A custom ABC dress

I recently did a custom order for a little girl's ABC birthday party.  I just love how it turned out!!  Every little girl needs an Alphabet dress!

What would a birthday girl's party be without sweet little bows to match? 

Just keep sewing...

Hello, my dear blog readers!  I have not fallen off the face of the Earth!  I am currently 32 weeks pregnant with baby number four.  We are expecting a sweet little girl in April!  She's currently sporting my coffee cup, but to be honest, I can't wait to put a little frill on her!

While awaiting her arrival, I have been driven into serious nesting mode.  Have I mentioned that nesting is not totally compatible with my hips?? Because it's not.  At all.  My hips, apparently, are very angry with me for doing things like walking.  Even chiropractic care is no longer making a difference.  So to pass the time, I've started sewing again. 

I also started obsessing over Kindercarry.  Have you ever heard of the "Kinderpack?"  If you haven't, don't look it up. You'll be obsessed, too. They are only the most comfortable soft-structured baby carrier ever made.  They are also almost impossible to get your hands on, barring the Hand of God.. who apparently loved me a lot last week because I GOT ONE!  But I started making reversible drool pads

to go on them, too... like below.

And hair clips.  Because.

Have I mentioned that I love ruffles?  Anything including a baby butt and ruffles and it makes my heart swoon.  So Miss Hadlee will have a closet full of ruffles.  I made this ah-dor-able heart ruffle onesie for her a few months ago.  Now if only she would come and the weather would warm up......

Think warm thoughts, folks!

Love this sale!!!

I am all about finding a bargain for my kid's clothing (especially things like play clothes).  I found out about Kid's Closet Connection a few years ago and I've been hooked ever since!  I actually just signed up to consign some of my daughter's old clothes this year since baby number three is a BOY!  :)  This saves me the hassle of sitting outside for hours during a yard sale!  I just have to tag and drop off!  Super sweet!

Anyway, these consignment sales happen twice a year and I'm already giddy with anticipation for this spring sale.  :)  Check them out folks!!

Thank Goodness It's Friday!!!!!

I am so thankful that it's {almost} the weekend.  Not because I necessarily get a break from work during the weekend, but who doesn't love Friday??  I think the presence of another adult in the house for two.straight.days. helps a lot.  Those are the best times to disappear into my studio to get some serious work done without interruption!!!  Not that kids interrupt.  ;)

But since it's not quite the weekend, I'm busy working on a custom.  Zebra stripes, ruffles, hot pink, and Minnie Mouse!  What's not to love?!




What are your weekend plans??

Who Knew Rolled Flowers Were So Fun???

I rarely take time to do new crafts because my wonderful customers keep me busy!  :)  But I'm really having a blast creating new projects just so I can use rolled fabric flowers (see my earlier post here).  I feel like a craft explosion is about to happen in my house!  There are so many ideas I've had locked away.  I've been waiting on time to pursue them and well, time is never just going to happen.   I've been in a crafting rut, so to speak, since I started getting busy over a year ago.  But I've realized that creating NEW things makes it fun and much less "work."  So here's to less work and some new, exciting projects!!!



I have had this fabric in my stash for over a year, just waiting for something to be made out of it.  It was a leftover piece from a custom order and I could never figure out what to do with the 15 inches I had left.



But the rolled flowers kind of tie the whole thing together and I absolutely love it!

A Little Crafty: Rolled Fabric Flower

I have a ton of fabric scraps.  I do sell them occasionally but most of the time, it looks like a fabric fairy threw up in my scrap box.  I've been searching all over the place for a way to get more hours in the day to DO something with my scraps.  Surprisingly, no good tutorial in the world could help me stretch time by even an hour..... So what's a girl to do with a ton of fabric scraps and hardly any free time?  

Today that little bit of time turned into a rolled fabric flower.  It took me ten minutes to make one.  Well, I did a practice one first, unraveled it because it sucked, and then tried again with prettier fabric!  This whole entire process was made all the less stressful because of the fabulous tutorial I found over at My Sparkle!  She gives great detailed photos and concise directions.  It made it super easy, even for a timeless, stressed momma like me!!!   



All I needed was a one inch strip of fabric (I used one that was 42" long for a finished flower 1.5" in diameter), my fingers, and a little fabric glue.  I'm a big fan of Fabri-Tac.  :)

So easy and really, really cute!  Now I just need to make more and put them on something!  A tank top, a headband, a book cover, a Starbucks coffee sleeve!  The possibilities are endless.  :) 

Get By With A Little Help From Your Team!

