Happy New Year!

Just FYI, I've moved! I'm over here now, so please come over for a visit, stay a while and see what's happening!

Happy New Year to all!

Happy, Merry Christmas!

Gifts are being finished up and wrapping to begin shortly thereafter. There is some baking to do, a little cooking here and there and much snuggling and hot chocolate to enjoy! There is anticipation of a Jolly Old Man coming to visit and bring some goodies, but not before we bake a cake and sing Happy Birthday to Jesus!
And with that, I leave you for the remainder of the year. It's Christmas break and so much wonderful goodness with loved ones to enjoy! It's been a short, short year. One full of events and learning experiences, some hurdles here and there, and so, so many Blessings through all of it!
Now, I am off to spend some time with family. Here's to you and yours for a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

God Bless!

Wow, where have I been?!

Wow, been a little crazy busy here as of late, but it sure didn't seem like it's been that long since I posted! But, there it is...it's been a while! However, here is a sampling of where I have been and what I've been up to the last little bit....



One of our favorite holiday traditions of going to the "Trail of Lights" in town. It's been a tradition since I was little and I LOVE going there! It's got some decent lines of waiting and it takes a bit to walk through, but if you're ever in the Austin, Texas area during the month of December, it's totally worth checking out. Lot's of family fun!



This isn't a great picture, so sorry. Unfortunately my camera batteries failed on me two pics into the "Trail of Lights", so this is the best I could do. It's super adorable with the gingerbread goodness. Much cuter in person though....



Okay, this one I managed when we got there. It's terrible I know. Hmm, so I managed THREE pictures before the camera died. Anyway, this is the "Tree" that you can see miles around Austin and I look so forward to seeing it light up every year. Ah, the memories....again, way better in person. Not my memories, but the tree. :)




And speaking of gingerbread goodness, we now have a new family tradition started this year. Inspired by the gingerbread people and house at the Trail of Lights, we went home and the next day decorated some our own gingerbread people and then along with some hot chocolate, ate them (what we could without getting too sick...oy, the icing!) and watched A Charlie Brown Christmas. It was nice.

Okay, if you're still with me, I leave you with our Christmas stockings. I actually made these last year. There is one missing. I have not made another yet for our new puppers and I don't know if I can bear bringing out the other one I made for Cordelia (whom we lost just two weeks after I made these last year! ). Is that a major no-no to do such a thing? I don't know. Any thoughts on that? I feel our Mona Lisa, who actually is the Delia's aunt, although younger(strange how those litters work) should have her very own stocking. I might just have to stay up late a couple nights to finish one. She will need it for the home-made doggie treats I am planning to make for her. Sticking with my Handmade Pledge!




Well, this has been a long enough post now. I will hopefully be back with one or two more before the New Year! Now, back to finishing up the last two gifts I am making.....

Getting ready

I had a little visit from an elf the other day when getting out the Christmas decorations. He was a very helpful little fellow with lots of questions and wondering where more green lights were. Apparently green is this elf's favorite color and he would have ALL the lights for the tree and garlands and such green if he had it his way....

Peeking in for a minute

Hope everyone had a splendid Thanksgiving! We did here with lots of family and fun. I really want to post some more and tell all about the fun ideas (NOTE ideas, not finished projects) I have planned for the holiday crafts and such. However, between the orders a makin', packin' and shippin', I am peeking in to say a quick hello and promise to visit again soon! Hopefully with some fun crafty holiday pictures to share....

Happy Wednesday to you!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Okay, not much posting going on here at the moment. Not that I don't have plenty to go on about....just, lots of family in and orders for Little Bird to finish up and get out tomorrow so I can enjoy the Holiday with loved ones. Then back to the studio to work on some little projects here and there that I hope to have up in my SHOP next week! Until then, I leave you with a festive little pie pumpkin my son decorated.

Happy Thanksgiving!!!!

Little Lovelies

Meet Elena. She is my Matryoshka inspired doll I whipped up over the weekend. I have been wanting to get back to creating more one-of-a-kind items lately. Not that I don't LOVE making the onesies and tees and blankets and such. I do and will continue to be making those for a long time to come. I have just been feeling a pull back towards making something...different. Like these dolls! I have loved the Russian nesting (or Matryoshka) dolls for as long as I can remember and have been wanting to make one of these for some time now. Not really a "nesting" type, but more plush and something little ones can love on. I used to make more things like this in the past and just the last few years things have been so busy I feel as though I have gotten away from simple hand-sewing special pretties. I guess that is why I continue to hand applique the onesies and tees I make. I have to keep that balance somehow!
So, I have decided to make a few of these and will be posting them in my shop this week or next. Each will be one of a kind , hand embroidered, with her own special story. Keep a look out and I will hopefully be posting more pics of the others I plan on making this week.

