utilities on both places as we are going back every few weeks or so to work on the other house. We still have a ton of things to get done to it before we sell or rent it out. We were in the middle of a remodel that seems to take forever when you are living in it and doing it all yourself so the house still has much to be done to it.

I have had several orders since I last posted and those have kept me super busy as well, especially when you add it to the full time job, being mommy, etc. So, here are some photos of a few things I have done since I last posted.

I did two crib sets for a customer who is adopting but doesn't know the sex of the baby yet, so she wanted a set for each. I just love the fabrics used. Not everything is shown here, but I did 2 crib skirts, two bumpers, three crib sheets, 2 burp clothes, 2 blankets and 2 reversible bottle koozies.

This is a curtain panel set I did as a custom order for a customer in Maryland. Since this set was completed, she has now ordered 2 panels for her dining room and 6 for her bedroom. She is sending me the fabric she wants to use and I am doing all the sewing. This set turned out better than I thought they would as they are made from burlap. I am starting the dining room panels this week and we are still working out the details on the bedroom panels.

I added my key fobs/wristlets to the store and have sold a few on Etsy as well as locally. Here are pictures of the ones I have for sale on Etsy. I also have a custom listing for those who want a different fabric/color combination.

I've also added new packaging to my initial bracelets and had several orders for these for Christmas. I also sold a couple pairs of my initial earrings.

I did several lap blankets in the last couple of months as well. The ones shown here are 3 of 4 that I did and shipped to Texas. I couple of lap blankets made like my cotton and minky dimple dot blankets you can see in earlier posts but I wasn't able to snap pictures of them before I delivered them. They did turn out rather nice though. Both used black minky dimple dot but one was done in a Razorback print while the other was in an elegant black with white swirly leaf pattern.

I did this minky dimple dot set for a local customer. She wanted a blanket for a toddler bed but wanted it larger than a baby blanket so I did this one 40x50 inches. I did the dimple dot on both sides of the blanket and then made a matching standard size pillow case as well as a travel pillow to match.

I had an order for one of the aprons I had in my shop. She wanted an applique and wording added to it to give to a family member who just opened her own cake decorating business. I love the way it turned out and they were very pleased with it as well.

I had an order for a spa wrap. She wanted straps added to it so this is what I came up with. Sorry I don't have a picture of the wrap unfolded or on a "model."

I also just finished this cute little dress. It is going to be worn by the little girl for her one year photo shoot. I am glad someone finally chose to use this toile fabric in a dress as this is something I have wanted to do for some time but haven't been able to get to. I hope she sends me a picture of the little girl when she is wearing it.

I also did several wooden name sets and blankets over the holidays for family but I will post those pictures another day as I have probably bored you to death already, lol. :)

Well, there you have it. All those orders on top of moving, the holidays and a full time job - whew! This year is shaping up to be pretty busy as well. I already have orders for travel pillows, a baby blanket, the curtains mentioned earlier, a shopping cart cover, a fleece blanket, 2 LSU jumpers, 1 LSU romper, 1 HSU jumper, possibly a chiffon pettiskirt (you know, those super frilly, super cute ones that are so popular right now) and I have the window treatments for a local customer's sunroom.

Hope you all had a wonderful Holiday season and I wish you all the best in 2010. Have a wonderful and blessed day!

A busy week

2009-09-11T02:24:00.005-05:00

Well, I listed several new items in the store this week. I tried to do at least one new item per day. Hopefully I will be able to keep this up though I am not sure as you never know what is going to happen around here, LOL. Anyway, here is an overview of what the last few days have brought to the store.

Well, I forgot to show you the key fob that I sent along with the custom order curtains I shipped off to Canada a few days ago. Again, I was in a black and white sort of mood, lol.

Just another three weeks and these will be for sale in my shop so if you have your eye on something, why not get it while you can snag a little something for yourself and get it for free?! Sounds like a good idea to me, lol.

Later in the week I got back to the world of color. I made and listed these letters in the store. I have done one for my office that I will show you later as I am using the image for my custom listing on these. I also am working on doing the girl's names. Theirs will be in a zebra print with the sides painted hot pink and I can't wait to get those done as they will be featured in my custom shop listing too.

Anyway, I did one letter for a boy's room in blue and brown and one letter for a girl's room in pink and brown since these still seem to be the predominant colors in nursery themes.