No and I'm not talking about your football team... although I am watching! ;)  I'm talking about the EtsyKids team!  It's been forever and a day since I've updated my blog.  I'm so sorry, loyal followers, that you've been so neglected!  I thought that a good kick off to the reposting would be a tribute to a few EtsyKids team members!  What is the EtsyKids team, you may ask?  They are a fantabulous group of creative hand makers who make items that are geared towards... come on!  You can guess this!!  Kids!  ;) If you want to see all kinds of amazing items, be sure to click on the link to see the awesome shopping guides!  For all you bloggies, check out the EtsyKids Blog, too!

This particular post has all team member items but it's geared towards -YOU, moms!  Let me tell you why!!

Because it's true...


Because I personally would not get through the day without a cup of Joe.. or whatever else you might decide to put in your so-glad-I-thought-of-it-ahead-of-time concealed container..


Because it's quiet and mommy's headache is bad enough..


And just because that tired mommy needs her rest in order to have enough patience for tomorrow..

We Have A Winner!

Congratulations to Mom's Just Wana Have Fun!!! You have won the giveaway!!!! Email me at butterflybabyplace@gmail.com to claim your prize!

 

Even if you didn't win, use code MOMROCKS for a 15% discount at my regular store!!!  

 

Happy Mother's Day (it's a giveaway)!!!

In honor of Mother's Day, I'm giving away a $25 GC to my shop! 

To enter, just tell me your favorite thing about being a mom!! 

Follow my blog for an extra entry!  LEAVE A SEPARATE COMMENT if you do this!

Winner will be selected on Monday!

Even if you don't win, use code MOMROCKS for a 15% discount at my regular store!!!  

Grace

I normally don't mix religion and my work, although I am a Christian.  I was hesitant to post this on my blog because I didn't know how people would react.  A verse from Matthew came to mind...

Matthew 10:32 Whosoever therefore shall confess me before men, him will I confess also before my Father which is in heaven.  33 But whosoever shall deny me before men, him will I also deny before my Father which is in heaven.

I'm not sure why I felt the need to post this today, but maybe it will touch just one of you, reading this today.

There once was a man named George Thomas, pastor in a small New England town. One Easter Sunday morning he came to the Church carrying a rusty, bent, old bird cage, and set it by the pulpit. Eyebrows were raised and, as if in response, Pastor Thomas began to speak....

"I was walking through town yesterday when I saw a young boy coming toward me swinging this bird cage.. On the bottom of the cage were three little wild birds, shivering with cold and fright.

I stopped the lad and asked, "What do you have there, son?"

"Just some old birds," came the reply.

"What are you going to do with them?" I asked.

"Take 'em home and have fun with 'em," he answered. "I'm gonna tease 'em and pull out their feathers to make 'em fight. I'm gonna have a real good time."

"But you'll get tired of those birds sooner or later. What will you do then?"

"Oh, I got some cats," said the little boy. "They like birds. I'll take 'em to them."

The pastor was silent for a moment. "How much do you want for those birds, son?"

"Huh?? !!! Why, you don't want them birds, mister.

They're just plain old field birds. They don't sing. They ain't even pretty!"

"How much?" the pastor asked again.

The boy sized up the pastor as if he were crazy and said, "$10?"

The pastor reached in his pocket and took out a ten dollar bill. He placed it in the boy's hand. In a flash, the boy was gone. The pastor picked up the cage and gently carried it to the end of the alley where there was a tree and a grassy spot. Setting the cage down, he opened the door, and by softly tapping the bars persuaded the birds out, setting them free. Well, that explained the empty bird cage on the pulpit, and then the pastor began to tell this story:

One day Satan and Jesus were having a conversation. Satan had just come from the Garden of Eden, and he was gloating and boasting. "Yes, sir, I just caught a world full of people down there. Set me a trap, used bait I knew they couldn't resist. Got 'em all!"

"What are you going to do with them?" Jesus asked.

Satan replied, "Oh, I'm gonna have fun! I'm gonna teach them how to marry and divorce each other, how to hate and abuse each other, how to drink and smoke and curse. I'm gonna teach them how to invent guns and bombs and kill each other. I'm really gonna have fun!"

"And what will you do when you are done with them?"

Jesus asked. "Oh, I'll kill 'em," Satan glared proudly.

"How much do you want for them?" Jesus asked.

"Oh, you don't want those people. They ain't no good. Why, you'll take them and they'll just hate you. They'll spit on you, curse you and kill you. You don't want those people!!"

"How much? He asked again.

Satan looked at Jesus and sneered, "All your blood, tears and your life."

Jesus said, "DONE!" Then He paid the price.

An awesome giveaway at Natural Mommie!

There's always a great giveaway or blog post on Natural Mommie, but this is one I really, really want to win! 



If you haven't heard about it already, allow me to introduce to you, Coola Skincare.  Be fresh and tan without being red.  ;)  I like my tan as well as the next lady, but let me tell you... the peeling shoulders I embarrassed myself with last week are not the way to go.  Typically I don't burn... I am pretty good about using sunscreen, but even I thought I was immune to the sun's powerful rays.  Did I mention that skin cancer runs in my family?  Yes, it does.  So when I get a sunburn, it's like writing down the steps to cancer in a journal. 

