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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

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

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.

::My First 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.

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

::My First 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!

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!

::My First Craft Show Mini Series:: Designing your "Feel"

noreply@blogger.com (Sarah) — Fri, 07 Dec 2012 02:34:00 +0000

It's the first post of my Mini Series... get pumped, get psyched!

So you want to do a craft show and you're not sure where to start. That's exactly where I was a few months ago, so you're in good company. In this mini series I plan to cover:

The First Step... Designing your "Feel"

Designing Your Booth

Branding

What To Bring

How to Prepare

What I Learned and My Favorite Resources

Now I am in no way an expert, but I've read more craft show posts and books and listened to more podcasts than I care to admit! (More on my favorite resources in my last post.) How about I sift through all of that for you and give you just the gems?

The first place to start is deciding on what you want to sell (think: what are you best at making, what would YOU buy?) and seeing what the common denominator is. I wanted to sell handwoven infinity scarves, paintings, crayons, baby hats, preschool song books and stationary. There's not a whole lot in common in that list. It's not like I was only selling things for one type of customer or only things that go around your neck. My inventory was a little all over the map so color was my tie that bound everything together. I used the same color palate and even with a crazy mixture of items, it all came together.

After you decide on what to sell it's time to design your "feel." In my opinion this step is master class... a ton of people buy a black velvet tablecloth, lay out their stuff and call it a day. Where's the personality, where's the element of story that comes with your product? I think creating a "feel" is key to giving someone an experience with you. People love to give gifts with a story behind them and when they have just met a stay-at-home mom of (almost) three who knits during nap time and decorates with her grandmother's treasures because it's the nostalgia she loves, they like talking about it. It brings another level of depth and value to your product you've worked hard on. You'll think about packaging and display later (and I'll talk more about that in a different post) but first it all has to relate back to your "feel."

Ask yourself what type of environment to you want to create. My decided feel was "bright and happy little boutique!" That phrase then acted as my filter. When deciding on my display I would ask myself the question, "Is this in my bright and happy little boutique?" Would a wooden stump be happy? Nah, not really, that's more woodsy. How about an old Radio Flyer Wagon? Happy, yes, but not exactly in my bright color palate. It's a cute idea, but that's more "playful vintage" than I was going for this time. Does that make sense?

A great place to start might be this quick decorating style survey or here's another one from Sproost.

Here are some examples of my style and how it played out in my booth: I love the warmth of the unfinished wood, aqua, pinks, vintage table cloths and hankies... those made the cut. As did white furniture with a scalloped edge.

These fit my aesthetic perfectly... bright, happy scrapbook paper with glittered vintage hymnal sheets. AND those I didn't sell will be up in the shop soon!

Bright scarf hung on an old wooden hanger.

Vintage Lilly Pulitzer fabric Mod Podged on to a tin ceiling tile with all of my yarns for custom orders.

Next up... "Designing your Booth" with a couple bazillion pictures of mine!

Ribbon and Legos and Dynamite... oh my!

noreply@blogger.com (Sarah) — Wed, 28 Nov 2012 13:33:00 +0000

My life has been chock full of two things lately: craft supplies and LEGO's. Strange combo I know, I'll explain. My first craft show is this weekend. I've burnt my thumbs more times than I care to admit making ribbon boards, crayons, and laminating things. I guess there's no workman's comp when you work for yourself, huh!

I've had the best time preparing for the show. Right now my booth is all set up in the garage to give me an idea of what it will look like.

"My First Craft Show: Mini Series" will start next week with loads of pictures and ideas, get excited!

So what's with all the LEGOs? Owen turned five last week right before Thanksgiving. This year we decided to celebrate his birthday during our Thanksgiving celebration rather than having a blow out birthday party... very, very good move. I've realized that it's just not necessary to do a big themed dessert night like I usually do in order to make it a special day for the kiddos... many times, more is less.

I made a few cupcakes for Owen's preschool class with white chocolate LEGOs on top... a big hit! (The chocolate mold is from Flavor Tools.)

Then I called in some helpers to get a cake made.

These guys were great! They did what they were told and didn't talk back. They even brought their own tools, albeit very untraditional baking tools, but they got the job done.

