B is for...

B is for beer and blog

B is for bottles of buttons.


B is for a box of bias.

B is for a bunch of blue BEA'S.

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Summer!

A is for...

A is for Aidan... my sweet introverted boy. The boy that says he is not an "outside boy". The boy that has almost gotten kicked out of two different art classes and the comments on the depth of this sketch like he has been drawing like this all his life! The boy that most days I can never figure out. The boy that will strike out when frustrated and then tells me that the marbles in his head got to rolling too fast and he couldn't stop them. The boy that comes and sits quietly on my lap at the age of 7. The boy that still kisses me even if I now have to ask.

A is for always...

always creative
always thinking
always loving
always funny
always hungry
always there
always happy
always sad
always manic
always messing

A is for accountant... bah haa haa. I actually found one I just need to go and get it all over with. Well get it all started really.

A is for all kinds of things!

Pity Party!

Insert background music...Its my party and I'll cry if I want to!

Ok I have been having my regularly scheduled pre-school pity party. The pity party where I say things like "I never wanted to homeschool" and "But, I feel so trapped" and "I have not other options". It took me a few days to realize that I do this every freaking year! Poor Don!

All my non-homeschool Momma friends are gearing up for what seems like a dream like existence. 6.75 hours all by themselves, 5 days a week. Wow! Do you know what I would do with that amount of time? I daydream about it often. I used to say that I would work out and be so wonderfully fit, as I spent my mornings at the gym. Then, I would met my girlfriends for coffee, and go home and be crafty! I would listen to music, my loud indy rock, my sad, sappy girl music, my show tunes, and yes, my beloved Beyonce! Oh don't judge me! I like to shake my money maker! Much to the DISMAY of my embarrassed children!

But I don't think any one knows what the perks are to Homeschooling!

• If something is not working you can stop and evaluate, and change any little thing that needs tweaking
• You have ultimate control of your life and the education of your children.
• You get to have lots of P.J. days. Don't feel like getting dressed on those rainy days? You don't have too if you are teaching a child to read on the sofa in your living room.
• No getting sleepy kids out of bed in the wee hours of the morning to get them out the door. That is my favorite!
  
• Want to go to the movies late one night? Have people over for dinner in the middle of the week? No problem the kids don't have to get up early to go to school.
  
• You don't have to worry that your "normal" does not match the status quo!
• You can take a vacation any ol' time you want.
  
• Math program not working out? Hell, just switch it! No biggie.
  
• Child not reading at the prescribed age? Big deal. It will come in time. Though, this is my least favorite, this takes trust, and that can be hard to come by.
  
• And socialization... I need not worry about that. Staying home and doing math -- that is what I need more of.

I'm fine. This is just my little annual pity party! It will end soon! : )

Show Pics!

Hi all, between migraine headaches, wholesale orders and making homeschool schedules I have not been able to chat much these last few days.

Here are a few photos that my friend Dawn took at the expansion trunk show. Which was oh so nice! The show was at the most wonderful studio that is located in a groovy warehouse district. I want a warehouse studio! But I want mine to have central air. With record highs outside the place was boiling hot.

Me

OH I just can not tell you how wonderful the felt products were! If I did not have children I would so have her pillows on my sofa right now! I can see that Courtney loved them too!

Handbags and jewelry and much much more!

I thought it was great that Modern June was located next to the kitchen! It gets you in the right mood!

Etsy Front Page!

Wow!! Look there is my blue oilcloth "lace" apron on the home page of Etsy. I did not even get to see it. But my groovy friend Tasha did this screen shoot for me. That is so cool! Tasha you rock! My first etsy home page, wahoo!

cupcake crazy!

I love these cupcakes! I was looking at Wilson cupcake book at Michael's and figured I could manage these! They are for a little party that the Richmond Craft Mafia is having. I am bummed I can not join them. Tonight (and tomorrow) I have the Expansion Trunk Show. That will be fun too, I love these crafty ladies just as much! I just wish it was not all at the same night. I like a good grown up party!

I finished these up last night. I think they are fun, what-cha think? I like this set better than the mock-up. These have giant cupcakes! I just realized that they need ric-rac. Shot one more thing to do before 3:00. I will list them later in the weekend over at Etsy.

Before I get back to work... I just wanted you all to know that this is the last of this round of cupcake aprons. I am officially out of the polka dot fabric. So get them while you can! They are getting eaten up fast! I think I have 2-3 left in each style!

