Shop Open! Woot Woot!

Hola! I reopened my Lil' Ladies and Gentlemen shop and have some purty stuff for sale. I'm so excited to finally post it. Let me tell ya, its hard to build up stock when you have a 2 year old and a 11 monther. Below is a few things here and coming. They are just to drool and chew over! :)

 I also have items for big sister. I have been brain storming on a mommy section. Why? Mom's need something too. I know I love beautiful things. Any ideas?

Shedding Stuff

Hello!

One of my favorite past time hobbies is shedding stuff! It took me a long time to get to this point. But it is so rewarding! Oh ya, and one of my favorite shows right now is Clean House on my Netflix. I don't entirely agree with the show, but it has definitely challenged me. Piling things I don't need in a give away box, and on a weekly basis dropping it off to charity. Well now it is getting tuff once again. I have rid most  of what I don't use(deciphering if that's true). Good news is I don't miss anything I dropped off. Bad news is, our 745 sq ft bungalow is still crowded. Tendency of piling things is an every day occurrence still, and I don't have any place to store it. Oh ya... And Christmas is coming. Ahhhh!

I have developed three rules in my brain.
1. No piling
2. No shifting
3. No avoiding

I break these rules on a daily basis but they really make me think about how I spend my day, how frequently I use things, and how I value them. I pile things to clear a space to work and use it as a quick solution before guests come. When I need a different space I shift the pile. And avoiding, there are things I don't want to figure out if I giveaway or keep, find a place to put them, or simply take the time to put it away.

A good majority of the day requires cleaning. Now much makes sense since I have two children the age of two and under. And piling before guests come isn't entirely avoidable, but I get the sense that when I shed stuff I create for myself a less stressful and more functional  and efficient environment. So far I have had two people tell me, "don't go too crazy."  I hope I'm not. But it does concern me. But at the same time, the space that we have is what we have. And I know we will be cramped  until we do have a bigger place. (my sewing studio, office and living room are all in the same room for example) One website I cling too is Apartment Therapy.com and there post Top 10 Organizing tips.

My hope is to hone down my personal belongings to a point where I become more focused to the things that are important in my life and grow in such areas. Its kind of like picking and choosing a career. Now, this may not be permanent, but it allows you to devote your time and energy towards a few good things instead of being so far stretched you can hardly give one task an hour of your time.

"One path is greater than a million choices" oofta thats hard to live by.

Saterday Browsing

Ok, I LOVE Etsy. I'm always shopping on Etsy. Selling on Etsy. And talking about Etsy. And now, I'm sharing what I find on Etsy. Here are a few things I dream about for my kitchen during the holiday season. Enjoy!

1. Melted Snowman 2. Holiday Decor Red Chalkboard 3. Holiday Tea Towel Snowflake 4. Christmas Apron 1950s Retro  5. Homemade Holiday Cookies Baking Tags 6. Vintage Silverware Garden Marker

Handsome Felt Snowman Ornament

Here is one of two little ornaments I made playing with felt for the first time. A medium I have avoided for over a year. Why? Because there are soooo many cool things you can do with felt! And I personally just had too many other projects my time was promised to. But anyhoo! I sat myself down and made two little ornaments for my family tree. My hopes are to make enough ornaments that we’ll have a handmade ornament tree. Phew! One down, more to go!

Here is a free handsome snowman pattern. It was fun learning how to fuse felt pieces with appliqué material. Let me know if you have any questions!

Supplies Needed:

5-6  felt colors

Light iron on appliqué

Scissors

Permanent marker

Ribbon

1.       Cut out paper pattern pieces

2.       Select felt colors for perspective pieces, cut out relative size to pattern piece and fuse to light appliqué material.

3.       Pin paper pattern to fused felt and cut out shapes.

4.       Layer and iron felt pieces in noted order. 1>snowman body on to background 2>Scarf, and carrot on snowman body

5.       Apply a thin cut piece of appliquéd felt to hat for décor if you wish, then iron hat onto snowman body’s head.

6.       Spray snowman ornament or steam iron and rub with iron to get felted blend look.

7.       With permanent marker dot eyes.

8.       Carefully snip or poke a small hole and thread ribbon though for hanging ornament.

Please Note: This pattern is for personal use only. 

Learning Lines

While the boy was down, Abigail and I drew a masterpiece. I laid out a giant piece of paper in the middle of our living room floor. With markers we learned how to draw FAST. We learned how to draw slowww. We learned to squiggle. We learned about jagged lines and rouuuuund lines.  We traced our hands. We traced our feet. Defiantly something I want to keep.

Operation Christmas

    Lately after the Christmas show I have been brainstorming on how to decorate our family apartment for Christmas. Well, actually, I've been brainstorming since last Christmas. We may submit to a mini tree because of the lack of space. But hey! Its easier to decorate with matching ornaments when you are building your new household's Christmas stock.
   This will be our third Christmas together, second at home. My husband and I both love blue. Here are some pics I gathered up for inspiration. And I love the homemade country cabin look too. I think we could pull it off here. Oh darn, I'll have to go shopping for the muslin and burlap.

Via Pinterest

Prints Charming

via Pinterest

Dreamy Whites

Wise Craft via Craft Gossip

Mmm and now for Pumpkin pie. I made two pies yesterday and we are already breaking into the second one. What's pie backwards? "EIP!"

Bandaging the House

Hello all!

Oh my! its been almost 2 months since I posted. In the mist of that I had overwhelming orders and preparing for a Christmas Show. During that time period my house fell apart. Laundry everywhere. Cheerio crumbs smushed into the living room carpet and the kitchen an ever shifting mess. Siiiiigh. So! My first order of business  after all of the chaos was to tend to my sanity and up-most my family's needs. Order is essential to contentment. Wonder why the kids don't play in their room with all the toys they have? Clean it in an organized fashion to set up for single subject focus and periodic rotation. It works wonders.

   Now to tend to my house. I am sourly disorganized and undisciplined to do chores. So I looked for a scheduled and or a list of to do tasks. I needed it to tend to three main problems I have. 1. Laundry 2. Simplicity, I run away from overwhelming list I'm not yet acquainted with. And 3. Beauty, I don't like ugly lists. I'm sure no one does.

 

 I found this basic cleaning  list via Pinterest and typed it up in my own word program altering it to the schedule that I do have "like cleaning the bathroom on Thursday" . Isn't it pretty! I printed it out and stuck it onto the side of my fridge. I pinned a few other lists under my Home Inspiration Board.

Here is another set  via Design Finch That I will be printing out these tend to other such needs like meal planning, blog posts and overall daily balance and wellness.



Daily Pages from Life's a Journal            
Blog Weekly Calender from Living Locurto

So beautiful! Using the colored ink in my printer is totally worth it too! Be careful not to Overwhelm your self again. I promised myself to only add one formatted list a week or even two weeks just to get one routine under my belt. My cleaning calender this past week so far is proving productivity. Next I'm thinking about tackling my meal planner. Will update you how that goes.
                          

Menu Planning Form from The Project Girl