planning ahead.
frothing.
spicy.
silly mommy.
already Christmasy.
toe shoes.
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Showing posts with label pictures. Show all posts
Showing posts with label pictures. Show all posts
Saturday, September 15, 2012
the week in review: instafriday
planning ahead.
frothing.
spicy.
silly mommy.
already Christmasy.
toe shoes.
Wednesday, September 12, 2012
my photo setup
My light box is not permanently set up, so I have to compete with the LPS scenes for coffee table time to do my product photos.
(Just in case you don't have little girls, LPS stands for Littlest Pet Shop, which is code for Thousands of Tiny Animal-Themed Plastic Trinkets that Take Over the Whole Dang House.)
Usually I have to move books, laundry, and maybe some random decor as well.
I wonder what other Etsy sellers are cropping out of their product shots?
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Friday, September 7, 2012
instafriday linkup
this week in pictures:
Labor Day weekend at my in-laws house, aka My Favorite Resort With Amazing Food and Free Childcare.
I didn't work the whole time. :)
Playing with yarn and PicFrame on the way home.
(btw: this was my first time working with Colrain and it was simply divine!)
Back to school: lunchbox notes.
(This is Mr. Happy Heart. You'll hear more about him later.)
sewing...sewing...sewing
New stuff for the shop!
Trying not to get pasta on the computer.
Working within my advertising budget of $0.00!
What have you been up to this week?
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Friday, July 20, 2012
squee!
At long last this came in the mail.
I finally ordered some real grown up labels from here.
Think of the potential!
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
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Friday, June 29, 2012
On Barf, Birdseye, and Burp Cloths
Why I Prefer Birdseye 3 Ply Prefolds for my HoopDeeDoo Burpcloths.
{warning: super grody baby talk ahead!}
I've had some people ask about the burpcloths I'm making for the shop, so let me address it here: I use 3 ply birdseye weave prefold diapers, which are lighter weight. Many boutique burp cloths are 6 ply, but I don't use them anymore.
Why?
{fabric: ikea}
They don't fit the HoopDeeDoo philosophy of pretty + practical.
My own personal experience as a mom comes into play here. Sorry to get graphic, but I had a baby with severe reflux, so I know burpcloths. I tried them all. I gave up on the puffy 6 plys very quickly. A 6 ply Chinese prefold gauze weave diaper is great for liquids (ahem: urine) and keeping it "inside" a diaper, but it simply doesn't absorb thicker liquids as quickly (ahem: vomit). So you get the dreaded runoff or smearing. Pretty, but not practical.
I eventually just bought a pack of plain white birdseye 3 plys and used them forever. They worked like a charm and took up less room in the diaper bag, but were kind of boring. Practical, but not pretty.
I always wanted the kind of burp cloths that I am now making for my shop.
{fabric: alexander henry. find in the shop here.}
Yes, the thick ones seem so luxurious and pretty on the boutique shelf. But baby barf ain't pretty, folks. Young mamas in the trenches of reflux and sleep deprivation need absorbency and less barf on their backs.
Just keepin' it real.
Put yourself in a new mama's shoes for a moment. Let's say it's Mother's Day and you got a 5 minute hot shower as your gift, and you're disturbingly excited about going to church because it's the first time you've left the house all week, and your precious 3 week old horks all over that fat fluffy burp cloth which doesn't absorb anything so all of the putrescence streams down the back of your new Ann Taylor sweater set (ok, it's a hand me down from your mother in law, but new to you) - yes, it will be the end of the world. I promise. You will first cry the ugly cry, and then you will crack and start using hand towels as burpcloths until you can get some decent absorbent burpies, even if they are ugly, just as long as they suck up the vomit and fold down small enough to get into the diaper bag.
(Completely fictional story.)
Anyways, to keep things both pretty and practical, I chose an absorbent birdseye cloth as the base and added a cotton fabric strip to pretty it up. Prewashed on hot. Machine dried on hot. Cause new mamas want to know that the thing is going to survive some harsh treatment.
Give me practical any day of the week. But make it pretty while you're at it. :)
{fabric: vintage. find in the shop here.}
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Thursday, April 12, 2012
Making my peace with blogging
So obviously I fell off the #marchphotoaday bandwagon.
I wanted to do it. I had fun taking the pictures. But then spring break came and I forgot to take all of the pictures, and when we got back to the routine, it was all I could do to just make sure the family was fed and clothed and where they were supposed to be at any given moment.
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| Photo taken at Pops on 3/14/12 |
I've been pondering blogging and my role in the blogosphere and my lack of motivation for it. Here's what I've come up with:
1. I don't need anything else to do. If blogging feels like a chore, I'm not going to do it, because I have enough chores to do, so I should do one that results in my family having clean dishes or something like that.
2. I can't compete. Reading other people's shiny happy blogs makes me feel like my house isn't clean enough, my blog isn't pretty enough, etc. etc. Let me be clear: NO ONE is making me feel that way but MYSELF. So I removed myself from reading most blogs I follow for a while. It felt really good. And the universe did not explode.
3. I'd rather be sewing. I only have about 5 hours a week to put into my etsy shop, so I'd rather spend all of that making stuff than wrestling with blogger.
