Winner!

I know, I'm a few days late. I had to work all weekend and spent most of my day yesterday caring for (and cleaning up after-yuck!) a sick kid.

Drum roll please....


The winner is Etsyer condra who purchased on December 9th. Your gift certificate will arrive in your email box today!

Countdown to the Giveaway

You may have heard that Christmas is only three days away. That means that the deadline for my gift certificate giveaway is also only three days away.

Don't panic, there are lots of pretty little things left in my shop that can help improve your chances of winning. Make a purchase by Friday and tune in on Saturday to see whether you won.

Photographic evidence that I have been crafty

Apron for a Christmas gift.

Finally finished Matea's quilt.

My $2 Dollar Tree Christmas card display.

Sprucing up the girls' room.

Planning a party. Bella's 6th birthday tea party. Bought this sweet little vintage table runner at a thrift store for $4 and then remembered I have a whole pile of vintage linens from my Grandmother.

Decorating the kitchen. Got a bright red basket for $.90 and a cute little tea pot for $.60 to go with my retro apple valance. I want some kind of vintage cutie (a gnome?) to go in the basket.


I still have many, many projects I want to work on but there's just not enough time in the day. And I spend way too much time watching tv but that's a whole other post.

The Beth Bag

Named for my friend Beth Clark.

Who isn't really "Clark" anymore but I don't seem to make the transition well from maiden to married name.

Beth who has lost 87 pounds.

Eighty-seven! An eight and then a seven. 80+7. Only thirteen pounds less than 100. I think she deserves a bag named after her, don't you?

Beth is fun and funny and amazingly inspirational. She's suddenly so confident and determined, everyone in our Bunco group was drawn to her story about her weight loss journey. I'm really in awe of her motivation and dedication.

*Don't mind the crappy pics, it's raining heavily and the sun is no where in sight. But I think this new bag design is so fabulous I couldn't wait for the sun to come back out to take pics.

Sorry for the lack of sewing and posting

I've been really busy doing this...

and this...
and also this...

Two of my favorite things...

are Christmas and free stuff:)

I love decorating the house, shopping for gifts, baking, seeing how excited the girls are on Christmas morning, and eating tamales that Crafty Papa makes.

I also love coupons, random acts of kindness, sharing with friends, giveaways, and free stuff.

So, in the spirit of Christmas and giving, I present to you Crafty Mama's December promotion.

***Earn a chance to win a $25 Crafty Mama Creations gift certificate with every purchase from my shop.
Purchase two items, get entered twice. Purchase three items, get entered three times. Need me to keep going with this? All items are eligible...bags, jewelry, clothing, etc.

Promotion starts now and ends on December 25th. One winner will be drawn on December 26th and announced on the blog.***


And don't even start thinking, "She's not even listing anything new." Because I just did:)

Glitter Twinkle Sparkle Girl

Bella's wearing a shirt today that says that. So, in her honor, I've listed lots of new sparkly stuff in my shop. I would prefer to keep all of it (seriously, I really, really love the earrings) but I've spent an obscene amount of money on beads and such recently so I need to list them. And yes, they're all eligible for the Thanksgiving sale.


Don't forget, they're all one of a kind designs which I think makes a very special, yet inexpensive gift for the holidays. I'm giving a pair to my Bunco secret pal and my sister too:)

Thanksgiving Sale

*25% off store wide*

*free shipping on orders over $40*

*free gift when you spend $50 or more*

effective Wednesday, November 25th-Sunday, November 29th
new items just added

enter code "thanks" at checkout and I'll promptly refund your discount

all orders will ship on Monday

Today's Agenda

1. Make curtains and valances for the living room.
2. Make valance for the kitchen.
3. Make curtain for the laundry room.

Are you seeing a pattern here? All of my curtain fabrics arrived yesterday and I love them all so much, I'm all fired up to get everything finished today. I ordered fabric without consulting Crafty Papa (I think I've mentioned, we feel completely opposite about almost everything in life) and luckily, he likes them too.

First things first though, I have to go buy an ironing board. Taking a line from the Duggars, I'm going to "buy used and save the difference". I saw a bunch of ironing boards at a local thrift store last week and read up on Jona's ironing board cover tutorial. Now I'll just have to keep my fingers crossed that Walmart has the right elastic because I can't justify driving 30 minutes today just for supplies to cover my ironing board. Hopefully I'll have lots of pics of window mistreatments for you tomorrow.

Special Coupon

The Stacy Bag

A new addition to the Crafty Mama bag line up.

The Stacy Bag.

