House City Baby!!!!

SO! This is the house. We have an inspection today, and as long as everything goes smoothly we should close by the middle of February! The house is in St. Johns, on a cute little street not to to far off of Lombard.

I CANNOT wait to be a home owner!!! The things I'm looking most forward to are:

1. not having to make sure I have quarters before I do a load of wash.

2. being able to do a load of laundry whenever I want, even it is just to wash a couple of things (I know that is two laundry things but I cant wait to have my very own washer and dryer!!!)

3. painting my walls any color I want!!!

4. not having to keep all my sewing and craft stuff in piles on my living room floor.

5. having a yard... 

(and that is not even the whole yard)

6. planting a garden, in my amazing yard.

7. planting calla lilies (among many other flowers) in my yard!

8. having a place to put the letterpress that I have been dying to own.

9. DOG!!!!

10. having some place to call my own, and start a family in!

I will keep everyone posted... and you should all expect an invitation to a painting party soon!! 

2008... A good year!!!

First things first, I had a wonderful holiday. It was so much fun seeing my nephew and neice getting so big, and understanding christmas... I can't wait till next year, it will be even more fun!!! Seattle was a lot of fun and I'm so happy to have Matt's family just up the road. Having both of our families so close is so great!!!

All in all 2008 is looking up to be a great year and aside from a few little things that I need to do to make it even better I'm looking forward to the upcoming year.

In order to make my new years resolutions/goals "real" I figure I should share them with the whole world, that way If I get off track, everyone will know, thus whiping me into shape...

1. Become a homeowner. (Now I know this is really not a resolution, and just somehting that is going to happen but the following is a list of things I want to resolve as a home owner)
a. be a better house keeper
b. make a menu and cook at home
c. throw many fabulous dinner parties
d. do all I can to make my house my home

2. Be healthy, and in turn loose weight. I weighed myself this morning and I was not very happy with myself. I really need to get my ass in gear, eat better, exercise, and in general be a healthier person.

3. Get serious about getting my craft business up and running. Buying a house will help with this. The situation in my living room right now is a bit less then steller. As soon as we get the house I will have a place to sew, and a studio, to do some printing in!!! Aside from having the room to create, I also need to get my web site updated so I start making my own sales on-line.

4. Be a better communicator. I have way to many long lost friends and family that I need to stay in better touch with.

5. Make and stick to a budget. This will be something that we will have to do after we get the house. We have been so used to have ing a lot more disposable money that we will not have as soon as we have a mortgage to pay.

6. Eat out less. I figure this will just have to happen as soon as we start to do number 1 and 5, and will in turn help out with #2 and #1b, it will however be hard, because we really do love eating out..

7. Spend more time with friends and family.

8. Keep my blog updated at least once a week.

9. Be positive!

Heres to a happy and healthy 2008!!!!!

Christmas New bags and Home Shopping!

So there are so many things going on. Christmas is almost here, and this year we get to spend it with all the Fam's. Sunday before Christmas we are having a Christmas Brunch with my Fam. I can't wait to see Jack at Christmas this year, as cute as he was last year he will be so much cuter this year!!! I got him the cutest little outfit. First a Tweed blazer (see above photo) from baby gap, with a sweater, and khaki pants to wear with it. he will be a perfect little yuppie in no time!


And then on to Seattle to see Matt's Fam. Have I mentioned how much I LOVE that Matt's sisters have moved to the NW and are only a few hours away. This will be the first Christmas that we get to spend with Lea, and she is almost three. I have to say that I have gone a bit over board with the presents, but I don't even care!!! she is getting a little play kitchen, so I got her this cute little set from Target with a real little set of pans, and spoons and stuff...FUN!!! We also got her fake sushi kit (see above) to "cook" they are made out of wood, and so freekin cute!


Next I have several New bags on ETSY that I'm pretty proud of so you should check them out. The more I make the better they get!!!


Last I'm sooooooo excited Matt and I have started out house hunt. We looked at several last weekend, and found one that we LOVE (see above photo) We are looking at more tomorrow, and hope to make a decision on which one we love the most to make an offer on. The one below is one we think may be a close contender to the one we LOVE so far!!! I'm so excited!!!!



I will keep you posted on how things go on the house front!!!
Have a Merry Christmas!

Bigger Better My Ass!!!!

So my craft fair experience this weekend was a bit less then stellar. In fact it sucked ass. It was a badly ran, small and there were just no customers to buy anything. We made a whopping $24.50 which was not even enough to pay for the space.

All in all it was not that bad of an experience, and I learned some valuable lessons, and had an amazing weekend away with my wonderful husband, that did nothing but cheer me up when I was upset, about how much things sucked.

Things that I learned:

1. My core customer base IS NOT little old ladies that frequent holiday bazaars at the coast.
2. Being the most prepared, best looking booth at a small craft fair just means I really am ready for the "Big Leagues"
3. People really do love Monkeys in Hats!
4. My bags really do ROCK!!!!!
5. I have the best most caring big Teddy Bear of a husband, and I don't know what I would do without him.

Craft Fair

So I have decided to take a leap and bring my bags and cards outside the computer... to the people. I will be attending my first craft fair this weekend in Lincoln City. I'm a bit nervous, because I have never done this before but I think I have the possibility of doing pretty well. I will have over 20 bags, some monkeys in hats cards, some ABCs and a few misc. other things.

I have been working my ass off over the last week to get everything ready and have the rest of this week, so I think I will be set. Over the weekend my Mom was my savior helping be make 2 full bags (great leather ones) and 2 partial bags.

I still have a lot to do and hope I will get it all done.
Wish me luck!!!

NEW BAGS!!!

I just posted like 4 new ones! CHECK them out!!

It's Here!!!

So I got my new sewing machine early last week, and I love it!!!! It sews through so much stuff nicely. I have made a few bags with it and have posted one that I hope to sell. Now that I have had a bit of time to practice I will soon be a bag making machine!!! I hope to start using leather (and not just the cheap scrap leather) to make the majority of my bags. I figure I would make a few more out of more cost effective materials, to get a hang of my machine...

I tried to post some photo's but bloger would not have it so you'll have to go to etsy to check it out...

stay tuned for even more creations soon!