National Zipper Day!

Apparently April 29th was National Zipper Day!  Who knew?!?!?!?  I look to Hallmark for all my "holiday" notifications, so I was surprised when such a great day snuck up on me:)

I had this project looming and was just waiting on zippers.  So yesterday, I took a break from orders to sew with a ZIPPER!

I'm sort of floating in between carrying a diaper bag and getting to JUST carry a purse for the first time in 11 years!  This Fold Over Clutch is my answer.

Most of the time, I just toss my wallet and essentials in the diaper bag.  But, there are some rare days when I get out by myself and don't need or want to lug the diaper bag around. I needed a fun little purse to just carry my phone, keys and a few things.  I wanted it to be small enough for me to just toss in the diaper bag if necessary, but I also wanted it to be big enough to carry all of my essential items, when there is no longer a diaper bag hanging on my shoulder.

The corner suede patches are from an old jacket that was in my husbands donate pile.  SCORE!  I love upcycling!  And who doesn't love the big bright chevrons.  The red has sort of a "worn" look to it.  

Inside:  some chocolaty brown polka dots:)  I should show you my fabric cupboard some time.  I have almost as many polka dot fabrics as I do others!  It's an addiction and I can't say I'm sorry.  They are happy and fun and I love them:)

 I'm itching to get some use out of my new clutch.  Anyone want to grab some coffee or catch a movie?

Shock!!!

Imagine my shock a couple weeks ago, when I saw this photo come across my facebook feed!

My sister and brother in law took Jack to Disney for the first time.  Adam works there, so I knew that they would take him to see the place and show him off.  NO shock there.  BUT....Jack had his FIRST visit to Disney.....and he wore THAT!

No worries, Jack!  Auntie Rachel is on it and your Mickey shirt is in the mail!  Make sure they put you in it next time and tell them to take your Mickey burpie too so that you keep Mickey clean for the photo op!

 

Wonder Wear

Most of the things I sew for the shop, start out as necessity items at home....and this item is no different!  You may think it started with necessity and need, but you would be wrong.  It started with the fabric and a mistake!

{Bicycles by Michael Miller PUL}

I meant to order this as a laminated fabric...think raincoats.  I wanted it for another project I have coming in the wings:)  It came as PUL, which looking back at the invoice is what I ordered...by mistake.  I use PUL to line my wet bags.  Mine is just white on white.  This fabric is white on the back and printed on the outside.  I could use for wet bags, but you wouldn't see the bicycles, the way I would use it in the wet bag.

So what to do?

NEW PROJECT!

We are in the thick of it potty training here at our house....so keep wet from getting out....I got it!

This is my 4th daughter, Aubrey.  She is 4.5 years old.  She also has Down syndrome.  Some things in life have challanged her and some haven't.  Potty training has challanged us BOTH.  It isn't a matter of a couple days or a week of training to help her get the idea.  It has been MONTHS of trying to help her get the hang of it.

Her teacher was the brave one that said, "Let's do this!  Just send a lot of clothes with her."  GREAT!  But with a class of 10, and carpet in the classroom, she doesn't have time for constant puddles.  And with such a busy and large family, I don't have time for lots of puddle clean up all the time, either.

These WONDER WEAR undies have been a life/time saver for her teacher and us.

Made using Gerber underwear, these undies have an extra lining of flannel on the inside and the "waterproof" PUL on the outside.

The inside flannel provides extra absorbancy.  Edges are serged to prevent fraying when washed.

**Please note that these are not diapers/cloth diapers.  They do not prevent all leakage.  They are to prevent   constant puddle clean up.  I like to think of them as a cross between undies and pull ups.  We can easily help her pull up and down to use the potty with ease.  I hate messing with diapers when they are in the early stages of sitting and trying.  But less mess than real/regular undies.

Girls got skinny legs and these 2T undies are still a bit big for her, so she sometimes leaks down her pant legs, but it is rare that I have to even wash her shoes and I've never cleaned up a  puddle when she had the undies and pants on!  I don't mind laundry, but I hate constantly cleaning and sanitizing the floors.

We have 15 pairs of these at home right now!  It means I don't have to do laundry EVERY day.  Four weeks ago, on her first day at school potty training, she went through all 6 outfits I sent. This week, she has only had 2 accidents!  YEAH!

