Logan Holiday Gift Show

So I mentioned this show in a previous post but realized I never really posted about it.

The Booth

Items pictured above (you may have to look close): tutus (hanging on the left), little guy tie onesies, stenciled onesies, christmas tree onesies, onesie dresses, carseat covers, hair bows, hair flowers, etc.

Items sold included: brain squeezers (baby headbands, top left), diaper changing pads (bottom left), binky clips, watch faces, watch bands, mini baby clips

 Lots and lots of onesie dresses

 Watch bands

It was fun...

A good experience...

But I probably won't be doing it again...

This was my first ever show. And I did make some money but it was pretty slow going and the products I make tend to make people say "What a great idea, I'm totally going to make that". Honestly? I'll save you the trouble if you would just buy it ;)

I've come to realize that I love to make the products but selling them in person is just not my thing. The amount of inventory I had to make was quite a lot of work and with Jared working full time I came to realize just how fortunate I am that Annie naps 3 hours a day. But my home was quite neglected as was my family. So for now, I'm sticking to Etsy but I'm more than happy to do custom orders. Just hop on over to my site :)

Chloe's Visit

On my way back from Bainbridge, we decided to bring Chloe along and let her spend some time with me in UT. She was here for 11 days and we had a ton of fun. I was so excited to have her here. It was the first since Jared and I got married (she was a flower girl).

Her and her Dad have this odd obsession with IN-N-OUT Burger. I don't get it. It's just a hamburger. She about flipped out when she saw the sign. They don't have any in WA yet.

Since she came to my house, it only seems right that I try and domesticate (craftify) her. So I took her to a fabric store, let her pick out some fabric and I taught her how to sew this purse. She made it almost completely by herself. She started getting a little burned out towards the end but lets be honest, she's ten...eeks 11 today!

And here's the finished product. Don't you love the pose...she is a tween.

Annie and I took her to her first rodeo. We chose the Ogden rodeo, it's my favorite by far. Jared was still working nights so he couldn't join us. Her favorite part? The broncos...me too Chloe... me too.

She insisted on some cotton candy, Annie went nuts over it!

One of my conditions while she stayed at my house was that she had to do her hair everyday. See since my child has decided to not grow hair very fast I feel quite robbed. As long as I let her watch the Disney Channel (ugh!) she let me do it. This was one of my favorites!

I have a good friend that trains horses so I called him up and he was more than happy to let Chloe and I go for a ride. She was nervous but did great!

Annie's first horse ride!

Once we hit the weekend, we packed up the truck and took Chloe to go camping. We had quite an odd summer this year and spring was quite long and wet so there was still snow at the top of the mountain.

We found some fun beaver ponds and decided to go hike around them.

Everyone decided to take a dip. Now I do mean everyone (except Annie of course). Jared stripped down to his skivvies walked slowly in and slowly back out (to avoid stirring up the yucky mud), Chloe stripped down to her t-shirt and underwear and walked right in. It took some convincing but as you'll see below she did end up dunking herself...and me? Well I slipped on a rock and fell in and though Jared and Chloe didn't think it counted I sure as heck did!

Some other fun things we did while she was here included: playing with some girls in my neighborhood for hours at a time, taking one of them to a local swimming pool (and flirting with some boys while they were at it), having a sleep over and painting nails, participating in Activity Days (making some cute Journal Jars), baking yummy banana bread, helping me make dinners at night, etc. We had fun, well I did I hope she did. I'm so glad she was able to come and can't wait for her to visit again.

Thanks for the fun Chloe!!!

March of Dimes

A couple of weeks ago, Jared and I had the opportunity to participate in the March of Dimes. His work puts together a team and encourages participation. Since we're up for most anything on a "boring" Saturday (as Jared puts it), we signed right up. After signing up, Jared brought home 3 shirts for us to wear. A large for him, a medium for me, and a small for Annie. Great, right??? Wrong...an ADULT small for Annie. Are these people for real? My daughter go looking like some homeless child?

Seriously Mom? I can't find my arm....

I think not!!!! As usual, I went overboard and gussied up my little angel...but boy was she the star of the show. People just couldn't get enough of her ;)

I based my design off of this tutorial I found perusing the results of my google search.

But instead of adding the rosettes to the bottom, I added a bunch of ruffles! I might have been squealing at the results....maybe :)

Such a ham!

Just look at that good lookin' matchy matchy family ;)

Annie's Nursery

So Annie's turning a year and I finally finished her nursery. Slow going, I know but I just couldn't decide on the curtains and it wasn't complete without something above her crib and my Mum came up with the perfect solution.

I ended up LOVING the curtains. I was skeptical as you don't normally choose pistachio as the color for curtains but I really love how it ties the bedding into the room.

Jared painted the room, as it used to be blue. He also painting the glider rocker and reupholstered it with a dark brown suede fabric. I made the window valance and the curtains.

