Stylin'

Just how do they become so stylish minded the minute they turn 13? First, they are just a big kid, and then, a few days/hours/moments later, it's all about the "look". Things their mother wouldn't dare them to wear have all the sudden become the cat's meow!

I suppose this can be said about boys as much as for girls. I thought I got off scott free being the mom of two boys. It was always "time to get dressed, and here's what to wear", as they dutifully stepped into the suggested outfit. My friends who have daughters complained about scuffles over the clothing issue, and mountains
of cash spent at stores like Abercrombie. Well, I spoke too soon. Now, all the sudden, with the teenage years upon us, my oldest son has stepping into the realm of "Fashionista". Or, would that be "Fashionistor"?!

Here is Drew modeling his summer stylin' beach day look. I really couldn't believe he was going out like this, but he was proud of it... so, okay. At least I got him to pose for a picture! This past week, the temp has been in the high 90s and 100s, (so hot for our San Diego beachside town). Drew and Kyle are back in school. The outfit of choice? Skinny cords. Yes, corduroy jeans, skinny style. Hot x 10... Ask me about back to school shopping for clothes. Abercrombie? He wouldn't be caught dead. No, it's a half hour drive to a special skate shop in Rancho Penesquitas called Willie's Workshop. I said try on everything and I'll buy you anything you promise you'll wear. Well, about $400 later, I'm sympathizing with the Abercrombie moms and wondering if I can find Willie's Workshop slightly used clothing on ebay... Okay, I'm eating my words here. I'm eating my "so glad I have boys" attitude. I guess it must be a teenage thing... Well, here we go. Strap in and enjoy the ride!

Honesty Counts




Thank you, Mari, from Mis Amores, who sent me this thoughtful gift. I love being honored with the tag "Honest", because I hold honesty and truthfulness in very high regard.

Here's how this tag works:
1. Make a link to whomever sent you the tag.

Mari has a beautiful family, filled with love. When I read Mari's blog, I feel the most jealous about not having a daughter to share my love of craft. Mari and her daughter do so much together. I can only imagine their special time spent beading, working clay, and learning new crafts. My heart is warm with love after a visit to Mari's blog. Thank you Mari!


2. Disclose ten truths about yourself, known or unknown. (I'm not sure how you can list a truth you don't know about!)
- I have a wonderful husband and two sons, aged 11 and 13
- I have a Portuguese Water Dog named Lola, who is my sweetie girl and all around best friend :o)
- I have a 22 year old cockatiel, named Birdita, who is a boy, but I gave him a girl name before I learned his sex. He's had gender confusion for 22 years!
- I am a Virgo, semi organized, but a lover of all things orderly.
- I think I drive some people crazy with my persistence. (I really don't mean to!)
- I teach craft classes, and I really love doing so.
- I am 100% girly and a lover of all things cute, especially if it involves a birdy or two.
- I worked in the art field for 20 years, and quit to start my business two years ago. I am loving every minute of it, except for waiting to hear back from the proposals I've sent out :-# urrrgh!
- My birthday is on Monday, August 31st!
- I'm a loyal, supportive and true friend, and I believe I was a healer in my last life...

3. List ten blogs you feel deserve this honor and announce it to them in an email.
Here are ten blogs I love to visit. I hope you enjoy checking them out too!
- About my favorite store (and person:o) swellsknits.blogspot.com
- Another irresistible stop with the best people EVER around there papertales.typepad.com
- She always makes me laugh tutumonkey.blogspot.com
- I can't get enough of her beadwork maddesignsbeads.blogspot.com
- I love to visit their blog AND their local shop theatticgirls.blogspot.com
- A breath of fresh air littlebrownpen.blogspot.com
- I love both Abby's blogs abbytrysagain.typepad.com
- Filled with inspiration sweetbeadstudio.com

For An Ocean Loving Girly Girl

This one's for Flor...

When she was selected as the winner of the Girly Giveaway, I wanted to make something, well- girly, and something that reflected the winner (Flor), and what she loves. Reading her blog is a big treat. Flor is very a versatile artist with all the things she creates. And I do mean things! She is a very busy girl over there, that Flor! Well, reading all about her loves and passions showed that one thing in particular stood out. Her love for the ocean, the sand and the waves, and her glimpses of the mermaids that reside in that special place. So, a mermaid it is! This lovely mermaid needle felted wall hanging is for you, Flor. I'm packing it up and off it goes in tomorrow's mail, hoping to arrive quickly and bring a peaceful wave of the sea... to you from me.

Etsy, I'm Not On Sale!

