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New Site!

noreply@blogger.com (Sarah) — Mon, 20 Feb 2023 14:52:00 +0000

It has been almost 10 years since I've blogged here, but I recently decided I had a little more to say and a little more inspiration and encouragement to share, so come visit over at: www.artwithmrstucker.com

(And on Instagram.)

A Neon Silly Monster Birthday Party

noreply@blogger.com (Sarah) — Mon, 25 Nov 2013 01:32:00 +0000

We chose the theme "Neon Silly Monster Party" for Trey's birthday. How's that for adjective overload!? Our middle man turned three this August and I'm just now getting a chance to tell you about it! (But the party was super cute, so maybe you'll forgive me for being three months late.)

I get asked all the time how I plan my parties, so here's a little behind-the-scenes, hopefully this former event planner can pass on a few tips that might be helpful for you...

When I get an idea for a party I jump on Pinterest first to see what other people have done. I get the best ideas for color schemes and special touches that way, then I put my own spin on it. In this case, there were plenty of monster parties out there, but I wanted it to be so colorful that my camera would scream for mercy! (My Silly Monster Pinterest Board)

I always sketch out what I want my focal points to look like. It helps me because I am so visual. From there I can write "to do" and "to buy" lists. I usually shop my own house first after I decide on a color scheme and that's when I found some neon pipe cleaners and glow sticks... it went crazy from there!

One pack of neon poster board became place mats and thank you notes.

My sister-in-law owns a cookie business and they make the most amazing sugar cookies. Usually sugar cookies look pretty but taste gross and are so hard you might just chip a tooth... not so with Southern Sugar Bakery! These cookies taste even more amazing than they look!

She has a tiny projector and can project any image on to the cookie... custom logos, monograms, even Lilly Pulitzer fabric! You've got to check out their Facebook page for more pictures. (They ship anywhere in the world!!) The cookies really took all of my meager decorations up to another level!

On to the table... lots of layering going on here. It's a yellow table cloth, my poster board monster place mats, and the runner is just some wrapping paper that I liked folded in half, easy peasy!

See what I mean about those cookies stealing the show!? I know!

The cake was so much fun to make (and eat)! It's just a ton of piped orange icing piled up in heaps on top and the eyes are blue dum-dums with peach rings wrapped around them.

There's the party animal right there, our silly monster three year old! (Looks like my camera finally gave up on all of that neon!)

Flowers Four Ways

noreply@blogger.com (Sarah) — Thu, 12 Sep 2013 04:34:00 +0000

It may be the end of the summer, but bouquets of flowers have been blooming at my house lately.

I've been saving up little free minutes here and there to experiment with different mediums... watercolor, chalk, acrylic, pen and ink...

I don't think I have a favorite, it's just nice to be creating again.

Smart Summer: Beach Days and Under the Sea

noreply@blogger.com (Sarah) — Mon, 05 Aug 2013 10:03:00 +0000

I decided to combine week nine and ten of our Super Smart Summer Plan because you know, we all needed a break from the usual! If you're new here, start here to read about our laid back learning plan.

Super Smart Summer... "Beach Days and Under the Sea" Weeks

Movies:

-Disney's Little Mermaid

Outings:

-Beach
-Aquarium
-Pool

Books:

-"The Rainbow Fish" by Marcus Pfister
-"One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish" by Dr. Seuss

Activities:

-Shell creatures- This is one of our favorite activities to do at the beach! When I was a little girl, my grandmother introduced me to her beautiful collection of tropical shells from all over the world then handed me a glue gun and let my imagination go to work. We created all kinds of silly creatures together with those shells.

A couple of years ago I let Owen decorate a treasure box and try his hand at it. This is what he came up with, and this is Martha Stewart's rendition.

-Sink and float activity- Collect a bunch of little items around the house and test each to see which sink and which float.

-Paint shells-

-Shell sorting- Sort shells by color, size shape, texture

-Message in a bottle- What a great way to practice handwriting... write a message and send it out to sea or bury it in the sand. (You can always pick it up during nap time so you're not littering.)

-Shark attack- These were made using paper plates. Chomp!

-Other activities and ideas for things to make and do at the beach can be found on my DIY at the Beach Pinterest page.

Snacks:

-Goldfish crackers
-Tuna salad on fish-shaped bread
-Blue jello with floating Swedish Fish- "Shark infested waters"

You can find links to more ideas and coloring pages on my "Smart Summer" Pinterest board.

Smart Summer: Fun on the Farm

noreply@blogger.com (Sarah) — Mon, 29 Jul 2013 04:09:00 +0000

It's week eight of our Super Smart Summer Plan! If you're wondering what I'm talking about, start here to read about our laid back learning plan.

This week was really low-key. We just enjoyed some time together as a family and did a little learning on the side when we could fit it in. This was our plan of action...

Super Smart Summer... "Fun on the Farm" Week

Movies:

-Charlotte's Web

Outings:

-Well, the obvious outing for farm week would be a farm, right!? Is there a place near you where you can pick produce or pet the animals?

-Dairy farm
-Farmer's Market

Activities:

-Make your own buttermilk- I put heavy cream in baby food jars and let the boys shake until it turned into whipped cream. Shake more and it turns into buttermilk and butter! Here's a recipe and more details.

-Farmer's Market Treasure Hunt- Have your little ones keep their eyes peeled for specific things on their trip to the Farmer's Market. You can read my full post about this activity here. If you'd like to print a copy of the treasure hunt page, you may do so here.

Snacks:

-Haystacks- These are a Southern favorite! Crunchy Chow Mein noodles covered in butterscotch.

You can find links to more ideas and coloring pages on my "Smart Summer" Pinterest board.

Smart Summer: Weather

noreply@blogger.com (Sarah) — Mon, 22 Jul 2013 04:07:00 +0000

It's week seven of our Super Smart Summer Plan! If you're wondering what in the world I'm talking about, start here to read about our laid back learning plan and to find links to each of our past themed weeks.

