You've been warned

Just a quick reminder that my massive sale ends tomorrow (or today, depending on when you're reading this...December 31st) so this is your last chance to snag the best deals I'll ever offer in my shop. Everything will go back to regular prices on Thursday.

I'll be back to work on Thursday, listing some new items in new styles. If you subscribe to my newsletter, you got a sneak peek of some of the new items today. If you don't subscribe, I guess you'll just have to suffer through two sleepless nights wondering what the new bags will look like.

Have a safe holiday and a happy and healthy new year.

Amazing

I got the most amazing Christmas gift from my talented artist friend, Lena. Since I'm not really an artsy person, I don't know the right way to describe her work but I'm sure she'll correct me if I'm wrong. I'm going to say she's a painter/altered artist/mixed media lady.

Anyway, I gave her a huge bag full of paper scraps from my scrap booking stash and she surprised me with this for Christmas...























How amazing is that? Doesn't it look just like that picture over there --------> ?
















I knew she was working on something for me because she kept telling me that she was excited about it and wanted to tell me but didn't want to tell me. Then asking me if I wanted her to just tell me. I was thoroughly surprised and absolutely love it. And all I gave her was an apron:(

Mission Accomplished

I think I posted a few months ago about the girls' Christmas gift from us being a brand new bedroom. Crafty Papa decided that we should really go for the wow factor and do the whole thing overnight on Christmas Eve while they were sleeping. In the last week, I've cycled between being totally stressed out about the makeover and then really excited.

Thankfully, the girls went to sleep immediately last night and we were able to complete the redo in only three hours. New princess dreams pink paint, new bedding, furniture rearranging, new desk and accessories, window treatment, spruced up garage sale shelves and decor. I used my Cricut to cut out vinyl decals including their names and a princess crown on their bedroom door and their first initial and a princess crown on their closet door.

The girls were really excited and reacted as nicely as we could have expected. They both said it was a princess room now and they've spent almost all day in there playing (while I ignore them and play with our new wii:) ).

Here are some before and after pics. Yellow is before and pink is after. We still need to put back the outlet covers and hang a few more things on the wall but want to give the paint a little more time to dry.

Merry Christmas from the Crafty Family

An even bigger sale!

A great sale made even better!

Take an additional 25% off sale prices through the end of the year!

I'm busy working on some new styles and features to add to my shop in the new year. In the meantime, be sure to check out my biggest sale ever in my shop. Just pay via Paypal and I'll promptly refund the 25% off to your Paypal account.


Have a happy holiday!

Am I too old for a ballerina cake?

Tonight is the girls' first ever dance recital and we're celebrating afterward with pizza and cake at our house. I made this sweet little cake this morning and couldn't be more proud of myself. I used my Cricut to cut out the ballerinas and a can of pink Better Crocker frosting that comes with different decorative tips.

The girls can totally screw up tonight and just stand around and stare at the audience and I'll still be beaming with pride for my cake.

A Happy Customer

Look at how much Allie loves her owl onesie that her thoughtful mama, Jen bought for her from Crafty Mama Creations. I won't mention that Allie is the happiest baby in the world who doesn't seem to ever stop smiling. I really think it's all about the onesie.

Do you have a cute pic of your kiddo wearing one of my creations? Email it to me so I can share your sweet baby with my blog readers.

We have a Winner!

The winner of the free bag is Marie! Please email your address to me at craftymamacreations@gmail.com and I'll get your bag out in the mail asap. Thank you to everyone who shared a story about giving.

Don't Forget

I'm drawing the winner of the free bag later this morning so you still have a few hours to post here for your chance at a nice freebie:)

Obsessions

Remember three months ago when I posted the video for The Zac Brown Band "Chicken Fried" song and confessed that I was watching it about 12,000 times per day? And a few of you emailed me making fun of it (and me)? Well, it's been number one for the past few weeks. So see, my taste isn't as bad as you thought. And Tatey looooooves the song. The other night in the car she said, "Papa, I want to hear da chicken fwied song" and even he laughed - fyi, it's really hard to make Crafty Papa laugh (Lena can confirm this). For whatever reason, we've been in the car the past few weeks at the time that the number one country song is announced and when they say "Chicken Fried", I always remind Steve about how I loved the song months ago. I think I feel personally responsible for discovering them or something. I might not feel as good about the whole thing when my two year old starts singing "cold beer on a Friday night" though.

