Etsy Finds

If you write it…they will come.

Posted by Lindsay on Dec 29, 2009 in Blogging, Crafts, Etsy Finds, Featured Articles, Holidays | 0 comments

Hello.  So…whatcha been up to?  Oh, I’ve been enjoying the holidays…a little too much!  My December stats for the ol’ blog are stinkin’ big time, but can you blame me when this is who I’ve been hanging out with??

And Glenn has also been off for vacation. And while I’m sure most wives would be able to get MORE done on vacation with him off also…I seem to get less done.

I also seem to try to get this room clean, organized and decorated somehow every other day…but it simply collects EVERYTHING and is constantly messy!

We did manage to take the swirly-90′s headboard and footboard off of our bed! I seriously thought it was part of the frame and couldn’t be done…it technically is, so I need to be careful on the corners, but it gives us a fresh new start! And it has also made me realize how much I need some art in there. And we did replace the bright-as-the-sun light bulbs from our side lamps (look for lower lumen output!), which allowed us to take the black handkerchiefs off. Notice the painted chair rail! No ceiling done yet…

Another reason I’ve been neglecting the blog – WORK! Bills gotta be paid…so I get to play with fun things like this; tile, carpet, paint, furniture, lighting. This is a client’s family room project that is in the works – woo hoo! (They chose the tile and carpet, I’m working around it with the rest).

I also have a few weddings in the works – including one this Saturday (January 2nd) that my sister-in-law and I are styling, and I’m getting the ideas together for presenting to another bride soon.  My current obsession series for inspiration; We Like It Wild on Design*Sponge.

And these are only $3.99 a piece over at Save-on-Crafts:

What else am I loving right now? The portfolio of the husband and wife team of Robert and Courtney behind SixxDesign.  Wow…I wish Santa would have brought me their new book!

I also cannot get over this story of Jenny’s (the design blogger behind Little Green Notebook) Christmas Eve at-home (but not planned to be at home!) super quick birth of her baby girl Evelyn – their little Christmas Evie.  Congrats!  I only hope my next one is that quick…as opposed to my 36 hours of hurry-up-and-wait!

So that’s what I’ve been up to for now…while we’re on this break I’m hoping to do a little painting, but Glenn is over in the next room waxing his snowboard and Harper is constantly bringing me her new toys to play with so I don’t see it happening!

I did get a couple of PERFECT Christmas gifts from Glenn and the in-laws that I’d like to share…lucky me!

Glenn got me this tag combo necklace and I bawled my eyes out when he gave it to me! It’s stamped with Harper’s name, birth date (08.07.08), and it has her birth stone (Peridot) on it.  You can get one here from Mama Beth Bling on Etsy.

And Glenn’s parent’s got me my very own CRICUT!!   If you don’t know what a Cricut is, you need to go check it out. It’s an electronic cutter that you buy different cartridges for – you can cut different shapes, letters in different fonts, etc. and you can cut them out of paper, cardstock, vinyl, magnet material, fabric and more.  Great for cards, banners, scrapbooking, signs, etc.  In searching what I can do with it online, there is a wealth of resources out there to give great ideas!

Anyway – my 2010 resolution – blog more!    Thank you for hanging in there with me!  xo, L.

Velcro, I’m Over You (aka Cloth Diaper Update)

Posted by Lindsay on Dec 14, 2009 in Baby Stuff, eco-friendly, Etsy Finds, Featured Articles | 2 comments

As my little growin’ girl is now 16 months old, I thought I’d share how things are going on the cloth diapering front.  I posted my last update/how-I-do-things guide here in February.  Now that I’ve been using them for over a year now, I’ve learned a few new tricks and tips to keep things running smoothly.  To do a little summarizing from before, here is what I recommend:  Pocket diapers rock. And by ‘pocket diapers,’ I mean PUL (Polyurethane Laminate fabric) diapers that look like a disposable, not those pieces of cloth that you have to pin.  PUL is a waterproof fabric, so you don’t have to put a cover over the diaper.  And they’re called ‘pocket diapers’ because you stuff the cloth diaper shell with absorbent liners, usually made with microfiber, terrycloth, or bamboo fleece.  You stuff them to customize absorbency (I stuff them with 2 liners, 1 big and one small), and also to cut drying time after washing.  This is a pocket diaper (by BumGenius).  I have many of these, but in a few different brands including BumGenius.