At first I thought that dynamite was a bit unnecessary, but I was convinced when I saw the finished product.

A LEGO cake!

This was so super easy to make out of a loaf pan and two cupcakes... oh, and that dynamite, my new tool of choice!

How to Wear Your New Scarf

noreply@blogger.com (Sarah) — Sat, 24 Nov 2012 01:06:00 +0000

So you've bought a new scarf from the Create Studio Shop. Yay!

Mind if I give you a quick tutorial on how I like to wear mine?

First, give the scarf a light stretch between your hands.

Slip it over your head with the portion that rolls up on the outside.

Pull the bottom roll down slightly.

Then pull the portion between the two rolls out and down.

So that's how I like to wear my scarf. I also think it looks good inside out for a different look.

How do you wear yours?

(Scarf shown is the Citron color, one of my favorites!)

Miss Lewis from St. Louis

noreply@blogger.com (Sarah) — Fri, 02 Nov 2012 14:21:00 +0000

I've known Emily for over a decade. That's only a third of my life, but closer to half of hers. She's one of those rare finds, completely full of color. She just oozes it.

In the journalistic sense, color writing is adding another level of depth and interest through the use of adjectives. That's exactly what Emily does in real life. She's quick with an opinion about everything from Taylor Swift's new album to Mitt Romney's religious views to creating a sense of community within the church. I absolutely savor my time with her.

The only problem is that my friend lives all the way over in St. Louis. I've tried to convince her subtly and not so subtly that she needs to come back "home." But to no avail. Alas, what's a friend to do but hop a plane and enter into her world.

And her world is gorgeous isn't it? This is her adorable little apartment she fixed up, painted and curated into this beautiful little collection of cozy whimsy. I didn't want to leave!

I flew in Friday night and we went to the Kellogg's Tour of Gymnastic Champions. It was hilarious really! Part Cirque du Soleil and part light show with a little bit of Dancing with the Stars mixed in. Average age? 12. We tapped into our inner giggly little girl selves and loved every minute of it!

(Side note: this is Emily's desk, it fits her personality perfectly... note the ukulele in the stained glass window. Does she play? No, it's just something beautiful she found at the toy store where she works. She works at a toy store! Can I tell you how many times I've told her that when I grow up I want to be just like her?)

This picture above her desk is the photographer's daughter with a candy cigarette. Part irreverence, part beauty, totally Emily!

Em also loves making. With a student's tight budget she has outfitted her home in lots of handmade goodness.

So as a thank you for opening up her world to me for the weekend I left her a little handmade goodness of my own.

Saturday morning she and her adorable roommie, Katherine, made me breakfast.

Which consisted of Em snipping a few fresh herbs from her rooftop garden and whipping up something from their CSA box. Cuteness overload!

All I had to do was sit back and sip some tea while they worked away on this masterpiece. A breakfast veggie hash. You can find the recipe on their blog, it has single handedly (if hash's had hands) made me a brussels sprout fan!

Then we did a little exploring around the city... Em's seminary, her toy store, her favorite lunch spot (with juicy burgers, homemade ketchup and homemade ice cream... be still my pregnant heart!), oh yeah, and one of St. Louis' only touristy things... the arch!

We also toured the Cathedral Basilica of St. Louis with it's towering mosaics. I think the space is the largest use of mosaics in the world.

We began our friendship because I was Emily's Bible study leader while she was in high school. She gave me the excuse to build forts, dress up like Mary Kate and Ashley for our Bible study theme nights, watch Anne of Green Gables and color in coloring books. Now she's the one who has challenged and inspired a new group of high school girls to love Jesus. I love that He brought us together right after I started dating Kyle and now she has walked right beside me through a marriage, two (and a half) kids and yet another eventful pregnancy. I am so thankful for you, Em!

I didn't want to leave St. Louis because for a weekend I kicked off my shoes and went back in time with my friend. I left the cares and concerns of looming doctors appointments and ultrasounds and I had the opportunity to relax and refresh. I was inspired and renewed. I love that God gives us friends who can do that... point us back to Him and remind us of His promises!

