Giveaway - Thomas Paul Kabuki Tote

I'm happy to host a giveaway today thanks to the folks at CSN Stores who offer great products like kids beds, cookware & home accents. I chose this pretty tote bag from the allmodern.com website. I really love that they offer some great brands like DwellStudio, ferm LIVING & notNeutral. The deal lover in me was pretty impressed with their Modern Deals section as well. I saw some really stylish fitted crib sheets for only $6.25 in that section!

This giveaway is open to U.S. & Canadian readers. For a chance to win this awesome tote bag, here's what you have to do:

1. Leave a comment on this post for one entry.

2. I love my followers & feel like they should get an extra shot at this, so....if you are a follower please leave an additional comment saying, "I'm a follower!" or "I follow your most awesome, wonderful blog." Or something like that.

Of course if you'd like to become a follower from here on out. Please do so & you can get an extra entry as well. Be sure to leave that extra comment letting me know that you're following me because I'm awesome.

Good luck! I will choose one winner on April 7th.

Tiger Roar!

Check out this custom embroidered tiger softie that I made for a sweet customer with a tiger obsessed little boy. :) Drawn by Dylan of course & then I did the rest of the work.

Weekend Happeneings

The big news of the weekend is that Sadie started riding a two wheel bike. The training wheels came off & she just took off. She was really proud of herself. :)


This is what my days look like lately. These girls want to be outside riding from the minute they wake up in the morning. We have one more week of track break & then Sadie goes back to school. I keep reminding myself that we have to enjoy this weather because it will be scorching hot out there before we know it.


The girls wore their Easter clothes to church yesterday. I found these dresses for $10 at H&M a few weeks back. Done! I love how Sadie poses & Claire makes a silly face.


I keep thinking lately about how much I love having daughters. These girls are so awesome. I'm lucky, for sure. :)

Sweet Headband

I like it when my favorite bloggers post photos of themselves. I also realize that I don't post photos of myself very often. I like hiding. It's kinda what I do. I don't even have very many photos of myself in my albums. I'm one of those people that avoids photos because I feel really awkward in front of the camera. Well, I'm going to try to change that. I'm going to try to be better & open myself up more. Allow myself to feel insecure & vulnerable. And these feelings might actually change in the process. So, we'll see!


Anyway, welcome to the bathroom. Ha ha. I wanted to show you all my adorable new headband. I asked my sister Kimberly to make me a peacock feather headband & this is what she created. Super cute, am I right? She's been working on some more headbands & such that should be available in my shop sometime in the near future. I am loving headbands lately. :)


That's it for now. Maybe next time you see me I won't be taking photos of myself in the dirty bathroom mirror. :)

Please Vote For My Bunny

My Bouncy Bunny made it into the Etsy Voter series Which item do you want in your Easter basket? Will you please go on over & vote? Of course you can vote for any item you'd like, but I'll love you so much more if you vote for my buck tooth cutie! :)

Thanks!!

Skirts For Sale

I've started making & adding some toddler girl skirts to the shop using the same fabric that I used for Sadie's dress & Claire's skirt here. I'll be making them in sizes that will fit little girls 2-6 years old. So keep an eye out. I plan to add a couple each day until I use up all my fabric. :)

Outings

One of the perks of living in Vegas is that we get to spend more time with family. This week it was a little field trip to the Clark County Museum with a couple of my sisters & their kids. I have never been to this museum in my life & I thought it was really cool.

It's still really weird to us that we're living in this town again. But we like it.

Mens Shirt to Toddler Skirt Part 2

This time I was working with a polo shirt. I didn't want it to be really poofy, so I cut a rectangle out of the side.



I serged the top & bottom hems & sewed the open side together. Then I made a pocket out of red gingham from a thrifted curtain & attached it to the front.


Made a casing & the top & put in some elastic & it was done. But the pocket was huge & it was bothering me a bit. Claire liked it though & immediately started filling it up with stuff. Then Dylan came home from work & laughed at the big kangaroo pocket saying is was comedically out of proportion.



So I got my seam ripper out & took the pocket off. Made it smaller & sewed it back on (slightly crooked) & then added a little blue button for cuteness. I like it better like this. :)

Winner - Pretty Little Mini Quilts

Stephanie wins the Pretty Little Mini Quilts book. Yay! Thanks everybody for entering. :)

Mens Shirt to Toddler Skirt

I started with an old button down shirt of Dylan's that was headed to trash because of a rip in the elbow.

Drew a few straight lines & cut.


Serged the top & bottom & sewed down both sides of the buttons.

Then I made a casing at the top & put in some elastic. And I sewed some lace to the underside of the skirt hem. Please ignore my horribly sloppy stitching line at the bottom.


