I have to say that I overwhelmingly happy that all of my orders are out from my various Very Jane sales.
I am so grateful for the opportunity...but wow...the most stressful couple months EVER. I have learned a lot though and I have learned what I can and cannot do.
It's been so crazy that so many things have fallen in the cracks, like laundry...which is really easy to wash...but harder to fold and put away apparently.
I am a stay at home mom but miss my kids...seriously. I've had my sewing machine set up in our living/dining area so I can feel like we are hanging out...
I got a kindle for an early Christmas present from my hubby but haven't had time to curl up with it much.
I haven't had time for my own projects for my family.
So yes. I am grateful for being able to wash, fold and put away laundry. Sit and watch a show with my kids and the time to BLOG (oh yeah...I have one of those).
The whole work at home thing is really appealing, but I definitely know the level at which I CANNOT do it.
I know I sound a little whiny, but isn't the reality so much more daunting than the fantasy. A super successful Etsy store sounds awesome in theory, but the reality is that yeah...you have to actually make all that stuff...
So I think I am going to be happy with a moderately successful store.
I don't have to be on all the cool blogs or even be a cool blog.
I am totally happy being able to clean my kitchen, make some pretty things for others and myself, and be a super great mom and wife.
And bless your little heart if you made it to the end of my whine fest!
Ok, so I live in Florida so we don't really have fall. We have two plant colors here. Really green and really brown.
Lovely.
Anyways, we just have to settle for pumpkin spice candles and lots or orange and green inside.
Despite being insanely busy with orders, I have actually gotten a bit of decorating done.
I was really stoked to get my photo wall done. You can find the "blessed" banner in my shop. If you have no idea how to use my banners as decor, this is a great idea. I was hoping my wall would seem more random, but in perfect Erin OCD fashion...it followed a pattern...haha!
This is in my dining room and I actually picked this up for $12 at Walmart. I really wanted a subway art "thingy", but I have a hard time coughing up $75 for that kinda stuff...
Now for some Instagram fun since I can't find my camera charger ;)
Do you Scentsy? OMG if you don't you must cause I'm in love with mine! I won't burn down my house, the wax won't burn the kids and the smells are amazing! Pumpkin Roll makes me wants loads of pumpkin bread ;) Buy stuff HERE.
I not only sell quite a bit on Very Jane, but I am a great customer and at $4 for a large vinyl wall decal this was a great deal. It is in my workroom/office and reminds me to not freak out at the nearly 300 items I have to make over the next 3 weeks :)
Me and the kids made this little arrangement. They picked out the picks (ceramic flowers and scarecrow from Hobby Lobby 75% off fall clearance, yeah!). It's our new table arrangement.
Yep, that's a stuffed turkey on my entry table. My son just had to have him and he is pretty darn cute. There were glasses on the little pumpkin...where did they go?
This is over the entry table and I normally don't buy tons of premade decor, but I don't have tons of time this year and this was really adorable and on 75% off clearance at Joann.
So it's finally starting to look like the holidays a bit around here :)
I made a decision to choose 3 fall projects. One to do with the kids and 2 for me. Yes, I have to have limits. So off to Pinterest to finds some ideas :) Maybe will have some tomorrow!
Hope everyone is having a great time getting in the thankful spirit!
I have to admit, it's been really hard keeping up with all this.
I really want to be doing fun posts on holiday crafts and art projects...but seeing as how I'm not actually doing any...
All of my fall decor is still in the attic at the old house, so we are sadly lacking in fall holiday spirit. I have two little pumpkins on my kitchen table...so sad...
This is my life right now.
Lots of little wallets. My Very Jane deal was a huge success. Sold out in ONE day. Thanks to any of my friends who posted the link on Facebook.
Because of how busy I am making stuff...I am falling behind on getting the house put together. The house has a lot of wall space, which we aren't used to. So we actually have somewhere to hang all of our artwork. And we actually have quite a bit.
I have to embarrass my sister and share this piece that she did in high school. It's a technique where you take a picture and put it on a graph and then graph the canvas and you paint each square one by one. This is pretty amazing because it looks exactly like the photo. I am happy to have it up, but it is very lonely and need some more friends on the wall with it...
So here is a book that might interest my bloggy friends. I am reading this for my English class and it's all about how blogging began, the importance of blogging and how it's change the media world, etc. SUPER interesting!
So I am off to do some normal mommy things, like take my kids to the library :) Everyone enjoy your day!
I'm notorious for making 3 mile long to-do lists and then conveniently losing them.
Lately, I've been living by my to-do list.
Does anyone look back longingly on the days when you could just speed through the housecleaning as soon as the kids went down for naps and then spend a couple hours vegging and watching your DVR'd episodes of The Real Housewives? Things have definitely been picking up with my little Etsy store :) and while it's been awesome, it's been interesting making "life" work.
And I can really be a space cadet.
Like the constantly updating activities of all my friends on Facebook on the right side of the screen. That totally distracts me and my 2 minute "check" on Facebook turns into half an hour of wandering aimlessly.
