New things

So far, Avery likes:

Butternut Squash
Sweet Tender Carrots
Sweet Potatoes

She dislikes:

Her new bib

Thrift Store shopping, Part I- from ewww to cool

Lately I've had a few of you ask me the same questions so I thought I'd devote a couple of entries to answering them.

The other day my mom asked me why now as an adult I think thrift store shopping is cool. As a kid, I never would have been caught dead going to a thrift store. Heck, I didn't even want to be seen in the parking lot of Pic 'n Save (now called Big Lots) while she ran in for something. I remember making her park the family station wagon in front of the KFC which was a few stores down from the Pic 'n Save. I also remember my sister and I sitting on the floor in the backseat and making our dogs (two large Old English Sheep dogs) crouch down as well so no one could see us. Being seen at Pic 'n Save would have been the end of the world and I would have been teased forever at school.

Fast forward a couple of decades and now I make a trip to the Salvation Army once every week or so. So why now is it cool? I think there are a few contributing factors. Back when I was growing up, thrift stores were just plain gross. They were full of everyone's outdated, old clothing from the 70's, they were dingy, dirty and smelled funny. Of course, who wouldn't think ewwww.

These days there is a huge emphasis on being more kind to our earth by reusing, recycling, repurposing, etc. We are a throw away society, and a lot of pefectly good stuff ends up being donated to thrift stores. Thrift stores are finally starting to realize this "green" trend and they have become pickier at what they accept, which means that the good stuff makes it into their stores. They have also cleaned up the appearance of the inside of their stores making them easier to shop in- they are organized by color, size, product, you name it. Like Ross, Marshall's or TJ Maxx the shirts are on one rack, pants on another, furniture at the back, etc. They also offer special bargain days at random- one day might be half off furniture, the next day it might be clothing that gets the big markdown. You never know, so you better stop in frequently if you want the best deals.

Another reason why I started shopping at the Salvation Army (it's the only large thrift store in my area) is because I wanted to improve my sewing skills. I grew up learning to sew on my mom's old Singer Featherweight. It's a workhorse of a machine, but it only does a straight stitch forward and backward, nothing fancy. My new Viking, while still considered an entry level basic machine, has about a dozen different types of stiches and I am anxious to try them out and see what they do. But buying fabric at the fabric store to cut up and practice with was going to get expensive. Not to mention that Joann's is also the only large fabric store in my area- and I'm snobby when it comes to fabrics (I blame that on my 12 years in the interior design business), I was getting bored of the same fabrics. Joann's focuses on the quilters, and I'm not a quilter. By buying things at the thrift store, I can cut up and experiment however much I want and it won't break the bank. And if I mess up a project to the point where there's no saving it, then I won't be too disappointed if I have to trash it and call it a day.

Lastly, I'm going to share with you a little secret I learned about the Salvation Army. If you look at the price tag there will be a date printed at the top of it. If it's 15 days past that date, you get the item HALF OFF! Half off of an already pretty cheap item is what I call a good deal, and who doesn't like a good deal? But be sure to know which items you're buying are half off- sometimes their price scanner at the register doesn't always give you the full 50% off. Before you hand over the cash, make sure they've gotten it right. Once you pay and they close that cash drawer, you won't get a refund if you point out the mistake after the fact.

Next up I'll be answering the question "how'd you make that out of that?"

And the winner is....

SaraH from Ohio!

Thanks everyone for playing, look for more Freebie Fridays in the weeks to come!

My Exciting News!

Here's a sneak peak at what I've been up to the past few weeks:Yep! I've done it! If you would like to see more, you'll have to visit my Etsy shop to check out the goods! I've got more bags to make, so I'll be adding more to the store over the next couple of weeks.

I'm torn though- while this has been exciting for me, for the last few days I've been debating whether I should even mention this new little adventure I'm taking. The last thing I want is for my friends and family to ~feel~ obligated to buy something. That is not my intention in sharing this news with you all. But I'll gladly accept your moral support and encouragement :)

If you've got any suggestions for how to improve my shop (and business!), please send me a private email sharing your thoughts.

Thanks Everyone!

Mmmm Butternut Squash...

Update on missing project

A couple of you want to know what happened to project #6. Don't worry, you didn't miss any of my before/after projects. When I looked at my blog archive (on the right hand side of the page) I realized I wasn't being consistent in the wording of my titles, which was causing some confusion.

So I renamed the confusing ones and now you can easily find all 6 of my Before/After posts.

I've got some exciting news (well at least for me it's exciting) to share a little later this week, so check back to see what I've got up my sleeve!

It's Freebie Friday! And Project #7

Okay, I know it's Saturday but I didn't get a chance to post yesterday so just play along and pretend it's still Friday.

A lot of the blogs I read have Freebie Fridays, so I thought it would be fun to have one too. Here's how it works: leave a comment in reply to this post and you will be entered into the random drawing. How do I pick the winner you ask? I don't- I let Random.org do it for me, so it's completely random and fair.

Here's the freebie! It's my Before/After Project #7. Don't worry, I wash all my thrift store finds before I start each project.

Before: Thrift Store Skirt $1.93!

After: Another summer handbag :) Are you detecting a trend here? Well you should by now because yes, I love making handbags! This bag has two interior "slip" pockets and a magnetic snap closure. It is fully lined and interfaced to provide structure to the bag. So if you'd like a chance to win this freebie, don't forget to leave a comment. And just to make the comments interesting, tell me something you've won before in another contest.

I'll accept comments up until midnight on Thursday and the winner will be announced next Friday. Only one comment per email address please. And yes, you can enter if you live out of state :) Good Luck!

