A Different Kind of Order....and Canada Bound!!!

Just delivered a different kind of order this week for my friend, Melissa at work. 

Lately, I have been really used to sewing, crocheting and making hair accessories so it was fun to do some jewelry making (it seems like forever since I made my last jewelry piece)

My sister, Jen, also works at the pediatric office with me and I had made her a bracelet to wear to my wedding (almost 7 years ago.....).  Little (all 90 pounds of her) Ms Melissa loved the delicacy of them and wanted a couple for Spring.  So I went back to the jewelry board and beaded her up a few!

It was fun to get back into it!  AND I realized that I have a couple of "unfinished" projects I need to get working on.

AND this week I officially went international with my etsy items!  I was so excited and nervous at the same time.  Filling out the shipping info and reading horror stories about items getting stuck in customs for weeks was very nerve racking but I did it and am hoping this is just the beginning.

So Jaxon's very own dino shirt (like this one) is on its way North for his 4th birthday this April.

All in all I had a very new and fun week.  Can't wait to share more later.

Some of the things I have been working on

Holy cow in the last few weeks I have been not only reorganizing my craft room but working on several etsy orders and decorations for my home and gifts for friends and potty partying and much much more.  (hows that for one really long sentence???)

Here's a few things that I have been working on and a sneak peek to some tutorials to come. 

This was for a sweet little dino lover in CA celebrating his 4th B-day...

with his last name on the back...

and this A bodysuit with matching headband for my friend at church and her cutie Annabelle...

Another Etsy order for Rhett's John Deere 1st Birthday party...

between all that we danced it up at a "Pull-Ups Potty Dance Party" that I won through House Party, because in my spare time I am an avid couponer!!

and made some decorations (tutorials to come) for the house...

I have been loving all the orders I have been getting through etsy and this is just a few of them that I have been working on.  I'm excited for more to come! 

If you are wondering where the final pics of my craft room are they are coming.  I have a few things left to tidy up and then I promise pictures will be shared!!!  I will have to try out my new camera on it! :o)





Organizing....My Favorite Thing

Well I have been very busy reorganizing and redecorating my house including my craft room!!!  After this is all completed I plan to start dumping all my ideas on you.  Along the way I have been making a few little things but nothing has really gotten finished yet.  So with this long weekend I plan on hopefully finishing up most of the transformation and I will share them with you really soon.

A sneak peak of my craft room....

and this will be no more very soon!!!

When I first started sewing and organized my craft room originally I didn't really account for this much fabric.  I must organize it better because it is driving me insane!!!!! :)

So stay tuned for the unveil of my beautifully created and organized craft room...and some small other decorative projects around the house.

See you soon.

My Etsy Favorites

Well if you know me or follow me on facebook or even read this blog you have had to of heard of Etsy. 

The definition according to Wikipedia (my husband has me hooked) is....

an e-commerce website focused on handmade or vintage items as well as art and craft supplies.

If you have never heard of it or gone over there and browsed around you are seriously missing out on some really unique and cool things.

So I thought I would highlight some of my faves over there on etsy so you could enjoy them also.  There is something for everyone and you can literally find anything from clothing to housewares to off the wall items!!!  It is such a fun place. 

Hope you have some time because I am sure you will get hooked like me!!!

So here goes.....

One of my new favorites are these unique jewelry pieces from Lillypop.  Go here for the store.  I'm not sure which one is my absolute favorite (because they are all so cool).  It's a tie between the Island princess bracelet trio (of course anything tropical I LOVE), the Dancing Queen Trio , or the Genevieve Ribbon Necklace package.    Let me know in the comments section which one is your favorite!!!

Another jewelry fave of mine is the  Birka Scandinavian shop. You can find their shop by clicking here.  This is where my sweet hubby got my stackable mother's rings for Christmas (OK I had to help him out just a tiny little bit because he wasn't really familiar with etsy).  My cute little crazy boys are born in April and May so I have this one and this one.  I also got a beaded spacer ring to go in between the two.  The cool thing about this shop is it is so inexpensive and they have other rings/jewelry besides mother's rings!  These are great gifts for Mother's Day (which isn't too far away)!

