June's ETC First Monday Sale!

It's time already for June's Etsy Texas Crafters First Monday Sale!!

I am having a buy one, get one 50% off sale in both my Handmade Whimzy and Pink Pear Designs shops. This INCLUDES the clearance items in Handmade Whimzy. I am honoring my sales from now until 8am on Tuesday (June 2nd) morning.

If you would like to be notified of my shop sales beforehand, please sign up for my newsletter.

Looking for more great sales from ETCers? Check out our promo thread: http://www.etsy.com/forums_thread.php?thread_id=6170555

Newest Listed item in Pink Pear:

Beautiful day

It's such a beautiful day here in Texas today. I went out early and gave all the plants an extra drink of water as it's suppose to be 90 degrees today.

This is a picture of some beautiful flowers I saw on our spring break trip to California. Just thought it was a nice pick me up!

Our Garden's Bounty and Huckleberry Finn

Well, my son said he wanted to grow cucumbers in our garden so that we could make pickles. I don't think either of us expected so many, so soon. Yikes! We are going to have alot of pickles. I'm going out today to see if I can find the seasonings we'll need. It's been awhile since I canned anything, so it will take me awhile to remember how to do it.

Our garden is really growing. We've already been able to pick some bell peppers and there are alot of tomatoes on the vine that aren't quite ready but YUMM when they are!

See my kitty. That's Sparky. She's my extremely mean and evil kitty. She decided to come outside and help me in the garden that day. She just recently got shaved, so that's why she looks alittle odd. She has really long cotton candy type hair - it's aweful!!!! So every summer, when she goes to the vet to get her shots, she also gets shaved and bathed (she is a mess by the time we get to the vet. She gets car sick, poops on herself - it's really gross.) She actually is way more friendly and even alittle nicer once she gets shaved. She's such a skinny minny without all her hair though. She only weighs 8 pounds.

And here's my pride and joy!!! Huckleberry Finn!! Yes, I know these pictures aren't very good. They are alittle blurry and grainy. All the really good pics I took had other kids in them as well, and I don't want to put their pics on the internet without parents permission. So I had to go with ones that I could crop to just show my son.

Last night was his school play/musical, "Tom Sawyer". It was AWESOME!! The cast of characters included kids from 3-4th grade as well as middle school. They all did such a fabulous job. I was so proud of them. Ben remembered all his lines and he projected so well. They had the little kids from K-2nd coming in to sing songs throughout the play and they were soooo cute. The music teacher did such a fabulous job with all these kids. What a hard job she has! If I had been her, I would have been a nervous wreck. She looked so composed though.

The first pic above shows him holding the box with the dead cat. He is talking to Tom (who you can't see) about how he is going to go to the graveyard to do a spell with the dead cat that will cure warts. He is asking Tom if he wants to go too - "of course, if you ain't afeard." "Afeard, says Tom, tain't likely." That was my favorite line of the play. LOL

The pic below is the graveyard scene. He's talking to Tom here also but again, I cropped Tom out.

I'm so proud of my boy! He worked so hard to memorize all his lines. We had such a great 4th grade year. Now school is out and it's time for summer fun!!

I have several projects in the works of things I'm going to be adding to my Handmade Whimzy shop. Some I'm still working out the details for - they are all sewn items. I'm very excited to be back behind the sewing machine!

My Gift Swap Gift to Deathlycute

As mentioned in a recent post, ETC just finished our 2nd quarter 1-1 gift swap. I've showed you the cute gift I received so now I'd like to show you the gift I sent. My Giftee was Michelle of DeathlyCute. She wrote in her profile that she loves Gone With the Wind and likes to decorate with purple.

So I made her this sweet pillow cover with a quote from Rhett Butler. I also wanted to give her husband "ideas" (wink, wink).

The white fabric is some that I picked up recently at the local Salvation Army Garage Sale - don't worry Michelle, I washed it first. The purple flowers were made from scraps and buttons. This was a great opportunity to practice my sewing and embroidery skills and I really enjoyed making it.

Michelle has received her pillow and says that she loves it! I'm so glad. This was a really fun swap!