These have been so great so far.  Easy to use, great quality and my little monkey looks so adorable in them!  You can see one in action in this video, to refresh your memory. 

She is rocking a diaper that I purchased from Monkey Snuggles on Etsy.  A little cheaper than BumGenius, and the quality is just as great!  Plus they have sales and deals, and for every $10 you spend you get a ‘Monkey Buck’ towards your next purchase!

I have 12 cloth diapers (that I use regularly), but I always feel like I could use more.  I am slowly adding to the collection, and after my last purchase, I have realized that I will no longer buy cloth diapers with Velcro – I am a snaps girl now!  For two main reasons: 1) the Velcro simply wears out.  It is still working, but a lot of random fuzz gets stuck in it, and the edges start to curl.  Plus sometimes you pull a diaper out of the dryer and you get a train of about 5 of them that you have to un-stick.  And the second reason is (#2) that as she gets older, she learns how to un-stick the Velcro and can take her diaper off!  Little stinker.  That is, if she’s not wearing pants.  If she’s wearing pants, it’s fine, but she can get out of that diaper quicker than you can say ‘pee-puddle-on-the-floor!’

And so that is why I recently bought this little number (below) for my little ninja-baby and so far I love it!  It comes with 1 bamboo insert, but I stuff it with another one as my girl seems to be a heavy wetter.  You might be able to see on the tag that it is “One Size.”  Almost all of my diapers are ‘one-size’ which means that you can snap them to be smaller or let them out all the way depending on how big your baby is.  This way it will grow with your little one!  Or you can buy them in different sizes, depending on their weight.  I’ve bought a few specific sizes, but it was mostly depending on a sale or special price.

That’s why, when I bought the little ninja diaper (above) I also snagged this little purple number (below) because it was on sale.  Apparently the diaper ‘wings’ are thinner than normal, so they offered them at a lower price and it doesn’t affect the quality in any way so score one for me!  And Harper, of course!

I actually like the trimmer fit, so it doesn’t rub on her little leggies.    So anyway, that is my new revelation about cloth diapering.  I have also tried using cloth wipes (when I ran out of disposable ones) and they work great!  I just haven’t invested in enough yet and when I buy wipes, I buy them in BULK and they last for MONTHS!

Also, I want to note that I have been using disposable diapers exclusively for overnight, as she always wets through her cloth one and having a cloth one on that long is how we’ve gotten a couple of nasty diaper rashes.  So I stick with those overnight.  It just makes it easier and I really try to stick with only using 1 per day (overnight).

**This is what I get asked about the most:  How do you wash them? To wash my cloth diapers I simply throw them in the washer on hot and dry them on medium.  Nothing special.  You don’t even have to ‘un-stuff’ them first.  They’re supposed to come out in the wash; sometimes they do, sometimes they don’t, but I’ve found that they’re always clean and don’t get stained.  I use my regular detergent (powder), and I dry them without fabric softener.  Sometimes I use a fabric sheet if they need a little ‘refreshing’ but otherwise I don’t.

Isn’t she cute?  Harper at 11 months rockin’ her Monkey Snuggles One-Size diaper. 

I always dump the poo into the toilet, and it’s nice now that she’s eating solid foods it all just comes right out.  If for some reason the poop is sticky or absorbed into the diaper, I scrape as much as I can into the toilet and then use my washing machine’s ‘Soak’ setting before I wash them like normal.  Easy peasy.

Any questions? Feel free to send them on my way – I love talking about how easy cloth diapering has been for my little monkey.  Do you know of any other favorite Etsy cloth diaper shops?  Let me know!  But I really love my Monkey Snuggles…

It’s an Etsy Christmas!

Posted by Lindsay on Dec 1, 2009 in Etsy Finds, Featured Articles, Holidays | 0 comments

Just had to share this gift guide from Etsy. Seriously…go check it out. Majorly cute stuff to deck your halls in the handmade-way!

If you don’t subscribe to Etsy’s newsletter, click over and sign up NOW! I get goodies like these sent straight to my inbox daily!