If you want to spunk up (it is the only phrase I could find that fit these) then Cyanide Stitches is for you.  They have some very unique items ranging from decorative bath towels to wallets.  I love these.  Such a fun way to add a little bit of chic humor to your bathroom.  They even have some for the kids like this dino towel or a friendly reminder to wash your hands and put the seat down (ugh....the dreaded seat problem).  These are just plain funny and I have all intentions of ordering the glasses towels for the bathroom in our bedroom (goodbye monogrammed towels)!!!

For all my fellow couponers....I give to you The Organized Shopper.  If you are like me you have seriously been through a million different ways to organize your coupons.  Well whatever way you organize, this will work for you when you are at the store.  It is the Original Hands Free List Maker Coupon Organizer.  I think it looks very nice (given you aren't taking your kiddos with you into the store).  There are only a few for sale but it looks like in the sold orders that they have made a lot of different ones with different fabrics so you could probably Convo (etsy's way of emailing) the seller for a custom order.

So what do you think???  Are you addicted to Etsy like I am now???  Look around it won't take you long!

Fleece Tie Blankets

OK so it has been said before that the first child gets everything.  We have all heard that a MILLION times and me being "not the first child" may have even said it a time or two!  But for somethings it might be true!  For instance baby showers are often done for your first child so you get all those great new things and then the 2nd and 3rd etc kiddos just get the handmedowns.  And although I love handmedowns a lot (having 2 boys) the little ones need some things of their very own.

Why did I go into that big long speech??? (you're asking yourself)

Because at one of my showers for my first little man I got one of those perfect little fleece tie blankets.  It is perfect for snuggling on the couch, taking to the park for picnics, putting on his bed.....

Bottom line Mr. Max (the littlest) needed one to so I decided to make him one for Christmas (I know Christmas was a month ago). 

Yes I am just now getting around to finishing it up!!!!  (sometimes I am a tiny little teeny bit of a procrastinator!)

The best thing about making a fleece tie blanket is that you don't even need to know anything about sewing.  It is a perfect project for anyone!  (and if your weather is anything like ours lately you may need and extra blanket...C'mon Summer!!!)


Want to make one for your very own not first child or maybe for a gift??? 

You will need

2 yards each of coordinating fleece fabric

Scissors

that is it....pretty simple right???

I started by lying the two layers of fleece out (in a big space) with wrong sides together.

Then I trimmed off the edges so that they would meet up together better. 

Next, I cut a 4x4 square out of each corner (this will help you have clean corners when you start tying).

Now just start cutting 4 inch (approximate) strips all around the blanket.

Lastly, just tie each of those slits.....and tie......and tie......  (this is fun to have someone cutting and someone tying but you can do it by yourself also).



Yay, your done!!!

These are fast and fun!  Fleece is always on Sale (and you know I love that!) for 50% off or more so next time you see a good sale grab yourself up some and make a fun little blanket!

My Showcase Spot

Well in just a few minutes I will be featured on the childrens page of Etsy (a handmade and vintage website).  I am pretty excited and hope that it will again "get my name out there" in the world of craftiness. 

So with all this excitement I had to really work on my shop and make it look super hip!  AND I had to get several things (that I have procrastinated on) listed on Etsy!  I still dont have everything on there but I figure it is a good start. 

I am super excited to see how tomorrow goes and to see if I get more "views" on my items or convos about them.

We will see.  Fingers crossed!!!!

If you want to check it out for yourself you can go here and see all the cute little Valentine's Day things and other "must haves" that I posted to Qteepa2tee's Boutique! 

Brrrrr....Time for Snow ice cream

Have you gotten some of the snow that has been blessing the nation???

Well we got about 6-7 inches I would say here in Missouri and you know what that means....

SNOW ICE CREAM!!!!

I actually have never had this but after dinner I was really needing some dessert.  Of course with all the snow we really weren't jumping in the car to go to the store.  (and I was super tired from shoveling the driveway)

Soooo I decided to try out some snow ice cream. (I think my darling husband thought I was CrAzY!!!) Brody was excited about the idea and always willing to "help" in the kitchen (he gets this from his father)!

I used the recipe from here and with my little man's help stirring we had a tasty dessert without even leaving our home. 

We added all the ingredients into a bowl, adding a little more snow than the recipe called for (it seemed to melt pretty fast).

After mixing all the ingredients we dipped up our freshly SNOWED ice cream.....

I added chocolate to mine but Brody thought it was "dirty" with the chocolate in it! 