A Boy and his dog

How sweet is that?

The dog (our Mac) was smiling before he saw I wanted to take his picture. SO cantankerous.

Gift Swap Gift

My Etsy Texas Crafters group is just finishing up our 2nd quarter 1-1 gift swap. I received my gift from Kelley of TatteredTapestry. She sent me an adorable business card holder and a key fob. I love the fabric that she used for both. So pretty and springy. Also, I had seen the fabric she used on the key fob and had been thinking about getting some to make me a skirt. So, then they would match!

If you haven't checked out Kelley's shop, you really should! You will be in for a real treat!

She has things for baby, things for the kitchen, toys for baby, and really pretty totes. I can tell you that the gift items she made for me were really well sewn and great quality. You will not be sorry with a purchase from her shop.
Isn't this baby onesie adorable?Love these kitchen towels!This pear and apple set would make a great baby shower gift.

Thanks so much Kelley! I loved your gift!!

What we did for Mother's Day weekend

Every year on Mother's Day weekend, here in Tyler, they have the Susan Komen Race for the Cure. It's always the Saturday before Mother's Day.

This is the second time my whole small family (my hubby, me and our son) has done the 5k together. I tell my son all the time that men can get breast cancer just like women, they just have less of a chance. Most men don't realize that they have breast tissue too. They think of breast cancer as a women's disease.

So here is a pic of me and my son after the race (we walked instead of running). DH is taking the picture. It really makes you feel like you've accomplished something to finish. I wonder how the people who do the 3 day race feel? Pretty good I'll bet.

When you look at this pic, remember that the camera adds 10 lbs. Plus, there's the other 10 that I'm trying to lose (I gained it this winter). So I'm really 20 lbs lighter than it looks in the picture. LOL

I'm glad that you can't see the red Gatorade that both me and my son spilled down the front of our race shirts. Isn't that sad? Neither one of us can walk and drink Gatorade at the same time.

I also want to give a shout out to Andrea of SmallMuse for featuring my Pink Pear Designs shop on her Cre8tiveJuice blog. Thanks so much for your nice compliments, Andrea!!

Help for Ducky

I've posted several times about Mac, our dog (officially he's my son's dog). We adopted Mac from an animal rescue group named Country Ladies Rescue. Mac is the best dog ever! So sweet and loving (and kinda lazy and fat). We are so thankful that the nice ladies at Country Ladies found our Mac and kept him for us until we could find him and bring him to his forever home. It wouldn't be the same around here without him.

Country Ladies Rescue has now merged with another rescue and the new name is Sheree's Dog Rescue. You can view their website here. I received their latest newsletter this weekend and was heart broken to read about a little dog named Ducky, a Yorkie/Maltese mix who was born with hydrocephalus. Ducky has alot of health problems and Sheree's Dog Rescue is trying to save his life so they can place him with a loving family. You can read Ducky's story here.
Sheree's is collecting money for the surgery that Ducky needs. The poor little guy has had a really hard life up to this point.

You can keep track of Ducky's progress on his blog. Let's all send positive thoughts and prayers Ducky's way. He is one of God's creatures, after all.

What I gave for Mother's Day!

As you know, I've been working on my sewing skills lately. I wanted to make my mother and my mother in law something handmade for Mother's day, so I chose to make them potholders. Something pretty and useful.

I found this pretty bird fabric at Hancock's Fabric that was white with black birds. I decided to applique a bird on the front in a turquoise color to give it a POP. Plus, I LOVE this turquoise color, though I'm never sure if I should call it turquoise or aqua. This one actually looks more Tiffany blue to me.

I think the finished product was pretty good although not perfect. My machine HATES sewing on seam binding for some reason. It completely freezes up. Is that just because my machine is cheap and crappy? Or because it's about to die? Or do all machines hate sewing on seam binding? I just don't know. But the binding that I sewed around the edges didn't come out like I had hoped.

I drew the bird out myself and hand stitched around it (after using fusible bonding). My hubby suggested using the red thread which I think was a GREAT idea.

