Oh my goodness I am such a slacker. I have been crazy busy this year and have lacked in everything from cleaning my car to cleaning my house to this blog. I apologize.

A few weeks ago I received an email from Tam over at Sew Dang Cute Crafts. She is so creative and I had previously asked her to guest post on my blog..

Well, you will never guess it (I am sure you have it guess by now) but she agreed and sent me an email with her post.

So before I take up all the room on this post.....

Here is the O So creative....Tam @ Sew Dang Cute Crafts!

Back in 2009 I was pregnant with my third child. I had a personal blog and so did several of my friends. One of those friends many of you know as Char of Crap I’ve Made. She posted this twirl skirt and this wrap dress that she had made. As the mother of two young girls, I wished so badly that I knew how to make things like that. Char assured me that I could do it and even offered to help.

 

So I went out and bought some fabric and went to Char’s house to have her help me. I didn’t know anything about seam allowances or anything like that. I pretty much just knew how to thread a sewing machine and sew straight lines.

 

So Char taught me.

We sat in her sewing room while our kids played/napped and chatted the hours away and eventually cranked out these adorable skirts for my girls.

I had also
 bought fabric for the wrap dress. With Easter just around the corner, I really wanted these to be my girls’ Easter dresses. So once again, Char patiently taught me and we got the dresses done.

I discovered through making these things that I really enjoyed sewing, and I wasn’t too bad at it either. I loved being able to take ordinary fabric and create something with it. Pretty soon I ventured out and tried an online tutorial on my own. Then another and another.

After a while, I started making baby items – things like blankets, appliqued onesies, burp cloths, etc.. Mostly just as gifts, but a lot of people started asking me if I sold the baby items I was making. I got a lot of “those are so dang cute!” comments.

 

I even wrote my first tutorial (Diaper Wipes Cases) and started getting featured on feature blogs.

So I decided to open an Etsy shop. At this same time, my personal blog was getting filled up with too many creative posts, so in October 2009 when I opened my Etsy shop, I also started a new blog and called it “Sew Dang Cute” as a play on words.

At this stage, the blog was mostly just to promote the Etsy shop. Then in January 2010, Moda sent me an email asking if I would like to be a chef on Moda Bake Shop. They also said they noticed I had an Etsy shop and told me I could become a wholesaler and sell their fabric.

This sounded like a lot of fun to me, so I decided to go out on a limb and do it. I bought a bunch of fabric and decided to use the blog as an online fabric store. It actually started doing really well, however most of my orders were foreign. This meant I had to drag my 3 young children to the post office almost every single day to fill out customs forms.

 

I was also doing custom orders. This was very draining on me and my family. I was on the computer a lot doing the sale/business stuff, then I was staying up way too late at night to make things for other people. I wasn’t sewing anything for me or my family anymore. It got to be too much (which is why I do not do any custom orders anymore – NO EXCEPTIONS) and so in April/May 2010 I decided to quit. I quit my Etsy shop, I quit blogging, I quit!

 

Fast forward a few months to September 2010. I hadn’t made anything in ages. Then one day I decided I wanted to sew again. I missed it, and within a few days I had made this baby puff quilt for my new niece, and this shower curtain for my kids’ bathroom.

Then late one night I had this idea for a competition. I asked several people what they thought and October 1, 2010 launched Season 1 of Crafting with the Stars. After that, everything is sort of a blur. I started doing DIY projects and more crafty stuff, so I added the “crafts” to my site name – Sew Dang Cute Crafts.

Now you can find pretty much anything on this site.

Furniture refinishing, sewing projects, home décor, room makeovers, paper crafts, fashion reviews, PhotoShop and Silhouette tutorials, and even recipe experimenting. If I love it and think maybe you will too, I’ll share it with you.

I just have to tell all of you thank you so much! There have been so many times that I have felt of your love and support. All of your emails and comments do not go unnoticed. Believe me, they mean the world to me and I appreciate them so much.

You guys are amazing readers and it is because of you that I keep posting.

Thank you so much for reading!

There you go! She is so creative. I love checking out all her new ideas. Now it is your turn to go check out everything else on her blog.

Thank you!

*Charle*

Embarrassed

Wow...I am embarrasses. It has been almost a month since my last post. I am so sorry. I have been CRAZY busy lately and haven't had time to do anything. Anyways, I will play catch up I guess. Instead of giving you 2 different posts it will be one gigantic post. Maybe one of these days I can get the blogger app on my phone so I can just start posting on the go.

February has been full of Work, Work and more work. I also hosted a baby shower for one of my friends. Here are a couple pictures of the snacks we had at the shower

We had a blast at the shower and Danica got spoiled.

I also helped with church basketball for the young women. It made me miss high school sports more than I ever have. February was a busy month and to be honest I don't even know where it went because I mean seriously I was crazy busy and it flew by in a blink of an eye.

I will leave you with the very favorite.

"What I Like About You....Pinterest" findings.

I so what all of this

This site was awesome. I can't wait to make my own desk

I love everything about this headboard

I am a shoe and purse fanatic so this rings true to my heart

This is hilarious

I love my some Elvis
"I'm All Shook Up"

This is so awesome I want to do this in a guest bedroom when we get our house.
Love gray. black and yellow

Love y'all

Charle

I'm Back!

I bet you guys thought I fell off the edge of the earth... If that was anyway possible I would probably be the one to do it. Ha Ha Ha! I have been crazy busy this year so far. We have been working like crazy, softball trips and life in general has been hectic. Hopefully, I can now settle down a little bit and take more time to post more often.