Before I start with our weather week, this might be a good chance to talk about our nature journals. Each week the kids and I have done worksheets and activities related to our themes. We have collected our papers into our "Nature Journals." The journals are getting filled with all kinds of great work and my hope is to have a big party at the end of the summer when the boys can show off their work to their grandparents. There are a lot more nature journaling ideas and links on my Smart Summer Pinterest Board.

Super Smart Summer... "Weather" Week

Movies:

-Climate and weather video for kids This video is fantastic! It explains difficult concepts in an easy to understand way and even I learned something new!

Outings:

-See if your local news station allows tours. Wouldn't it be fun to watch the weather being filmed live or see the meteorological equipment!

Books:

-Read Job chapter 38 about God's control of the weather.

Activities:

-Four season trees- we used Q-tips and finger paints to make trees that looked like the four seasons.

-Record the weather each day. Here's a great printable for this.

-Seasonal Dress Up. Write each of the seasons or weather conditions on a different notecard (sunny, windy, rainy, summer, winter, etc..) then turn them over. Have the child choose the notecard and dress according to that season or condition using their real clothes.
-Sun spots. To study the effects of the sun, put objects on dark construction paper. Leave it out for a day and then remove the objects to see the way the sun has bleached out the paper. This is a great visual encouragement for the kids to wear their sunscreen!

Snacks:

-Marshmallow "clouds"

You can find links to more ideas and coloring pages on my "Smart Summer" Pinterest board.

Smart Summer: Planes, Trains and Cars

noreply@blogger.com (Sarah) — Mon, 15 Jul 2013 10:30:00 +0000

It's week six of our Super Smart Summer Plan! If you're wondering what in the world I'm talking about, start here to read about the laid back learning plan I created for my boys this summer and to see a list of our past learning activities.

Beep Beep... it's all about transportation this week.

Super Smart Summer... "Planes, Trains and Cars" Week

Movies:

-Disney's Cars

Outings:

-The airport Our airport has an observation deck where you can watch the commercial planes land. There is also a private jet terminal that is open to the public. Do some research to see if something like that is available in your area. We were surprised to find out that the private jet terminal is actually paid for with tax payers' dollars so anyone can come and go. My boys love watching the jets land!
-Train station

Books:

Activities:

-Marble Run- To learn about highways and roads we made a marble run two different ways:
Out of paper plates... (Idea came from Frugal Fun For Boys)

...and out of a pool noodle. The pool noodle race track ended up being our favorite. To make sure you cut the noodle evenly I'd recommend putting one of the ends on the floor and use a serrated knife to slice away from you and towards the floor while looking down the middle of the noodle.

-Kids Drivers License Test- The House of Hendrix has a great post and some free printables that we used for this activity. We talked about the importance of a drivers license and the fact that mommy and daddy had to pass a two part test to get ours. We did a driving test outside with an obstacle course.

Daddy taught the boys about red and green lights.

Then Owen took the written portion of his driving test. It included questions about safety and making good choices.

In the end we had two new licensed drivers on the road! (Check out The House of Hendricks blog for the written driver's test and a license that you can personalize for your kids!)

Snacks:

-Trader Joe's Cheddar Rockets or fruit gummies in the shape of cars
-Make "roads" out of pretzel rods or fruit roll ups.

You can find links to more ideas and coloring pages on my "Smart Summer" Pinterest board.

Smart Summer: Rainbows/ Colors Week

noreply@blogger.com (Sarah) — Mon, 08 Jul 2013 10:30:00 +0000

It's week five of our Super Smart Summer Plan! If you're wondering what I'm talking about, start here to read about our laid back summer learning plan and to find links to all of our past weeks so far.

This was a COLORFUL week! We talked about the color wheel, mixing colors and a little about artists. (My favorite definition of an artist can be found here.)

Super Smart Summer... "Rainbow/ Colors" Week

Movies:

-Video clip about how crayons are made from Mister Rogers' Neighborhood.

Outings:

-Art Museum
-Color Treasure Hunt in the backyard

Books:

Activities:

-Painting- Yes, this may seem like a simple activity, but I'd challenge you to make high quality materials available to your kids, turn on some music and let them get messy without any time constraints and without the fear of messing up... it's amazing what they can come up with!

-Color Mixing Activity- I posted all about this activity here. Basically I filled three zip lock bags with water and drops of food coloring to make the three primary colors. The kids layered one bag on top of the other (on a white surface) to make different colors. Another version of this activity is to fill a large freezer bag with white shaving cream and disperse drops of food coloring in different areas of the bag. Let the kids mix them around without any mess!

-Marble Painting- Tape a piece of white paper to the inside bottom of a cookie sheet with a rim on it. Put globs of paint around the paper and put marbles in the cookie sheet. Have the kids roll the pan around and let the marbles "paint" by dragging the paint over the white paper and leaving trails behind.

-LEGO Color Sort- Place pieces of construction paper around the room. Dump a large box of assorted LEGOs in the middle of the room and have the kids race to sort the LEGOs on to their proper piece of color coordinating construction paper.

Snacks:

-Skittle Color Wheel- This activity was a little more suited to my almost three year old, although the older one didn't complain about eating Skittles. If I did this activity again though I'd recommend choosing a candy that has even more colors... M&Ms or maybe Fruit Loops?

You can find links to more ideas and coloring pages on my "Smart Summer" Pinterest board.

Smart Summer: Little Scientists

noreply@blogger.com (Sarah) — Mon, 01 Jul 2013 10:30:00 +0000

It's week four of our Super Smart Summer Plan! If you're wondering what I'm talking about, start here to learn about the laid back learning plan I created for my little guys.

This was a very relaxed week because we were out of town. I really wanted the boys to capture one main idea: the scientific method.

Scientists observe, question, form hypotheses and conduct experiments to learn about the world around them. I made a point to ask the boys to guess what would happen before we did a little experiment and we carefully observed things on a nature walk. It was a fun, super chill week!

Super Smart Summer... "Little Scientists" Week

Movies:

-Scientific Method Rap

Outings:

-Nature walk in the woods around the neighborhood (practice observation)

Books:

Activities:

-Make rock candy (this takes a few weeks to "grow")

-Leaf rubbings to learn about collecting data

-Hand washing experiment- I asked the boys if they thought their hands were clean then had them rub their hands on a piece of bread. We put a few drops of water on the bread and put it in a ziplock bag. I kept the bread in a warm place away from them for a little while and we watched as the mold grew! It was a great teachable activity... you only thought your hands were clean!

