Are you ready?

That has been the question on my mind a lot lately. Are you ready? With a new little one soon to arrive and 100 things still left to do I find that question racing through my mind a lot. Unfortunately the answer is usually NOPE! But I am ready for a few things, one in particular is that I am ready to reveal my new design early next week! I can't wait to tell you all more about it be sure to check back in to see what I have for you!

Stacy

Family

Family is super important to me; both my little growing family, and the family I grew up with. Lately I have been reflecting a lot on my family. I am the 5^th out of 9 children--and yes, that is from one set of parents who are still happily married after 35 years. I am constantly awed that although we were raised by the same parents, in the same house, with the same set of morals and rules, we all turned out so different!! We have all achieved a broad range of education, life styles and religion -- not to mention that we are now all scattered across the U.S. and one in Canada. In spite of all our differences, we are a close family and the older we get, the better our relationships are becoming. Some of my siblings and I talk on an almost daily basis, some a little less than that and still others not nearly often enough. Yet, when I need them they are always there to lend a shoulder, offer advice or extend a helping hand.

One of the things I love most about our family is that we know how to laugh. Maybe even too much at times (is that even possible?!!) The last time we all got together we had family pictures taken and more often than not the picture was “ruined” because instead of smiling nicely, we were all bright red and laughing so hard we had tears in our eyes. And while it makes for a great memory, it didn’t make for the best pictures. We have more inside jokes than should be allowed and it doesn’t matter if there are just two of us together or all of us, those jokes are sure to be shared and endlessly laughed about.

Something else I love about families is that in my religion, The Church of Jesus
Christ of Latter-day Saints (aka Mormons), we believe that families are forever! I love the thought and the reassurance that it gives. Even if something happens in this life to shorten our time together we can still be a family forever! It brings me joy and it also challenges me to have a better relationship with my family because for better or worse they will be there when everything else is gone.

My family is such a strengthening force in my life. If you love your family as much as I love mine, you will LOVE the new design I am working on!

Look for it to debut later on this month!

Change is in the air.

Wow! It's been MONTHS! Well, change is in the air in so many ways, and my lack of blogging is one of the big things to change. Apparently if you have a store online you "need" to do more than actually have a store. Who knew? Apparently a lot of people LOL. I guess this is something that I knew that I needed to do I just didn't know how. That has recently changed! I have been shown the light on social media/networking and think I not only understand how it works a little better but understand how it can work for me without being overwhelming and work for you as readers by being fun, informative and interesting!!! Over the next few days I will be updating my site to reflect my new business logo and update all my information and then the race is on! I already have reviews, sales, new designs and stories all lined up to hopefully keep you coming back for more and more.

To kick things off you can go check out Next Stop - Baby where I am being featured today and checking it out just might pay off in a coupon code for my shop!! Who doesn't love a coupon code?

Well, I hope you all have a wonderful Monday and make sure you check back tomorrow for some awesome changes and a fun story.

-Stacy

The Bragging Mommy

I'm sponsering another giveaway over at the Bragging Mommy. Go check it out and entry to win a 30.00 gift certificate.


www.thebraggingmommy.com

Want a chance to win?

Right now if you head on over to Real Mom's...Real Views you can enter for a chance to win a $30.00 gift certificate to my etsy store! GOOD LUCK!

And we're back!

Hello All! Miss me? I've been MIA for the last little bit. Life here hit the fan after Halloween and I was finding it hard to keep my head above water. Things have settled back down after the holidays and my little sister has recently moved in with us and I have hired her to help with my vinyl. I can't believe how much faster it goes with two people!!! I actually have time again to sit and do designs - I LOVE IT! Here are some of my recent designs. Hope you like them! (if you would like to order one click on the picture and it should link you to my site)

Chicka Chicka Boom Boom

Horse Family

Swirly Swallows

RELAX....

and one of my new favorites

Whimsical Tree

I hope you like them. I have some more new ones just posted and a few more ready in my brain so watch out for more to come soon!

