Survivor Sistas

For the last six-ish years (eek! I can't actually remember when I started) I have been watching Survivor with my friend Julie.  She actually started long before that with a totally different group of amazing women. 

We are the Reality Sisters (aka Survivor Sisters) by name.  We are night owls, some by choice, some by circumstances.  We start gathering after 9 and never, ever think of leaving 'till well after midnight.  It has very little to do with the show we watch ... Survivor, Lost, So You Think You Can Dance, American Idol, Top Chef ... they have all hit the screen - though none as much as Survivor.  This merry band of sistas have been a grounding force for all of us.  We have a pack of confidentiality ... nothing leaves the walls of that house and we are free to laugh and celebrate and vent and yell about everything ... and we do.  Reality Sisters now dot the US, from coast to coast.  Each of them has left an empty seat in our circle.  They are missed and mentioned often in our late night discussions.  This week one of our own, came back for a week long visit and it was so great to have her back, to visit and catch up, and pretend for a few days that she still lives across town.

Black Ops

Wednesday afternoon we had mist that froze all over everything.  Road conditions in town weren't too bad, but on the lesser traveled roads it was really slick.  Really slick, so slick in fact that I managed to total my mothers little Camry by taking out 6 mailboxes when the car did a 180 rather than slow down so I could make the 90 degree turn necessary to turn onto our street ...  

I hit the mail boxes perfectly ...

• perfectly to shatter the driver side window, when the far right mail box (in the above picture it's in front of the others sitting on the ground on the right) hit the top rim of the window, rather than have the mailbox come through the window and into the car/my face ... 
• perfectly enough to allow me to drive the car home with no problems ... 
• perfectly to take out the posts swiftly and completely -- had they not been there, the car would have likely gone on it's side or upside down given the grade of the ditch ... 
• perfectly enough that (as far as I know) only my mail got laid out for the night ...
• perfectly make the car a total loss because of how perfectly I hit the posts, rough estimates for repair are $3-4,000 ...  it's a 92.  
• so perfectly that I am not scratched, bruised or sore.  

 

Thursday morning GR purchased supplies to fix the mailbox posts and Bob and a neighbor had them up right again before lunch and mail delivery.  Amazingly, none of the mailboxes were damaged, not even a dent.  They hadn't been so lucky 2 years ago when a DUI took out all the boxes and ended up all the way in the ditch.  

Unfortunately, Mom and Dad value this car more than their insurance company does.  It's a sound little car whose transmission is doing great and isn't showing any signs of dying soon.  So rather than ditch it for something else, they will likely replace the door with something from a salvage yard and continue to drive it until the transmission has issues.  In the meantime we're investing in gloves, plastic and duck tape for the drive home.

The Brunch

The brunch this year was a huge success, one of our best yet, and I'm so grateful.  I was really nervous. I was hosting in the house everyone has seen so beautifully decorated and prestinly kept by Diane.  Hosting Thanksgiving helped me start to get things organized, rearranged and cleaned up. I got the carpets cleaned on Monday, a little too close to Saturday for comfort, but they look amazing! Once they were dry Tuesday, we I started decorating and I'm really pleased with how it all turned out.   

Diane and I continue to work on finding the right balance of sweets and savories with the menu.  For the 20+ years she did this in GR's hometown, the ladies only wanted sweets.  Here there is a totally different mentality ... they want savories and only suppliment with sweets.  So I'm now only making one or two sweets, and leaving the rest to her, since that is still where her passion is.  This year we both cut back on the sweets (this is all I put out - huge success by the way - the rest in in the freezer waiting for another occassion) and pumped up the savories.  I fell a bit short on the savory end, so notes for next year::  make two spinach artichoke dips, 3 dozen turkey florentines is not enough - shoot for 6, we should probably have 3lbs of shrimp.  Two wild rice cassroles and three egg casseroles was perfect.  