Happy weekend. And if you are in Richmond come see me at the show!

Friday 6-9 & Saturday 11-5


211 W. 7th Street
RVA, 23224
Southside, Manchester

Right near Legend Brewery!

Perfect Little Podcast #2

Ok peeps I found a good one this week!!!! I know I said that about The Budget Fashionista too! This week I am back to that trying to do it all ideal. You might remember the "How does she do it" post. Well in my attempt to find work, family and personal balance I did a google search to find a podcast about getting organized. I needed boost in that department after the crazy Mamma - wild kid day I had yesterday!

So here is the great site that I found, Let Talk Organizing. Suzanne is a mommy to two (I believe) and she works from home. That sold me right there! She is speaking my language. What I really like is that she is not speaking down to me like some other podcasters. No names here! But you know what I mean, people that talk too much about what experts they are and are trying to sound ultra professional. Maybe its a "radio voice" thing? Well after listening to all 5 of the Let Talk Organizing podcasts I have no doubt that this woman and her team are professional and are most certainly experts in their field.

The first podcast in her list is all about finding your organizational style. I listened to this over and over again, trying to figure out what style I might be. Now that I am not sewing up a storm, I see that there is a little survey in the site you can take! I love a quiz! I don't know about you but I read every little article and blurb about getting organized that I can get my hands on and not one of those has ever mentioned an organization style. This is rocking my world! I see now why certain methods fail for me and why other are perfect! Who know?

Well I hear the kiddo's are awake upstairs. I worked all night so we could have a fun day today. Obviously after yesterday they need more Mommy and LESS Modern June!!! I will take my survey and report back on the results later!

Let me know what you style is and if you like the podcast too! I love to hear from you!

Crafty thanks, Kelly!

"It was an accident!"

I need a Nanny and a studio away from my house! GEEEEZZZ. I know I am working too hard this week but man, give us all a break son!

So Maddie comes to me and says Aidan has gotten water on her. Aidan from behind her says "no I didn't!" Yeah right, give the Mommy just a bit of credit. I have a brain, hell I have eyes. You should have seen the bath room. It is 6:30 obviously my husband has not read my blog this afternoon because he is not here nor has he called. Too subtle I guess. Normally I would have called it a day after the go-gurt incident but I have a show in less than 2 days and I have to work!

Calgon take me away from this madness! This is just too much. I need some help and I need it quick!

Dear husband!

Dear husband, Because of the many distractions and the countless interruptions that have occurred numerous times. I request your take the LOVELY children out to dinner tonight! And take the long way home!

xoxoxox,

Kelly

P.S. Here is just one on the things that went wrong today! Yep that is Go-gurt that was sprayed clear across the room.

P.S.S. Yes in case you are wondering the kids are still in one piece! In fact they learned how to clean up such a mess.

Material girl!

OK you know life is crazy when it takes you 4 days to open a package like this! Look at how yummy these fabrics are. I mean all tied up with a bow no less! Material girls know that a good piece of fabric is the best thing in the world! At a show I heard a woman call herself a fabric slut, another friend calls herself a fabric whore. That cracks me up. I say the one dies with the most fabric wins!

This lovely load of fabric came from a great online fabric and gift shop called Lavender and Peonies. My crafty girlfriend Nicole of Nicole Lee Designs turned me on to this site. Check out the fabric clearance page. It is a good thing! Look at what great skirts she has I love this ONE!

I had not idea what a great shop this is! I just ordered my fabric and was done. Oh la la! Cookbooks! Kitsch tableware! Cath Kidson stationary!

This is a Modern June dream store!


Every girl needs a good old fashion habit, something to go and buy that just makes her happy. What is your habit? Tell me are you a fabric junky, are you yearning for yarn, or gaga for gorgeous papers?

We have never had such great crafty goodness, have we?

New poll!

I am looking forward to this weeks poll! Check it out on the top left side on this blog~

Have fun!

Aidan turns 7

Aidan is 7. I have no idea how this happened I am shocked to have my little ones be not so little any more! I am done letting them grow up. That it no more getting bigger around here. I know every mom says this but it is true it goes by way to fast. Last week I was changing diapers and nursing. The day after that I was teaching them to walk. The next day we were learning the alphabet. GEEZ.

Well in reality I had a "Super Mario Party 7" birthday party to plan. Ok what in the world was I thinking when I let my kids pick whatever party they wanted to have? This is getting harder. I had no idea what to do. It would help if I were playing game cube with them at night. But that is Modern June time and Don is charge of all video gaming!