My new obsession is Joshua Radin and especially the song he sang at Ellen's wedding. Perfect for doing my pilates work out or as I like to say, "workin' on my fitness". So, now I'm watching that 12,000 times a day instead of "Chicken Fried". I used to be embarrassed that Steve would notice my obsessive behavior with music and tv but after 8 1/2 years of marriage, I don't really care any more. It's just too much effort to hide it and now you know my secret too.

The Spirit of Giving

Yesterday, two of Crafty Papa's friends from an off road message board he frequents, drove 3 1/2 hours up to the coast to make a special delivery to another member of their forum whose family has fallen on rough times. The father of three suddenly lost his high paying job about 6 months ago due a serious, undiagnosed illness and the small off road message board had raised $250 to donate to the family.

While Crafty Papa was gone, I was thinking about the tight budget we live on. We have to budget very carefully and unfortunately, never have a penny left over at the end of the month. We pass up extras and are constantly talking about new sacrifices we can make so that I can continue to stay home with the girls. I was starting to question whether we really could afford to donate to this man and his family and then Crafty Papa came home and told me they had gone out and bought him a Christmas tree. The family didn't have one because they couldn't afford it. Three little kids who had to go without one of the biggest Christmas traditions because they didn't have the extra money. That quickly put things into perspective for me.

So, in the spirit of giving, I'm going to send a free bag to one of my blog readers. Just leave a comment on this post sharing a good deed that you/your family has done this holiday season and I'll randomly pick a winner. It doesn't have to be anything huge, maybe even just volunteering to watch a friend's kids so she can shop or bake or shoveling snow out of a neighbor's drive way (I hear you have to do that kind of thing when you don't live on the coast:) ). Winner will be chosen on Wednesday morning.

Christmas Cuties

I finally finished the girls' Christmas outfits yesterday and for once, everyone was pleased. Definitely not my first choice in fabric - I like something a little more funky and less traditional - but, it was on clearance, has a nice weight to it, and Bella liked it.

If it were up to Bella, she would have a huge, princess tulle and taffeta number but since we just do a small, tamale Christmas Eve, I really prefer something more casual that can be worn to school, etc. I used Jona's Edith skirt pattern but eliminated the second under layer. It ends up looking a little too heavy on Tatey because she's really petite so I went with something lighter but still twirly.

We went out to our neighbor's guitar performance at a local coffee shop last night and both girls confirmed that the outfits had adequate twirl.

As promised

Pics of the tunic I made for myself. My first zippered garment. Let me preface this by saying two things. 1. I don't know why I look so mad in the pics. In general, I'm not a big smiler, but I think maybe trying to coordinate getting myself in the frame is too much for me. 2. I don't think my upper arms are really that fat in real life. I mean, they're definitely chubby but I don't think they're that big in proportion to the rest of my arm in person. Maybe I'm just in denial. Wait, I thought of number 3. Yes, I realize my toilet paper roll is in the shot.

Ok, this is the Boutique Chic Juliet Tunic pattern that I bought from Jona's shop. One thing I've realized in reading craft blogs is that it's supposed to be all sunshine and rainbows but that's not really me so I'm just going to be honest. I didn't love the pattern. Keep in mind, I don't really know how to sew, but I think I've been totally spoiled by pdf patterns. There's no hand holding or helpful pics in the pattern so I felt really un-confident during the whole process. I think the back zipper is the stupidest idea ever invented and wish this had a side zipper. I think I'm going to strain a neck muscle reaching around to zip it up. If I knew how to sew better, I could probably figure out how to change it. Oh, and I think the back comes up too high. Again, probably something I could fix if I knew how to sew.























Also, I think it might give a faux pregnancy effect. What do you think? I've decided I'm just going to wear it out in public today and see if anyone asks me when I'm due. I'm thinking about trying to take it in a little more (I already took in the pit area) but figure I'll try to create some awkward social moments first.