As some of you know, I've had a Love-Hate relationship with Etsy. The things I love about etsy are the ease with which you can open an online shop, the assistant tools etsy offers to help you get started, and the encouragement and love shown to etsy sellers on a regular basis. What I don't like about etsy is that so many sellers sell their wares so DANG cheap. I think this practice only serves to cheapen etsy's reputation as a whole. I lose faith in etsy sellers on a regular basis when I see something I know takes an hour or more to make, and the seller is charging $10.00. Now that makes no sense to me.

As an artist and craftsperson, I work hard to price my items according to the time I spend making them. I quit my job working for someone else where I was paid handsomely for my time. In order to make ends meet by working from my home studio, I've had to think long and hard about what I'm worth, about what to pay ME! Believe me, when I take into consideration the materials I've bought and the time spent shopping, the label that goes onto the finished product, the business card hangtag, the marketing, let alone the actual time in making the product, AND the time it takes to take a few reasonable photos and then list the product on Etsy... How in the world could that ever be done for a $10.00 sales price, and, more importantly, how could I ever feel good about what I'm doing, that I'm even making what I'm worth???

This lesson was brought home to me this week when the etsy designer I "hired" to design my logo, business card, product tag and labels suddenly closed up shop, and hung a closed sign on her etsy shop door. No forewarning, and no concession to the fact I'm in need of a few more designs. Just a response of "Closed, and no more using your design because it's my 'art' and to do so would be copyright infringement". No reasonable response to my offer of buying the rights to my design. Okay, I know... pay peanuts, get monkeys. I guess I'm guilty of my own foolish pleasure here. I was so thrilled to get my design for such a deal... now I'm really paying for it because I lose out on something I love.

So, the moral here is to spend a little more and get the quality you deserve. If you pay bargain basement prices, expect to be treated like a bargain basement shopper. Pay for quality and get quality. Let me tell you that if you spend the money for one of my products, you will get something that's completely unique, beautifully made, with exquisite attention to detail. And, if I were to ever close up shop, I'd never shut the door in your face. My integrity is more important to me than that...

Out, Out, Damned Doubt



Trouble...
Oh, trouble, trouble, trouble, trouble
Feels like every time I get back on my feet
she come around and knock me down again
Worry...
Oh, worry, worry, worry, worry
Sometimes I swear it feels like this worry is my only friend

I woke up with this Ray LaMontagne song running through my head this morning. Other than fact that I love, love, love this song, it's words are tripping a trigger with me today.

What's to worry and fret about? Well, the truth of that matter is I'm no longer worried and troubled. I am just suffering the lingering effects of my last two worry racked days. I have been waiting to hear back about two proposals I put out within the last month. The first is the Rady Children's Hospital project, and the second is the Lark book proposal. Somehow I got it into my head that I'd hear about both of them on August 18. Finally, I looked over both RFPs on the 19th, and found out I'd hear about one through the mail beginning on the 19th, and the second, I won't hear about until the week of the 24th. So, worry and trouble be damned!!

Worry, fret and trouble go hand in hand with the Virgo personality, well, at least MY Virgo personality! It really is something that's "been doggin' my soul since the day I was born" Okay, it's out there now, another fun fact about me! Well, I know we all have days when worry and trouble get the best of us. It's just that the last two days have had me paralyzed by fear, and that's about the most counterproductive situation ever. So, get out Doubt. I've looked at you and talked to you. Now leave me be so I can get on with what needs to get done around these parts!

Side note about this post: Sorry about the weird line breaks... it's nothing I can figure out how to fix. Somehow the editing mechanism within this post is all messed up today. Must have something to do with all the worry and doubt. Well, get ready; I'm going to stamp it OUT!!

A Summertime Post

Here's a great message from Daily Worth that showed up in my inbox today. A perfect message for a lazy day. I think that's what I'm going to do today. Finish up a few beloved things, perhaps sit and knit for a bit, maybe take a trip back over to Paper Tales to visit their Junque and Trunk Show and Sale. Maybe I'll even splash out and whip up this fun Watermelon Pie, a perfect dessert for a summer evening... or for when special guests come to visit... like tomorrow night. My best friend is coming with her family... they are here visiting from Wisconsin. I can't wait!!!


A Time for Rest
Our minds and bodies need rest. We're nicer, happier, more productive women when we feel rested. We see you nodding in agreement.

In Italy and other parts of Europe, everyone stops working in August! While we in the U.S. don't embrace such luxury, we at DailyWorth toast the European tradition and encourage you to emulate it in any way you can. So here's your assignment for the rest of the summer: Take a few days off, sleep an extra hour, read a mag, go to the beach, drink an extra glass of Riesling — whatever relaxation means to you.

So enjoy the dog days of summer, and get some rest!

