Andalucia goodies

I apologize for my bloggy absence. It's not like me to be gone from here for so many days, but I have a good excuse. I'm working on 3 different big projects that will soon be revealed and the deadlines were all around the same time... as a matter of fact, I am still working on 2 of them, due next week, so I'd better get back to it.

Anyway, first I wanted to thank everyone for your wonderful comments on Sophie's b-day party. It was a TON of work but so worth it! The girls had a blast and it gave me the push to finish and perfect the Lil' Chef sewing pattern (since I had to make 5 prototypes! LOL!)

So, since I can't really post any sneak peeks at this moment of what I'm working on (believe me, I'd love to, but it's just waaaay too soon!) I thought I'd post a few beauties that I've found online while browsing some of my favorite sites.

Get your Holiday shopping done!!!

These absolutely striking camera straps can be found at My Funky Camera. I actually gasped when I first came upon this picture truly by chance!



This adorable, and purely retro, apron can be found on Etsy at Boojiboo:



And another, totally different take on an apron, but just as fun is this one by boutiqueolliegirl:



Also on Etsy, I found this sweet little Bib & Burp set from Upsiedoodle:



This sweet girly skirt from kbellabambino:



And this decoupaged removable camera strap from PriddyCreations:
(Amy is offering $5.00 off these camera straps -- she's got more than 1 style -- if you mention you saw it here!)



There are just so many pretties out there, I'm just having a blast checking them all out. If you have anything made from Andalucia, please, please, please add your photo to my ANDALUCIA FLICKR GROUP so I can better find you! And thanks to all of you who have joined the group and added your photos so far... so much talent out there, I'm blown away!

OH, and if you would like to get yor hands on some Andalucia fabric and ribbon to make your own goodies, check out my updated link on my sidebar >>>>>>>>>>
(stores, let me know when you get them in so I can add your link too!)

OK, I'd better get back to work now! My goal is to finish all my project by end of next week so I can have a nice, quiet Christmas with my family... we'll see how all that goes! ;)

Cool Finds #2
Storage Solutions in the Studio

For this installment of "Cool Finds," I will focus on cool & affordable storage solutions for the creative types. I have been working on adding functionality, organization and visual appeal to my studio for several weeks, on an indie designer's budget. I still have a long way to go, but I wanted to share some great deals I have found locally that have made my life as a designer soooo much easier.

First off, take a peek at one corner of my studio where I store my fabric, trims and books. That tall modern looking bookcase was purchased at IKEA for just around $80 and it is the perfect size for my smaller cuts of fabric... anything from 1yd. - 3yds. Any cut smaller than 1 yd. goes into a Rubbermaid container (or two or three) inside the closet. Anything larger than 3 yards goes on a bolt and stacks horizontally on the shorter shelving unit on the right. I have no idea where I purchased this second shelving unit, but I have had it since I was in college (so, a looong time!) and I'm pretty sure I bought it at some discount store and paid nearly nothing for it... after all, I was a starving art student. ;)



Oh, and I still have to spend some time re-folding and re-stacking my fabrics. If the fabulous Monica stumbles upon this posting she will be horrified. Don't look, Monica! I was so thrilled to have found her fabric folding tutorial and it is on my to-do list. You guys have to check it out... it is fantastic!

Anyway, let's take a closer look, shall we? I found these cool red boxes at Joann Fabrics and thought they would be perfect to store my patterns and trims. I normally don't use a lot of sewing patterns, but the few I do have are stored in the bottom, larger of the two boxes. Some lace trims and ric-rac and such is tucked away neatly in the smaller box. The cool thing is that these boxes are collapsible and they stack inside each other perfectly... these were originally a set of 3 boxes but I gave the smaller one away, and they cost around $14.95 for all 3 of them.



On the other side of that shelf I just have some visual candy to help me get through the day. :) My Pullip dolls, some Amy Butler books and my collection of Nightmare Before Christmas stuffies. YUM!



On the other side of the room, and at arm's reach from my sewing table, I have the more utilitarian items... woven tags, size tags, care labels, buttons, ribbons, etc. The buttons are in those little clear jars from IKEA up on the top of the shelf...



I found these awesome magnetized jars at World Market (I just adore that store!). They were $1.99 each and have a round magnet on the back of them and a clear lid so you can easily see the contents. I think they are meant to be spice jars, but they are perfect to hold my MODKID woven tags, seam inserts, size tags and care labels. These come in plain stainless steel and red... of course I had to have the red! ;) Oh, and the magnetic board was purchased at IKEA for around $15.00



My most frequently used ribbons, including the one printed with MODKID that I use to wrap my packages with, are neatly displayed on this shelf that my father-in-law helped me build last year. Want to learn how you can make one yourself? Check out my tutorial here. All materials were purchased at a local hardware store and were very affordable. :)



And last, but certainly not least, my latest purchase. I bought this Gütermann thread cabinet at Joann Fabrics a couple of weeks ago during one of their 50% off sales. It came out to be exactly $75. What an amazing deal! It comes with 100 different thread colors... and when you think about it, if you were to buy each one separately, you would be spending around $170, plus add to that the cost of this nifty storage cabinet, and I think I got a steal.