So I've actually been using my to-do list and keeping it at my side at all times.
And I am learning: 1) Make TIME LIMITS 2) Do not pull up Facebook, Pinterest, or anything remotely interesting during "work" time. 3) Don't forget to stop and relish something wonderful with the kids in the middle of sewing craziness.
Which is so essential for weeks when your washing machine decides to DIE.
Thus, Bela's first trip to the laundromat. Fortunately, this happened to be a morning Lenny was at school. Otherwise chaos would have ensued.
This little lady is my buddy on Monday and Thursday mornings while big bro is at school.
I live in Florida, so it isn't feeling quite "fall-ish", but that doesn't mean we can't try!
Right now the house really bland. I haven't hung anything up, none of the decor is out so I headed to the kitchen to whip up some homeyness in the form of these little bits of heaven.
These are AMAZING! Snag the recipe HERE. There is a frosting that goes with it, but I saved that for the grownups ;)
Nothing like pumpkin, cinnamon, and nutmeg in the oven to fill the house with warm fuzziness :)
I lit my apple cinnamon candle too, for more fall-feeling-awesomeness.
Now to pawn these cookies off on my pumpkin loving friends so I won't eat all of these!
Ok the move is over and we are in our new place. I could not have fathomed how hard it would be moving with two toddlers...but they really did a good job considering. It was still really hard!
If you are gearing up for a move, I recommend heading over to Flylady.net and checking out her moving tips . There are lots of awesome tips on making your move smoother. I know they helped me quite a bit.
Things are still a bit everywhere though.
This is my craft area...need I say more...This will hopefully be remedied by end of day...maybe. That terrible plaid curtain HAS TO GO!
Furniture is sort of in place, but we are getting some new pieces so I'm not committing to placement yet. And we have TONS of BARE walls!
The kitchen is the only room that is pretty much in order. Happy to still have lots of cabinets! I am liking the layout of this kitchen.
The view from where I'm sitting...I can still see my little ones watching Thomas so all is well :)
I will make one note. MAKE SURE TO BRING THE COFFEE POT!!!
Day 1 - Forgot the coffee pot at old house
Day 2 - Hubby forgot it again
Day 3 - Got the pot...no coffee filters (I don't use paper products so not even a paper towel!)
Day 4 - FINALLY having a cup of coffee in my new house. Now if only it would quite raining so I can enjoy my coffee on my little deck out back!
I'm so happy to be back and blogging and I am going to be posting MUCH more often, so please subscribe or follow me on Twitter to stay in the loop!
So this week there won't be any blog posts because we are moving!
Not far, actually to the neighborhood we lived in before we got here. So basically a few minutes away.
A new place, means a great excuse to bust out some of the DIYs I've been eyeing on Pinterest :)
So hopefully, there will be lots of fun new things to blog about once we get all settled.
My kids are enjoying the moving process.
I can't say that they are very helpful...but gosh it's cute! Right now they are hiding in the suitcases and giggling. It's hilarious.
The Etsy shop will be open and I'll be keeping up with orders during the move (my sewing machine will be the last thing taken out and the first thing set up!)
Everyone have a wonderful week! And pray that I can finish packing my house, despite my crazy children!
Does anyone else have this feeling, like life just put the petal to the metal and forgot to tell you so you forgot to put your seatbelt on but you can't because you're going too fast?
Ok, so maybe not that bad, but WOW. We have a LOT going on.
I'm in school full-time, staying home with the kids, working to promote my Etsy store, I'm the team mom for my son's soccer team (hubby is coach), and we have some changes coming up that could really shake things up.
I just have to say now. I am SOOOO thankful for the Flylady method, otherwise my house would be CHAOS. It was a particularly crazy day yesterday and me and the hubs were pleasantly amazed to find how quickly the chaos was contained. Right now I only have time for the basics of the Flylady method and its WORKING.
So lately I have been living by my dry erase calendar
Everyday I list what I need to do and sometimes I even put time limits on things. Like 1 hour for working on orders/crafting, 2 hours for homework, etc. It's nice to be able to wipe things off :)
I can be a big procrastinator and this is teaching me to just GET THINGS DONE. My Etsy shop is teaching me that too.
I feel like this week has been just ridiculous. Like my children are out to completely drive any semblance of sanity from my life.
My kids are cute.
And ya know what? It's a good thing too...here is just a list of events from the week:
Earlier in the week I was cooking dinner and the kids were playing in the living room. I can see straight into the LR and DR so no worries, I figured they were fine. I could just see the tops of their heads above the chair. I heard a boom and it sounded like Bela maybe fell. I came in the LR to find this.
Yep. That's over half a container of Nesquik powder on the RUG. Not the hardwood floor, which would have been an easy fix, but the RUG! I was LIVID. I was convinced at this point that I should just quit now while I was ahead...
So the week continues on with just MESSES. Dumping cereal, dumping boxes of oatmeal, throwing cups of applesauce. I can handle toys everywhere, but gooey mess I CANNOT!