I really enjoy doing these as I am still able to be creative yet get to do something besides sew. As much as I love to sew, it is nice to do something a little different once in a while. I haven't been into my paint box in quite some time so it was very nice to play with them once again.

Funny how this sort of stuff never feels like work to me in the least. I always feel like it's playtime, lol. Now, if only someday it will pay the bills. Now THAT would be the best thing ever as far as I am concerned. Supporting your family by doing something that you love so much that it doesn't feel like work. Don't we all wish for that. Imagine how much nicer the world would be if we all loved what we did for a living!

I am particularly fond of my last project this week. I have always wanted to add some hair accessories to the store to go with my dresses and have been planning on doing matching fabric headbands to pair with the dresses for what seems like forever.

Well, I did finally make a hair accessory and it is a headband, but I did not use fabric for this one. Everywhere you look these days, you see these large flowers showing up in little girl's hair, so I decided to make a version of my own and came up with this.

Instead of using the already covered headbands, crocheted headbands or other stretchy headbands that so many sellers are using, I decided to make my headband a bit more dressy and covered it with satin ribbon, by hand of course. I also never did care for using glue on my hair pieces since the glue never seems to hold up no matter what type you use, so I handstitched my flower petals on and then handstitched some Swarovski crystal beads into the center for just a hint of bling. I believe it turned out rather cute myself :).

I think I may have actually finally made something completely girly that my tomboy daughter will actually wear! (gasp) I have several other colors I am in the process of doing so be on the lookout for more of these.

I also fed my fabric obsession some more this week, but I will get to that another day. :) I am sure I have bored you all long enough today, lol. Plus, I still have things that need to get done, so I shall say good-bye for now.

I hope you all have a have a wonderful and very blessed day. :)

I'm sensing a theme here

2009-09-05T20:15:00.002-05:00

There must have been something in the air today. Seems most things I created were in shades of black and white.

First, I have another of the Minky blankets I have been working on, this time in a black and white toile pattern. I completely love this.

I also made these wall letters today, again in shades of black and white, only with a more antiqued look. I love the way these turned out too.

Both are now available in the store for purchase if you want to snag them.

Anyway, I'm keeping it short today. Both girls are at friend's houses tonight and Justin, Jesse and I are going to spend some time chillin' on the couch.

Hope you all have a wonderful and very blessed day. :)

Just a Quickie

2009-09-04T00:13:00.003-05:00

Well, I promised you the pictures of the girly version of the disco dot quilt and here it is. Isn't it cute? Gotta love all those fun dots, LOL, and in such great colors too! I also finished a set of curtain panels that are now on their way to Canada. They were a custom order on Etsy. They have this great tool where people who are looking for something specific can post what they are looking for and those of us who make things can put a bid in on the job. Well, that is how I managed to snag this job and I actually have another one in the works for an even larger order, again for curtain panels. Anyway, I have work to do (and I think I am coming down with something - low grade fever tonight - yuck) so I will leave you with the pics.

Well, that is it for me. Hope you all have a wonderful and blessed day. :)

Who doesn't love dots?

2009-09-01T14:44:00.003-05:00

I LOVE dots. No, not like, love! LOL. There is just something so very fun about dots, no matter what size they come in. If you have ever had the chance to look through my fabrics or check out my stuff for sale in my shop, then you can see this love in action.

Well, I am at it yet again. Today, I made this fun blanket and added it to the store. It features white Minky dimple dot fabric and a great Michael Miller disco dot fabric. I absolutely love it. This one was actually one of the hardest for me to give up for sale. I wanted so badly to keep this cutie for myself, LOL. Of course, if I kept every blanket that I made and loved I would have enough that I could use a new blanket practically every day of the year.

I told you it was cute, LOL. I only have the one blanket in this style/pattern so if you can't live without it, you'd best head on over to the store and snag it (you can just click on the last photo to go right to the listing if you want). I have a feeling this one won't be around long. For those of you wondering; yes, I am doing a girl version which should be in the store soon. Of course, I will post here for you to see it as well.

That's all I have for today. Time to get back to reality and do my work. Hope you all have a wonderful and blessed day. :)

Are you obsessed? I am.