-Create a pretend science lab- I collected a bunch of syringes (you can ask for these at your pharmacy) and small containers (old contact cases, medicine cups, etc) and created a pretend science lab for the boys. It was fun to expose them to real lab paraphernalia. I encouraged them to make "science experiments" by crushing up leaves and mixing it with water or flower petals. They loved measuring lake water for a little while, then we ended up getting in a water fight!

Here are my two sillies wearing their most serious scientist faces!

-Nature journaling (Living Creatively has a beautiful post about ten ways to vary your nature journal. I would love to dive in to this more with the kids.)

Snacks:

-Rock candy

You can find links to more ideas and coloring pages on my "Smart Summer" Pinterest board.

Smart Summer: Little Critters/ Bugs

noreply@blogger.com (Sarah) — Mon, 24 Jun 2013 10:30:00 +0000

It's week three of our Super Smart Summer Plan! If you're wondering what in the world I'm talking about, start here to read about our laid back summer learning plan. This week my boys and I took on the creepy crawlies.

Super Smart Summer... "Little Critters/ Bugs" Week

Movies:

-Disney's A Bug's Life

-City of Bees: A Children's Guide to Bees Video

Outings:

-Bug catching in the woods

Books:

-Check out past issues of the Ranger Rick magazine from the library

The Backyard Detective book was really a lot of fun for the kids. They used their magnifying glasses to find bugs in the book then we read more about them on the subsequent pages.

Activities:

-Weave spider webs with a cardboard circle and string

-Bug Bingo

-Make play dough bugs with googly eyes and pipe cleaner legs

I have a love/hate relationship with PlayDough... what a mess!

-Adopt a bug for the week- Owen chose the spider and Trey chose the grasshopper. As we were reading our books it was more engaging for them when I said "Oh look, there's a picture of Owen eating Trey!" and they learned more about their adopted bug by reading library books.

-Go on a bug catching mission (please note the intensity of this mission... they even dressed the part and brought along their pop guns! Don't mess.)

-Bug Chart- I created a chart with a couple of different bugs along the left hand side (ant, grasshopper, ladybug, wasp, fly, dragonfly, spider) and different characteristics along the top (wings, 6 legs, antennae, stinger) Owen and I went through our library books to find out if each characteristic applied to that bug. He loved filling in the chart!

Snack:

-Bug Pizzas on english muffins

-Talk about bees and eat honeycomb, inspect it with a magnifying glass (here's a great post about this)

You can find links to more ideas and coloring pages on my "Smart Summer" Pinterest board.

What makes an artist?

noreply@blogger.com (Sarah) — Mon, 24 Jun 2013 03:38:00 +0000

We recently visited a new restaurant (5Church Restaurant in Charlotte, NC) that inspired me in every way. Visually this place was beautiful. It was packed with lots of local art and the entire ceiling was painstakingly painted with the book Art of War. My taste buds were wowed by a steak cooked in the most unique way.

We listened to John Meyer (which is never a bad thing), but my favorite part of the night was finding this little gem painted just outside the bathrooms. It has always been hard to define what makes an artist, but this is the best description I've ever read and I wanted to share it with you.

"A man who works with his hands is a laborer.

A man who works with his hands and his brain is a craftsman,

but a man who works with his hands and his brain and his heart is an artist."

Thanks for the inspiration, 5Church, I will be back for seconds.

Smart Summer: Outer Space

noreply@blogger.com (Sarah) — Mon, 17 Jun 2013 10:30:00 +0000

It's week two of our Super Smart Summer Plan! If you're wondering what in the world I'm talking about, start here.

This week we focused on what it would be like to live and work in space. Outer Space is a pretty big theme and I didn't want to overwhelm the kids (5 1/2 and almost 3 years old) with too much. We just had fun with it, that's what summer is all about anyway, right!?!

Super Smart Summer... "Outer Space" Week

"The Heavens declare the glory of God," Psalm 19:1

Movies:

-NASA has a ton of really great short video clips for kids. This one was our favorite: Our World: Sleeping on board the International Space Station

-Oh, and this short clip is mind boggling! Ask the kids first "What do you think would happen if you wring a wet washcloth in space?" Then watch this!!

Outings:

-Science Museum

-"Astronaut Training" at a playground

Books:

Activities:

-Make your own space station

I spy planet Earth!

-A couple of days later act like evil aliens attacking the space station... (Check out the intensity of the Owen Alien!)

-Astronaut training- create an obstacle course, mom has a whistle and a clipboard then wear those little ones out as they train for space! When they are physically fit enough according to the "astronaut training manual" treat them to something sweet... Mars bar? Milky Way?
-Create a planet mobile
-Glow sticks in the bath tub (this was a favorite activity of my boys, sorry there aren't any pictures)
-Name rocket- write their name on pieces of the ship and put them in order all while screaming "10, 9, 8, 7....1 blast off!" Then decorate with glitter glue stars or stickers.

Snack:
-Astronaut Ice Cream (I'll bet you could order this ahead of time from some online store somewhere.)
-Freeze Dried Fruit

You can find links to more ideas and coloring pages on my "Smart Summer" Pinterest board.

Super Smart Summer Plan

noreply@blogger.com (Sarah) — Thu, 13 Jun 2013 10:16:00 +0000

Happy Summer, Friends!

Are you ready to have your little ones to yourself all day?! Are you excited about all of that down time that summer brings?

I'll be honest, I was a little nervous about my summer with three little ones (ages 5 1/2, almost 3 and 4 months) all to myself all. day. long...

The relaxed schedules and the free time could be a blessing or a curse. I could either sink or swim this summer... survive or thrive. I desperately wanted to thrive! I wanted to look back on this summer with fond memories and another smile wrinkle. What I needed was a plan. I prayed and asked the Lord to give me some creative ideas and a way to make our summer count. I can't wait to share with you what we came up with together.

