Kids......

I have children, which means I have no patience. Or free time. Or nice clothes that are not covered in bits of caked on cracker goo. If you are a parent in any way, you totally understand this and probably taking a deep sigh and nodding your head in agreement. Don't get me wrong, my children kick ass and I love them beyond words and couldn't imagine life without them. Life is just different then it was 9 years ago. This was all so apparent this morning when I was I was trying to put my 2 year old's coat on. She apparently didn't understand how to stand still. Her version of standing still included flinging her arms around while dancing. During her "stand still" dancing she managed to knock a big glass of water over, dousing my pant leg and shoe.  It had to be the morning that I had no time to change. Please note that my ever adorable daughter took great offense to me getting upset by her not listening. Obviously it was my fault that she drenched my leg. The me from 9 years ago would have never dreamed of leaving the house with sopping wet pants and a squishy shoe. The now me was all "Fuck it, it'll dry." On the bright side, I think the water washed off all the banana covered finger prints left by my tiny dancer. Silver lining?

Chucky's Bride

I have always been one of those kids that colored all the time or doodled on homework. My high school AP History teacher once commented that I had the prettiest notes he's ever seen. It was too bad that I didn't pay more attention to the note part though. Truthfully, it wasn't until a few years ago that I even considered making my "hobbies" a full time job. I'm still working on the full time part, as kids need to be fed and bills need to be paid, but eventually I have every faith in myself that I will get there. My first love has always been drawing, namely abstract. I didn't begin to sew until last year when I forced myself to take my sewing machine out of the box and use the damn thing already. Yes, I love being able to make clothes and other little creations, but my sewing fixation is more because I dearly love fabric and all the options. I am like a kid in a candy store at JoAnn's or browsing Fabric.com. I think the best job ever would be a fabric designer. How awesome would that be?!?!?! And I have to admit that I wanted to learn how to sew because girls' clothing scares the poop out of me and there is no way in h-e-double-hockey-sticks that my daughter will ever wear clothing with things written across her tushy. EVER. I'm 31 and I won't even wear pants with "Juicy" on my ass. My beloved late mother would likely come back to haunt me if I do. I can hear her even now, "Nicole Renee, I raised you better than that."

After my last fair is over with, and the Christmas rush on Etsy, I'm hoping to have some down time to draw again. I have many projects running through my head. It will be exciting to sit down at my drafting table again and pick up my beloved colored pencils and markers. Oooooo, I may cackle with glee. Cackle, cackle, cackle. (clearly I need to step away from the caffeine.) I can then bore with you to tears with pictures of my drawings. As opposed to boring you with pictures of my sewing projects. Like this:

The mermaid scares me. Like I want to stuff her in the back of my closet scares me. Clearly she was meant to be Chucky's bride. I may have to advertise her as that. "Chucky's Mermaid Bride, ready to stab you at any time! Perfect gift for your favorite girl." Too much? 

(cackle, cackle)

Eeeekkkkk! My first fair!!! I'm really excited, yet nervous I won't have enough stuff made. I will be selling my  reversible dresses, skirts like the one pictured below and dolls/stuffed guys. If you are in the area, stop on by! Hope to see you there.

Love these skirts. They are so cute on little girls. My only complaint is they are VERY time consuming to create. Thankfully the skirt's cuteness far outweighs the time to make them. 

Any new projects on your plate? They don't have to be sewing or art related. Share!

Beyond surprised

Dude.

Color me shocked.

I got into two fall/winter fairs. And I only applied for three. The third fair, who sent me a lovely rejection letter can bite me. Yes, I get bitter very easily. That said, I don't believe my work was a good fit, so it probably is better in the long run. I will provide more details later for anyone who wants information about attending theses fairs. I will also be in a Mom2Mom sale as one of the 4 crafters allowed. In all three of my events, I will be selling my handmade dresses, skirts and felt dolls. Speaking of skirts, look at my first stab at making one:

I am also working on some Halloween themed items to go up for sale on Etsy. I know, I know. the excitement, can you handle it?!?!?!?

Smootches!

Time? What time?

I am a mother of 3. I work full time. Somewhere I have to find time to feed the kids, do laundry, clean, etc. That leaves very little "me" time. Never mind the fact that I am trying my damndest (that is too a real word! spell check can bite me!) to start a sustainable business that will allow me to be home with the kids and not pay out the ass for daycare. (Even if daycare is totally awesome and the people there feel like family.) How do you manage to set aside "me" time? I admit that I really do love working in my studio and it feels like "me" time, (Why the hell do I keep putting "me" in quotations? And this talking in parenthesis is getting real old.) but the reality is that I am working and not decompressing. Last night I met with 2 of my bestest friends for dinner and I was able to just let loose - be myself for 2 hours. I got to actually shovel food into my own pie hole, without having to stop to tell so-and-so to leave his sister alone for pete's sake. It was amazing.

So, lemme know what works for you. How do you find time for you? That oh so important time everyone needs to be able to stay true to yourself.

SALE!

Because I love me some Christmas in July shopping, I thought I would have a sale of my own! All my dresses are 15% off from now through the end of July! I should be getting more up for sale shortly. If you want any dress custom made I will also offer the same discount. Yay! Sale! My panties are on fire. Well, they would be, but I really hate the word panties. Ick. My under-roos are on fire!

Funklicious Etsy Store

The latest dress creation:

I also purchased a flouncy pillowcase dress pattern. Can't wait to create! What would you like to see me add to my Etsy shop? Please note, my goal is NOT to end up on Regretsy. Not that there is anything wrong with Regretsy, but crocheted sperm is not on my list to make. Mostly because I can't crochet to save my soul.

Toddlers make for difficult models

I took the suggestion from a fave blogger of mine (*cough* Pamela *cough*) and decided with my next reversible dress listing on Etsy that I would have Sophia, the toddler wonder, model the dress for me. May I just say that my free spirited child proved to be a very difficult model. She insisted on playing with magnets. Not picture is her sitting down and showing off the shorts she was wearing under the dress. Oh well. Enjoy the out takes. I know I did!