And so with a great visit under my belt, I'll tie my shoes, pack a lunch and remember, we're all in this together! Thanks Emily. I love being in this together with you!

Happy Halloween

noreply@blogger.com (Sarah) — Wed, 31 Oct 2012 19:26:00 +0000

Trey's "scawwey" face!

Have a fun night tonight, my friends! I'll be chasing behind two little chefs hopped up on sugar... should be interesting!

::My First Craft Show:: A Mini Series

noreply@blogger.com (Sarah) — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 05:01:00 +0000

You know how I've been talking forever about doing a craft show? My Pinterest boards have been all a flurry with display ideas and logo redesign. By now you have to be wondering what's up...

Well, I've gotten up enough guts to give it a shot! Ahhhh!

I'll be doing the 11th Annual Holly Days Shopping Event

At Sanderson High School (my alma mater... class of 2000!)

December 1 and 2, 2012

With as much reading as I've done to get ready for this silly thing, I thought it might be helpful for me to do a mini series about how I'm getting ready for my very first craft show, so I'll be posting periodically about the whole she-bang. I'm sure to make a ton of mistakes along the way and I can imagine that it is going to be pretty funny with big 'ol pregnant me peddling all my wares in a 10x10 foot space! Here's a little preview of what I plan to sell...

Christmas stationery (made out of heavyweight watercolor paper and pieces of a vintage hymnal covered in a hint of gold glitter), chunky knit infinity scarves in bright fall colors, happy paintings, knit baby hats and brightly painted memo boards. I'm sure I'll come up with a few other goodies along the way, but that's it for now.

Wanna see my whole line of knit infinity scarves?

Oh and yes, that is a new logo. But that's a whole post in its self, so you'll have to stop back in for the back story.

I can't wait to have you join me on the road towards my first craft show. Have you done one before? I'm dying to hear your best tips! Leave them in the comments below or shoot me an email.

A Rustic Feminine Wedding Shower

noreply@blogger.com (Sarah) — Mon, 01 Oct 2012 02:45:00 +0000

My cousin Anne is a feminine trend setter. She majored in interior design and she's always loved color, patterns and design. BUT... this girl is not afraid to throw on a pair of hiking boots and wipe some sweat off of her brow on the Blue Ridge. I'm telling you, any girl who can wear her Kate Spades as well as she wears her Merrells is a catch and she's been caught! His name is Jeremy and they are calling it official in November! A rustic, feminine and very southern wedding shower is in order.

(My sister-in-law, Mary Chandler, my mom, Anne and me... it's like a pregnant sandwich!)

Yes, stumps showed up at our shower... stumps and vintage doilies! I can imagine God getting a little tickled making this particular tree... so strong and tall, so rustic in the middle of some beautiful forest somewhere, but He knew that one day this tree would have another life... covered in doilies with a bunch of girls giggling around it!

There's not a whole lot more Southern than vintage blue glass Ball jars filled with lemons, so we did a little of that.

Galvanized ice bucket, hand embroidered vintage linens and of course, more Ball jars to drink... what else... sweet tea and raspberry lemonade punch!

The punch was a huge hit. My mom's recipe is one can frozen concentrated raspberry lemonade mixed with one liter of Sun Drop (Sprite if you're not from the South).

I did three centerpieces on the food table just to switch things up a bit this time.

The two centerpieces on the left and right are actually an arrangement of different size Ball jars with a combination of white hydrangeas, yellow flowers and some cut lemons.

The center arrangement is on a raised wooden pedestal with an addition of yellow lilies.

Silver became a little less well-to-do.

Our invitation was thanks to Vistaprint.

Now that I've thoroughly bored you with the decoration details, let's eat, shall we!? Country ham biscuits are just a must at a shower and these were soaked in a brown sugar and butter mixture just to send them over the top. (Do I sound like the Pioneer Woman?)

The shower was at 10:00am, so we went with brunch food. Fruit skewers, baked gruyere cheese grits, blueberry muffins, and sausage and egg breakfast casserole. No one left hungry or without their fair share of rustic femininity, y'all!