I decided to call this our Super Smart Summer. It's not really a schedule or a curriculum. I can't exactly call this summer school, but it has a hint of all of that. We do activities whenever we have some down time based around a weekly theme.

Usually I lay out an activity the night before and we work on it together while baby Laney takes her morning nap. Then we go on with our day... errands, pool, hanging out with friends or whatever, but all the while we are in the car or when we have down time I am trying to engage their imaginations. I ask a bunch of questions about that theme and try to be strategic about fitting it in to our day.

The goal is to learn more about the world around us. To create a love of learning I have to teach them how to question things... it's not just, "This is a carrot, it's orange." It's more like, "Why do you think God made carrots orange? If you could be another color, what color would you want to be? Do you think you'll turn orange if you eat something orange? What other orange things can we eat?"

We also have an incentive program that the kids love. They can earn stickers for doing things like...

vacuuming
cleaning their room
collecting the trash
doing a worksheet
reading a book
writing a letter (to their grandparents, cousins, the troops etc.)
sweep the garage
wash the windows
mop the kitchen (My 5 1/2 year old LOVED this! We used a Swiffer wet jet)
having a good attitude
being quick to obey
practice writing numbers

When they earn a certain number of stickers they can go shopping at the "Sarah Store." That's a really fancy diaper box full of LEGO sets, candy, balls, games, toys etc. that I bought ahead of time. Each item has a different sticker value. They work so hard to earn stickers and I get a clean house out of the gig... win, win!

So are you wondering what our themes are? There are 12 weeks of summer, so our 12 themes are:

In the Garden (see below)
Outer Space
Little Critters/ Bugs
Little Scientists
Rainbows/ Colors
Planes, Trains and Cars
Weather
Fun on the Farm
Beach Days
Under the Sea
Jungle Explorers
Sports

I've created a Pinterest Board with links to a lot of the activities that I've chosen and the rest have come out of my imagination. Each week I'll try to share a brief summary of what we're up to. When the summer is over I will link to all of these posts in the list above (so bookmark this post if you'd like to try to do this next summer.) I'd love for you to join us. What do you like, what needs improvement? I want to hear your thoughts. On to week one...

Super Smart Summer... "In the Garden" Week

Movies:

-Watch a time lapse video of a plant/flower

Outings:

-Pick strawberries

-Visit a flower shop or nursery to learn about the parts of a flower

-Grocery store/ Farmers market to pick out new fruits and veggies

Books:

Activities:

-Grow a sweet potato vine in a jar

-Plant some herbs

-Vote for Veggies- Examine, weigh and taste new veggies. Put it in a "Like" or "Don't Like" pile

-Letter Garden- Draw letters with sidewalk chalk on the sidewalk. When I call out the letter use the watering can (or spray bottle) to water that letter.

-Bean robots- glue beans on a picture of a robot

-Bean sorting activity- write out numbers using the number and the letters. Have child glue the correct number of beans to the page.

-Sort dried beans in an egg carton by size, shape color.

Snack:

-New fruits and veggies

::Craft Show Mini Series:: How to Prepare

noreply@blogger.com (Sarah) — Mon, 10 Jun 2013 10:50:00 +0000

The idea of setting up a cute little retail space to peddle your wares is a romantic idea, but it is a daunting task to make that sweet little space work well for you and make you some money!

You've got to think about more than just pretty colors. You've got to put your big girl pants on and set up a bank account, order a point of sale credit card swiper, figure out pricing, collect sales tax... UGH! It's enough to make someone stop right there and forget the whole thing. But don't! You've got a great idea! People want and maybe even need your item! You can do this!!

I am no pro at this. One thing I've learned is how little I really understand about all of the red tape involved in setting up a small business. But what little I understand I'm happy to share!

Find Your State's Department of Revenue Website
Every state is different, so I recommend starting by visiting the Department of Revenue website for your state. There you will be able to check and see if the name you have chosen for your business is available, see what licenses and permits you may need, register your business to start accepting sales tax, and later you may even be able to file and pay your sales tax through that site. Once you've registered you'll get your tax ID number.

Set Up a Bank Account
Research the banks in your area. The bank I chose had a free business checking account and very low minimum balance. Check about the fees associated. If you're just starting out it might not be best to open an account right away. I just found book keeping easier when my business transactions were separate than my personal transactions. To open the account you'll need a few documents to verify your business registration. Check about those before you go.

Decide How You'll Keep Your Books
I recommend checking out Outright.com. It's easy and free accounting software that automatically syncs with Etsy and your checking account so you don't have to think about transferring all of those transactions one by one by hand... yuck!

Order a Square
I've said it before, but the Square is the BEST way to accept credit cards! NPR has a fantastic article about it here.

Decide On Your Pricing
That's one thing I can't help you with. I also can't promise that it will be anywhere close to easy to figure out how to price your items. Most people agree with this formula:

Price of Materials Used + Labor + Expenses + Amount You Want to Profit = Wholesale Price

Wholesale Price x 2 = Retail Price

Set Up Your Booth

I recommend setting up your booth at your house first. I set mine up in my garage and it helped me work out so many kinks ahead of time. You may only have a couple of hours available to you on the day of your event to set-up and what you don't want to be doing is wasting that time running back and forth because you've forgotten something. I worked out the traffic flow of my booth and I had plenty of time to tweak it over the course of the week I had it set up. What did I want my customers to see when they walked by? (Note: Candy on the end of the table makes little ones stop at your booth, just sayin'!) I was able to "shop" my house for different display pieces before heading out to the store and it helped me in packing my car too because everything was in one place.

Prepare Your Mind
Prepare yourself mentally by thinking through a sale. When someone hands you an item and says "I'll take it" what do you do next?! My process was:
1. Write up a paper receipt with the retail amount, tax and total (the paper receipt trail was key to doing inventory at the end of my show)
2. Accept cash or credit card
3. Stick item in a gift bag with the receipt, my business card and my enclosure card (read my post about branding for more on these things)

You'll also want to think through some talking points for each of your items because you'll be saying those things a gazillion times all day... Why would you buy it? What do you love about it?

The best thing you can do for yourself mentally is to get some good sleep before the show. Relax, you'll do great! You're so prepared!