Embroidery Hoop-La

Posted by Lindsay on Nov 11, 2009 in Art, Crafts, Creativity, Decor, DIY, Etsy Finds, Featured Articles, handmade, inspiration | 0 comments

Are you a stitcher?  Embroidery is becoming very popular and I’ve been noticing it more and more in home decor (and not just on throw pillows!).  Have you noticed this trend as much as I have?  Hanging an embroidery hoop is an easy way to fill an awkward space, and it is a great way to add some personalization to your decor.  I think the idea is just absolutely adorable, inexpensive to buy, and even more inexpensive and easy to DIY.  After seeing a lot of embroidery work, or embroidery hoop art around the web, a lot of the paths lead me here: Sublime Stitching.  I love their motto: “This ain’t your gramma’s embroidery!” They have the cutest (and edgiest) embroidery patterns, lots of how-to’s if you’re not sure how to get started with embroidery, and a shop for all of the tools you’d need to take up this easy-to-learn hobby.  I was clicking all around the site a few months ago, and I even bought one of their ‘Ultimate Embroidery Kits‘ with the intention of making some personalized art for my house, and a few Christmas gifts…well Christmas is only a month and a half away so we’ll have to see if I actually follow through. 

Not into stitching?  Try hanging an embroidery hoop stuffed (is that the right word?) with your favorite designer fabrics and you have an artful arrangement that makes you happy every time you see it.  I’m kicking myself for not buying a lot that I found on Etsy of various sizes of embroidery hoops…haven’t found another lot at such a value since!

I love this studio space, via Apartment Therapy.  The owner’s blog can be found here (called The Locker – she makes lovely fabric-and-paper cards in her Etsy shop).

Do you love the embroidery stitching look, but don’t want to stitch your own?  Well, fortunately there are a few sellers on Etsy that make them for you and they are amazing!  Here are a few that I’ve found that I’m sure you’ll love as much as I do.

This image above is via Green Wedding Shoes, and links to a post about giving these as a wedding gift, but the actual images are from an Etsy shop called Miniature Rhino where the owner will create a customized design for you!  How.  Stinkin’.  Sweet.

This is another piece from Miniature Rhino (I found the image at Lara Lewis’ blog here) but I don’t see it in the Miniature Rhino shop while I’m looking today.  Wouldn’t this be a great gift?  I’d keep checking her shop if you like it!  Stitching a constellation is a such a cute idea.

I really can’t get over this look – it’s like a parlor wall, where most people would arrange a huge wall of photos, but these hoops just make me smile!  I think a wall with both photos in frames and embroidery hoops would look amazing!  Image via Nea on Etsy. Below is a close-up of the little grey and green hoop on the bottom.

I love the grey and green branch.  This is Nea’s ‘Branch Wall Wear“.  I’ve had this one in my Etsy favorites for a while.

You can even put a chalkboard oilcloth in an embroidery hoop.  Love it!  Via Bliss in a Teacup on Etsy.

How about using fabric scraps in an embroidery hoop as a bulletin board?  Via Apartment Therapy.

Another example of mixing some cute patterns in an arrangement of hoops! Via Things I Like to Look At.

This is an image from the Etsy shop andwabisabi where you can buy this set of cross stitch patterns for $3.00, and you’ll get it practically immediately because it’s sent to your e-mail address as a PDF.  All you need is an embroidery hoop, some embroidery floss, a needle, a piece of fabric and a pattern, all of which can be attained very inexpensively and at any craft store or online shop like Sublime Stitching. I’m inspiring myself to pick my project back up and create some art for my wall!

How about you?  What do you think of embroidery or embroidery hoop wall art?  I, for one, am loving it and the handmade look that I’m digging right now.

The Holidays are Here!

Posted by Lindsay on Nov 2, 2009 in Crafts, Creativity, Etsy Finds, Featured Articles, handmade, Holidays | 1 comment

Can you believe it??  We’ve been counting the days around here!  Why am I so excited?  I am so excited because my sister-in-law has moved back here and she loves being (or in my case, attempting at being) crafty as much as I do…so we have been busy, busy, busy making lots of fun plans and dreaming big!  Plus Glenn and I love that we have a new couple to hang out with…   And Harper LOVES her Auntie Erin – and Glenn is having a ball hanging out with his oldest nephew.  So while Glenn and Christian were out fishing yesterday, Erin and I were busy cooking up some fun.  Literally cooking…well, we were baking!  Check it out…

We’ve been talking about joining forces to work on some fun projects, and what we’re starting with is (what else??) an Etsy shop!  Actually, it started with discussing having a booth at the local Christmas Bazaar, and I, of course, thought of my beloved Etsy.    Erin pulled out one of her many, many cookbooks (she is an amazing cook!) and the ideas just started flowing.  What we decided to start with were “Gifts in a Jar.”  You know, layer all of the ingredients for some goodies in a jar, and of course we had to make it look pretty!  It made me think of this Bakerella post that I saw a while back – she made ‘Cowgirl Cookies!‘ Aren’t they cute?