2009-08-28T00:13:00.003-05:00

Not in a bad sort of way (at least in my opinion anyway :D). I am obsessed with my crafty work. I love the entire process from choosing the raw materials to completing a project and seeing the final product. I LOVE it. Yes, i am obsessed with it.

It doesn't really matter what medium I am working with either; sewing, paper crafting, scrapbooking, embroidery, cross stitching, painting, etc. I am obsessed with the thrill of taking something simple and turning it into something special, especially when that something is on its way to someone else's home. I consider it an honor that someone likes something I have made enough that they want to purchase it and make it their own, or give it as a gift to a special someone.

Speaking of items on their way to a new home, I mailed off a custom order today and I love the way they turned out. Here are a couple of pictures I took before I packaged them up and sent them on their way. They are reversible, so the second shot is the inside of each of the items from the first shot, in the same order.

So what do you think? I just love them, and I hope the buyer does too. :) I didn't snap a picture of her free gift so I can't show you it but I have a feeling she will like it as well.

This brings me to my other obsession - fabric. As one of my friends so "lovingly" pointed out the other day, I can't go near a store with fabric in it without finding something that I just "have" to have, LOL. Well, yesterday was no exception. I had to take a trip out of town to get more velcro for the koozies above. Of course I run out in the middle of the project and my local supplier has decided to carry nothing but sticky back velcro, which is not at all kind to a sewing machine needle. Anyway, I went to one store and couldn't find what I was needing. However, I did find some wide zebra grosgrain ribbon that my friend and I have been trying to find for the past few weeks, so I had to buy all of it on the shelf (no it wasn't all for me!). I figured I had best grab it while the getting was good and at 50% off there is no way I was passing it up! Of course, I also found this fabric that I had been searching some time for as well. It is a black and white giraffe print so when I saw it I had to buy some of that as well.

Well, I moved on to my second and last store to try to find my velcro and, hooray!, I found it. I also found (you guessed it) more fabric, LOL. I saw these two prints and knew they just had to come home with me as well. Can you blame me??

I also came home with some materials for a new item I am going to start carrying in the store. I have decided to make some custom decorated letters up for sale in my shop. I have mine almost done and all the materials to do the girls names to match their room. I already made some for my son's room months ago. I will use the photos of these to make a custom listing in the store. I also bought letters to spell out "baby" that will be done in a gender neutral black and ivory patterns. Hopefully, I will have my custom listing up in the store sometime next week and, of course, I will have photos to share with you here as well.

I need to get my medical reports finished now, so I will leave you with this final thought. Find your obsession. Find it and hold on to it. Nurture it. You will be glad you did. :)

Thanks for reading. Hope you have a wonderful and blessed day!

WOW - has it really been that long????

2009-08-20T13:38:00.008-05:00

3 months? Really? Wow. It most certainly doesn't seem like it has been that long since I last posted here. Certainly doesn't do much to promote my business or keep any followers up to date. So much has happened in the last few months. Many, many changes with some changes still yet to come. Suffice to say, it has been more than a little busy around here and I think it is all starting to catch up with me. But, I will push through as always :)! I will give you a quick run down and then show you a few custom orders I have completed recently.

Let's see....since April, I have quit my job working at a medical clinic and now am doing the same type of job but from home (much easier on the budget with no daycare, work clothes, etc. with the bonus of actually making more money - yeah!). I love the fact that I don't have to get up at a specified time each morning (well, until school started anyway) and my son does not have to attend daycare but it has been a rather huge adjustment for everyone and I am still trying to get a schedule worked out, which will probably never happen. :) As some of my readers may know, I have been taking care of my grandmother since early 2005. Well, in the time since I have posted here, I had moved her from her apartment and into the nursing home, spent a week with her at the hospital and now she is rejoicing with the angels in heaven. While this is wonderful as it is what she has wanted for quite some time now, it has been quite a stressful period for me. I never imagined there was so much work to be done in finalizing a person's affairs.

We have also been looking for a new house closer to where my husband is now working, though we haven't had much luck in this area due to several issues. It really would be great if we could sell this house first but there is work that needs to be done and finding the time to do it is not an easy task. Oh, we also had a fire in my husband's shop since I have last posted and have had to deal with all those issues; cleaning it out, determining what was in the building for insurance purposes, etc. All of these things have gone on in the midst of my working full time doing transcription, still sewing and filling orders and general summer activities with the kids. Whew! It has been a busy three months!

