"Back in Business"

So I picked up my sewing machine yesterday! YAY! I gave it a test run this morning and it runs like a dream! Amazing what a little cleaning and oiling can do!

Here are some pictures of a project I am currently working on. It will be a crib bumper when it's done. I bought the fabrics at the store where I work. I love the puppy fabric. There are some really cute boy fabrics out there. This one matches the aqua & green stripes on my nursery walls really well. The blocks are pieced and I am working on machine quilting each section right now.

In other news tomorrow is our biggest sale of the year at work - PJ PARTY! It's from 6-9am and all in stock merch. is 40% off. That's right - 40%! The store is usually PACKED! (for obvious reasons. :) It's really fun and a great deal. Check out our website for more info. Wish me luck - I am not a morning person!! :)

I'm linking to:

All Things Crafty

Happy 2011~! I know that these wishes are a little late but better late than never right? It seems that with every new year I come up with a new list of "to do's" and this year the thing, or should I say, room that was on the top of my list was my craft room. I've gotten a lot done already but it is not finished yet. I've been browsing the web for some neat storage ideas and just decorating ideas in general for my creative space. I thought I'd share some pictures with you. :)

I love the use of vintage and also industrial items for storage!
This one is just so cute! I like how they color coordinated their fabric and I am loving the robin's egg blue boxes on the shelf!

So in other news...... my sewing machine decided to stop working the other day. I was a bit frustrated until I realized that my poor little Kenny (it's a Kenmore machine. hence the name.) has never been cleaned or oiled since I've had him! YIKES! That's like 5 years! I think I should be ashamed....... So I took Kenny to the local sewing machine shop for a good cleaning. I'm excited to get my machine back and work on some projects! It's so true what they say - you don't know what you have until you lose it! All of a sudden I feel like sewing. What a cruel irony.

Anyway, I've been checking out craftgawker and etsy for some inspiration. Just thought I'd share some of my findings with you. :)

{button cardigan}

Isn't this such a cute idea!! I think today I will be rooting through my closet trying to find a sweater or cardigan to add colorful buttons to.......

{teardrop earrings}

Ok these are just gorgeous! I love the wire wrap at the top of the beads. And the frosted finish on these beads is really cool too!

{CUTE Bears}

Alright. Prepare yourself for cuteness. Are these bears not the cutest little guys ever! I saw one on craftgawker and had to check it out. My 2 year old saw the picture and even he said "Cute!" And they are surprisingly affordable too for something handmade!

To close this post I would just like to say that if there is any text in this post...... or any of my posts that is capitalized where it shouldn't be it is because I often have a small boy sitting on my lap who is a bit obsessed with pushing the caps lock button so he can see the little light come on. :)

Have a great weekend!

Homemade Potpourri

Well the cooler weather has arrived. I'm not 100% happy or sad about it - somewhere in between I guess. It's always a bit sad to say good-bye to the beautiful 70 degree weather but thankfully there is much excitement in looking forward to the months ahead.

I will admit that on that first "cold" day I go a little crazy. I start to crave Christmas cut-out cookies, I turn on Christmas music and have to try very hard to resist wrapping anything in sight. Yes folks - it is only November 2 and I have already asked my husband when we can put the Christmas tree up. Being the sweetheart he is - he answered with, "whenever you want to is fine w/ me." :)

Another so called tradition in our house for these cold weather months is making homemade potpourri. When I smell the wonderful aroma that this stuff creates I start to feel that blissful feeling that you get this time of year - ya know? So I thought that I would share this incredibly simple recipe with you. I hope you and your family can enjoy it this season making many memories together.

Homemade Potpourri

Ingredients:

-One Apple

-One Orange

-Cinnamon Sticks (about 4 per batch)

-Whole Cloves (about 1Tbsp. per batch)

-Whole Allspice (about 2tsp. per batch)

Directions:

Cut up apples and oranges, put all ingredients into a small sauce pan. Add water until all ingredients are immersed. Put on stove burner on lowest setting. It doesn't take long to get a really good, strong scent. I let mine on for a while and then turn it off when the scent is strong enough.

I use the same batch for a few days. Keep it covered when not in use. When things start to look kind yucky dump it and put together a new batch. REMEMBER to always keep water in the sauce pan. You can add more water when the water level gets low. Take it from me - scorched potpourri does NOT smell good. :)

Enjoy!!

Landscaping

We have FINALLY done something with the front of our house. By which I mean landscaping. On Thursday the hubs and I shoveled, mulched, planted and watered. And here are a few pictures of the end results. Although there's a lot more to do. For me it never feels like things are really finished. My brain just doesn't work that way I guess. I'll just keep dreaming :)

My awesome antique wheel barrow! I love this thing. We were lucky enough to inherit it with our house! We found it waiting for us in the shed. :) I hope to plant lavendar in it.

