Fashion Show

So my camera is broken, thats why I have been slacking on all the pictures. I happily just found a camcorder/camera on Craig’s List that I was very excited about, then I left in in a car in PA this weekend, while I was there.
But the good news is that I was there partly because some of my purses were featured in a fashion show! It was a fashion show for the Transformed, Bold & Beautiful Conference in Ben Salem, PA. It was very fun. They picked girls from the audience and gave them a complete make-over. Dresses were donated by New York & Co., and the girls were lucky enough to get to keep them! It was awesome to watch the transformations. Again, I will post pictures when I get them!

Lots of new things….

Wow its been a long time!!!! It has been a very busy spring, but a beautiful one! Sometimes spring in Maine can be so yucky and rainy, but this one has been perfect. I have been very busy with the purses…. more and more people are signing up for home shows, which is a very fun way to get to know people and for them to find fabulous one-of-a-kind handmade purses and handbags! This season I have added two purse designs to the mix- a ruffled handbag and a big and beautiful beach bag! Very spacious and roomy- some people are carrying them as there everyday bags, which is very fun. Some women think the bigger the purse, the better! I will add new pictures soon. I am hoping to have a professional photo shoot in the near future for an upcoming catalog! Stay tuned!

My First Gluten-Free Chocolate Cake

Well. I must say that I am pleasantly surprised. After an afternoon of baking, mixing, whipping and frosting, I found myself looking at a rather sad looking cake, and I was sure this was a wash. I just knew I was going to be blogging about my failures. Not everything could be a success, right? “Its okay,” I consoled myself. The mix did have pea flour in it, after all. How good could that be? Well. I was about to find out. I had used Kinnickinnick’s Gluten-Free Chocolate Cake mix, that was a gift to me when I visited the celiac dietitian. (“Sorry about your disease, heres some cake.” Oh- I like her!) What the heck, I thought. I whipped it up, and then torted it with a peanut butter whoopie pie filling, and then frosted it with a homemade chocolate frosting. It was delicious!! I was in gluten-free heaven. I took a picture of it…. its funny looking. All the peanut butter frosting had oozed out the sides, but it didnt matter. I just scooped it up and put it on my plate. It can be an ugly cake, as long as it tastes good. Maybe next time I will wait until it COMPLETELY cools before I put the top back on it. Sigh. Live and learn. Yum yum!

Going Gluten-free

Being diagnosed with Celiac Disease was a hard hit. Whatever will I eat now? No more chocolate cake? And pizza? Haha, its probably a good thing. Its a lot to navigate, and I have been appreciating the blogs of people that have gone before me, and figured this thing out. Gluten Free Mommy, Only Sometimes Clever, and My Gluten Free Cookbook have been my favorites so far. I have really been encouraged, and even found some great recipes that I have tried! So, blogging has saved my life. Haha. OK, thats a bit extreme… but its helped a lot.

Its been awhile! Bedroom Re-vamp, take 1.

Sorry it’s been so long! So much to say. I have been recovering from Christmas…. mostly the traveling, not the actual holiday. We had a great time visiting my family in NC. It was so warm…. it was nice to thaw out for a bit! (Remind me why I live in Maine again? I dont mind the snow, actually, I love it, but I could do without the bitter cold!) So…. new projects. I have decided to revamp our bedroom. Its the place in the house that gets the least amount of love. I spend so much time on the rest of the house that when I finally get into my room at night all I want to do it fall into bed….. and sleep! So, needless to say, it has felt neglected. It needed some serious organizing and updating!!
Day 1: Have my husband work his sweet carpentry skills to turn our platform bed into a regular bed. We loved our platform bed for awhile, it was so hip when we got it, but I am now in the mood for a big, fluffy ‘princess’ bed. (I have no idea why I am calling it a princess bed. I just mean one thats up high, with lots of fluffy pillows) Maybe I should drop the ‘princess’ part. I dont know how Joe would feel, sleeping in a princess bed.
Paint the trim. Nothing like a fresh coat of paint. I just hate doing it. I should have traded one of my friends, hair extensions for painting, but it was too short notice. Had to be done now. So I was stuck doing it.
ORGANIZE!!!! Get rid of stuff! Good thing my friends and I have clothes swaps, I have plenty of stuff for it now.
Day 2: Put everything back in, find a place for everything. Move my husbands clothes to an antique dresser I re-did, that I had put in the hallway. Dont worry, he was happy with that idea. Easier for him to get dressed in the bathroom when he gets up before the sun this way. Make his drawers mine, top one becomes my vanity drawer, put all my make up in it so it gets it off the top. Im trying my best to make the room look stream lined… and posh. Thats the goal. Posh.
Day 3: Took down the curtains, hemming them. Going to decorate them soon…
Made giant fuzzy zebra print pillows for the bed. I found a fuzzy zebra print throw that I cut up to make the pillows… it was on clearance at Home Goods. Love that place. Very thrifty.