Now to show you some of my custom orders and one of my new products (not yet in the store).

First, I will show you some pics of a custom order I did for my SIL. She has a side business doing in home parties and wanted some aprons made for both she and her friend. Her only stipulations were that one have pink camo, the other green camo and she wanted them monogrammed. Here is what I came up with.

And here is a close up of the monogramming (thank you Laura!) -

I thought they turned out rather nicely. Hope you gals are enjoying them!

One of my new items is a key fob that fits on your wrist allowing you to keep your keys handy and easily accessible while keeping your hands free. Here is the one that I gave my SIL for her order (these are free with every purchase through the end of September).

The freebie key fobs are made from one of the fabrics used in each order. In this case, though, I made an exception since I knew she would enjoy a Razorback one more. :) I will have them available in the store for purchase in October. Of course if you really, really want one sooner, I would be happy to make a custom listing for you.

This is a custom order I just shipped out last week and a picture of her free key fob. I really love this fabric.

Of course, these are just 2 of the orders I have done in the last few months. I have a couple of other orders I am working on and then I can get back to the other new items I have for the store. One of them is an Razorback dress in an adorable new design.

Well, that's it for today as I really need to get back to typing my medical reports. Hope you all have a wonderful and blessed day. :)

2009-05-05T01:11:00.001-05:00

Spinning in circles

2009-04-30T20:50:00.006-05:00

Well, at least that is what I feel like I am doing. Maybe not in circles, as I do get things finished, but definitely spinning - nearly as fast as the wheel on the side of my sewing machine, LOL.

I have all the initial and follow up fittings done for the bridesmaid dresses I am doing for a local wedding and am now officially ready to cut the "real" fabric. Hopefully, I will have those ready for the (crossing fingers) final fitting sometime between Wednesday and Saturday of next week. I am also making some flags for the pews that will be monogrammed so I will be taking them over to the store tomorrow for her to sew on then I have to finish them - very doable though.

(This is a sketch of the bridesmaid dresses I am doing. I have it

backwards here though as the main color is orange with a
pink sash that will tie behind and underskirt.)

I also have the curtains done for 3 rooms of the house I am doing completely finished and helped hang the 2nd set Sunday. I will be delivering the curtains for the 3rd room tomorrow. These are some fun ones! They are for the girl's room and are pink with white dots and zebra, and they are 106 inches tall!!! That is a LOT of fabric, LOL. I hope to have some pictures for you all soon. I will be doing the valances for a bay window in her living room and for the windows in the eating area of her kitchen once I am done with the girl's room. They are an awesome leopard print! Then, only one room left to go!

Other than that, I finished up the order for the lanyards from the alchemy section of Etsy. It turned out that I had to do 175 lanyards total. Whew! that was a lot of denim. I don't think I will ever get all the denim lint out of my sewing area, LOL. I also did another alchemy order for 5 pocket squares (the handkerchief in the pocket of a man's suit) Monday and got them shipped out.

I would have never thought to do pocket squares in red with white dots, which I assume are for a wedding, but I think they will look quite nice. I have been told I have won the bid on another alchemy request, this one for a roll up for make-up brushes, that I will be getting the final order on this weekend. On top of that, I have a custom order for a Razorback dress and another person interested in an adult version of my Razorback apron! Yeah!!!

(Seriously need to retake this picture!)

Things are really picking up for me and I hope the trend continues. There are so many alchemy requests I want to bid on, but I have promised my hubby that I won't seek out any more sewing work before we get the house ready to sell. :( Oh, I about forgot though, I am in the process of submitting a quote to a furniture store to do the decorator pillows for a special furniture order for OBU (crossing fingers again). This could turn out to be a great opportunity for me even after we move, so I am really hoping to get this job.

With all that said, I'd best get back to my sewing machine as these things don't get themselves done for some reason! Hope you all have a wonderful and blessed day!

Girl's Easter Dresses and Jesse's Birthday

2009-04-17T12:43:00.006-05:00

This year I got to go back to my previous tradition of making the girls Easter dresses! They picked out their fabrics and the dress pattern themselves. I think they turned out pretty good if I don't say so myself, LOL. The little girl in the front is my niece. My mother made her dress.