Happy Monday!

Jingle Bells...

Okay, I am SO in the mood for a little Christmas! I love it, even if it is due to be in the 80's today (after a thirty degree drop just Tue.!) I was so very excited to get out some long sleeves and finish up a scarf for my son. Then, just as I do these things, we have a "warming trend" and we are to be in the 80's and then 70's next week! It is November, yes?

Anyway, so this year (as usual with me) I am going handmade with gifts. I wanted to start a little tradition of new "jammies" each year for the immediate familia, but have yet to do it! This year however, I have a four year old with some serious opinions and is totally on board with the handmade and new jamma pants! So, we went to the store, picked out the fabric (shown above with the reindeer) and voila! We will have matching jamma pants for the holidays! Mom, Dad and the Monkey Boy. Now, I just need to get to work on it all.....

Happy Friday to you!

Washing Machine

It's that time of week! And I am actually gonna post this "Thankful Thursday" post on a Thursday! Amazing, I know.

It's a pretty simple one this week. As much as we all love (or not so much) doing laundry, I have to say having a machine that is working properly is very beneficial! Ours has been hit or miss for a couple months now. Then, the other night I was in there trying to get the whatsahoozit to work and I hear this "snap!" and then you here, "HON!" from the laundry room (me) calling to my fabulous and wonderful Hubby to come and take a look cause I think I broke it. I did. But thankfully it went with the part that he had already ordered. Whew! So, the part came lightening fast and in two days from ordering to getting the part and the Super Husband taking my washing machine apart and putting in back together, it's fixed and working! Whoohoo!

So, that is what I am very much thankful for today.....a washing machine that works! Now, off to do my pile of laundry.....

Happy Thursday to you!

All about Handmade

I have taken the pledge! Okay, so really I have been making handmade gifts for Christmas for as long as I can remember. It all started when I learned how to knit, crotchet and sew. I was little and I took to it immediately and LOVED it! I made things here and there all the time, but when I learned I could do things with a needle and thread (or yarn and hook) well, a whole new world opened up to me! I started to analyze things to see how they were made. Like a pretty sock bunny that I had received as a gift years before. I looked at it one day and decided I wanted to make one! So I did. Many. As a matter of fact, my whole family each received a completely hand sewn sock bunny that year for Christmas. I have to say, they were quite, what's the word....humble looking. But, I enjoyed every bit of their making. And to this very day my sister still has hers that I made for her. And that is saying something seeing that she "cleans" things out often and is married to a dear fellow who has no sentimentality of "things", even humble, sweet little sock bunnies. But, she has kept it! I will have to see if I can get a pic of it. It's seriously kinda sad looking. poor thing. I also made these silly little medicine bottle covers once. Not sure why, but I thought all people who ever needed to take medicine should need these for the not so attractive medicine bottles. So, I crocheted little animals and added felt detail to them. What I was thinking I don't know. However, my mom still has her little bottle "creature" I made for her. Hmmm, something about the handmade from the heart thing, huh? I love handmade. So, this year, even if I do not make it myself, I have pledged to buy handmade as well!

Happy Handmade to you and yours!

New at Little Bird

Fun things for the holidays! Now up in my shop More to come!

Have you ever seen....

A Fire Man/ Super Hero/ Lion?! Now ya have! Last night was fun....except for the part where I tripped over my son's bike (got some nice bruises from the fall...ouch)while trying to run from a BEE that was after me. I should mention, I am, for whatever reason, terrified of BEES! I know, silly of me, but it's true. You should have heard the rolling laughter from my sister!

Happy Thursday!

Blogging Funk

Okay. I admit it, I have been terrible about blogging lately! It's not that I have nothing to blog about, I do! Lots of goodies. Just, not always to time to sit and do it all. I have been really terrible about not getting my pics of the camera and such. Really, I do need to get better about it! I promise though to try and get better about my posts.....yikes, I am frightened actually saying I promise to try will result in not doing so. However, I really am gonna try! :)

So this next week my goal will be to post at least twice! In one week! Lets see if I can do it.....

Have a great weekend!

Good Things

I am a little late with my "Thankful" post for this week. But, better than last week when I totally missed it all together and didn't even realize it until Tuesday! Maybe I should change this to another day? Nah, I will just try and keep up with what I have already started.

