Introducing Two Firsts!

Bada bum bada bum bada bum bum!!!

Presenting the first ever Large Sized Scripture Case!

The USC case is regular sized and there to give you an idea of the dimension.

Now an other first wrapped into this scripture case is the outer fabric is a faux leather. I've been thinking of ideas for making scripture cases for grown up guys. The football fabrics are very popular but I've thought that maybe an adult wouldn't want a scripture case screaming his interest but maybe he would like to show his colors in a more refined way. So here it is...
Broncos on the inside. I love how it turned out. I can't wait until it gets unwrapped at Christmas!

Happy Christmas Everyone!

Lisa

Gratitude

I can't seem to organize my thoughts into a blog. I've got so much to get out but at the moment I just don't know how. Brett's Grandpa Peterson, our sealer at our wedding, passed away during the night last night. Brett had a special relationship with him and I am so grateful for the Plan of Happiness :)

Bella Vista Craft Fair

What a learning experience! A fun one at that. I think I may be a little bit addicted.

It was fun driving up to grandmas house the night before and spending the night.

For the past 3 weeks I've been tucking Brett into bed and staying up late to work work work. Lorelai and I left for grandmas at 8 pm, after dark, and I was really worried about my ability to stay awake driving alone in those conditions so I stopped at Panda Express and bought a Dr Pepper, bom bom bom! But it did the trick! I made it safely to Grandmas just after 10 PM and was completely wired for the next two hours. I did manage to get to bed at about midnight thirty and got four hours of sleep before my big day. Poor Emily though, didn't get to bed until 2:30 or so trying to finish her last massive wave of bags.

All the same we still got up and met a block away from the school on time. We dropped Ems car off in the parking lot of the near by Beverly's (only appropriate) and joined the progression of mini vans, mondo vans, and massive trailers pulling into the school. We were directed around a bit until we found our spot and got to start setting up. The event didn't start until 8 and we were ready at 7. So Em and I sat down in the freezing cold to finish up some hand sewing. Fortunately the bags provided a make shift blanket so I didn't completely turn into a Popsicle. Em had 2 sweaters on and still was too cold to tie effective knots with out much much effort and hand rubbing together. Note to self, when the forecast says high 70's bring a jacket anyway until the sun comes up doggoneit.

We enjoyed watching passersby and the few sales we got were fun too. The morning was much busier and pretty much right off the bat Emily sold one of her bags. I sold a pettiskirt and a bag and a few smaller items. Then we sat around while Emily nearly passed out from exhaustion and customer after customer came by and toyed with our emotions. If I had a dollar for every time someone came by and exclaimed over the cuteness of my pettiskirts and then didn't buy one I'd be rich out of my mind and Emily would be the same with her bags. In the end someone came by and bought the whole Halloween out fit pettiskirt and shirt.

During the show we were invited to 3 more craft fairs and will definitely be going to 2 of them, plus another we had already planned on. Expect to hear more about it in the future!

Unfortunately I don't have pics from the fair yet but you can expect those in the near future as well :)

The Missing Bag

I'm freezing, tired and sore.

For the first time in a few weeks I got up and ran this morning. Ow! It was hard. My leg muscles were totally stoked and loving the exercise but my diaphragm and core muscles were suffering.

My poor body slipping into out of shape-ness, I'm glad I got up and ran and I hope, even though tonight is going to be just as late a night as the last 3 weeks, I will get up and run again tomorrow.

I'm freezing because I am waiting for the bus to pick up Desmond so I can take a shower. I was perfectly warm while running but when I got into the car afterwards, yikes!

Well for an update, these last few nights have not been frivolous. I've been working my tail off (figuratively) getting ready for this fair on Saturday. I finished 10 bags last night (go me!) and I dropped them off at the hospital so my mom can hand stitch the holes shut while I move on to bigger projects.

I just can't see myself mass producing bags this way again. I really like to do them one at a time. I like being able to listen to the impressions I get as I am sewing, the inspirations I get to make each piece its own kinda special. The 10 bags I made are nice but I'm not attached to any of them in anyway and I really don't like that. Next time I'll just have to pace myself better :)

I have 2 pettiskirts done, 4 halfway done and all the fabric cut out to finish the partials as well as the 3 pettiskirts I haven't even started. I should be able to get all of that done today. That is the first part of my two fold plan. The second thing I want to accomplish tonight is to get the fabric cut out for the American Girl skirts so I can sew those up tomorrow. Then I'll be done!

