Showing posts with label threadlings. Show all posts
Showing posts with label threadlings. Show all posts

Monday, July 12, 2010

When Big Stress Lurks-Post About Your Little Happy Place.

Those of you within hugging distance know what kind of crazy has been going on, and on out here regarding Jeff's employment situation. I am not going into details now, but today was supposed to be a turning point and an end to months of difficult waiting and hoping and planning. But it's not. We must continue the waiting and hoping which makes it hard in our particular situation to conduct the planning part.

So, the stress is lurking which pushes Jeff out to the shop every time and it usually leads me to... my craft room. It used to be the office/craft room but I moved the computer out to the living room when Jeff was on shift a while back. He likes it out there though, don't worry.

Here is the bulk of the craft room. Cutting area and sewing desk which I found in the landlord's garage. He graciously let me de-spider it and drag it inside when J was at work again. Must be weird for him to come home to a new house all the time.

Anyway, on the metal shelving, I have my smaller cuts of fabric and all the pins and goodies you need in reach while sewing. Next to it against the wall are all my rulers. I like rulers. Inside the three drawers of the sewing desk (not shown) I have my drawing stuff and other various trims, plus tracing and pattern paper. My "work-in-progress basket is on the desk to the right of the machine. Which is also right by the door so I can't forget about what I got going on.

Here is a close-up of the metal shelves. There, in the little brown basket is the THREADLINGS merchandise warehouse. All of the items for sale are waiting there for new homes. As of yet I haven't hired an employee to help with inventory. It's been pretty manageable on my own.

To the left of the THREADLINGS stuff is the blue paper bowl the boys and I made last winter and I have all my patterns, instructions sheets and templates in there.

Here is the cabinet to the left of the cutting table. I painted the glass on the doors so you can't see the mess inside. The kids knitting jumble is in there along with other crafting stuff. Our stationary and greeting cards that we save for re-use or collage are tucked in there with our stamps. The boys just started carving their own stamps and I think they will likely be doing more and more of that in the future.

Here is my modest fabric and craft book collection. The bottom row that's hidden is full of books too. Minna likes to thumb through them and say "Oh, cute! Oh!". Little maker in the making. There is an art gallery there to the left and on top is a framed strip of old-time computer labels with my fashion drawings from age 10 or so. I remember my Dad letting me take as many sheets of those things I wanted. I must have drawn a thousand ladies in dresses with names like, "rich-ness" and "ball gown!". Even at age 10 I was abusing that exclamation point. I like having some of my young-Natalie creative stuff mixed in with grown up-Natalie stuff.

And here is Minna's desk that she staged by herself. Notice she is not sitting in her chair even with the best lighting in the room. She is much too busy on the other side with her fingers in the drawers and pulling down books and trying to take bites out of my erasers. The boys spend time in here too even though they primarily use our big dinning room table that is right next to their bigger kid craft cabinet.

I guess when I said my craft room I meant ours.

That's what makes it the happiest... and happy Monday to you.

Thursday, July 8, 2010

Stuffin' Some Stuff.

I will only keep you for a second.

It's late and I am about to watch a movie with a certain husband that doesn't have to to work tomorrow, yay! I will leave you with a glimpse of the busy stuff that I personally have been up to today.

I stuffed this canvas bag to the brim with crafty fun stuff. We are donating it to the Two Rock Volunteer Fire Dept. for this weekend's Pancake Breakfast raffle. Yum-that time of year again!

I am calling it the "Summery Days Family Craft Kit" and it has bits and pieces tucked in that are inspired by this very blog. I also made another "Happy Stitching" bundle with a rainbow of floss to go along with it.

There is one lucky little crafty embroiderer out there...

...could be YOU if you come on out Sunday to join us for the morning.

More details tomorrow!

Friday, June 18, 2010

HELLO!

Hi! We are new in town.

We are temporarily staying
over at THREADLINGS and we need a new home.


Come and see us and have a good weekend!

Thursday, June 10, 2010

Some Bedroom Talk and Some Shop Talk.

Busy day today!

Kids and Dad working outside all day, and Mama(me) cleaning and organizing and sifting in the boys bedroom. That room can be overwhelming for me at times so it was nice to get down and dirty in there. My boys and their endless, teeny tiny treasures. How do you corral all your kids special finds? I would love some new ideas.

For now, here are two of my notable-under-the-bed finds from today, 1)Various candy wrappers, candy consumption date and time unknown. 2) A little food storage container filled with rodent bones. (The same bone collection that we previously agreed should live OUTSIDE.)

Always and adventure.

In the end we donated some books and sent some age appropriate playthings next door to little sister's room. (She loves her new wood train set.) With more space on the boys bookshelf and my own book collection needing to be thinned as well, we decided to go to Paperbacks Unlimited. I haven't been in probably 20 years. Neat, neat place. I vividly remember sitting in the kids section cross-legged on the floor, leafing through book after book. The boys did the same today and we came home with some populars and some classics for summer reading and beyond.

On a THREADLINGS note, I added a little scrappy garland to the shelves! Oh I love making these. I think I will talk about these little summery leaves some other day because I made 45 of them and only 10 are in the shop. What to do with the rest? Gotta think about that. For now, go check them out over at Etsy and keep peeking because a Summer Embroidered Square is on it's way too!

Happy Wednesday!

Tuesday, June 1, 2010

Check In and Self Promo.

Hi all!

