Frogs everywhere!

Or at least tadpoles! Two years ago we put an above ground pool in. We closed it for the winter, opened it the next spring and it was full of tadpoles! Yuck! We live in a neighborhood, not in the country. However, we have frogs everywhere. I thought they lived near ponds??? Guess that shows how much I know. You go to sleep at night hearing them. I can't believe how loud they are. Of course my kids love it! They see a couple of frogs a day. Even my three year old little girl thinks they're great.

I have nothing against frogs necessarily, but I really don't want to grow them in my pool! So, last year when we closed the pool we were really careful to unhook anything that was attached to the pool and move everything away from it. Well, did you know that frogs have sticky little hands and can CLIMB! Yeah, another little frog fact I didn't know. So, we open our pool and, once again, full of tadpoles. My boys are fishing them out and putting them in a bucket. My daughter then plays with them. She sticks her hand in the bucket and catches them. It's just so gross! I mean, she's supposed to be a princess!

Well, in honor of our breeding pond, I made this dress. Hopefully my daughter will wear it and get her fill of frogs, because our pool is getting shocked tonight and all those little tadpoles will be going bye, bye. On a side note, we're going to release all the ones my boys caught into a local pond. We'll save as many as we can :)



http://www.etsy.com/listing/75189338/girls-pillowcase-dress-frog-and

Memoria Day

My husband is a police officer. I can get so frustrated at times because no one understands our life. It's so much better now that he is in investigations so he works Monday - Friday and it's pretty easy for him to get holidays off. However, in the beginning, trying to make people understand that No, he does not have weekends off. Yes, he does have to work Christmas. It would just drive me crazy!

I had a lady contact me about making shirts for her two children. Her husband was had been overseas for a year and was coming home. It just really made me stop and think how blessed I am. Yes, my husband is at work today on memorial day; but you know what? He's coming home tonight. He's home every night and every weekend. This husband/father was gone for a year. Every day, every night, every evening. No bedtime prayers. No helping with baths. No "I'm done with the kids, it's your turn." She did it alone. He did it alone.

I just felt so blessed to make these shirts. I wanted them to be perfect! Now I know that it took awhile for them to even be noticed. I'm sure he was just looking at his children's beautiful faces. But later, once he noticed, I wanted a smile.

So, thank you to all who have served and are serving. We are so very blessed to have you serve us and our country. You are true heroes. You and the family you leave behind.

Flip Flop Clips

I love when I make something that I'm so excited about! I hate it when I've had the idea FOREVER and I finally sit down and do it. Why do I do that? I've tried to keep an idea book, I just lose it :) I've started a picture folder on my computer so when I run across something that gives me an idea I can save it. It's just sitting there. I've tried to set a goal for myself to make something new once a week or even once a month! The fact is that life is busy and hectic. I'm lucky if I get a few hours of work done, play with my kids and get supper, lets not even mention cleaning the house :P So, these have been in my head for almost a year and they're finally done! The thing is, I have a ton more style ideas in my head! We'll see how long it takes to get all of them done; but in the mean time, I'm going to enjoy just looking at these! My daughter loves them as well, which is always good. I've made flower ones and I have zebra ones on my shoes, love them!

So, hope you like them as much as I do. As much as I hate it that they took so long to make, they were definitely worth the wait!



http://www.etsy.com/listing/74986125/boutique-flip-flop-clips-girls-baby

Ice Cream!

I love ice cream! I don't eat it too much because 1.) I like to eat a lot of it and then I'm not hungry for dinner and 2.) eating ice cream for dinner is not the best idea for some one in their mid thirties :) We used to go to Jerry's growing up every once in awhile. I never understood why we couldn't go more. Now that I'm the parent, I understand. We went to Dairy Queen on Mother's Day and it was $20 for ice cream! Anyway, Jerry's had the best sloppy joes and when you ordered a soda, they put a pretzel on the straw. My mom always got the topsy turvy. Do you know what that is? It's a banana split in a cup. I almost always got the strawberry ice cream soda. Took my daughter to the zoo last week and stopped for ice cream afterwards. I ordered one and remembered why I used to get it all the time! So yummy!

What's your favorite ice cream memory from when you were a kid?

I bought this pattern over a year ago and it's just been sitting here, waiting for me to do something with it. I tend to buy patterns I like when they're on sale and then forget about them :) So, then I had such a hard time trying to decide what colors to make it out of. I mean, the possibilities are endless! I ended up going with a neapolitan theme. I mean what screams summer better than ice cream? I did a google search and found this fun fact about Neapolitan Ice Cream from foodreference.com:

'Neapolitan Ice Cream,' refers to a block of ice cream composed of layers of different flavors, usually chocolate, vanilla and strawberry. (The term Neapolitan is also used to refer to any molded dessert that is made with 3 layers.).
The ice cream makers of Naples, Italy were famous in the early 19th century, especially Tortoni, who created many layered ice cream cakes.