UPDATE: Here are the links to all five posts in this mini series:

The First Step... Designing your "Feel"

Designing Your Booth

Branding like a Pro for Cheap

What To Bring

How to Prepare

::Craft Show Mini Series:: What To Bring

noreply@blogger.com (Sarah) — Thu, 06 Jun 2013 10:30:00 +0000

So I thought I would finish up the Mini Series that I started a while back about what I learned doing my first craft show. I put in SO many hours of preparation and I would love it if you are able to benefit from some of my research. Here's where we've been so far in this series... click on these for the full post:

Designing your "Feel"

Designing your Booth

Branding (like a pro for cheap!)

Today I'm going to hit on "What to bring" and then I'll finish out this mini series with my tips on how to prepare. Let's do this!!

There are a gazillion and one lists out there for what to bring to a craft show and you'll probably want to check those out if you're doing an outdoor show, but most of this will cross over. Mine was an indoor show with the option of electricity provided. I opted out (dumb!) Lighting is so key to creating warmth and highlighting certain items. I didn't think I needed it, but looking back I would definitely get it next time.

I had a giant clear plastic tub with my supplies, this made things easy to find when it got busy.

Inside my big tub I had two smaller containers... one for personal items:
-Lotion
-Mouth wash or gum
-Advil (You'll thank me after you've been standing for hours!)
-Brush
-Small mirror (What if that salad you ate for lunch is still stuck in your teeth. The horror!)
-Hair tie
-Protein bar (or meal replacement bar)
-Tissues
-Chapstick
-Hand Sanitizer

One for "office supplies":
-Glue (for fixing any merchandise that breaks!)
-Pens
-String
-Scissors
-White out
-Duct tape
-Rubber Band
-Hammer
-Calculator (even if you have one on your phone, still bring a hand held... trust me!)
-Business cards!!!
-Tape
-Price tags
-Square credit card reader
-Phone
-Sharpie marker

I also brought a roll of paper towels and a trash bag for spills.
-Custom Order Forms
-Picture album for custom order ideas

-Inventory List

-Cash Box

-Gift bags

-Sales Receipt book

-Cash

-Signage

And I brought a project to work on during the slow parts of the show. It was fun for me to be able to demonstrate how I make my scarves and it got people involved.

Wear a name tag with your logo! It's a great way for people to associate you with your brand and to make you look professional! I also recommend making a credit card sign so people will know that you'll take plastic! That was a HUGE selling point for me!

And on the credit card front, I would highly recommend using the Square credit card reader. They will send you one for free, it is easy to use, there is no up front fee and they just charge you a small fee per transaction. Read all about it here.

This is my little sales station. I have my cash box, calculator, Square, inventory list, receipt book and my gift wrap stuff all together. It was a life saver to have all of this stuff in one place and quickly accessible.

This was my custom order form. My customers liked being able to flip through a small photo album of the things I made to get ideas for different color combinations if something had already sold out.

What am I forgetting? Is there anything you can't live without at your shows? Please share!

UPDATE: Here are the links to all five posts in this mini series:

The First Step... Designing your "Feel"

Designing Your Booth

Branding like a Pro for Cheap

What To Bring

How to Prepare

Time flies

noreply@blogger.com (Sarah) — Tue, 04 Jun 2013 11:53:00 +0000

I brought this little bundle of joy home four months ago and then dropped off of the face of the planet!

Life here has been ultra bonkers! In the last four months we have been to more doctor visits than I care to count. While I was pregnant with Laney I contracted a very common virus that could have been harmful to her, so we had to go through a litany of testing. Thank the Lord that He decided to spare her and she is now a happy and healthy four month old without any signs of the virus doing harm.

But just to keep things interesting I thought I would throw a doctor visit for myself into the mix. I had my appendix out two weeks ago... I know, crazy right?!

There have been so many good things that have come out of these trials though. I have learned that the Lord is my Refuge. Psalm 91:4 says, "He will cover you with his feathers, and under his wings you will find refuge; his faithfulness will be your shield and rampart."

His faithfulness has become to me like a shield, my armor, my protection and I can thrive under the protection from Him. I don't have to worry about the arrows of doubt or the bullets of uncertain times. I let God be my shield and REALLY trusted Him to hold up his end of the deal. Under His shield and protection is where I am really able to thrive!

Survive or thrive. It's my choice. Will I just endure the monotony of wiping sticky hands and smelly butts all day or will I thrive in my new responsibilities to shape these little hearts and build up little leaders?

I've made a choice to thrive and with the Lord's help we are doing just that!

My first hurdle was school ending. That means three kids at home with me all day. Rather than turn on the TV or listen to fake hunger pains that usually arise out of boredom, I decided to make a plan. Each of the 12 weeks of summer we are learning about new things... veggies, bugs, outer space, colors, sports, weather, the farm, etc... we are reading books, making nature journals, using our bodies and our brains and learning about the world around us! It is going to be a total blast and I hope to tell you all about it.

Thanks for being so patient with me while I dug in at home. It's good to be back!

She's Here!

noreply@blogger.com (Sarah) — Mon, 25 Feb 2013 01:56:00 +0000

Our sweet little Laney decided to make an earlier debut! She arrived on February 1... four and a half weeks early.

Laney Elizabeth Tucker

February 1, 2013

5 lbs. 14 oz.

19 inches

We are adjusting to life as a family of five. My brain is functioning at half mast and I've got some sweet dark circles under my eyes, but these are some precious times. Our friend Amy Free helped us capture some of the early memories.

We've got our hands full, that's for sure... (reference the application of a jack hammer on Kyle's head in the picture below!) Our hands are full and so are our hearts... big and full and about to bust, God is so very, very good!!

3 Easy DIY Baby Gifts

noreply@blogger.com (Sarah) — Fri, 01 Feb 2013 12:00:00 +0000

1. Easy Embroidery

Embroidery projects are so easy and rewarding. (A great couch project for when you're on bed rest, just sayin'.) You don't need to know any fancy stitches to make a beautiful piece that you'll admire in your nursery for years to come. I used this pattern from Amy Bindel. It is no longer on her blog, so you'll need to print it from the pin if you're interested in using it. Really you can use any drawing, just trace it lightly with a pencil on to your fabric and stitch over your markings.

