Valentine's Day Round Up

As a kid I was so excited about Valentine's Day each year. Putting all the little cards in the tiny envelopes and writing all my school friends' names on them...then waiting all day to see who gave you a card. It was right up there with Birthday's and Christmas as far as I was concerned. Now that my own children are off to school it's weeks of planning and choosing what little gift & card we want to hand out. This year I started my search on Pinterest, DANGEROUS! I kept having to remind myself that I only have one class full of gifts/cards to give this year, plus a couple for some friends.

So as a way of celebrating the many, many fabulous ideas I found I thought I would share them with you here:

 

1. Pencil Arrow  2. Super Valentine 3. Lollipop Valentine's

4. Bubbles Valentine's 5. thread lightly Valentine - see below 6. Candy Free

 

 

If you are still scrambling for a last minute Valentine's Card idea most of the links will take you to a free printable. Unfortunately that is still a little beyond my capabilities, however I was able to turn some limited desk topping skills and some supplies from around the house into a fun gift & card.

 

To make these "Having a Ball" Valentine's I used some left over business cards as bag toppers and because they are a standard template in MS Word all I had to do was layout a single card and print on my color printer. I deliberately kept the text simple since I wanted to leave room for my daughter to personalize the Valentine's somewhat. In the finished batch, she's applied stamps and stickers to the white space around the card.

 

 

 

Next I out a bouncy ball from the local party supply store and put it in a treat bag, then stapled the treat bags to the cards. All that's left is some decorative stamps and stickers for my daughter to apply, along with her name and they are ready to go. Fast, economical and best of all using up supplies I already had!

 

 

 

Happy Valentine's Day!

 

 

 Linking up at:

 

 

 

Happy New Year!

Well December seemed to hit like a sledgehammer this year. I was caught flat footed by a huge volume of holiday orders which was fantastic but absolutely resulted in a drop everything and sew like the wind kind of month. Needless to say all the niceties of the holidays, the decorating, the baking, the wrapping tended to be last minute and done without the pleasure I find usually find in it. That said, the pressure on sewing got my creative fires fueled and I have lots of new ideas I hope to bring to life over the next few months.

In the meantime I'm happy to let you all know about a sale I have going on now:

 

Wishing you a Happy New Year!

What's for Dinner?

I will confess that I am one of those people who regularly tries out new recipes on guests. Every time I do I berate myself about it as I anxiously await the results, hoping desperately that everything will be edible. It usually is. The other night I decided to do something I never do, try out a recipe that I would entertain with on my family, you know, learn and save myself some anxiety.

So for a mid-week dinner I decided to test out a Souffle recipe. Best of all, it worked! I was so surprised and proud to have done it, I just had to share.

It was a goat cheese and herb souffle (hence the vivid green colour) and even my kids loved it. If you're feeling like trying one out this recipe was from Essential Pepin by Jacques Pepin, a cookbook I love and have amazing success with.

Happy Friday!

A Friday Ramble

Well it's been a week of change here. I guess you could say that this week in addition to having 2 kids in school (kindergarten and preschool) I've also made the transition from stay-at-home mom to work-from-home mom. I know you're probably thinking it's a pretty subtle change and since I've been running my etsy shop for almost 18 months now I guess it is, but the mindset has changed. For the first time in over 5 years I have goals that are only mine and I'm kind of enjoying it.

I really struggled with the decision to enrol my youngest in a full time program, but he is happy and challenged and with week 1 behind us, I think it was the right choice for him. Did you send your kids to preschool? or keep them with you until they were school age?

On the sewing front, I can't believe the productivity when it's just me and the sewing machine in daylight hours. Of course I've been having so much fun trying out new patterns for my shop that I've fallen behind on the photography....but hey, that's what Monday's for!

Anyhow, because I don't really have photo's of my own projects I thought I'd share a few pinterest finds that have inspired me this week:

http://blubloxx.com/blubloxx/

 

I love the patchwork denim! I think for a bean bag cover or floor cushion in a teen or soon to be teen's room they would look amazing and wear beautifully. I feel an upcycle project coming on!