Named for my new friend, Stacy Thomas. Who is VERY pregnant. And somehow still manages too ooze happiness, femininity, and beauty.

I started this bag last week and didn't know who I was going to name this new design after. Then I had Bunco with Stacy and other fun friends last night. Something about her is so sweet and warm. She's fun and happy and just what a group of friends needs. Kinda like how this bag design needs those shabby flowers.

Here's my Etsy description of this bag..."The Stacy Bag is a medium size boxy tote with ultra feminine, shabby chic, frayed-edge flowers. Great as a small diaper bag/tote or larger purse."

I liked the flowers so much (and the girls woke up so early!) that this morning, I appliqued a bouquet onto my plain gray Lands End t-shirt. Thanks for the inspiration, Stacy:)

Made by Mom

Belle from Beauty and the Beast
I'm not even going to tell you how many fabric rose tutorials I looked at and tried out. This was the best I could do and I actually like the fabric flower so much, I'm incorporating it into a new bag style.

Can't a girl catch a break?

Remember how I broke a molar on my birthday last month and was totally freaking out about having it removed? Well, a full month later, I notice that part of it suddenly isn't healing properly and there's something white and hard poking out of my gums. Crafty Papa apparently watched some kind of info. video while I was having the surgery and he told me he thought it was a piece of bone sticking out. Say what?! I tried to pull it out with tweezers but that hurt so I had to go back in today. Pops was right! It was a bone shard that had worked its way up and was irritating my gums. So, the doctor had to yank that puppy out and now I'm stuck with another bloody hole in my mouth. Breaking the tooth and having it removed was bad enough, can't the universe cut me some slack and let me go without bone shards?

We're still working on unpacking the last few boxes at the new house and found out that we have two roommates...a pair of skunks! There's no other way to say it, this seriously sucks. We noticed our friends the very first night we slept here. We both woke up in the middle of the night and heard scratching and rustling around loud enough that it sounded like the house was being broken into. Crafty Papa did some investigating and determined it was an animal under the house. After two and a half weeks here, we've been woken up every single night with the exception of one. They get under the bathtub and go crazy. Steve said they were actually scratching the tub the other night while the girls were in it!

During his detective work, Crafty Papa figured out that the animal wasn't a racoon or possum like we thought, but a pair of skunks. And trust me, you can smell them! We're working with the landord to keep them out but figuring out when they leave isn't easy and means Steve is up until the wee hours of the morning, waiting to hear them. Seriously, I've had to go back to renting and squeeze all of our crap into a smaller house...isn't that enough without a pair of nasty critters living underneath me?

Enough with the bitching. I have been sewing and have a few things to list tomorrow. Life has been super busy and I'm having problems balancing everything. I'll be back with new stuff and a better attitude.

Missing: Motivation

I was so excited to get my new sewing space all set up at the beginning of the week and then I seemed to be totally lacking motivation. Maybe I'm still getting use to my new setup. Or maybe it's because it's been so damn hot and humid and none of the homes here have air conditioning. Maybe I need to draw up a few new patterns. Whatever it is, I need to get crack-a-lackin. I have two last minute trick or treat bags to finish up and I suddenly realized that I never finished Bella's Belle costume for Halloween. Yikes!

I did manage to get two new bags listed this week and have added a few more to the "sale" section in my shop.

Two Down, Four Two Go

I think I've mostly finished two rooms in our new house, the (only) bathroom and play/craft/dining room.

To create our new bathroom, I spent $42...$28 for a new shower curtain to block off the shower and laundry area, $6 for soap dispenser and toothbrush holders, $6 for new hand towels, and $3 at a yard sale for the set of three carved plaques on the wall. I used outdoor decor from our old backyard and behind the door is a shelf with hooks for towels. I've ordered vinyl to cut something with my Cricut to put above the curtain but I'm not sure what yet.

In the play/craft/dining room, I spent $14 on paint for the toy bookcases and that's it! Everything else is stuff we already had. I used the Amy Butler fabric canvases that were in the livingroom in our old house. Fabric from my stash for the window "mistreatments" (do you all read the Nester too?). Rug from our old play area and shelves from my former scrapbooking area. I know the room is packed with stuff and is just a weird multi-purpose kind of space but I really like the blue/green/brown color combo and think we're using the space in the best way we can. Oh, and I know the wall above the toy shelves is empty. I plan to fill it with a bunch of letter "G"s but I have to collect them first:)

Any Faux Finishers in the House?

We have three short bookcases that we use for the girls' toy storage in the playroom. We got an awesome deal from an unfinished wood place that had lost its lease and was literally going out of business the day after we were there. We bought the shelves because they were the perfect size and we planned to stain them a dark cherry finish to match the rest of our furniture. That was almost two years ago.