We had beautiful weather this year, allowing many of our friends to attend. I think we estimated over 50 women came, and they came steddily throughout the morning and lingering well past 11 - love that! The last couple of years preparing for the brunch as been more stress than fun and excitement. I always enjoy it in the end, but after last year I was seriously questioning if it was worth the stress and output. Thankfully, this year was easier ... still a lot of work, but easier on both me and Diane. We made the event more manageable and asked for more stretegic help and I think it really helped reduce my stress level. So thankfully I think we're both really looking forward to next year!

A Dozen Surprises

1. Having GR walk through the door at 5:30pm on a Wednesday ... totally unheard of and on any other day of the week we're lucky if we see him by 6:30 or 7, especially over the last month+ and telling me to pack for a four day anniversary trip, "your parents left a hour ago, they'll be here by 8:30pm." Hallelujah! ... hours later I was able to pry out of him two clues, we're driving, and the weather, low 40s - high 60s.
2. Actually having more than one conversation with my husband in a week a day.  He drove the entire trip and let me sleep whenever I wanted to, what bliss! 
3. Arriving in Breckenridge, CO at a beautiful, beautiful bed and breakfast. 
4. Having dinner at an amazing little place in downtown Breckenridge called Hearthstone, where I had New Zealand Elk with a blackberry demi-glaze, baby carrots and mashed potatoes.  GR had Idaho trout stuffed with crab, asparagus and mashed potatoes.   Hands down our best meal of the weekend. 
5. Finding out what was in the Eddie Bauer box that arrived weeks ago and had to come on the trip ... apparently they are needed for Thursday mornings surprise.  

Thursday morning, signing my name 2 dozen times on a three page release form so I could participate in our next surprise adventure, that unfortunately didn't come with a granny speed or with a granny course ... but did come with a 2 hour climb through the mountains, covering about 20 miles and 2000 some feet in elevation, and breathtakingly beautiful scenery!  Man did we have a blast!  And I only, nearly hit a tree once ...  


6. Riding through beautiful old mining camps straight from a book I started the day before we left.

7. Driving through Independence Pass and stopping when ever we wanted to take pictures of anything and everything.  

8. Having lunch in Aspen ... walked past stores that were way too rich for me to even walk in front of. 
9. Watching a fox look both ways and cross the main street in downtown Breck, as we drove home after dinner.
10. Having our early Saturday morning surprise adventure rain out and loving the alternative just as much ... walking in the rain, window shopping, having lunch in Keystone on the top of the mountain (thanks to a great gondola ride), chilling in our room watching a redbox movie, ordering Pizza at the best place in town (based on the recommendation of the guy @ Mary's Mountain Cookies - we brought 2 dozen home for the kids) and having enough left over it will last us a week (we tried to offer a couple pieces to the guy in the cookie shop, but he just started P90X and turned us down ... but gave us the local's price on our two sandwich cookies we bought for dessert!)
11. Waking up Sunday morning to beautiful, huge, white snowflakes falling outside our window and 5 inches of snow on the car.  Then stunning thunderstorms across central Kansas. 

Thank you, my Love, for an planning every detail for an perfect weekend together.  
Thank you for always making our getaways a total surprise. 
Thank you for getting me out of my comfort zone so I can experience new and exciting things I would never consider doing if it were left up to just me. 
Thank you for loving me for my strengths and my failings. 
Thank you for taking care of me, for being my man, while still letting me and expecting me to be independent. 
Thank you for making the last twelve years a good solid foundation for the next twelve years, and the twelve after that.  They've been filled with one surprise after another, and I know the future will bring much of the same. I wouldn't want to experience it with anyone else.

Black Friday

The only Black Friday Sale I shop is the Joann's sale. Black Friday means seriously cheap flannel, and well, I use a lot of flannel. Mom and I go every year no matter where we are for Thanksgiving. Last year was the first year we skipped it ... I had lots of flannel from the year before that I hadn't cut into and couldn't justify going. Most of that same flannel still hasn't been cut into, so again, we seriously considered not going. BUT the girls need jammie pants and I didn't have flannel that's really suited for 8-9 year old girl jammies. And really, for $1.49/yd you can't pass up a chance to add just a few more yards.