Good thing to because I leave for Sacramento tomorrow night. The fair is the day after tomorrow!! I can't believe its here already! I'm not quite excited yet. I probably will be when the skirts are done but I still have too much on my mind.

I'm off to re thread my serger (it's not scary, I love it!!) and serg my day away! Wish me luck.

What I've Been Up To

Well I know you've all been waiting on pins and needles, just aching to know what I've been up to.

Wanna know what came in the mail the other day that was so gorgeous and so exciting? Wanna know all about the serger foot that I was going crazy waiting for? Well here it is!

I call it Candy Corn, isn't it gorgeous? I don't think the picture totally captures the awesome, if only Emily lived closer :P

I received inspiration the other day in Sacrament Meeting. I'm not entirely sure why it popped into my head just then but it did so I was going to make one for Lorelai and one for Bekah. But I just couldn't reign in the joy. I'm making at least 9 for the craft show we are doing on the 3rd.

I will also be making some shirts to go with these to sell at the fair. Black with candy corn painted on them. Cute? Brett and I sure think so.

I got these bows for Lorelai to wear. Gorgeous yes?
Well I'm not sure if I'll tie them into the fair, I think I may make some matching flowers to go with them to the fair.

And there you have it. That's what I have been plotting and scheming about. Love it.

Oh and I also got a pig tail set of these for Lorelai to wear to her uncles football games. Best dressed baby!

I'm thinking 2:30 AM

Thats my prediction as to when I'll go to bed. I am riding a surging high right now and I am so excited right now!!

I'm taking a break at the moment because I need to switch to black fabric and I'm tired of rethreading my surger but what I'm making is coming along so beautifully I can't stand to stop for too long. In fact I can feel it...calling me... right now!! Ah!!

Isn't It About Time?

So here we go. Total update mode.

My house is gorgeous. We have spent weeks and weeks and weeks on it and finally I can devote my time to sewing rather than working on the house.

So in Sewing news I threw down and started sewing yesterday. I had many interuptions but managed to finish 2 complete bags and here they are:

These bags are similar to the ones I have shown on this site before but twisted up a bit. Good times.



And here are two scripture cases ready to be handed over and paid for. Which I really need because can you believe it? I'm already out of interfacing! Good grief. Super exciting, lots more work to do!


Back to the good ol' sewing machine so I can keep crankin' them out!

A Quick Note

Camille at Simplify is sharing a give away with Knitty Bitties and they are giving away some awesome stuff. Hop on over Em, you'll like it!

Thats all for now. I hope you'll hear from me soon.

Here is the Ugly House

Here is a photo update of the house buying saga. The house is officially ours and we have begun work.This is the view from my bedroom. We have a sliding glass door that opens to this patio in the back of our house.
This is a small view of the Master bedroom. I don't have a very good pic of the master bedroom.
This is Lorelai's room! It is the second biggest bedroom in the house not that she really cares at this point.
Guest Bedroom #2 aka Brett's Brothers room haha.

Guest bedroom #1 aka Emily's room.
My craft/ mostly sewing room!!!!
Room turned pantry/ year supply room.
Long hallway full of stuff.
My retarded kitchen. The kitchen will probably be the most impressive before and after picture.
Front/TV/dining room. We are looking at the front door.

So there you have it. That is it for now :)

First Attempt

My first try at draping fondant. I ran out but do you like it so far? Are you proud of me?

FYI

Just so you know. I finished sewing the 3 scripture cases on Thursday. I still need to get pics as well as iron on the names. So I'm nearly there.

Cake Class

Last night was my last cake class. I was very sad. I'm very grateful that my sister in law suggested that we take it. I learned a lot and found a wonderful new medium for my craftyness.

So in honor of my class here is a photo tribute of all the cakes I've done since beginning 7 weeks ago.

This blue thing is my first attempt I believe after two weeks of class. I don't think I am a fan at froofy traditional cakes. But for my first this isn't too bad.

Now I loved the 4th of July cake! I made the flowers 3 days ahead so that they would have time to harden. The flower lay out isn't exactly what I had planned but my board wasn't big enough. I improvised and I love how it turned out.

Desmond's Dino cake @ Chuck E. Cheese. I learned after making this cake to do the lining first. I think the two tone frosting distracts from that blunder and that this cake turned out okay in the end.

For week six we baked a cake and brought it into class to decorate. Brett said he thought it was very cheeky of me to bake a cake and bring home one I bought from the store. Again the traditional froofy cakes aren't really my favorite though this one turned out much better than my first (not surprising). It looks a bit wilted because it was very warm in our classroom and the butter cream did not hold up well. But check out that rose!


