Thank you.

I had to publically say a big THANK YOU to you guys helping me tweek my blog.  It always helps to get an outsider's opinion.  I think the blog has already improved but I know I will be continually working on it.  But that's okay. 
For now, it's great and I love it :)

Now I have something special to share with you tomorrow!

It involves my daughter's 4th birthday and the color purple :)  Are you excited or what?!

a new me.

Hey so how do you like the new look of the blog?!

I am proud and shocked to say that I did it by myself!  It's amazing what a few hours...or more....can do!
I even figured out how to do the "put horizontal multiple pictures of the side bar" technique!

So tell me what you think of it?  Seriously, do I need to change anything? 
I'm almost done getting new buttons and I still need to fix up my tutorial page.

Have you ever just needed a change?  It was just time for a new look!

Friendship Bracelet Swap!



Have you heard of Jenn over at Ruffled Sunshine?  She is a genuine gem, that Jenn is...say that 5 times fast.

Well she's hosting a Friendship Bracelet Swap right now and guess who just signed up?  no, not your sister.  ME!
And she's still accepting participants so get over there for the info.  It says July 27th but she's posted on FB that they will still let you!! 
You just need to email braceletswap@gmail.com with your name, email and url.  Seriously how fun will this be?!

You might get one of mine.  Oh how sweet would that be?  ;)

Get your beautiful buns over there and sign up!!!

Random Utah

Some highlights of our Utah Trip:

Jenny & Aaron being sealed in the Mt. Timp Temple :) 

Father's day party at Jenny.  We planned and threw him a great meal, with sliders, veggies, raspberry lemonade & yummy fruit pizza for desert.

Grandma's house is awesome for the kids.  They played out in the sandbox for hours each day.  It was so fun playing with cousins that we never get to see!

At Jenny's house, we had a girl's sleepover with the nieces.  It was so fun to spend time with them!  THey are so so silly.  We watched Tangled, made Pizookies and had a dance party.  The "putting to bed" part was a struggled but we finally got them down and asleep.

I miss UT already.

Craft Room Redo

Hey ladies!
So excited today because I'll be over at Little Lucy Lu guest posting about my Craft Room Redo!
Here's a sneak peek of what it looks like:

So if you want to walk down memory lane with me, head on over to Little Lucy Lu's for the 411 :)

Shower Curtain Redo.

We finally had visitors in town this summer!! 

which means I needed to get the second shower curtain up...

yes, we only had one up...my kids don't shower! :)

So I moved the one we had in my bathroom into the guest bathroom and spruced up an old curtain for my bathroom.

So here's what I started with.  An old curtain with a shrunk, faded sage green-lined curtain.  So I grabbed my choice of fabric and measured and width of the curtain.

I had to cut my fabric in two pieces for it to cover the whole thing once it was sewn together.

So that's what I did.  I sewed the two pieces together.

Then I hemmed one of the ends.

Then I lined that up to one side of hte curtain, right sides together.  I sewed it right above the green sage liner then folded it over it so it would hang down at the bottom of the curtain :)

Once I got to the other side, I cut the excess fabric, with enough to hem it.

Then I hemmed the bottom of the curtain.

Then I ironed it smooth and made the fold more crisp.  I hung it up and walla!  I LOVE how it turned out and I love that it was free.  Shower curtains are expensive!  I like the fabric I used since there are so many color options to go off of :)

Linking up to THESE parties :)

Utah Shop Hop: Day 3

We covered the most ground on Day 3.

I recommend getting babysitters on days like this because there is no way we could have done this otherwise!

We started out brought and early, heading straight to Brigham City to Village Dry Goods.  Persian Pickle Club was their theme.

What a fun store!  They had so much beautiful fabrics and adorable displays.  I wanted everything in the store!  We were at this store longer than any other because we kept finding stuff and making decisions.  It is a  fun place in a fun city!

