A quick post for those who

have been wondering why I have been hiding out so much this week. I have been busy busy getting my listings ready for both launches I spoke of in the previous post.

I listed this adorable Mod Blossom set on eBay

For those who are curious, no, I haven't gone back to eBay for long. As tempting as it may be, it just takes too much time and my little ones need me now. I had some prior commitments with some great friends for this launch. I do plan to list once in a while for special occasions, but not often. Thanks for understanding;)

Ok now for my Etsy launch! I have started filling my shop with lots of Ginger Blossom goodies and plan to list throughout the month! So keep you eyes peeled for some new and exciting things. I am really so inspired by this fabric that I can't stop thinking of new fun things to designs. Anyway, here are some of my etsy treasures.

Little Lilly

Tropical Twirl

and

The ever popular Ginger Blossom Hairflower

Thanks to my sweet model and mommy, Crystal from So*Euro

I also added some sweet little Hair Daisies to my shop and they match many of the Ginger Blossom prints. So stop by my shop and check it out!

And I promise, in my next post I will share my new exciting news with you. I gotta run now since it's Saturday! Enjoy your weekend.

Blame it on the munchkins...........

for my absence, that is.

I couldn't think of a better reason for not having enough time to blog though:)

We had a wonderful Easter. The sun was shining and the kids had so much fun finding eggs, hiding them and finding them again, and just being able to run and play. We spent the day with all of our extended family and the kids od'd on the candy until they passed out. It took two days for them to recover from the sugar hang over, but it was still fun.

I hope you all had a wonderful Easter too.

I am up to my ears in Ginger Blossom and I love it. As you may have noticed above, my girls are all wearing it!

Several months ago, some of my long time friends in Couture Society and I decided we wanted to honor our sweet friend Sandi by organizing a launch with some of the most fabulous designers on eBay using her debut fabric. So we started the Ginger Blossom group on eBay.

The fruits of our labors can be seen here here until April 1st!

We ended up having such a huge interest in the launch, that I started another group for a launch on Etsy. There were so many members with so many wonderful items to showcase, we decided to break the launch in two events.

So here we are at the end of March, the earth is beginning to show signs of Spring and what better way to jump in Spring and Summer, than with some Ginger Blossom of your own!

With over 80 members participating in this launch, you are sure to find many delectable items. This launch lasts for a whole month, so be sure to check in frequently and see what's new!

Now for the prize giveaway! My random number generator tells me post number 3 is the lucky winner! So if you will email me and let me know your address and stuff, I will send out your super sweet Ginger Blossom surprise.

I have more news to share, but I will wait for another post to tell you all about that, because it deserves a post of it's own.

Finally the 100th Post!

I know, it's taken me a while to get here and for those of you still reading, I think a party is in order!

So who knows how to party?

The girls from my Ginger Blossom group, of course!

And what better way to celebrate than with the newest craze from Sandi?

A bunch of designers decided to get together and do what we love most, create fabulous things with the most delectable fabric!

And the result is a wonderful array of fashionable and yummy items for kids and mom! Click the picture above to visit the launch on Etsy.com

Here is my addition to the launch.........

Now isn't there a tradition for some kind of giveaway for the 100th post??

Hmmm, how about you leave a comment, and I will do a random drawing for the winner. What's the prize you ask?? Well, let just say it's a surprize, but it will definitely be handmade by me and will include the famous Ginger Blossom fabric.

So, leave me a comment for a chance to win!

Oh and be sure to stop by and check out the Treasury my friend Kristen snagged on Etsy!

http://www.etsy.com/treasury_list.php?room_id=32447

Blossom is all the buzz

Ginger Blossom that is. If you haven't heard of it, you better check out Sandi's blog and get in the "know" for boutique spring fashion in 08. Every single print is absolutely dreamy. I got mine a few days ago and I am smitten with each print.

So, how do you get in on the fun? Well, there is an awesome launch being planned right now for Etsy sellers! If you want to join us, please click here and join us.

I was looking for closure.....

 

And now I have found it. Over the past few months, I have been contemplating my business plans and family. I knew that I needed to re-evaluate my current situation, but that meant the inevitable. I knew eBay was taking way too much time away from my family, but I have so many friends and attachments that made it hard to let go.

eBay made it a little easier for me though! After the recent announcements they made.  I knew it was time.

 

Not to worry, I will still be stocking my Etsy store! In fact, I will be taking part in this movement.

