Friday Night Sewing

So, Friday night passed, and I got some stuff done; not enough considering my list and I tried working on some today but didn't get much done today either b/c Madison was a little cranky! :) I am almost done with one of my catalog bags and am so glad, because through the whole process I've had a hard time deciding how I wanted to do it. I hope the final project is everything I wanted and my cousin's want! I'm especially happy that I'm almost done with the first one b/c the second one will be a lot easier! :) I have not done my make up bags that I need done for Monday, so I'll have to work on those probably tomorrow, unless I have time tonight. :) So, without further ado, here are the 3 pics I have of my unfinished bag. :)

Front of the catalog bag and one of the sides

back and the other side of the bag

inside the bag, yes that's the table not the bottom,

that's b/c it's unfinished LOL! :)

Kristi, if you see this, hope you like it so far. :)

Sew In, Mark. and Babies......

So, tonight is our May Friday Night Sew In! I literally almost forgot! May apparently has been a crazy month! The second weekend of course with the carnival, Madi's bday, etc. and ever since then just trying to catch up! :) I still need to finish my cousins' catalog bags, they are almost done, just need to be put together. Those are just the start of my sewing list right now. :) I had a few ladies from Jason's work order some mark. stuff and Jason had mentioned getting a handmade make up bag with your first order; which I had technically only planned on doing for my online party weekend, but I don't mind! :) I also have been carrying a mark. purse I'd recently purchased, but am wanting a change for a while, so I'm dying to make me a new purse, but it's at the bottom of my list, b/c everything else I need to make is for everyone else! :) Naturally I don't mind at all! I also had said I was going to make the gifts for my nieces teachers esp since one of their teachers likes to recycle so I am actually excited to make her a reusable shopping bag and some reusable snack bags. I am not quite sure what to make for the other teacher, but I'll think of something! I want to get as much done this weekend as possible! I'm really hoping I can knock of most if not all of the things on my list by Monday at the latest!
BABIES! :) Not on our end, yet; but I have two friends that had their due dates literally a week apart! My best friend's due date is the first week of June and our friend who was due to have her 2nd next week actually gave birth to her little girl yesterday!! We have not had a chance to go see her yet, but I'm pretty excited! Their first son is 2 1/2 months older than Madison, I call him her little boyfriend. LOL. I'm constantly hoping mostly for my best friend that she'll have her first baby any day now! I know how much fun it is not the last month let alone the last couple of weeks! Just an fyi we are talking about #2 but nothing is certain right now. ;) We'd talked about having another sometime after Madi turned 2 or around 3. Since that is where we are we'd be ok if it was from now until then. :)
Speaking of Madison, she's doing great! She's grasping some of the potty stuff! She sat on the potty at Mother's Day Out the other day and I had her sit on the potty for quite a while the next day and she actually pooped! It may seem silly to those who don't have kids yet, but it was a big deal!  She has also gotten a lot better about going into her class at Mother's Day Out! This past week she didn't cry at all! I also learned it helps to let her walk in, maybe help carry her bags in! So, that was probably most of it! She also knows everyone's name (she hasn't told me them all, but her teacher said she knows everyone). She loves it and I love that she loves it! I also love my little class too! They are such a hoot to watch and play with! They are younger than Madi, so that's fun to see the difference! :)
As far as my mark. business, I'm still working on it! I probably don't market myself as much as I should, but I do have lots of ideas, so at some point I'll put those into practice. :) I have read a lot on the forums and have talked to my mentor (a new program that mark. has that I love!) and will be having a mini party soon! Mark. doesn't have an upline or downline like most of those companies (like Mary Kay, Party Lite, Pampered Chef, etc), so they started the mentor program, which I like b/c it's someone there to help you build your business, answer questions, and give you ideas without you feeling like they are just telling you these things to help their pocket too! Although, I think the mentors do make something off of being a mentor but it is not directly related to your sales! It is funny b/c ever since I have been in mark. I love it more everyday! It just seems like a great bunch of ladies to be included with (for the most part). I have taken part in some of those independent rep companies and haven't really felt that way, although Premier is pretty close, it was just harder for me to sell (just because I don't think I had the customers for it) so I couldn't enjoy it as much. I love the people in Premier, just wish I could enjoy them more. :)
Anyway, so tonight is the sew in so stay tuned tomorrow, for the results, and if I remember I'll try to post more about what I accomplish this weekend in general. :) Don't forget to check out my Etsy page, and my mark. page!

