L is for Little Things!

Sometimes its the little things that make me happy. Miriam's smile when I get her out of her crib, chocolate chips, new makeup, clean sheets, a new book, diet coke, the new quilt store i found, happy music, and progress...I feel like I have kinda sorta caught up with putting things on my etsy site! I only had 8 things since Miriam was born and things have been selling sorta well this last week. It always makes me flattered and humble that some one would want to buy something I made. I love to make!! Oh, if you would like to make these cute little buttons...check this out!

K is for Kirsten

Yeah I couldn't come up with anything else! Kirsten, that's my name. In high school everyone called me "K." I was Miss Kirsten when I taught homeschool art in Milledgeville, GA in college. I have been Mrs. Schueler when I taught middle and high school art in Augusta, Ga. I have some friends who call me Shue. But, for my whole life I have answered to Kristen or Kiersten. I don't care. Call me what you will. Its Kirsten though. Names...they're so funny.

For anyone who wanted the embroidery pattern from the vintage wrapping paper...this one.

Well I finally cleaned it up a good bit and there are still some little parts where you will have to fill it in. The wrapping paper is so old and pretty fragile that the corners have been damaged. I had to scan it in in sections and...well I am not a graphic designer. I did my best :) I hope you enjoy it! Its a large file though.

J is for Joint Effort Craft Force!

My sweet husband helped me ALL day make these stuffie dachshunds for my etsy site! He did baby wrangling and cut out fabric and turned them inside out. He tried his hand at stuffing and we both decided he was not good at it. It felt so good to have an entire day to sew! I had had some customers ask when I was going to list some more dachshunds. So I felt compelled to make as many as I could in one day. I got 5 done. We started at 8 am and decided I couldn't do any more at 6 pm.

I is for Internet

Hi, my name is Kirsten and I am addicted to the internet. Yes, I don't know if I could live without it. Well of course I could live without it but I sure don't want to. I used it for recipes, crafty inspiration, shopping, attempting to make money, silly things, communication, news, work (I'm an at home secretary), and much more. I check my email way to many times. Oh, and I currently have 72, count them Seventy-two RSS feeds! Yes I have subscribed to 72 blogs! What am I thinking? Only about 15 of them update each day so its not that crazy, is it? And I am constantly finding new ones...

gratuitous Miriam picture...(we were giving her a break from her carseat on the 8 hour drive to GA two weeks ago)

F, G, and H is for....

I really want to post what H is for. So here is F and G really quick!

F is for...Food and Fitness. I am dying to lose my baby weight! I started Stroller Strides here in town and man it kicks my tail! Its really fun and it is a serious workout. I am also trying to eat better. I know I will not do well on a diet but I am changing my eating habits and I hope that will do the trick.

G is for...Goal. I have never been really good at goals. But my one of my new goals is to be good at goals! My current goals are to trim up and lose this baby belly. I don't have any specifics weight or size necessarily (although I have and idea) I just want to wear jeans and cute shirts and dresses! I feel like my clothes are part of my personality and I want to wear things that scream me, instead of things that just fit. My other goal currently is to be able to sell more of my handmade creations. I want my etsy store to do better. Which is hard to do with a new workout routine that takes up almost the entire morning and having a 3 1/2 month old. Its frustrating because I feel like I can never finish anything, I'm constantly interrupted by dinner, dogs, baby, husband, laundry, phone calls, etc.

AND!

H is for Highchair!! I found this highchair at a garage sale Saturday and I am so giddy about it!!

Don't you just love it! That bunny makes me so happy! I am going to sew up a oilcloth strap to help hold her in. Its very similar to the one that my brother and I ate in growing up. Who says I have to have a new plastic highchair?! We all grew up with wooden ones usually. So why not?! It was only $15 and I didn't even care that they weren't willing to negotiate cause I am in love.

E is for Embroidery

this is a project i have yet to finish. (that pretty such describes everything right now) the design is from a vintage piece of wrapping paper. if anyone wants it i can send it to you. now that i think about it, it would look gorgeous in redwork! but alas it is green (that also pretty much describes everything right now)!




this is a piece i did in college. it was for a class project, we had to make something that was eastern in nature. i decided bamboo embroidery on red silk. done. that described what i loved about asia, visually at least. i haven't done anything with it yet. i have been thinking about just a simple frame. does anyone have ideas??

D is for Dachshunds

i love dachsies! i had a red short haired girl named holly (on the right) when i was growing up. i loved that dog so much. she passed a couple years ago but now...



i have hershey! this silly little dog is the best. i just think he hung the moon. aside from my hubby and miss miriam of course. i am also currently dog-sitting for my mom. she has a dachshund named copper. hershey and copper love each other! they are the best of friends, its adorable. herhsey is on the left and copper on the right.



they inspire me so much that i made some dachsie stuff that i sell at etsy!

C is for Chairs

i love chairs. i want one of those awesome row houses with super high brick walls that i can cover with chairs. have you seen people do that? anyways, i love chairs. i love small ones (i want these at ikea) i love old chairs especially. anyways here are some chairs i own...

a little elephant (mccalls 3903) i made with some vintage fabric that used to be a skirt

my mom bought me this chair at an antique store in augusta, ga and i made the seat pad

i bought 5 of these chairs at a garage sale for $11...for all 5!

my sneaky sister-in-law bought me this chair at an antique store in milledgeville, ga. she is sneaky because she "bought it for herself" and she knew i was in love with it and gave it to me for christmas, so sweet!

this is a chair that my mom bought with her sofa/loveseat set back in the eighties and she got it restained and recovered for me and miriam

B is for baby

my best work of art ever. miriam (our first) is 3 months old and was born april 26 weighing 7 pounds 12 ounces at 6:37 pm. she is perfect. happy, healthy, and as of tonight teething (i think). my husband said he's not ready to see her with a tooth. i told him to get ready, there are going to many many things he is not "ready" to see her do!

A is for Art

i miss being an art student and an art teacher. i became very nostolgic yesterday in an art supply store for the college of charleston. my hubby and i were having a little 2 day vacation from life/baby in charleston. i listened to students ask questions about the supplies they need for classes such as drawing 1 or 3-d design. i wanted to go and talk to them and answer their questions! so nosey! i loved looking at all the pencils and kneaded erasers, the canson books, micron pens, printing inks, and of course my favorite markers! i fell in love with art markers while in fashion school. mmm...they don't smell so great, makes you a little lightheaded. but they are so much fun.

i miss learning in a classroom of eager and talented students. and being surrounded by creativity. i have found a good bit of this online with all the awesome craft blogs i have discovered. i love creativity and the desire to make new things.

one day i want to get my m.f.a. in fiber arts. hopefully when the kids are older. i would love to teach in college. dream job.

i left teaching last year when we moved to richmond and i miss it. right now i am staying home with miriam which is what i want. but i feel like i need to get back in and take a class or teach a class. i talked with hubby on our trip about this. maybe i will look into something this fall semester...