The best part... no more frantic runs to the fabric store 5 minutes before they close clutching a piece of fabric in one hand and my debit card in the other. Come on, I'm sure I'm not the only one! ;)



Don't they look like candy? Almost too pretty to use...

Cool Finds
Starting officially today, I will add this as a standard section in my blog where I will feature any "cool items" I find -- "boutique" or not, handmade or commercially produced -- so that my blog readers can check them out and enjoy as well... my way of "spreading the joy" or "sharing the wealth," so to speak. ;)

I have shared special finds here and most recently here, but from now on you'll be able to click on the tag labeled "Cool Finds" to see everything I have featured since the beginning of my blog. YAY!

So, for today I have 3 new "Cool Finds". First of all I'd like to share this amazing necklace that I ordered from Ann at swede-at-heart from eBay. I didn't get a chance to purchase anything from her at X-Mas time so I figured my mom's birthday was the perfect occasion to order some pretties from her store. Well... was I blown away when this arrived at my doorstep! Ann created the most gorgeous sterling silver necklace with the names of my mom's 3 granddaughters hand-stamped on it. My mom absolutely loved it but I couldn't share here earlier because it would have ruined the surprise. ;)



It came so beautifully wrapped too... we both just loved it and I cannot wait to order one for myself. Thanks, Ann!



My second featured item for today is my new set of MOO cards. I recently upgraded to a Flickr Pro account because I wanted to be able to have more than 6 sets and I wanted to be able to upload high res photos and what not. So, with my Pro membership came a pack of 10 FREE MOO cards, so I figured, what the heck? They're FREE. And OH MY GOODNESS, I am in love.



The image quality is superb, printing quality is excellent and they also came so beautifully wrapped. I just LOVE their "mod" packaging... it fits with my "image" just perfectly! ;)



I will be taking them up on their offer and ordering my pack of 100 cards for $19.99... what a deal! These will replace my current biz cards from Vista Print.

And last, but certainly not least, I will share... my lunch today. HA! I wish! (really, I wish I was eating this instead of pretty much anything I can find in my fridge right now!) I promised to take Sophie and Sydney to The Gingerbread House to pick out a couple of new educational toys. Sophie was being rewarded for making it to the next level in swim lessons and Sydney was being rewarded for putting up with one too many photo shoots for myself and Baby Gassy Gooma.



But, I digress... to my utter amazement they picked out these awesome fake food kits from a company called Small World Living. They were only $8.00 each (on sale) so I happily obliged (not only because of the affordable price but also because I couldn't wait to take them home myself and play with them! LOL!)

Sophie chose the sushi set. It came complete with a tray of the most delectable looking sushi & sashimi, some soy sauce, sticky rice, a pair of chopsticks and a little cup for your hot tea. It even has a little wasabi leaf. :) Soooo cute!



Sydney chose the dim-sum platter ... with the cutest little Chinese dumplings, wontons, egg rolls, white rice and even a fortune cookie that opens up to reveal a real fortune! This one also came with a take-out container and it's own set of chopsticks, tea cup and Soy Sauce. :)





Hope you enjoyed my "Cool Finds" of the day.

Like my photos? I sure do. I shot these with my "new/old" lens. I say "new/old" because I have actually had this lens for about 15 years (I got it as a gift from my parents when I first purchased my Pentax K-1000 film camera back in college) and I just didn't know if it was going to work with my digital SLR but ALAS it does! For you photo buffs out there: it is a Quantaray 28mm macro 1:2.8. For those of you who don't know what I'm talking about... it means you can get really, really close to your subject... like I was literally 2 inches away from my subject for these pictures and you can still get amazing clarity and sharpness at your focal point and it'll blur the background beyond belief! Oooooh! I love it! :)

I also did apply one of my own Photoshop actions to these photos, so they are not straight off the camera, but pretty close. :)

And how does it do with people? Well, this is the only pic I got of Sydney before she ran off, but I was very pleased with the results. I think I'll keep it! ;)

Handmade Goodness

So, I told you guys I took a partial Handmade Pledge the other day. Well, I wanted to share with you a few of the handmade goodies that I have gotten for the girlies in my family before they're all wrapped up.