I have a lot of great resources on my Sewing Pinterest page for free embroidery designs and basic stitches. Have fun with it, throw the embroidery rules to the wind and just stick that needle in the fabric and get started, I promise you'll thank me.

2. Baby Booties
Are you totally sick of my gray felt and pink bows yet? I can't walk up the stairs a bunch, so I've got to squeeze every bit of creativity out of the supplies I have within reach. I promise, there's only one more project I want to show you with my 68 cent sheets of felt, but I'll wait until Laney is born to reveal that one! :) On to the current project... baby booties!

I used Tao of Craft's Modern Baby Bootie Tutorial to make these, but I did it with felt. If I made these again I would definitely double up the felt to make it more sturdy or use leather like my Little Man Shoes from forever ago, remember those?!

3. Paci Clip

These are just the easiest to make, and don't you love this ruffly ribbon?! Tutorial here.

How to Make Felt Hair Bows that Stick!

noreply@blogger.com (Sarah) — Sat, 26 Jan 2013 03:12:00 +0000

Please visit the updated post and find lots more inspiration here.

Finally, a hair bow that will stay in your little girl's hair when she doesn't have any!

I don't think I finally got hair until I was about 2 or 3 years old. I'm sure my mom fielded a bunch of "How old is your son?" questions, and I'm anticipating the same for my little girl. Since she's not here yet (anticipated c-section birthday on Feb. 25) you'll have to settle for me as a model.

I did a bunch of research on which clips were the best and the secret trick to making the hair bows stay in. You'll never guess what it is! Drawer liner!

Let's get started!

You'll need:

Felt bow (made using this template and tutorial)
Sheet of felt
Metal hair clip (similar style can be found here)
Non-slip drawer liner (like this)
Glue Gun
Scissors

Have I told you before that I'm not very girly? I'm not in to ballerinas and tutus and tulle. No thanks. When I was little I had a Mr. T lunch box. Yes, the huge guy from the A-Team who didn't like to fly on airplanes and wore about 10 lbs of gold chains around his neck, yeah him. I was obsessed. Anyway, I inherited these hair clips and cut off the tulle so I could re-use the perfectly good clip underneath. You could also buy the metal clips at Sally's Beauty Supply or I've even seen them at Michael's.

Once I freed my hair clip from all that ick I was ready to get started.

Cut a strip of felt that's as wide as your clip and long enough to wrap around starting where my thumb is and continuing around the whole top portion of the clip. It's key not to have any felt on the bottom of your clip because you want that part of the clip to be in contact with the hair directly. Glue that down. Be sure to open your clip so that you don't glue the clip closed.

Round off any excess felt.

Next, cut a piece of drawer liner that's as wide as your clip and as long as the inside top portion of your clip (remember we want to keep the entire bottom part of the clip clear of anything.)

Trim off the excess shelf liner.

It will look like this when you're done.

Finally, hot glue your bow to the top of the clip and you're done!

Repeat until you're sick of making them or until your thumbs can't take any more hot glue gun burns, which ever comes first.

If you'd rather make these using grosgrain ribbon, Make It and Love It has an awesome tutorial and some sticky sweet baby pictures here.

Now you moms of girls will have to tell me how you like these. Bonus points if you can remember any other characters from the A-Team! I love it when a plan comes together!

How to Make An Elephant Doorstop (that's too cute for the floor!)

noreply@blogger.com (Sarah) — Mon, 21 Jan 2013 03:20:00 +0000

Please visit the updated post and find lots more inspiration here.

Can I show you how to make an elephant doorstop that's bursting with so much cuteness you won't want to put it on the floor?

The plan for this sweet thing was to have her hold my little girl Laney's door open, but the thought of kicking it out of the way every time I wanted to close the door made me change my mind... Miss. Elephant is now safely perched on top of Shel Silverstein on the bookshelf and far away from our feet. Are you relieved? I am.

Wanna make one?
You'll need:

This pattern for the elephant
This pattern for the bow
Gray felt
Pink felt
Decorative scrap fabric
Needle, embroidery thread and scissors
Straight pins
Plastic can gripper (that's my secret weapon!)
Pebbles
Stuffing

First, you'll want to print this pattern (landscape-style at 250%) and piece it together. I always like to give credit where credit is due, but it was super hard to find out who originally created this pattern. One source said it was from an old Family Fun magazine, so we'll go with that.

Use the pattern to cut each of your pieces out of felt. For the ear pieces, I cut two pieces out of fabric a little larger than the pattern so that I could turn it under before stitching, and two pieces out of felt (for the backs of the ears).**

Now the fun part! Piece the gray felt pieces together and pin them in place. Start whip stitching the elephant together (I started at the back of the elephant's heel and went up towards the butt.) If you don't know what whip stitching is, check out this youtube video. (You're going to thank me for the awesome music!)

One quirky thing about the elephant pattern is that it didn't include a tail pattern piece so I made up my own. I just cut a rectangle piece of felt about an inch or so wide and about 2.5-3 inches long. I snipped the ends of one of the short sides of the rectangle and then rolled the felt up, whip stitching the roll closed. The picture above should help you.

The picture below is how I pieced the tail in. You're looking at the inside of the elephant's butt.

Keep whip stitching around the rest of the elephant. When you get to the trunk be sure to put in some stuffing WHILE you stitch it closed. It will be super hard to get the stuffing in there if you don't do it this way.

Now for my secret weapon... pull out that freebie can gripper that you got at the fair (the flexible plastic one) and use it to grip your needle when it gets really hard to pull it through two layers of felt and the fabric on the ears. Works perfectly doesn't it?!

**Be sure to follow my above instructions about the ear fabric. If you cut the fabric a little larger than the felt then you'll have space to turn the fabric under before you stitch it to the ear backs (made out of felt).

One more important note... TRUST THE PATTERN! While you're stitching, line up the pattern pieces you cut perfectly, don't start making adjustments to the pattern while you're stitching because you think it's not lining up correctly.