Thanks for reading!
Ashley

Is It Monday yet?

Ha! Never thought you'd hear someone say that! Monday will be like my Saturday! Since I'm working at MDO, they have an annual carnival (which I've mentioned) and it is 'tonight' (in quotes b/c right now it's 2am so to me, it's tomorrow). So, Thurday after working at MDO everyone was to come back to help set up and get stuff ready and Friday come back and work during the morning to finish the set up and make sure everything is ready! Friday night is the carnival in which all the teachers man their stations and work the games, etc. All that is only the half of it for me since I chose to make something for the auction, which of course I waited until this week to finish it! ;) Not to mention Saturday afternoon I have a baby shower to go to (which I still have not officially figured out what I'm going to be giving her!), and pretty quickly after the shower is my baby's 2 year birthday party! I CANNOT believe she's going to be 2!!!! Sunday is Mother's Day and Madi's actual birthday so we will be busy pretty much that whole day as well! I am hoping that at least Sunday morning my sweet hubby will get up with Madi so I can sleep or maybe Madi will cuddle with me since it's 'our' day! ;) Of course being the mother I am, I'd much rather Sunday be all about my baby, but what can you do? So, as of right now I don't plan on doing much on Monday, although I kind of want to do something special like go to one of those bouncey places (has the moonwalks etc) to 'celebrate' my baby's bday! :) We shall see! So, I also wanted to blog to let you know what I made for the auction. I made a cute little fabric basket that I got from an online tutorial, which of course when I was almost done noticed that the girl that posted the tutorial had a note that it should be for your own use only; so I felt bad to auction it, but if it was cute enough, it wouldn't have bothered me much! ;) Well, needless to say, the basket turned out A LOT smaller than I had thought, and did not have a great representation of my work (lots of mistakes...) so I scrambled together a cute little messenger bag! Of course in the auction I included one of the make up bags I made for my Mark. giveaway and of course some Mark. products! So, without further ado, here is what I made!

sorry the pic is blurry and fuzzy, my camera was charging so I used my phone!

front, but the flap flipped back

inside!

my cute 'little' basket!

(the fabric is part of what I won in the FNSI in March!)

inside my basket, the fabric is not supposed to be that bunched/gathered up!

I also opened my Etsy store (like 20 minutes ago!) so you might want to check that out, it doesn't have much right now, but I will add stuff as I can, if you haven't noticed I'm a little busy! I also have some catalog bags I need to make next week that I've already set aside for about a month! I feel horrible b/c they are for family and frankly should have been made a month ago! So, that is my very next task (after my Mothers' Day gifts)! So, hopefully I'll try to update again soon on how my crazy weekend was and how things are going with a 2 year old *sob*!!

Friday Night Sewing........

So, I got started kind of late last night, it was a crazy day yesterday! I didn't get done as much as I wanted but I will be able to work on more tonight. I did get my bags done for anyone that orders from my Mark. page through tomorrow. Any order from $2 to $20! Regardless it was very nice to sew last night! I needed it and am very much looking forward to doing some more today!! So, here are some pics!

I do love how they turned out! I may have to keep one for myself! :) Have a great weekend!

Friday Night fun!!

So, 'tonight' is our Friday Night Sew In...I'm pretty excited! I do have A LOT of stuff to work on; I might also get to have a chance to sew on Saturday night too!! I plan on working on my 'gift bags' for my Mark. online party and a birthday present for my sister and a few other things! Watch Saturday for all the good stuff I get done!

By the way, not sure if I've given a full update of Madi and at Mother's Day Out; I do love it! I work with kids from ages 1yrs to 2yrs and even though Madison fits in that age group, she is actually in the class next door which is actually fine with me! :) She actually hates when I drop her off, but she calms down pretty quickly and does good throughout the day! She's gotten attached to Mrs. Emily because she freaks out when she leaves too, but ultimately she does good! I've been asking her if she's ready to go see her friends when we go to hopefully help her get excited about it. Today I was asking her if she had fun today and if she played with her friends, she of course repeats me saying she had fun with her friends and I love the way she says it! It is interesting too b/c our class goes outside when her class goes outside so that is hard when she goes back in but it's fun to see her playing with other kids like that. It is a good experience for both of us! I am especially excited that I have an oppoturnity to expand my sewing! The carnival is the Friday before Mother's Day (which is also Madison's birthday) so I will be pretty busy getting ready for that whole weekend!! I have to figure out what I'm going to auction off, set up a website for anyone that may want to purchase something after seeing my auction item, plan Madi's birthday party, and figure out what I'm going to get and/or make for Mother's Day! Of course the best part is I'm pretty much waiting until now to get anything going! I am a procrastinator! I'm trying not to be in this case because some of this stuff cannot wait!! That is why I'm so excited about this weekend! :)

Have a good Friday and weekend!