First and foremost, I cannot say enough great stuff about GiftsDefine on Etsy. OMG! Irma was super sweet over several email conversations and so accommodating too! I had specific needs that she was able to meet and deliver within days. From the moment I opened her meticulously wrapped box, beauty just spilled out! Everything has gorgeous ribbons and sweet hang tags and little extra surprises here & there...


I ordered these adorable fairy angels for Sophie, Sydney and my niece, Asja. The angels come in your choice of hair color and dress/wing colors. Just look how awesome! And each came with a personalized dangle.... the girls are gonna freak out! I just know it. hee hee. I already know what I'm gonna do: when they leave the milk & cookies for Santa, these little angels will appear in its place the morning after.... kinda like a "Thank You Gift" from Santa himself. Ooooh... I can't wait! :)

Then, for my little Sydney, I ordered this super cute pink suitcase full of zoo critters. Again, the suitcase came all decked out with ribbons, hangtags and a personalized charm...

Inside, the most adorable stuffies I have ever seen. She even got a little "adoption card" with them. :)

Check out the detail on these wool stuffies:

I think the giraffe is my favorite, but I really do love them all. AHHHH! I want some for ME! LOL!


Then for the "big girls," Sophie and her cousin, Asja, I ordered something completely different and a lot more "grown up," LOL! I followed a link from Lisa's blog to this site. You upload a high-resolution photo of your child and they make a totally personalized book for them. The book is hardcover and high quality. I just had to get them. It just looked like the kind of thing Sophie & Asja would totally dig. This particular book I chose is a "fairy" theme and the story is advanced enough that they should be able to enjoy it for a few years... at least well into their teens.


When the books arrived, they far exceeded my expectations. The image quality and printing was excellent... definitely an A+. I give them a B+ on the Photoshop work -- but you gotta understand that I am a Photoshop maniac. I was actually Adobe-certified at one point (back in 1996, I think) and went to a ton of training to be able to teach, so I will most likely be a lot tougher of a judge than the average person. I know the girls will LOVE them and that's all that matters. And at the risk of sounding snooty, I expected it to look at lot worse, LOL!, so I was pleasantly surprised. :)


The story is really cute, and their names appear all throughout it, so it will be a very special book for them. I highly recommend it! PLUS, their website is extremely user-friendly. Photos are easy to upload and they take you step-by-step through the ordering process, which only takes a few minutes. Visit the FlattenMe website to check these books out. They also have other themes... even for boys and for infant/toddlers. :)


OK... I wanted to end this posting by saying that I will be taking a much-needed 2-week break from designing, sewing, ebay and maybe even blogging. I might pop in here a couple of times if I start feeling withdrawal pains but I can't promise anything. I have family coming to stay with me starting tomorrow, Friday the 21st and ending on Sunday, January 6th. Not all of them all at once (thank goodness! LOL!) but nevertheless, every day starting tomorrow until 1/6 will have me playing the hostess with the mostest, so wish me luck!

Also, don't forget to leave a comment on my last post regarding my Boutique Cafe interview. I will be drawing the winner of the custom appliqued tee on January 1st! Good luck, all! And HAPPY HOLIDAYS!!!!!

My Latest Boutique Finds

Just because I'm a children's boutique designer, it doesn't mean that nothing else enters my kids' closets but my own creations. Every now & then I can be spotted at the mall, but not very often at all, and even less often I do splurge a little on some boutique wear from my favorite eBay designers. Case in point, I wanted to share my two latest purchases. Sophia is sporting a sweet little summer dress that Sandi from PortabelloPixie created especially for her. Sophia loves her new dress so much that she has already worn it twice to school ... and we've only had it for 2 weeks! Sydney looks adorable in her new my*unbirthday creation. When I saw that Dayna had made an OOAK in Sydney's size and sooo adorable to boot, I could not control myself. I bid and won and couldn't be happier!





Also, since I'm on the topic of boutique purchases, this is a gorgeous little 2-piece set that I won a few months back from Aida of annabella*designs. Her work is impeccable and I just LOVE those Euro fabrics! Sophia was the center of attention at the local kids fair in her new boutique set. Sydney was wearing one of my own creations... La Dolce Vita. Yes, it was the middle of Winter when I took these 2 pictures, thus the long sleeves and heavy tights... and they have their shoes off because they were getting ready to go into a bouncy castle. And... UGH! when I look at pictures of Sydney with her pacifier, it just makes me cringe! LOL! glad that's over!


Believe it or not, those are the ONLY boutique items I have ever bought for my children. I usually do make most of their clothes, plus we receive a lot of modeling samples, so it's very rare that this seller becomes a buyer. ;) Oh, wait, I did just buy a sweet little skirt from Dena, of LotoBlu, but it has not arrived yet, so I cannot share. :)