So now I need to get busy making jammie pants!

Hoping to take my own advice ...

At the end of September, I was approached by the editors of Modern Handmade Child to write an article on Simplifying the Holidays for their November/December issue. Modern Handmade Child is an online magazine written by the EtsyKids Street Team. Weeks before the editors asked for article ideas and I "opened my big mouth" and made this suggestion ...

Ways to simplify the holidays and still make them meaningful and memorable. Budgets are tight, and so are schedules. We all want to have a intently meaningful holiday but what do we need to do to obtain it? Surprisingly, it doesn't mean we have to buy our child the latest and greatest toys, blowing our budget with just one purchase, nor does it mean we have to go to every party, bake 1000 cookies plus 10 gingerbread houses to deliver to the neighbors, and buy gifts for every Tom, Dick, Harry, Mary, Sally, and Jane we come in contact with during the year. Share 5 ways to simply the holidays, strategies for cutting back in areas that are only adding to your stress level, not adding to your enjoyment of the season - namely spending quality time with your friends and family.

Either they liked the pitch, or they were desperate for articles. I have yet to hear from the editors if the article was what they expected or not. But it's out there. You'll find the article on page 87-91.

Side note: GR laughed hysterically when he heard what the article was about. Apparently, he doesn't think I'm very qualified ... the holidays are anything but stress free for me. Maybe this year I'll be able to practice what I preach.

It's All About the Details

Well before I opened Tiny Stitches, I wanted a label I could sew onto my handmade baby blankets or burp cloths, signing my name to what has been my signature baby gift for 12 years. I wanted something chic, I wanted something durable and I wanted something I could afford. I tried to talk myself into something I could print on my home computer and iron or sew on to the fabrics ... but I worried about the durability. My stuff gets used, and used a lot - just the way I like it! I needed, okay I wanted, something that would hold up to being washed and washed and washed and washed through multiple babies. I knew I needed - wanted - a woven tag/label.

Over the last two years I've looked on and off at all the woven label possiblities on and off Etsy, trying to find something that would meet my needs. The hard part is I don't need 1000 labels. I couldn't use up 1000 labels in my lifetime, not to mention the huge investment they would be - ouch. There simply isn't that kind of cash laying around these parts!

Earlier this year Heather and I were talking about labels and she sent me the link to an Etsy shop I'd ear marked before, that provided small runs and allowed me to design my own label, using whatever fonts I wanted. Just before we left for St. Louis for Rebecca's birthday, I took the plunge and ordered my very first run of labels! They arrived on the 21st of May and I love them.

I quietly carried one in my pocket for days. I carefully hand sewed them into a friends baby gift (which had be finished for nearly a week ... yes, I was waiting) during the girls softball practice, so I could finally mail them to her.

Now hopefully long after someone gets my blankets and has lost the tag and business card I ship with them and a someone asks who made their blanket, they can look at the corner and say ... Kathleen of Tiny Stitches.

Eternal Family Olympic Games

Saturday morning was my very first primary activity - that is, from the planning vantage point. I work with amazingly creative and fun women who totally know what they are doing, and I was very grateful to only have a supporting roll in the planning process.

This year our theme in Primary is "My Eternal Family." Since families need to work together to be successful, we settled on an Olympic game theme, and created outdoor relay activities that related to gospel concepts we've been talking about in primary so far this year.

• Love Strengthens Our Families – Balloon Hug Relays
• Dads Strengthen Our Families – Stroller and Lawn Mower Relays
• Moms Help Build Strong Families - Rotation Relay - make PBJ, diaper baby, fold towel, sign check.
• Immersion (Baptism) Game – Dunk the Bishop game
• Prophets teach us how to strengthen our families game - Follow the Prophet Cakewalk
• Temple blessings unite my family – Tug o War for temple picture game

I got to use some of my creative skills in the tasks I was delegated and I have to say it was a lot of fun to spend some time doing a little sewing and graphic design in preparation for today's activity.