When you're all done stitching the elephant the underneath will have an open flap for stuffing. Put the stuffing in first (just a bit in the bottom of the feet too) then fill in the rest of the legs and the underneath belly with pebbles for weight.

If you're not planning on using your elephant for a door stop or a book end, just omit the pebbles and use only stuffing.

As a finishing touch, I embellished with a pink bow using this pattern.

Can't wait to show you the rest of Laney's room! We're aaaaallmost done.

::Craft Show Mini Series:: Branding like a Pro for Cheap!

noreply@blogger.com (Sarah) — Mon, 14 Jan 2013 01:20:00 +0000

Hey My Friends, I hope you've had a wonderful weekend! Ready for our next little chat about how to rock your first craft show? I'm no pro, but I would love to share with you a few tips I've learned about branding so that you can make your craft show booth (and online shop) look like you spent a lot of money hiring someone to make a cohesive brand... when in reality you've spent next to nothing!

Let's get started! If you're not already familiar with Picmonkey.com, you'll want to check it out... it's a totally free photo editing website. You don't have to download anything on to your computer or sign up for annoying emails. Next, read Jill's fantastic tutorial about how to make a resource like this site work for you. Following Jill's tutorial and Picmonkey.com I was able to create all of my branding materials.

To create my logo I set up a Pinterest board and began pinning anything I liked... colors, shapes, font, feel, etc. It was a nice way to start a daunting process, I basically just combined a lot of the ideas I liked and here's what I came up with:

I used my logo in this collage (the collage is another feature Picmonkey offers). About two months before my show I sent my friends and family an email save the date and included the following two pictures. (Surprisingly, I got a lot of orders even before the show started by doing this!) I wanted those close to me to know that I was planning my first craft show and what I was going to be selling.

Keep in mind when you're creating a brand that you want every touch a customer has with your business to include your logo or at least the "feel" you're trying to create. Some of the places a customer might come in to contact with your brand are:

Shipping materials
Gift bags/packaging materials at your show
Business card
Enclosure cards
Online shop header
Blog header
Thank you notes
Name tag at the show

My Etsy shop banner:

Here's my most favorite tip! I ordered a stamp with my logo from Rubber Stamp Champ (right now they have free shipping on orders over $10!) This is the one I bought and I upgraded to laser rubber since I knew I would be using this sucker a ton.

I'm very pleased with the rough texture of the stamp, but if that's not the look you're going for you can always order a smaller size.

I used the stamp on my business cards. I bought simple business cards from vistaprint.com. They were blank except for my blog, email and Etsy site addresses printed on the bottom corner, then I went to town stamping them.

I also used the stamp on some round printable stickers (Avery 5294). Yes, you could just print from your computer directly on to the stickers and that would save a lot of time, but I liked the imperfect texture of the stamp, so I went that route. Those stickers were used for my packaging, gift bags, gift wrap and my mailing materials.

And here I am modeling both a stiff smile and all of the branding in my booth.

I've said it before, but it's a good time to say again how important signage for your booth is. Make a sign and put it up high enough that your shoppers can see it even if the booth is packed. I made this sign by printing my logo out on computer paper, tracing the design on to freezer paper, then using the freezer paper stenciling method to print my logo on to a piece of fabric that was stretched in an embroidery hoop. Lots of steps, but it's worth it because I'll be able to use this sign a ton.

Last but not least, my enclosure cards... I whipped up this design on picmonkey then uploaded it to either snapfish.com or shutterfly.com (I can't remember which) when they were doing their penny print deal. I got 200 of these for $2.00 plus shipping! Score!

I love that every one of my customers will have a pretty picture of my product along with all of my contact information if someone asks them where they got their scarf or if they decide to order another color in the future. Oh, and to save time I stuffed one of these in each of my gift bags before the show started.

Whew! So there are all of my branding on a dime secrets. I'd love to hear any ideas you might have.

UPDATE: Here are the links to all five posts in this mini series:

The First Step... Designing your "Feel"

Designing Your Booth

Branding like a Pro for Cheap

What To Bring

How to Prepare

Shower games they'll actually enjoy playing!

noreply@blogger.com (Sarah) — Fri, 04 Jan 2013 03:23:00 +0000

One of the questions I get the most is, "How can I make the shower I'm throwing special? Do you have any good game ideas?"

Shower games are tricky. As a general rule I don't usually enjoy playing shower games because I've found that a lot of them are either:

A) way too time consuming (when people really just want to enjoy a fun, relaxing afternoon and then hit the road) or

B) they are gross (like the ones that make you eat baby food or guess what candy bar is melted in the diaper... yuck!) or

C) they are distracting (like the game where you can't say a certain word or the person who heard you say that word gets to steal your clothes pin). Come on, that's annoying when you're trying to have a conversation with someone.

My favorite games are SUPER simple and incorporated into the unwrapping of the gifts (to keep the party moving!)

Baby/Bridal Shower Bingo is a great game! Each person is given an empty grid that's five squares by five squares with the center square being the free space. Before the gifts are opened each attendee will fill the empty squares with things that that person thinks the mom/bride will open. This can be as general ("blanket") or as specific ("engraved silver cup") as you want to be. The hostess will need to offer up some ideas to keep things moving because inevitably people will not be able to fill the whole grid out by themselves. Give them a couple minutes to fill out the grid then start the opening of the gifts. As things are opened the attendees will mark them off on their grid. The first person with five squares in a row marked off will yell it out "BINGO" and get a (good!) prize!!

Free printable for the grid I use is HERE.

Another great game that I've done as a bridal shower game, but that could easily be changed into a baby shower game, is "How well do you know the bride?" Each attendee will get a sheet of paper with lots of specific questions about the bride and they will fill it out. (Make the questions as specific and obscure as possible, it's more fun!) then the attendees are given a very short amount of time... say, two minutes to fill it out. The key with the short amount of time is that people will put their first gut response to the question and these end up being really funny! Then the hostess reads out the answers and the attendee with the most correct responses wins a (good) prize!

Free printable with sample questions HERE.