So, here I sit looking at those unfinished shelves. I've decided to paint them a sort of aqua/turquoise/smokey blue/tealish color and really want to do a color wash so they look kind of shabby and worn (um, that's partly because they're starting out shabby and worn and I don't want to put in the effort to perfect them). Can I color wash with just paint and water? Like mix the two and rub on with a cloth? Or do I have to use a glaze? I don't want them to look heavily painted, thus the reason for not rolling or brushing the paint on. I just want some color and brightness. Am I on the right track? Or should I sponge paint? I kid, I kid. My sister and I had a dresser that we sponge painted the hell of growing up. I can't even remember how many different combinations we had. I know that when I went away to college, it was white with red sponge paint. Klassy.

Also, I declared a spending freeze this week. I notified Crafty Pops on Monday that I thought we should try not to spend any money at all Monday-Friday this week. And here I am on Wednesday, going out to buy paint. I'm selling some stuff on Craigslist and I have some cash so he'll never have to know I'm cheating. At least that's how I'm rationalizing it this morning.

Back in Business!

We're all moved and mostly settled into our new house. There are just a few boxes left that I'm guessing will just sit in the garage until we move again - doesn't everyone have boxes like that? I've had to really scale down and alter my craft space. No more separate craft room for Crafty Mama:( But, I did set up my sewing table and shelves in the play/dining/craft room and took over the girls' old dresser to store all of my fabric. Scrapbooking moved out to the garage but it's actually going to work out better (I think). I got our old office desk which has tons of drawers, perfect for storing all of the little junk that goes along with scrapbooking. Our garage has lots of built in cabinets so I have several shelves to store the stuff I use to store in my craft room closet. So, it's been a big adjustment, but I think it's working.

I'm still working on decorating the house and trying to find some kind of balance with Crafty Papa. I like a flea market/feminine/colorful look and he likes modern and brown. As with pretty much everything in our marriage, we're on totally opposite sides of the spectrum (seriously, we couldn't be more different, I'm still not sure how we ended up together and haven't killed each other). It's really hard to resist the urge to just do everything how I want it and hope he doesn't say anything. I'm working on choosing fabric for little valances throughout the house and working on getting Steve to wrangle the electronics and cords that seem to be out of control. Other than that, we're settled and I'll share pics soon.

So, back to the title of the post. Etsy shop is reopened and I'm really hoping to get something new listed tomorrow. I have four days in a row off at work so I don't have any excuse for not sewing. For some reason I'm determined to ride my bike to Crafty Papa's work tomorrow morning while both girls are in school. I think it's about 4 miles round trip which is actually quite a lot for this out of shape mama. So, if I don't list something tomorrow, it's probably because I can't move my legs to press the sewing machine pedal.

The Mama Has Landed

I repeat, the Mama has landed.

We got all moved in to our new house over the weekend and close escrow today! I got my little sewing corner set up - no more separate sewing studio for me:( -and am hoping to get back to sewing within the next few days. There are still boxes to unpack but it's all that miscellaneous stuff you can't find a good home for and probably don't really need. Plus, our whole lives have been about moving for the last two weeks so I'm ready to do something "normal" again.

I have a homework assignment for everyone: find window treatment ideas for me. Since we're now in a rental and can't paint, I want to cover the whole house (or maybe just the windows) with fabric to give it some life. The problem is that we live in a really old house with really old walls (plaster? it's like hammering into concrete). So, I don't want to totally damage the walls by using the screws required for normal drapery hardware. I'm looking for curtain ideas that only require small nails. The only idea I can come up with is to use decorative nails to just tack the fabric to the wall but I can't think of a way to tie them back to the side. So, get crackin' on your homework!

Last Call

For bags at the 20% discount.

We plan to do some major packing this weekend, including Crafty Mama Creations operations. I'll be putting my shop on vacation hold tomorrow afternoon and will hopefully be back to sewing from my new funky retro house in two weeks!

Someone Slap Me!

Seriously. I'm freaking out.

I broke a molar on my birthday (Did I mention I turned 31 a few days ago? It sucked.). It broke badly enough that it needs to be removed. So, it's supposed to be pulled tomorrow morning and I was planning to get "laughing gas". I've never had it before so I just was looking up info. on how it works etc. and guess what...hallucinations are a side effect! Just the thought of going through that again is making me crazy (if you're new here, I had a freak reaction to a med last year that resulted in three months of horrible night time hallucinations). So, apparently I can't have nitrous gas after all. I need to decide whether I'm woman enough to just get local anesthetic (along with some anti anxiety meds taken in the parking lot before my appointment:) ) or weeny enough to pay $215 for general anesthesia. Arrrrgh!