And it's stupid.  There I said it. 

It's stupid.

Do I need to say it again?  If you're reading this with your own early spring sunburn, I think it already reiterated itself in your head.

So anyway, enter the giveaway and save yourself more pain and peeling.  I can't wait to try it!

Helping Alabama

On 4/30 (today) I am donating 100% of all sales to Alabama relief! 

http://www.butterflybabyplace.com/

I hope some of you will also consider giving blood this week to help out the hundreds of injured people down there!  I saw the first video clips this morning and towns are just destroyed.    It's awful.  I really feel a calling on my heart to do something!

Wednesday Feature of the Week - My Little Pixies

Today I'm featuring a shop that I've really admired for a while.  My Little Pixies' hair bows and headbands are just darling!  She's also a member of the Etsy Kids Team, which is how I found her in the first place!  Take a look at just a few of the adorable creations she has in her store!

Because Elizabeth totally rocks, she's even offering a discount code for you all!!!!  Use code butterflybaby for 10% off your purchase here.

One of my daughter's favorites of all time (that I must order for her)...


You can order these darling, little butterflies as a headband or as a hair clip.


I absolutely adore these felt flowers!  They are so sweet without being overpowering!


Have a wonderful Wednesday!!!

Just a few new items

Which is your favorite?

My favorite time of year!!!

I am so glad that spring has finally decided to come around the corner, although it's been more like a lion than a lamb. Just this week we've had some really beautiful days (accompanied by really beautiful sunburns on yours truly) and I'm totally soaking it up! I took a short break over Easter to just get some R&R and spend some really great, quality time with my family! We got our garden started, which is just SO exciting for me!!! I love being able to go out there and grab what I need! We have all of our cold-weather veggies in.

My baby swiss chard, broccoli (2 varieties), lettuce, spinach, oregano, and asparagas!!! Apparently with the asparagas, you're not supposed to pick it the first year so that you'll have more the following year. I guess if you pick it the first year you plant it, the only crop that will come up next year are the stalks you did not pick the previous year. So hopefully this way, we'll have a great crop next year. Although I may have to pick just one! ;)





While at the nursery, I picked up some pansies for my flower boxes. I must admit that last year, I was pretty lazy at the end of the year. I never cleaned out the boxes. I just left all the dirt and all of the drying flowers in there. Omgosh I'm embarrassed to admit that. LOL! So Brett dug them out from under our deck and put them on the holders this year, dirt and dead plants still in there. That's more embarrassing, but I must admit I didn't even notice that he'd done it. He told me that we had pansies sprouting. I thought he was crazy because they're an annual flower and we needed to plant more. Well wouldn't you know that all of the flowers had gone to seed and because we'd left them in the boxes, they started growing again! I have about 20 plants sprouting now! Luckily I had only bought 2 6-packs at the nursery, so I'll need to use them elsewhere.

You see friends, sometimes laziness really does pay off! However, I'd really rather call it lack of time. Yes, that's what we're going say instead! Sounds much better.



Since the weather has been so beautiful, I decided to tackle a diy project. My lovely neighbor gave me some small shelves that she needed to get rid of (yes I took some garbage, than you very much). The size is just perfect to store all of the packaged clothing that is ready to ship! I have some many small things and it would really neaten (not really a verb???) up my work space. They were originally white, but I decided to paint them a Robin's egg blue and then cover the backs with fabric. Luckily, I had some handy little helpers to do some of the dirty work... and let me tell you, with all the rain we've gotten, my littlest helper sure was DIRTY!




Handy Helper #1:


Handy Helper #2:


Handy Helper #3 who had more fun playing in the mud than in the paint:


I'll be posting pics of the whole project as soon as it's finished... which it's not... because I..... ran out of time. :P

It's so bright and sunny here!

The weather is getting warmer and I absolutely love it! Despite the fact that this warm weather means that icky, hairy spiders are crawling on my screens (and I'm refusing to open my windows because of it), I'm excited for summer! My kids are already talking about going to the pool (practically a daily question... "Hey mom, can we go to the pool yet???") and I'm getting ready to sign them up for swimming lessons at the Y. I just honestly can't believe it's already the middle of March already! Where did the year go? I guess that's what happens when you're busy!

And boy have I been busy! I released my entire spring line in January and had to give a {major} pat on the back to myself because I am a total procrastinator! I started looking at fabric lines in October. Of course, now I've set this precedent for myself of being on top of things...... I'll let you know how that holds up!!! So anyway, I'm doing a lot of gabbing, so I'll leave you with one of my favorite sets for this year! It's bright and cheery and just screams SPRING (minus the spiders)!!!!