Today was a really fun day. It was a "work" (meaning NO school) day at the monkey boy's pre-school, so we had a play date with a good friend. A couple good friends actually, both his and mine! My friend (the mom) of his friend had this cute idea about making candy corn cookies. SO cute! They turned out very cute and it was fun with the kiddos and moms decorating the cookies. Unfortunately, I forgot my camera so I have no pics to share at the moment, but another friend there was a smart thinker and had hers, so she said she would be happy to share. I will try and remember to post those when they come my way. Super cute idea! So, that is what I am thankful for this Thursday....good friends, fun times and laughter. Oh, and that our kids get along too! I love that our kids get along and that our friendships are able to grow along with them. Not always able to have it both ways...


Happy Thursday......wait, Friday to you!

Feelin' Crafty

So much craftiness, so not enough time! I have a bajillion ideas constantly running through my brain. ALL the time. So much fun. But alas, there is just simply not enough time in my days (anyones really?) to do all of these fun ideas. However, I did manage to get one fun, just to spend time with my monkey boy, project done this weekend! Okay, it's not totally finished, but it's getting there. Above are just some glimpses of it. Basically, it's leftover craft foam from another project. Random bits of colorful not-so-perfect circles that I thought would be fun to turn into some type of "window treatment" for a spare room in our house that we are thinking about turning into a "playroom" of sorts. Really, it's my son's nursery, but he has sinced moved into his "big boy" room. We had plans of keeping it a nursery, but things have not gone quite according to our plan. I will not go into a long sob story here about my PCOS and attempts to have more children. But, it is the reality of things and not that we're giving up, just deciding that the space can't go unused forever! So, we decided what fun it would be to decorate it so it can be a play-ish room for the monkey boy and easily transition into a nursery if that is to happen again in the future. We have not told the monkey boy this as of yet. Still trying to work out the logistics of it all. Meanwhile, it's kinda sad to realize we have been here for five years and have yet to put something up on the window in this room other than the paper shade that is still there...from when we moved in! Not that I haven't wanted to, it's just the view out the window is, well, not really anything other than another window...our neighbors! Literally, thats it. Look out a window and into another! I have thought about planting something out that way, but it's not really a frequented place when we're outside, so I am easily able to "forget" about watering and careing for whatever it would be that I were to plant there. Anyone have any good ideas on this? There is only about a good three feet between the house and the fence separating us from our neighbors on that side. Thankfully, they are rather nice neighbors! I could go on, but I won't.

Hope all are having a nice weekend! Take it easy and enjoy the rest of it before Monday comes again.....

Thankful for the letter "A"

Today has been a pretty one full of much singing from the Monkey Boy! He awoke, singing all the way into our room. I cannot remember exactly what he was singing, but it was cute. Then, on the way to pre-school he sang about "A Bear Hunt" Something about "we're going on a bear hunt to find a bear with big green eyes and a fuzzy little tail" and such. Then, when I picked him up from school, all the way out to the car he sang "Apple Annie" Don't know if you know how it goes, but it's a little something like this: "Apple Annie, Apple Annie, how are you today-Ay? Tell me all the things you know about the letter A-ay! Alligator, Astronaut, trees that sway-y sway-Ay! Those are all the things that start with the letter A-ay!" I do not know the tune exactly, but oh how it made my day! Oops, didn't mean to rhyme there. :) Oh, and also on the way home...ALL the way home, we HAD to, just HAD to find 100 letter A's. Yuppers, we counted 100 (and then some) letter A's.The people in the cars around us must have thought I was nuts pointing to all the different signs with letter "A"!
Yeah, the letter of the week at school was "Aa", in case you hadn't figured that out yet. It was fun. I enjoyed all that about "A" and hmmm, yes, I hear him singing the "Bear Hunt" one again. I am SO thankful for sweet little sounds and songs of childhood.

Happy Thursday!

New Little Bird Creations

Here are some new items I just now put up in my Etsy shop. I have more to come and am looking forward to hopefully getting those added soon too!

Happy Tuesday!

Such Thankfulness

Wow, okay so I totally missed doing my Thankful Thursday post last week! It was not due to not being able to post, but more like I had no idea what to say that day. Reason being that life can really throw some curve balls at times! Not that I would normally post about something like this on a "crafty-ness" blog, but I will go ahead and throw it out there anyway. Last week was a little scary for me. I had to have a biopsy, not so fun, and then had to wait for results. Of course. Yes, the dreaded "C" word was of course looked for, however, I am happy to report that results are in and I do not have cancer! Whew! There are still other concerns, but none I will go in to detail about here. SO, naturally, I am so very thankful for my life and the time God has given me to spend with my family. This week has been a lot about focusing on the more simple things in life and how easily we can just look right over them, or even get annoyed at the seemingly mundane tasks of every day life. It's easy to do so, but sometimes I think it's really important to just enjoy it, knowing the little ones grow so very fast and you just never know how much time you ever really do have.

