Lady Bug Bag

Yesterday I showed you my antennae-less lady bugs. Here they are with all their adorable lady bug parts.



I tried to keep them on the bag body. I swear I did, but one of them crawled right up the strap, and I let her stay there!



We are now on day two of Felix not being sick. I'm crossing my fingers that it stays that way. He fooled us last weekend, and by us I mean Chainsaw because I was in Denver slurping overpriced drinks and wearing borrowed impractical shoes.

We are having a beautiful, 65 degree (real feel of 71 degrees) Earth Day. I'll be showing Mother Earth some love by having a no tv afternoon, hanging the clothes in my washer on my drying rack, reusing glass salsa jars to hold my new magnetic snaps, and keeping the windows open to let in some sweet spring air!

What are you doing today?

Lady bugs!

A friend of mine requested a new bag with some appliqued lady bugs. I thought I had some red fabric with black polka dots, but I didn't. Necessity is the mother of all invention right?



I cut red fabric in the shape of a lady bug and used fabric paint to make them adorable. Um, if I do say so myself. They have safely made it to their bag destination where antennae were painted. I'll be taking pictures of the finished project later this afternoon.

I'm envisioning lady bugs crawling everywhere now. I saw a couple real life lady bugs outside today. Oh spring, I'm so happy you're here!

Another sad post

After our return from the trip that never should have been, I personally came down with the stomach yuckies for several days. Then Felix decided it was his turn to make large partially digested messes. Is that gross? I'm sorry. It's just NORMAL around here.

Of course last week was my week off. No babysitting anyway. I had such great plans involving cleaning and sewing like crazy. Of course my house was in shambles all week. I couldn't even muster the energy to unpack the piles of birthday presents and auction goodies that plagued my table.

Anyway, I have some modest goals for tomorrow.

1. Fold laundry. You know how when you have a sick kid you do 5 random, mixed loads of laundry a day? Well all those clean clothes (the ones that didn't need to be used again right away) are currently residing in and around the one laundry basket I own.

2. Sew something.

3. Get some things ready to ship. SORRY if I owe you a quilt block from last month. I think this month needs erased.

Weekend Highlights

We finally made our trip out to SD for Felix's birthday party (which was 3 weeks ago).

Trip highlights:

Day 1: Felix, my youngest sister, and I were waiting in the chiropractor parking lot when Felix tells me he doesn't feel good. He proceeds to fall asleep in the car, which he NEVER does. Youngest sister stops mid conversation to get out and throw up in the snow pile at the edge of the parking lot. She spends all day and night camped out in the bathroom with heated floors. Also, Joshua's back hurts.

Day 2: Felix throws up in the morning. Birthday party canceled. Mom starts not feeling so hot and spends the day on the couch. Joshua's back still hurts. Joshua has not left my mom's house since we arrived. I did get to go to my first estate auction though. More about that later! Also, a ham feast was eaten! Then I went out and (like a true dummy) drank so much that I had to get sick in the middle of the night. I think I told you guys that I don't have good drinking skills. Remember the bus story? I heard the clock ding dong at 2 am. I like to be asleep by 10 pm.

Day 3: Wake up. I had a horrible hangover. Every bending over to pack action made me want to die. I am tired. Joshua can hardly walk. We get the car stuffed to the gills and drive home.

Guess how many pictures I took on that trip? Exactly as many as are in this post. It was like the trip that was never supposed to happen. I guess the universe was trying to tell us something when it created blizzards the weekend we were supposed to come in the first place.

I did walk to the fabric store this morning. I'll try to post something more upbeat soon!

Nothing makes a good birthday present like some quivering loins

No, this blog did not take a turn for the x-rated. However, this present I made in honor of my best friend's 23rd birth anniversary hovers somewhere between PG-13 and R.





That's right, it's a trashy romance novel box. I have been reading these since I was in high school. Of course they all have similar stories (a. girl meets boy, boy likes girl, girl thinks boy doesn't like her or thinks she doesn't like him, it gets dirty, they get married or b. same as option a only with pirates or indians) and probably don't make me any smarter, but I seriously can't help myself sometimes. It's like watching reality tv. I don't get smarter, but it's fun to watch.

Anyway.

The first step in creating a trashy romance novel box is to make sure you read the book first. You wouldn't want to tear up such a treasure without reading it first, would you? I read this book and remembered it to be slightly entertaining, but not that awesome. I wanted it to have some good dirty parts, but I didn't want the overall book to be so good that I would cry about tearing it up. This one fit the bill.

I read it a while ago, so step two involved me sitting on the couch flipping pages looking for dirty parts. I tore those pages out! If I'm going to cover a box with book pages, I want those pages to be good. I also tore out funny parts that caught my eye. (don't look at these pictures if a heaving bosom or two insults your morals.)

Exhibit 1:



and Exhibit 2:



After tearing out good parts I proceeded to Mod Podge some good pages on the top of the box. Then I tore off the the cover and stuck that mother down. Working in stages, I finally covered the whole box inside and out with pages from the book without gluing it to the table. I then wrote a little note in the lid.



And covered it in Mod Podge to seal those beautiful pages down.

New header

Jenn at The Village Peddler created my glorious new header. Isn't it so cute? Check out her etsy shop if you'd like your very own custom made header or etsy banner.

I didn't give her any tips or suggestions, she just went with it based on what she's seen here. It's so fun and springy and I just want to hug her.

I'll be unveiling some UFOs that I finished this weekend and also a really fun birthday present I just finished. I'm just waiting for the Mod Podge to dry. Like Lolly, I also call it Modge Podge. It just sounds better. More fun I think?

I vanished!

I bet you guys thought that I disappeared on midnight of my last night of being 22. That is not the case. I'm still here- a little older and perhaps a little wiser.

I have been gone because

a. I got sucked into a dirty book again. I don't mean dirty as in dirty, although there are a few risque parts. I mean dirty as in so good that I can't stop reading. I think my eyeballs are sore, but I'm almost done.

b. I've been feeling a bit down.

So I'm going to remedy these issues by finishing that book, coming up with new sewing ideas (I think I have a few!), and trying to find new ways to market myself. Anyone have any tips on being more successful?

I know leaving my poor blog unattended for days on end isn't a good start.

Anyway, I'll try to pop back in later with some pictures. Smoochers!