 

 

http://www.flickr.com/photos/lilfishstudios/3844229740/

 

It was such a fall feeling day that these coasters are just the perfect addition to a cup of warm apple cider, a good book and maybe the first fire of the season.

  

Want to see what else I found on Pinterest? find me at www.pinterest.com/threadbykristen

Have a happy weekend!

 

Mixed Bag Friday - Gluten Free

I decided that Friday would be the catch all for all the randomness that is my life. Throughout the week there are so many things that catch my eye (nice way to say I spend to much time on Pinterest) and with a 3 year old and a 5 year old at home there is always something going on from crafts to new recipes.

This week I wanted to share some of what's been going on for us this summer. We've found my daughter to be gluten intolerant. I'm grateful that her symptoms have always been mild (bloating, gas and occasional tummy aches when it's been a very gluten-heavy day) and that we finally have it figured out, but I was really hoping this wouldn't be the case. We'd already restricted lactose for both children, not too bad but I swear more people invite us out for ice cream now than in the whole rest of my life put together. Now with the added gluten intolerance I dread eating out, going to birthday parties and pretty much every social outing (since with little kids it's always about food). That said I realise that there are lots of options and people are very willing to try to accommodate us, we pack a lot of food when we go anywhere now. I know this will get easier, but eight weeks in I find it completely overwhelming.

In preparation for school I've been combing Pinterest for collections of lunch-friendly, kid-friendly gluten free foods. Here are a few I've found that I like so far:

Gluten Free quiche, we've tried this recipe as both crustless (not a big hit) and a slightly modified version in a store bought gluten free crust (the clear winner).



Next up on my to try list is Gluten free Pierogies I know you are probably thinking that pierogies are not your typical lunch box fare but they were easily the most requested item of the previous school year.

And of course I need some sort of option for pizza day so we're going to try a cauliflower crust recipe. I don't dare send this one to school without a test run first!





Finally, because there is not enough going on in early September (heavy sarcasm here) I was reading the announcement of the themes for Project Run and Play and I am seriously trying to figure out if I can fit the sew along into my schedule...I need to sleep on it.

Have a great weekend!

Into the deep end

So I have been furiously sewing items to stock up my etsy shops. Yes, I did pluralize that...the second shop is officially open. It's still a little light by way of products but this week I should get across that 8 item barrier (I think my first shop was stuck there for 3 months). I'm finding it really interesting to sew for the different shops, it's as if they pull from really different parts of my creative energy and I find it's really working from me. Now, depending on my mood, I sew for myself, my children, my adult shop or my children's shop and it's blowing my mind how much is being completed. I'm thrilled.

Here's a little peak at some of the new pieces I've completed:

 

Tote Bags now available at Thread

 

Soother Clips / Toy Tethers now available at Thread too

There is more to come, check back next Monday to see some new products featured. I'm also looking for feedback on what items you might like to see tutorials on, leave me a comment or email me at threadbykristen@gmail.com.

 

Linked up at:

 

More Thread Please!

So KCW fell by the wayside a bit. That's not to say I didn't sew (I actually finished 3 skirts) but between a summer camping trip and a plethora of new projects I just can't seem to keep up with the blogging (or the housework, but that's really another story). You see I have an etsy shop, plus a few listings on a couple of other sites but over the past 18 months my product list has expanded from a couple of small kids products and bridal items to a really weird collection of pieces. Well maybe not weird but the business part of my brain really struggles with how etsy posts everything in chronological order instead of letting me group items. Yes, there is the ability to sort by section but it bothers me that I can't control the first impression of my shop.

In March when I first started planning this expanded product list I tossed the idea of a second shop around but I wasn't confident that I could keep both shops fully stocked. Instead I left everything in a single shop and hoped a full shop would make up for the hodge podge of items. Things still sold but it's been bothering me ever since. Then as I was browsing for supplies I came across some sites that were even more hodge podge than my own and much larger and I realised it's not the visual impact that's really the issue but somehow it's hard to have confidence when something looks unfocused.

So here I sit with a decision made, it's time for more Thread! I'm still playing with the name of the second shop, I want it to be related to Thread but today it's still a work in progress. In the meantime I'd love it if you would stop by my current shop for a look around!