I made the makings for peanut butter and jelly sandwiches out of felt - because Moms help us eat nutritious food. There are lots of really complicated and involved ways you could do this, but was going for fast, simple, mass production, and this totally worked for what we wanted [and the kids have been having a blast running PBJ restaurants and making stacks of sandwiches for each other!]. I'm thinking of creating a little PDF tutorial on how to do this, if anyone is interested, let me know.



I also made some baby doll diapers out of scraps of flannel - because Moms care for and nurture their children. Sam and the girls are seriously excited about this addition to their doll clothing collection! I used this pattern. It's super easy, and I was able to make five of them pretty easily. If you make these for a small doll like the ones my kids have (they are about 14-15" dolls), consider shortening the back tabs that wrap around to the front a good half inch on both sides,



My graphic design - and I use that term loosely as to not offend those who are truly skilled in graphic design - dabbleings were put to work making the advertising fliers. We invited parents to stay for our activity as spectators to cheer on the different events - the Olympics simply wouldn't be the same without cheering spectators! So I created tickets, loosely based on the Salt Lake City Olympic Game Ticket I found on eBay. The great thing is we had quite a few parents come and watch, which was great fun!


I needed a fourth "event" in the Mom Relay ... and came up with this one ... Moms help us obey the commandments and live the gospel, like paying our tithing. I made big faux tithing checks and had the local print shop turn them into a pad of paper for me.

Did any of you see this craft in the July issue of FamilyFun? I thought it would be perfect for any of the little sibblings who came with moms and dads as spectators. We modified the construction a bit to fit the supplies we had on hand. We'd gotten a box of straws donated from Sonic for another project and had lots of extras. Instead of using a dowel, we'll taped three big Sonic straws together for the handle. We also used our rotary cutters to cut and fringe the bags - so slick and made making 25 possible. One last tip ... used bags make better pom poms than new bags. New bags take a bit of russeling and scrunching in order to fluff up and make a decent pom pom. The kids LOVED these and several asked to take theirs home!

The fine line between chic and dowdy

I'm looking for a cute, semi-casual, yet a bit dressy, brown shoe ... shoes I can wear with or without hose, and with a skirt or maybe with dress slacks. Not high heels, not open toed, but that in between spring/summer cute brown shoe. So while looking for a cute brown shoe ... a kitten heel or a sling back, or even a slide ... I found these ... here's a better picture.

So here's the dilemma. They look comfortable, and while comfort is a consideration, I'm looking for more than just comfort. They must be stylish. I really like the flower detail, but does it make up for the less than attractive, dare I say, Schoolmarm, Nun heel?

Fullfilling My Assignments

Since the first of the year, I've been a sub in primary twice, helped teach a lesson to the young women, taught relief society on this conference talk, and finally today, spoke in church.

I really hope this means I'm done for a little while.

Me preparing to speak or teach is not a pretty experience. While I love the studying part of preparing to speak or teach, collecting my thoughts, and organizing them into something with an introduction, main points and conclusion, with personal experiences, analogies, scriptures, and original material mixed with quotes from prophets ... is in GR's words, painful to watch. The entire house comes to a screeching halt while mom is glued to the computer pouring over conference talks and Ensign articles, trying to decide what exactly she's suppose to share with a room full of people who are so much more qualified to speak on any topic than she is.

I must have followed the Spirit correctly on Sunday and shared what I was suppose to, because in all my years of speaking in church, I can't remember ever having more than two or three people tell me they appreciated my talk, and this time I did.

My topic was the topic for Primary on Sunday as well, "The priesthood blesses my family." We talk a lot about the blessings of the priesthood in the church, but not so much on how it directly blesses the family, so I found preparing for this talk very interesting as it pertains to our family.

I'll share two points from my talk ...

First ... "... the most important exercise of the priesthood takes place in the family. [We have been taught that] each husband and father in the Church should strive to be worthy to hold the Melchizedek Priesthood. With his wife as an equal partner, he presides in righteousness and love, serving as the family's spiritual leader. He leads the family in regular prayer, scripture study, and family home evening. He works with his wife to teach the children and help them prepare to receive the ordinances of salvation (see D&C 68:25–28). He gives priesthood blessings for direction, healing, and comfort.(True to the Faith)" ...