Pincushion Friday at Paper Tales!

Make and Take a Sweet Pincushion this Friday from 5-7pm at Paper Tales!

Hooray! I am teaching this pincushion class again, but am adding a different color group for this class. You can choose to make a lavender bouquet or a hot pink bouquet of Itty Bitty Roses. I will have extra kits that you can purchase if you want to go home and make extra pincushions. The gift giving season is right around the corner... Hint, hint!

So, call over to Paper Tales, 619-222-2510 and sign yourself up! We'll have an action packed two hour class, a great way to start off the weekend. See you Friday!

A Gift For A Very Brave Friend

Well, I'm supposed to be doing lots of things around here except for what I am doing, which is to help take care of a friend. Sometimes certain things make all others pale in comparison, and this is one of those things. My sweet brave friend has breast cancer, and had a double mastectomy in June, followed by chemo. She lost her hair last weekend, which I think has been one of the toughest things of all because it somehow announces her plight for all the world to see.

I have decided that there must be a way for people who need to wear head scarves to find a very cute and fashionable solution. Sadly, after combing patterns on the web, it doesn't seem so. Plus, many of the patterns out there, while being pretty unfashionable, are costly as well. It seemed like the thing to do would be to design my very own cute chemo cap! So that's what I've been doing. I have made the first one, and here it is on me:

This Chemo Cap (bad name, I know) is perfect for the summer because the scarf part doesn't hug your head, and it has some gathers and tucks. It looks like you are just having a bad hair day. Then, the super soft Blue Sky Organic Cotton knitted band keeps the hat in place. You can tie it as snugly as you please. What do you think? Do you like the design?
There have been some design flaws, which I'm working out. Even though the back is very cute, I gathered the fabric together and added elastic. There turns out to be too much fabric, so the gathered bit puffs out too much above the bow. My revision includes cutting out sections of the fabric so there's not so much fabric to deal with at the back of the head. My friend also had long hair, so she wants fabric to trail down the back of the neck. I'm modifying the design to include that as well.

In any case, I love, love, love the combination of the Amy Butler fabric and the soft Blue Sky Organic cotton. I bought this lovely combination at The Grove, where Susan and Judy of judipatudi are working hard to put beautiful combinations of yarn and fabric together. It sure makes coming up with a design solution so exciting. I couldn't wait to get home and start knitting and sewing! My husband thought the fabric would be too busy for my friend, but when she saw the yarn and the fabric, she got so excited! Hooray! If I can give my friend a gift which makes her want to get up in the morning, and get dressed so she can feel pretty going out into the world, well, that's the best gift I can ever give, isn't it?

**Update: Please click this link here to view the perfected pattern, and this link here where you can purchase the pattern for yourself. Thank you!

And the Girly Giveaway Winner is.......!

Winner, winner, I'm so excited!!!
Flor Larious Art
... was pulled out of the hat this morning by my World of Warcraft playing son before suiting up and headed out for sailing camp. Hooray, hooray, for Flor! All you need to do is to get in touch with me so we can finalize a couple of girly details, along with your address so I know where to send off your girly prize :o)

I want to thank everyone who entered my First Ever Giveaway. Stay tuned because I might offer another one very soon, as this has been alot of fun! It was a great adventure to meet so many new bloggers out there. I tried to visit each and everyone's blog so I could see what YOU are all about, and I sure liked what I saw. Our blogging world is filled with the most interesting group of creative people, isn't it?! I really enjoyed 11 year old Sabine's blog, all about potatoes, well, sort of. She said she really wasn't very girly at all, and didn't like pink. Well, that's okay, Sabine. Just so you know, if you'd won, I'd probably made you something with purple beaded potatoes on it!!!

Nurturing Our Artistic Passion

Did you read "Eat, Pray, Love"? If you haven't, well, you should! It's an amazing book. This Ted talk by Eat, Pray, Love's author, Elizabeth Gilbert has made the blog rounds, but I thought I'd share it here just in case You haven't heard it or want to listen to it again.

What's your creative process like? Do you have an inner genius? Do you have a creative fairie who follows you about? How about a thunderous poem?! I love that part about the poet, Ruth Stone, and about how she caught her poem by the tail, and when she wrote it down, it was backwards. What a visual! But mostly, I was moved by the story about Tom Waits and how he took the bull by the horns and released his crazy creative genie.

Well, I'm not going to be daunted, or afraid over here. I showed up for my part of the job today. I put in my time, and I'm meeting my deadlines, and even though I may not be God-like today, I might be tomorrow. So, ole!

PS. Only two more days left in the Girly Giveaway, so send me your comments. If you win, the giveaway is going to be as girly as you tell me you are!