Bela at lunch. Yes you can expect a toddler to make a mess with yogurt. But she decided to just dump the whole cup on her head...
And here was today's fun little adventure. Mommy's lipstick. As I was finishing up her pinafore, Bela was playing in the LR watching Angelina Ballerina. I have no idea where she got a hold of the lipstick, but this took all of less than 5 minutes...so off we went for our second bath of the day...It seems most of these disasters involve Bela...we still don't know who is the culprit in the Nesquik powder caper...
And you know the week wouldn't be complete without me doing something stupid. Like the crock pot dinner I made yesterday. I plugged in the TOASTER and not the crock pot. DUH! I discovered this at 2pm. The kids had chicken nuggets and tater tots for dinner...at least they were organic?
SOOOO, that being said. I need a break SO BAD. I hope everyone else is having a MUCH better week!
It is Easter Sunday as I write and I figured that I haven't done a devotional blog post since I got my computer back, so it was a good time to write one.
We were talking today in Sunday School about words that describe us and one word to describe the Lord (thanks Fritz and Vicki! You guys helped inspire a whole blog post!). Of course I couldn't come up with one, so I basically said He was ALL things. He is the ultimate paradox, he is the Judge, the Lover, the Bridegroom, He is Jealous for us. On and on you can describe the nature of God.
So our discussion class it got me thinking about our identity. Because as followers of Christ, we are no longer our own, we are His. It also got me thinking about how much we don't walk in our identity in Christ, I know I don't all the time.
So of course I thought of a song and has been on my heart a lot lately. God speaks to me through music a lot. As a former dancer, I communicated through music and music makes us so open and vulnerable (which can be good or bad). Anyways, it was a very old Misty Edwards song, taken mostly from Isaiah 43.
But now, thus says the Lord, who created you, O Jacob, and He who formed you, O Israel: Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by you name; You are Mine.
When you pass through the waters, i will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow you.
When you walk through the fire, you shall not be burned, nor shall the flame scorch you. For I am the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior; I have Egypt for your ransom, Ethiopia and Seba in your place. - Isaiah 43:1-3
You have to continue reading because it's awesome. Anyways, our discussion in class made me think of how much we live in our "old" identity. The one that says we aren't good enough, the one that says we are unlovable, is that what the Lord has said about us? No, we are HIS and He delights in us. Because we have said, "I will give my life to seek you, I will give you my weak adoration and love and all of me." He truly delights in us!
Life has thrown so many challenging things at me and my family lately. It is so easy to get so caught up in those problems and forget that we are His and he will not let any harm come to us, so long as he stay in the palm of His hand. How many times do we try to jump out and do it our own way? I do so many times. Do we forget that it is my weakness for His strength? That He is made awesome in my stumblings and weakness? It was so perfectly crafted this way why God so that we could not boast in our own abilities and that the glory would be ALL HIS.
I love the part in this song where it declares, "though I walk through the valley, it's only a shadow, it's only a shadow. Though my body may perish, it's only a shadow, it's only a shadow!" I love to shout that in my car to whatever is keeping me down, because it is all but a vapor compared to eternity with Him.
We hear it all the time, but there is truly nothing that can separate us from the love of God, except our own unwillingness to ACCEPT the love of God. He is chasing after us, He is the one who is jealous for our love. We are the whole reason He died a terrible death on the cross. He died for the JOY set before Him. The wedding day! He is just ravished by our seemingly weak and pitiful love! He is longing to set us apart and prepare us to be His Bride!
So please listen and enjoy this long and let the words (which are straight from the Word of God) soak into your spirit and remind you of the truth of your identity in Him. Oh and you have to listen to the very end so you can shout too!
We have had a rough week. Starting over the weekend with my son having a fever, which turned out to be only a COLD. Which means a lot of being inside and mommy going stir-crazy. He is still battling a really stuffy nose so we have been spending a lot of time inside (boo). Everytime he gets a little burst of energy he begs to go outside, which mommy GLADLY obliges :) But we have had some fun inside too :)
vS o all this time indoors should mean time for crafting and sewing, but with my 2 little monsters, that usually doesn't happen. The other day I thought I was going to completely flip out and lose my mind. Sitting in the living room with a very mopey Leonard we heard a huge crash and tons of stuff falling. I ran frantically in my room to see my entire sewing table tipped over and Bela standing nearby. She was fine, so my thoughts went immediately to my sewing machine laying on the ground.
I got everything back on the table and grab a scrap to make sure my machine is working ok. My worst fear...CLACKING. I flipped out! I had just finished cutting out a dress and had planned to use nap time to get started on it so I was NOT happy.
So yesterday I decide to give it a good look-over before I called a repair shop so I could a better description of the problem. Well I noticed that the thread was not hooked into the bar that goes up and down...so I re-threaded and voila! Problem solved. I guess it didn't slip in when I re-threaded...DUH! So, lesson is, ALWAYS re-thread :)
So I did get some crafting done after all, stay tuned :)
