Pretty Paci Clips

I love pacifiers. I do. They kept my world spinning round and round when both of my little one's were new (& they still help me with my little diva today). The invention of the pacifier clip was a dream-come-true for this little mama, and I quickly taught myself how to make them. I made a bunch for Hayden, some for friends and family, and now I have some new ones for my Etsy shop. The pics below are of the two I added today. I am in love with them!! If Noah was a baby right now, that little birdie would not have ended up in the shop. It would be clipped on to my munchkin as I type this. The little oink oink is so sweet & girly with that sparkly little flower in her hair. She reminds me of my Hayden. Sigh. Anyway, I have a few more to add over the next couple of days so go check 'em out (http://www.oohlalaco.etsy.com/)

Happy crafting people! xo
Linkin up at Sew Chatty :)

Craft Fair or BUST!

Craft Fair?? BUST!! Ha ha. My sis-in-law and I did a craft fair this past weekend. It was a Harvest Festival at a local church and while we didn't know what to expect, we had high hopes. Our booth was filled primarily with her awesome craft kits, and a few of my clippies were sprinkled around (you know, for an impulse buy). It was pretty slow, but still a fun experience. We met some nice people like Barbara from Daily Whisper (her stuff is super super great), and we had some quality "sister" time without our noisy kids buggin' us. She sold 3 kits, I sold 3 clips, and now we can both send our kids to college (ha ha). Go check out Smart Bottom Kids people, you won't be sorry!!!

Look at all that crafty goodness. Yummy!

Check!

My little guy has been DYING to put the last check-mark on the chalkboard. DYING! He has been asking about daily since about mid-September.

Check! Ha ha. Apparently I need to show him how to make an official "check" mark. I think it looks cute though :)

After we checked off the final item, the list was erased and this spooky scene appeared. That orange blob towards the bottom is Noah's version of a spooky happy face. SPOOKY!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN people!!! xo

"Initial" Intervention

I LOVE INITIALS! No need to be subtle or quiet about it. I do! Initials. Monograms. Full names. If it's personalized, I am sure to LOVE it. Seriously - I may need a support group for this. This first shot is of my "gallery" in our living room - "R for Richardson"

This is over my crafting desk in the den - "A. A. A. for Ali"

This is in the hall leading to the kitchen. " J-Josh, A-Ali, N-Noah, H-Hayden" Our whole family in initials. Oh yeah!

Baby sister's room - "H. H. H. H. for Hayden" and I'm embarrassed to admit that I have 2 more "Hs" in the works as we speak. See..... S-u-p-p-o-r-t G-r-o-u-p.

Big Brother's Room - "N for Noah" (p.s. that swatch of brown fabric with white polka dots is from his nursery when he was an itty bitty baby. Sigh.)

Me again. How else would you know where I sleep!? Duh! "A for Ali "- again.

And even the hubby gets his bed-side labeled (you know, in case he forgets which side of the bed is his) "J for Josh." I also currently have the letters EAT in progress and once I finish those, they will go in my kitchen. Not quite the same thing, but definitely on the border. So you see. Issues! I don't think there is actually a cure for my disease though. Every time I see a letter that relates to one of my special people, it has to come home with me. Whether I buy it, make it, steal it (ha ha, j/k), it will be mine! I could think of a billion worse things to be addicted to I guess, and I am not currently a danger to myself or others. So for now I will continue "tagging" our house with our letters. I'll run out of wall space eventually, right? Ha ha. I know. I know.

My Saturday Night.

If you are someone like me (we're a rare breed to say the least), these pictures makes you smile. If you are of the other breed, these pictures make you feel really really sad for me. Either way, it sort of needs an explanation. First, my hubby is a (HOT) firefighter. This means that he works 24 hour shifts about every other day. BUT, when you are a young family with 2 kids, a mortgage, car payment, etc and are trying to survive on one income, sometimes that 24 hour shift turns into a 72 hour shift. That was the case this past weekend. Sigh. While my hubby worked Fri-Sun, the kiddos and I had to fend for ourselves. We kept busy most of the weekend. Spent some time with family members, went to a friend's Halloween party. I even went to an Estate Sale (which was a total bust by the way. I definitely am NOT in the market for old lady designer clothes or collector dolls). Anyway, even though we were missing our man, we hung in there and made it work. Saturday night comes along, and what is a crafty girl to do? Kids are in bed, Hubby is out saving lives, and here I sit. Alone. With my glue gun :)

See....I'm sort of in "production mode" these days. My sis-in-law and I are doing a craft fair this coming Saturday at a local church. The booth will primarily feature her awesome Kid-Kits, but I thought it would be fun to sprinkle some of my flower clips around in case anyone wanted a cute, cheap, impulse buy. Anyway, I have a ton of random flowers and goodies on hand so I thought I would get to work. It could have only been better if I had a bunch of Friends episodes saved on my dvr for background noise. Actually, I really enjoyed the quiet. It's rare around here so I soaked it all up. I was very productive and made a ton of clippies. If they don't sell at the craft fair, I'll be adding them to my etsy shop. Ok. That's enough rambling ;)

Clippies...

I'll be adding a few new clippies to my Etsy shop over the next couple of days so hop on over and check 'em out (see link on my sidebar). The ones pictured below are the ones that are already in the shop and ready to go. To be honest, I don't really sell many clips on Etsy. I love Etsy! I really really do. But there are SO many shops that sell them, it's sort of challenging. I definitely feel like mine are well priced and pretty cute, but it doesn't seem like enough to get in the game. No biggie of course, because if they sit around here long enough unsold, I just claim them for my baby girl Hayden. It's like an Etsy insurance policy or something. So you see, either I sell them and make a buck, or my baby girl gets extra fancy accessories. See, win win :)

My Craft Cabinet Runneth Over

Hi there, meet my craft cabinet! My craft cabinet has been with me since I started crafting. We had a pretty small condo when we first got married and all of my supplies fit perfectly inside it. Now a days, I have to get a little more creative in order to "stuff" it all in there, but it still gets the job done. In our condo, green was our accent color of choice. Now that we have a house, I tend to stick to more neutral colors and am going for more of a "beachy cottage/french chateau/Anthrolologie.....ok wait. Really, I don't really know what I'm going for. All I do know is that I'm over the green." Luckily, it's a super easy fix :)

First I removed the green fabric (which were old curtain panels from my college apartment). The cabinet doors didn't have any fabric to begin with. I think if I had a craft room, I would be fine with keeping it open. But, this cabinet lives in the center of my home so I think it looks too busy and messy without fabric.

At the moment, I'm fairly organized with my supplies. This is not always the case. Often times I have to brace myself as I open the doors so I can catch whatever falls out. It's actually a fun game sometimes, ha ha.

I got some cheapy muslin type fabric from Walmart. You can't tell in this picture really but it's a bit linen-burlap like and you can see some of the natural fibers. I really like the fabric, but if I'm being honest, it looks a bit boring. I'm fine with it for now, but down the road I may replace it with something that has a bit more texture and interest. Ideally, I would love for this cabinet to be white with the wrought iron panels removed. That's a much bigger project than I'm in the mood for at the moment, so this will have to do. I'm glad I checked this off my to-do list though, I've been meaning to do it since we moved here over a year ago.

I just used my glue gun to make some basic pleats at the top. I feel like this makes it look a bit more put together. All in all, I'm happy with it. Happy crafting people! XO