Roar! Dinosaur Party

noreply@blogger.com (Sarah) — Wed, 12 Sep 2012 20:24:00 +0000

Baby Trey isn't a baby any more! He's a big two year old now. In honor of his entrance into the "Tremendous Two's" we had a dinosaur party.

I really loved this party even though I was definitely still suffering from the pregnant ickies all through its planning and execution. Let me tell you what made all the difference in the world I think... we kept it simple!

I used mostly things I had to decorate. The turned bowls my dad had made me, rocks and ferns from our yard, some dinosaurs I picked up at the local consignment sale. The menu was simple too... cupcakes, ice cream, sodas, watermelon and cantaloupe.

I made the kids some favors out of old baby food jars, tutorial here.

I covered the table in brown kraft paper, topped it with an old Crate and Barrel table runner and then went to town throwing rocks, ferns and moss here and there. The cupcakes sat perched on my tree trunk cake pedestal.

T-Rex guarded our watermelon and cantaloupe with a ferocity that scared off some of the adults...

but definitely not the kids!

I followed this tutorial to make it. Don't let me mix words here... this was HARD! My fruit sculpting skills are not up to par. It took me an entire morning and I almost chopped my fingers off a couple of times. Seriously.

So, on a less bloody note. Funny story, you mamas will appreciate this. The boys were out playing in the front yard while I finished icing the cupcakes. Our 10 year old neighbor came running up to my front door and said "Hey, Owen wants to know if I can come to Trey's party!" Hilarious! I was like, "Um, sure!" Well let me just tell you that I literally had to chase the kid down upstairs to get him to leave at the end of the party! I think he likes us!

We have a huge family and everyone is close by, so parties are always just family and one of my oldest and dearest friends, Blair's family. We got her to move in to the "Tucker Compound" a few years ago and her boys are the same age as mine. We do all of our parties together.

We made crayons for the big kids to color. They are always a hit. You can get tons of plastic molds here. I used a new technique this time and it was so much easier... peal the wrappers off of Crayola crayons, break them in to small pieces and put them in a foil muffin wrapper, bake at 220 degrees until the crayons turn to liquid then pour them into the mold of your choice. Let harden on the countertop for an hour.

Don't let the look on his face fool you, he may not have fully realized it was his birthday...

but the kid did realize what to do with the cupcake! That's my boy! Happy Birthday, Trey! We are so proud of you!!

DIY Dinosaur Party Favors

noreply@blogger.com (Sarah) — Mon, 10 Sep 2012 23:59:00 +0000

Trey boy turned two a couple of weeks ago. Now I don't know about you, but most two year olds I know are not exactly in to anything on their own apart from whatever their big brother's are in to, so a little bit of a guessing game on my part was in order. All of Trey's latest library book choices have been dinosaur clad, so I went with it!

Can I show you how I made the party favors? First, I used Jill's tutorial and made the printables on PicMonkey (the best free alternative I've found to Picnik... RIP Picnik!) I get so many emails for my printables. I'm happy to share what I've made, but I'm telling you, it is so super easy to make them on your own, then you can customize the colors to your own party. Mine says, "Roar! Please eat some more!"

If you want to make something similar you'll need:

Spray paint
Baby food jars
Small plastic dinosaurs
E-6000 glue

These little guys were so cute and colorful, but we're about to spray 'em, sorry.

First you'll want to go outside, wear a mask, gloves, hold your breath and pray, then unscrew the glue top. A large fan wouldn't be overkill either. I'm only kidding, but have you ever read the back of the E-6000 glue? It's like signing your life away. I should have taken a picture of it. They'll put the fear of God in you, but it sure does work well. Glue the dinosaurs to the metal baby food jar lids.

I couldn't help but let out a few roars back at these little guys, so you may want to do this by yourself for fear that someone will think you've been abusing that glue... just sayin'.

Remove the tops from the glass jars and give them a few coats of spray paint then you're all done. I filled mine with M&M's and a couple more plastic dinosaurs that had been washed well. Can't wait to show you the rest of the party pics!

