Made on Monday....Disney Edition:)

I know....Wednesday again....maybe I should call it Whipped up on Wednesday or something!  But 5 kids and school drama made Monday and Tuesday unfocused days for me and so here I am with a clear mind and ready to share.

Disney makes me happy!  We love Disney and are in the midst of planning another trip for our family.

October  2013 trip

I love to share the products we use on our trips in my shop with you!  I have a couple new products to share this year too!  It seems that so many of my friends and shop followers are getting ready to plan trips for the summer so I've been really busy sewing and dreaming of MAGICAL DAYS!

We usually travel with Grandma Smith or friends....either way, we have lots of people and I for one am NOT carrying all that stuff.  Big kids each get a backpack and they carry their own stuff: Water bottle, snacks, pin lanyards when they aren't trading or when we go on rides.

I have FIVE back pack bags to choose from now!

The Originals:  Mickey Pants and Minnie in Red Dots

But I will now be offering another choice for the BOYS!

Red Bag with Mickey Head *embroidery extra*

 And for the Minnie Mouses, I can do the bags in Pink

 Or PURPLE!  The purple fabric is in limited supply, so if you are thinking purple, think fast, because once it is gone....it is gone.

Bags can all be purchased here.

Now that everyone is carrying their own stuff, what do we do to combat this:

Hand out snacks of course!

Nothing beats the blues like being hungry and my kids are willing to eat anything I serve (carrots and apples:) if it comes in a cute Disney inspired snack bag.

 Tabs are perfect for helping little ones open bags themselves and give them something to hold on to while they eat their snack.  Gusset on the bottom keeps the bags open for filling and eating!

So they are carrying their own stuff and they have a snack, now lets get to seeing characters and having our pictures taken and getting autographs!  Maybe you have them sign a book or picture.  But my kids never got much use out of those or they got lost and it seemed like a lot of work for something we didn't use after our trip.   

So now you can have your favorite characters sign a canvas tote bag that can be used to help carry stuff in the parks and library books or anything once you get home!

Prepping to have Tiana sign a tote bag.

So get your Sharpie ready and after the picture, have them sign your bag!

Characters can sign the front and back of your bag.  You can add a piece of cardboard to the bag to make it more stable for signing and to be sure the ink doesn't go through....but we didn't do either and our bag was ok.

Bags all have the same Mickey applique done on the front with the tiny dotted fabric.  If you have a custom request, let me know:)

Choose from pink, red or cream.

Great to hang from the stroller with snacks in, if your kids are too small to have their own back pack.

I'm tuckered out just thinking about our busy days at the parks!  But I have learned over the years, that being organized at the start of the day and throughout our trip, makes our days much smoother.

Seems the only thing left to do is pack.  Be sure to grab a luggage tag so you know whose bag belongs to whom!  Check out these cute tags for your suit case, diaper bag or even to hang on your stroller.

So whether you are traveling with small ones and just need tags and a bag to carry it all,  

Or everyone is going to carry their own stuff,

Or this is your first trip and you need the whole set,

Head over to the shop and get all the goodies you need for your up coming adventure!

Made For Monday....Union Soldier

 So Monday came and went with a holiday, so I'm a little late with this post, but with good reason.  Our weekend included a special "double digit" birthday!

My Kate turned 10!

And that birthday included an Amazing Race Game around the neighborhood with friends.

And there was a LOT of swimming with LOTS of friends!

So it's Wednesday and I"m catching up....

*I only do custom orders like this for dear friends who are local

 A couple weeks ago.....I got a text from a friend's son that read:

"Hey it's *******!  I need a costume made for a project and was wondering if you could make it for me.  Dad would pay you!"  I was laughing so hard, I had to text his mom and tell her how sweet her 14 year old is.  Mom informed me Dad would need a quote first:)

He needed a Union Soldier Costume for a reenactment video he did with classmates.This was the design that we settled on for inspiration.  Difficult to wing a pattern, but I was luck enough to have  friend that had a similar costume jacket pattern and I got started.  I had to adjust the collar and the front opening, but otherwise the pattern worked good.  

The entire jacket is lined and I put interfacing in it as well to help it hold shape since he wanted a really light weight fabric.  It's hot in Texas already, y'all! I think it worked well to make the jacket appear to be "thicker" like the wool that they would have been made out from.

Hand stitched some braiding onto the sleeves to make them pop.

Dull brass buttons to finish it off.

I was pretty pleased and so was this young man.  In the end, this young man picked the way he wanted the uniform to look and paid for it HIMSELF!  So glad that parents are teaching their children the value of money and responsibility at such a young age.

How'd I do?

*Confession: I am no good at button holes and had to ask a very dear friend to help me out.....maybe she can give me lessons on button holes this summer.

Happy Wednesday, Y'all!

Made for Monday

Yikes!  It has been a year since I updated the blog.....goes to show that LIFE is happening around here and the girls have kept me very busy:)

I'm trying to bring it back one Monday at a time at least.  Sometimes I feel like just posting one picture on facebook doesn't do it justice....so I'm trying to share a little more...on Mondays!

I've been doing a lot of custom orders for friends lately and this one was a favorite. 