Natives of Naples, Italy are known as Neapolitans.
The term Neapolitan Ice Cream originated in the U.S. in the late 19th century, and is presumably a reference to the 3 layered ice cream cakes of Tortoni, a Neapolitan.

How fun! So I hope you enjoy your ice cream and this fun top!



http://www.etsy.com/listing/74414071/girls-ruffled-shirt-in-neapolitan-colors

Sports!

One of my favorite things to do is to go to my children's sports games. I'm not sure why. Well, ok, because my kids are in it. Beyond that, there's really not much to recommend about children's sports. Oh, they can be entertaining, especially when they're younger. They really don't have much of an idea of what's going on. One thing my mom loves to share is when my brother was playing baseball, playing right field and was chasing butterflies. His coach was not that happy :)

My oldest no longer plays sports. He's pretty active at home riding his bike and playing basketball. He just doesn't have any interest in organized sports. My middle son has decided he only wants to play football. This I enjoy at the beginning of the season, but as it gets colder, not so much! My daughter takes tumbling but hasn't moved into actual sports yet. We'll see what her interests are as time goes on.

I wasn't much into sports growing up. I played softball a year or two and was always the catcher. That should give you an idea of how good I was! Were you into sports? How about your kids?

I came across different sports fabric and decided to make them available. I'll be adding more options as each season comes up. Right now I have baseball and softball. What a fun way for your little girl to support her brother's or even older sister's team!




http://www.etsy.com/listing/72070790/girls-pillowcase-dress-in-the-baseball

http://www.etsy.com/listing/74148547/girls-pillowcase-dress-in-the-soccer

Yellow is My Favorite Color!!!!

What's your favorite color? It's a common question. I think it's a just a little bit of information that's fun to know about people. Different colors inspire different moods. Interior designers recommend different colors for bedrooms than they do for kitchens. I decided to see what exactly the meaning of the color yellow is and here's what I found:

Yellow

Yellow is the color of sunshine. It's associated with joy, happiness, intellect, and energy.

Yellow produces a warming effect, arouses cheerfulness, stimulates mental activity, and generates muscle energy. Yellow is often associated with food. Bright, pure yellow is an attention getter, which is the reason taxicabs are painted this color. When overused, yellow may have a disturbing effect; it is known that babies cry more in yellow rooms. Yellow is seen before other colors when placed against black; this combination is often used to issue a warning. In heraldry, yellow indicates honor and loyalty. Later the meaning of yellow was connected with cowardice.

Use yellow to evoke pleasant, cheerful feelings. You can choose yellow to promote children's products and items related to leisure. Yellow is very effective for attracting attention, so use it to highlight the most important elements of your design. Men usually perceive yellow as a very lighthearted, 'childish' color, so it is not recommended to use yellow when selling prestigious, expensive products to men – nobody will buy a yellow business suit or a yellow Mercedes. Yellow is an unstable and spontaneous color, so avoid using yellow if you want to suggest stability and safety. Light yellow tends to disappear into white, so it usually needs a dark color to highlight it. Shades of yellow are visually unappealing because they loose cheerfulness and become dingy.

Dull (dingy) yellow represents caution, decay, sickness, and jealousy.
Light yellow is associated with intellect, freshness, and joy.

copied from: http://www.color-wheel-pro.com/color-meaning.html

Check it out and see what your favorite color is.

My newest creation was requested by a customer. Do you know that some of my favorite outfits I've created have been custom requests? Well this lady needed something in yellow or orange for a parade later this summer. I suggested the ruffled halter top with matching ruffled jeans. I think they turned out absolutely adorable! It only helps that they're YELLOW!!! I only listed the halter top, so check it out:



http://www.etsy.com/listing/73450621/girls-summer-ruffled-halter-top-in

Shoes!

What girl can't have enough shoes?!? So why not start them early! I remember my daughter had 49 pairs of shoes when she was 6 months old! My husband thought it was crazy, men just don't understand :) I hate when I start making stuff and they're to babyish for my little girl now. Thank goodness I have a niece and friends' babies I can use as testers for new items I want to make. So check out these shoes, they're perfect!

http://www.etsy.com/listing/73295493/girls-handmade-baby-shoes-you-choose

Disney!

Disney World. I never really understood the obsession. I mean, I thought it would be neat to go, but I didn't really care if I ever went or not. Then I had a little girl. It's amazing how a girl can change your life! I have two older boys and one little girl. It's amazing how it would seem they come out of the womb a princess. So, now that I have this this little girl, this princess, I'm starting to see the appeal of Disney. Do you have a favorite Disney memory?

Awhile ago, I made a birthday hat for a customer that was a Disney theme. I was really pleased with how it turned out. I've been wanting to make a complete birthday outfit since that time. It's hard to just create a birthday outfit, especially if you want to show an example of one personalized. So, you can imagine how happy I was when I had another customer request a complete Disney outfit! So here's a picture. Be sure to check out the link so you can see the full description and all the pictures! Do you have an idea for a great birthday outfit you would like to see me make?




http://www.etsy.com/listing/72960648/custom-disney-mouse-birthday-party