All in all it was really fun to use the snow and it tasted good too.  Brody is more a papa's chocolate shake kind of guy so he didn't eat a lot of it but Max loved it and so did their mama!!!

So next time it snows......Dip up some snow ice cream!

2011 Giveaways!!!!

OK so as promised there will be several giveaways this year and I'm really excited about them!!!!  They are going to be new and exciting things that you will want to get in on.

The first giveaway will be some of those 'oh so chic' blocks from our very first tutorial(how appropriate huh?) 

didn't see the blocks tutorial??? just scroll down

Remember these can be designed in many different styles including last name, baby, holiday and much more!!!The winner will be named when the facebook page reaches 100 'likes' (because who isn't "social networking" nowadays right?) So tell all your friends about Qteepa2tee's Boutique fan page and they can enter too!  The other good news.........it is already over 1/2 way there!!!

So how do you enter this giveaway????


Go here and make sure you 'like' the page and then tell your friends to do the same.  OR you can click on the little SHARE button by this post.....lastly leave a comment down below about what you would want your blocks to say if you are the lucky winner.  As soon as the number hits 100 the winner will be announced. 

Easy enough?? 

Recycled Crayons

Do your kids have TONS of broken crayons in their craft box?????  Mine is only 2 and it's amazing how many crayons were already broken.  So I decided to consolidate!!! I was nervous about how this would turn out because we were using the oven and let's face it that is NOT my area of expertise......but they turned out pretty good! (dont tell my husband).

So ready to make your VERY OWN recycled crayons??? 

You will need

broken crayons

Crayon mold (I used an old cupcake pan)

paper cupcake liners

So here is how I made mine.....

I started with the old broken crayons.

Then I peeled ALL the paper off every crayon.

and I had a little help... :o)

He was concentrating so hard! :o)

Then we placed our cupcake liners into the pan and put the pieces of crayons in each one sorting them by color. 

we even added some together for a little bit of craziness!!!!

I put them in a preheated oven at 250 degrees and baked them for about 25-30 minutes.  If you have the thinner crayons it would take a lot less time but we were using the thicker ones.  AND of course we turned on the oven light to watch our masterpiece...

once they were completely melted I carefully took them out of the oven (trying not to mix up our "crazy" crayons).

I let them completely cool and then removed the paper cupcake liner.  Voila, they are ready for hours of coloring by your little one (and you too).

Aren't these so fun????  And your kids will love making them also.  It is a great project for a rainy day or just a day spent at home.  If I can do it you can too.....

Now go get rid of all those broken crayons cluttering up your craft box and create some crazy fun recycled crayons.

Memory Blocks

I am such a sucker for sentimental lovey things and have an upcoming wedding so I thought I would try out these fun memory blocks I have seen around. (plus I have a resolution to keep with new tutorials for you) 

So I decided to create their last name on the block and this is what I came up with.....

(no their last name is not JUNE but I thought I would keep it annonymous :) ) 

The ideas are endless for these blocks.  Weddings, kids' names, holiday decorations and much, much more!  Just chose the style of paper to coordinate and voila'! 

So ready to make your VERY OWN memory blocks??? 

You will need

2in wooden blocks (found in the unfinished wood @ your local craft store)

 paint if you choose to paint the blocks (I chose charcoal)

scrapbook paper (the thin paper works better)

scrapbooking glue

Ink

Modge podge

stickers or lettering (I used my cricut cutter)

So here is how I made mine.....

I started with the plain ol blocks and painted them charcoal.

Then I punched out squares with a square punch that would fit the blocks and then rounded the corners (you can cut these with a scrapbook trimmer also) .

Next, I put a THIN layer of glue on the paper and covered 5 sides of the block (I did not cover the bottom of my blocks).  If you don't cover all the sides you must make sure that the style of paper you want is in the front.  Since I was making this for a wedding present I used the couple's picture off the invite for the front side of the end block.

Next, I used my cricut cutter and the "making the grade" cartridge to cut out the letters I needed.  I made my letters 1 1/4in and then ran it through my xyron create a sticker.

I inked the edges of the paper on all sides for an antique kind of look.

Lastly, I painted a moderate layer of modge podge on all 5 sides of the block and placed them on styrofoam plates to dry (newspaper will stick).

Now bundle them up for a cute gift or go put them on that empty shelf!

I'd love to hear what kind of blocks you made in the comments section!