4. I've got other non-crafty projects that eat up huge amounts of time and satisfy my creative urges in a way blogging simply can't. Like music. I got to produce and sing in a bluegrass worship service for Easter with Rick Trevino. It required tons of planning and rehearsal and resulted in one of the most joyful Easters of my life! You can't say yes to everything, so when these kinds of projects come along, I just say NO to everything else mediocre so I can say YES to amazing!
5. And, most importantly, the family comes first. Read this amazing post my friend Jen brought to my attention today. (Jen is a spectacular blogger herself, and hers is one of the few that made the cut, because, well, she's Jen.)
So, to sum up, I think I have made my peace with being a sporadically posting, bad photo taking, messy random blogger who can't write html and only occasionally responds to comments.
yay!
(I'm much better at Facebook and Twitter, by the way)
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| My desk. Scary, eh? |
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
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Friday, March 9, 2012
days 7,8,9
day 7: something you wore
(my favorite dirty skechers which look cuter than tennis shoes but i can stand in them all day)
day 8: window (taken a day late, oops)
(my tomato plants, longing to actually graduate to the garden)
day 9: red
(brisco and his favorite kong, with a little peanut butter to make it yummier)
#marchphotoaday
#marchphotoaday
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Tuesday, March 6, 2012
days 4, 5, 6
day 4: bedside.
it's always a mess, but these are the essentials: meds, clock, lotion to make me sleepy, sudoku to make me sleepy, miscellaneous crap, surprise love notes from the girls.
day 5: smile.
how could I pick just one of these sweet smiles? And this while K was doing her music theory homework. happy happy happy girls.
day 6: 5pm.
#marchphotoaday
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Thursday, August 18, 2011
AWOL - good for what ails ya
yup. I went AWOL over the summer. Sometimes, when life gets overwhelming, I just check out of something without notice. I highly recommend it for every overachiever. Totally reduces the stress-load.
This time blogging won the toss-up. So did my etsy shop (which is still on vacation). The time away gave me a chance to consider with a clearer head what my goals for the coming year are. More on that another time.
So, what was going on, you ask?
1. End of the school year. That's always a busy time, but fun.
2. Not fun. Said goodbye to my sweetheart golden retriever, Baylor. She had cancer and we had to put her to sleep the day after my birthday. I was absolutely heartbroken. I loved this dog so much. She was my first baby. She kissed away my tears after three miscarriages and all of the drama with my dad's illness and so much more. I'll miss her forever.
3. Family trip to Colorado to honor my dad. Stayed at a dude ranch, took a very challenging trail ride with my husband and brother and lived to tell the tale (barely, and I am NOT exaggerating).
4. Helped my mom move out of my childhood home and into a new house and life here in Texas. She is busy, happy, meeting new people, and laughing again like the mom I grew up with. Soooooo good for my heart!
5. We didn't make it long without a dog. Meet Brisco, my 9-week old fuzzy bundle of joy. We've had
him for three days. I'm a little sleep deprived.
6. I also spent loads of fun, special time with my kiddos. Nothing exciting, just being together. I feel like I am finally a whole mom to them. I had half of my brain working the situation with my parents for all of these kids' childhood until the past year. They seemed to have turned out fine, but I am certainly enjoying them more fully now and am so grateful for each little moment.
So ya see, blogging just wasn't that high up on my agenda. I bet you managed just fine without me, blogosphere. ;)
P.S. Still not done with those tops I have been knitting for me and the girls. *sigh*
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Tuesday, May 24, 2011
{tip Tuesday}: the sewing tool that's not a sewing tool
Have you ever seen one of these?
It's not really a sewing tool. It's for cleaning out a musical instrument, namely a flute. Like so:
Naturally, I had this thing already hanging around, because I use it to clean my flute. Indispensable.
As a sewing tool, though, it's a luxury I no longer can live without. I abhor using a safety pin to thread something through a casing. Ugh! Takes forever. This takes a few seconds.
Also handy for threading a camera strap through a cover. :)
Your local music store will stock a metal cleaning rod for a few bucks, or a wooden one like mine for a few more. Metal rods are skinnier. Find one online here.
Trust me on this one. You'll wonder how you lived without it, especially if you make a lot of elastic waistbands or aprons with really long casings!!
linked up:
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Friday, May 20, 2011
{fave friday}: limes
Limes. I am in love with limes. Not lime flavoring, that I can't stand. Actual, real, fresh, juicy, tart limes. Summertime in a cute little green package. The ubiquitous summer fruit.
On a tree in my backyard. (the cutest, tiniest limes you've ever seen!)
I didn't consider iced tea to be drinkable until I discovered the magic potion that is a Sonic large unsweet tea with EXTRA lime. Maybe one packet of truvia, maybe not.
In a Corona. And in some guac, of course.
Best margarita in the world, made by my hubby.
Tex-mex just isn't quite right without a squeeze.
Can't live without 'em!
In my water.
On a tree in my backyard. (the cutest, tiniest limes you've ever seen!)
I didn't consider iced tea to be drinkable until I discovered the magic potion that is a Sonic large unsweet tea with EXTRA lime. Maybe one packet of truvia, maybe not.
In a Corona. And in some guac, of course.
Best margarita in the world, made by my hubby.
Tex-mex just isn't quite right without a squeeze.
Can't live without 'em!
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