Freebie Friday Made with Love and Glue

Check out this awesome giveaway from Made with Love and Glue that is being hosted at Fabulous Fun Finds. I really think these hair clips are super cute. This giveaway ends 10/12...which isn't too far off so go here really quick and enter this super cute giveaway! Also take a minute and check out the rest of Fabulous Fun Finds blog because they are getting ready to giving away lots of super fun stuff.

And as always, be sure to check out my etsy store for lots of fresh, fun and chic vinyl graphics!

Tutorial...Thursday

For my tutorial this week I made some appliqued onesies yay! I have been wanting to do this for a long time. It was fun! yet also made me realize how rusty my sewing is. YIKES! I was given a sewing machine a while ago from my Grandma Anderson and had an old one from my Grandma Martinez that I usually used but since both have been put away for some time I decided to pull out the newer one and give it a whirl. I ended up not being a quick thing. I some how lost or was never given the all purpose or zigzag presser foot that came with the sewing machine and after ripping my whole room apart looking for it I finally had to wait until Wednesday to run and try and find a new one. But after that annoying delay I was able to whip them up pretty quick. The tutorial that taught me how to make the appliques is over at The Idea Room but I also found some cute patterns and great tips over at Crap I've Made. The only thing I can add to any of this is that I used a diapering ink sewing marker and drew an outline around the designs so that I could hope to keep the sewing a little more even. It worked out great and for any of the ink that did "spontaneously disappear" (exact words from the marker, I don't know why but that really made me laugh when I read it - spontaneously, really? pahaha) I took a wet washcloth to it and the rest of the ink disappeared with the water. I made these 3 onesies for a neighbor's 1st birthday and plan to make a lot more in the future. I really had a lot of fun with these and if you haven't made one yet try it out! If I can do it you CAN do it. Remember, something else fun to do is to check out my etsy site!

My Favorite Part

Today I was getting a lot of orders ready to send out and I realized that My Favorite part of all is packaging them. There are many different steps in getting vinyl ready and although as a whole I like them all, I really do enjoy wrapping them the best. I'm not sure if it's because it signifies to me that it's DONE, or if it is because I know that this last step will be the first thing people see or if it's just simply because I am a girl and pretty paper and bows just makes me happy LOL. Anyway, here are some pictures of how I wrap and package my vinyl for shipping. Enjoy! And remember for Home Decor that's fresh, easy and chic check out my shop!

All wrapped up and ready to be put in shipping containers.

Hand stamped Thank You stickers

I have lots of different colored paper and have been debating about starting to do seasonal colors/designs.

I even have some metallics!


I ship in 3 in tubes and priority mail boxes depending on what is ordered.

Just like everything in my store, custom options are always available. If it's being sent as gift I can do custom paper and tags!

What's New Wednesday

Yay! I finally have some new designs to post today!! I started a rock n roll line and am in the process of starting an Asian inspired category. I am also posting some pictures of some Halloween glass blocks that I made. I haven't worked out all the little kinks with them yet but hope to be selling them soon. So check it all out and let me know what you think.

Halloween Apothecary Jars

Yay for Tutorial Tuesday! Today's tutorial I got from The Idea Room The first time I saw this post I knew I had to make some of these. I went to Deseret Industries a couple of weeks ago and found some awesome random jars. I've also been saving jars that I've emptied all in preparation for today! I started off by printing jar labels that were made by Johnny Love from here After deciding which ones I wanted to use I started distressing them. I did something different to every label but they all had at least one of these: crumpling, dunking in water, burning, and/or ripping. Once I had all the labels ready I started to fill the jars. I didn't have everything I needed (as you will see by my empty jars) but all the work is done and I think it turned great. It was really fun to do and I recommend it to EVERYONE. It's even something your kids can help you with! Check it out!