 

Peek a Bunny

 

 

I just had the pleasure of listing my latest One of a Kind sets for the Elite Euro "Friends" launch. This set was so much fun to make. I used authentic European fabric and added lots of fun details.  Click here to visit my auction.

I also had the pleasure of collaborating with Karen on this set. She did the amazing jewels and I have to tell you, they are fabulous! The quality and packaging are fantastic. I absolutely love them.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Celebrate Spring!

 

I am so please to announce the first launch of 2008 for Children of the World

 

I have listed two brand new hair flowers

 

Spring Fresh

 

And

 

Lucky Lil' Lotus

 

There are some beautiful auctions listed, so please stop by and check out the latest in Spring Fresh!

Technical Difficulties

I am trying out the Windows Live Writer program for blog publishing, but am having problems configuring it and uploading pictures. So if you see crazy things happening on this blog, at least you know I'm still here:)
I will post as soon as I get this thing figured out!

I'm still here.....

Merry Christmas, Happy New Year and nope, I haven't dropped of the face of the earth. Just blogland for a while. I had a wonderful holiday season and had planned to post some pictures of my family as they thouroughly enjoyed their holidays, but it seems that every time I would try to post, something would happen and prevent me from posting. I'm sorry.

For those of you who may still be around, I hope to get in here and post more often than the past couple months. And I will bombard you now with some pictures to get caught up.

For the whole month of December our town hosts a festival of lights. This is one of the floats that were on display in the park.

We've gotten a bunch of snow this year already. Snowbarding and sledding have been fun. Many of the days in December, the streets were so covered with snow that you could pull the sled around on the street.

Between the snow and the wind one day, it created some really fun drifts. I have had a lot of fun with my camera this season. This is the first winter I have really played with photography and I am having so much fun.

In fact, I have started listing a bunch of my photos for sale online. Click here if you would like to visit my gallery. Today is the last day for free shipping! Just enter code STYLE2008 on all orders over $15.00.

I have a bunch of things in my Etsy store and some great listings on Ebay. Some of my Ebay listings starting at 99 cents with no reserve!

This little set is inspired by the 7&co's

"Box of Chocolates" launch. Click here to see all of the auctions.

I know that some of links on this blog are dead now and need to be updated. I will try doing this today too and giving this blog a facelift.

Thanks for your patients.

The buzz......

The past week I have been buzzing around non-stop. I don't know where the time goes. I get up at 7 and don't go to bed until 11 or so, but where is the time? Do you ever feel like this?


Let's see, my baby turned 1 last Friday. This was bittersweet. I love to see the next stage and watch her grow, but with each milestone passed it soon becomes a distant memory.
My sweet husband and I have decided that 5 is the lucky number. We don't have plans to have more children, so I am trying to relish every minute with my baby. The only problem is, the more I try to slow her down, the faster she goes. She walks... not just from couch to chair, she walks anywhere and everywhere, she jumps... I thought most kids didn't learn to jump, feet all the way off the floor, until they were 2 or 3 at least. I could go on and on, but your don't want to hear me sob anymore. I love watching my children grow and hopefully I will get a chance to post some pictures of here way cute birthday. I made her a cake of her very own and she LOVED it.

I've also been spending way too much time on the computer, not blogging obviously, but editing photos and working on my ver first e-book! I am so excited to release it. It's in the testing stages right now, but you will be the first to know when I release it.

My sewing machine has also been the focus of my time. I have been working on some fresh new customs. Stay tuned for a preview.

Speaking of sewing.............


My fantabulous group 7&Co is having this "black friday" launch the day after Thanksgiving and you would not believe the great things we are planning to offer! I can't wait to see what everyone lists and great prices too!


I plan to bring back a couple things one last time before I retire them from Ebay. I will also have some brand new customs that you are going to love!
So stop by on Friday and the whole next week to see what we have. We will be listing throughout the following week.

And then Thanksgiving....

We will be splitting the day with both families. We normally don't do this, but we want to be able share the day with both, so what else, but to split the day.

I will be taking lots of food.....Parsley Green Beens, Corn Casserole, Stuffed Mushrooms, and Crab Dip. Mmmmm, I better go get busy or we won't be taking anything.

I hope to find more time this weekend to update you on everything and show some pictures! I am going to join the mass of loonies Friday for some knock down dragout shoppin' so I won't be doing much blogging until the weekend.

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday and I will see you in a few days.

