Flirty Gems, just in time for Valentines!

I ran across this super Chic little store on Etsy, called Flirty Gems. You have to check it out, her little earrings are super cute, and the prices are pretty great too!  Perfect for a little Valentines gift!

   Alana Imbruce, is the artist and designer of this FAB little jewelry line.

 I asked her how she started making her little creations, and this is what she said.....

              I am 37 years old and a Mom to three, 8, 5 and a 1 year old.  I started selling my line in retail stores shortly after having my first born 8 years ago I always made jewelry but it wasn't until then that I decided to do it full time and I enjoyed the fact that I could do it all from my home office.  I got the idea of starting my line while I was in the process of getting married and looking for jewelry to match my bridesmaids dresses when I couldn't find any I decided to make them myself and everyone loved them and in turn when they were all getting married asked me to make them for there bridal parties and from there it just took off as they say.  I was featured on a segment on NBC morning news about bridal party jewelry then Brides Magazine followed then Seventeen and Pregnancy Magazine.  I take a lot of pride in my work and make each piece myself which is why I decided to sell on Etsy because there is no stress I just make what I love and can handle and when I sell it I make more there is no stress from big retail orders and I can maintain the craftmanship I pride myself on.  I always remember a quote I heard in my early twenties that said remember what made you happy as a child and then find a way to do that for a living and you will be happy and I thought to myself when I was a child I would spend hours out on the lawn on the grass stringing daisies together and making necklaces and bracelets out of them so that's what makes me happy I guess...making jewelry is my happy place.

 Can you believe she has been in so many magazines!  

Anyway here are just a few of my favorite pieces she has in her shop right now!

I think I may have just found the new colors for my living room!  I LOVE aqua and coral!  So cute with white in the summer!

Her shop is called Flirty Gems, go check her out!

Do you Joss?

There's a new Member's Only discount home shopping website!

It's called Joss & Main!

They are relatively new so I'm excited to see what else they may sell at some really great discounts!

Go here
to sign up using my personal invitation!

Here are just a few of the things they have for sale right now!

I just LOVE this Trina Turk Pillow!

Baby Blanket Turorial

Ok, so I just realized that I have a tendency to tell you guys that I will get back to you with a tutorial and I always seem to forget!

So here is the first of a few sewing tutorials for past projects.

Baby Blanket Tutorial.

This is a very easy blanket to make, I think it took me longer to pick out the fabric than to cut and sew it together!  I used a Minky fabric and a soft flannel to make mine, but you could also use a pajama satin or a fun patterned cotton print.

Cut your inside fabric 30"x 35"

Cut your outside fabric 35"x 40"

I decided  to use the minky for my outside fabric and the flannel for the inside but you really can make it either way, there is no wrong way!

Next place the wrong sides together and center your inside fabric over the outside fabric, mine was not perfectly centered,  just get it the best you can.

Fold outside fabric over the inside fabric with 1/4 inch hem then pin into place.

A little trick when pinning together any stretchy fabric, start in the middle of any one side, then pin together corners of said side, this will keep the fabric from stretching out as you pin along the side making the one fabric longer than  the other. To finish pin the rest of the side into place.

The corners are the most difficult part of this blanket, but with a few minutes of refolding them mine came out just fine!

Fold and miter the corners. 

Sorry I have no pictures of this, but you basically fold the outside fabric so that the tip of the outside fabric meets the tip of the inside fabric, then fold again. The hemmed corners should now meet forming your corner.

I totally forgot to take pictures of this, so google mitered corner if you still need help!

Now you just topstitch the hemmed edges, trying to stay close to the edge so the hem you folded under is sewn down, I finished the all four edges before I topstitched each mitered corner.

That's it! Super easy! 

I'm in the process of making a few more, so I will try to get more detailed pictures of the whole process!

I wish.....

So this is a post about wishes and goals, and how I wish to be able to complete some of my goals!

So I have been feeling terribly guilty this month about the lack of post and DIY,  I just can't seem to get caught up on things that I WANT to do and accomplish!  I'm really not sure how you ladies who work full time AND have a family seem to get it all done!

I've been working over time, and still have one more week to go, so I'll have more time when thats done!  We have also been super busy worrying about Josh's gram, she has been in the ICU for a while and has finally been moved out of the hospital, hopefully for good!  

I am an artist so I get down when I can't create, I'm so ready to get back to it all!  

So, I've decided that I need to make another New Years resolution, and that is to TAKE some time for me, whatever that may be, whatever I feel inspired to do at the moment. 

I am so excited, we are going to Ikea next weekend and I am hoping to get a new sofa and shelves and stuff! I need a room refresher!  

I love the look of this sofa that Audrey Hepburn is lounging on, I love that low and sleek look!

 I'm hoping to be lounging on my new sofa sometime after next weekend!

Do you guys ever find yourself getting behind on your creative stuff?