Online Party!

Okay, I wanted to let my blogging friends know that I am having an online party at my Mark. eBoutique! It will start noon Wednesday the 14th (my Daddy's birthday!!!) and end at midnight the 18th! If you spend $15 and use the code PRETTYWILD you can get a free lipgloss with your order; if you spend $25 and don't use the previous code you can get free shipping (code MARKFS25). You can also order directly through me and get free shipping the only difference is you will have it shipped directly to you if you purchase from the website and if you go through me, it comes to me. I will be giving away a free item for every order and be drawing a name from all the orders and give a basket of goodies away! For my sewing buddies I will definitely be putting my goodies in some kind of gift bag I make and with the Friday Night Sew In this Friday I may use that night to work on those along with some catalog bags I need to get done! I am donating a portion of my proceeds to March for Babies for a friend of mine who is aware of this issue first hand; you can also purchase an m.powerment item in which the proceeds from those Mark. gives to a group supporting women dealing with domestic violence. So check that out this weekend and check back here for the Friday Night Sew In!

Also, not sure if I mentioned but I won a gift for March's Friday Night Sew In! I love it! I got some fat quarters and a cute little pin cushion! Take care and hope you have a great week and weekend!

ME :)

Starting an Online Shop, etc

Okay, so I figure maybe with my sewing buddies out there and friends and family that follow, someone can help me think of something.

Let me start back, so I've mentioned on here previously that I was starting at a Mother's Day Out; well last week was my first week and I'm almost through my second week. Well, first let me just say I love it! Madi gets to play with other kids her age and different toys than the ones she is used to at home! I get to play with other kids slightly younger than Madi and make money doing it. :) Of course this week I'm fighting a cold so it's making it hard to fully enjoy! So, to my point, starting at the MDO has possibly opened the door to one of my dreams; as I came in and signed in last Thursday the director commented on my purse (the zebra one in the previous post) and I told her I made it, she was amazed and the bag I carry for Madi is a corduroy tote I made using this tutorial. So, as we got to talking about it, they mentioned they have a carnival at the end of April and I should totally make something to be auctioned off. Of course one of my first thoughts, was, 'why didn't I think of this sooner?!' I work with kids who constantly use diaper bags, bibs, burp cloths, etc which are some of the things I've been thinking of making if I were to ever open an Etsy store. So, today she mentions next week we are having a meeting about the carnival. So, I was talking to her about what exactly I need to plan for. I will pretty much make one item to auction off at a silent auction and give them a value on that item and they'll start the bid slightly lower and we'll go from there. I have not actually verified if I will directly make the money off of that, but honestly if I make something really great and have a website for them to go to and thus bring in business, I don't care. :) I don't mind giving gifts to bring a customer base and start a business!

So, here is my main reason for this particular post, I am ultimately planning to open an Etsy shop by the end of this month. I haven't decided what I will auction off and I'm not entirely sure what I will start off with in the shop, most importanly I have no idea what I might want to call the shop! That's where you come in! I need your thoughts and ideas of what to call my shop and maybe some things you think might go well in it! My initial idea is to auction off a diaper bag in nuetral colors of course, but I was also thinking of adding a few coordinating burp cloths and bibs maybe even a ribbon blanket or tag blanket whatever they're called. I also am currently in the works of making a catalog bag for my family members that sell Scentsy and of course have made one for my Mark. stuff as well! So, I'm thinking of maybe once I have my complete pattern for those bags in order selling those as well. I also can't decide if I want to make a full diaper bag or a tote bag of some sort to accomodate all the age groups? I also thought it was interesting that when my director saw my zebra purse she said it would make a cute dance bag for the older girls. I do like that idea but not sure I want to make that for the auction because I want something that will gear towards anyone!

So, please let me know your thoughts, ideas and suggestions! I greatly appreciate them! Everyone who gets this in my email are some of my core group, so I hope you will let me know what you think! Also, if you do get this in your email make sure to check the actual blog to see other comments to see if it inspires you, etc. Thank you all for reading this and in advance for your comments and ideas!

Ashley :)