Mandy

EtsyBABY Kris-Mouse Holiday Hunt Promotion

There is a mouse in the house...that's right Santa's helper kris-mouse is making his way through the EtsyBABY shops listed below. When you purchase the item with Kris, you will recieve a free gift. Prizes vary from shop to shop, be sure to look at as many shops as possible. See shop for actual prize details.

Below are a few shops taking part of this promotion.

AbbyChaseDesigns
AlaynaCreations
AliV
AnnieJackDesigns
BabyAnneQuilts
BeadedSocks
BoogabooBabies
ChewChewsCloset
Citefuzz
DianasDarnings
EdibleBaby
ElectricDaisy
GoldtoneDesigns
KnitStyle
Kraftyladykreations
KuddleBugzThreadz
KunkleBaby
Luxrisa
MorgansCloset
MyMiniMocs
Newnewkitty
OurKidsBoutique
PaintedWithHeart
PogiBabies
Qt4baby
SpoiledBaby
Stitchntyme
TheBirchTree

The Pitter Patter

of little feet again. It seems like yesterday when my first child was learning to walk and here I am five kids later still brought to tears when I see my baby take her first steps.

It's actually been a couple months since she took her first step and it was so adorable in a bittersweet way. It's always cute to see them grow up, but the next stage is always harder than the previous. I don't push my children now, I just try to enjoy each moment, because tomorrow may be worse.

Which brings me to the reason, or shall I say reasons for my blog absence. Kids 1 and 2 have so much homework after school that I think most days I am back in school. Who's the student here? I distinctly remember doing my time in school and gladly left that behind, but now it haunts me through my children.

Kids 3 and 4 fight constantly and kid 4 uses a blood curling scream as her defense mechanism when kid 3 is bullying her for the pen or notebook, which is the constant battle here.

Then there is kid 5.... She went from taking her first step to running through the house like a tornado ripping things out of place, eating everything in sight, ripping papers to bits, and demanding I spend every waking moment focused on her.

I do know this too will pass and soon I will have so much time to blog, you will be sick of me. So until then, stick with me and I will try to post as often as I can.

Mandy

Wordless Wednesday.... Christmas Portraits

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Happy Halloween

We are off to the Trunk or Treat tonight. If you aren't familiar with a Trunk or Treat, it's a gathering of people from our church in a parking lot. Everyone decorates their trunks and gives candy. This is so much easier than trying to drag my 5 kids from house to house, not to mention, they are safe from traffic and we know everyone there.

I hope you are having a Happy and safe Halloween.

Just when I wasn't looking

I fell into love with photography all over again.

I stumbled onto this really cool style of photography. No, I didn't find a pause button for my kids or hire a maid, but I did find something new to love and another reason for people to look at me funny as I take pictures of random things. My kids love it too. They always ask when we can go out and find something cool to shoot.

All of a sudden completely boring things are brought into a completely different light.

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Thinking ahead....

I am already thinking Spring, but with the holidays quickly approaching, I have been thinking about the dreaded Christmas cards. Now don't get me wrong, I love to receive Christmas cards. In fact, the more the merrier, but when it comes time for me to send out our family Christmas card, this means gathering ALL 5 of my rambunxios little children together for photos.

Last week I took them out for some picture taking and the poor dolls really tried, but I only ended up with one that actually had all 5 looking in the same direction at the same time! And we took over 200 shots. Now they weren't posing in all of these shots, many were just pictures of them playing and just being kids, but the ones we tried to pose for turned out as I had expected.

Oh well, I did end up with some great outtakes and one good photo, but I can't show them yet. You will have to wait for Christmas:)

It did inspire me to create a set for a little girl with some very cute vintage fabrics that I aquired from a very sweet lady and some of my vintage trims that I told you about this summer.

It turned out so cute that I almost don't want to part with it. It's a size 24 month/2-3T or a small 4. I have all the details posted in the auction on ebay. This is one of a kind and will never be reproduced by me, so please bid accordingly.

It is ready to ship so you will have plenty of time for Christmas portraits of your precious angel.

Click on the photo to see the auction.

Wordless Wednesday

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Haute from the Oven...

I just listed these two adorable aprons for Mommy's little helper on Ebay with the awesome girls from Blossom Leigh Boutique.

She can wear this little apron for baking or for making a fashion statement. My girls love to wear their aprons for accessorizing an outfit.

Click the photo to see the auction.







For more fun "Haute from the Oven" listings click here.