"Elder Merrill J. Bateman, in a conference talk a few years ago stated, “It is expected that worthy holders of the Melchizedek Priesthood will use the power delegated to them to bless others, starting with their own families. One of the great inheritances of the Restoration is that a father ordained to the Melchizedek Priesthood has the right to bless his wife and children when prompted and when a blessing is desired by them.”

Second ... "One of the lessons I will take from preparing this talk is that my husband and I need to do a better job of providing opportunities for our children to receive priesthood blessing from their father. To see, beyond the influence of having a righteous loving priesthood holder lead our family in family prayer and family home evening and scripture study. Over the years, they have watched him, after hanging up the phone, stop what he is doing, put on a white shirt and tie, double check his consecrated oil, and quietly walk out the door to assist in giving a blessing many times, but have rarely witnessed it in our own home."

Happy 148th Birthday!

A great opportunity for cake AND birthday candles! Thank you Kansas!



* * * * *

The more and more I learn about the CPSIA and how it will potentially impact my life and my little business the more and more I pray the government will not turn a blind eye and a deaf ear to all the concerns being voiced with how it is currently laid out. If you're not sure what I'm talking about ... read this. It's what hundreds of bloggers posted yesterday, hopefully you saw it on someone's blog.

For information about the CPSIA and how to make your voice heard, I found this CPSIA Action Kit made up by Etsy extremely helpful. I'm extremely frustrated with Dennis Moore at the momment. I've sent him three seperate emails and I've heard NOTHING back from him.

A few FYIs about Me

My college friend Topper sent me this list of "getting to know you" questions, questions you weren't suppose to over think or analyze - just answer them straight from the hip. I love reading other peoples answers ... they are always so interesting. Unfortunately I never return the favor! I typically want to, I intend to, but they get flagged to come back to at another time, you know, when things are quiet or I have extra time, and I never get back to them. So if you've sent me one of these and I've never responded, consider this my response.

1. What is your occupation right now?
Stay at home mom

2. What color are your socks right now?
White, but they are pretty dirty

3. What are you listening to right now?
The children *cleaning* the basement and the baby cooing

4. What was the last thing that you ate?
Reheated chili from ... hummm I'm not sure when I made it last week.

5. Can you drive a stick shift?
Yep, my first car was a 5 speed.

6. Last person you spoke to on the phone?
My visiting teaching companion

7. Do you like the person who sent this to you?
Very much

8. How old are you today?
33

9. What is your favorite sport to watch on TV?
Football and College Basketball are the two watched in this house ... favorite implies enjoyment and I'm not a sit and watch an entire game kind of gal. Highlights, replays and the last 5 minutes of an exciting game are my favorite parts of a game to watch.

10. What is your favorite drink?
Hot Chocolate or ice water depending on the weather

11. Have you ever dyed your hair?
Once in college, I did it myself when visiting a friend at KU. It was the wash out kind and no one could tell I'd done anything.

12.What is your favorite food?
Tortellini in a cream sauce with peas and diced ham.

13. What is the last movie you watched?
In the Theater- The Tale of Despereaux

14. Favorite day of the year?
Lazy days when the house is clean and there isn't a schedule, everyone's just doing what they love and enjoy.

15. How do you vent anger?
Yell and fume

16. What was your favorite toy as a child?
Mama Kola Bear and her baby

17. What is your favorite season?
Fall

18. Cherries or Blueberries?
Blueberries

19. Do you want your friends to e-mail you back?
I'm not going to email this out ... I'll post my responses on my blog and let people choose to do the same if they want.

20. Who is the most likely to respond?
-Lets not name names...

21. Who is least likely to respond?
see question 20

22. Living arrangements?
In a cute two story- house with a husband and five kids.

23. When was the last time you cried?
Saturday night.

24. What is on the floor of your closet?
More than will fit on this line ...

25. Who is the friend you have had the longest that you are sending to?
Hummmmm, Topper 'cause she's the only one I'm technically emailing this too.