I will be doing a tutorial on some valentine hearts I am painting hopefully later this afternoon but we wil see ha ha ha

For now....I'll leave you with my "What I like about you...Pinterest" finds:

I need this room really really bad.

I have some extra shutters and would like to make this

I have some friends and family that are prego or just had a baby and I want to make them this sign. Its cute

I love these sayings ha ha ha

Although I did not get the real ones I still love them. I want some real ones though



Thank you!
Charle

Project #1

So I had told a friend of mine that I would make a brag board for her parents. Well she wanted it for Christmas but I was crazy busy and couldn't get it done in time for her. Yesterday I had a few extra minutes on hand and completed the project. Check it out below and let me know what you think...

GIVEAWAY!

I don't know about you but when I read or hear the word GIVEAWAY I get all sorts of excited no matter where it is at, what it is for or even what it is....

Tatertots and Jello is having an awesome giveaway... You need to go check it out seriously I mean it.

Click HERE for your chance to win a FREE HP Printer and a $6,000 family vacation



GOOD LUCK!

Life is like a rollercoaster

It is amazing how much life is truly like a rollercoaster. You start out on level ground with the thoughts rolling through your head of being scared of what lies ahead or thinking about how whimpy everyone else is and that you think it is going to be nothing. Then you start the climb..... You know that jerk and then the slow chain grinding climb to the top of the first drop. Right then your thoughts change to "OH CRAP! what did I get myself into." :) You finally, after 30 long seconds of chain grinding climbing reach the top and take a deep breath and think to yourself "Ok I made it I am good to go." Then the front of the cart tips over the edge and down you go. You scream, you cry, you hang on for dear life and then suddenly it levels again. You look to the person sitting next to you and say "That was it!"

It is crazy really! You start out being a baby and then into a toddler with no worries but is my mother gonna feed me yet. Then you become a teenager worrying about how cute you look, your weight, blah blah blah blah blah... Then you enter adult hood. You start college, meet a nice guy and get married. As a young couple you struggle with low cash flow and trying to get school finished. You think when is this ever going to end. Then you take the next step and start a family and again you may have your careers but with a new member you are still low on cash. Then comes the struggles you go through together as a family. We all know what they are or can be don't we? You think to yourself daily and think when are these struggles going to end when, will I finally have relief and not have to stress about my family, my financial issues or any other issue life throws at you. You continue to go on with life and watch as your kids grow and go through the drama and the struggles life throws at them as well. They get married and begin to have their families and go through everything you do plus some. Then you sit back and you realize the time has come where you are done with your struggles and ready to sit back with the ones you love and enjoy it. But that is after you look to your spouse and say "That was it"!

You don't realize that life has it's curves and it's ups and downs. You think at the time that it's that dreadful climb that you hate everytime you get on the rollercoaster but you don't think that it was as easy as it really seems after the fact.

I hope that made sense. It did to me while I was typing it.

My BIL's (brother-in-law) and the hubby's best friend ZB, spoke in Church today for his farewell. He did such a good job. We are so proud of him. As I sat there and listened to him this thought came to mind. He is such a good example to everyone. He has lived his life to the fullest and doesn't let anything hold him back. He is serving in India and will be gone for 2 years. My BIL is currently serving in Australia. You don't realize how much people are apart of your life until they are leaving. It seems like yesterday that BIL, ZB and hubby were in the other room playing Modern Warfare and yelling at each other or the screen like it was real life. When the silence is gone you can't help but think to yourself about the memories you shared with them or how it would be if they were there right now. I know ZB will be an awesome missionary and will enjoy his time in India. We can't wait to have both him and BIL back home.

This was a random post but I felt like letting it all out so to say.

I hope you enjoyed. Do you have any one in your family gone on a mission or leaving?


Love..
Charle

Meet the Bloggers

Stacy from Not Just A Housewife will be guest posting today for the "Meet the Bloggers" series. She is from Utah and has the most creative ideas ever. I am not lying when I say you will miss out if you don't go check her out. Some of you might have seen her on Good Things Utah! I will let Stacy tell you a little bit more about her.

My name is Stacy and I have a blog called Not JUST A Housewife. I blog about a little bit of everything, but I focus mainly on DIY projects and home decor. I have always been knee deep in several projects at a time. That is just how I roll. I don’t think I would be content unless there was paint under my fingernails and saw dust on my porch. I have decorated and made things since I was a kid. It is part of who I am.

I started blogging in September of 2010. I had no idea what a nice community of people I was joining when I started my blog. In fact, I only knew about a few blogs that were not "family" blogs. I thought I was braving new territory!!!

I have been blessed to have my blog grow rather quickly. And I love that I can use that to help others. I love answering emails from readers, guest posting, or promoting other blogs. I had so much help in the beginning that is is nice to be able to do the same thing now :)

 

 

I have 4 little boys that keep me on my toes! They love to help me with all my projects. I was a major tom boy growing up so I am very comfortable with having all boys.

 

 

My husband and I have been through a lot together. Recently we have had to deal with him being laid of twice in 2 years. He is 100% supportive of my blog and all the craziness that comes with it. For 3 weeks my kitchen and dining room were covered in saw dust and there were power tools everywhere because it was too cold for me to work outside on the driveway. He didn't complain once even though I knew it bugged the crap out of him.

I think the reasons I have enjoyed blogging is because I have that support, I LOVE what I do, and it gives me an out.... something to think about and do other than poopy diapers and laundry :)

Thanks for letting me share a little bit about myself. If you want, you can read my WHOLE blogging story. And please come over and see me sometime at my blog.

Stacy Risenmay
Not JUST A Housewife
notjustahousewife@yahoo.com
@HousewifeStacy