So what do you do at a "Super Mario party 7" birthday party? Pass off almost all planning to the Hubbie and the kids.


This cracked me up! Watching the Naruto marathon and blowing up balloons. Actually those are Boo's and Bob-oms. We filled up the kiddy pool with them and the boys stomped on them. You know they loved that! This pool was at the end of a obstacle course that Maddie put together.

Pin the mustache on Mario! Don did Mario up on photo shop and then printed it out on to four sheet of paper and spray mounted it up on the poster board. He rocks!

And of course every party must have a pinata. This is a Disco ball pinata turned Bob-omb. Oh that Don is so clever! Here is a party tip... if you have a pinata you must have a "make it all better bag", this a bag of extra toys and treats. You give this to the little ones that don't get a lot of candy and are really upset about it. Until Don and I realized that this was an option we were never ever having another one of those upsetting things!


For cake we opted for cupcakes! Cupcake that were to resemble mushrooms. I hoped that these could be a bit more realistic but they are fun enough. Don came up with the idea to put white chocolate chips into the icing for the spots. I love that man! When I run out if ideas he is there to save the day!


We had great fun!

a bit of my garden

Wow! What a difference some hard work and sunshine can do for a girl. I am in such a better mood for being out digging in the dirt! I need that, Don always remembers that, but I always forget! I realized today that there are parts of my yard that I have not stepped upon for 4 months. My yard is not big. I totally understand why that is but I also know that is not healthy for me. I need dirt under my finger nails for optimal personal balance. LOL.


This photo came to me via my Martha Stewart newsletter. This is what I need. But after the 104 degree days and once the mosquitos are dead and gone. There is something magical that happens in the first week or two of September. Here in Virginia there is a break in the weather. A time when we all run outside again. We eat al fresco. We spend the entire day in the yard. We do school outside. And even the little boy that yelled at me today saying that he is not an "outside boy", even he ventures out of doors. Even if not for long.

I will be waiting for all of that and more!

Expansion Joint Trunk Show

Come see me and my friends!

Some cool blogs!

Here are so super cool blogs that are new to me! Enjoy!


Pestelogram

Shorpy

Park Haus Addition

gardening

I heard Don tell his sister that I used to be a gardener once. I took great offense to that, but today I realized that he was right. This morning while putting out the recycling I was shocked at how bad my yard looks -- my gardens are overrun with weeds and the grass is long in some spots, non existent in others and then the weeds in the middle are brown and crunchy! Yikes, this is so not OK.

So, I skipped my walk, I skipped my blog, I skipped my email. And I thought to myself, how would fly lady crisis clean a back yard? Well the whole yard was shady at that moment so I decided to start where the sun would hit first. I grabbed my bucket, filled it my tools, and went to work. I worked in 6 foot sections: weeding, cleaning, and creating a new tidy edge of grass. Once I finished a section I swept off the brick boarder so it all looked much better. I continued until I was driven inside by two hungry kids that needed some breakfast.

Later that morning Maddie and I cleaned out the mulched play area and the sand box. That makes such a difference -- the area is under a huge Oak tree that drops twigs and leave 365 days a year.

It took about 2 hours to cleanup 1/4 of the yard. That is not too bad! I am off now to mulch the areas that I cleaned out -- that will make all the difference. I was hoping to find a few annuals to plop in and add a little last minute color, but the local garden shop had nothing. I should not be surprised given the time of year and the heat, but I was bummed not to be able to put something new in.

The photos are from our last trip to Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden!

My feelings exactly!

My feelings exactly!

I wish I got a better shot of this lovely painting. I really love it! It matches my mood this week. I didn't even get the artist's name.

Our neighborhood has several new places to haunt. Today we went to a great new restaurant, The Northside Grill. This place has been lovingly gutted and completely remodeled. The food is well priced and the kids love it. Good for me! And the best part is we can walk there -- it doesn't get better than that! For a much better idea of what to expect, check out this blog entry about the NSG over at River City Food and Wine. A blog that just so happened to mention my Modern June aprons found at House of Lukaya. Thanks for the shout out!

cupcakes galore!

Here was our little venture in cupcake land!

I have been finishing up a load of cupcake aprons and I thought we should eat cupcakes too! Oh they were yummy! This could be a regular friday afternoon tradition!

party food!

