Unintended Summer Break

Whoops!  I promise I didn't intentionally choose to take a three month hiatus from this blog but life definitely got in my way this summer.  I doubt too many of you were wondering if I fell off the face of the earth but I'm sorry all the same for not doing a better job of keeping you up to date!

I HAVE been working more on Pursewna and have lots of new items in my shop:  www.pursewna.etsy.com.  Many of the items I made new to include in a local vendor showcase that my local MOPS group put on to raise money for Moms hoping to attend national convention which is in October.  The idea was a great one but being the first year, having the weather not cooperate (rain, rain and MORE Florida rain), and not much advertising the show itself wasn't much of a success.  I did pretty good - a lot of the vendors purchased from me and I really enjoyed networking with some other like-minded moms and women (crafty AND entrepreneurial) but I ended up buying some items myself!  Talk about spending all your profits!  Ha!  This has happened to me before so it wasn't too surprising!  :)

I was SUPER happy with my booth set up and hope to keep this same aesthetic in future shows too.  It was busy and crowded (I do tend to have a lot of stuff at my booths) but I think it shows it all off well.  What do you think?

bags on the right side

a new way of displaying garland - really like how this shows it off!

love having the chalkboard clipboards as signs!

tea towel aprons - also new packaging!

I had lots of great camera straps available!

and infinity scarves - so gorgeous!

and of course, lots of wreaths!

After that show I kind of put things with Pursewna on hold while I traveled with my two daughters to Montana to visit my family for 5 weeks.  We had such a great time - we visited family, went to rodeos and parades, took swimming lessons and went hiking, visited Yellowstone Park and had lots of good quality time with my parents/the grandparents.  What a wonderful way to spend our summer - not to mention it wasn't hot and humid like it would've been if we had stayed in Florida all summer!  While I was in MT, I threw a 60th birthday party for my lovely Mom with a fiesta theme!  Lots of tissue paper flowers, a delicious catered Mexican dinner, Margharitas and fun!  I did do some crafting for the party but didn't take a bunch of pictures of what I did.  I also made a few super cute pinata style wreaths made out of felt!  I'll definitely keep this process in mind for future - the wreaths were so colorful and fun!

a peek at a tiny bit of the inside decoration

we rented tables and white linens as wellas white folding tables for most of the tables.  paper streamers and paper lanterns added color...

I also strung up photographs of my Mom throughout her life with family and friends - fun to look through them!

a great party!

my brother bartended and did a great job!  We used my Mom's potting bench for the 'bar'!

the food bufffet and a peek of one of my pinata wreaths in the background!

we used chair ties as table runners and had wildflowers and gerber daisies in mason jars tied with colorful ribbons as centerpieces.... they were simple but gorgeous!

The showstopper was a crepe paper fringed backdrop that was behind the food buffet.... if only it hadn't been so windy then I would've gotten a better picture of it!  Here's a link to the inspiration for the backdrop..... it was so gorgeous!  You can 'kind of' see my backdrop in a couple of the pics above - it's all blowing sideways!

Source: 100layercake.com

I still wish I'd taken a picture of it hung up on a day when it wasn't so windy.... it seriously was awesome (mine wasn't quite like this but it turned out almost as gorgeous!)

Since returning home after our vacation real life has hit me full in the face.  My girls are back in pre-school; the youngest just turned two.  We're moving across the country (again) in a few months and there are of course LOTS of things to do in preparation for that.  Most days I'm just trying to keep my head up instead of burying it in the sand!  ;)  I have had LOTS of requests for custom projects though and they have been keeping me sane.  My goal is to have ALL of them done by the end of September so I can start packing some of our things in October.  Here's a peek at some of the projects I've been doing:

this is a wreath I made for my friend Joyce.  She's about to welcome her FIRST granddaughter into the world soon and asked me to make a wreath for her room.  It will be pink and zebra print so I made a wreath that incorporated those colors as well as some ombre in the yarn.  Lots of vintage buttons and flowers as embellishments!

as well as a name plate  :)

another friend asked me to make a 'fall-ish' garland to hang on her mantle - she wanted one that she could hang for the whole season so chose it to say 'family'.  It turned out so cute!  I used burlap, satin ribbon and canvas.

I just finished up this adorable tooth fairy pillow last night!  I did find some inspiration via Etsy and Pinterest but incorporated mint green and pink for the special recipient.  I hope this little pillow makes losing her first tooth that much more special!  

I did a LOT of cutting last week - enough mini stockings to make about three of these cute advent calendars:

Mine won't be created into a wall hanging quilt but hoping to string them along a ribbon or string with mini clothespins or ribbons.  Should be a cute finished product!  I'll be sure to share more pics when it's done!