Things I love.

Turns out, I am a candle snob. Somewhere along the way I got fed-up with paying a lot of money for candles that didnt smell up the room after you had been burning them all day. Waste of money, right? Thats the real reason I have candles, for the yummy smells. So I decided that I wasnt going to buy anything but Yankee Candles because they were the only ones that did that. But I couldnt afford them so I only got like, 2 a year. Bummer. Then a friend of mine invited me to a candle home party, and I mostly went to support her, I love her- shes a great friend. But then I smelled this womans candles, and I was IN LOVE!!! They smelled so fresh and so good…. the real test is how they filled up the room when they were burning. Well, they passed the test with flying colors!!! In fact, they did it BETTER than Yankee Candles!!! I couldnt believe it. Even after I had burned one, I could still smell it in my house days after. I would walk in the door and the fragrance was still there. So I was sold. I had my own home show with her and ordered several…. my FAVORITE is the Pumpkin Souffle. She says the Gingerbread House is the scent that made her famous, but I think it could have been the Pumpkin Souffle. I want to eat it up!!!! I also got the Cinnamon Bun, Apple Jack, Lemon Buttercake and Cranberry. Oh! So good!!! The biggest problem is picking which one to burn. And trust me, it is a problem.
And she was the sweetest woman, Im so glad I found her and her candles. Now I am a Cranberry Harbor Naturals snob. I will never buy another candle… nothing can compare. They are so fresh, she makes them all to order so the scents arent all dried out from being on the shelf. She lives in Maine so its fun supporting a local Maine artisan too. Check her out:
http://www.cranberryharborcandles.com/
Try one of her candles- you’ll love them!!

Winter in Maine

So. It has been snowing for 24 hours, and it’s still coming down hard!! We have a foot probably, and the forecast says we will get another foot tomorrow. Last night I was waiting for my husband to come in, and I saw a man wearing snow goggles and a snow coat, RIDING HIS BIKE through the unplowed street. It was crazy! He was the only one out, and HE WAS RIDING HIS BIKE!!! He was wobbling pretty good, but he was making it . I laughed so hard. I really wish I had caught it on camera, it would have been a hilarious picture. Winter in Maine.

When Joe came in I asked him how much he thought we had. He said “It depends on where you are standing.” I replied, “On the ground, honey.”  I’m so funny. 

Getting Closer to Christmas

I finished the aprons… I love them! They are too cute, especially the patchwork one. I will have to make more like that. The kids and I (finally) decorated the house for Christmas. Its never too late, right? I have been having trouble getting into the ‘Christmas spirit’, but then the kids had a Christmas party at their pre-school, where they sang songs for us. It was great (and funny). I started feeling a little festive. So we came home, dug out the decorations and got to it. I gave them free range so it’s a little wilder than previous years, and I love it. They got very creative with the tinsel (or garland.. whatever its called). They are very excited for daddy to see it.

Busy Day

Its been a busy day of sewing. Im trying to finish up all the holiday orders…. today I worked on a very sweet ‘Mother and Me’ Apron set. She wanted a french country feel, with yellow and blue. I love the fabric I found, Ill upload pics when Im done. I also got a little crazy and started re-upholstering my couch cushions, and then started making the cutest little girl apron, its a patchwork apron. Hopefully Ill finish that tomorrow too. I know just who its for. My boys have been asking for a Thomas the Train apron, for when they help me in the kitchen. It should be sitting under the tree by next week, along with fleece Little Einstein scarves. Too cute!!!

Its Midnight…

It’s midnight. Cant sleep. Got home safely from Philly today. We had a great time visiting my family, celebrating Christmas with them. The kids enjoying playing with everybody, Joe probably enjoyed the peace and quiet while we were gone- haha! No, he missed us. The band has been working hard on their new album in the studio all month so he’s been very busy. I cant wait to hear it! I havent even been given a sneak peak. And I thought he loved me…. Im kidding of course. Im gearing up to do Christmas shopping in the morning. I know its late in the game (for me at least), but its been a busy month!!! Lots of sewing, still lots to do. Cant wait to make my boys Little Einstein scarves for Christmas. They saw the fabric MONTHS ago when we were at JoAnns, and have been asking about it since. They will be thrilled. Okay, off to bed.