Vintage Stencil Signage Tutorial

noreply@blogger.com (Sarah) — Wed, 22 Aug 2012 12:40:00 +0000

I inherited these great vintage yellow stencils from my husband's grandmother. We helped her clean out her house and while everyone went for the china and furniture I went for the real treasures!! Sewing notions, broken watches, old letters, vintage sheets, hankies and linens with a story. That's more my style, I love things with a history. Anyway, back to the stencils. They are a great mustard color and sturdy card stock. You can find something similar here. Here's what you'll need to make your own sign:

3 inch tall card stock alphabet stencils
1 fat quarter of your favorite fabric
Spray adhesive
Sewing machine with colored thread
Thick yarn (I used Wool Ease Thick and Quick)
Glue gun

First, flip the stencils over to the "wrong side" and give them a good coating of spray adhesive. I recommend doing this outside, but since it was a rainy day I decided to make a tent out of an old bag to catch the excess spray. Take my word for it after lots of countertop scrubbing, you don't want to skip this step!

Next, press your coated stencil on to the "right side" of your fabric and cut off the excess fabric. Repeat this step with each letter you plan to use for your sign and set them aside to dry.

Once the stencils are dry (wait for this because nobody wants spray adhesive gunk in their sewing machine) you can do a zig-zag stitch all the way around the edge of your stencil. Be sure that you don't pick up your needle as you turn the corners so that you don't have excess fringe on the corners. What you'll want to do is keep your needle down as you approach the corner, lift your presser foot, turn the stencil, then put your presser foot down and sew down the next side until you're done.

You're almost done! Finally, you'll want to place all of your finished stencils down from right to left and hot glue some yarn to the top of each stencil, leaving about 4 inches of yarn on each end for hanging.

Looks like this from the back side:

And this from the front!

And it looks like this catching lots of natural light from behind!

There's lots more pictures of the sign here. Happy Crafting!

Gimme Some Sugar!

noreply@blogger.com (Sarah) — Fri, 17 Aug 2012 13:09:00 +0000

It's no secret that I love cupcakes. I went on a quest a while back to make the perfect cupcake recipes. Adding a little almond extract here and a little more powdered sugar there, after lots of tests and tweaking I thought I had perfected the white almond cake with vanilla butter cream. Mine are good, but they don't hold a candle to the Sugar Bakeshop in Charleston!! (Grammar gurus beware, there are waaay too many exclamation points in this post!)

It's not the first time I've been here, whenever we are in town I try to squeeze in a quick trip. I have to show you the inside of this little gem! How much would you love to work here?! There are just enough vintage touches, cokes in glass bottles, an entire wall painted my favorite color, and paint is peeling in all the right places. Not to mention you'd be baking all. day. long.

Their logo makes me smile every time I look at it, so I've had it up on my inspiration board in my Studio for over a year. Isn't it happy?! Gosh, I'm such a Sugar groupie!

Lemon, Pistachio, German Chocolate, Red Velvet, Almond... there are even Ginger Molasses Dog Treats!

Just off of the bakery door is this adorable little courtyard where we should have eaten, but we decided to hold off and head for the water instead... just as we got down the street the flood gates opened up and we were hit by an afternoon Charleston rain storm... boo.

The consensus was that we liked the almond with vanilla frosting the best, the pistachio was a close second. Sugar, the Tucker family will be back!

In other news, I'm planning a birthday party for my little Trey... Roar! Let's hope the pregnant ickies hold off long enough to get some cupcakes of my own whipped up.

And Baby Makes FIVE!

noreply@blogger.com (Sarah) — Tue, 31 Jul 2012 12:55:00 +0000

I don't know how it is possible for one month to be so very bonkers, but here it is almost August and I haven't blogged a single time this month. Well, that just won't do.

I can't show you what all of my creative juices have been pouring into lately, you'll have to wait until March. March 3rd to be exact. I've been busy making another little one! Yippee!! :)

You'd think by now that my body would be like, "Oh, we're doing the kid thing again? I've got this!" But I've been so sick. If you've been reading for a while you know that my pregnancies tend to be very... um, eventful! So we are praying that this pregnancy is extra boring.

I can't tell you how soothing it was though to see my sweet little one on that ultrasound yesterday, to hear that heartbeat and watch those teeny tiny little arm nubs "waving" at us. Healthy pregnancies are nothing short of a miracle. Life is a miracle and I don't take that for granted.