So, not my favorite pattern but I did end up with what I think is a wearable-in-public garment. And I love the bright and fun Heather Bailey fabric. I may make it again if I can figure out how to move the zipper and make a better fit.

Oh, and to my Wisconsin ladies who I can hear saying, "Bitch is wearing a sleeveless shirt in December?!", it's actually only supposed to be 70 degrees here today so I'm wearing this little sweater over it:)

HUGE Sale

I'm having a HUGE year end sale in my shop beginning NOW!

I'm clearing out all inventory, and starting fresh in 2009. Prices are super low with small bags for just $20, big bags for $28-32 and hostess aprons for $18. All orders over $50 will receive a free zippered pouch and orders over $75 will get a free zippered pouch and free shipping!

I'll be taking the rest of the year off to finish custom orders, sew for my family and relax and enjoy the holiday season. I'm hoping to complete lots of personal sewing projects and already have one to share with you tomorrow (my first zippered garment!).

Have a great holiday and be sure to check out my store soon as Crafty Mama stalkers have already been shopping this morning:)

Friday Favorites

First, before the faves, if you haven't signed up for my newsletter, you really should do it today. I'm going to be starting a really big sale in the next few days and newsletter subscribers will be the first to hear about it. And by big, I mean that I'm going to try to clean out my entire shop by the end of the year and start fresh in January. So you can expect to see some really good prices and maybe even some new items that haven't been listed yet.

1. A Very Special Christmas circa 1989. This is hands down, the best Christmas cd ever. We used to listen to it all the time when we were kids and I was reminiscing to Crafty Papa about it a few days ago. I couldn't remember the name of the cd so I described the cover artwork to him (oh yeah, almost 20 years and I still remember) and told him Run DMC had a song on it. And then I said, "Make it happen" and drove away. He brought it home that night:) His coworker, who doesn't really strike me as the Christmas music type, had vol. 1 and vol. 2 but I'm not ready to stop listening to the first one and move on to the second one yet.

I've been nice enough to type lyrics from the songs to my friend, Shanna, while we're having our morning MSN chat. I saved this morning's for her so I could share it in this post. "Run so loud and proud you'll hear it, it's Christmas time and we've got the spirit."














2. My new apron. Seriously, how cute is it? And yes, I'm standing on my girls' tooth brushing stool in the bathroom to get the pic in a dirty mirror. I have no shame. I'm selling a few aprons this weekend and wanted to wear one myself to show how cute they are. I picked out this Amy Butler Daisy Chain fabric because the bright green reminded me of Grandpa's green socks.
























3. Bare Minerals Lip Dip trio. This is the coolest thing. It's a clear chapstick that you can dip in any minerals color and turn it into a tinted lip balm. I think it's $24, so a perfect reasonably priced gift for a girlfriend.

Crisis Averted

I know you probably couldn't sleep last night. The Barbie Swan Lake dvd has been located! In Crafty Papa's drawer of off road magazines, flash lights, and other man crap.

I'm not saying that he was secretly watching it. But I do find it interesting that I looked all over the house for it yesterday and then he mysteriously found it while I was out with some friends last night and he was home lonely.

I need a pyschic...

to help me find this freakin Barbie Swan Lake dvd we borrowed from the library two weeks ago. I already renewed it once because I couldn't find it. I've looked everywhere and now I'm just hoping someone with magical powers will tell me where it is.

I haven't seen it since my dad and step mom babysat overnight a week and a half ago. Is it possible that even though my step mother pretends to hate all things pink, princess, and Barbie, she took the dvd? If so, she'll be highly disappointed. It's the worst movie ever.

Bet you thought I was slackin'

Except for being out of town for four days for the holiday, I've been busy in my craft room lately getting ready for back to back events I'm doing this Saturday. I already have a good inventory of bags but wanted to make some aprons since I think a lot of people will be shopping for gifts. I think a fun and funky apron can be a great gift for someone who is hard to buy for or you don't really know that well (that's why Bella's preschool teachers are getting them from her!).

I've been having a lot of fun with pattern combos. I think that even people who prefer a more neutral bag, would love an apron with funky pattern combos. They're supposed to be bright ad fun and cheery. I've done a few full aprons and a few half aprons and will be listing any unsold items in my shop on Sunday.