So, I hope all are having a great week and making sure to take a moment here and there to just enjoy it, whatever it may be.

Happy Thursday!

The color orange

This was fun! Jess over at How about orange had a great post about this, so I went on over and took the quiz myself. These would be the results:

You Are Cameo

You are understanding and very empathetic. You don't tend to have acquaintances. Everyone is your friend. And all of your friends tend to be friends. You have a knack for bringing very different people together.

What Color Orange Are You?

Seems like a nice color to be. I'll go with it for now....

Happy Tuesday to you!

Oops!

So when did Thursday suddenly turn into Saturday??? Hello, where have I been?! Well, obviously my "Thankful Thursday" post must have gotten lost in, uhm, blogesphere (is there such a thing?) somewhere! Yuppers. That's what happened.
Anyhoo...I am very thankful for many things however, one of which is a new waffle recipe I have tweaked from a family favorite of four generations. Waffles, in our house anyway, are somewhat a traditional Saturday morning deal for us. My son LOVES them and so does my Husband. I like them too, but I have this aweful thing called PCOS and it can wreak havoc on being able to have normal-ish meals with family and friends. Well, I can eat whatever normal-ish is, but then I end up with some not so great side-effects. SO, I decided to try something a little different and tweak our waffles a bit and amazingly enough, they were actually good! Yummy even! I substituted Almond Meal flour for reg. flour and added a little Flax meal. I cannot remember all else I did, but it basically made it a lower-carb, healthier version of waffles. Thankfully I have written it down for next time. I will say, the batter frightened me a bit, but they made up really well. The true test came for when the monkey boy took a taste......wahoo! Didn't even notice the flax in it and loved 'em just as much as the others. Whew! Now, I can enjoy waffle Saturdays together with my family! And for that, I am thankful.

Hope you all have a fantastic weekend!

Who, me?

Okay, so I can be such a doofu sometimes! I, like many (maybe?) people do, have a few email accounts. Okay, so three, but only use two. However, instead of trying to remember to check all of them and which ones, I have them forwarded to one, so it keeps me mostly on top of things. Well. SO I thought! Apparently I did not have one all correctly forwarding and on a whim checked it, ya know, to make sure I didn't miss something. Hello! So glad I did. A wonderful fellow blogger, bigbucketgirl, sent me a super nice message and left me a sweet little surprise on her blog! Here is what it is:





I am so honored! Thank you! Now, for me to share the love and my picks are:

PamperingBeki

The Wooden Spool

The Vintage Pearl

A Little More

Confessions of a Craft Addict

Okay, I cannot remember exactly how many others I am to pick, so I am going to leave it at that. Hope that's okay. Like I said, I am a doofus at times.....

quietness

I feel like I am at my own private cafe here at home. We just got some new barstools for our kitchen. It took us a while to finally find some we really liked that were just simple, basic and versatile. We also got them on clearance so that was a nice perk. They are comfy and I like that the style of them allows for me to make slipcovers for them if I decided to in the future. So, here I am sitting in the kitchen on one of our new barstools, just enjoying a little quiet of the day. It's really lovely weather here today. Slightly overcast, but a gentle cool breeze blowing and just lovely. A nice change from the weekend of humidity so thick and climbing temperatures in the 90's. Granted by this time next week it's supposed to be more like that type of hot and humid icky-ness again, but for the time being I am just gonna enjoy the nice quiet morning I am having drinking my coffee, checking some email, blogging a bit and simply relaxing for a minute or two before I am off to pick up Monkey boy from pre-school.

Hope everyone else is enjoying a little moment today as well before going back to the daily grind.

Happy Wednesday!

Thankful Thursday

Here's a little of a random conversation that took place in my car this week:

"Mom?"

"yes."

"know what's better than juice?"

"what's that?"

"chocolate milk"

"really? wow."

A few moments later...

"you know what's better than chocolate milk?"

"what?"

"you and daddy"

"Is that so? Wow, that's really something"

How cool is that? That is my "Thankful Thursday" this week - That I win out over chocolate milk! :)

Whatta Week!

Is it really already Wednesday? Wow, this week has gone by so very, very fast! It was a pleasant holiday weekend here just relaxing and attempting to reorganize my craft room....HA! I think I made a bigger mess. I have big plans for it like re-painting and all, but it didn't happen this past long weekend for us. Too many other things, like swimming and playing games with the litte one before he headed back to pre-school. Which, he started Tuesday. I sadly have no great pics of the official first day. It was yucky and rainy and he just was not in a picture taking mood. He did have a great day though and loves his new teacher. I do too.