Have a good long weekend? We did. Nice to have a long weekend now and again huh?

I will have some stuff to share soon, but right now I am going to direct you to THREADLINGS to check out the four new postcard sets that are waiting for a nice new home.

Postcards are nice now and again too right?


They are just "Out Here'n Two Rock" shots printed on postcard stock. Each of the four different set comes in a fun fabric envelope made by me and my sewing machine. The sets are "Sunflower's Life", "Happy Days", "Nature Is Neat" and "No Theme Really". There are two of each available, so no fighting over them O.K.?

Well than! If you need postcards or want a little "Out Here" or want unique shots to hang, or use as gift tags or bookmarks or something- go check 'em out!

******************
I must mention too that I had a special anniversary over the weekend. Happy 11 years o' love J! It's been pretty darn good. Unfortunately, I can't find one, not one recent picture of us together.

How can that be?

I guess we have been too busy taking pictures
of our most beautiful collaborations from the past 11 years instead.

Thursday, May 20, 2010

Happy One Year Out Here!

One year!

I don't really have any meaningful or poignant things to say today really. Yet it has been a full year and it has been very meaningful for me to be able to process and put it all together here for myself and for anyone remotely interested.

Here is a run down of the big stuff...

A new, intense, fulfilling job and along with it a new intense schedule for all of us. We are doing it though!

A sweet little baby became a sweet little girl.

A beginner crafter made lots of stuff, got brave and tried to sell some of that stuff. (Made a few sales too!)

And in between the bigger events, I have been so lucky to have another year of days discovering and learning and playing and growing with this amazing family of mine...

...out here, in this amazing place we get to call home.

That's a darn good year.

Friday, March 26, 2010

A Glimpse and "This Moment".

Yes, Friday afternoon. Nice weather, home for the evening and a fun weekend ahead. Not a bad ending to a hectic week. I am prepping for a bridal shower this weekend and the house is covered in flowers, cards, sprinkles and icing.

Gonna be fun and pretty I hope...

Notice I didn't mention THREADLINGS even one time the past few days! Can't believe I was too busy to promote myself. Maybe next week. I must mention now though that I have made 6 sales! Which is a whopping 6 more than I dreamed possible. Thanks everybody! Oh I am loved...

I will leave you with my SouleMama-inspired-moment of the week.

Oh, those boys of mine...

Have a lovely weekend!

Saturday, March 20, 2010

Wordless Weekend? Nope...

I am shamelessly breaking the Wordless Weekend code just to say,

"I did it!"

THREADLINGS is now open for business! There are 7 little items up for grabs, all handmade and dreamt up by yours truly. This week I will talk about each item a bit and give myself a plug here and there. Again, shameless!

It was really fun and scary at the same time. The prospect of selling what you make is really exciting. On the other hand, a zillion exceptionally amazing creators are out there doing the same. Needless to say, it's intimidating to throw a $4.00 tissue case amidst $200.00 knitted shawls and hand stitched leather purses and boots that rival designer brands.


Still pretty neat though:)

Check THREADLINGS out if you are browsing Etsy and please tell me if you or other brave souls you know have spaces over there too. I would love to see your cool stuff.

Happy weekend to you!

Friday, March 19, 2010

This Moment.

This is what goes on every Friday over at SouleMama-

"{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember. If you're inspired to do the same, leave a link to your 'moment' in the comments for all to find and see."

Here is mine for the week and it is actually occurring as I type this...

(I really do have to savor these nappy-nursing moments, she is growing up so fast.)

What are you up to this weekend?

I will be over at THREADLINGS, hint, hint...

Enjoy your Almost-Spring Friday!

Tuesday, March 16, 2010

Back To Business...

Happy Tuesday!

I actually uploaded this picture late, late last night. I sat down to write a lil' something up for a Monday post but was interrupted by a sweet, sleepy little girl wanting to nurse. Turns out this big girl was also sleepy and never made it back to the computer.

Anyway, back to business. No more Happy Birthday partying or cake eating, (Happy Birthday J!) and it's time to stop ignoring laundry to play with Dad while he was home this weekend.

Now it is time to talk shop. What is this below you ask?

It's the staging area and props I used for some picture taking I did this weekend. I was taking shots of stuff for THREADLINGS in preparation for a limited grand opening this Saturday. I am still going to go through with it even though I didn't get half the stuff completed that I originally planned.

So far I have seven items to post and I had so much fun photographing them. I really have no idea what I am doing but I am giddy nonetheless. We will see what happens. Jeff and I keep joking that we will be able to retire early because of my tissue cases. Heck, why not?

This coming week holds much talk of THREADLINGS and the little bits that I have made so stay tuned!

Your week off to a busy-but-good start too?

Thursday, March 11, 2010

Not Before OR After.

I don't think there will be a virtual tour of the house. I was so excited to show you some "before and after" shots. Those are fun aren't they? But I can't because the "afters" are not ready yet. Still not done. I have some hanging organizers to fashion for a chair and a boring old cork board to cover and hang. The details you know?

Besides, I have been far too busy picking this stuff out.

And cutting these.

Then arranging the results. I am diggin' it.


Plus, a little place called THEADLINGS is opening up in like a week and a half! Whoa! I have a lot of making and photographing to do...gulp.

So finishing touches on my craft corner will have to wait.
I am just too busy using it.

Can't wait for dinner tonight when very special people get to come over and see the place in person! Finally!

Enjoy your Thursday.