My most recent cake to date. I did this dinosaur landscape for Desmond's birthday at my Grandmas house. All edible the rice krispie treats are dinosaurs. The water is piping gel, the dirt is pureed oreos, the rocks marsh mellow fondant, and all the rest of the frosting is butter cream. Yum! Fun stuff huh? I had a great time making all of them.

Next cake on the list? My moms birthday cake. I'm not gonna lie, it's going to be gorgeous! But that isn't until the end of August so you'll just have to wait. :)

See you around. I may have a scripture case update later today hopefully by tomorrow morning.

Slumpage

Ahhh! I've got to get out of this lazy slump!!

Its directly linked.

If I get up an go running I get a lot done during the day, especially sewing.

If I don't go running I have very lazy days.

Since summer began we haven't been running until 6 am. Most people will say "holy cow! 6 am is hecka early to go running"

Not so much, I feel it is too late.

We were running at 4:45 M,W and 5:00 T,TH,F. Brett is driving to work at that time and would call me and yack my ear off forcing me to wake up.

Now he is at work when I need to be waking up and I can't bring myself to wake up on mt own. So I am not getting up and going running and thus not getting anything done through out the day! Unfortunately this has gone on for a while and its got to stop!

I did get up and run yesterday morning and I did get some sewing done :) and even though we don't have a dinner menu for the week, because I wasn't here this weekend, I whipped up some dinner with the supplies we had on hand. And I got all of our laundry done, not just clothing backed up over a week, but bed linens and towels too!

Today I did not wake up and run and I've wasted a lot of time on the comp. I did try to take Desmond to the free family movie at Regal but that was a major bust. Oh well.

So where am I as far as sewing stands? I am partially done with my last 3 scripture case orders and then I'll be sewing some bags for the craft fair, who we've finally heard a bit from. Should be getting our letters back soon.

Back to the bags. I've got five coming up, so far. With my payment from the scripture case orders I'll buy the needed supplies to complete those five bags and hopefully a few more. We'll see.

That reminds me, I've been commissioned to make a dress for a friends little girl. Exciting! I already have the fabric and such so that will be purely profit which can also go to the craft fair, yay!

Sorry this was kind of a wild all over the place post but whatever, it is what it is!

My Weekend

This is going to be a post of many pictures.

We are suppose to close on our house on July 27th so with us going to Grandmas on the 25th I really wanted to get out and have some fun this Saturday. We went over to our friends house and hung out with them for the day.

We went with them on their puppies first ever walk to the park. Lorelai thought it was great to follow the puppies and then was happy to be at the park of course. After that we went to lunch at El Rosal yum! Then we explored the bass pro shop! Man am I pumped up to go camping!

One of the happiest parts of the day was when I came home and found my prize had arrived! Whoot! Thank you Carrie for all the awesomeness!

2 Moda Layer Cakes!

5 Patterns!

1 Pillow from Moda Home!

Great stuff huh!

Now for the lame...

I tried making cake pops. It did not go so well. On Friday I made a 9X13 cake. While it cooled Lorelai and I went to a play date. When we got home I crumbled added the frosting and made the balls and stuck them in the fridge to firm up. I checked them Friday night. Not so firm. I checked them Saturday morning, Still not terribly firm. Finally Saturday night they were firm enough but I had had a long day and it was late so I let them stay in the fridge till Sunday after church when I stuck them all onto sticks and put them in Styrofoam to let the chocolate harden. They look just fine here.

It was the dipping the entire ball into the bowl that things totally fell apart. The candy didn't melt thin enough and the balls fell apart in the dipping. This is the best I got and it was even ruined because my mom tried to touch it.

Oh well. Bakerella mentions some thinning crystals that I'll have to get my hands on and try. Maybe it will turn out better next time.

My next baking project will be Desmond's cake for Grandmas house.

Next Sewing Project? Basket ball and soccer ball scripture cases.

Doesn't really matter though I guess because nothing gets to be done until I finish cleaning my room. That wont be much longer though.

A Trip to the Happiest Place in Modesto

I got paid for another scripture case today so what do I do with it? Well, spend it on the rest of the material required to fill the order and it was great!

Joann's is having a buy two yards of novelty fabric get a third yard free and since the required fabrics for my orders are pretty generic as far as boys go I decided to get a yard each (rather than the minimum 1/4yard required) and got a third boy type fabric free. Whoot! Plus the iron on letters were buy one get one free so I really scored with those too because my customer specifically requested names on the cases.