26. What did you do last night?
Sewing, blogging, photo editing

27. What are you most afraid of?
Failure ... as a friend, mother, wife, etc. And yet, many of my good intentions never happen.

28. Plain, cheese, or spicy hamburger?
Cheese ... with lettuce, tomato, bacon, mayo, catsup, spicy mustard, and sweet pickle relish.

29. Favorite dog breed?
I'm really not a dog person.

30. Favorite day of the week?
Friday

31. How many states have you lived in?
Five

32. Diamonds or pearls?
Diamonds

33. What is your favorite flower?
Ranunculus

** I was suppose to send this on to a bunch of family/friends, but I'm not ... aren't you grateful? **

Birthday Waffles

1 cup sugar
4 tablespoons margarine
2 large eggs
1-1/4 cups milk
2-1/2 cups flour
2-1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup melted butter

Cream together sugar, margarine and eggs. Add all remaining ingredients except butter and blend well. Pour melted butter over batter and do not mix. Dip batter (~1/3 cup each for my waffle iron, yielding 10 waffles) onto heated waffle iron and follow directions for making waffles.

Serve with syrup or choice of topping (although they are fantastic plain), and enjoy every mouthful with the ones you love.

Rainy Day Crafting

One of the little projects on my list of things to do during Spring Break, at the request of the kids, was to make marble bags (for their marbles of course). Monday it rained constantly all day long, the kids watched way too much TV during the morning hours while I designed posters for our upcoming Stake HFPE Women's Conference to mail out this week - I'm very pleased with out nicely they out! And even more pleased that they didn't take nearly as much time as last years posters! - and by early afternoon while Alex was down for a nap, the kids were ready to be engaged in something! And so we turned to the marble bag project.

For Christmas my brother Joe and Katy got Rebecca a small embroidery kit which she has showed a lot of interest in. And thanks to Heather, I've started to feel more comfortable with it myself. Given Becca's interest in embroidery, and Emily's detailed approach to art, and Sam's willingness to do try just about anything so he isn't left out, I asked if they would like to embroider a little design on their bags before I sewed them up. They each choose their designs and crowded around the dinning room table, we all set to work stitching them. Sam, a Rocket; Emily, a butterfly; and Rebecca, a cat; Alex, a turtle.



I am extremely proud of the kids, 'cause this was not as easy for them as I had first thought. It's been a definite exercise in patience for the girls and me. We had to take out lots and lots and lots of stitches, over and over again, working towards learning the correct way to do a stem stitch. But they have stuck with it and have done a beautiful job! Monday night I went out in search of small embroidery hoops and came home with three 4" hoops which have been very helpful!

By Tuesday night, both Rebecca and Emily were done with their outlines and were ready to start the embellishment portion of their designs. Sam didn't quite have the hand-eye dexterity to do all the stitches himself, he knew where the needle was to go, but getting it there, was really hard. So we found team work to be the best for his rocket. He choose all the colors and worked the needle for me.

I'm not ready to reveal the girls yet, since they are still working on theirs, but today while the kids spent all day with Grandma and Grandpa, and I spent all day sewing, not getting as much accomplished as I'd hoped. But I did sew up the boys bags. For as simple as they are, they took much longer than they should have to sew together, and I'm hoping the girls won't take quite as long now that I know what I'm doing. But I am pleased with the results and am toying with the idea - if I can improve the process - of trying to sell a few at an upcoming Etsy Trunk Show I'll be vending at in early April. It seems only fitting that I listened to a good portion of Cheaper by the Dozen today while sewing... I'm sure Mr. Gilbreth would have plenty of suggestions.



Tomorrow we are taking a little family overnight trip to Exploration Place. We have a great family friendly hotel with an indoor swimming pool that the kids are excited to swim in Friday night, and then we'll go explore Exploration Place Saturday. Hopefully it won't be swamped given that it's Easter weekend and Spring Break. The kids are excited about a road trip, staying in a hotel and getting to see different things, and GR and I are very excited for a little family vacation that'll be educational too.

