My 15 Minutes of Fame!!! WooHoo!!

Spring Issue

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My "Shag Bag"

The most exciting things can happen when you least expect them! I have been featured in "Haute Handbags" magazine (spring issue) along with a number of talented handbag designers. Many fellow estians are featured by Sommerset publications. If you have never seen one of their magazines, you are in for a real treat! They have been around since about 1994 (I started with "Sommerset Studios" back then), and have added numerous publications on all things handmade. The pictures are glorious and articles well written!  I can't tell you how flattering it was to be contacted by the  editor, and asked if I would be interested in submitting my "Shag Bag". Oh HECK yes!! It was a long wait, (since last fall), to see the issue and make sure I was not "bumped" or something horrible! After all, I did tell all of my family and friends. Now I can announce it to the world. I've been published!!!  How fun it that?!?! All of my hard work and designing was noticed by someone! So, thank you Beth, for finding me and making it happen. And do take a look!!

Friday Funny

PROOF THAT MEN REMEMBER!                                                   
                                                                            
 A woman awakes during the night to find that her husband is not in bed.    
 She puts on her robe and goes downstairs to look for him. She finds him    
 sitting at the kitchen table with a hot cup of Cocoa in front of him. He   
 appears to be in deep thought, just staring at the wall. She watches as he 
 wiped a tear from his eye and takes a sip of his Hot Cocoa.                
                                                                            
 'What's the matter, dear?' she whispers as she steps into the room, 'Why   
 are you down here at this time of night? The husband looks up from his     
 Cocoa , 'It's the 20th Anniversary of the day we met'. She can't believe   
 he has remembered and starts to tear up.                                   
                                                                            
 The husband continues, 'Do you remember 20 years ago when we started       
 dating? I was 18 and you were only 16,' he says solemnly. Once again, the  
 wife is touched to tears thinking that her husband is so caring and        
 sensitive. 'Yes, I do' she replies.The husband pauses. The words were not  
 coming easily. 'Do you remember when your father caught us in the back     
 seat of my car?' 'Yes, I remember' said the wife, lowering herself into a  
 chair beside him. The husband continued. 'Do you remember when he shoved   
 the shotgun in my face and said, 'Either you marry my daughter or I will   
 send you to prison for 20 years?' 'I remember that, too' she replied       
 softly.                                                                    
                                                                            
 He wiped another tear from his cheek and said 'I would have gotten out     
 today.' 

Have a Great weekend!!                                                                  

The Lego King!

I see my son is still playing with Lego's! He has about 5 boxes of them in my garage from his childhood. (Wait a minute, he has his own garage! Sounds like we have a project coming up this summer.) Any way, Legos were the greatest invention ever. Tom spent HOURS building the most clever things from them. Good thing he saved them all for his kids, we must have $10,000.00 worth! LOL. They are not cheap! Go Tom!

A Quite week........still waiting..

Well, its been a full week now since I've been up in Portland awaiting the birth of my grandson. I've cleaned, cooked, mended and talked and talked with my daughter and son-in-law. The weather has been great, alot of sun. I've been watching the trees slowly budding into leaves, and getting in daily walks. The foliage up here is so different from Sacramento, all mossy and alot of ferns. I don't know if I've ever seen ferns growing out of a tree before!
I've managed to do a little sewing. I finished covering a cushion on a rocking chair I gave to" C " (my daughter). A project that was about 4 years in the making! Glad that finally got done...I found a little fabric store not far from her house that I can actually drive to without getting lost (yay). I brought a ton of stuff in my suitcase, fabric and such, but it surprising how much you can miss the little things. Like pins! and buttons, and trims, an ironing board.....and my cat, Billee and my select comfort bed!!
So, we wait..trying to stay busy. It's been good. I miss having the kids close by and it will be worse once the baby is born. It will be hard having to go back home again without them.

My First Giveaway- Guess the Birthdate of my Grandchild!!

While we are awaiting the arrival of little "Alexander", up here in Portland, I decided it would be a good time to have my first giveaway. I needed sometime to do to pass the time anyway! So, the premise is simple, guess the time and date of my grandchild's birth and you will win this lunch tote I just finished. These are the same size lunch totes that I sell in my ETSY store.

THE PRIZE!!
Guess the time and date of birth, The closest guess will WIN!! 

Here are a few facts to help you out. My daughter is healthy, the baby is probably over 8 lbs. Her actual due date is March 26. This is her first child.

These are the rules:

• You must be a follower of this blog
• You must post your guess of the date and time of birth
• You must post your guess before 3:00 pm Pacific Standard time, tomorrow, March 20,extended thru March 23, 2010
• In case of a tie, I will pick the winner by randomly choosing the name out of a bag.
• Make sure you leave a link back to some place that I can reach you

I will make the announcement after my grandson is born and send you the bag as soon as possible after that! good luck and hopefully this will happen quickly! People are getting VERY anxious around here!!!! I sure hope I covered everything.... Thanks for playing.      -  debi

Taking spring with me.....

Since "Spring has Sprung" here in Sacramento, (its supposed to be in the 70's this week!), I thought I'd better bring a little reminder up to cold and raining Portland!

 my eastern red-bud tree

 lavender

 there is always Trader Joe's to the rescue!

Going AWOL....or temporary insanity?