Next Day Flyers

Today for My Favs Monday I want to give a shout out to Next Day Flyers. A lot of people lately have been complimenting my business cards and asking where I got them. I had Next Day Flyers print them for me and I would recommend them to anyone. They are great to work with, super quick (hence Next Day Flyers) and their quality unbeatable. I had them help me with my husband's custom business cards and they too turned out great. They have a lot of different products to choose from and you can use their templates to create something or you can upload your own design if you have a premade one. If you are in need of business cards, flyers, postcards, menus...anything I promise you won't be disappointed with Next Day Flyers.

What a week

I know that I have been MIA for a few days. Last week went super fast and I got sick and had to check out for part of the week. Sorry for the lack of posts, I promise to pick back up tomorrow. Hope everyone has a better week next week.

Stacy

My Favs Monday....the Spotted Box

As part of my marketing I have contributed to several different sample boxes and I have found that, although there are a lot of good ones, my favorite sample box is The Spotted Box. For those of you who don't know what a sample box is all about I'll give you a quick run through. For a buyer you can purchase a sample box which, for most sample box companies, go one sale once a month and are priced around 15-20.00 which includes the shipping. What you will receive in the sample box is different every month...it's almost like a grab bag. I love it because it's like opening a present every month. I never know what's in it but I know that I will like it! What you are sure to get is around 25 different samples from an array of artisans. Every sample box has a little bit different focus and you can look at their websites and see who the artisans are that will be contributing each month. Some companies focus on earth friendly artisans, some are focused on products that pamper you, some focus on kid friendly items and so on. Each sample in your box is a usable sample and most artisans also provide a coupon code in addition to their sample that you can use if you decide to order something from their site. As I stated earlier, there are many different companies that do sample boxes but my favorite is The Spotted Box. They are more geared towards moms and kids which is perfect for me....and I'm sure many of you. Every month I find that the box has a wide variety of samples from very talented people. I don't end up getting the same sample month after month from the same person. There are so many talented artist who contribute to this box that I always find the coolest things! This last month was their anniversary box and with my small samples I also got some Full Size items. It was a real treat and once again I was in awe of how talented some people are. I think my favorite part about their box is that there really is a wide variety of products. I get scrapbooking stuff, hair bows, jewelry, lotion samples, soaps and scrubs, candle tarts, chapstick samples (which are my FAVORITE), burp rags, yarn, vinyl decals, felt creations, lots and lots of different stuff. I have gotten boxes from other site and ended up getting a lot of the same stuff....like 6 different soap samples, 3 different lotions, 2 chapsticks,5 candle tarts - which is all great stuff but I like the variety of the spotted box better, that way not only do I get stuff to pamper my with but I also get stuff for my kids and get to find people who make cool stuff for children. Anyway, I'm going to wrap up my soap box but just saying that if you haven't tried a sample box before then give it a whirl. I think they are lots of fun!

It's that time again! Freebie Friday

This Friday I found this awesome PopATot activity center that is being given away at Lollipops and Polka dots After a summer of camping with a little one I think this just might be the best invention EVER!!! I love that 1) it's portable...duh 2) that there is a covering on the bottom so that their feet don't get fifthly 3) that you can attach the toys to it so that they can't keep throwing them in the dirt and 4) that you can get an attachable umbrella to go with it. Seriously the wonderful people who created this thought of everything! So if you would like to be entered in to win a popatot then go Here and fill out your entry information. You can also go to the PopATot website to find out more about their product!

Thanksgiving

Today for Thankful Thursday I thought I would express my thanks for the up coming holiday season. Now I know that to most people this may seem a little early but for anyone who owns a business now is the time! Right now is when all the work is getting done so that once the holidays start rolling things can go smoothly. I think the holidays are so much fun and Fall is my absolute favorite time of year. I keep wanting to pull out all my fall decor but when we are still in the 90's everyday I find it hard to break it out just yet. I am thankful for the fun sights, smells, activities and amazing ideas that go hand in hand with the holidays. It is like the word 'holiday' itself just seems to get peoples creative juices flowing! I am thankful for the charity that seems to abound more freely during these short month. I am also thankful for the opportunity I have to see family and reconnect. I hope that it's not too early for you to be thankful for the adventures and memories that are soon to come!