Fashion & Motherhood

Two years ago I purchase a pair of heels ... a pair of real heels, not "I"m the mother of young children" heels, but stilettos, real heels, something I hadn't owned in years. They are my Alyson-Shannon shoes and I love them.



One of the first couple times I wore them to church, a friend who, hadn't known me long, complemented me on the shoes and then said with a smile & slight chuckle in her voice ... "Kathleen, I didn't know you had it in you."

Ahh yes, underneath my sad tired wardrobe that hasn't changed in years, and the six year old shoes I'm STILL wearing day in and out, there is a little fashionista who, if she had the time and money, would show herself.

So in an effort to invite a little bit of style back into my wardrobe, I purchased these two pieces - note they aren't from any grand mecca of fashion, and Miranda Priestly would no doubt purse her lips at this, but I'm hoping my younger much more fashionable sisters will approve none-the-less:



The shoes - Target - $22.99. Black open-toed, sling-backs with bows ... paid full price, something I don't think I've ever done for myself ...

The skirt - Wal-mart - $16.97. Black-n-white print, black ribbon waistband, and wide black trimmed hem.

Taking the plunge

*Warning ... this is so much more than you will ever want to know about this topic... but for the sake of family record keeping, I'm telling it. I promise more interesting things about the kids will follow after I get Sam to preschool.*

Wednesday & Thursday, February 21-22

Six weeks or so ago the girls school sent home a flier about at PTA fund raiser that would be held during parent teacher conferences, called a Shoppers Fair. Home based businesses could rent a table for $25 and sell their products. It took GR and I a long time to decide whether or not we could pull this off - but we did and all in all we were pretty successful.

Truthfully, we were both confident and ready to promote his photography. His pictures are excellent, and his prices - affordable, and he gave out 25+ price sheets - and given the traffic at the shoppers fair, that's pretty amazing!

For at least the last three years I've wanted to sell my baby blanket bundles - my standard baby gift that I've been giving new babies for the last nine years. I wish I could say how many babies have gotten my blankets, but I've honestly lost count, the number of blankets I've made must be to 100 by now. (Kristy, I still need to send you directions on how I do these, I haven't forgotten!)

The baby boom is slowing (I only have six friends this year who are pregnant, instead of the 10+) while my stash of blanket fabric isn't getting smaller. I needed to clean house and let others enjoy these cute blankets.

So many things have kept me from doing it ... one of the main ones was finding an avenue to sell them. I wanted a way to sell them online - craft fairs/booths I've never felt would be worth my time - and having watched similar blankets on ebay I knew that wasn't the avenue for me.

This past summer my friend Heather started a shop on a website called ETSY.com - heatherhalesDESIGNS - selling super chic clothes and accessories for babies and toddlers along with unique housewares and other one-of-a-kind designs. And over the last 8 months, she's really well promoting and moving her inventory. Ever since Heather set up shop, I've known that if I ever decided to sell my blankets (and at the time I NEVER thought I would take this step) this was a perfect place to set up shop.

I started preparing to sell my stuff back in January, I knew that if I was going to do this I would do it all the way or not at all. That's just the kind of gal I am. I can't do a sloppy job of something like this to save my life. All the details had to be put together or I wasn't going to put myself out there. I needed a real name (Barb suggested, Tiny Stitches), a logo (created it in Publisher of all places), product tags, shopping bags (packaging), a functioning way to sell online (etsy.com) AND I needed inventory.

Given the demographics at the school, I decided to broaden my focus from just baby blankets to things older kids would also enjoy. So I went with three baby girl blanket bundles, two boy blanket bundles, two nuzzies, and an assortment of themed standard size pillowcases. I sold three pillowcases, one nuzzie, and two baby girl blanket bundles. And I'm hoping to sell an additional 2-3 bundles to women who requested specific bundles. We'll see, my shop has been live with true products since Wednesday night and people are taking a look which is fun to see. I'm hoping with some additional promotion on Mormonchic.com I can start moving my inventory.

www.tinystitches.etsy.com