Meanwhile, I am planning and crafting and working on some new designs I plan to debut a little later on this year. We'll see. I am excited about them and cannot wait to get them all complete and up in my Etsy shop. So many ideas, so little time to get them accomplished!

Happy Wednesday All!

Thankful Thursday

I have decided to try something new for my blog. I don't know if this has been done or not by anyone else out there, but I have decided to make Thursday posts on my blog all about things I am thankful for. It's just a random thought that came to my mind as I was reading books this morning with my son and thinking how precious and thankful I was for that moment.Not sure how I will work it all out or how long a list (maybe five things?) each Thursday, but from now on, Thankful Thursdays will be happening on this here blog. :)

So, here it is. Lemon Drops first official Thankful Thursday post.

I am thankful for so many things, but today in particular...

I am thankful for books to read with my son

I am thankful for the unfinished laundry I have to do, because it means we will have clean clothes to wear!

I am thankful for my Gramms who lives close by and has a close relationship with her Great-Grandchildren. It's such a priviledge, really.

I am thankful for the little boy God gave me building towers with blocks while singing his own little version of "Jingle Bells", it has brought a few chuckles to my day.


There it is. I hope everyone else is having a Thankful Thursday of their own today!

Tag, I'm it!

The fabulous Pampering Beki has tagged me! The rules of the game: list 6 weird/interesting things about yourself and then tag a further 6 bloggers (by going to their blog and telling them to check out your blog post related to this) to keep the momentum going. List your 6 tagged bloggers at the bottom of your post.
K, here goes....

1 I am allergic to cantaloupe. I know, very sad and people look at me like I'm nuts, but it's true. If I eat it, my tongue gets all itchy and then it starts to swell and blocks air passages-Not good. So I don't eat it.
2 My favorite color is purple, but there is no purple in my decor whatsoever. There is plenty of yellow though! Go figure.
3 I am an origami nut. I LOVE origami. Someone gave me a book about it when I was maybe 8or9 and I have been hooked ever since.
4 I love watching documentaries. My husband thinks I am slightly odd for it, but what can he say, he'll watch 'em with me!
5 I have a serious phobia of public restrooms. Call it my dislike of germs, but I will not use them unless it's an emergency.
6 I LOVE old movies. Love them! In High School, there was a little group of us that would get together on occasion and just watch old movies the whole time. Crazy, but who doesn't like Cary Grant or Doris Day?! Maybe it's just me.

Whew! Glad it was only six things to list. Now, I have to say I am gonna follow PamperingBeki's Lead and only tag ONE fellow blogger. And I'll tag.....

The Vintage Pearl

How exciting! I'm featured!

Wow, this is exciting! I have a little feature on my Pumpkin Onesie over at Polka Dot Mom

Laundry and Lizards?!?

Yes, there is this little lizard that keeps visiting me on occasion in the laundry room. Cute little fella, but really, he needs to stop popping up on me like this!

( no, it's not real, just a fake one my monkey boy has-fun, huh?!)

Happy Friday to you!

Glimpse of Winter

Here it is, the Falling Snowflake Onesie. It will be going up in my shop this week.I have to say, it brings back memories of making paper snowflakes. In Texas, well, we just don't get much snow. Well, not the area I live anyway. I do love snowflakes though!

Happenings at Little Bird

I have had a few things *in progress* for a bit now and am hoping to have most of them make their debut sometime this week in my shop. I am excited to get these things accomplished, however, a delay in some deliveries of supplies might cause it not to happen when I had originally planned! Oh well, life happens. Meanwhile, it's been really fun to work on some new designs with my son close by and him putting his four year old *two cents* in. Really though, he can be quite helpful! Of course, having the new designs in my head and then getting them out to look the way I want them to is another story. I have some other works other than onesies and tees to come out soon as well, but they will most likely not be making an appearance this week.
Anyhoo, hope everyone else had a nice weekend and Happy Monday to you!

Crafty Fun

Just a couple more weeks before my little one heads back off to preschool. *sigh*. There are other moms I know that are totally ready for it to start, but I am kinda having mixed emotions about it all. I know he will have tons of fun and it will free up some time for me to start really working on all the Fall and Winter designs I have in the works for my shop. Really itching to get those ready to go! Meanwhile, before the time is up, little monkey boy and I have been doing some fun paper crafts like finger puppets! Really fun. Gotta love the simplicity of things like this.

