Hello Again!

Our take on the Apron...

Apparently our goal is 1 post a month, but that does not mean we are not hard at work.

We just handed over a bunch of our Christmas aprons to Sweet N Sassy.

We made them in women's and girls sizes.

And the fabulous JOY fabric is our Ladies Night Special.

But if you are interested in one for the Holiday Season, let us know. We could probably make that happen for you.

We have a variety of Christmas Appliques. Here is the Grinch and a few Luchadors. We also have Christmas Trees, Ties and some Ruffle Bums hanging down at Sweet N Sassy.

Shake Your Turkey Tail Feathers...

We really thought after the kids started back to school we would have all this extra time on our hands that we could devote to blogging and crafting. Funny thing, it didn't seem to make a difference. Both of our homes have seemed to be hit by the same germs, we are working on getting over our 3rd round of sniffles. Excuses, excuses. Despite the creepin' crud, Jaime and I have been hard at work getting ready for our Holiday rush. We have 2 home parties planned and of course still stocking Sweet 'N' Sassy with lots of new goodies.

I think we really have some fun stuff for the little girls this Thanksgiving. We were trying to come up with a turkey applique for a onesie and came up with this little google-eyed guy, and we added the turkey feathered (ruffled) bum. We thought they were really fun.

For the boys, we did a bunch of ties. We found such great Holiday fabric this year. We'll have lots of other fun T's coming as well, but so far this is what we've managed to get through. Here is our pile of great fabric finds that we are working on.

Pumpkin-Eaters: Pumpkin Scones recipe

Scones are a family favorite around here. I like to double or triple a recipe, freeze'em, bag'em up & hand them out for lots of occasions. I don't know what it is about scones, they're not too sweet, almost a biscuit, and just straight up tasty.

I have a tried & true base recipe that I usually add dates and pecans, chocolate chips, or whatever else might be in the pantry. When Fall hits, or I start noticing pumpkin spice lattes, and pumpkin frozen yogurt flavors popping up everywhere, I start craving pumpkin everything. So, I searched for a scone recipe that tasted similar to Starbucks and came across this one- she pretty much nailed it. I made a batch while I was watching the kiddos the other day & we had a little tea party...

the Scone Eaters

So if you're a pumpkin-eater, I highly recommend that you give these a try!

Halloween Goodies...

Yes, it is early for Halloween, but we just can't help ourselves. Plus, we wanted plenty of time to get Sweet 'N' Sassy stocked up for the Holiday.

We have been very busy, as you could probably tell by the lack of postings lately, but hopefully we can get ourselves in gear. Here are a few items from our Halloween collection, that are hanging around now at Sweet 'N' Sassy.

Can't Help Myself.

August happens to be a very important month at our house, smack dab in the middle of it is Charlie's birthday. She has asked me almost every morning for the past 3 months if 'it's her birthday today', so I finally could say 'YES!'

We had a fun-filled birthday weekend filled with food, fun and presents (Charlie's favorite part) ... So I thought I would share with you what Charlie and I made for 'thank-you' cards. I 'stole' the idea from the Crafty Chica, and thought it would be a fun project to do with Charlie. Here's what we made:

How-to: the Mini-zine of Charlie

the layout for the mini-zine

We decided to do a photo in each square.

We put the photos in order and decorated with sharpies, glitter, sequins and stickers.

After the decorating was up to snuff, I scanned it and printed it out.

Finished product.

See the Crafty Chica's video on how to fold the mini-zine...

I thought this was a cute way to share how much Charlie had grown between age 3 to age 4. And she got a kick out of making her own little story book. We had such a good time making it that we just might make another mini-zine for our Christmas card this year!

I also got around to making another upcycled t-shirt dress for Charlie with a t-shirt that she hand-picked herself.

She makes me so proud.

I also dropped these new appliques off at Sweet 'N Sassy last week. If you know me, you know that I LOVE Mexican folk art. My sister's have told me that my house decor looks like a Mexican restaurant, and I take that as a compliment. So here's the new applique...

I just can't help myself!

Busy, Busy, Busy...

Wow! What a whirlwind weekend!

Friday night Stacey and I shot our first vineyard wedding out in Temecula's wine country.

The setting was Lake Oak Meadows and it was absolutely gorgeous. If you are in the area and planning a wedding, it is definitely worth a look.

Saturday turned into a birthday gift making event. I have been wanting to freshen up on my applique attempts. I had a hard time in the past because I bought the wrong type of adhesive. Wow, what a difference the right kind of double stick adhesive makes! This time I bought the Press 'N' Steam adhesive for $4.50 a yard, and it was worth every penny.

I made 3 dish towels for Trey's Granny, she lives in Texas so I went with a patriotic theme.

Here's what I came up with.

I loved the cupcake so much that I made 2 shirts for Sunday's birthday party. Charlie turned 4 on Sunday, and I didn't want to show up empty handed since the birthday present we got her was something we couldn't put in a gift bag. I made her shirt, showed Nellie and she said,

"Mom do you have time to make one for me?"

Of course I do, I need the practice after all.

Charlie with her Birthday crown made by Jaime.

I think Nellie really liked her shirt, she never asks me to take her picture, but she was really excited to pose for me in her cupcake shirt.

I think the shirts made great party shirts for the girls.

Flowers, Flowers and more Flowers...

I don't think one girl could ever have too many flowers!

My latest and greatest project has taken over my whole house. I was blog surfing and found these magnificent fabric flowers on Emersonmade. I became obsessed with figuring out how to make them. Thankfully good ole' Martha Stewart had a great fabric flower tutorial and template that made it all possible.

So my latest project has been designing a few items for a friends wedding. I have finished the ring pillow, and now I am working on a few accessories, hair pieces, corsages and brooches. But here is my ring pillow.

I will share the other items when they are all put together.

But in the meantime. Check out what these flowers can do to any outfit...

Our middle sister Stacey made these fabric flowers for a photo shoot she did recently. Stacey and I have fun shooting weddings together. You can see our work at www.theothersisterimages.com. Stacey enjoys working with models a lot more than I do, and she is much better at it. I prefer the little ones, so I can get really silly with them.

Stacey has been helping Sam get a portfolio together.

This is one of my favorite hair accessories.

And of course the peacock feathers.

Jaime added these flowers to an engineers hat, but you could add any style flower, to any style hat to make it just a little more feminine.

I'm not sure if you caught on, but Stacey has so many talents. She's a great hair stylist, photographer, artist, landscaper and craftster. I guess this is why we have always been pretty competitive with each other, my sisters set the bar pretty high.