Well, the next few days will be spent tying up lose ends and packing for an undetermined length of time up in Portland. As some of you know, we are anxiously waiting the birth of the new grandbaby, due the end of March. I got the call today that my daughter needs me now..She needs me! She really, really needs me! Ok, Sally, calm down! I'm so excited to be going up there and will keep you posted, I should have a contest guessing the birth date....I've been having such a hard time concentrating on anything, lately, though. I can't even imagine how my daughter is feeling. Maybe with two half functioning brains working together, we can get things calm and ready! Anyway, I probably won't be posting again till sometime next week and wanted you all to know why.  One more thing, I am planning on keeping the Etsy store open. My husband has volunteered to send out any orders that come in (shouldn't be too hard, haven't had any as of late). So I hope I can get that all ready for him! (and pray he can do it right) LOL!
Wish us luck! Talk to you all soon.
oxox-debi

babies, babies, babies...

I think I  am done making baby things, for now. My daughter's best friend is due the same time she is (how fun is that!), so I made a pillow and bib with a Peter Rabbit theme for her to-be, baby girl. I also bought some little wash clothes from Lulu and Charlie  luluandcharlie.etsy.com.  I had no idea crochet yarn could be so soft!!! Check out her store for beautiful crocheted blankets, hats and lots of other cute (and soft) baby items. What a great gift, paired with a natural soap from Greenlovestore.etsy.com , that baby will be clean and soft!

I really have to think about packing now, so when I get the call, I can be ready to spend some time with my new grandson!!  NO MORE PROJECTS, (for a minute or two)

Sneak Preview - Part Two

I finished the project I was working on. It is a new diaper bag (or messenger) that I will be listing on etsy this week. It is so cute! What do you think? Are you working on fun things this week? I love the idea of sharing our creations on our blogs. It is so inspiring to me to see what everyone does. Have a great day!!   debi

This is the back

 

Lots of inside pockets!

 

Sneak Peak

I fell in love with this fabric and HAD to have it! Wonder what it's going to be? Check back in a day or so.......I'll let you know!

Chalkcloth banner - tutorial

I noticed that there are alot of banners or buntings available now days. I used to buy the paper ones for different occasions when my kids were young.  Since I've been using chalk cloth in some of my lunch totes, I've come up with a re-usable banner idea I'd like to share. I love chalk cloth. You can use chalk or chalk pens on it, erase and rewrite. Very versatile stuff! This is easy and no sew, if you chose. I sewed.

First of all you need:

• chalk cloth
• 2 sided printed fabric (so the back side of project looks good too)
• fabric glue
• small grommets
• hammer
• string or ribbon

Cut a size or shape of the fabric piece, anything you want. Mine was about 9" x 11". Then cut the same shape about 1" smaller (for the chalkcloth). That way there is a trim of fabric that shows around the chalk cloth.

Now glue the chalk cloth unto the fabric, just around the edges. I found that the glue sometimes showed thru the fabric on the backside, so only glue around the edge of the chalk cloth! When the glue dries, you can add a decoratvie stitch around the edge if you like. (look close and you can see the glue marks on this one)

 

Then I added grommets on the top so I could thread string or ribbon through the banners to hang it.

Now you have a great re-usable banner for any announcement. The back side can be used for blank spaces because it has a print on it! Fun for parties or birth announcements, or Holidays! With St. Patrick's Day and Mothers Day and Easter coming up, you'll be using these alot. Have fun making your own!  (in my archives you will find a tutorial on how to prep chalk cloth and use the pens)

Do You Give 100%? - Thought for the Day

Here is a little something someone sent to me that is indisputable mathematical logic. It also made me Laugh Out Loud.
This is a strictly mathematical viewpoint...it goes like this:

What makes 100%? What does it mean to give MORE than 100%? Ever wonder about those people who say they are giving more than 100%? We have all been to those meetings where someone wants you to give over 100%. How about achieving 103%? What makes up 100% in life?

Here's a little mathematical formula that might help you answer these questions:

If:
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

is represented as:
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26.

Then:
H-A -R -D-W-O -R -K
8+1+18+4+23+15+18+11 = 98%

and

K -N -O -W-L -E-D-G-E
11+14+15+23+12+5+4+7+5  = 96%

But,

A-T -T -I -T -U -D-E
1+20+20+9+20+21+4+5 = 100%

And,

B -U -L -L -S -H -I -T
2+21+12+12+19+8+9+20 = 103%

AND, look how far ass kissing will take you...

A-S -S -K -I -S-S -I -N-G
1+19+19+11+9+19+19+9+14+7  = 118%

So, one can conclude with mathematical certainty, that while Hard Work and Knowledge will get you close, and Attitude will get you there, it's the Bullshit and Ass Kissing that will put you over the top.

Now, go forth and have a great day! 

Another diaper bag!

My daughter's best friend is due almost the same time she is. How fun is that! Unfortunately they don't live in the same state right now, but they are making the best of it. I was commissioned to make a diaper bag for her too, and just finished it out of fabric she chose. I hope it's a winner!

 

This is the front

  

Here is the back

  

and the inside.

I've been working on another fun  project and hope to post a tutorial soon! Have a great evening!  

New for Kids

I've been asked a few times if I would make some lunch totes for kids. I thought it was a great idea, so I've finally come up with a few. I will be adding them to my shop this week. Its always fun to create new things and I am excited to see how these are received!

 

 

This next one I made for a friends fund raiser. Hope it is auctioned!!

 

Now back to work, still have another diaper bag to make for my daughter's best friend!