The tag in the back means she can easily learn how to put them on herself as well.

While potty training has not been easy, breezy, it has certainly been less messy this time around.  So glad that I have theses WONDER WEAR and my WET BAGS to keep us moving along in the right direction.

Right now, we still use diapers at night, but these are going to be wonderful when we are ready to ditch diapers forever.  A little extra protection for her sheets and bed at night, but giving her the "big girl" feel of panties.  Will be using these for long car rides as well.  Nothing worse than washing your carseat:(

Soon, very soon Aubrey, you will be a FULL time UNDIE wearing BIG GIRL!

On a side note:  All kids wear their rain coats inside while potty training too, right?!?!?!?!?

And now I offer them to you!  For right now, the WONDER WEAR will only be available in these two patterns.  If there is enough interest, I will purchase the PUL in other patterns.  

Questions for you:  How do you want them listed?  As a single pair?  As a set of 2 or 3?  What sizes?  Thinking just 2T and 3T.   Would love to have your imput as I get ready to list these.

Happy Friday!  May your weekend be WONDERful and DRY!

4th Month of Christmas-April

I'm late posting....and so are the napkins (sorry B, they are in the mail), but I'm here today on a cold and rainy Texas morning to share the April Napkin of the Month Gift I'm doing for my besty and her family!

April showers, May flowers is the way it goes and if it's going to rain, you are going to need UMBRELLAS!

And with a family of SEVEN, they need a lot of umbrellas!  But moms with kids need to multi task and they need products that multi task.  These umbrellas not only clear up grey skies, but they clean messy faces:)

 Dad and Mom Napkins.

And the 5 kids!  

Hoping that these napkins brighten their April days and chase away the rain...or snow...as I heard today:(

On the 4th Month of Christmas

My seamstress sent to me,

Colorful Umbrellas,

3 green leafed clovers,

2 hearts on fire,

And a cold penguin family!

Hoping your day isn't cold and rainy like ours:)

3rd Month of Christmas

It's March!  And that means another package of Napkins is on the way to my Bestie!

 This is the first time I have asked her for an idea.  With two holidays in one month (St. Patrick's Day AND Easter), I wanted to be sure that she got the holiday that she wanted.

She chose the Luck of the Irish!  I didn't want something too corney and I thought these fit the bill.

Unfortunately, this fabric did not lend itself to each child having their OWN color/napkin:)  So everybody got green on the back.

Hoping that there isn't too much fighting over the napkins, B!

"On the 3rd month of Christmas, my seamstress sent to me....
3 - Green leafed clovers,
2- Hearts on fire,
And a cold penguin family!"

*(please note:  I am a seamstress and NOT a poet.  It's simply all in the fun!)

I'll admit to having a problem throwing my scraps away.  I have three boxes of odd pieces of lots of fabrics.  "Someday, I'll need this."

I had a couple odd strips of shamrocks left over.  And I'd seen this "STAY PUT" Towel in a store.  GENIUS if you've got little ones pulling your kitchen towels off all day!

  So I used the leftover shamrocks to whip up this STAY PUT towel to go along with her napkins.

When her little one pulls down, the towel will stay put!  Finally, one less thing for my Bestie to have to pick up:)

Happy March!  Happy Friday!  Happy Shamrock Day!

February's last Friday Freebie - Napkins

***Freebie is at the end.

My best friend is continually trying to go GREEN in all areas of her life.  With 5 kids, that isn't easy, but she does an AMAZING job!

She has wanted to get rid of paper napkins for a LONG time.  That made Christmas easy for me!

She got "The Twelve Months of Christmas"!  Each month, I send her a set of reusable cloth napkins for her family.  These penguins are her January Set.

And I had to include a cute tag each month, you know, to the tune of the 12 Days of Christmas:
"On the first month of Christmas, my seamstress sent to me: A cold penguin family!"

I made them all the same so there would be no fighting....but there was worry about sharing someone ELSE'S germs by accident, I heard!

So for February's napkins, they each earned there OWN napkin.  I'm sure that stopped all the fighting between the kids at meals:)

 The kids napkins are just the right size for them 8.5" x 8.5".  Similar to a paper napkin.