For The Love of Four

Wousa, I've been tagged! AND it's taken me this long to post about it! Stephanie has tagged me for The Love of Four, so, here I go:


4 jobs I have had:
Massage Therapist (yes, I am one, just not currently practicing), Ad Sales for a weddings magazine, Assistant Manager at a Hat store (that was TONS of fun!), File Clerk for a medical office

4 films I could watch over and over:
Meet the Parents, The Notebook, Pride&Prejudice ( I know looong, but I LOVE it) Emma

4 Places I have lived:
All have been in Texas, starting with Austin, Dallas, Bryan/College Station, Round Rock (boring I know, but I have traveled plenty OUTside of Texas. :)

4 Favorite TV shows:
Friends, Grey’s Anatomy, Lost and Gilmore Girls (thats now over..bummer)

4 Favorite Foods:
Fish (salmon, red snapper), broccoli, Chinese, chocolate (that counts, right?)

4 Websites I visit everyday:
Etsy, ebay, favorite blogs, and such like that

4 Places I would love to be:
The beach...just anywere with a beach.

4 Favorite Colors:
Too hard, I like SO many! Purple however is a number one fav.

4 Names I love but would/could not use for my children:
Fiona, Avery, Bailey, Dawson

life, laundry and disasters

I am a total disaster today! Okay, maybe not so much me, just the day. Here, at my house, Mondays and Fridays are our laundry days. So, we get up and have a pretty leisurely morning and just trying to clean up from the weekend and all that. I decide I need to get laundry started so I throw a load in. Then, I think, hmm, I will go check my email and maybe do some blogging.....being that I have been terrible at it the last week or so. All of a sudden I hear *trikle, trikle* from down the hall. Thinking, hmmm, Jake did not run down the hallway to the bathroom, what could that be??? (see where this is headed yet?) It strikes me and I run like a frantic woman to the laundry to find the washer overflowing with water and the floor flooded!!! I *wade* through and manage to get the machine turned off and then, without knowing of anything closer to grab, snatch all my (freshly laundered from Fraiday's laundry day) towels and throw them to the floor to try and stop the flowing water before it reaches our newly put down wood floors that my husband worked so very hard on! Whew! mission accomplished in preventing the flood from taking over that part of the house. Yikes! Now, I have triple the laundry to do since I now have soaked towels all over the laundry floor. Bummer. Well, then after that mess my son announces he is hungry (since it's lunch time by now) and I go to make him some tuna a tomatoes that he requested. (yes I did just say tuna, my son LOVES fish. Mostly Salmon though). So, I go and get all that ready and we eat our tuna and tomatoes. Then I go to clean up and somehow fumbled to where the dishes flew out my hands and landed hard in the sink (nothing broke though) and the disposal somehow gets switched on and as I go to flip it off, knocked a roll of paper towles into the sink under the running water (rendering them no longer useful since they are now soaked through) and pushes something (I think a fork) down the drain! I managed to get the disposal turned off before much else happened, but I must say, I am a little afraid to see whats down the sink.....
Anyone else have days like this??? I think I need to go back to my sewing studio and work some more on my fall and winter onesie desings that I hope to preview in the Etsy shop soon. Maybe it's safer in there........

Happy Monday all and I will be back tomorrow with hopefully a more crafty post! :)

what we've been up to

Wow, totally took a blogging break without meaning to! That ever happen to anyone else? This week has just gotten away from me! Been pretty busy filling some orders and, of course, making time for the Monkey Boy before he heads back to pre-school. Okay, so we have like almost four weeks, but I konw they are going to go by SO very fast! Looking forward to the new school year and all the fun learning, but will really miss the time we've had together at home this Summer. Meanwhile, this is what we've been up to a little last week and this week.

We're pretty much into the handmade thing around here (obviously) and decided to have some fun making our own Thank You notes to send to the little ones that came to Jake's birthday. We thought it would be fun to cut up some paper, paint with our water colors and then write a little note of thanks.


He got a little serious and thoughtful for a bit with the painting, but then when it was all over, he gave a smile.


Now, we just need to get them to the post office.....

Birthdays all over the place!

WOW, this past weekend was filled with birthdays! We had a birthday party for my son and then a "family" get together at the in-laws along with my family to celebrate both my son and my hubby's birthdays since they are so close together. It was fun, but what a whirlwind! At the same time, our house has been a little "under construction" since March. We are big DIY-ers here (would seem logical being that I am all about *handmade*, right?) So beginning in March, our carpet came up! Then, slowly since then we have been putting flooring in and painting. It's funny because the rooms we are painting (the only two rooms left really to paint) have taken me the whole FIVE years we've lived here to determine what color I wanted in there! Seems crazy right to take THAT long to decide and find just the color I was looking for?! Oh well, it's done now. I am pretty happy with the end results so far. I decided regardless of how much I liked or maybe not so much liked the family room color, it would not change for another five years! It, for whatever reason, has been the most difficult room to actually paint! But it's all good. For now. :) Whenever my camera is not so much on the fritz maybe I will be able to get some pics that actually show the color better. Meanwhile, I will share a pic of my son's budding artistry. He got a new art easel for his birthday and he is beyond thrilled! I think he sat there for two hours just painting away. Gotta love that!