Let me know what you are OR are not getting accomplished!  Maybe we can motivated each other!

Painting, painting, painting!

Here's a little peeked at what I was doing today.....

My sister found this great changing table for $30, but the color was all wrong.  It just needed a little face lift to match the rest of the room, so I gave it a light sanding and pulled out the Behr paint, in Ultra White.  We went to Home Depot looking for a low VOC paint, and found out that Behr is now making all of their paints low VOC!  I thought that was great!  I had never used a low VOC paint, as I wasn't sure if it would change the way the paint adhered or the durability.  But, because she is almost nine months pregnant, and the little one really may be here any day, I really wanted to keep things healthy for her and the baby, so trying the low VOC was a must.  Well, I LOVED the stuff, it hardly had any smell, which was very refreshing for a paint, and it went on beautifully!  

I don't think I will use anything BUT low VOC paint anymore!

It still needs one more coat of paint, silly me I forgot to get a primer!  Oh....I wonder if they make primers that are low VOC?   

Hmmm....I will have to look into that....

I don't have time to finish painting until this weekend, so I will share after pictures then!

Cupcakes!!

So this past weekend I threw a baby shower for one of my sisters.  One of the desserts I made was a whole bunch of cupcakes.... I used a box mix, however I wanted to give the mix a little upgrade, did you know that you could upgrade a box mix?  Well it's super easy, just substitute butter for the oil, and you can also add any sort of extract you want, almond, vanilla, or even orange!

Anyway here is a little glimpse of them while they were being decorated... and.....yup I even decorate cupcakes on my coffee table....

They were so much fun to decorate, and such a hit at the party!

Baby Things

 Have I told you all that I have two sisters who are preggers!  Well I do, one of which is actually having her little girl as we speak!  Alas, she is in California, so I will not get to see her little one for a while.  However, my other sister literally lives right around the corner from me and  her baby shower is this weekend. So I thought I would make some cute bedding for her.  Well, actually she asked me to when she found out she was pregnant and couldn't find anything she really liked.  This is the first little blanket I'm going to make for her, I also want to do a green and white one that's monographed in the center! 

But as I have never made a baby item in my life and I couldn't find a pattern I liked,  I thought I would start with an easy one. 

I don't think its going to take long to make, cutting the fabric is probably the worst part for me, and thats only because I don't have a work space!  I make everything on my coffee table!  Just in case you were wondering why my pictures always look like they are taken in the same area, thats because they are!

I really should show you all my coffee table, it's actually what got me into DIY!

In college someone gave me this great piece, but it was such a hideous oak color, that I repainted it white then a pretty green and used several different techniques to give it a distressed look!  I've had it for over 6 years now, but I still love it!  Several friends are begging for it, if I ever decide to get rid of it.....who knows....

Anywho.....I have completely gotten off topic, and really should  get back to my project!

A tutorial and more photos to follow!

New Look!

I've been tweaking the look on the ole blog, what do you all think!?!

I liked the old look and really it wasn't even that old, but I think this one shows a little more of my personality!

I've got a few more little bits to change around the blog, but so far I love it!  I would love to figure out how to customize my navigation bar as well as add new fonts to certain areas, so if anyone has figured out how to do that, or knows where I could find a great tutorial, I would love for you to pass it along!  So that's what I've been up to tonight......

Maybe now I'll get back to home DIY instead of Blog DIY!

Junk Mail

Guess what!  I finally took down my Christmas tree!  I know!  I know!  I'm probably the last person on the planet to get around to taking down the Christmas decor, but my tree was doing so well until this last week that I hated to take down a perfectly healthy tree!  Well, now that all the decorations are boxed up and put away, I've been cleaning and organizing the rest of the day!  There is nothing like getting rid of the clutter!

Since it was my New Years resolution, and I shared that with all of you, I thought you may want to see how it's going.

Do you get a crazy amount of junk mail?  Well I seem to get a ridiculous amount, and I know I'm not suppose to just throw something away with my name and address clearly printed on the front.  The risk of identity theft is to great!  So it all seems to pile up until my mail area looks a little something  like this......well exactly like this actually....

I figured it was time to do something about it, so I filed everything that I needed to keep, and the rest got sent through my handy little shredder!

My mail center went from bulging.....

to completely empty and ready for the next round of junk mail.....I'm hoping to keep up with it so it won't get so bad in a few months or so!

I also thought you might want to see how I organized all my fabric and sewing supplies!

I've got a few more boxes of fabric to go through, but I have plenty of room on the top shelf to add a few more!

Just is case you were wondering what sewing supplies could possibly be in the magazine organizers, I find them perfect to hold extra ribbon, trims, and things like zippers.  I like to wrap trims around a heavy-ish sort of cardboard to keep them from getting terribly wrinkled.   I hate pulling out trim thats all bent out of shape!

Anyway, what have you all been up to this weekend?