For the record, I had lots of teeth pulled as a youth and never had anything other than local anesthetic. I'm getting crazier and more anxious with age though.

ETA: I made it out alive. And I decided to be put completely under. The nurse said quite a few people opt to be totally out since it's not terribly expensive. And with my anxiety issues, she thought it was definitely a good idea to be asleep. I was still so freakin worked up though that my blood pressure was too high! So, we had to chat about stupid stuff like kid names until my blood pressure came down enough for anesthesia. The doctor said, "Ok sweetie, start dreaming about Hawaii." I said, "No, I'll do Alaska." He said, "Alaska it is" and then I woke up to a mouth full of blood and gauze and missing a tooth. I'm still tired and goofy and was going to take a picture of my puffy face but I think that would require too much energy right now. Someone eat some pizza and Panda Express for me today.

Adios!

For now.

I think.

We accepted an offer on our house today. Much lower than what we had hoped for, but we're so ready to move on and tired of feeling like we're in limbo. We're supposed to close escrow in two weeks. TWO WEEKS! One more time...two freakin weeks! We wrote the deal to allow up to three weeks but the buyer wants to get in as soon as possible and is paying with cash so we can wrap this puppy up quickly. We found a great rental house today and are hoping to get the approval soon.

So, it looks like we need to start packing. Of course there's a chance the buyer could cancel when she finds out that we temporarily had a tree house but we're trying to think positively. By next Monday, we should know whether she's happy with the inspection report, and we can put down a deposit on our cute new rental. It's an old 1950's house with tons of charm and a room perfect for play and sewing.

Keep your fingers crossed that the next few weeks go smoothly and the deal doesn't fall through. I'm going to leave my shop open for the next week or so but won't be listing anything new. I have a few custom orders that I'll get finished up asap but otherwise, Crafty Mama will be Moving Mama for the next few weeks.

***I'll offer 20% off current listings with the code "moving" in the notes to seller field.

Girly Girl

I've been overtaken with custom orders lately which means I've been ordering a lot of special request fabrics. And so I don't feel left out, I always order a few for myself. Not the best idea for my business budget. I've promised myself that after yesterday's delivery, I'm going to simmer down now on the fabric purchasing.

Which means, I'll have to hold off on ordering more prints from this new Girly Girl collection by Patricia Bravo...

Isn't it fabulous?! Reminds me of how colorful and feminine Amy Butler use to be (yep, I said it). I bought a few of the prints and they're even prettier in person. Like vibrant scrapbook paper but fabric. I love the way they look when transformed into a bag.

I also got Tatey's purplicious quilt fabric in the mail yesterday. I'm attempting to make up my own (very easy) pattern which seems like a terrible idea since I don't have the budget for a redo on this project. Hopefully I can post some progress pictures this weekend.

Fingers Crossed

Just got a phone call that our house is being shown this afternoon for the FOURTH time to the same lady. Please, please, please cross your fingers that she makes an offer, we open escrow, and in 30 days we've all moved on with our lives. I'm tired of keeping the house clean all the time. I'm tired of having strangers in my home. I'm tired of putting off decorating and organization projects because we're not living here much longer. I'm tired of driving into town and back 3 times a day. Mostly, I'm just tired and can't have a lazy day.

Odd Etsy Finds

I know, I haven't listed anything new in several days. I've been consumed with custom orders and wasting far too much time looking at the newly listed items on Etsy. Here are some of my more interesting finds...

1. Vampire Girl Barbie face necklace. Why?
2. Severed Fingers, 8 Pack. It doesn't say what they're made from so I have to assume they're real.
3. Fortune Teller Mug. I'm scared she'd bite me or something if she gets that close to my face.
4. Pink Crochet Cowgirl Hat. Lovely crochet work, but I'm going to need to see this on a real person please.
5. Layered Dress. It's great for shoplifting.

I'm off to nurse my headache before heading into work tonight. Hoping to list something new tomorrow.

Dilemma

I was going to post today about a dilemma regarding Matea's Christmas quilt. In all honesty, after finishing Bella's pink quilt, I totally forgot about making Matea's. Yesterday, I was working on a bag for my shop and thinking about the fact that Christmas is just about three months away. Then it occurred to me that I hadn't even thought about the quilt I need to make for my baby girl.