I'll be honest with you. I don't love this skirt. Perhaps I should have taken more time with measuring & all. It sits a bit funky on Sadie. It's a little shorter in the back than the front. I sorta hate this lace. I think it's too big & made the skirt end up looking sorta little house on the prairie-ish. But whatever! My girls were amazed that I turned daddy's shirt into a skirt.

Giveaway Reminders

1. mini kitchen, 2. mini calendar, 3. my valentine goodies, 4. After: Play Area - a little wall decor

Remember that we are giving away a $25 gift certificate to the shop!!! To enter for this giveaway, you just need to upload a photo of your Sparkle Power stuff as it's displayed in your home to the Sparkle Power Pals flickr group. You have until the end of March to get your photos up & we'll be randomly choosing one winner. Check out some of the awesome group photos above!

We love seeing new photos pop up in this group. It's really nice for us to be able to see where our stuff ends up after we send them off in the mail.

Also, don't forget to get your name in for the Pretty Little Mini Quilts book giveaway. This one ends on Wednesday, so make sure you've got your comment in. :)

Bunny Softies for Easter

I'm so excited to finally share these with you guys! Last year I made some little softie bunnies for my daughters for Easter. This year I've made some for you! Well, if you want to purchase them from our shop. :)




Once again, these bunnies are drawn by Dylan & stitched & stuffed by me. I chose some really great vintage fabrics for their bellies & back sides.


Perfect size for toting around. My girls love them & are once again disappointed that they are not for us to keep. While hugging one Claire said, "I want to take this to bed with me." So cute! I'm pretty sure I can whip up a few for them before Easter rolls around.

I Heart Guacamole

Trying to figure out my plan of attack for today. My ears are humming. I came down with the flu earlier this week & my head & ears have been clogged up since yesterday. I expected to wake up today feeling normal...not the case, but we're getting there...slowly.

Anyway, in my procrastinating starting the day, I sat here in front of the computer & came across this photo from last week. I love it. They're eating chips & guacamole. I love that the girls are sitting on the counter top. I love their feet & their messy braids. I love that Sadie is feeding a baby doll a chip. I love that all my peeps are right there next to each other. As a home cook, I love to see my food bring everybody together. :)

My quick guac is just avocados, green onions, lime juice, cilantro & salt. Nothing fancy, but we all love it.

This photo also gives you a little look at our kitchen here in my parents' basement. My Dad took these cupboards & counter tops from a remodeling job that he did. They were just going to get thrown out! Pretty resourceful. I learned from the best! The fridge is pretty old & also pretty loud. Not a good combination with my loud humming ears. I've been saying "Huh?" a lot. Ha ha.

Now that Dylan has started working here in Vegas, we plan to find a place of our own to live, but we want to wait until the school year is over so that Sadie can finish off Kindergarten without any more interruptions. We are so thankful for my parents & all the help they've given us.

Keeping my fingers crossed that I can hear again soon!

Book Giveaway - Pretty Little Mini Quilts

I was really excited to get my copy of Pretty Little Mini Quilts a few weeks ago. I have one little quilt in the book & it was really exciting to finally see it in print. I remember working on this quilt over Labor Day weekend of 2008! The quilt went up for sale through the Craft Hope for Haiti etsy shop & has already found a new home here. :) Love that!


The book is really great & I loved looking at all the other designers pieces. Definitely check it out if your in the mood to make a little quilt!


Lark Books was so great to send me an extra copy of the book to giveaway! You know the drill...leave a comment on this post with your e-mail address & anything else you want to say. I will choose one winner next Wednesday the 24th. Good luck!

Sundress For Sadie

Last night while watching Project Runway, I decided to get all designerly myself & started making Sadie a dress without a pattern. I had it in my mind & just had to work through it & get it out. It's not perfect, but I'm happy with it. She didn't want to stop watching TV so that I could take a photo. Ha ha!


The fabric is from a tapestry bedspread that I bought on clearance at Target from their dorm room line a while back.


I used elastic in the back so that she could get it on & off easily. By the way, the notions wall is on sale 50% off at Joann's right now. I like to stock up on elastic whenever this sale comes up. I got a bunch of 1" no roll elastic for 50 cents a yard. I use elastic in skirts & pajama bottoms so it's good to stock up on.


And because I had the fabric out & in only takes about 20 minutes, I whipped up a little skirt for Claire in the same fabric.

They get really excited about the clothes that I make them & it makes me feel super happy.

Oilcloth Lunch Bag

For the working man...a woodgrain oilcloth lunch bag. It's super cool because it's reuseable & it's woodgrain! I first saw a lunch bag like this on Design Sponge. They have a tutorial, but I used the tutorial on Skip to my Lou for some reason.


I purchased my oilcloth from The Fabric Farm. I ordered 1 yard & I have a lot of the fabric still left over. I think I'll save it for some baby bibs or a changing pad, or maybe some more lunch bags.


Anyway, I think the Mister will like it. :)