The lone boy napkin!  It was hard to find "valentine" fabric for February that wasn't too girl for Noah and his dad.  I think this worked out and he was over the moon when he opened the package:)

The adult napkins are about 16"x16".  They are the same size as the sandwich wraps, but square.

My kids asked recently how old they have to be to get an adult napkin....I told them when they are an ADULT....like when you move out:)  I don't think they get it:)

"On the Second Month of Christmas, my Seamstress sent to me: 2 Heart Napkins and some more for the family."

Are you singing as you read?  Cause I am even as I type and now that song will be stuck in my head for the rest of the day:)

I'm sure you have guessed that this weeks FREEBIE is napkins.  I want to help you go green too and not just part of your lunch, but with the entire thing.  Take that last step and start using cloth napkins.

This week it is easy.  ONE small napkin FREE with any lunch kit or set of 3 snack bags purchased.  Napkin will be made to match.  If you would like to upgrade to an adult napkin, there will be a $2 fee (to cover extra material).

If you order two lunch kits, you get two napkins free, etc.  Easy to go green, huh?

Just leave me a note at checkout that says FREE NAPKIN PLEASE:)

Custom Baby Shower Burp Cloths

I love my friends.  They are my some of my biggest supporters.  They are creative and they have an eye for design.  They tell me when something is good....and when it is not.  They are good sounding boards for ideas and color schemes.

I have TWO friends who ALWAYS do their own thing and put their own twist on my designs.  They always know what they want and I'm the tool to sew it!

 "Double" Burp Cloth and Standard Burp Cloth

One almost always picks fabric for me to sew with.  I love it, because it puts her own personal touch on her gift.  Her friends are having BABIES and she likes to make those gifts very personal.

Standard Burp Clothes with Embroidery ON the fabric and in the corner of the cloth

The other just shows up with her own fabric and burp cloths and says, make burp clothes, do what you want, use some embroidery!  FREE REIGN!!!  YEOW!!!

Embroidery - Blue in Font #1

When she told me the baby's name would be Scarlett, I instantly thought of RED.  Who doesn't?  But I was so pleasantly surprised when she came with these fabrics.  I had to wrap my mind around a different color scheme, but I love me a challenge!

Bottom Block Burp Cloth with Circle Initial Embroidery

It gave me a chance to try some new designs with both the fabric and the embroidery.  It definitely challenged me.  And I doubted my choices more than once.  

Circle Embroidery with Initial - in Pink font #3

This was the only request.  An embroidery that has a decorative circle with an initial inside.  I love that she pushed me to try something new with my machine.  I stressed the entire time the machine was working and I hovered over it, but I think it turned out beautifully.  It's girly and fun and I'm gonna be using it a lot more!

Fully Backed Burp Cloth - Embroidery in Blue #5

This is my new FAVORITE!!!   I've wanted to do one like this for awhile, and just never had the chance.  I love that redesigning the burp cloth, allowed me to put her whole name on it and right in the center.  I also love how the fabric creeps around to the front giving you a little sneak peak at what is on the back.  

So fun to work on this last week!  Baby Scarlett joins the world soon and I hope that she loves her new accessories:)

Week 3 FREE Friday!

Batman Mask: Available in Black or Pink

I haven't sewn a cape all week!  That is almost unheard of around these parts, so I think we need to remedy that this week.

Masks available in  many colors!

FREE MASK with any cape purchase this week!  Buy one cape, get one mask free!  Buy two capes, get two masks free!  And so on:)

Stock up on capes and masks for Birthday Parties and Easter Baskets!

Capes come in 4 sizes:  Newborn (great for pictures), Small, Standard, and Large.

Masks are one size, and fit most kids (they have elastic in the back), but can be customized for each superhero!  Just send me a head size (around the eye line), and we'll make it smaller or bigger!

 So fly on over to the shop and pick out your cape and mask!

Details:

1.  FREE MASK offer is good on NEW orders only.

2.  Offer Expires on Thursday, February 21, 2013 at 11:59pm.

3.  Leave me a note at checkout with:

     *style (boy, girl, batman)

     *color

Zip on over to the shop and get your orders in SUPER quick!