Soccer balls for Jack

Basket balls for Robby

Any Boy

And just for your viewing pleasure and her future mortification....

Here is Lorelai's first attempt at shaving her legs, Age 1

Ahh, Now Thats Much Better

I posted this a couple of days ago but the pictures shamed me and didn't do justice to my work so here we go again. (P.S. Its now in our Etsy Shop)Don't you think the colors look so much better this time around?
Hey now, I think I spy something sneaky!
Yes yes! There it is! An inner zipper and pocket!
Lovely, I feel so much better now.
And here is one of my recent orders. Since this one has the traditional outer pocket and not an inner pocket (though if one were requested that could most def. be arranged) it is the more awesome tricked out version of this one so I am going to say that it belongs in the Second Generation category.

I'm totally loving on the flower, what about you?


I just can't stand the awesomeness of these scripture cases. I think a new door has been opened to a higher quality, I think flowers are going to be incorporated much more often.

Dispite all of this awesomeness I stayed up late last night thinking over a problem. This pink scripture case is for a little girl and I'm sure she is going to love it but I would be honored to carry it around. Its spans through the different generations. I think boy cases are going to be more difficult. My husband has a superman case is that because he is unique? I've made cases for my girl relatives, cousin, aunts, and grandma but none of the boys have ever asked for anything. Is that just because they are dudes? Or because they can't imagine anything they would want. I just don't know.

The Second Generation

Here is the next generation of scripture cases! Isn't it beautiful? I couldn't find the Nikkon so the picture quality doesn't do justice to the vibrant colors. Feel free to get teary-eyed anyway.
What's so different about this scripture case than ones I have made in the past?

That's right! The beautiful inner zipper pocket.

This case like the others fits the standard sized quadruple combination or triple com + Bible
Like all the polka dots? I was inspired by one of my favorite designers birthday outfit (not to be confused with birthday suit :P)

Expect to see this beauty in our Etsy shop very soon!

Oh my heck!

I must have this for my sewing room!

Crafting, it's in our blood/ My First Quilt

In case you didn't know Emily and I are related through our dads. They are twins and we cousins are their awesome offspring.

There is no doubt that Emily inherited a massive amount of her craftyness from her mom (Joanie!) and it was my mom (Mom!) that taught me to sew. But there is no denying that our fathers side can hold its own in the craft world.

I want to talk about our Great Grandma Ruth for a minute. Grandma Ruth passed away in 2003, it's okay it was really her time, she was 99 years old. I spent some time with her growing up but I wouldn't say that I knew her very well, Em would probably say the same.

But from what I hear she was one amazing woman.

* She survived 2 world wars

* Acted as woman of the house when she was only 11 because her mom was too sick

* Raised 4 wonderful children 3 girls 1 boy

* Has around 25 grandkids

* I have no idea how many great grand kids!

During WWII Grandma Ruth was a real life Rosie the Riveter! Her abilities were specially requested when it came to cutting the manholes in submarines and ships because she could cut a perfect circle. She would ride the train a couple of hours to get from work to home and along the way she would crochet flowers that eventually made up a beautiful table cloth that covered the display table in her Relief Society. We used it for the funeral service and then grandma Myrna donated it indefinitely to their wards Relief Society. But here is a pic!

Anyway, she made a beautiful grandmothers flower garden quilt all by hand many, many years ago. In recent years its begun to fall apart and while Grandma Myrna is still trying to find somewhere to repair it (it is soooo delicate) in the mean time she and I have endeavored to recreate it! I get a flower done from time to time while working on other projects in between. Its an on going process but through it I have really grown as a seamstress.

So this is my entry for Camille's Parade of Quilts

This is one of my first blocks made in 2004, before we discovered hexagon templates and just after I sadly realized I would not be able to do this on my sewing machine.

And here is my most recent flower block. Much crisper and you can't see the thread connecting the little hexagons.

There you have it! We need some 56 flowers to complete the quilt and are up to mid-30's! I hope you enjoyed the reminiscing.

And just for fun here is my husbands first (and most recent) quilt!

Oh and BTW I've almost finished 3 more football scripture cases and just have to pic up a bit of purple fabric and then I'll be all over making some more girlie ones! You can check out what I've already got by following my Etsy link to Carroll Cousin Creations there on the right. Ooo and I need to remember to add that custom requests for scripture cases are totally welcome! Good times, talk to you soon!