Don't you love this?!?! For the longest time, I just couldn't figure out what I wanted above her crib. My Mum found a great Groupon deal to Dali Decals and we bought this cute bird set. You can't really tell from the picture but there are black birds and pistachio green birds too. The green ones show up the best on the brown half of the wall.

I'm not going to lie, I saw this changing table on someone elses blog (cough...Tiff...cough) and loved it. So it might not be original but I loved being able to use baskets for storage. My Mum donated the shelves and bought me the beautiful artwork for Mother's Day last year.

Close up of the artwork. It's just so sweet!

Enlarge, if you can't see. This is my other favorite wall. I have the birdies perched on the trim around her closet.

More birdies...and of course, the ribbon board.

My Dad stated it perfectly when he said "it's more like a piece of art". Well said Dad...well said.

I've actually had requests to make these for people. Truthfully, I stole the idea off of another friends blog. But I made mine HUGE. I don't even have all her bows on here because I ran out of room :)

My favorite little birdie....aren't they cute???

New Product!

Guess what you can find at Opie Designs???

Aren't these great?!?! They are my diaper changing pad clutches. 

 I just put a whole bunch of them on my etsy site. 

Go and have a look!

Monkey Baby Quilt

My cousin, Kyra, is expecting her second baby boy sometime around May and since I decided to make a quilt for all the grandbabies on my side of the family (since there are almost 14 on Jared's side) it was time for another quilt. The last one I made for her was airplane themed. We went with monkeys this time...

If you click on the picture for a closeup you can see the cute little monkeys on the light green fabric.

 

Congrat's Tyler & Kyra. I hope your little snuggler enjoys the blanket!

A little bit of Pursonality ;)

I had a friend ask me to make her sister a purse for Christmas. She wanted something kind of specific so I took a mix of two different purses and this is what I came up with:

I LOVE LOVE LOVE how it turned out. I'd love to reproduce this one again!

Happy Turkey Day!

How best to show my gratitude than to give you a taste of what I get to eat up this Thanksgiving!

Yes, I made her this outfit. She loves playing with the ribbons on the Turkey.

No, I'm not crazy. 

Yes, I'm LOVING being a stay-at-home Mom.

 

...wait until you see her Christmas outfit :)

Conference Traditions

Every conference weekend I try and come up with a craft to keep my hands busy while I listen to conference.

I live for this weekend. It's the only weekend when I really have the excuse to just stay home.

So this time, I had a list, and some ambitions. Luckily, just as most do, those tender loving elders voices lulled my little sweet pea right to sleep at the beginning of every session. So here is what I whipped out this year.

My ward is in charge of a secret santa this year and as the ward humanitarian leader they asked me to put together some quilt kits for people to get quilted by November 1st. So since, that's not really an exciting picture, I didn't picture it but it got done!

Next, I finally finished Annie's quilt!

 I got lazy with the binding so if you look close, don't judge me, I didn't have the time or patience to hand stitch it. Though I love how it turned out. The salmony pink squares are a chenille fabric and add a ton of fun texture.

What's Halloween without a fun Halloween outfit. This is why I have a little girl. Heavenly Father knew that I needed some good creative outlets and what better than to dress up your fabulously cute little girl :)  I found the pattern at a local craft store and you just make the skirt and sew it to the onesie. I added the tulle and used fabric paint to stencil on the witches hat and of course added the fun button. The shoes...oh the shoes. I love them. I got that pattern from the same place as her shoes from her blessing day. And of course what's a little girl to do without a matching bow.

No worries, the first time this outfit makes it on her...there will be pictures!

And let's not forget, the first session on Sunday is always accompanied with some yummy homemade cinnamon rolls (not pictured, we ate them that fast!)

crafts, crafts, crafts...cake!

So they say "Thank Heaven For Little Girls" But you know no matter how this baby came, I would have come up with a way to make tons and tons of cute crafts. So this weekend. I treated myself to some "me" time in my craft room :) This is what I came up with...

Hooter Hider

Diaper Wipes Case

Diaper & Wipes Clutch / Changing Pad

Tutorial found here

Burp Cloths

Edging patterns found here

 I'm not sure what happened with this picture but you get the point.

And just for a minute I need to show off Jared's awesome handiwork. I told him I wanted a modular system that we could put in the nursery closet because as of a week ago, it was just a top shelf and one bar across the top. Her clothes would have filled it up too easy. So this is what he came up with. He built the shelves in the middle and made it so we can move them around if we don't want them so close together. To the left of the shelf, there is a little nook that seemed totally useless. Well of course he came up with something. I put shoes there for now, but the possibilities are endless!

Let's not forget this cake... We participated in Bountiful Baskets this last week and got all these berries and since I already have a ton of frozen berries, I wanted to make something with them. So I made a cake. The cake was made from scratch using my trusty Betty Crocker Cookbook. If you're interested it's the Silver White Cake. Jared doesn't like cake but he really likes this one, so you know it's a good recipe. It's a bit more dense than the box mixes.