They told me what they wanted....very detailed....and I figured out the fabric requirements for the pattern I made.

And they were off to the fabric store to pick out their own fabrics.  As the story was told, they were like kids in the candy store!  And everyone wanted to know what they were making!  I LOVED how one picked mixed patterns and the other was very matchy-matchy with the chevron. 

 I'm a total sucker for chevrons!

Have you figured out what they wanted me to make for them?

 These girls are new members of "The Dave Ramsey" club!

One girl wanted 6 pouches and one wanted 8 pouches (which is why one has more than the other.

If you aren't familiar with Dave Ramsey, it is a financial change you make to life.  Living in a budget that is based on categories and cash.  Each "envelope" is for a different category.  Once the grocery money for the month is gone....it is gone.  My husband and I did this when we first got married and were very strict, but did our finances on the computer.  I like the idea of the cash in the envelope and taking it to the store though.

 So each "envelope" I made is big enough for cash and receipts.  The back side has a luggage tag clear pocket on the back, so that they could label each one.  I love that they wanted the zipper instead of a envelope flap look.  That way you are sure to have all your money and coins stay put.

Each set of "envelopes" fits into this carrying case.

 Half on each side and then an elastic closure.

 I'm so glad they picked an even number of envelope pouches.  Working with odd numbers would have thrown me all off!

The carrying case is a little big right now, because these envelopes did not come prefilled:)

I left extra room for the case to expand as they put their money into each envelope!

I love this idea and have it in the works to make a similar set for myself at some point, but use it differently.  I'm always needing to keep my receipts organized for medical and the shop and groceries and stuff, so I'll probably use mine more for organizing myself and a little budgeting organization too.  Great visual aid to teach my children that the entertainment envelope is empty and we can't go to a movie or out to eat or stop for ice cream!

Thanks for stopping by and.....

Happy Monday!

Summer Schedule

Hey guys!

This last weekend, I closed up the shop and we went camping!  It was nice to get away, but it also reminded me that school is winding down and pretty soon I will have all my girls at home, ALL day, or be running them around town for all their different activities!

Instead of closing up shop to spend the summer with them like I've done in the past, I'm going to try something new.

First:  This will be the last week to custom order anything.  So if you want something, get it or send me a message and lets get it made!

Second:  Starting June 1, the shop will only contain items that are ready to ship.  Ready to ship items will ship within 48 hours, or Monday morning if you order over the weekend.

 I will continue sewing during the summer, but I won't have a regular schedule.  There will be regular shop updates.  Any time I add or update, I'll post it on facebook.

Third:  I will post each week, on facebook, what I'm working on.  Example:  June 1-7, I will work on superhero capes.  Once I post that, you can put in a request and I will reserve that listing for you.  I will not take requests outside of what I'm sewing for that week (example would be requesting a lunch kid while I"m sewing capes) and I don't yet have a lists of when and what I will be sewing through the summer, yet.  There are entire weeks that we will be gone or have company and I won't sew at all.

I will start out with popular items in the beginning of the summer and then move to the back to school items towards the end.

Shop will open up as usual in August when the girls are back in school.  I may open earlier if I feel like I can handle the load with the girls home:)

So place your summer orders and get out and enjoy the sunshine!

May Napkin of the Month

There are so many things that I love about my best friend....

 Her love and her smile and her laughter are infectious!  You just can't be grumpy around her!

She sends virtual coffee from MN to TX.  How cool is that!  Sometimes we each sit with our coffee in the morning and chat...with screaming kids in the background!

{her crew of 7}

Oh yeah....she has 5 kids just like me and we can sympathize with each other when our days are crazy and our lives feel messy and out of sync.  She gets it....and she understands.  And since she loves a good surprise in the mailbox....she is always willing to wait for her napkins.

I had so hoped that each month her napkins would arrive on the 1st and there would be such fun in waiting for that.  But sometimes that doesn't happen....most months that doesn't happen:(  And that's ok.  She gets it and I love that about her.  She knows that customer orders and school costumes and family come first for me and THEN her beloved napkins:)

{my crew of 7}

And these napkins are ALWAYS worth the wait:)

I bet you all thought that since April showers, or umbrellas, would be followed by May flowers.  But May flowers just aren't MANLY.  And I try to be fair to the men in their house, so this month is dedicated to Noah and his Dad, who put up with 5 other girls every day!

{tell us how you REALLY feel about having so many sister, Noah!}

 Mustaches and Dark Blue!  Very boy if you ask me and it totally fits the craze of mustaches that is going around.  I know that they love the stache at their house, so this should make dinner super fun!

I love that each napkin has so many different staches.  I was looking for the repeats in the fabric to keep it mixed and there hardly is any!

When I think of a mustache, I like these two above.  Simple and clean!

 The top one here reminds me of the Lorax and the bottom one....do mustaches actually scallop?

No way could I like someone who had these!

Hoping I get a thumbs up from Noah this month!  I can just hear Brenna at dinner tonight,

AND....because I was on such a roll with her napkins the other day, I also made her JUNE set!

They'll have to wait, but I stuck it in the mail with May and they can leave it on the counter and anticipate the reveal:)