So, here was the dilemma. When I went through my scraps a few months ago, I made a pile of pink for Bella and a pile of red for Matea. I know full well that Tatey likes purple, not red, but since she's three, I was thinking I could just convince her to like red. But then I started thinking about the fairness in Bella getting a quilt that's her favorite color and Tatey getting something that she really doesn't like. And I also thought about my Christmas budget. Last year, we went WAY over our holiday budget. Like double:( This year, we've created a Christmas account at our bank with automatic deposits. We'll get that money in November and have agreed not to spend anything more. There is absolutely no way I can fit a $100+ quilt into the budget. No way at all.

So, I was going to post here asking for advice. I feel like it's the battle our little family is constantly facing...sticking to our tight budget vs. splurging and spoiling. I decided to splurge. I was ordering bag supplies and stumbled across some purple designer fabrics for $5/yard. I bought three yards and one yard of a full price splurge fabric. I just couldn't stand the thought of Tatey unwrapping her quilt on Christmas morning and saying, "But I like purple, not red." And I know I could use it as a lesson about gratefulness but sometimes you just want your kid to be overjoyed. Living on such a tight budget and having to work nights and weekends sucks and I don't want to have to think about that on Christmas. I just want to see both girls insanely happy and in love with their (few) gifts.

So, of course, now I need to find the money to finish the quilt. I'm thinking of ideas for my Etsy shop like personalized ornaments or stockings that might sell well. Something like the freakin trick or treat bags (I hate so much) that provided some nice extra income for my family the last few years. Any other ideas?

My name is Kelci...

and I've become addicted to expensive, well-made shoes. It's my mother's fault. Seriously. She has to wear nice, expensive shoes because she has a funky heel and bad knee. She loves Naots and was all excited to find them in a shop in Morro Bay last time she visited. And she made me try one on. Totally irresponsible parenting. She should have known how I'd react.

They're about $120-200 but I've made stalking Ebay a full-time job and have gotten three brand new pairs for the price of one in the last two weeks!

I just got these in steel blue...

and these toffee...

and these in the green...

Crafty Papa said I should be buying more expensive, nice shoes which I took to mean that I should immediately convert my entire shoe collection, even if the children have to go without meals for a few days. It's important to have your priorities straight. They really are very comfortable shoes and I totally recommend them.


Oh, and apparently the threat of an ass whoopin was all the universe needed for my snaps to arrive. They got here today and I'm working on a super funky and bright Mama Bag right now.

Almost As Cute As She Thinks She Is

Another peasant dress. In my opinion, even more fabulous than the last. Cute baby girl is dying to keep this dress. I asked her if she has $30. Hey, Mama has fabric bills to pay.

Size 3T/4T, click on the pics for the listing.

And new bags are coming soon. I ordered snaps over 4 weeks ago and they still haven't arrived! I sent the seller an etsy convo and got a very "simmer down now" response. I think it was due to the language barrier but if my snaps aren't here this week, I'm going to hand out ass whoopins, crafty style.

My Wilton Face

Seriously though, I don't know why I'm doing that. I remember being really excited about getting a semi rose looking rose on my first try and insisting he photograph it. I was in my kinda (ok, very) see through pj's so I had to keep telling Crafty Papa to shoot from the neck up only. Maybe that's supposed to be my sexy face for him or something. Not very appealing.

Anyhow, I've been talking about signing up for Michael's Wilton cake decorating class for several years and finally started classes this month. Our instructor is kooky with a capital K. Knowledgeable, nice, and high energy, but definitely kooky. I have to take a frosted cake ready for decorating this week so I decided to do a practice run over the weekend. Let me tell you, this was the best cake I've ever had. Really, the best. Lemon cake with raspberry buttercream frosting. I made a double batch of frosting to save for this Wednesday's cake and I just want to eat it for dinner tonight instead. It is fabulous.

"It feels good"

That's what Matea said when I put her in this dress for pictures. And I didn't even have to pay her. I mean, I did pay her exactly two jelly beans in exchange for putting on the dress and standing semi-still. But I didn't pay her for feedback and certainly didn't coach her for positive comments. So, I guess when I say in the listing that the dress is comfortable, I now have proof, courtesy of my 3 year old.

Apparently, she's been attending the Bella Green Gonzalez school o' posing. She kept saying things like, "Look how I'm bending my knees for the picture" and, "No, I think I should stand like this." I guess this particular model is a bit of a diva but she sure is cute.

I'm really loving this dress with the sash and will definitely have to make a few more for my shop. I got some beautiful bright blue fabric from Jona's store and I think it'll be perfect for another peasant dress.

Don't Forget

That the Labor Day Sale ends today. 15% off your entire purchase. See details in my shop when you check out some of these new listings...