Happy Monday!

How the years fly by....

Four years ago today I became a mommy. I like to call it my "becoming a mother's day day". Silly I know, but without this blessed day of my son being born, I would not be a mommy! It's been a kinda bittersweet day for me. Of course it's wonderful to celebrate such a wonderful event in our lives, but a little sad to see him getting so big so very fast! I cannot believe the time that has gone by! Being our only child for four whole years has been a blast, however, lately he has been asking about a sibling. Oh boy. Long story short, we've been working on that, unsuccesfully, for over two years now. God willing He wants to give us another one we'd be thrilled! Meanwhile, we will enjoy every single minute of the joy God has given us with our son. *Sigh* I really cannot believe it's been four whole years. He really isn't a baby anymore. But oh the joy of a pre-schooler!

Happy Birthday Monkey!

Oh, Deer!

Not too far from where we live there is this amazing, quaint, quiet little bit of country in the midst of a growing and ever more bustling community. In this place, literally right off a fairly busy freeway, is this amazing gathering of deer! I think it's the last "country" area where we are. So much development is happening in and around where we are, that this type of sight is pretty rare. Deer, zillions of them! Mammas and babies, so, so very sweet! I could only manage to capture a few pictures since they were quite curious and I was just so amazed. Granted, I do live in Texas, so seeing deer is not THAT terribly rare, just not so many at once and in one place! It was awesome. My son LOVED seeing all of the "Reindeer!". Funny monkey boy. But they were pretty fascinating.

One of my favorite things

This has got to be one of my most favorite things ever in my house! It used to belong to my Gramms and I loved it so much growing up that when I got married she gave it to me for my own home. I LOVE it! On one side it says "coffee" (WOW, would that ever be a serious cup of java) and the other "snacks". I don't ever recall anyone using it for coffee being it's the size of a very large serving bowl. Like, it could probably hold enough salad for six or more people. Growing up we used it mostly for parties and get togethers and it would hold things like chips and whatnot. It always graced the table on the Fourth of July along with my moms burnt orange colored fondue pot. She still has it too! Ahh, the memories.......

Happy Thursday!

Oh the bother with it all

My machine, it's certainly not the best, but it works. Really, its the backup machine for when my other, work horse of machine, that actually used to be my mothers, is in for repair/maintinence. However, that one has finally gone into retirement for the people locally aren't able to either figure out or get the parts for whatever is making it not work right now. Oh, how I love that old Singer though. This other one, a Singer as well, newer (not nearly as great as the old work horse). But, for whatever reason it is being fussy! There is a blanket I have been meaning to get finished, so today, after organzing some things in my studio, I had some time to work on it. The right color thread was already in the machine, so I went to work. All seemed fine and none bunchy until I rounded the third corner. Havoc and mayhem is all I can say. I grabbed the fabric from the machine and stuck my tongue out at it. (like that really helps, right?). I have no idea what it could be or why it keeps doing this one thing! Ugh! I have had my eye on a Bernina for a little while now. Just not quite there yet. But, oh, how I love that Bernina and dream about the day it will sit over there atop my little sewing area. Oh well, frustrations. That Bernina is looking better and better.........

It is July, right?

I was working on some projects when I decided to take a short break and found this...my son putting on a pair of gloves and already had on his puppy hat and scarf I made him almost two years ago. Now, it's the month of July and here in Texas, well, it's hot (unfortunately not even the hottest part of the year yet!). I asked him what he was doing and he said "there is a fly in here bothering me and so I am putting on my hat and gloves". I asked why him putting on a hat and such would help and he responded, "cause it was buzzing around my head and this will make it stop." I appologize for the not so in focus pic, I was trying not to laugh too hard....

giraffes how we love them

Okay, trying to keep my mind focused on the present month of July and not December, so here is another applique design I have in progress. This one is very much inspired by a drawing of a giraffe my son did not too long ago. It's his current favorite animal and it looks very much like the drawing itself, with the adding of a mommy/baby theme to it. The only other "tweaking" I did was the legs. My son's giraffe legs were all in one big block like shape. I just added in a little arch and, voila, legs. I really like the mod kinda feel to this. The colors too. When I finish this one I think I will add it to my etsy shop. It will be a limited edition since there is only so much of this fabric left. Once it's gone, it will be gone!