I've been so blessed to have the help of my sweet hubby. Just last night he made the kids dinner, cleaned the kitchen and put them to bed all after working a full day of work! What a guy!

I hope you all are doing well and enjoying these long summer days. I love you girls too and am so thankful for your friendship!

(Pictures are from some of our July adventures... Pullen Park in Raleigh, Washington DC and Holden Beach, NC)

Vintage Stencil Signage

noreply@blogger.com (Sarah) — Fri, 29 Jun 2012 18:07:00 +0000

Hello My Friends!

I'm short on words today, but wanted to share my latest creations with you. Maybe this will be my signage for the craft show in November? I haven't decided yet. It's made of vintage yellow stencils.

I love how the light shines through from the window! Yes, the rag wreath is new too, I knew you were going to ask that.

Have a great weekend! It is supposed to be 105 degrees here... holy moly! :)

My Day at the Original Sewing and Quilt Expo

noreply@blogger.com (Sarah) — Tue, 26 Jun 2012 17:20:00 +0000

The Original Sewing and Quilt Expo came to Raleigh for the first time last week. This is the Raleigh Convention Center where it was held. I couldn't be more proud of my city! The oak tree is made of thousands of tiny aluminum tiles that shimmer and seem to change shape when the wind blows. It's really gorgeous. Here's a video.

There were tons of exhibitors, stage presentations, make and take projects, classes and some pretty well-stocked studios where you could try out the latest sewing machines, tools and notions that may not have even hit the stores yet.

I was more than a little bit giddy to be there! I may have even laid out my outfit the night before and made that necklace just for the occasion.

There were fabrics in designs I had never seen. Like those from H & W Fabrics. The shop owner, Robert, is a seasoned expo expert so he gave me tons of great tips and things to think about for my show. (If you follow me on Pinterest this is no surprise, but I'm going to do my first real craft show in November!)

One of my favorite booths was Some Art Fabric. Colleen Casey and her hilarious brother ran the booth. I wish I had taken a picture of the two of them, they were quite the dynamic duo. He is a burly man's man wearing a homemade shirt covered in sewing scissors (homemade by himself!) and she's a bubbly class instructor (I will definitely be taking a class from her next year!) Their booth was stocked with ultra unique fabric (think, Day of the Dead stuff), patterns and handmade things. They made these journals out of Golden Books together:

And Owl kits out of recycled felted sweaters!

Another thing I really liked about them, aside from the way Colleen's brother spoke so highly of her, was that they didn't sell a pattern they hadn't made themselves with samples right there in their booth. Check out this Melly and Me pink flamingo. Awesome!

And I love this children's garment bag!

Believe it or not, there were actual quilts at the Quilt Expo... shocker, right!? I just sorta stood there and stared at this one for a while. It's called "Dare to Live Your Dreams" by Lynn Dell Swapp from Utah. (Is it just me or have you noticed that all amazing crafters are from Utah?)

Need a close up of that detail? Look at those shingles. I would probably have a hissy fit getting each of those just right. My goodness! And the "turned" banisters... that's amazing! Lynn, I want to give you a high five!

Here's another one that caused me to gawk.... err, hoot. It's called "Hoodies Owl on Green Tree" by Hoodie Crescent from New Jersey.

People, I couldn't have said it any better myself...

After seeing all of that amazingness I needed to put my hands on some fabric. Perfect timing... as I turned the corner there was the booth for my most favorite fabric store in Raleigh... Wish Upon a Quilt. I need to head over there one day and do a whole blog post about them. I have to suppress a squeal every time I walk in there and you all NEED to see a picture of what I'm talking about.

I met the cutest lady who works at Wish Upon a Quilt. She and her 92 year-old Uncle Bob make these miniature ironing boards together, the Lil Buddy Pressing Board. He cuts the wood and she sews the reversible covers. Great for a small craft room!

Wish Upon a Quilt never disappoints with their selection of fabric. Cathy had just returned from Quilt Market (By the way, that's on my bucket list... Quilt Market and Gift Market and I want to see a whale, I digress...) and she had tons of great new things.