If you don’t know of Bakerella, then be sure to visit.  She.  Is.  Amazing.  We plan on making our own version of Cowgirl Cookies for the Christmas Bazaar – yee haw!! {Image via Bakerella}

Anyway, what was next?  We had to think of a cute name for our Etsy shop, right?  After throwing around a few ideas, and checking to see if they were already taken on Etsy, what we came up with was Lillie + James.  It comes from our kids – Harper Lillie and Christian James.  And we liked the way it sounded, and I liked the “+” sign.  We also bought some business cards and set up a Twitter account, ha!  Come visit us over at: http://www.etsy.com/shop/LillieandJames

Here is what we made this weekend for our first test run – and yes, we tested the recipe and they are delicious – we made our own jars of “Peanut Butter Cup Bar Mix!”

Yum. You can check out the listing here.  And I think that our favorite part was the satisfaction of putting together something so cute!!  I already had the fabric (Holiday Magic Floral in Red by Studio E!) – we like that it is a holiday print, but not super-Christmas-y.  We’re planning on putting together 5 more recipes, so that means 5 more cute fabric prints!!  My favorite!!

And because I love you all, I photographed the process of putting them together.  Well, as much as I remembered to because we were having so much fun! Enjoy!!

Here is Erin tying the ribbons onto the tops of the jars. The thing about having a partner is they are the yin to your yang. I am not good at tying ribbon, wrapping packages, etc. I am a computer girl. I can set it up, design it, print it, punch it out and stick it on. She’s about the handmade skills. Go girl.

I did bake the test batch, though. And they were GOOD! Go me!

Yep, I just included a photo of my trash can. But each jar takes 8 peanut butter cups. Thank goodness for Halloween sales!

We both layered the ingredients in the jars, and while she was prettying up the top, I was printing and punching.

And whipping out my trusty hot glue gun to stick the labels on. Bakerella used double-stick tape, but she was also smart and bought smooth jars. We bought the only ones we saw where we happened to be shopping at the time. And they weren’t smooth, but we made it work!

I love my hot glue gun. I became attached when creating color/material boards in design school.

Is it straight??

Then we set up a cute little photo shoot…which took a few tries to get a good pic because it was dark by this time (ugh – Daylight Savings Time!). But we think it turned out pretty cute and we had a ball working together!!

Have a good week, and don’t forget to visit us over at Lillie + James! xo, L. (& E.)

{Not So} Secret Giveaway!

Posted by Lindsay on Oct 28, 2009 in Crafts, Decorations, DIY, Etsy Finds, Featured Articles, halloween, handmade, Holidays | 12 comments

I’m busy on client projects this morning, so I just wanted to post a quick little post offering a one-day-only giveaway!  And this isn’t a random.org givewaway where only one person wins, today EVERYBODY WINS!  Just leave a comment telling me which Print-At-Home PDF Halloween Party Set you’d like (by 8 AM PST tomorrow morning, October 29th I’m feeling generous so keep ‘em coming! I’d love to see my party set out there!! Happy Halloween!!) and I’ll e-mail it right over to you! Or you can buy it for $4 in my Etsy Shop. You choose, hehe…

Your choices are ‘Ghoulish Glam’

{Scrolling skulls, witches, spiders, bats, pumpkins and “Happy Halloween” graphics for grown-ups!}

Or ‘Little Monsters’!

{With cute little jack-o-lanterns, witches, monsters, aliens, spiders, skeletons, mummies, spiderwebs, and “Happy Halloween” graphics for the kiddies!}

And I’ll e-mail you the 5 page file that looks like this (without the watermarks, of course!):

My only request is that if you actually print it out and use it, then please send me pictures! Enjoy!! xo, L.