What's new Wednesday??

Here are the new designs that I have made this week. There's not a lot but that's because I have been working on Halloween items that aren't quite ready to show yet. I hope you enjoy the few I post!

Tutorial Tuesday - Gummy Candy

So a while back I saw this tutorial on Not So Idle Hands on how to make gummy candies and thought I would give it a whirl. After making a special trip to the store to buy gelatin and once getting home realized that I had gotten pectin grrrrrr....I waited until my next outing to pick up some actual gelatin and then got started.

Note* I saw that she said her recipe make like a lb of gummy candy so I cut the recipe in 1/2

Get your items together

1 glass measuring cup
3 packs of GELATIN
1 small pack of jello
1/3 cup and a splash of water
candy molds
small/med. size pot




measure 1/3 cup of water into your measuring cup, pour in all the gelatin and jello and mix well. *note it works better to pour all the jello in first and then start mixing in the gelatin.




Cover and let sit for 10 min. While waiting start to boil water in a pot. About 1/3 of a pot of water.

Place jello mix and measuring cup into the pot in the boiling water. (this is going to act like a make shift double boiler) This will warm and melt your jello mix but NOT cook it.




Let it warm until the jello mix is in a liquid state. You don't want to cook the mix, just let it get runny enough so that you can pour it into the molds.




Take it out of the water and pour it into the molds. You don't need to spray the molds or prep them in any way, just pour the mix right onto the plastic. *note If you notice the jello mix getting thick you can place it back into the boiling water for a few minutes to soften it up again.

Wait about 10 min to let the candy solidify and........TA DA! You have gummy candy!! After I was done I thought that maybe I would try rolling my next batch in fine sugar....just so they aren't so sticky. Then they would be a little sugary like peach rings YUM!


It is fun to try this with different flavors, this was black cherry and I really thought they were kinda nasty LOL...but then we did peach and they were amazing. It's also fun to play with the water amount. The less water you use the less gummy the are (they are still gummy but more like a peach ring gummy than a rubbery gummy), the more water the more gummy...and I mean like I think you could chew it for a few minutes and not even begin the digestion process-gummy.LOL

Oh, and I forgot to mention about the molds. You can get them at any craft/candy store. I got mine at Wally World but I have seen them at Joanns and Michaels (not at craft warehouse)

Well I hope you enjoy this. They were fun to make and super quick. The kids LOVED them, and I mean LOVED them. The picture on the plate is everything I made with my "1/2 batch" and that night we took them over to friends when we went for dinner. The kids wanted the gummies over cookies and ice cream! They ended up gobbling the whole plate!

The Cutest Blog on the Block

Today for my favs Monday I wanted to give a shout out to The Cutest Blog on the Block. Not only do they have super cute backgrounds but they have awesome tutorials on how to do cool stuff to your blog like how to make your own background and how to add a signature to your blog. It's fun stuff that I would NEVER be able to figure out on my own and I think that the instructions are very straight forward and easy to follow. It is one of my favorite sites to hit up when I want to change things up. They also have free blog layouts, banners, templates and cool buttons, they also have backgrounds and templates for twitter! Really, this site is so cool. If you've never checked it out do it now!!! www.thecutestblogsontheblock.com

Not so Friday Freebie Friday

So I do realized that it's not Friday but I still wanted to do my freebie Friday. Checking through all of my great giveaway sites I found the La*Tee*Da*Kids giveaway on Fabulous Fun Finds. I love their fun clothes, their fabric combinations and their attention to detail. This is one of my favorite things they are selling but go here to check out their full line and be sure to go here to register for the giveaway. This giveaway ends 9/20 so hurry over!