I loved how eager everyone was to share their skills and techniques. Quilting requires so much patience and time. It could quickly become a lost art if someone isn't willing to take the time to teach.

I came away from the Expo learning a lot about some things I wasn't expecting. I wore my necklace and carried my camera, which made me stand out a bit. I was given the opportunity multiple times to speak to what I write about on my blog and what I make... things I'd usually much rather type about than talk about. Armed with a back pocket full of business cards I would hand them out to anyone who asked about my camera and my necklace. At the end of the day I'd almost given away every one of them! Funny, I gained so much confidence realizing that my blog is legitimate and the things I make are both admired and desired by others. I like moving my online passions in to "real life" conversations and interactions. It gets me so excited for November! Yippee!!

Thanks for coming to Raleigh, Original Sewing and Quilt Expo!

I'll be the first one in line again next year!

Create Studio

noreply@blogger.com (Sarah) — Wed, 20 Jun 2012 20:20:00 +0000

It has been a long time since I've showed you my creative room. Almost three years actually. My how things have changed, I've added another kid to the mix and a small business. You've been with me each step of the way. Thanks! So let me show you the room, come on up!

This is my wrapping station at the top of the stairs. It's where all of my orders go out. And that blonde in the driftwood mirror? That's me, just dyed a few shades lighter for the summer!

Turn left and you'll see this. No vacuum lines this time. Can we still be friends? If you'll remember, my dad and I worked together to create this room from a portion of our attic. In that same spirit of togetherness I wanted to make sure the room would be a fun place for me to be creative with others. My main work table has two additional chairs for sewing lessons and for coloring with my wee ones.

Although, most of the time they can be found here:

I wish I could pin-point my style in a few words. I'm watching HGTV's Design Star right now and they are able to so quickly name their style... "mid-century modern," "hollywood glam," "flea market boho" or whatever. Me? I have no clue! I really like things that are whimsical, bright and happy with all of the history that vintage treasures bring. Any wordsmiths out there want to take a shot at it? I'd welcome your suggestions!

Speaking of history, I have three grandmother's collections represented in my space. The handkerchiefs are my husband's grandmother. The sewing box on the bottom is my grandmothers. It's filled with all of the little girl treasures that I hoarded from her house when I was younger.

Not everything in my space has a function. Some things are completely impractical, but just having them around me is an inspiration. Take those wooden spools wrapped with hot pink vintage thread...I can hardly look at them with out squealing just a little!

The thimbles are from my dad's mother. Sterling silver. I'm impressed that something so mundane and everyday was made so beautifully and treasured. Those women took pride in their roles as mothers and helpmates. I want to remember that.

I also want to remember where in the world I put my buttons, so this repurposed medicine cabinet helps me keep them organized by color.

Recognize that fabric in the top embroidery hoop? It's from my kitchen curtains and the shell wreaths were made from white shells my family collected from beaches in Florida and North Carolina.

Here's the hubby's corner. He's surrounded by his collection of history, religious and political books... his treasures!

My lovebird book houses hang in the reading nook next to my ancient CD player. Lately we have been listening to the Little House On The Prairie series on CD and the boys have loved it.

So there you have it... again. I hope you enjoyed seeing the Creative Room (a.k.a "Create Studio) a second time around. Check out the first post if you missed it.

P.S. I just got word that the rug for our dining room will be in at the end of this month, so you'll have to wait until then for the final kitchen renovation pictures. I'm so mean.

Finished! Kitchen Curtains.

noreply@blogger.com (Sarah) — Mon, 11 Jun 2012 12:20:00 +0000

Happy Monday, my friends! I hope you had a productive weekend! I got to cross a biggie off of my list... the kitchen curtains! Now don't tell anyone I know how to make curtains... can we keep this our little secret?

Custom box pleat valances for a bay window require more than my year's quota of math. Whew, it was the biggest relief to mark those off the list!

I'm pretty sure I can conquer the world now with this one under my belt!

I hope to show you the rest of the kitchen with all of the before and after pictures soon, sorry to keep you waiting. We're still waiting on a rug for the dining room that has been back ordered, but you can see some of the other things we chose on my Pinterest Kitchen page until then.