I was just reading some of my favorite new type of blogs, food blogs! I am in love, these are really cool! I thought craft blogs were cool but man food blogs are really wonderful too. Food is the great equalizer, isn't it? Good food creates a new memory or conjures up old ones.

For some great looking recipes and lovely photos check out Jules food blog, Mud pie Gourmet. Desserts to die for! Yummy Tapas! And I tell you what I want to have a dinner party just to have a Make your own Kabob party!

So give me some more cool food blogs to check out! I would love to add more to my list!

Enjoy!

Mike Wieringo

For two of my best friends and my very sweet husband, I am so sorry for your loss. May your hearts be mended in time. I love you all so much. Comic book drawing by Mike Wieringo*, whom will be loved and missed always.

*(Mike's site went down due to heavy traffic -- you can read his profile on Wikipedia)

Art Smocks

I just love this art smock! I wish I had these for my kids years ago -- oh the shirts I could have saved from artistic destruction. I have just listed them over on my Etsy site. They are made to order and available in 3 sizes. For you Richmonder's later this week you can also find a few over at Strawberry Fields in the Fan.

Blog Polls

Who knew? Check it out. Blogger has blog polls that you can add to your blog...here's how.
So tell me has anyone done one have a blog poll on their site yet? I want to vote!

Here is a question for you all, which Christmas fabric is you favorite? Leave me a comment to tell me which one is your favorite.

Peppermints

Ornaments

Merry Christmas Santa

perfect little podcast

Ok all, its been a long time since I have posted about my obsession with podcasts. Well I have been looking around for some new ones outside of the craft circle and I found a "must listen to" Podcast, ShopTalk: with the Budget Fashionista.
What I like is the energy that this woman has! And I sure could use a little fashionista pumping up around here. I mean staying home with two kids while running a business from home. I don't always need to dress in fabulous shoes or look my best. But I try!

Kathryn Finney is a New York woman finding all the great bargains. I can not wait to do some shopping! On her podcast she features some of the fashion and entertaining heavy hitters. The podcasts a short and fun. Go listen you'll love it too.

And a book too? Cool, I am gonna look into that too!

Can you imagine the looks I would get wearingthese to a homeschool co-op or better yet the playground!
I would kill for a place to wear these!

shipping and handling

I have been thinking about my dream studio space. The place where everything is handy. The place where every thing has a home. And yes it stays there. Today as part of "Business School" and my new routine I decided to create shipping cabinet. A place for me to do all the packaging and shipping all in one spot. I do not have to go running to get this and that. The cabinet is located under my extraordinary counter.


With very little money spent $3.00 for the letter holder and $4.50 for the glue-foam-tape stuff. And the .97 on the baskets that I did not even need. (They will end up in my new desk drawer) I also gathered some other items from around the house and re-purposed them for this new area. For example the red napkin holder. We no longer use paper napkins so that thing has made the rounds. It is amazing what you can use a napkin holder for! I also decluttered the fridge and confiscated these magnet clips Don got from the office. The have magnets but I did this to make them work for this application. Oh, don't forget the 3M hooks, I can not live with out them!


So with my supplies in hand and a real need to have this done I went to work excavating this mod-podge of a mess. Waffle makers and floam, oh my! Who does this kind of thing? What a waste of space.

BEFORE

Every little thing I need is right here! I love it!

I used the letter organizer for my different sized envelopes. I might need a few more of these for other places about the studio. I also re-purposed a tin from one of the many gift baskets the CarMax Marketing Department gets. Don brings them home to me I use them all over the place. I give a little magnet to my customers as a thank you, but to go digging for them every time was a pain. So I took a small tin attached the magnets to the outside and then cut up tissue into smaller pieces. That will make it much easier.

Here are the 3 things I can not mail with out so I put them together.

It's hard to get the scissors to be have on the hooks. This was the best I could do. The top hook was supposed to hold the tape dispenser but the phonebooks were in the way. The boxes below hold my new label maker (on sell this week at Target!!!!), our household mailing items and all my tag supplies. I need to use the label maker don't I?

I love this part. I use the ric rac and the thank you stickers to finish off my tissue wrapped package. The smaller slip of paper is the left over print outs of my first tag. Maddie spent the morning cutting them all up. I love child labor! I owe her a buck. Now I just have to grab one and tape it on the package.

I LOVE IT!

Hey look what I found while checking out my blog list and not making cupcakes! Another shipping area! Sommer Designs has a cool shipping station too! Not everyone has a junk cabinet that they can re-purpose it is good to see what the options are.