Before/After- Project #6

This project comes to you all courtesy of "Nate's Gramma", she's a regular reader of my blog. Nate's Gramma was out shopping one afternoon and came across this placemat- it was $1.00. She bought it thinking "I bet Jen could do something with this!" She was right.

Now that I've been a mom for 5 months, I've come to realize that the diaper bag is a big bulky thing to carry around when usually (note that I said usually, yes, there are exceptions to this rule) all I really need is a diaper and some wipes. That got me thinking, there's got to be a smarter, easier way to have the necessary essentials without compromising what precious little space I have in the basket under the stoller.

Before: Placemat $1.00 (Don't mind the folds, I got ahead of myself and forgot to take a photo before I got started):

After: Diaper clutch/changing station for when you're on the go!

This was so easy- all I had to sew on was a piece of elastic and a button!

Thanks Nate's Gramma!

Before/After Project #5

Before: Thrift store skirt for $2.95.

After: Another cute summer dress for Avery. This time I used elastic encased in some fabric for the straps. This was super easy. I wanted to take advantage of the serged hem, so I removed two of the panels to make it smaller. The waistband had a nice bias tape edge which I also wanted to use. So I removed the waistband and used it for the ruffle on the front.I also had enough fabric left over from the top of the skirt to make her a fun little mini skirt!

Before/After- Project #4

Okay so you should all know by now that I like fabrics. Afterall, I worked in an industry that sees a lot of fabrics for 12+ years! When I'm out and about shopping or browsing in a store, I am usually drawn to fabrics either for their pattern, color(s), or texture. It doesn't matter to me what the fabric is being used for because I usually visualize its potential as something else anyways.

A couple of weeks ago I was browsing in Marshall's. I found this set of 4 dinner napkins that I was immediately drawn to because I liked the pattern and the color very much. I figured I could find something to make with them, so I bought them.

Before: 4 Fabric Napkins for $4.99

After: Cute little tote and matching zippered pouch

So the bummer is that it was after I washed the napkins that I realized I was a napkin short. There were only 3, which meant someone had stolen one napkin out of the tied up bundle. Who needs just one napkin? This tote and matching pouch used 2 napkins. If I had that fourth napkin, I would have made another tote only larger. Oh well.

Funny Avery

Here's Avery on a "chatty" day:

Look what I can do!

She's very pleased with herself now that she's learned to touch her toes. Last night when she woke up at 2am, Franz got up to change and feed her. She greeted him with a big grin and then quickly raised her legs to touch her toes and then tooted four times!

Before/After- Project #3

This was a fun one. I whipped this up today during Avery's nap. You can find the tutorial here.

Before:

Car wash mit: $1.00 each at the Dollar Tree

After:

"Hedgie" the Hedgehog!

Handbag #2

Thanks everyone for your kind words and "wow's" in regards to the Before/After posts. I have a lot of fun with those projects. I'm loving my sewing machine so much it's getting me into trouble because I stay up way too late sewing. Not good when your 5 month old is awake and ready to start her day at 5am.

I should be honest and tell you though that I do not make up the patterns for my projects. I consider myself a decent seamstress, but I'm not nearly advanced enough to start making the patterns. So the dish towel bag was made using Simplicity pattern 2685 bag style A.

Next up is another bag from the same Simplicity pattern, but this time using bag style D. Sorry, no fun "before" elements to this one. This one was difficult. The directions were a little confusing at times, but I managed through them. I got all the way to the end and realized I didn't like the proportion, it was too tall/long. So I fudged it a bit and took off some of the length, I like it much better now. Instead of adding a zipper pocket, I added two open pocket sections. I also added a key ring so you don't have to go digging for your keys at the bottom of your bag.

1 yard fabric for outside: $2.50 on clearance

2 Fat Quarters for lining: $.99 each on sale

1 button: already had in my button stash

"D" ring: $.25

"Mess" Avery

We started feeding Avery baby oatmeal on Friday. She LOVES it! She watches the spoon as we dip into the bowl, and then she follows it as we bring it up to her mouth and then she goes cross-eyed because the spoon is so close. It's very cute- but MESSY!

Before/After- Project #2

Before: 2 Dish Towels for $3.00 on clearance at TJ MaxxAfter: Super cute summer purse!

Before/After- Project #1

Here's my first before/after project. I found this skirt for $2.77 at the Salvation Army. I actually would have kept the skirt for myself, but it was a size 2! There was no way I was squeezing these hips into a size 2 anytime soon, so I made a dress for Avery instead. I can't take full credit for the style of this dress. It's called a pillow case dress and there are tutorials all over the internet on how to make them.

Ta Da!!!

Isn't she a beauty? I've been wanting my own sewing machine for a long time now. While I've enjoyed borrowing my mom's Singer Featherweight (thanks Mom!) for the occasional project, I just felt it was time for me to have my own. After a lot of research, I finally settled on the Husqvarna Viking Emerald 118. Now all I had to do was figure out how I was going to pay for it- we're living off of one income now after all and the cost of Avery's formula is bleeding us dry each month!

It just happened that my birthday was a couple of weeks ago, so along with some unexpected birthday checks I received in the mail (thank you notes are in the mail!) and another check from a friend for the wedding gift she never sent (I had no idea!) I had a pretty good start. But I was still short. That's where my best friend Craig comes into the picture. He's a great friend, I can always count on him to come through for me. If you don't know what I'm talking about, you should check it out. Craigslist is so cool. I've had great luck with it. I've sold all kinds of things and made some pretty good money- the kind of money you'd never make if you tried selling the stuff in a garage sale.

So after doing some digging and searching around the house, and after selling every last item I owned worth anything, I FINALLY had enough money to get my machine.

I'm almost finished with my first project, so I'll be posting before/after pictures soon.

Have you all signed up for the Favorite Things swap? If not, you only have 2 more days to do so. Go right now and do it!!!