Christmas time?

Is it too early to be thinking about Christmas? Maybe for some, but, as my dear spouse knows, it's about this time every year that I start getting all into the spirit of things. Which, honestly is rediculous since it's like 100 degrees outside! I think this happening stems from a Christmas pageant I was in for years that we started getting ready for in July. When you start practicing music for Christmas in the month of July, you can't really help but start thinking about hot cocoa and all that jazz. And I don't mean I am into decorating (way too early for that), I mean into all the thoughts of what I am going to craft this year. Since I am making all gifts (something I have done since I was like 10) this year (again) and my almost 4 year old is really wanting to "help mamma", I am trying to think up some creative plan of some sort that he can help me with. Last year we made new stocking for our family. He really enjoyed getting to pick out the colors and such. Being that his favorite color is green, pretty much all of them had some type of green theme to them. Hmmmm, what to do this year......

Gifts for Baby

There have been several new arrivals of little ones here lately. So, I have been busy sewing away on baby gifts. These are just some of what I have been working on. I am also planning on putting these up on my etsy shop as well. I am pretty new to Etsy, but have been making and selling (mostly special orders) for the last four years. I finally decided, after much prompting from friends and family to get my stuff out there! So, here it goes...we'll see what happens!

If you would like to check out my shop on Etsy, go to http://littlebirdcreations.etsy.com

Strawberries and Chocolate

I just recently finished my apron for the Tie One On May/June pocket theme. I seem to have a pink and brown thing going on as of late. LOVE those colors. I love chocolate brown with pretty much any color combination, really. So, here it is. I was determined to use fabric from my "stash" to make this and was so happy to come across these two fabrics in there. It's almost like Christmas sometimes when going through there and seeing all the "goodies" that sometimes get forgotten from mind when not seen for a little while. Once I saw the combination together, the design started to take form and, since I also have a bird thing too lately, seemed just right to have a bird/egg theme to this apron. The bird being the pocket and the egg a just-for-fun accent. I am pretty happy with the way it turned out, I think. I actually decided to hand stitch the entire apron. I have really been into hand stitching more recently. Well, the last two years is more like it. It happen to come about this time with the apron simply due to not being able to locate my chocolate or pink thread with all the other spools when it came time to sewing it all together.(amazingly enough they decided to come out of hinding conveniently once the apron was finished) So, being that I had the emroidery floss on hand, in just the colors I was needing, it became a hand-stitching project! I am happy with it though and it was a lot of fun during the whole process. Can't wait to see all the other great aprons from all those creative people out there!

Works in Progress

I seem to have many things in progress at the moment, but these are just a few. I get these little creative "bugs" once in a while and immediately have to jot down the ideas that end up rushing through my brain! And then I come obsessed with them until I can at least start the actual process of designing and sewing it. Funny though. This one, with the poodle, for some reason has been taking me forever to complete. I think mainly because I ended up redesigning part of it right in the middle of sewing the design on. It's going to be a backpack (or "poodle pack" as my niece calls it). I started making these about two years ago completely out of vinyl and hand stitch pretty much the whole bag. The first one I made was "puppy pack" and was made for my then two year old son for pre-school. I wanted him to have something cute, but, at the time, it seemed there was either "super cutsie" or things way too "big kid" for him. SO, the idea was born for his "puppy pack". It was a huge hit with the two year old crowd, mainly my son, and lasted pretty nicely through the whole school year. This past year I made him a "Dino Pack". With a little re-designging and the entire thing hand stitched it has held up amazingly well through the whole pre-school year of tosses and throws and stuffings in and out of his cubby at school. I have some pics of those bags somewhere. I'll have to find them and post them maybe.
This other project is a blanket. I LOVE making these! This is the first I have made like this one. It's an original design of mine that I also plan to make more of. There are a few mommies to be with sweet little babies on the way, so I plan to be busy making blankets and onesies for the next couple weeks. Happy Sewing!

Beginnings of a Blog

Okay, so, have decided to join the blogging world. I am not so sure what I have gotten myself into, but so far I am likeing it. A little bit about me: I love sewing, crafting, being a wife and mom and I love fabric. Simply love it. And, so, this is Lemon Drops. A little piece of blogness that I hope to be a place to share my thoughts and love of crafting and family. And speaking of family, I love learning all I can about my family and especially my great-gramms who made some of the most beautiful hand made and hand embroidered items I have ever seen! This is a picture of a little baby jacket she made for my mother for her baby dedication. The entire item is hand sewn and embroidered. Amazing. I can only dream of being so talented!