Of course, I just had to show off my little boy in his Easter outfit. Rather handsome, isn't he? :)

My boy's 1st birthday was this year and it landed on Easter Day. I had this shirt made by the friend I have do all my monogramming. It turned out so very cute, though it is a bit hard to see the whole thing in the picture. He wasn't wanting to sit very still, LOL!

He was so cute when we sand Happy Birthday to him. He kept looking around at everyone with the cutest look on his face. He was clapping so we started clapping too. Of course by the time this picture was taken, he had stopped clapping. Figures!

At first, he just pinched off pieces of icing and ate those.

At this rate, he was going to stay pretty clean. Wow!!

However, before long he decided that it would be much easier just to eat the darn thing!

Oh yeah! Now were talking!

Not long after that, he decided to just try to crawl up on the table and go after the entire cake! We didn't let him though but he did manage to mash his piece of cake!

How fast are you daddy??

Finally, we got all cleaned up and our presents opened. Here he is after all the excitement playing with one of his new toys on my Mother-in-Law's kitchen table.

Even though it was very busy, it was a fun weekend. My husband's mom and dad as well as his siblings families were there. My mom, dad and niece were there as well. So, he had all his cousins there for his first birthday. It isn't very often that all of these people are together at once and it was great to see everyone.

This week, I also finished up the trial run of the bridesmaids dresses and did our first fitting. I was pretty pleased with how they turned out (size wise that is since they aren't made from the final fabric). I have only a few minor changes to make and we're all set to start the real ones. I also finished the curtains for one room of the house I am doing and am finishing up cutting the denim strips for the large order of lanyards. I will try to get pictures for you later.

Well, it is time to get back to my sewing room.

Hope you all have a wonderful and blessed day! :)

Custom "Yuppy Koozy" for Beth

2009-04-09T00:12:00.006-05:00

Just a quick post tonight. I have all the bridesmaid dresses resized and the trial fabric cut for the first fitting. My youngest daughters Easter dress is cut and ready to sew and the fabric for my oldest is waiting to be cut even now. I finished a custom koozy order for Beth of Kiwiarts and wanted to post some pics here so she could see it before I shipped it. I am definitely going to be using this in custom listings to show that the larger sizes for "adult" bottles and cups can be done as well. I LOVE the green and pink brocade fabric and it turned out quite nicely. Hope you and the "yuppies" like it Beth, LOL! :)

These next 2 pics are a little blurry, but you get the idea :)

That's it for tonight. I will post pictures of the girls modeling their Easter dresses next week when we get back from my MIL's house.

Have a wonderful and blessed day :)

Meet Megan and a special designer friend Marisela of Magnoly Designs

2009-04-04T11:26:00.008-05:00

Hope you are all having a wonderful day. :)

I just wanted to introduce you all to Megan. She was very influential in my decision to try to turn my sewing from simply something I did for family into a business that I hope will eventually turn into my full time job. Here she is

If you'd like to learn more about Megan, simply click on her name or the photo to be taken to her page in my store and you can read all about her! Megan is the first dress style I decided to offer for public sale and she has been one very popular girl. I think what makes her so special is her versatility and her colors. I make her in all different colors and patterns. I have a very large selection of fabrics that can all be seen either in the Customize It portion of my shop or in 2 of my FaceBook albums here and here. I can also do these in the ever popular Minky fabric, which I order as requested. See available colors and styles here. I will be updating this album to include many more choices very soon.

For the month of April when you purchase a dress from my shop, you will receive your choice of a matching headband for FREE!!

I have met a lot of really great people on Etsy and have to give a special shout out to all those who participate in a very special promotional thread in the forums there. (you all know who you are!) Everyone there is so very nice and encouraging. It has been great to find such a large group of people who help each other with things from promoting, photo taking, customer relations and just about everything else, all without any of the drama that is so often found in places where you have so many people. It has been great and I appreciate you all so very much!

One of these special people is Marisela of Magnoly Designs. When I discovered her shop, it was like visiting the shop of a kindred soul. She has a wonderful shop filled fabulous baby booties that match my dresses perfectly. She also has handmade magnets, many of which perfectly match some photo frames I have made but haven't listed in my shop yet. Since I have shown you Megan in brown and pink fabrics, I must show you the matching booties available in Marisela's shop.

