The Mint Needle

I can't believe it's already the end of April! I feel like this year is flying by. There are so many fun things I want to post & share that today, I'm bundling a two in one:) For starters, I had to share two great books for kids. The first is The Girls' Book of Glamour, A Guide to Being a Goddess. We were at TjMaxx when my daughter stumbled across a pink book & could not put it down. Through the kids department, women's, & shoes, my little one held onto it while reading pages here & there. Who doesn't love watching their kids read? So of course, I checked it out & had to buy it once I read a couple pages myself. A bit humorous, & detailed with all things girly, I could see why she fell in love with it & wanted to continue reading. Let me say, this book kept her up all night & when we awoke in the morning.....my daughter had a menu of all 'healthy' meals I was to prepare:) It comes complete with craft projects that we'r...

It is amazing. The things we find in nature that inspire us to do something. I can thank my little explorer for showing me this beautiful birds nest. As my husband lifted her to look inside, an eager, "I see blue Easter eggs!" means there's little birdie's on the way. I was extremely happy to see four beautiful eggs nestled inside. I've seen alot of nests, but I have to say, this one was the most beautiful. The robin made her little home right inside one of our porch posts where my hubby hung an over sized ladder. (I guess he won't be using that this summer:)) It's protected from rain and wind. And... I can't wait for the babies. Anyways, of course I pictured making a nesting bag as my mommy brainstorming skills went into overdrive. A brown bag, a blue interior and a strong sturdy strap. Take a look!  I tried the same style pattern as the blue bag in a previous post. This one is just larger with no point in the center & no pl...

 "Sisters are blossoms in the garden of life." This was a much needed post for sharing. I have two little delights that must be seen! They are my beautiful nieces:) I've created a couple more aprons for girls size 9-10 and I knew where to get my models! I share with you, beautiful pictures that cannot all be used for the Etsy shop. (They only allow five photos.) And....I gotta send a big thanks to my sister for finding time in her busy schedule to drive out to our house because......."it's a sunny day." So take a look at my new beauties!  It's going to be tough just picking five photos! Hope you love these pics as much as we do:)

 Everyone is getting their wardrobes ready for the summer weather. And while some of us don't mind to splurge, others are looking for ways to save money. This is where I step in:) As a mom of girls, we know that things can get pretty pricey as they develop their own style.  So I took it upon myself to grab those old tanks and add some style. We've seen this look for sometime and it really is adorable. All you need is an old top and some fabric remnants! I took a basic 'hanes' tank and a old mini scarf that's been laying around. I stitched one side, running a straight line while keeping the stitch length at the longest setting so that I could pull one of my two threads to create the ruffles.  If you keep your stitch length the usual 2.5, you'll have a harder time pulling to create the frills. I pinned the ruffle upwards so that you would only see a clean finish when being worn. After I saw how cute this came out, I had ...

I have had a finished apron, ready for listing for sometime. It has been sitting on my craft table, waiting to be photographed. And every sunny day that has gone by, I've had a million other things I've been destined to do. Except for today.  It was gorgeous, warm & sunny.....& guess what? I had nothing else to do! Hip, hip, hooray! So off I went, with my two little helpers. One, a designated assistant & camera holder,  & two, the model & oooohhh what a model she was. I had her sport the Amy Butler honeycomb fabric dress I made for her last year, 'because it matches so perfectly mom.' (I did not use a pattern for this dress.) So, yeah, I'm pretty proud of how beautiful it turned out:) And of course I had to share it with you! The skirt is made up of two large pieces of fabric that were folded to have pleats. The upper portion consisted of your typical dress top, just without the sleeves. Instead, I did f...