It was like Christmas at my house!

I recently submitted a contract to become a Longaberger Independent Consultant. I'm going to try it out for a year and see if I like it. They accepted my contract and my business kit was delivered later in the week. I was so excited to get the baskets; a few of them I didn't have so I felt like it was Christmas! Check it out....This is the back-side view of the baskets above...
Some pottery. I love their pottery. It bakes stuff so nicely.
Small bakers rack. I put it on my kitchen counter. LOVE IT!
And my business kit paperwork. Even that box was exciting!

Okay, enough about Longaberger. I took Amelia visiting her new cousin over the weekend. She did very well around him. Didn't really pay much attention actually. Until he started crying and then she was very concerned as to what was going on with Joshua.

I did get some sewing done yesterday afternoon. I finished the coloring bag but of course the camera battery needs to be charged so I didn't get a picture of it yet. I really like how it came out. This one that I have completed is being given as a gift. I'm making one for Amelia in the same fabrics. She really likes it and wants the one I already completed. I will work on hers this upcoming weekend. And I decided that since these bags are so quick and easy to do, all the little kids I know are getting them as Christmas gifts this year.

Enjoy your day!

Jen :)

Getting Ready

Last night I started working on Punkie's halloween costume. She's going to be a tomato. She LOVES tomatoes. Green, yellow or red; she ate them right off the vine this summer. She loves to eat them "like an apple"; meaning she doesn't want Mama to cut up the big tomato for her, she would rather just dig right in.

She really doesn't want to be a tomato though. Here's her list of what she would rather be:

A scary ghost

A bat

An ugly witch

A pumpkin

I almost gave into the pumpkin idea but was having a hard time finding an orange sweatshirt. I found a red sweatshirt so the tomato idea won. I told her next year she can be whatever she likes but this year she's going to be a tomato.

It's a pretty simple costume to put together. I first found the idea in Parenting magazine last year but it was too late to do since I had already purchased her costume (Holly Hobbie) - I'll post a picture. She looked too cute as Holly Hobbie.

Amelia - Halloween 2007

This year, Parents magazine featured a tomato costume as well. Guess it's popular. So I'm taking ideas from both magazines and creating my own version. Pretty much a "no sew" costume. Last night I worked on getting the green felt leaves on the collar. I checked it this morning, the glue held well. I'm excited. Next on my list is to fuse pockets of fabric to the inside of the sweatshirt so that I can stuff it with poly-fil. Just to give the round tomato look.

Amelia wants "tomato shoes" and I thought that would be pretty easy to do. Buy a cheap pair of white Keds knock-offs and stencil/paint a tomato on the toes and change the white laces to green or red ribbon. NOT SO! I'm having the hardest time finding white fabric sneakers. PLAIN white fabric sneakers. I have to keep looking. And a hat. Both patterns say to use the sweatshirt sleeves that you cut off as a hat. Well, Amelia's head is too big for that. I'm going to have to measure out her head and using both sleeves, sew them together to make a hat of some sort.

I'll post pictures of the costume when it's finished. Hopefully soon. I don't want to working on this last minute... which I'll probably end up doing.

Enjoy your day!

Jen :)

Fall into Fall Blog Giveaways...

Have any of you gone out and checked out the 40 giveaways happening out there until October 15th? I entered 20 of them. There are some great giveaway prizes to be had! Some are giving away 1st and 2nd place prizes. Check out this link - there's the list of the blogs hosting giveaways.

Good luck to those who have entered!

Jen :)

Making Progress...

While on my weekend getaway in New Hampshire, I brought my sewing machine along so that I can get some projects done. One of those projects is the polka dot and ric-rac swap that Sharon is hosting. These items aren't completely finished but I really like how they came out.Pretty simple actually. I bought some black ric-rac yesterday to add to the white kitchen towel. I need to embellish the jelly bag some how. I'm kicking around some ideas in my head. I just haven't decided what it's going to be. That jelly bag is very easy to make. I was surprised. I got it done in a couple of hours. The pattern has bags in 5 different sizes and says that you can use a whole jelly roll to make all 5. I made the large size. I need to work on sewing a curved line but I don't think I did half bad. Not sure what I'm going to put in it for the swap. This is the pattern. I brought 4 different bag/tote patterns with me because I could not decide which one I wanted to do for the swap. Just knew I wanted to do a bag. This one won the coin toss. I like the kitchen towels so much, I'm going to make some for myself. And I'm going to start making some for little gifts for Christmas next year.

I have other little things to add to for the swap that I've been collecting. I have to pull everything out and decide when to stop shopping and collecting!

I will show the crayon/coloring bags that I've been working on in a few days. I have to get the handles on one of them and it will be completely finished. My plan is to work on that this weekend. I also have a child's small chair that I'm going to re-finish and decorate as Marsha is my new inspiration for all things decoupaged!

That's all. Enjoy the rest of your day!

Jen :)

Happy Birthday to...

ME!!!

Yup. Today is my birthday. Nothing special planned. It is a Monday and I'm sitting at my desk at work, listening to a telecom. But that's alright. My husband took me out for a delicious dinner on Saturday night to celebrate.

We had a very nice weekend away in New Hampshire. On the way up, we stopped at Keepsake Quilting and I did a little shopping. I bought a couple of books, some fabric for some upcoming projects and other odds and ends. Did a little damage to my credit card but nothing alarming. Here's a picture of my loot...

I bought that bendable bright light and used it all weekend while I was sewing. WOW. Money well spent. I just love that light. Only thing that I don't like about it is that it's not battery powered. But other than that, it's great and I highly recommend it.

I did do some sewing. Lots of sewing actually. I worked on my polka dot swap stuff. I'm almost finished with them. I just have some finishing touches to add. I'll show a picture of them tomorrow. I also worked on 2 coloring book/crayon bags. One for Punkie and one for a gift for my friend's daughter.

The foliage is getting there. Not quite at peak. Lots of green yet on the trees. I tried to get a decent picture but the weekend was pretty overcast and COLD. Good thing I stayed inside at the hotel and just sewed and watched movies.

You can see a hint of orange, yellow and red out there. I wish it was more vibrant. My father in law said first thing in the morning when the sun is rising, the colors were great. I tried that. Both mornings were gray, foggy and cold. So I got pictures in the middle of the day instead. On the way home yesterday, we stopped at King Arthur Flour in Norwich, VT and I bought some muffin mixes and some bittersweet and milk chocolate for my Christmas baking. I just love that store. They always have fresh bread baked and we always come home with some. If you've never been there and like to bake and cook, it's worth the quick stop off the highway.

That's all. Enjoy the rest of your day!

Jen :)

Think Pink

October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month

Zip, Zilch, Nada...

Nothing new or exciting to blog about. It's Wednesday, October 1st - that's new. Oh. It is my brother's birhtday today. Happy Birthday Greg! He doesn't read my blog (doesn't know I have one) but I'll just throw that birthday sentiment out there. My house is a wreck. Hurricane Punkie blew through last night and I just didn't have the energy to pick up.

That's it. It's my brother's birthday today and my house is a wreck. That's all I got to report. How boring is that??!

But Marsha should be announcing the winner of the Halloween costume guessing contest sometime soon. I wonder what Frannie is going to be dressed up as? I hope I guessed right at least once so that I have a chance at that beaded purse!

Adding a... I WON! I WON! I WON!! I'm soooo excited! Can't wait to see the Glenda the Good Witch costume that Marsha is making for Frannie. Oh and the beaded purse! Can't wait to see and receive it! WOOHOO!!!

Jen :)