Have you ever noticed how awkward it is for the mom/bride at some showers to carry the conversation while she's opening each gift? "Oh, more Desitin! Thank you, baby's butt will sure be pampered thanks to you all!" Rather than have the shower conversation be all about the gifts I like to have the conversation focus on the sweet relationships between the people there. One way I like to do that is to have the mom/bride choose a gift to unwrap then either have her share how she knows the gift giver or have the gift giver share how she knows (or a funny memory about) the mom/bride. It's a sweet way to take some of the pressure off of the mom/bride to speak the whole time and the gift-givers leave with full hearts because they have learned a little more about their new mom/bride friend!

Now let's talk prizes. Prizes are the best way to get your guests' competitive juices flowing! Make them good, no dollar store chotchkies please! One of my favorite prize gifts to give is a Starbucks gift card. Have the barista give you an empty, clear plastic, grande-size frappuchino cup with a few coffee beans in the bottom of the cup. Insert the gift card then put a little bit of tissue paper in the top with the lid and straw... great presentation for a simple gift card!

Oh, and here is a link to all of my parties with lots of shower ideas thrown in.

Having a sit-down meal at your shower? Here's a way you can incorporate a simple question for each person. Give people a minute to read their questions and think about it while they get their food then as everyone is eating, go around the room and answer your question. What a sweet way to get to know the other important people in your friend's life!

What are your thoughts on shower games? Am I too harsh? Maybe you're one of the weirdos that actually likes guessing what candy bar has been melted in the diaper... ugh, come on, that's just nasty!

The Beginnings of a Nursery

noreply@blogger.com (Sarah) — Wed, 19 Dec 2012 17:37:00 +0000

You'll never guess what I've been up to lately?! Nothing. Absolutely nothing. Doctor's orders. I'm on modified bed rest. Fortunately this time I'm not at the hospital like last time, but I'm only 29 weeks, so I guess anything can happen.

For now I am counting my blessings. To be home among all of the sweet little voices and the anxiety for Christmas is something I don't take for granted! The hospital is a wonderful place, but it is just so sterile and lonely this time of year. It's good to be home!

My sweet little girl, Laney, is still happily in utero and her nursery is still a very boyish shade of blue. We don't have a thing ready for her yet, so the planner in me got to work. If I can't paint walls and organize a closet in real life I'll do it virtually! So far this is what I've come up with... we'll paint the walls a pale gray and (if I can convince the hubby it's a good idea!) we'll stencil the back wall with a pattern. Long white drapes, recovered rocking chair maybe in gray damask, pops of pink and a little bit of a vintage vibe if I can figure out how to squeeze that in there.

Source: tucker-sarah.polyvore.com via Sarah on Pinterest

::Craft Show Mini Series:: Designing Your Booth

noreply@blogger.com (Sarah) — Wed, 12 Dec 2012 17:17:00 +0000

If you missed the first post in my Mini Series, check out what I think is the key first step in getting ready for your first craft show... Designing your "Feel."

After you have a plan of action it's time to design your booth. To do this well you'll want to keep a few things in mind:

Who will be there in addition to your target audience? Kids? Weary husbands? Do you have something for them to make their stop easier? Think: candy, chairs, etc.

What will people do in your booth? If they have more things to do they will spend more time in your booth. More time in your booth = sales! In my case, I wanted them to be able to try on scarves and have a place to relax or place custom orders.

I made a fitting room of sorts with a few scarves on hangers so people could try them on and so I could show off the different ways to wear the scarves. This was key! I was able to up-sale a few people who were "only buying for a friend" or who may not have bought one, but folded when they felt how warm and soft they really were!

I also made sure that I branded everything they looked at (more on that later). I had business cards and my scarf enclosure cards at eye level encouraging people to take a look at my blog as well as my Etsy shop.

Don't underestimate the power of your packaging! My packaging did double duty as display, protection of the scarves and easy wrapping for gifts. I ordered these boxes from PaperMart.com and was pleased with them. They ended up being about $1 each, shipped to my house. That's expensive, but you've gotta spend money to make money. Also, don't underestimate the power of lighting and fresh flowers. There's just something about fresh flowers that's cozy.

I made my sign using freezer paper stenciling. It was really easy to do and added a lot of impact to the back wall of my booth where your eye would naturally land when you were walking by. Plenty of people make the mistake of putting a sign on their tablecloth. The problem with that is when things get busy you can't see your sign, so make sure that sucker is up high enough! People need to know who made this stuff!

As much as I would have liked to have had personal conversation with every single person who came in my booth, it just wasn't possible because of how busy it was. There were a few points about my products I wanted to make sure people were aware of, so I made little talking point bubbles and placed them around my inventory. This one reads "Each of my paintings are one-of-a-kind. I do not sell prints, so you can be sure you have an original piece of art for your home."

You get the point. There's an adorable shop in Raleigh that does this beautifully, Ornamentea. I got the idea from them. My tiny little laminating machine got a workout before this show, I'm telling you, that was money well spent!

One other recommendation I have when designing your booth is to think about the future. Maybe you'll sell out of a certain color (hopefully!) I had a color board with my yarn samples so people could place custom orders. I had quite a few custom orders placed for baby hats and I'll show you the order form I made up in another post.

Loved these tiny chalk boards to show the prices of my inventory! (Michaels' dollar bin.) I found this much more effective than pricing each individual item.

Finally, think about the questions people will ask you and see if you can answer them before they are asked... what's your name? Wear a branded name tag. Do you take credit cards? Show a laminated list of the cards you accept (I used the Square... loved it and I'll tell you more later.) Do you gift wrap? Have branded bags at the ready.

Here's my little workstation at the show, tucked away and out of sight with everything I needed.

Branding is my next post in this mini series, I'll show you how I did it all myself and on the cheap!

UPDATE: Here are the links to all five posts in this mini series:

The First Step... Designing your "Feel"

Designing Your Booth

Branding like a Pro for Cheap

What To Bring

How to Prepare

Merry Christmas! My Gift To You!

noreply@blogger.com (Sarah) — Fri, 07 Dec 2012 20:21:00 +0000

My shop is all a flurry with new items and every single thing can be shipped to you for free! You read that right! Free Shipping on everything in the shop, just use the coupon code: NOSHIPPING as my Christmas gift to all of my readers in the US. Merry Christmas, Friends!