I used two layers of Insul bright inside the potholders. I'm hoping this will help keep the heat off the hands. I have some handmade potholders that I think the maker just used batting in. They are not good for lifting hot pans out of the oven - and after all, isn't that their intended purpose?

The last picture shows the "plain" potholders that I made to go with the appliqued one. So each mom got one birdie and one plain potholder. I like the way I did the "plain" ones. I think it worked out well and my machine liked sewing them better since there was only seam binding on one side.

Sorry my pics are a little fuzzy. They looked fine on my camera but when I uploaded them, they were fuzzy. Weird.

My MIL liked her gift but I haven't given my mom her's yet. She's a much better seamstress than me so I'm sure she'll be able to catch all the flaws. But at least they are made with love (not mass produced in China).

Happy Mother's Day to all the mother's out in ciber world. We have the hardest but most rewarding job on the planet.

An early Mother's Day Gift and a great gift from a friend

As everyone knows, Sunday is Mother's Day. While searching through my son's backpack on Wednesday, looking for homework, I found this awesome picture. He had colored it for me during art class in his spare time. I wasn't suppose to see it until Sunday. OOPs!

But I LOVE it. It's so sweet. He's my little Rembrandt.

On another note, I received this awesome coupon in the mail from Liz of Lavenderlizard and Lavenderladybug. Thanks so much Liz!! What a great and wonderful surprise.

I'm going to use it to buy some fake fur and materials needed to make a dead cat. Why would anyone need a fake dead cat you ask? Because my wonderful and talented son is Huckleberry Finn in his school play and we have to provide our own props.

Anyhoo, if you've never checked out Liz's shops, now is your chance. Her Lavenderlizard shop is for all her crocheted items such as spa scrubbies, dish scrubbies, tape measure cozies, lip balm holders and of course, gorgeous scarves.

Lavenderladybug is her supply shop where she sells stamps, craft kits and her wonderful handmade embellishments. I used Liz's great crocheted flowers on a beautiful pillow that I made for my bedroom. See my pillow project here.

Liz's embellishments are now sold in Kraft Girl Kits for scrap booking and card making. Congratulations Liz!! You Rock!

Happy Anniversary to Me and my babe!!

Today we are celebrating our 18th wedding anniversary. Boy, have the years flown by. I don't have a scanner or I would scan in our wedding pic but I do have this one for you. It was taken in March of this year at Disneyland standing in front of the Materhorn.

We look alittle older and wiser in this picture than we did in our wedding photos. LOL But I think we're holding up pretty good. We haven't strangled each other yet anyway, so that's a plus.

So Happy Anniversary Babe! I hope there are many more.

1st Monday SALE!

It's time again for Etsy Texas Crafter's First Monday Sale! Where does the time go? It's May already!

I am having a Buy One, Get One 50% off sale (second item must be of equal or lesser value) in both my Handmade Whimzy and Pink Pear Designs shops!

For more great ETCers sales, click this thread. There are 92 shops participating this month and many of them are new and have never participated before.

Some are offering really great bargains. So get out there and hunt up a bargain! It's not to late to get something for Mother's day. Or just something for yourself!

I can't believe I haven't blogged since Monday! And today is Friday! How did that happen?

This has been one of those weeks that are unaccounted for. Do you know what I mean? The kind where you were super busy, never sat down, but you aren't real sure what you did all week.

Especially today. I had planned to spend all day at home working on the skirt that I've been working on forever, starting my swap project, making a pair of earrings that I've had pictured in my mind all week, taking some pics and maybe doing some etsy and artgaragesale shop listings.

What did I do instead? I'm not sure. I did get my hair cut - YAY! I did some errands. Then, this afternoon, I had to take my son to swim lessons because DH got tied up at work.

Now it's almost 9 pm and I'm too tired to do any of my projects. There's always tomorrow.

At least I can show you a picture of my skirt project. I love my wrap skirts that I've been making but I thought I'd be brave and try an actual pattern. So here is the pattern and fabric on the day I was cutting out the pieces.

I had to redo the waistband but otherwise, it's done. I'll get pics up of it as soon as I can. I'm very proud of myself for following a pattern.