Just click the picture to be taken to this product in her store. While you're there, you should definitely browse through the rest of her shop. She has many great items available.

Well, I must be off for the day. I have bridesmaid dresses waiting for me. Have a wonderful and blessed day! :)

Busy weekend ahead and a huge sale!

2009-04-02T23:58:00.000-05:00

Wow! Where does the time go?? It's April already and I haven't even begun to make the girls Easter dresses. I'm wondering now if I will even have the time to get them done, though I am going to try. This weekend is already shaping up to be a busy one. There is a wedding in May that I am making bridesmaid dresses and pew flags for so I am getting that going. I plan on working mainly on getting the dresses for the 1st trial fit done by Sunday evening. I actually make the dresses twice so I don't waste any of the good fabric on the first fitting. I would just die if I had to go get more fabric because one of the dresses needed to be remade. Plus knowing my luck, I wouldn't be able to find the exact match either, lol. If I get those done, then I will continue to work on a special order I received on Etsy.com. I am making over 150 (started out as 100!) lanyards. The customer wanted them made from recycled materials, so I am making them from these -

.....old jeans. I knew there was a reason I had kept all those old pairs of jeans with holes in them, lol! :)

I am cutting them into long strips and finishing them with a simple zig-zag stitch so they keep that old, worn out look. I am making sizes for adults and little ones.

This is what they will end up looking like. Of course, they will have a ring and clasp on them!

Apparently, my son was having a lot of fun with this project too. He was so cute playing with the "trash." He would pull the seams that I had thrown away out of the trash can and put them back in. Then he'd push the trash can around the floor. I managed to snag these shots of him playing with the cut up jean legs as I finished with them.

Isn't he just adorable?? :)

I am also making a custom koozie for my friend Beth of KiwiArts. I especially love the pink and chartreuse fabric she picked out. I'll post some pics of it once I finish it.

Speaking of custom orders, I finished one this week. It was an order I had from Mom's Mall in Little Rock. I really like the fabrics she chose, especially the brocade. I even made a couple of headbands for it to match each side of the fabric.

I really like the headbands and have decided to offer them for FREE with every dress purchased during the month of April! Just visit my shop. Make sure you let me know at checkout what fabric you want your headband made out of.

Last, but certainly not least, there is an awesome sale taking place on Etsy this weekend. The Etsy Supply Street Team is having hosting a First Weekend Shopping Extravaganza from April 2nd through the 5th. Visit their team blog for more information on some of the great shops participating in this sale. They have opened it up to every seller on Etsy who wants to participate so there will be a little bit of everything!

Well, I suppose I'd best be off to bed for the night. Have a wonderful and blessed day. :)

2009-03-31T19:30:00.000-05:00

Newbie Alert!!

Okay, I am completely new at this (which is really sad considering how much I'm on the net, lol), so please forgive me if this post seems a little elementary! :)

Many of you know that I have been selling my handmade jewelry on Etsy for a couple of years now (http://simplepleasuresbyms.etsy.com). What some of you may not know is that I now also have another store on Etsy where I sell handmade infant and toddler dresses along with a host of other things like bottle koozies, baby blankets, changing pad roll ups, picture pillows and embellished aprons. While I still enjoy making jewelry, I find that I LOVE my sewing even more. Maybe it is just the fact that I have sewn for so many years that it is almost second nature and I feel much more comfortable with the fabric, but returning to my sewing has brought me a great deal of joy. My sewing room has become my place of refuge and renewal. I will continue to list items in my jewelry store and make new pieces from time to time, but I believe my sewing will be my main focus in the years to come.

My hope is that someday I will be able to help my husband support our family by doing what I love so much and not going to work in an office for someone else. Not only would it be wonderful to be my own boss, I would be doing something that I truly enjoy. Of course there would be other advantages too: less gas spent since I don't have to drive to work everyday, less money spent on clothes as I won't have to keep a wardrobe of professional attire, less money spent on daycare as I would be home (yeah!), and being able to help more in the kids schools.

In order to achieve this lofty goal, I must, of course, promote away. So, this blog is dedicated to Simplie Girlie Designs. I will use this blog to promote this business and anything related to it. Hopefully, I will be able to post daily, but we will see. I do have 2 "real" jobs and my family as well! :)