Wordless Wednesday..... Fall Photos

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Fall Pictures

I love the colorful changes of fall so much. Yesterday, we took a drive in the mountains with the family and it was so beautiful, I took a ton of pictures. The colors are so vibrant that they are almost florescent. I have some pictures from yesterday to share, but will have to post them tomorrow. For now I will share the ones we took last week, which are beautiful too.

I jinxed the tooth fairy.....

The other day, I was reading a post on this blog. I laughed and even commented on how funny that was. I guess I must have jinxed it, because the next day my daughter lost a tooth. She was so excited and immediately placed her tooth under her pillow. I made a red flagged mental note, (they all seem to have red flags these days though) to remember to notify the tooth fairy.

The next morning, when I woke her up for school, she came out sobbing and telling me the tooth fairy had forgotten to come. My heart sank as I wracked my tired brain for an excuse that would sooth her broken heart.

I told her that maybe since it was so late last night when she lost it, the tooth fairy had to put her on the next night. This seemed to go over ok. I made another mental note with two red flags.

After school she ran straight to her room and looked under her pillow. Not only had the tooth fairy forgotten AGAIN, but the tooth was lost. All that remained was the empty bag that it had been in. By now I am screaming to myself, "What kind of mother forgets something like that TWICE!!!!"

I ran to my purse only to see my sweet husband already there. He grabbed the dollar bills and dashed to her room. We both knew if we could find the tooth before her, we could slip the money in and hide the tooth. Sheets flying, pillows being thrown, and there it was on the matress. He grabbed it and dropped the dollars on the bed just as she jumped on the bed and asked "Did you find my tooth?"

She saw the money and looked a little confused. After a little explaining that the Tooth Fairy must have come after she went to school and had taken the tooth, she accepted that answer and forgot that she had ever felt the painful ping of being forgotten.

Instantly she was dreaming up just what she would buy with her new dollars, but I was still feeling awful.

Wordless Wednesday...... Tent in a windstorm

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Update: After a few tireless rounds with the wind, the tent was victorious!

As the stakes were pounded back into the ground, the wind retreated.

Thanks for asking,

Mandy

So sorry for my absence....

Wow, what a boring blog this has been lately, huh? Well, with good reason and I do apologize. I have been in a whirlwind of sewing the past month and I thought I was going to be ahead of the game. I have 4 launches that started today.
It was a good thing I got most of my sewing done for those launches early, because last week I spent my days preparing and attending 2 funerals, and tending to my sweet husband who was in a motorcycle accident the previous weekend. He dislocated his shoulder, cracked a rib and torn muscles and ligament. So needless to say, I have had an extra child.
Anyway, enough about the negative, let's talk about the positive. As I mentioned above, I have 4 launches that I listed with today!

The first is a cute little 3 piece set that I listed with the Children of the World Traditional Holiday launch.

Second, I have two listed with the girls from 7&CO for their Holiday Memories launch. These two were especially fun to create as I added some touches that were inspired from precious childhood memories.

and finally, I have one of my favorite sets listed with The Boutique Rebels debut launch. This set was also so much fun to create, because I got to incorporate inspiration from a couple of my favorite fashion rebels;)

The holidays are quickly approaching and I am getting excited already. I love this season and I have a couple more things in the works, so stay tuned for some more holiday fun. For now, I've got to get back to the family and my sweet husband, the laundry and dishes too.
Have a great Tuesday evening.

Wordless Wednesday

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A season for dragonflies....

On the subject of dragonflies, the other day we were barbequing in the back yard, when my sweet husband noticed hundreds of dragonflies buzzing about in one section of our yard. The sun was peaking through the trees and it was warmer in that section, but there was no standing water and no mosquitos within the entire block. Then we started looking harder farther back in the yard and there were hundreds more buzzing through the whole back part of our yard. It was an amazing site, as we rarely see one dragonfly, let alone hundreds. They weren't in our neighbors' yards, just ours. It was quite a site. I still have no idea what drew them here.
The next day they were gone and I haven't seen any again since then.

To my surprise

I came home to get photo editing done and as I sat down at my desk I noticed I had a visitor. I have to admit, I was a little startled at first. My mischevious husband snickered in the background as he watched me jump at the site of this.................

This little guy found his way into the paint room of the shop, (this is where my normally "sweet husband" spends much of his time) and he must have over heated, because he was dead when "mischevious husband" found him. So what did he do with the poor dragonfly? Laquer him of course!! and then stick him on my desk for a little laugh.

It's really kind of cool that he's all laquered, but kind of wierd. I guess my son can add him to the bug collection.