Next was Bountiful's Quilter's Haven with The Wizard of Oz.  What a fabulous store!  They were so decked out.  Even their staff were dressed up as characters.  So fun!  They had some adorable things too!

Jenny...yes, she is comical ;)

We got into Salt Lake City and started that bunch of shops.
Next was Piper's Quilts & Comforts in Salt Lake City.  They did Alice in Wonderland.  What a darling store!  They even had activities you could do outside on their Tea Table.  You could make headbands or bracelets.  Super fun.

Ok so i had to bring my son since he's at that crazy stage...and this is when he had had enough.  So adorable, that nap fish face!

Next we got to Whimsy Cottage, who did a "Dr. Suess" theme.  No pictures this fun because it was a run-in-run-out sort of thing...and we were in a hurry to get some lunch! ;)

Next was Elaine's Quilt Block in Cottonwood Heights.  They did Treasure Island.  How fun huh?  I loved their skull quilt too!

Next was Mormon Handicraft in Midvale.  They did Fable Haven and gave away cute toadstool pin cushions.  Oh and they gave out brownies...yum!  I sadly didn't bring my camera in there because we did a quick run in & run out! 

Then we headed out to Pine Needles in West Jordan.  This was a beautiful store among many!  Look how fun it was walking to the store!

There it is from afar!

I loved their quilts they showcased.

Our last (sniff sniff) quilt shop was in Draper.  It was called Thimbles & Threads.  They did Murder on the Orient Express!  They had lovely trunks all over the place that I wanted to pack in my car trunk ;)  They had some eye candy as well!

Wow, those 3 days were long but so so fun!  I am so glad I was able to do that since I won't get that chance where I live.  I totally recommend doing it all!

Utah Shop Hop: Day 1 & 2

Back in June, when I visited family in UT, my mom, sisters and I went on a little excursion around Central UT to hit all the Quilt Shops participating in the Utah Shop Hop in hopes to win a Bernina model #330 Sewing Machines valued at $1300.  When you visit each shop, they stamp a card to show you were there.  At the last shop, you turn it in to be put into the drawing and you get a little gift...which I will show you tomorrow.

We were so confident that one of us would win it ;) but if not that, win something right?

So here's the lowdown of the stores, Brigham City down to Springville, even over to Tooele!  From June 15-18th, each Shop had a book theme so it was fun to see each store and how they decorated.  

The best part of this 3-day challenge was being in the car with them for that long.  Especially the long drive to Brigham City & Tooele.  It was so fun to have spent that time with them since I live in WA.

First day, we started in Sandy at Quilts Etc, which had a "Sherlock Holmes" book theme.  I couldn't help take pictures of their beautiful quilts and fabrics!

Next we drove down to Springville to Corn Wagon Quilts Co.  They did TWILIGHT.   My favorite.  end of story.
They had such fun decorations that my sister's and I just couldn't help ourselves!
Edward, Me, Katie, Ashley, Penny &....Bella.

Sigh...he looks so real huh?
They even had a contest when we were in the store and I got pick to do a "Minute to Win It" game.  It is hard to explain what I had to do with a stack of plastic cups but let's just say the other competitor was cheating....cough cough...don't tell her I told you...

Anyways, after Springville, we went home to eat dinner then we went back down to The Stitching Corner in Orem , which did  The Secret Garden & American Quilter in Orem, which did Anne of Green Gables.  Sorry, no pictures of those.  But both stores were decorated up nice with their themes.

We were wiped out at that point.  Especially the last half since we took our kids..yikes!  Don't recommend doing that ever...ever ever ever ever ever.

Alright, on to Day 2:
We headed out to Tooele to Sew Sweet.  They did 2000 leagues under the Sea.  The whole store was covered in Ocean paraphernalia.  They had an Eye Spy game & demos.  Great little shop :)

On the way back home, we hit Broadbents in Lehi.  They did Great Gatsby.  They had quotes all over the walls and served treats with ginger ale.  Broadbents is a fun store and have been there before.

Next will be Day 3 & my goods.