I found the picket fence panels at a local antique store. Couldn't help myself!!!

My shrubs look pretty teeny and pitiful right now but we got them CHEAP!! I figure we can wait it out until they mature. We got them at Lowe's. It was their end of the season sale. We got the boxwoods for $0.99 each! None of the plants we got were over $10. What a steal!

Jewelry

Here are a few pieces that I created recently.

The first is a necklace that I created as a going away gift for my dear sister-in-law Karen. Her and my bro-in-law Nathan moved to Columbus this past weekend. He will be attending optometry school at OSU. We miss them!

You can view Karen's blog by clicking HERE

Here is a sampling of a few of the glass pendant butterfly necklaces that I make. I usually make about 10 at a time. The pendants are a little bit time consuming to make and I'm still tweaking the creation process. This time I used Diamond Glaze on the back but I've found that I don't like it as well as the resin that I used last time. Although it's much easier to use it doesn't seem to hold up as well and doesn't go on as thick. I wish I could find a product with the durability of the resin but was as easy to apply as the Diamond Glaze. Any suggestions??

I am in the process of getting my Etsy up and running. My shop is empty at the moment but I did find time to create a banner! I was pretty proud of myself considering that technology and I do not always get along. You can check it out here:

http://www.etsy.com/shop/creativekeepings

Have a blessed day! :)

My Life Since April Part 2: A Birthday & An Anniversary

Life is great with 2 little guys. A bit challenging at times but always an adventure! Here is one of my favorite pics of the 2 of them. Can you see the ornery-ness? :)

In June our oldest little guy turned 2 years old! So hard to believe that he's that old already! He is such a character. We love him to pieces. :)

On July 7th the hubs and I had our 4th wedding anniversary. Time flies! I got the wedding video out and watched it and we went out to eat. I love my hubby! Here are some pics of that day 4 years ago when I married my best friend.

My Life Since April Part 1: The Story of Cyrus

I'm back! I am FINALLY writing a new post for this little blog of mine. Poor thing has been rather neglected over these past few months. All for good reason though I assure you. So this post will be a multiple part entry. My life has been pretty darn exciting since my last post!

What is all the excitement about you ask? Well........

Here is a picture of me on May 20th.

And here is a picture taken on May 23rd:

Pretty exciting!!! Don't you agree? :)

Meet Cyrus Mark Kaufman. Born at 4:14am on May 23rd 2010. Weighed in at 7lbs. 15oz. and was 21" long.

So that was the short version of the story. Here is the long version for those of you who may be interested.

I always love to hear people's "baby stories" so here is ours...........

Cyrus was actually due on May 29th but I had a feeling that he would come early. For weeks prior to his birth I had been having a lot of contractions. A lot of nights I would be awake for a few hours because they were painful enough that I couldn't sleep. We even had about 3 hours of false labor a week before his birth. I wondered when he would make his appearance.

Then at about 12:45am on May 23rd I woke up with some pretty serious pain. 'Just more contractions' I thought to myself. I had been so frustrated by the false labor the week before that I didn't even try to time them. I figured they'd probably stop and so I tried to go back to sleep. But they kept coming and were getting stronger. So after a little while I went downstairs to use the restroom. By this time I was in quite a bit of pain. I decided that this must be it! I made it up the stairs and woke Jeff. We called my parents to come stay with Raine and around 2am we left for the hospital.

It was about an hour drive to the hospital but it sure seemed a lot longer!! Jeff drove as quickly and safely as he could considering that it was really foggy outside and he was pushing on my back to ease my pain. On the way there my contractions were pretty fierce. They were about 2-3 minutes apart by this time. I was getting a little worried that we wouldn't make it to the hospital in time! But finally we got there around 3am. We had to go in the ER entrance since it was after hours. Jeff got a wheelchair and wheeled me to the women's pavilion. They took us to our room and I got my gown on. The nurse examined me. I was already 7cms dilated. I told her right away that I wanted an epidural. (I didn't have one last time and wanted to try it this time!) They don't usually give epidurals after you are 8cms dilated so they had to work fast.

Once I had the epidural everything was a breeze!! I could not believe how it took the pain away!! After having one with no pain meds. it's really hard to imagine that anything could completely take away pain that intense, but it did! A couple minutes after I got the epidural the Dr. came in and examined me. I was completely dilated. He broke my water and told me I could push. I pushed 3 times and at 4:14am Cyrus Mark was born!

Big brother Raine was so excited to meet "his baby."

just got home. :)

kisses for Cyrus.